Back a few years ago, I received a copy of Model Car Racing magazine along with several other titles for review. It was through this one instance that an interest was rekindled in a hobby I had thought I'd left behind me back in the late 1960s, that of slot car racing. Since then, I've become more involved in a hobby that has changed quite a bit since then, yet still remains basically the same in terms of the enjoyment I've derived from it.

Author Robert Schleicher was one of those people writing for the various pulp slot car magazines back in those days and has kept his hand in the hobby through the decades that it has nearly disappeared and then returned to the level that it is today. Earlier on in this century, he took over as publisher of Model Car Racing magazine and has made it into a most successful venture. So much so that each edition sells out rather quickly, surely a sign that the hobby is alive and well. Because of that, and not wanting the articles to become unavailable to future readers, he has done several compilation books that include a lot of material from no longer available issues. Such is the case here.

As with his magazines, there are car reviews, build and tune-up articles, how to articles for improving car and track performance, track plans and looks at the tracks of friends and readers. As the title suggests, there is a rather large section on the advent of digital racing, something that is relatively new to the hobby and one that is suffering somewhat from having at least four different ways of operating. Basically digital racing consists of track that has crossover sections which incorporate switches as in model railroading, allowing the car to move from one slot to another. There are chips and sensors installed in the cars to allow this to happen and most sets will allow at least 6 cars to race in two lanes at one time. But the systems are not compatible with each other and like the situation with HD DVDs and Video Tape, there are many who are not getting involved until the whole thing clears itself up (which may well never happen).

In all, it is an excellent reference book and like his previous efforts has a great deal of re-read value, especially to the enthusiast. For those who have missed editions of the magazine, it is a great way to get many of those articles in one source. I know I'm a bit biased, but I like this one a lot and can highly recommend it to you as a look at where the hobby is today and as a great read.

December 2008

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