It’s the battle of the Bond Cars this Christmas as Scalextric release a corker of a set! The Scalextric 007 DB5 vs V8 set, available exclusively online, features two of Bond’s most iconic cars and firm fan favourites, we mean of course, the Aston Martin DB5 and V8 Vantage.
Christmas was always a time for us growing up when Dad would get out the Scalextric set and set it up over the lounge floor. We can remember the sound, the distinctive smell and the fun! So the timing of this sets release couldn’t be more perfect.
We were gifted this impressive looking set for the purpose of review but in all honestly it’s really reminded our whole extended family how much we all enjoy having the Scalextrics around. You see we thought we would set it up, check it was the quality we’d expect, check the cars were fairly true-to-life replicas and see how much fun we could have testing our racing skills. But what happened was unexpected, everyone in the family got involved. From gaming mad 8 year olds, Tik-tok obsessed 13 year old girls, 30 and 40-something year old aunts and uncles, right through to the grandparents – everyone wanted a go! Everyone had an opinion how to handle the bends! There is something about Scalextrics that makes people gravitate towards it. Maybe the sound of the cars revving along the track or the delighted shouts and yells of the other players when someone inevitably and spectacularly hurtles off a corner!
The track itself is the push-fit style, very easy to fit together even for younger racers and offers a simple elongated figure of 8 layout. It is 532cms long or 17’ 5” if that’s more helpful. The track features a “side-swipe” area which is fun but does little to no damage to your opponent. It does look pretty cool when the cars hurtle down it though. The main area for full on collisions is the cross-roads much to the children’s delight and the adults wincing! The cars are surprisingly resilient! The wire pick-ups that sit under the cars are easy to change when required and the set comes with several spares.
The children were a bit miffed at the wired controls, having to sit in a confined area near the track was foreign to them and it took them a while to understand pressing harder on the controls is not always better! There are limiters on the controls which help greatly. We were not sure is a physical toy would hold their digital little minds’ attention but it did!
The fact that the set featured 007’s cars was a big pull for the adults – eyes lit up! The British Aston Martins are so well-loved. They really are impressive little cars, such great detail was given to them including – to everyone’s delight and fascination – light up headlights and rear lights! We absolutely did enjoy a bit of “in the dark” racing which was really fun. The 1:32 scale set is perfect to admire their details and the miniature Bond’s driving them.
The Aston Martin DB5, released in 1963, has featured in several Bond films, first appearing in 1964 film Goldfinger and went on to appear in Thunderball (1965), GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and No Time To Die (2021). The 1977 Aston Martin V8 Vantage was featured as Timothy Dalton’s bond-mobil in the 1987 film The Living Daylights and the Daniel Craig era in the 2020 film No Time To Die.
The fun of Scalextrics is mastering the course, slowing for the bends and letting rip in true Bond fashion for the straights! If you are lucky enough to have another set, which we did, adding more track makes the experience even more fun. Extension packs are available on the website. We actually invested in a new criss-cross track piece for Christmas, which goes to show how much we loved this set and want to carry on the enjoyment. That’s one of the great features of Scalextrics, you can keep adding to them! Want Bond to race The Joker? – no problem there is a Batman vs Joker: The Battle of Arkham set available!
There are huge numbers of fans which we are sure will love adding the iconic Bond Cars to their collections. It is not cheap but it is absolutely worth the investment for years of family fun, after all production of Scalextric products began in 1957 and are still going strong. The sturdy track and beautifully detailed cars will last years and years. Bond enthusiasts and Scalextrics fans old and new will love The Scalextric 007 DB5 vs V8 set – Christmas seems the perfect time to add the tradition of Scalextrics to your home and enjoy racing your friends and family as if you are Bond himself.
