Detour Pit Stop #57: Race Wars, Milton Keynes, UK
Photo Nik Berg
This is not your kids’ Scalextric. At Race Wars in Milton Keynes slot car racing takes place on a spectacular scale.
With seven themed tracks, each of up to eight lanes, computerised timing and race management, it’s so much more sophisticated than any home racing.
But neither are things taken quite as seriously as the hardcore hobbyists who race at around 70 slot car clubs in the UK. Instead the aim of Race Wars is to attract a different crowd, from families to stag and hen parties and corporate days out.
The setup, in an unassuming retail centre, has the vibe of an indoor kart racing circuit, with chart music playing, a licensed bar and fast food at the ready.
Six of the tracks are old-school, with the slots channeled into wooden boards, while a seventh is a plastic Carrera circuit similar to those you could buy online or at your local hobby store. Some tracks are digital, allowing lane changes, while all have high-tech timing screens to manage your race. A choice of around 40 different 1/24 and 1/32 scale Carrera race cars are on display behind the counter for racers to choose from.
The centrepiece is a massive eight-lane circuit that used to hold national championship races, but all the others have been custom built for the venue, each with detailed landscaping to add to the fun.
The tracks have been designed so that you can’t just pull the trigger on the controller to its stop an hope to get round. The cars don’t have magnets and easily fly out of their slots if you take tight corners too quickly. The racing is organised so that each driver takes a turn in a different slot, so just when you think you’ve learned the track you have to start all over again.
Owner Paul Cooper opened Race Wars just before the 2020 lockdown and the venue is now running at full speed with regular customers including the likes of Red Bull Racing. An hour’s track time, which can be split over several circuits, is just £13 for adults and there is a wide range of special offers. And if you tire of the slots there are some high-end simulators running Project Cars to play on instead.
Milton Keynes is well known for its huge number of roundabouts, driving around in circles at Race Wars is definitely more fun.