MAGracing Forum

So at last we have begun to build the first MAG track circuit.

A Few facts:--

Pinewood Raceway is 50Km west of London England, if we were to put a compass,point at our location and strike a 20km radii, probably 500,000 people live within that distance, although we are a successful Slotcar racing club we are finding it more and more difficult to attract new racer. However we could nearly make a living from the amount of groups, companies and children s' parties we could run.

1/24th Slotcars, are too fast and too technical

1/32nd hard bodied was a big club 5 years ago, when we had a 110 foot 6 land wooden track, these cars also got faster and faster, and more expensive, The wooden track was replaced with a Ninco plastic track at their request, but then this died. Only used by the kids on sunday openings.

We Have a 6 lane Oval stock car circuit which is reasonably successful, but members are not interested in anything else.

So why MAGRACING.

As other have said many times in this forum and all over the web, Its New its Different and I my mind its a crossover formula that could really bring new paople to the hobby. Pinewood Raceway has always been a little different than the rest, we promote and encourage all forms of Slotcars racing, in Fact 1 of our motos has allways been "If it runs in a slot we race it".
Along with the other tracks in the building we have a 110 foot 6 lane promotional slotcar track, built to fit in a Ford Tansit (just) in sectional form so we can go out and support charity events and Promote Pinewood and the hobby.

So it won't be a surprise to see that our first Magtrack is going to be portable, the layout will be 14ft x 6 t and build so it will fit and be easily transportable in an estate car. When in use at Pinewood we will place on top of our 1/24ft track, we think this will be done in about 10 minutes. so easy to put up and down.

Initial features will be
3 lane wide main straights to encourage overtaking,
Lapmaster control system for maximum effect when on display outside of the club,
Running at least 8 cars even on this small circuit.
I have found Patto place Porsche 996, and BmW Z4 GT3 bodies will fit the Mag chassis, so modern race car bodies as well as the classics from Wes.

We have 1 booking with a Automotive engineering company already for a race night at their premises, and hope to go from their to a major automotive OEM's Design and Engineering center to run a charity event, which should get so coverage of the MAGRACING cars.

P.S. Our 1/24th portable track is going to the biggest Slotcar event in Europe again this year which is held at The Heritage Museum at Gaydon UK (8,000 visitors last year). That where we need to take MAGRACING to get some exposure.

So watch this space to see the progress of the new Pinewood Model car racing Non Slot future.

Food for thought

Nigel Barrow

Yes! We want too se the progress.
There are a different with MagRacing than R/C or Slotracing.

Its Easy, Enjojyable and Fun!
Its take a wild for a new man (or woman) to master it. but as OldSlotRacer tell us, it will be serius!

I am very intrested in building tracks, there must be more secrets to find out. How will we reach to the people?

Nigel,

Great to see you making progress with your track and kudos for track owner like yourself and Keid for being ambassadors of the sport. I believe it's apparent simplicity and relative low entry cost will be what can be its main attraction.

While most of the people on this or any slot forum are willing to spend a great deal of money on our hobbies, the average 10year old with a marginally interested parent is not and this is where the sport must go to grow. I know Wes feels this Magracing to be aimed at the dedicated home hobbiest and not commercial shops, and this is indeed who will be constructing most of the tracks, but whether it captures the interest and imagination of casual racing fans both young and old will be the real test of whether it will grow beyond just a niche market. This will require existing hobby shop owners such as yourself to provide a track as many do not have the skill or space to build a track.

To do so it must remain relatively simple in its technical aspects and will have to remain affordable in its entry cost. It would definitely help to have additional body styles available to fit the existing chassis and possibly an adjustable wheelbase for larger bodies. As you noted many fans are interested in only one form of racing such as rally or NASCAR and this would expand the base of interested racers.

Anyway we appreciate your involvement in the hobby and will be following your track build with interest.