THE STORY OF

LEARNING RESOURCES FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS

F http://www.toyhalloffame.org/

2 The STORY OF SCALeXTRIC

The hISTORY OF

TOYS

DID YOU KNOW?

TOY FACTS

1. Every human civilisation throughout history has made toys for children to play with.

2. Even though toys have changed, some toys have always been around but look different now, such as dolls.

3. The way toys have changed over the centuries shows what materials people had to work with, such as stone, wood, clay, iron or plastic.

4. One of the oldest toys in Britain was found near Stonehenge in Somerset – it’s a carving of an animal, likely to be of a pig or hedgehog. Archaeologists think it’s about 2,000 years old!

5. Toys don’t have to be complicated – if you can make a game from a piece of string, it’s a toy!

6. To find out what toys children played with in past times, you can visit a museum and look at the exhibits of old toys.

7. Just because a toy moves doesn’t mean it’s modern – moving toys can have wheels and hinges instead of batteries.

8. You can also ask your parents and grandparents about the toys they played with, and which ones were their favourites.

DISCUSSl Which toys do you remember playing with when you were younger?

l Which toys were your favourites? What was it about them you liked so much?

l What is your favourite toy now?

l Do you think modern toys are better than old toys? Give reasons for your opinion.

8 FIND OUT MORE

F http://toyhistory.com/

F www.vam.ac.uk/moc/collections/

F https://youtu.be/rkkQR29Dn0A

While toys have always been around, toy manufacturing began to flourish from the early 1900s. A number of factors led to an increase in toy production, not least the development of precision engineering during the Industrial Revolution and an increase in wages for workers. William Harbutt, an English painter, invented plasticine in 1897 before it entered production three years later. Frank Hornby was a visionary in toy development and manufacture and was responsible for the invention and production of three of the most popular lines of toys based on engineering principles in the twentieth century: Meccano, Hornby Model Railways and Dinky Toys.During the Second World War, some new types of toys were created by accident.

After trying to create a replacement for synthetic rubber, the American Earl L. Warrick invented “nutty putty” during the Second World War.Later, Peter Hodgson recognised its potential as a childhood plaything and packaged it as Silly Putty. Similarly, Play-Doh was originally created as a wallpaper cleaner. In 1943, Richard James was experimenting with springs as part of his military research when he saw one come loose and fall to the floor. He was intrigued by the way it flopped around on the floor. He spent two years fine-tuning the design to find the best gauge of steel and coil; the result was the Slinky, which went on to be popular across the world.

F Children have always played with toys whether they were born 2,000 years ago or last week. Toys have changed over the centuries in the way they look and what they’re made from – dolls you may see in a museum about ancient Rome won’t look the same as the ones on sale in shops today, but children still play with dolls for the same reasons that children in ancient Rome did.

F The oldest known doll to have been found

. F The teddy bear was named after an American president, Teddy Roosevelt. The first teddy bears were made in America in 1902 and in Germany in 1903. The world’s most expensive teddy bear was a German Steiff bear, which sold at auction for the sum of £130,000 in the year 2000.

anywhere in the world is estimated to have been made around 4,000 years ago. It was found on an Italian island in 2004.

The STORY OF SCALeXTRIC 3

The hISTORY OF

MINIMODELS

· WATCH AND RESPOND

HAVANT IN THE

l In 1949, the population of Havant was 8,000. In comparison, the census of 2011 recorded the borough’s population as 120,700.

l Portsmouth City Council bought the Leigh Park Estate in 1944. The first residents moved into the new housing estate in 1949. Many people from Portsmouth were happy to get away from the crowded city to live near fields.

l The first shops in Leigh Park opened in Stone Square in 1952. The first shops in Park Parade opened in the autumn of 1955.

l After the war, new industries such as light engineering and plastics came to Havant.

Watch the film of Diane Francis, wife of Fred Francis, talk about her husband and the relocation of Minimodels to Havant. Then, answer the questions below:

DISCUSSl Ask your parents/grandparents for their memories of Havant if they grew up in the town. How has it changed? What is better now? What has changed for the worse?

l Why do you think Havant tried to attract more industry after the Second World War?

l Is it better to live in a big city or small town/village? What are the advantages/disadvantages?

l Make a list of the reasons you like living in Havant. How could the town be improved?

1940s and 1950s

l In the 1950s, land at Brockhampton was set aside for industry and a new industrial estate was built at Westleigh at the end of the 1950s.

l Minimodels was the first building to be built on the New Lane Industrial Estate in Havant. Construction started in early 1954 and production began in May.

l The council’s decision to focus on industry meant companies were offered benefits if they moved to Havant.

l Fred Francis was offered ten houses in Leigh Park to provide accommodation for workers moving to Havant from his old factory in London.

2. How did he get the money to set up the business?

3. Why did Fred worry about the name Scalextric?

4. Why does Diane think Scalextric was so successful?

5. Where was Diane on holiday when she saw a Scalextric set on sale?

1. How old was Fred when he set up his tool manufacturing business?

In 1938, nineteen-year-old Fred Francis set up a toolmaking business from in Mill Hill, London. His plans were interrupted by the start of the Second World War, but once it was over Fred saw a new opportunity to turn his attention to toy production. His first toy was the Minitype typewriter, which although difficult to use was well-engineered and made a small profit. Fred’s company Minimodels was born. Fred’s next toy was the Traffic Car, a tinplate, clockwork model which reversed when an obstacle was detected. In 1950, Minimodels released the John Cobb Racing Car. A beautiful looking toy, it was one of the first British toys to be associated

with a celebrity as John Cobb was a famous motor racing driver of the time. A total of 100,000 models were produced. In 1952, Jaguar and Aston Martin tinplate clockwork toys were released under the Scalex name. The Scalex range was expanded over the course of the next few years to include a greater range of cars. A new range of cars called Startex were also introduced with keyless winding mechanisms. Fred’s clockwork cars were extremely popular and the company’s factory in London was too small to allow production to expand. Fred therefore needed to move and relocated his factory to Havant in 1954.

4 The STORY OF SCALeXTRIC

The outbreak of the Second World War effectively put a stop to house building in Britain and, as the war drew to a close, the country faced its worst housing shortage of the twentieth century. Thousands of houses across the country had been lost by heavy bombing and many more were badly damaged. It was estimated that 750,000 new homes were required in England and Wales in 1945 to provide all families with accommodation and waiting lists soared in urban areas. All over the country local authorities took the lead in building homes for growing families. One feature of the post-war expansion of council housing was the development of new estates on, or close to, the edge of the cities. By this time most inner city building sites had been exhausted and, faced with growing waiting lists, councils turned to land outside city boundaries. In 1944, Portsmouth City Council announced its intention to build ‘The Garden City of the South’ at Leigh Park, Havant, to provide decent homes for service personnel and their families after the end of the war. In 1949, the first residents moved in

to houses in and around Bramdean Drive and by 1951 there were about 3,500 people living in Leigh Park in about 1,000 houses. The new housing estate continued to grow and in 1951 a plan for 1,500 more houses was approved. Although a new home in the countryside was like a dream come true, the first residents had much to struggle with. As

well as being separated from family and friends they were also far from their place of work and for many the day started with a bicycle ride to the dockyard. There were no pavements, streetlights or shops, except mobile ones, and not much public transport - but there was plenty of mud. Local shopping parades along with the main centre at Park Parade were soon built and then later the Greywell Precinct. Schools, churches, public houses, doctors, a community centre and bowling alley

HOUSING AFTER WORLD WAR 2

DEVELOPMENT OF LEIGH PARKall followed. By 1956, Middle Park Way had been built. Eventually Leigh Park became one of the largest municipal housing estates in Europe containing some 10,000 houses and a population at its peak of about 39,000 (it is now around 28,000). History of Leigh Park EstateIn about 1790, Samuel Harrison built the first home

to be known as Leigh House. He also laid out the walled garden and built nearby the bothy, stables and coach house that are used today for Staunton Country Park’s reception area and offices.Sir George Staunton bought Leigh House and the estate (including 17 cottages) in 1819 for £22,000. William Stone bought the estate for £60,000

in 1861 and replaced the old house with a new ‘Gothic Style Mansion’ overlooking the lake. In 1874 the estate was sold to Sir Frederick Fitzwygram, a distinguished soldier who was an accomplished vet specialising in the welfare of horses. Sir Frederick died in 1904 and his family lived in the house until 1936 and owned the estate until it was sold in 1944 to Portsmouth City Council. Because of its dilapidated state the second Leigh Park House was demolished in 1959.

l Imagine you have been re-homed to a new house in Leigh Park in the early 1950s, moving out of cramped accommodation in Portsmouth. Write a letter to a friend in which you tell them about the experience and reveal your hopes and fears for the future. Remember to focus on both the positives and negatives of living in a new location several miles from your old home.

l Write a poem about moving to a new house.

l Write a short story with the title ‘New Beginnings’.

l Go to YouTube and search for Ideal Home Exhibition 1959. Watch the news report and research differences between homes of the 1950s and modern homes. Then, write a short essay summarising the differences between domestic life in the 1950s and in the 21st century.

F http://www.leighpark. stauntoninfo.co.uk/

TASKS

F http://leighpark.weebly.com/history.html

F http://www.localhistories.org/leigh.html

F https://youtu.be/ML05yKiNc64

F http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/23302

8 FIND OUT MOREUse the web links below to research in detail the history of Leigh Park to the present day. Use your research to create a PowerPoint presentation offering a short history of Leigh Park.

The STORY OF SCALeXTRIC 5

The hISTORY OF

SCALEXTRIC

FOCUS ON HEALTH AND SAFETY

BRAND SUCCESSWhen first launched, Scalextric was immediately successful because it appealed not only to its target audience of children, but also their parents (often dads in particular). The game’s unique selling point was its play value - the competitive nature of the game and the ability to set up different race scenarios by changing the track layout meant players rarely got bored. Fred Francis was unsure about the name Scalextric as he felt people would mispronounce it. He was right, but it didn’t harm the brand! Many people say SCALEC-TRIX when the actual pronounciation is SCALEX-TRIC.

Scalextric’s endorsement by Stirling Moss, the most famous motor racing driver in Britain in the 1950s, helped it become a successful brand.

“They put me straight onto the paint spraying. I don’t recall having any training or wearing any protective clothing or a mask. The fumes were horrible, a sickly smell. You could smell it on your clothes when you got home. There must have been lead in the paint as we had to drink a pint of milk during the day. I hate milk so I used to take chocolate powder and put it in mine.” - Pam Reader

“When I was doing the spraying, we used to have to stop every ten minutes or so every hour to have a drink of milk or something because of the fumes. In the end, they actually got us masks but in the beginning I didn’t have a mask or anything. I used to get a bit dizzy sometimes with the smell. My Aunt Betty also worked at Minimodels and she was pressing out cars once and she was on this machine and you pushed the handle and then you caught the handle on the other side and pushed it back. She forgot to catch it one day and it hit her on the head and she passed out.” - Ella Thompson

BE AWARE1. Be aware of hazards at home and school. Visit Hazard House to find out about the hazards and play a fun game: http://tinyurl.com/y8dc67d4

2. Switched On Kids is a website that tells you more about the dangers of electricity. Explore the issues here: http://tinyurl.com/pqa63t

Minimodels employed a nurse known as Auntie Grace who was regularly called upon to treat injuries, although thankfully no employee was ever seriously injured.

Today, the law requires companies to comply with health and safety regulations to minimise the risk of injury to employees. This was not the case in the 1950s and 1960s as former employees of Minimodels recall:

TASK

Minimodels was the first building constructed on Havant’s New Lane industrial estate. The factory was relatively small at 15,000 square feet. Construction commenced in early 1954 and production started just a few months later in May. At this time Minimodels employed 100 staff. In the summer of 1956 Inventor Fred Francis was a visitor to the London Toy Fair. He was intrigued by a 1/24 scale model car set that was battery powered and followed a guide in the track. Fred realised the ‘play’ value was in controlling the cars and, back in Havant, he constructed a prototype track system of perspex with tinplate rails to form the track slot. Powered by electricity, the new toy was unveiled to acclaim at the Harrogate Toy fair in January 1957. Fred combined the existing brand name of Scalex with Electric and so Scalextric was born. Scalextric proved to be

a great success from the moment it was launched and received some high profile backing. The wife of famous racing driver Stirling Moss bought him a set for his 29th birthday in September 1958. British Pathé produced a two minute news reel featuring Stirling and his family playing with the set and this undoubtedly increased demand for the toy. The two minute video can be seen on YouTube. The popularity of Scalextric created issues for Fred. The range needed to be developed quickly to take advantage of demand and this would require vast investment. In November 1958, just two years after inventing Scalextric, Fred sold Minimodels to Triang, one of the biggest toy manufacturers in the world. The Minimodels factory moved from New Lane to a bigger factory in Fulflood Road, Leigh Park, in 1960.

Dragons’ Den is a TV show that invites people with ideas for new products or businesses to pitch their idea to investors. In groups, your job is to come up with an idea for a new toy and pitch it to your teacher, who will decide which group has the best idea.

You need to use the success of Scalextric as inspiration for your idea. It is important to think carefully about your toy’s name, unique selling point and target audience.

You also need to devise a slogan to advertise your toy and draw a logo. Then think about celebrities you would like to use to promote your product to a wider audience.

· WATCH AND RESPOND

1. Penny says Miss Minimodels was “fun”. What reasons does she give?

Penny Hopkins, then called Penny Biddle, worked at Minimodels in the 1960s and was crowned Miss Minimodels in 1965 before going on to win the national Miss Triang contest. Watch and listen to her interview and answer the following questions.

DISCUSS5. Who won the World Formula One Championship in 1965? S

4. Who presented Penny with a gold watch for winning Miss Triang? What was his job?

3. How many women were in the Miss Triang final?

1. Do you agree beauty pageants are sexist?

2. Many women who entered Miss Minimodels say it was “harmless fun”. Do you agree?

3. Make a list of the positive and negative aspects of beauty pageants and then set up a debate with the motion “Beauty pageants are sexist and should be banned”.

2. Where did Penny travel for the Miss Triang final?

6 The STORY OF SCALeXTRIC

Beauty contests and pageants were invented in America in the mid-nineteenth century, but became popular in Britain in the years between the First World War (1914-1918) and Second World War (1939-1945) as there was a greater focus on the healthy body and outdoor pursuits. Miss World was launched by Eric Morley in 1951 as part of that year’s Festival of Britain. It first appeared on BBC television in 1959 and the popularity of the beauty contest surged during the next 20 years. No self-respecting town, holiday resort, caravan park or workplace was complete without its own “Miss”. Miss Minimodels was an annual beauty pageant held at the factory in Havant. Female workers were encouraged to take part in the event, the winner of which would go on to represent Minimodels in Miss Triang, competing against other beauty pageant winners such as Miss Pedigree Dolls and Miss Triang Trains. Penny Biddle won Miss Minimodels in 1965 before going on to win the Miss Triang title (see below). The followiing year, the Miss Minimodels competition was won by Doreen Stainburn who retained her crown in 1967. The picture above shows Doreen and other competitors during the 1967 competition. The picture on the left shows Doreen crowned as Miss Minimodels in 1967 flanked by the two runners-up. By the 1980s, beauty contests fell out of fashion as they began to be seen as sexist, exploiting women for their looks.

SOCIAL hISTORY

MISS MINIMODELS

DISCUSSIn the 1950s and 1960s, factories employed thousands of people living within walking distance of the gates. It was also very common for members of the same family to work for the same company. People who worked at Minimodels remember the factory fondly and felt it was a friendly place to work. The social committee organised numerous events to ensure people who worked there felt part of the community. We are social animals and it is important we find ways to connect with each other, whether this be through sport such as football or cricket or other activities such as drama or music. 1. What activities do you take part in outside of school?

2. Are you a member of any clubs or teams at school? What do you enjoy about them?

3. Talk to your parents or other adults you know and ask them whether their workplace organises social activities for workers. What do they like/dislike about them?

4. Do you think employers have a responsibility to provide social activities for the people who work for them?

5. What benefits do you think organised social events can bring to a company?

The STORY OF SCALeXTRIC 7

SOCIAL hISTORY

MORE THAN A WORKPLACE

Social events helped employees at Minimodels bond and took place throughout the year, especially at Christmas. Theresa Wilford (née Cox) kindly provided the photograph above showing the children’s Christmas Party in 1966 or 1967. Brian Bowers joined Minimodels in 1961, starting in the storeroom before working as press shop foreman, toolroom setter and press shop setter. He was actively involved in the social side of life at Minimodels and helped set up the factory football team. He said: “I was on the social club. We started up a Minimodels football team but didn’t have any money for the kit. So I asked the social club for some money and they gave it to us. I ran the football team while I was on

day shift, but I had to give it up when I moved to the night shift.” The parents of Miss Minimodels winner Penny Biddle (now Hopkins) ran the social club. She said: “We’d go up there and have a few drinks and a dance and play darts. It was the canteen during the day. I used to go in early and on Tuesday morning I used to stop at the phone box and phone through the beer order to the brewery for them to deliver for when dad got there in the evening. You knew everyone and nearly everyone you lived around worked at Minimodels. There was always a coach that went down to the King’s Theatre for the pantomime at Christmas. There were other trips as well. It was a good place to work. We loved it.”

F Read about women at work: http://tinyurl.com/y8n6ptlv

F Find out about women’s roles during wartime: http://tinyurl.com/y9qnf85p

8 The STORY OF SCALeXTRIC

The ROLe OF WOMeN AT

MINIMODELS

DISCUSS

WOMEN’s RIGHTS

At the beginning of the 20th century, women began to campaign for equality with men and slowly succeeded in reducing gender discrimination. Here is a timeline of major events:

1903 Emmeline Pankhurst founds the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU).1906The word “suffragette” is first used to describe women campaigning for the right to vote. 1918Representation of the people bill gives the right to vote to about six million women. 1928Women given the vote at the age of 21 - the same as men. (reduced to 18 in 1970)1975The Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act come into effect and equal opportunities commission established.1994Trade Union reform and Employment Rights Act guarantees every working woman the right to maternity leave when they have children.1997120 women win seats in the General Election.2001Government introduces bill to improve women’s political representation.2015Government introduces the right for couples to share parental leave when they have children.2017A record 208 women are elected as Members of Parliament in the General Election although this represents just 32% of total MPs, showing there is still much to be done before true equality is achieved.

l Do men and women have different skills?

l What do you consider to be male qualities and female qualities?

l Do you think women are equal in the workplace?

8 FIND OUT MORE

In 1914, the outbreak of the First World War meant men across the country left their homes in order to fight in the war. This resulted in large numbers of women being recruited into jobs vacated by men. New jobs were also created as part of the war effort, for example in munitions factories. The high demand for weapons resulted in the munitions factories becoming the largest single employer of women during 1918. Though there was initial resistance to hiring women for what was seen as ‘men’s work’, the introduction of conscription (compulsory enlisting of people into the military) in 1916 made the need for women workers urgent. Around this time, the government began coordinating the employment of women through campaigns and recruitment drives. This led to women working in areas of work that were formerly reserved for men, for example as railway guards and ticket collectors, buses and tram conductors, postal workers, police, firefighters and as bank ‘tellers’ and clerks. Some women also worked heavy or precision machinery in

engineering, led cart horses on farms, and worked in the civil service and factories. However, they received lower wages for doing the same work, and thus began some of the earliest demands for equal pay. Once the war was over, women were usually expected to give up their new found independence and status, but again played an important role in the world of work during the Second World War. By the time Minimodels moved to Havant in the 1950s, women were an established part of the workforce and were employed on the factory lines, carrying out a number of tasks such as spray painting, soldering and constructing the model cars and track. On the whole, this was unskilled work and many girls joined the workforce on the Monday after they left school. Qualifications were not required. Women also carried out “piece work”, which meant they completed tasks such as car construction at home, giving them greater flexibility. Overall, although many women formed part of the workforce at Minimodels, it is true to say that most important positions in management and the engineering department were held by men.

· WATCH AND RESPOND

1. What is your overall impression of life at Minimodels? Would you liked to have worked there? Why/why not?

Watch the full 30 minute documentary on the history of Minimodels and make notes as you watch. Then answer the questions below:

2. What is your favourite story of factory life? 3. How do you feel about living in the town where Scalextric was invented? Were you aware of this previously?

The STORY OF SCALeXTRIC 9

FACTORY LIFe AT

MINIMODELS

Many people joined Minimodels immediately after leaving school and they soon found factory life to be very different to the classroom. Employees had to log their working hours by “clocking in” and “clocking out” of a machine at the beginning and end of the day. The clock would record if an employee was late and pay could be docked if workers had issues with punctuality. Peter Hallett recalls his first day at the factory: “I walked in and there were all these women in lines and I could feel my face going red. I went into the tool room and that was my first experience of a trade I was in for 45 years. The foreman was called Arthur. The first thing I said to him was “My name’s Peter, sir”. He said “Don’t call me sir, you’re not at school now. Just call me Arthur and we’ll get on fine”. First of all, I was a dogsbody and I’d help out doing bits and pieces. I had to go to technical college in Portsmouth one day a week. After about six months, they let me use a hammer and use some of the machinery. The basic principle of the tool room was to keep everything going in Minimodels. It was unusual working hours. We’d work from 8am, with a break at 10am, to 12.30pm. We’d have an hour’s lunch and work until 5.15pm except Fridays, when we finished at 4pm.”Yvonne Smith worked at Minimodels in the 1960s and says: “I loved it at Minimodels. It was the mid 1960s and my dad and I both worked there. He’d come off nights (production was around the clock) as I started days. I used to pinch all his loose change for the vending machine. The

production lines were vertical. The first girl would be putting on tyres to pass to the girl behind to solder the motors. The job was passed along so each girl could do their bit. Sometimes this would be nerve racking as nobody wanted to hold the production up. Another girl would push the neck of the racing driver’s head through the car body, seal it with a heat iron and then add roll bars which were rounded ends of paper clips. Next the motors with wheels were clipped in place and added to the chassis making sure the wire track contacts were in the right position. Then the stickers were put on. Hey presto, car ready for inspection. We all had our favourite jobs but I most liked tyres though it did make your fingers sore and we did also get a few small burns at times, if we were not careful.” Eileen Neal started working on the evening shifts in 1967. She remembers: “I’d never been in a factory before so I was nervous about starting but I liked working there. Soldering was a job you couldn’t hurry. You had to concentrate and make sure all these thin little wires didn’t have too much solder on or not enough. If you didn’t cover them, they didn’t work when they were tested. The first few times the solder ran away and you had to control it. With a bit of practice, it was perfect and I really liked to do it. I was working the evening shift from 6pm until 10pm. It was quite strict if you wanted to go to the toilet or go for a smoke. It was a clean place and very comfortable where you were working. The atmosphere was very nice and I enjoyed doing it.”

10 The STORY OF SCALeXTRIC

The eND OF

MINIMODELS

TASKS

END OF AN ERA

Tina Cole started work at Minimodels in 1963, joining straight from school. She remembers with sadness the day the workers were told the factory was going to be closed and they wouild lose their jobs: “We were all called into the canteen. I think it was about 11 o’clock. Fred Harris and all the bigwigs came in and said we’ve got some bad news for you. We were told we could all go home with pay from half past twelve. No-one really told us the reason it had to close down. It was a sad day for Leigh Park. Everyone was crying. It was atrocious. I ran all the way home to mum and said everyone’s been given their notice. I was lucky as I went into servicing to repair the sets so I stayed on for longer. I was very proud to work for Minimodels. It was the best job I ever had. If it opened tomorrow, I’d be back there like a shot.”

l Imagine you work at Minimodels and you have been told that the factory is closing and you will lose your job. Write a diary entry in which you express your disappoinment and outline your hopes and fears for the future.

l Write a descriptive account of the day the announcement of the factory’s closure was made. Add as much colour and suspense as you can in the lead up to the announcement. You could write in the third person or you could write in the first person as one of the workers present on the day.

l Write a newspaper report about the closure of the factory. Write a headline and make up quotations from workers disappointed about finding out they have lost their jobs.

·WATCH AND RESPOND

1. What does Penny say was strange about the day the staff were told the factory was closing?

2. What was the name of the man who told the staff about the closure?

3. What time were staff allowed to go home on the day of the announcement?

4. Why does Penny say the existence of the factory shouldn’t be forgotten?

Students at Trosnant Junior School produced a film in which they interviewed two former employees. Watch Penny Hopkins and Tina Cole talk about the factory’s closure and answer the questions:

A number of contributing factors led to the closure of the Minimodels factory in Havant in 1970. Towards the end of the 1960s, Scalextric introduced larger 1:24 scale models to meet demand in the United States, but production costs were high and they were ultimately a financial failure. Another financial disappointment was the new ‘You Steer’ line of Scalextric cars, which allowed racers to steer the car left or right just under an inch along the slots in the racecourse. In addition, a lot of money had been spent on improving and extending the Havant factory, including a state-of-the-art sprinkler system and high tech security to cut down on the thefts that had been a feature of factory life. The Scalextric brand was bought by Hornby and sets were produced at

its factory in Margate until production moved to China in 2000. The 1990s saw computer design and 3D printing methods create more authentic and detailed models than those of the initial slot car boom. New replicas of slot cars from the 1960s and 1970s appeared on the market, giving enthusiasts the option of racing modern and classic cars against each other. The Micro Scalextric range was also introduced, using 1:64 range cars racing on dedicated Micro Scalextric tracks. Scalextric Digital Cars have now been introduced, with digital control systems that allow up to six cars to race in a single slot with more realistic passing. Today’s cars are usually based on racing vehicles from F1, A1, NASCAR, Le Mans, touring, rallying and ordinary road cars.