SHOP SECTIONS

• New releases

• Gifts and gift guide

• Special offers and eBay listings

• Collectors' limited editions, gift sets and kits

• Scalextric Sets

• Scalextric Cars

• Digital chipping and repair service

• About Digital Plug Cars

• Scalextric "Start"

• Track and borders

• Scalextric Digital chips

• Scalextric Digital power and control

• Spares and consumables

• Performance parts

• Trackside race accessories

• Scenery

• Carrera, Slot-It and other brands

• Publications

• Micro Scalextric

• Scalextric Event Consultancy and Special Orders

• Shipping: standard, next day, and overseas

• Guide to car icons

• Guide to product availability

• Cheddar Scalextric Slot Car Centre - Home

• About slotcarcentre.co.uk

• Scalextric blog

• About Digital Slot Car Racing

• The C7042 powerbase

• Scalextric en España / Videos

• Circuit Design

• Converting to Digital Scalextric

• Organising meetings

• Chipping saloon cars

• Chipping a single-seater

• Repairs, maintenance and tuning

• Service Sheets (to identify your car spares)

• Digital racecraft and rules

• Some SSD circuits

• Promotional videos

• Links and information

• On-line digital racing

• iPhone and iPod products

• Rural Racer

• Recycling your old Scalextric (WEEE)

Scalextric Transformers Bumblebee C3272A   £43.50   info... Scalextric Ford RS200 Collector Centre Car C3319   £37.95   info... Asmodee Formula D ASMFD01US   £37.95   info... Scalextric Porsche 911 GT3R "Infineon" C3194   £34.95   info... Scalextric Classic Morris Mini Police Car C3213   £35.95   info... Scalextric Audi R8 GT3 "Porta" C3286   £36.95   info... Scalextric Jaguar D-Type C3205   £35.95   info... Scalextric Porsche RS Spyder "Essex" C3197   £34.95   info... Scalextric Holden L34 Torana (Moffat) C3214   £34.95   info... Scalextric Limited Edition Hypercars Bugatti Veyron/Mercedes McLaren C3169A   £74.50   info... Scalextric Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 GT "Linfox" C3294   £36.95   info... Scalextric McLaren MP4-12C (blue) C3297   £36.95   info...

About us Latest updates "we sell racing models of real cars often at discount prices, and help modellers to "get slotted" with SSD and compatible slot car products from other manufacturers such as Slot-IT and Ninco." There is no retail store here to browse but you can come and collect orders you have placed online. Cheddar's Scalextric Slot Car Centre, incorporating digitalslotcar.co.uk, has been operating since the dawn of digital slot car racing in 2004, along with a small private Scalextric Sport Digital (SSD) circuit here in Somerset in the UK. Store owner Martin is also the current webmaster for the slot car association, the NSCC. SSD is made by the British company Hornby plc (also the model railway people who now own Airfix and Corgi too), the brand having been in existence for over 50 years since it was established by Fred Francis' Minimodels company in 1957. The products are all still British-designed, but now assembled abroad. As well as this business Martin also runs a web design and hosting service specialising in e-commerce sites like this one. You can see all the latest news from both businesses plus titbits of information about all manner of other topics on Twitter. Our service is focused towards the average home "rug" racer, or those setting up a small permanent layout in a bedroom, shed or loft. If you are a wife, girlfriend, parent or other relative or friend of a "Scalextric petrolhead" needing help with a gift purchase, we are more than happy to put forward some ideas and give you some jargon-free advice. We also support a number of Scalextric promotional and public hire businesses to design layouts, and supply the necessary cars, track, equipment and ongoing spare parts. We know of no other retailers who can offer the same level of Scalextric Digital-specific product support and knowledge that you will find in our shop sections and supporting pages. We even cover the subject in more depth than Hornby's own Scalextric site. Hopefully, compared to other well known slot car web sites, you will find our prices competitive, the site quick and easy to navigate and properly spelt, and giving you all the information you need to make the right buying decision. And whereas some stores will just give you a thumbnail picture, product name and price, we try wherever appropriate to give more detail about products and digitalisation options too. If you need more help, just ask, pick up the phone and you will always be able to speak to someone, or leave a message if you are unlucky enough to call while we are otherwise engaged. If you need a product we don't stock or have a question we can't answer, we will do our best to point you in the direction of someone who can help - even if it's another retailer. So please bookmark this site as a useful SSD reference, and link to us in Twitter and Facebook. We occasionally have some excess stock to shift which we will list on Ebay and you can check out any current Ebay listings at the bottom of our Special Offers page. We do not operate a large warehouse but our small local storage facility is topped up frequently by the main suppliers in Kent and in the Midlands. Unless otherwise stated all items on this site are boxed manufacturers' originals.

Our store and track We used to run a small bricks-and-mortar store plus public race circuit, but had to close it due to spiralling costs. However if you place an order on-line, we can fish your order out of storage and you can collect in person to save a bit of money on the postage if you are within sensible travelling distance of Cheddar in Somerset. Simply use the "PAYMENT BEFORE COLLECTION" option in the checkout and we will send you a revised receipt with a reduced total which you can pay by cash on collection (sorry no cheques or cards on collection). Orders can usually be collected Mon-Sat but don't just turn up, please make an appointment for collection and we will let you know where to come to.

Our philosophy This site aims to fill the space between the basic product information available from the manufacturers, and the world of the advanced club slot car racer. As hands-on users of the Scalextric system, we can offer a more knowledgeable, personal service than the average "pack it and ship it" retailer, to help you get the most enjoyment from the racing experience. The success of our business is built on good product knowledge which as our customers have told us, sadly cannot be said for many other retailers these days.

There is sadly a lot of "mis-selling" of Scalextric going on, from the big toy retailers down to the small online auction seller. Usually by stores who don't use Scalextric themselves and don't know the product detail, don't know a plug-ready from a digital-ready from a pre-chipped car (or even in some cases the difference between an analogue and a digital car), or who mislead customers into buying products they may not need, and so on. Template web sites thrown together using free e-commerce software or Paypal buttons by businesses displaying no street address and who have "somehow acquired" a job lot of Scalextric to shift. Boxed sets split up and sold on with different contents to what's on the box lid are rife. Small item profits topped up with extortionate shipping costs are also commonplace. Some sellers even pinch our personal copy for their own Scalextric web sites and pass it off as their own, so we've had to implement a tracking system to try and stop that happening. Trading Standards where are you?

Anyway, in the current economic climate we aim to continue to offer good service and competitive prices - not necessarily the cheapest, but then we need sensible profit margins, after all we don't want to go the way of Woolworths and MFI! If you are looking for "our best deal" we don't haggle on prices but there are many web discount stores who will. But will they still be around to offer you support and service next year? Recently a number of UK slot car businesses have closed or been taken over. So the prices you see here are as suggested by our accountant as being competitive without us risking becoming insolvent! So by buying from us you will be making a more informed purchase, and supporting an independent family business, thus in a small way helping to ensure that slot car racing continues to flourish, does not end up as just a set of miscellaneous stock lines at the bottom of Chain Store plc's balance sheet.

Market share The graph below shows our position (the red line) amongst the top UK specialist slot car retailers on the net, 2010-2012, consistently in the top two with up to 4000 visitors a month from the top 20 UK search results (source semrush.com).

Customer feedback Here, as well as along the top of the page, are just a few recent examples of the balance of types of comments (mostly good!) made by our customers via email, phone, or with an order: "Great service previously, prefer to use rather than main Scalextric website." P.B. of Gloucestershire "Good to be able to order and get advice over phone. JRM don't answer theirs and told us to order online!" G.G. of Berkshire "Thank you for an excellent service" A.S. of Cornwall "Very useful site for new Scalextric Digital users" M.J. of Wiltshire "Brilliant site, I know nothing but it guided me through what I needed to get. Thank You" J.N. of Dorset "Excellent product range" S.M. of Merseyside "Very fast service and great shipping rates" J.S. of The Netherlands "Having spoken to Martin I found he was first class in helping me to understand all about digital Scalextric. Also very fast service, thank you very much" J.S. of Nottingham "Like the on line help chat facility" S.C. of Wiltshire "Found you by recommendation" E.J. of Worcestershire "Thanks for a very well packed two parcels. I shall be ordering some more items soon" R.E. of Surrey "Fantastic service last time - this site is a real find!" H.N. of Cheshire "Need more detailed images of products" N.G. of Wiltshire [now implemented, ongoing process] "Excellent site. Have ordered with you due to good info on site" C.S. of Dorset "Bought from you even though a bit more expensive than LD, because of your advice sections." D.S. of Bucks. "Excellent website, and service. JRM never got back to us. You are obviously the guys to know". J.H. of Somerset. "Process for adding multiple products to basket is rather clunky" G.H. of Berkshire [this particular issue since improved] "Great site, full of useful and friendly information. Really feels like a proper shop online, not just a list of products and a checkout process." T.G. of Hertfordshire "Fantastic helpful site" P.W. of Bristol "Great and useful site. Prices mostly good" C.W. of Bedfordshire "I ordered a car from you at 3pm on Friday 19th Dec and it arrived this morning (Saturday 20th). Very impressed." A.P. of Surrey "Fantastic service and incredibly quick delivery." D.P. of London "Very helpful on phone even though I was clearly a Scelextric luddite!! Thank you." C.S. of Gloucestershire "My order arrived today, thank you for the great service, sadly a rarity these days." G.S. of Surrey "One of the guide blades has broken...the car has only been round the track four times." I.K. of Wiltshire [refund offered and recommended to contact Hornby Customer Care] "It makes a nice change being able to deal with a real person and I will certainly use your site again." C.A. of Berkshire "Website is a lot easier to manage than some of the other online traders (PSR, MRE and SC to name a few)", P.S. of Germany "I like the service but not the web site, as I find it hard to navigate" R.P. of Lancashire "Great website - lots of useful info for a born again boy racer" C.W. of Sussex "I like your site - very friendly and helpful, much better than other sites I saw previously while searching for this particular part!" J.H. of Sussex "Good website and excellent service" G.G. of Manchester "Thank you for an excellent order turn around. I was recommended to use your online shop and have not been disappointed" T.A. of Berkshire "Much better than Scalextric site" S.C. of Hampshire "Just thought I'd say I recently brought the Limited Edition "The Italian Job" Scalextric set from yourselves. The service / shipment I received was excellent. Very fast shipping and a very easy to use ordering system. Thank you for making ordering online very easy. Something many companies fail to do." M.R. of Leicestershire. "Thank you for your excellent service, two extremely happy children!!" R.K. of Cambridgeshire "Fantastic service, previous cars chipped to a professional standard and all work fine" A.S. of West Midlands "Thought you were very helpful" K.M. of Derbyshire "Thank you! The part saved me spending out £40 on replacing the car! Will definitely buy from you again, MUCH appreciated!" I.C. of Devon "Grand site and to the point" P.S. of Co Antrim "Recommended by Scalextric" G.S. of Gloucestershire "Great website and fantastic customer service. I like the fact you include information on other Scalextric retailers. It shows a real commitment on your part." A.C. of Perthshire "In my opinion the site is of very high quality" M.G. of Gloucestershire "Competitive prices and well structured website!" F.B. of Middlesex "Martin was tremendously helpful on the phone" M.B. of Middlesex "Pleased to have found these parts!" P.H. of Surrey "Good, very comprehensive and informative. Opens up a new area of repair/restoration for me. " I.M of W Yorks "Seems great, nice and personal" R.G. of Somerset "Good site - thank you - easy to navigate etc." T.H. of Norfolk "I'm new to Scalextric and found some of the info on this site useful. Guides on how to fix cars, maintain track etc. are really handy." J.S. of Coventry "Like the price compared with official site" D.W. of Northants "Recommended by my Dad!" M.B. of Bucks "V. helpful on phone - wish Scalectric were as helpful!" M.R. of Ayrshire Feedback can also be seen, and submitted automatically at Freeindex: View our full profile in the FreeIndex Model Shops Directory directory.