Hey guys, understand you being a bit skeptical, but it just could be this is the start of a good new slot car producer.
Looks like they could be testing the water before committing themselves.
Either that or the web site has been launched a bit prematurely.
The web site seems to have been registered in Spain on 14 August 2012 by Paula Fontan Fernandez
New name to me, can anybody tell us more?
Could be anything from one person working at home upwards.
Not quite sure where they fit on the spectrum between models that belong more in a show case than on a track and slot cars designed to appeal to the racers.
It kinda looks genuine, although it's wise to be cautious with contacts you don't know. If you sign up you'll probably get some slot car info. About the worst risk you'd have is getting a little extra spam.
I doubt it's a "Phishing" site - if it was all they'd end up with is a smallish list of e mail addressees which wouldn't be much use to serious scammers.
Having said it kinda looks genuine, that doesn't tell you how good the product quality, customer service, value for money or delivery times may be. Yes of course they may be all excellent, unless a few punters take a bit of a risk are we going to see new producers get off the ground?
Whoever Stark is, they have a lot of chutzpah to ask people to submit personal info (even if it's only an e-mail address) to see, well, nothing. Stark has done nothing to establish their bona fides. What kind of products are they capable of? Who knows. Could be anything, but looks like nothing.
It is quite common for website to ask for visitors to register before dispensing information. Maybe a test of how interested one is? Or a defense against computer phishing,
That being said I usually don't bother, They do have my email though as I sent a suggestion for a car!
I'm going to go with Napoleon on this one... "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." I doubt it is any sort of phising scam, as it is easy enough to use an email alias to get past the prompt. I suspect the owner is following the misguided/ill-formed/uninformed... advice of someone on how to collect sales lead data.
Speaking of the owner, and expanding a bit on Al's previous post, here are the relevant bits from a whois lookup:
Code:
domain: STARK-SLOT.COM
created: 14-Aug-2012
last-changed: 17-Aug-2012
registration-expiration: 14-Aug-2013
nserver: ns63.1and1.es
nserver: ns64.1and1.es
status: CLIENT-TRANSFER-PROHIBITED
registrant-firstname: Paula
registrant-lastname: Fontan Fernandez
registrant-street1: C/ Caldas de Reis
registrant-pcode: 36209
registrant-state: PO
registrant-city: Vigo
registrant-ccode: ES
registrant-phone: +34.695126020
registrant-email: recursos.gestiones.rg@gmail.com
I'm surprised that the web address for this company is still available on the first page; Black Arrow's web address didn't last very long (http://www.slotcarillustrated.com/po...86&postcount=1) - probably because they have something to offer.
Spain has over 25% unemployment, I respect the guys (and dolls) who don't sit on their *** complaining on how bad live treats them but who try to do something about it.
I thought that especially in the US of A that kind of entrepreneurship was highly admired
Well when reading some postings here I guess I am wrong
Sure, entrepreneurship is to be admired, but at least put something out there to excite the prospective customer. All we have here is one more car-popularity poll, with no indication whether these people have the ability to design a functioning or economically viable slot car. We got nothing.
First car will be a rally car, the Jean Ragnotti Renault Clio Maxi from the 1995 Monte Carlo Rally,
said to appear in about two weeks:
Other cars in the Stark Slot pipeline are the Citroen BX 4TC of Jean-Claude Andruet in the 1986
Monte Carlo Rally (below), and Colin McRae's Subaru Legacy RS from the 1992 Swedish Rally.
According to the info info on the slotcar-today blog they will make resin bodies on metal chassis with metal wheels and P/E detailing.
If the body shapes are good and the price level mentioned on other forums, around 50€, holds water, then these cars will sell out like hot cakes in Europe.
While my interest in rally cars is minimal at best, I always like seeing new manufacturers enter the market. I am also interested in what these folks use for a chassis and running gear. 50 Euros is around $63 dollars so even with adding ten or fifteen for the cost of getting them to the US, it is not a bad price for a resin body car with photo etch details. I am assuming these are not kits.
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