Micro Machines Slot Track Layouts

Get set for micro machines at Argos. Same Day delivery 7 days a week £3.95, or fast store collection. Straight from Micro Machines World Racing we have this super cool workshop-track-thing which is a lot of fun. He had to modify the original track to make it drive-able in AC, since it was packed full of jumps and weird things that just wouldn’t have worked, but I left a couple ramps in there for the bravest drivers 😁.

This ones a bit long but here it goes.

Here’s my reiview of the Tomy Micro Slot Owners slot car set. Okay, not so computer related but very geeky. There seems to be very little information on this particular set of slot cars, so hopefully someone can find this review of use.

Back of box, more attractive then

the front of the box.

A little back story.

I've played with slot cars as long as i can remember. I remember getting slot car sets for Christmas several times. Those were some of my fondest Christmas memories. A few years ago while Christmas shopping, i ran across an actual slot car store (named HOTracks) complete with one large HO scale 6 lane oval, and a wooden 1/24 scale track (i believe it is a standard 'orange' layout) My wife and i started hanging out there a lot and had great times with the owner (Bud Bruce) and the two co-owners (jimie and dwight) One time Bud invited me out to eat, but unfortunately I couldn’t make the appointment. I have a feeling I was going to be asked if I would like to buy into the partnership as well. I amassed a lot of slot cars, controllers tools and other related equipment. The store changed location, and added more tracks including a 1/32nd scale. The 1/32 cars are noted for the accuracy and detail. I really enjoyed going to the tracks, but over time, I got busier and busier with work and life so my trips there became infrequent. Then earlier this year, Bud passed away after short battle with cancer. Last month, the tracks and the business was sold. I haven’t been back to see if the new owner kept it open.

So what’s this go to do with anything? Not much really, other then some background about one of my favorite hobbies, and a lead into this review.

I’ve always love miniaturization of things. Anytime something miniature comes out, I’m the first to line up and buy it. I had some of those tiny RC cars a year before they had them at the mall and Radio Shack. I purchased some of those little helicopters from overseas long before they were carried at wal mart. So when I spotted Tomy’s Micro Slot Car Owners Set, the search was on. I had purchased a used micro machine slot car set a few years ago. They were disappointing. The cars looked hideously deformed. I played with it for a few minutes, then put them away. They didn’t seem all that small and the track still seemed to take up a lot of room. Would these be the same way?

The actual review.

Well I located a set on Ebay. They cost around $80 shipped direct from Hong Kong. The box took about 2 weeks to get here. It was packed well in another box, though the actual product box seemed a little rough and worn. Perhaps it was opened in customs and roughed up. Fortunately the damage was only on the outside.

Contents of the box (the green Audi and White Ford GT are not included and are just there for reference)

Official contents of the box

This set is said to be true HO scale or 1/87th. HO stands for half O. O scale (or O gauge) comes from the model train world. At the time they were made, O was beleved to be the smallest scale of model trains that could be made. Today N scale (1:148 to 1:160) is pretty common and Z scale (1:220) has been available for a long time, but still quite expensive . I haven’t seen anything smaller, but if I do, you can bet, I will be in line to get some.

More important information

The Owners set comes with two cars. The motors in the cars are those little pager style motors just like in the little ZipZap and Bit CharG RC cars. They are well detailed especially for their size. The cars in this set seem to be a little bit of an odd combination. One is the Nissan 350 z. The other car is the ultra rare Toyota 2000GT. The Toyota was only produce from 1967 to 1970. There were less then 350 produced. The Toyota slot car is quite a bit smaller then the 350. I haven’t checked so I can only assume the scale is accurate. It looks close in my guestimate. The Toyota Comes in a nice little plastic display case and the Nissan is just wrapped in a plastic bag with a little protective plastic clip on the bottom. In the pictures I have placed an Auto World X traction Ford GT slot car and a Hot Wheels Audi TT convertible next to this set for comparison. The Ford GT and the Audi TT are both considered HO scale, but as you can see they are much larger then true HO scale. I have also seen the Nissan History set on ebay. It comes with four cars, two controllers and a 2 lane oval track. It sales for around $100.

From left to right, Hot Wheels Audi TT, Auto World Xtraction Ford GT slot car, included Tomy Nissan (Fairlady) 350z, and Tomy Toyota 2000GT

The track comes with 6 short 90 deg. turns, 2 longer 90 deg. turns, 3 straight pieces, 1 squeeze lane (though the lanes don’t come close enough for the cars to touch) and one straight lane for the power feed. The power feed comes from 6 AA batteries and plugs into the track with a USB style plug. Most consumer style tracks come with a plug that is reversible, which allows you to run either direction on the track. The USB plug prevents that. The track snaps together easily and securely and is made to a very high quality. Curiously though, the straight pieces have chamfered sides, and the curves have straight sides but less room on the inside lane. It’s a bit tough to explain, but just look at the pictures. It doesn’t hurt anything, but it makes it look a bit odd as the pieces don’t match where they are snapped together. The track is defiantly smaller then the Micro Machine track.

The controllers look a bit different then the typical pistol grip style trigger, but they still work on a trigger finger control rather then a European style thumb plunger. They also have a small button below the trigger which locks the trigger to the on position. Neat idea but it only locks into the holes in the edge of the trigger, so there is no fine adjustment of how fast you have the cars set.

Now finally, on to the racing. The cars control a lot like the old T-Jet slot cars. For those of you not familiar with them, they were a near HO scale (though closer to hot wheels size) slot car with no traction magnets to hold the car to the track. Yeah, some slot cars have magnets to help hold them on the track. The magnets are attracted to the steel power rails. Some cars even use rare earth magnets for super strong force. Anyway, these have no traction magnets, so you have to be careful through the corners to keep them from spinning off. They offer a very fun vintage race feel. The tires are very narrow yet the cars still accelerate fast and offer more speed then you can use on the supplied track. The 350z is much easier to control then the 2000gt, which I think is mostly because the 350z is wider. For a more fair race, let the 2000gt have the inside/shorter lane and the more controllable 350z have the longer/outside lane. The, when your competitor is not looking, lick the tires. Yeah it’s gross, but will give you an incredible traction advantage in the corners.

I highly recommend purchasing these. Hopefully someday in the near future they will officially sell them in the US and maybe you will be able to buy the additional cars and track separately.

Posted on Friday, July 17, 2009 2:03 PM | Back to top

Micro Machines Slot Track Layouts