The summer heat is on and it shows up the hottest in my little studio as the new Auto World X-Traction Series 8 cars are being unwrapped. This release is somewhat unique, in that, there are no new body styles with this run. HOWEVER, Auto World did several cool new things in this batch. Stirring in a pinch of Pow and a generous sprinkling of new parts and icing the the cake with some really eyeball snaring paint, the dough has risen and the biscuits, Baby, are ready to serve! So here, hot out of the Auto World oven: X-Traction Release #8!

We have six new cars, three of which are new toolings and three are new paint schemes on previous releases. All look great and will make welcome additions to track and collections. The three new bodies are; a Ford GT40 MkII, a VW Karmann Ghia and a Buick Riviera. The three new paint schemes are on the AMC AMX, Dodge 330 and the racing version of the ‘68 Camaro.

I know I have asked the question, “What could be better than a BIG AFX racing set?” And the answer was the GIANT set. That still holds true, but what’s even MORE better (bad grammar included!) is the Super International set!!!! Not only do you get a ton of track, but you also get 4 extremely cool Mega-G open wheel cars and all the goodies to build 18 different tracks! You heard that right pilgrim, 18 different layouts that reflect some of the great F-1 courses around the world. And all of them in FOUR LANES! Let’s get out of the pits and take the full tour of this great set.

Today, boys and girls, we are going to take a look at the new AFX Super Coupes race set. This is the newest release by AFX and is available at your local hobby shops or by the Internet. This is also the first set from AFX to include the new Mega-G 1.5 chassis under the cars.

Wow! The guys at AFX did it again! We finally have the Mega-G 1.5 available and ready to race. It was worth the wait! Now we get all the slick new performance numbers we saw in the MG1.7 in a shorter wheelbase version. There are some other major changes so stay tuned as we take a good, long look over this new speed demon from AFX!

Well, here we are, coming to the end of the year, the weather’s turning cold and the season is right for setting up the slot car track and shaking off the cold with a few hot laps. Just in time for all this wintery indoor activity, Auto World has released the second series of their very popular “Racing Rigs”. This time around they added the Peterbilt semi truck and dump truck, along with a new trailer design with a new rear door layout and a depressed center. Lots of detail this time too. These make a really nice addition to the previously released GMC Astro 95.

When you get down to it, nothing compares to the grit and competition level of bullring dirt track racing. The cars are close, cool to watch and on the verge of being out of control, drifting through the turns, wheel to wheel, with a rooster tail of dust trailing behind them. Life-Like Racing has added this exciting category of racing to their already successful line of NASCAR themed slot cars. These new Outlaw Sprint cars come fully decked out with front and top wings, nerf bars and roll cages, along with some brightly colored, eye catching paint schemes. These might just be the motivation for me to paint a track brown and start building some catch fences....

Gentleman...Start your engines!!!! Yes, that’s the official call just before it all breaks loose on the pavement. Race tracks all across the country now host NASCAR Sprint Cup racing and the flash, speed and glory that goes along with it. Life-Like has captured that atmosphere with their NASCAR licensed Fast-Tracker cars and race sets. Today we are going to take a look at the High Speed Rivals race set, one of many offering Life-Like has brought out this year.

Saturday night and everyone has come to the bullring to watch the local gladiators fight it out in the mechanical steeds, dirt flying, fenders crunching! A loud pounding crunch and as the cloud of dust settles only one warrior is left running, the challengers doomed to the crusher if they are beyond repair! Across our great country these events are a Summer weekend staple in most towns or tracks nearby. Local competitors build and test their best ideas in the racing world’s version of Survivor.