C1458M Scalextric Fast and Furious Hot Laps Race Set

I remember my first Scalextric. It was back when tobacco companies were still allowed to advertise and they sponsored Formula 1 racing. I had the black John Player Special (Lotus) and a red Marlboro (McLaren) and I spent many an hour taking up the front room and racing with my dad, much to the delight of the cats also! So, is it any wonder I was dead chuffed to get to review this little beauty?

The Fast and The Furious series is, without argument, the longest-running movie franchise where the focus is cars and racing with them and so, inevitably, Scalextric were bound to get involved at some point! And they’ve really nailed it with the two cars in this set. You get Dom Toretto’s iconic black Dodge Challenger (I just love the miniature Vin Diesel in this one!) and Brian O’Connor’s orange Toyota Supra with the cool iconography on the sides, both from the first movie. The level of detail on these cars is amazing, far beyond what I experienced as a lad (unsurprising, it was a looong time ago and plastic moulding technology has vastly improved!) and there’s plenty to appreciate. They’ve even made the effort to get the number plates right. A small detail but immensely pleasing.

From the actual ‘playing the game’ point of view, Scalextric have kept up with the times and there is an app you can get that tracks the cars as they race. There are several game modes you can select and you simply place your device on the cardboard gantry (that’s the only disappointing aspect of this kit, why not a more sturdy plastic?) and start up the game made, the app will track the cars through motion detection. A massive improvement on the old lap tracker I had to deal with which just clicked over from 0-9 when the cars moved over the clicker! If you haven’t experienced Scalextric before, give it a go, especially if you have young kids, they will love it and the cars make this one worth getting all by themselves. RRP £159.99

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