Scalextric! Scalextric! Time For Tea?

Remember a time before computer games? Classic Scalextric ad might help jog your memory...

Brace yourself for a wave of nostalgia. It's going to be a quick cuppa today - this clip of YouTube gold is less than a minute long. But with Christmas on the way, we couldn't resist bringing you a reminder of what used to sit at the top of a large percentage of letters to Santa.

You might have difficulty persuading a modern teenager, but in the days before video games, Scalextric was about as exciting as toys got. It was fast, often frustrating - and pretty much guaranteed to put small dents into the skirting board as the cars hurtled off the track in all direction. It was also where the seeds were planted that made many of us lust after, and sometimes go and buy, full sized versions of former models.

And as the advert shows, by the early 80s Scalextric had evolved from being just side-by-side racing with chicanes, crossovers and even the spectacular digital timing board and pitlanes seen here. We particularly like the slow-motion crash footage as well; a tacit acknowledgement of what most owners were going to use the sets for. As for racing in the dark with headlights on; it really didn't get much more exciting back then. You can almost smell that oily, electric burning smell, can't you?

And for some perspective, the £108 RRP for the top-spec set shown at the end works out at something over £400 in 2014 pounds.

If that's not quite enough, we also found this very strange late 90s Scalextric advert, which appears to be what we'd now call a viral, albeit before the age of video sharing on t'internet. Divorced dad collects son to play Scalextric but leaves his daughter behind, because, well you'll see.

Deeply odd. And we suspect the son would have been happier with Mario Kart on the N64.

Scalextric ad