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''Note: this article concerns slot car racing competition. For information on the general slot car hobby, including more detailed coverage of history, scales, track-types and mechanical functioning, see slot car''. Slot car racing (also called slotcar racing or slot racing) is the competitive hobby of racing with powered miniature autos (or other vehicles) which are guided by grooves or slots in the track on which they run. Slot cars are usually models of actual automobiles, though some have bodies purpose-designed for miniature racing. Most enthusiasts use commercially available slot cars (often modified for better performance), others motorize static models, and some "scratch-build," creating their own mechanisms and bodies from basic parts and materials. Slot car racing ranges from casual get-togethers at home tracks, using whatever cars the host makes available, to very serious competitions in which contestants painstakingly build or modify their own cars for maximum performance and compete in a series of races culminating in a national championship. Some hobbyists, much as in model railroading, build elaborate tracks, sculpted to have the appearance of a real-life racecourse, including miniature buildings, trees and people, while the more purely competitive racers often prefer a track unobstructed by scenery. Slot car racing was a popular fad in the 1960s, with sales reaching $500 million annually, including 3,000 public courses in the United States alone. The fad sputtered out by the start of the 1970s as amateurs felt squeezed out at races and stayed home.〔Spurgeon, Bard. ("Racing for Laps, and We Don't Mean Santa's: The Slot-Car Revival" ), ''The New York Times'', December 27, 1996. Accessed July 27, 2009. "Still, like kids of all ages, I was thoroughly enjoying the 1990s revival of a 1960s fad: slot-car racing.... During its heyday, the slot-car racing industry was a $500-million-a-year business."〕 ==Common slot car scales== There are three common slotcar scales used for competition: # 1:24 scale or 1/24, cars are the largest slot cars commonly raced. A typical 1:24 car might be 7 to 8 inches long (18–20 cm). 1:24 cars require a course so relatively large as to be impractical for many home enthusiasts, so most serious 1:24 racing is done at commercial or club tracks. # 1:32 scale or 1/32, cars are smaller and more suited to home-sized race courses but they are also widely raced on commercial tracks, in hobby shops or in clubs. A 1:32 car averages 5 to 6 inches (13–15 cm). # HO scale, a generalized size, originally 1:76-1:87, now usually closer to 1:64 scale. Cars vary in size, running from 1:87 (generally the older cars) to 1:64 in scale; but they all run on track of approximately the same width, and are generically referred to as HO slot cars. A typical car is from 2.5 to 3.5 inches (5.5–8 cm). Though there is HO racing on commercial and shop-tracks, probably most HO racing occurs on home racetracks. In addition to the major scales, 1:43 in 2006 slot car sets are generally marketed as children's toys. So far, there is little organized competition in 1:43, but the scale is gaining some acceptance among adult hobbyists for its affordability and moderate space requirements. An average car would be 4.3" (10.9 cm). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「slot car racing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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