H:O toys? Far from it!

The UK H:O scene as it REALLY is!

If, like me, you are into H:O slot cars, you have to put up with the assumption by everyone else that ‘’these things are toys’’. This is especially galling when the companies that make the cars also make the same assumption!

In fact H:O racing has been around for a number of years, going right back to the Aurora stuff and earlier. Here in the UK the scene has never been very ‘big’, if you will excuse the pun, but a few hard-core organisers have kept things going. There is always the hope that H:O will emerge as the great undiscovered secret, as it has in North America.

So how exactly are these toys made into something that you would not mind racing?

Sort through three of four chassis for the best armature, fit a body like the Silk Cut car one in the picture and you are pretty much there. As with any kind of racing there are lots of little tricks to try to eek out another tenth (or lose yourself in a mass on confusion!)

What really makes H:O work though is not the cars, it’s the facilities. Just as has been done with other scales these babies get to strut there stuff by being raced on tracks way beyond anything you would find in a set or a typical two lane ‘home’ layout. More often than not the clubs in the UK race on tracks over 100’ in length and nearer to 200’. At Norton in Suffolk EAH:ORC build the second largest layouts around and these four-lane monsters are pretty good replicas of tracks such as Monaco, Rockingham UK and Barcelona (photo below, left)). The DH:ORC club in Derby host a 24-hour race on a replica of LeMans. This routed track, at 233’, must be the largest in the world, if not the longest as well. (See top photo)

In addition, the tracks are boosted by fitting one power pack per lane, in fact some clubs use dedicated PSUs to eliminate AC ripple. Power taps are used extensively so that the layouts run smoothly. Lap counters are used, providing lap scores & times down to 100^th of a second. A well tried heats & final format is used, which separates the men from the boys but allows final winners to move up to the next race

In short, everything that ‘proper’ racers would expect is there in H:O in some way. In this way these racers have been taken way beyond toys. However the racing is extremely cheap (a full season could be done on £50, the traveling and accommodation side of things costs far more!), relaxed and with an emphasis on having fun. If you would like to have a go contact Deane Walpole (slots@bglawns.com) who will be happy to help you get started. You don’t actually need to purchase anything to begin with, as club cars & controllers are always available.