Keep the kids entertained with Carrera slot car toys!

Looking for a way to keep the kids engaged on something that doesn't have a screen? We got into slot car racing and the kids love it! I remember playing with a slot car set when I was a kid and don't know what happened to that set. Fast forward to 2020 when everyone is spending copious amounts of time at home, we decided to try slot car racing and it was so fun.

We got a set thanks to the great folks at Carrera Toys of America, which had cars that were modeled after two cars in Disney's movie Cars and of course my little guy wanted to be Lightning McQueen. It was so fun. 

We worked together to set the track up, which was a little more involved than I remember. The cool part about the track that we got is that it included a full loop-de-loop circle and also track raisers so that one piece of the track could go over another piece of track. We quickly learned that you have to install the track guides because if don't do that, the cars will most likely run right off of the track.

At the beginning of the pandemic in the US, the 55-year-old slot car company blew through its U.S. inventory in a month as families realized they could spend quality time building their track setup, learning how to use hand controllers to operate the miniature cars, mastering the art of taking the curves at top speed without losing the cars’ grip on the track’s guide-slots, and competing against each other for braggers’ rights.

If you've never played slot-car racing before, it's simple: you have to run your car around the track using a hand controller and be faster than your opponent without running the car off of the track! That is quite hard since the controllers are quite sensitive. Somehow my little guy was able to use the hand controller at full speed without running the car off of the track - something I was not able to do.

We played a lot with the set and one thing that my dad said would be a good thing to do would be to build the set on a piece of plywood so you don't need to keep assembling and disassembling it. We've played it a handful of times so far and it's a lot of fun - one thing to watch out for is that the track connections are very brittle and we've already broken a few of them.

If you're looking to spend some quality time with the family without being in front of any screens, we recommend that you check out slot car racing with sets from Carrera Toys of America!

NOTE: We were provided with a sample set to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided and all opinions, as always, are our own.

Maintaining your car and general car information from cars.com

image from cars.com

Sponsored Post

Cars.com has some expert tips for maintaining your car and general auto repair. Are you curious how long should your tires last or how often should you rotate your tires? You can find these expert tips and more right on cars.com.

I know I've wondered a lot about how car brakes work or when you should replace them along with some details about general car stuff and I've found that the internet is a great place but there are some really great resources all located at cars.com.

While you're browsing their website you can also find information on various car models and specifications along with used car values and how much your car is worth.

NOTE: This is a sponsored post.

Win 2 tickets to the New England Auto Show with SheBuysCars.com

This year, Toyota and SheBuysCars.com are partnering to offer a giveaway for 10 pairs of tickets and we would like to include our readers on the fun! Just be sure to enter the rafflecopter below and the folks at SheBuysCars will pick the winners. See contest rules below.

SheBuysCars.com will also be sharing what they leaned at the auto show on Twitter during their Twitter party on Thursday, January 12th at 8PM ET, and announcing the names of ticket winners. Just follow along using our hashtag (#ToyotaBoston)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The 2017 New England International Auto Show is coming to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center from January 12 through the the 16th. More information is available at http://www.bostonautoshow.com/

NOTE: We were provided with tickets and invited to check out the auto show. We'll let you know what we think! All opinions are our own.

Contest rules: Entries must be completed by 8:45PM ET, January 12, 2017. No purchase necessary; contest open only to US residents; winners will be notified by email by January 12, 2017. Winners MUST pick up tickets in person at the New England International Auto Show, Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, 415 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210, between January 12, 2017 and January 16, 2017. Winners may be asked to provide identification to receive their prize. Prize value $30 per prize, not exchangeable for cash or other items. Grand prize value is $180; grand prize MUST be picked up at Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and winner will be asked to provide identification. A total of 10 pairs of tickets will be awarded and a total of 1 grand prize will be awarded.