Soul Made: Jarel-Built Slot Car Tracks
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- Racing is one of the most expensive and exclusive sports, but there are ways of democratizing the experience with a little bit of imagination and some space in the basement for a slot car track.
In this episode of Soul Made, we sit down with Mark Jarel as he explains how (and more importantly, why) he became a custom slot car track builder. A longtime motorsport enthusiast, as well as a frequent participant-racing cars and motorcycles on circuits, lake beds, and drag strips-Mark was also introduced to woodworking and a general DIY attitude from a young age thanks to his father’s cabinetry business. The requisite skills and subject matter interest was there, but it wasn’t until Mark’s own son found a box of old slot cars that Mark started down the track building path.
Growing up, Mark and his older brother would use a snap-together set to race around the Christmas tree, but the tracks that Mark builds today are much more than a set of pine needle covered plastic curves plugged into an outlet. Rather than slot car racing, Mark thinks of the hobby as scale racing, and the worlds he builds reflects this ideology.
The handmade, routed tracks that Mark creates are more like functional miniatures than pure plaything, with great care taken to construct realistic scenery, borrowing elements from the world’s great motorsport locations and combining them into unique but familiar scenes. What starts out as a few planks of particle board and a sketchpad leads to something much greater than the sum of its materials.
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Like 4 people in my neighborhood had tracks (including my house/my parents) we would all go to a different house and race on their track each weekend. Each bring our box with cars and parts in them ready to go. I’m talking these tracks took up full rooms in our basements and had digital timing systems, the tracks had large power supplies with jumper wires going to different sections of the track because the tracks were so long. My parents still have their track in the basement and we still race on it, it’s a four lane track. About 18 years ago we used to go to an actual business that had two large tracks and one drag strip slot car tracks. I would race wing cars that did 70mph at 12 years old. The drag cars were soo much fun too and my dad held the record at the place. He had a blue Willys that did 88mph in under 30 feet. I think just the motors in some of the wing cars and drag cars could cost like $300, dad would say “don’t tell mom!” lol. Very fun stuff. Thank for the video.
In the 70s, I enjoyed the mass produced versions from Tyco and AFX. Good times and memories. Yours are a work of art!
Ah yes!!! I always asked my parents for race tracks for Christmas....i remember Aurora came out with a race track that had built in racing motor sound effects!!!
@@digidrum2003
Do you remember the one from Ideal Toy Co? They called it TCR - total control racing. Allowed you to change lanes! Sadly, I never had that version, but still enjoyed standard slot cars.
@@StrictlyPlinking Oh man...i forgot about that one!!!! I never had one either....awesome times we had back in the 70's!!!!
Thank you sir.
You can still buy them, worth it.
I love your track. I have a 4 lane HO track in my basement. I started collecting when I was a teen. I am 55 now I always wanted to set up a permanent layout as soon as I purchased a house that had a large enough basement. Now I have that house it's almost finished My wife has been very enthusiastic about it and even gives her opinions and ideas for it. I have about 200 cars in my collection. Thanks for posting your video and don't ever stop racing.
What a great story! It's very gratifying to see someone following their passion.
Very cool brings back my youth memories. I still have a box full of cars and controllers, this makes me dream again about it. Thank you
Now THAT is not a slot car track, but a labor of love. It warms my heart that so many despite the onslaught of video games and the next NFS or Forza, still go old school with racing! That is a beautiful and classic track!! I collect slot cars and tracks, but never could get my boys into it. But I at least know that this isn't just for "old men with money". I wish more would embrace slot cars again. It would bring back affordability and access to a wider audience.
But I got to say, outstanding work!!!! Hope more see this and are inspired to pick up their old tracks or buy another track for themselves, or their children.
In 1967 I started my engineering apprenticeship at Ronson products in The UK. At the start I had no idea that a group of employees had started a slot car club with a huge six lane circuit they erected two or three evenings a month in the dining room. I already had my scalextric track at home but this new episode in my life set me on the road to a wonderful learning journey. Soon I was building “bat wing” chassis and rewinding my race motors. I even made a horse shoe hand controller and figured out how to reverse polarity to apply brakes when my thumb was lifted. My pride and joy was a 1/32 mini with 4 wheel drive (no steering though). As I approach my 70th year I still find a fascination in the art of slot car building and racing; when I get a rare chance ! Fantastic video, thanks.
Thank you
Slot cars are timeless and know no age or time limit. And it's great even our eldest are still keeping the passion going!!!
Similar to my story. I built a four lane routed raceway in my parents' basement back in '71-'72. Fond memories.
He said it. This is not slot car racing, it’s scale model racing! Awesome! Perhaps model railroading will come back too. MRR requires the same type of creative imagination and modeling skills / desires. What this enthusiast is doing is helping to bring back an almost lost hobby genre. Very cool!
Thank you sir.
i use to race slot cars at one time and am a N-scale model railroader now and the hobby is still around. Tks for this video
Hello, Mark. Coming across someone with a similar life path as mine, is a rare occurrence. My dad took me drag racing and slot car racing in the early 60's, after turning a local food store into a multi-track operation. Went go-kart racing in 1971, built my B Gas dragster in 73. Began road racing in 1981, AFM North and South (750 SS & F II) and raced thru 85, then got my AMA pro card in 84 to race superbikes.
I went thru three years of AFM monthly flyers last night to see if I could find your name, and when you were racing, ..possible you were a few years behind me. Currently working in collaboration with friends to design a routed slot car track.. Thanks for tips..
Well, my father "gifted" me a four lane tack when I was one (!) year old in 1970.
When my first kid was one himself, I took it out from the basement and fully restored it... now, 15 years and another son later, the four 1968's Lotus "cigars" cars are still roaring around. So you know, this is not kids' toy, it is a serious family affair... hopefully they will keep the tradition
Watching your video brings back nothing but great memories from when I was a kid your tracks are phenomenal and inspirational absolutely astonishing
I got a little set just this Christmas. It was a micro-Scalectrix James Bond set. Then, I go a Carrera GO set, a little bigger scale. Then, I got hooked! I then bought a few SCX 1/32 scale analog sets and a bunch of used track. Then I got more cars, and more cars and more track and more cars and more cars and more track. I’m not so into the scenery as just clean ramps, bridges and overpasses, minimal, modern and futuristic. Cut out of corrugated plastic and assembled with hot glue. Tremendous fun to design and create. And the cars! Oh, how I love the cars. Scalectrix, Carrera, Revoslot, NSR, Fly, slot it, SCX just to name the big companies and there are many more. Well made, with details you can really get into. I have a billionaire’s garage in my cellar. I have eight Porsche 918 Spyders. Close to one hundred cars in all, and I started THIS Christmas. Careful, it could happen to you!
Wow that craftsmanship is pure joy to see.
Thank you sir
This is one of those videos that I will be watching over and over again. Incredible craftsmanship!
Thank you sir.
Wow, this takes me back to the mid 60's, and my first slot car, it was a Ford GT, kit had to build it before I could take it to the track in our area. I was 10 or 12, we used to go do "corners" and they would give us free track time. Thanks for bringing back some old memories. Nice work on your tracks!!
These were the happiest times of my childhood….i still have every single car and supplies
There used to be a model train store in a town across the river from mine, and they had a huge tournament track. 8 to 12 cars at once. Me being a 5-7 year old kid I thought they were sorcerers of some sort making these cars go so fast. Seeing this really does take me back to the youthful years where everything was magic.
So sad that hobby shops are nearly all gone.
They were a haven for middle class boys on Saturdays.
@@thomasmulhall4873 that's the honest truth. Those stores were the gateway to all things mechanical and hands on. They were truly magical places.
@@martygardajr2455
One beauty of the hobby shop is that you could browse the different sections and get ideas for dioramas. Train section for trees, fences, and foliage. I even bought a scale horse to use in a WW2 diorama. Meeting other modelers, sharing tips, getting advice, all gone now.
I worked at a hobby shop in a shopping mall as a kid. Best job I ever had. Didn't like it when women would stroll in, they didn't belong there...
Polks in NYC back in the 60's and 70's. I used to go with my Father to work and walk to 5 blocks or so and race my cars on the giant track there all day..man I miss that place
wonderful man on many levels ...world needs more of it
Took me back to the 1960s, thank you.
Thanking you for sharing your awesome talent Mark. You make a fantastic layout sir,kudos.
My little bro and I were motor racing drivers years before we could touch the pedals of any fast car today. Slot car racing is for all ages and boy it is 'almost as exciting as racing around a real circuit. Great story indeed!!👍🏻
Thanks
They used to have slot car race tournaments at our local hobby shop when I was a kid. The big 1/24 scale ones.
Me and my best friend would ride our bikes down there and watch the older kids race them. By the time I got old enough to afford them the slot car boom had faded so there was no where to go and race them anymore.
Excellent memories, me too, I was heart broken when the last place shut down in my area, they had 3 tracks, 1 oval, 1 flat road course, 1 undulating road course, that one was the best. Probably 1200 sq ft of track with places where someone was positioned to right cars that went off.
@@johnnichols9056 yeah I think the "local tracks" died out when it became affordable for you to make one at home.
As for the corner marshals, I was into R/C for a while and watched many races. I was the black sheep when I said "why do you have corner marshals to right cars and put them back on the track? Well, what else do you suggest? "don't wipe out"
What?
In a real race, when a car flips into the wall, do they put it back on their wheels and let it go?
NO of course not.
So why are you doing it here? If you're going so fast you wipe out? You should be done. So it becomes more skill to complete the race and win.
Favourite memory from high school in the 80s. One teacher had a huge setup in the film room, had to be 16x6 ft. His favourite film was the classic Grand Prix....I've loved that stuff ever since...
This guy is awesome! They have a 1/25 scale slot car drag strip at the hobby shop in the town next to mine. I might need to electrify some of my old model collection.
Wow, I am jealous! Amazing.
The big public eight-lane slot car track was Valhalla for some of us circa 1964-65 in seventh and eighth grade racing our 1/24th/1/25th/1/32 cars. What Mark Jarel creates is every bit as fulfilling as the "real" vintage/collector/special interest full-sized cars many of us have played with since. Terrific. Thanks for posting this wonder.
Omg my dad used too take me too these. I never got supper hooked. Motorcycle raced instead, but man I have great memories of those massive slot car tracks. There was one in plaistow NH that was friggin huge and so so fast. I had too see this wtf. Now I’ll be building one.
Thanks for sharing your carpentry skills sir. You are a Craftsmen
I would love to have one of your tracks,they are beautiful works of art, but I could never afford one.
Fantastic, makes me wish I kept my sets, I had Stombecker and Scalextric sets , got rid of them when I moved into our condo.
Loved seeing the Chaparral cars! Jim Hall has a few on a bookcase behind his desk at the old fabrication shop and Rattle Snake Raceway test track.
"if you can imagine it, you can build it"
well why does everything I build never turn out as I imagined it? I think my imagination might be broken.
The Laguna Seca corkscrew elevation & design would be interesting to see on one of these tracks and how the cars would handle it.
I actually implemented this in the track I'm building. I had to tame it down since the cars with low ground clearence had trouble with connectivity. It still makes an interesting combination that easily unbalances the cars if you are going to fast.
@@MTufvesson Makes sense since its missing suspensions and cannot flex under pressure.
I have a few 1/25 hard body drag cars that haven't made a pass since '96. All of my childhood Tyco sets are gone but my now adult children have a 4 lane AFX set in the attic.
There used to be a business up the road from our house, they had 2 tracks, we used to race every wednesday and friday night. Gp10s all the way to gp27, there was also womp racing. Good times. There was quite a few tracks around sydney in the early 90s too and racing scene was huge.
I used to go to a track in Canberra. When my family went to Sydney I would take my car & run it there. Surfers Paradise had a track in a building downtown before the skyscrapers went up. My parents were always amazed at how I could occupy myself working on my cars. Now 63 this video has inspired me to build my own track.
Bravo, sir.
Thank you.
Now that's talent.
fabulous!
Cool layout.
Nice! I grew up with them, too! Fun activity! Nicely done!
Thank you.
Beautiful
Classic !
Amazing, took me back to the 70s, we had a team back to compete on a public track, here in our town in Brazil. We call it here as "autorama" but very few tracks had survived..pitty...
Thank you sir
Someone show Jay Leno this video!
Love this
Wow, very very nice work..!!!🤩👍👌
Thank you sir.
...and you build 'm well..... Awsome quality!
Thank you sir
Wow, great❤
Amazing craftsmanship. I had a slot car track as a kid just loved it might get back into it 😎
Thank you sir.
very very good!!!
my first slot car was a K&B cobra daytona coupe. before long i was building chassis and winding my own armatures.
I’ve been racing slot cars since the 60’s, still have my cars today and I’m looking for a commercial track to buy set up and have a hobby shop and track indoors.
That's AWESOME. I wanna go Racing NOW
Very cool
I turned into a 10 year old just watching this.. I want one.
Thank you sir
So cool...
AWESOME😃
This dude is a TRUE CRAFTSMAN😊
Thank you sir.
Clicked because I saw the handmade surfboard fins in the back
Man, coolest dad ever!
Thanks man.
so cool
What a legend.
Thank you sir
Super cool!!
I remember this from when I was a kid, do people still make the cars?
OMG that brought back a memory of when I was a kid and building my matchbox car tracks in the dirt and wanting to build one out of paper mache on a plywood table
Thank you
Desde Guadalajara México, Gracias por llevarme a mis 12 años de edad, aunque en mi caso fue trenes HO...
Great watch
excellent. I dream of doing this and drag my old scalextrics out. one day.
Thank you
The origins of Team Associated
The next step for this guy should be a FPV drone camera/goggle setup on the slot cars.
you beat me to it. just had the same idea.
Frikkin great dad
Hello Steve,
I purchased the 20 dollar lap counter for our track. Works great but it ate batteries too fast so I hard wired it. We need to have a timer....
Please help and thanks,
Jim
Wouldn't mind learning more about the artist who made that piece hanging on the wall @1:11
Feel free to reach out to me on @jarelbuilt on Instagram.
Dies Mark have s website of his custom tracks?
I LIKE what you do;
though
my only dislike to all these model racing cars is the unscaled speed they run: equivalent to over 500kmh
Just far too fast
I'm a railfan modeler
cheers
Get a static grass applicator…. You’ll like the results.
This was very German in the idea of scale racing and building.
Thank you.
Curious to know how expensive these are
Please feel free to contact me on Instagram @jarelbuilt or email me at jarelbuilt@gmail.com thanks.
Get some Mod-Podge, ditch the Elmer's 👌
👍👍👍
This is neat stuff, but don't make it sound like there aren't commercial tracks around, There are shops still around, you gotta look.
Slot cars.... still a thing.
What a guy…
Thank you
@@markjarel8862 magical work sir…
@@vespasandengines thanks so much.
6 people never tried it :)
want
What would motivate me to get back into it, is if there are cars that respond to scale the same rpm and top end... enough of this overkill with speed.... Unless there are manufacturers doing this, I am not aware....
Make slot cars real world.... then it would be something other than overkill of accelleration!!!!
Nice but they go too fast. Too fast to be enjoyable. Way faster than scale speed. Maybe some sound effects would be good too.
I didn't know Vito from the Sopranos was into slot cars?
but video games...
Do both.
@@iflyrcmike , aint no one got time for that!
@@THESocialJusticeWarrior about five in my race group do both.
WOTS WITH THE FILTERS MAN ... FFS
This guy needs to get laid..
cool dad.
Thank you sir
I was talking to my grandpa, trying to get stories from him of his childhood.
He told me about his slotcars maybe 8 years go.
When I was cleaning his place I found his old Slot Cars and a track paces,
I put a track together and asked him if he wanted a go.
He reverted back to his 12year old self, you're so on!
I'm gonna woop ya!
Never seen tears of joy like that from him.
One of my most treasured experiences with him.
Wow. You’re very fortunate. Make sure you let grandpa win!
Wonderful film. I’m still running my HO cars from when I was a kid in the 60s. So nice to see there are many more people who still have the love.
I'm still running mine from the 70's. I have a track in my basement. My kids are grown now so they don't run with me as much but I'll still go down and run by myself. It's nice and relaxing.
Thank you sir
Wow, I really enjoyed this one. Love his passion and creativity!
Thank you!
20 years ago I bought the kids a big, gimmicky (loop de loop, etc.) AFX(Tomy) HO layout. They lost interest but I didn't so I started following the slot car racing scene on line. I noticed the divide between the diorama focused 1/32 crowd and the more stripped-down HO crowd. I felt that there was more bang for the space with HO but appreciated the racing realism captured in the 1/32 diorama setups. I considered a custom routed track but found that through careful track section selection and “track clips” I could transform my snap together into a functional four lane "Riverside" layout (sans gimmicks) on a 4’ x 11’ table compete with electronic timing and “pro” controllers. AFX produces some authentic historic "hard bodies" that I run on Mega G chassis (after experimenting with Super G+ and Mega G+). The Riverside layout is simple enough for newcomers to have fun but technical enough to produce some pretty good racing. I now have family and friend events that draw six to ten racers. It's not ornate with minimal diorama effects but still authentic enough to scratch the enthusiast itch. In this age of electronic gaming it's great to see some good old fashion analog fun.
👍👏👏
Wow, that's really cool. I have an Eldon slot car set, "Dodge 3 in 1 Road Race Set" from 1968. The cars are a red 1968 Charger R/T, a white 1968 Coronet R/T, and a white/red D100 truck. My Grandfather was given the set from the Dodge dealer when he bought a brand new 1968 D100 truck and I've had the set since I was 3 years old.
Thank you.
Back in ‘76 , got a tyco nite - glo set for Christmas ... I was 9 .... those were the days ! Thanks for the memories Petro !
One of the great pastimes of my childhood that also taught us many valuable skills