Ok folks.....

Back in the late-late-late 60's my father bought and built, on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, an electric racing car set. Small cars, screwed down the, track, etc, etc.

LOVED IT!!!

Small cars so.....? The name and/or brand escapes me. HO scale??? Can't remember. Might have been the only type back then???

Looking to build the same thing for my 8yo grandson for Christmas this year. Was even thinking 8'x8'(2 sheets of plywood) and easily detachable for transport and/or storage. Might be a bit much.

Questions.....

Is 8yo too young for something that is quite "delicate" and or "easily breakable(cars, etc).

The kid is, just like we were at that age, either a knucklehead or a bonehead. Is there a difference?

And on a side note, not that I'm not one now.

Any thoughts on "just go" 4'x 8' and add 32 square feet more next year? Leaning towards 4' x 8'.

Any thoughts/recommendations on types/brands?

Would wanna build it at my house and figure out how to transport it Christmas day to his house "IF" Christmas is at his/their house.

Tyco?? brand? For the race cars.
HO scale was a size of train set universe with the train cars about yay high just under 3 inches?

I dont have the answer to your questions, but I sure enjoyed my black and gold trans am electric race car when I was a kid. I dont remember how old I was, but my Dad monitored it. So maybe if your son keeps an eye on things it will be ok.

Back when I was young, it was slot cars. Electric track. Track had a 'slot' in the middle, and the slot under the car fit in the track slot.

So much fun. 4'x 8' might be a good starting point. Maybe even just an oval.

However, 'slot cars' have evolved, to........? So, I don't know what to tell you.

TTT,

Just from my Gpa experience, I think you are good if he is a well behaved 8 year old. But man, to be honest, I wouldn't make it that big. Save that until he's like 12-13 then build it together if he takes interest in a smaller one. 4x8 takes up quite a bit of space, especially if he doesn't use it much. And I'm in no way criticizing you, this is me sharing a bit of been there, done that.

Great, so you DO like electric cars...

Hey, it's your money and your grandchild so in the end I think you should do what you feel is right. One thing I feel I would consider is how far would I be willing to go in order to "find out" if an eight year old would like it and take care of it?

That's pretty young to expect a child to care for something with such a big investment. I was about 6 when I got my first train set. I didn't take very good care of it at 6.

The actual size of the cars is determined by the scale of them. Here is an example of a 1/43 set which means the cars are pretty small.

https://www.carreraslots.com/slot-car/62...AiABEgKnY_D_BwE

Here is an example of a 1/64 set.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/rla-s...BCABEgJ7yPD_BwE

The recommended age for this set is 14 and up.

Better be looking for a track now, when I went to buy one for my daughter a few years ago they were really hard to find. Cars were pretty easy to find after we went through the first two. Almost any hobby store had them.

Now she is 16 and driving on her own, the track just sits in its box in the basement.

Tyco and Aurora (AFX)..

Tyco was the more well known suppliers, the tracks snapped together.

Aurora early tracks were pinned together.

I spent many hours at the 4 x 8 sheet. 50 feet of track, no advantage insider or outside lane. Engineering at a youths finest.

It is without question my fondest memory of my youth. I am your age as well.

Type in slot car race sets in Amazon, and your wish will be granted.

I liked the Tyco track and AFX race cars.

AFX Set for 4 x 8 sheet

If you live anywhere near Hilliard/Grove City I might be able to help with a track if my daughter will let it go, which shouldn’t be a problem.

When I was a kid we had these cars with zip pulls that you would rip out to make them go really fast. (and occasionally threaten a finger or 2)

When I was a young teen we would go to a track in Rocky River. It had a large wooden track...probably a few hundred feet long (or seemed to my aging recall) on the inside of the building. The cars were probably near a foot or so in length.

I wish I could remember the name of the place or recall what scale the cars might have been. Maybe some of you enthusiasts can help with the scale...1/8th maybe?? It was a lot of fun. Seemed you could race 6 or more cars at a time. There was an attendant or two on the inside of the track to clean up wrecks on the banked turns and at the cross overs.

I still have two boxes of track and a few dozen cars. Use to use them in my childhood, and kept them and used them with my kids. Now waiting to see if my grandaughters will want to play with them in a few years.

I had an AFX set as a kid and it contained plastic bleachers with speakers in them that was supposed to simulate engine noise. It looked really cool but the sound was very similar radio static so eventually I quit hooking them up.

I did love the cars that had working headlights. I know the Tyco cars also worked on my AFX track.

Just a general observation: Seems many like slot car racing yet don't seem to like real auto racing all that much.

To me real auto racing is just like golf. Fun to do, boring to watch.

Watching cars drive in a circle for two plus hours is mind numbing. I’ll watch golf… or paint dry instead.