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The Spring is an arts and heritage
centre in Havant. Scalextric used to be made in Havant until
1972 and is considered part of the town's industrial heritage.
Many other big names have been located in Havant as have traditional
industries such as paper making. On the 29th October 2011 the
Spring hosted Heritage Fun Day, a celebration of local industry.
One of the main products to be celebrated was Scalextric. The
museum already has a fine collection on display including mint
boxed tinplate cars |
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The plan at the museum was to encourage
people to bring their Scalextric down, set it up and race. Kate
Saunders, Heritage coordinator emailed me and asked if Solent
Slot Car Club would like to be involved. I suggested that we
could present a display of pre 1972 Scalextric. We had never
done anything like this so Kevin Rowe and Cedric Whiting crated
up lots of their collections and headed off very early to the
Spring on that Saturday. |
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We displayed at least one example of most of
the cars of the era, many with their boxes. We raced them for
the entertainment of the visitors. The motor cycle and side cars
were popular for their novelty value and they raced surprisingly
well. The buildings were shown with their boxes, which included
the control tower, event board, medical hut, grandstand etc.
We had some sets including one with rubber track and a you steer
conversion set. Catalogues and other literature were laid out.
Some non mint copies were put out so people could thumb through
them. Lots of other accessories were included, a starter on his
rostrum, track side signs, Start/Finish banner and boxed track
sections such as the Goodwood Chicane. The event was attended
by over 300 people. |
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