Forum Tuttoslot.it

With all due respect to all and until any earlier proof is submitted, the origins of slot car racing are the March 22, 1938 US patent # 2112072 obtained by Albert E. Cullen where the track, car and power were clearly devised and are virtually identical to that of... today's systems. Unfortunately the patent models did not survive.

As far as cars, the first practical slot car was built by Charles Woodland in 1949 and still exists today. It is illustrated in the Greenslade book and "Built with Passion" by Jeff Davies. There are earlier cars built by a Spaniard fellow in 1940, of which one has survived, but the intent was quite different and I would classify it as novelty rather than the actual intent of racing between competitive models around a track, which was Woodland's true intent. Why did the Brits kept the rail-racing format introduced in 1912 by Lionel, perpetuated by Marklin and Fleishmann in the 1930's remains a mystery. Woodland's car was more advanced than anything else produced long after, that is until the MRRC bits, then when Scalextric detonated their bomb on Christmas 1957.

The first commercial slot cars were made by Lionel (USA) and appeared in their catalogues from 1912,[5] drawing power from a toy train rail sunk in a trough or wide slot between the rails.[6] They were surprisingly similar to modern slot cars, but independent speed control was available only as an optional extra. Production was discontinued after 1915. Sporadically over the next forty years, several other electrically powered commercial products came and went.[7] Although a patent was registered as far back as March 1936 for a slot car,

until the late 1950s, nearly all powered toy vehicles were guided by raised rails, either at the wheels (railroad-style), or at the lane center, or edge.
By the late 1930s, serious craftsmen/hobbyists were racing relatively large (1:16 - 1:18 scale) model cars powered by small internal combustion engines,[9][10] originally with spark-ignition, later with glow plug engines. For guidance, the cars were clamped to a single center rail, or tethered from the center of a circular track, then they were started and let go for timed runs. There was no driver control of either the speed or steering, so "gas car" racing was largely a mechanic's hobby.[1][1] In the 1940s hobbyists in Britain began to experiment with controllable electric cars using handbuilt motors,[11] and in the 1950s using the small model train motors that had become available.[12] In 1954, the Southport Model Engineering Society in the U.K. was challenged by a patent-holder for using rail-guided gas-car exhibitions to raise funds,[13] so, as a replacement, the members constructed an electric racecourse, a groundbreaking 6-lane layout nearly 60 feet long, for 1:32 rail-guided cars, which is widely considered to be progenitor of electric rail- and slot-racing. In 1955-56, several clubs in the U.K. and U.S., inspired by the Southport layout,[14] were also racing electric cars guided by center rails, and soon after, by slots in the track surface.[15] The term "slot car" was coined to differentiate these from the earlier "rail cars".[16] As the member-built club layouts proliferated, the relative advantages of rail and slot were debated for several years, but the obtrusive appearance of the rails and their blocking of the car's rear wheels when sliding through corners were powerful disadvantages.[17] New clubs increasingly chose the slot system. By 1963, even the pioneer rail-racing clubs had begun to switch to slots.[18]

Very early Scalextric slot car models in 1:30 scale, circa 1957. These metal-bodied racers were electrified versions of Scalex clockwork cars, and are among the first commercially-offered slot cars of the modern era. They represent the Maserati F250 (left) and the Ferrari 375 Grand Prix cars.
In 1957, Minimodels (UK) converted its Scalex 1:30 (later, 1:32) clockwork racers to electricity, creating the famous Scalextric line of slot-guided models,[19] and Victory Industries (UK) introduced the VIP line,[20][21] both companies eventually using the new plastic-molding technologies to provide controllable slot racers with authentic bodies in 1:32 scale for the mass market. Both lines included versatile sectional track for the home racer - or the home motorist; VIP produced sports cars and accessories slanted toward a "model roadways" theme,[22] while Scalextric more successfully focused on Grand Prix racing.[23]