AFX Giant Raceway

From Slot Cars

Back in 2011 when I first started in HO slot cars I bought an AFX 24 Hour Champions set. It was a nice start, but I quickly learned having a slot car set on the floor requires frequent dusting, provides a poor view of the cars, and generally involved more crawling around on the floor than I enjoyed. I had ordered an AFX Giant Raceway which also needed a 8' by 4' space to fully set up, which I didn't have available on an elevated space. Not wanting to miss out on the 'big' experience, and not having the gusto to set up such an intricate set on the floor for a short term layout, I shelved it and set up a Life-Like Stock Car Thunder set; this set became my long term layout which is still up today.

From Slot Cars

Finally this year, having cleaned up the basement for Christmas, I have some free space, and a large 8' by 4' sheet of foam I purchased for some N scale railroading. Time to try out the Giant!

It took a while to set up, a few decorative rocks to tweak the heights so the car drivers don't lose their heads, and quite a bit of testing and tweaking the many feet of seams, twists, and turns to get running smoothly. As such I certainly wouldn't recommend this as a 'first' set lest one get discouraged, but once set up it is quite amazing. With some extra landscaping pieces from my collection of HO scenery, and the included pit and grandstand displays which are a nice extra touch, this set has certainly lived up to my expectations.