In this video I have a play with the 1979 Matchbox Race N Chase slot car set, part of the Matchbox Powertrack series. Did you ask for this for Xmas 1979?
I had this and was an only child as well. I spent my days perfecting the jump bridge. So no memory of lane change. Thank you so much for this video, the memories it brought back were priceless! 👍
I loved my Race & Chase and wore it out after many happy hours of play. A few years ago, I found out that the later 9 volt Matchbox slot cars run perfectly well on modern Micro Scalextric track, so after a little work, I've got the cars back up and running again.
Great video, brought back many good memories. I received this Christmas '79, my parents bought it from the local Co-Op, it was the only place that had it in. The big problem was the pick ups, which seemed to wear out very quickly, and none of the local toy shops seemed to have the replacements in, so I had to wait to wait until we went to the model shops in Preston to get replacements. The cars didn't handle great compared with Aurora AFX and even new the 'U' turn function was a bit 'iffy'. The problem was that the peg which ran in the slot was a bit tight, and would therefore bind. A very gentle sanding with a bit of fine sandpaper made this work much better, but you still had the problem of wearing the contacts out very quickly, and the contacts not having any current during the 'U' turn, so the momentum had to be just right to make it work. Like you, had loads of problems with the bridge, and the contacts for the rails in the bridge were unreliable and wore out quickly. I wonder if the power to the rails in the bridge were only carried from the edges rather than a central point, so the rails lost power when the bridge was rotating? Maybe that was why it was a problem. Also, took a long time to get the car to land reliably on the track, again the peg was such a tight fit in the slot with my set it rarely landed correctly,
yeah so the bridge only gets its power when the rails on it are making contact with the main track, as soon as it starts to "tip" and the contact is broken the rails lose power until they fall down and make contact the other side, which with a slow moving "sticky" car, makes for a frustrating experience!
When this track was new the u turn features work flawlessly. The bridge takes some practice to master. I replaced the bridge with a straight piece of track cause i thought all that jumping was hard on the cars. Overall one of my favorite toys/gifts ever. Nice review mate.
Still have mine I’m 52 ,, remember being cheesed off Xmas day as it came with a green 911 not a corvette,, frustrating toy , getting the connections to connect was a nightmare , hours of fun tho when it worked
I have always wanted this but looking at it the track seems to be smooth as opposed to the textured finish that tcr track has for grip. Perhaps there is a build up of tyre residue on the surface and it needs cleaning. Perhaps all the sets grip came from the tire material and the track being slippy enables the u-turn - but the tires grip kind of puts paid to that idea. The bridge fulcrum could do with oiling and the cars axles etc being freer will always help - but that you know. I hope you get it going but I always heard it was a pain. TCR is the same - it works great but half the time your nudging cats to life.
When this came out my dad tried everywhere to get a set for xmas, but demand was so high all the shops were either sold-out or reserved long before. Some of my mates got this for xmas, I ended up with the biggest TCR set with 4 cars. A fun thing to do was to put the jumping bridge on the bottom, then try to jump at the other car over head.
Had this when I was a kid... if I recall, the instructions talked about how if you supposedly go fast enough it won't tip over the bridge. I also remember sometimes the bridge would get stuck and not go all the way down (may have needed some lubrication). Couple thoughts that may impact performance 1) since your back tires were so bad, probably the front ones are as well, maybe see if can replace those too? 2) I saw you briefly mentioned/showed the track cleaning tool it came with, did you try that and I also believe was recommended to clean the bottom metal contacts on the cars with a pencil eraser.
The track cleaning tool is essentialy a metal scraper that removes the top layer of track if pressed hard enough, i didint fancy using it too vigorously
Had this, but mine arrived with another car, the one shown at bottom right at 1:05 not the Corvette. On Christmas day the police car got stuck between the crook's car and the bridge, and the lights never worked again. Kept having the sand the car runners to get them to contact the track rails, as they wore a groove which meant a poor electrical connection. I don't think I ever jumped the bridge and got the car to land in its slot. The track pieces were very brittle and repeated assembly/disassembly saw several of the lugs break off.
someone commented similar, sounds like some issues at the factory that month! your experience is similar to mine 40+ years later - thanks for watching and sharing your experience
Ah the nostalgia of these old sets. I can’t remember this set back in the day an I was born in 1968 but I remember the tcr set . Another excellent vid bud 😊 !! Greetings Portsmouth England 🏴
All these sets are just slightly before my time period, I was alerted to scalextric around the mid eighties with grand prix and pole position etc, I am enjoying these look backs! Thanks for watching
I have the same set that I bought used, so I know what you're going through Lol. I guess it worked better when it was new. One of my favorite things about this set is the borders. I wish the current HO manufacturers would include borders in their sets, or even produce them!
😃I remember getting this for Christmas one year the figure eight circuit wasn’t very good I preferred to just make a oval circuit much better loads more fun my friend also had one with the vw golf mk1 I think it was we used to put both tracks together and make the biggest oval circuit with the longest straights with or without the bridge super fast fun for hours
@@slot-car-dad What I'm really looking for is the 'Micro Machines Race in a Case' racing set.. it was a briefcase slot car track that had micro machines slot cars in it... you open the case and fold it flat, and there's a whole slot car set inside that was a full-on diorama... I've never seen one in person (only on TV) and they weren't on the market very long
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I had this and was an only child as well. I spent my days perfecting the jump bridge. So no memory of lane change. Thank you so much for this video, the memories it brought back were priceless! 👍
Thanks for watching, glad it brought back some memories
I was lucky enough to have one of these and I LOVED it :-)
Thanks for watching and sharing your experience :)
I loved my Race & Chase and wore it out after many happy hours of play. A few years ago, I found out that the later 9 volt Matchbox slot cars run perfectly well on modern Micro Scalextric track, so after a little work, I've got the cars back up and running again.
Great video, brought back many good memories. I received this Christmas '79, my parents bought it from the local Co-Op, it was the only place that had it in. The big problem was the pick ups, which seemed to wear out very quickly, and none of the local toy shops seemed to have the replacements in, so I had to wait to wait until we went to the model shops in Preston to get replacements. The cars didn't handle great compared with Aurora AFX and even new the 'U' turn function was a bit 'iffy'. The problem was that the peg which ran in the slot was a bit tight, and would therefore bind. A very gentle sanding with a bit of fine sandpaper made this work much better, but you still had the problem of wearing the contacts out very quickly, and the contacts not having any current during the 'U' turn, so the momentum had to be just right to make it work.
Like you, had loads of problems with the bridge, and the contacts for the rails in the bridge were unreliable and wore out quickly. I wonder if the power to the rails in the bridge were only carried from the edges rather than a central point, so the rails lost power when the bridge was rotating? Maybe that was why it was a problem. Also, took a long time to get the car to land reliably on the track, again the peg was such a tight fit in the slot with my set it rarely landed correctly,
yeah so the bridge only gets its power when the rails on it are making contact with the main track, as soon as it starts to "tip" and the contact is broken the rails lose power until they fall down and make contact the other side, which with a slow moving "sticky" car, makes for a frustrating experience!
When this track was new the u turn features work flawlessly. The bridge takes some practice to master. I replaced the bridge with a straight piece of track cause i thought all that jumping was hard on the cars. Overall one of my favorite toys/gifts ever. Nice review mate.
I think the contacts under the cars have become too pitted and grooved to make a perfect connection when they u turn which is a shame.
such fond memories
Thanks for watching
Still have mine I’m 52 ,, remember being cheesed off Xmas day as it came with a green 911 not a corvette,, frustrating toy , getting the connections to connect was a nightmare , hours of fun tho when it worked
I guess they ran out of corvettes at the factory?? Thanks for watching
man i remember playing with this with my grandma
you had a cool grandma :) thanks for watching
I loved the heck out of this as a kid. I still have my old one and have another never used or taken out of the box. Thanks for doing this
No problem thanks for watching
I used to have Race 'n' Chase and Matchbox Power Track as a kid! So many good memories of myself and my dad playing this for hours on end.
Thanks for watching, enjoy the memories!
I have 2 of these sets. Interesting in selling this one?Awesome review review by the way.
Thanks!
I have always wanted this but looking at it the track seems to be smooth as opposed to the textured finish that tcr track has for grip. Perhaps there is a build up of tyre residue on the surface and it needs cleaning. Perhaps all the sets grip came from the tire material and the track being slippy enables the u-turn - but the tires grip kind of puts paid to that idea. The bridge fulcrum could do with oiling and the cars axles etc being freer will always help - but that you know. I hope you get it going but I always heard it was a pain. TCR is the same - it works great but half the time your nudging cats to life.
Thanks for watching
When this came out my dad tried everywhere to get a set for xmas, but demand was so high all the shops were either sold-out or reserved long before. Some of my mates got this for xmas, I ended up with the biggest TCR set with 4 cars.
A fun thing to do was to put the jumping bridge on the bottom, then try to jump at the other car over head.
childhood ingenuity at its finest! thanks for watching :)
Had this when I was a kid... if I recall, the instructions talked about how if you supposedly go fast enough it won't tip over the bridge. I also remember sometimes the bridge would get stuck and not go all the way down (may have needed some lubrication). Couple thoughts that may impact performance 1) since your back tires were so bad, probably the front ones are as well, maybe see if can replace those too? 2) I saw you briefly mentioned/showed the track cleaning tool it came with, did you try that and I also believe was recommended to clean the bottom metal contacts on the cars with a pencil eraser.
The track cleaning tool is essentialy a metal scraper that removes the top layer of track if pressed hard enough, i didint fancy using it too vigorously
Had this, but mine arrived with another car, the one shown at bottom right at 1:05 not the Corvette. On Christmas day the police car got stuck between the crook's car and the bridge, and the lights never worked again. Kept having the sand the car runners to get them to contact the track rails, as they wore a groove which meant a poor electrical connection. I don't think I ever jumped the bridge and got the car to land in its slot.
The track pieces were very brittle and repeated assembly/disassembly saw several of the lugs break off.
someone commented similar, sounds like some issues at the factory that month! your experience is similar to mine 40+ years later - thanks for watching and sharing your experience
Ah the nostalgia of these old sets. I can’t remember this set back in the day an I was born in 1968 but I remember the tcr set . Another excellent vid bud 😊 !! Greetings Portsmouth England 🏴
All these sets are just slightly before my time period, I was alerted to scalextric around the mid eighties with grand prix and pole position etc, I am enjoying these look backs! Thanks for watching
Could be due to the friction of the new tires (the older “dried” up ones could have been given a shot before you took them off, but who knows)
Where tyres degrade like that you get zero traction on the track, they are too hard to grip the plastic , thanks for watching 👀
I have the same set that I bought used, so I know what you're going through Lol. I guess it worked better when it was new. One of my favorite things about this set is the borders. I wish the current HO manufacturers would include borders in their sets, or even produce them!
lots of people speak highly of the set, so i am guessing the brand new experience must have been different!
😃I remember getting this for Christmas one year the figure eight circuit wasn’t very good I preferred to just make a oval circuit much better loads more fun my friend also had one with the vw golf mk1 I think it was we used to put both tracks together and make the biggest oval circuit with the longest straights with or without the bridge super fast fun for hours
Thanks for watching and sharing your memories
Rad!
Thanks for watching
I had this!!!!
Did it work better than my one back in the day?
@@slot-car-dad yes it did… but I was an only child so I didn’t get to play with it as much as I wanted
I guess it really does need 2 people to make the most of it, otherwise like i found your just driving up to a bridge and turning round a lot :)
@@slot-car-dad What I'm really looking for is the 'Micro Machines Race in a Case' racing set.. it was a briefcase slot car track that had micro machines slot cars in it... you open the case and fold it flat, and there's a whole slot car set inside that was a full-on diorama... I've never seen one in person (only on TV) and they weren't on the market very long
@@slot-car-dad th-cam.com/video/e7b7VO8qxLE/w-d-xo.html