Racing Into Fall: Shift Sales Into High Gear with This Season’s Hottest Slot Car Releases

by DAVE KENNEDY, Slot Car Evangelist, Publisher, Slot Car News

Fall is the season when slot car racers can expect the year’s hottest releases from a variety of international manufacturers. This year is promising to be no exception, and retailers should take note of some key sets and single cars to excite seasoned racers while enticing new kids and families to enter the hobby.

Italian slot car brand Slot.It will release what is undoubtedly its most anticipated car of the year with the 510 Datsun. The real car hit the track in 1971, racing in the U.S. during the Trans Am series. The slot car version has been one of the most requested cars in recent years. This release will be in 1:32 scale (the only scale that Slot.It makes) and features a fully race-ready chassis.

The iconic car has a nice set of metal wheels, sticky rubber tires, and a traction magnet, and comes boasting SIMONIZ livery.

Carrera Revell of Americas will release its much anticipated NASCAR collection this fall with four cars at launch, each with the same deco regardless of scale. The 1:32 scale is available in digital and analog formats while the 1:43-scale Carrera GO!!! will feature NASCAR stock cars from Hendrick Motorsports in both sets and single packs.

The release of Carrera’s NASCAR line is notable as it’s the first time in many years that any of the major slot car companies have released officially licensed versions of NASCAR vehicles in the most common scales, 1:32 and 1:43. Carrera Revell expects its products to hit shelves between September and October, just in time for the holidays.

The Spanish brand Scaleauto plans to release a new series of slot cars that features cars that raced in the IROC Series from 1973-1974. This marks the first time that the Porsche 911s that were raced during those years are available as 1:32-scale slot cars. There are no less than a dozen cars set for release, including those driven by legendary drivers including Bobby Unser, AJ Foyt, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Richard Petty among others.
Each car features an adjustable chassis, high-quality metal wheels, and a high-performance motor.

UK-based Hornby Hobbies’ Scalextric brand adds to its slate of movie cars with a special edition 1969 Ford Mustang BOSS 429 inspired by the 2014 film John Wick. The new car follows the success of Scalextric’s recent pop culture hits, including cars and sets inspired by Back to the Future, Knight Rider, Batman, and the James Bond 007 series.

For this release, the company re-purposed the Mustang mold that it’s been using for years, most notably for replicas of cars raced in the Trans Am series. Few of its Mustangs have been produced using street colors to this point, so John Wick’s BOSS 429 should be well received by the hobby community, slot car collectors, and fans of the film series starring Keanu Reeves as the titular character.

In recent years, slot car racing has returned to the mainstream, and with these picks as inspiration, you can build or expand your slot car assortment to spark excitement and sales!