Ever since, I've loved anything that has wheels; baby walkers, roller skates, scooters, pedal bikes, soap box carts - I made one with ackerman steering, another with four wheel steering and a slingshot Kart with the drivers weight behind the back wheels so it could pull wheelies just by shifting the position of my feet, not 'power wheelies' but gravity fed.

They tried to get me interested in train sets but I just used to race them on a twin track layout! Then slot car sets were invented and gradually became affordable. I started with Scalextric, set up a club at school, joined an adult club, and did the 'tour' of the routed track clubs in our area. America and Japan got involved and the cost of being competitive rocketed. I retreated back to home racing but education beckoned. I sold up (or should that be out!) to go to college, missed the slot car racing so bought Hot Wheels stuff and that orange track to race on. We even had a little club at Uni' where we tuned and customised the little beggars! It got me through my first year away from home but in the second year I wanted input to my racing so bought second-hand Minic stuff, a UK equivalent to Aurora MM.

I ended up with a massive 5-lane set with dozens of cars by the time I got married.

Sold up again to spend on the home instead but it wasn't REALLY home without a slot track.

Luckily, Aurora came out with AFX. I saw it in a major hobby chain store set up as a demo. Power set on constant, cars rotating at a speed I previously thought impossible. I ended up stopping in that shop all day demonstrating the raceability for them (took over from auto control when the sales people were off guard and they just left me there to play.) They sold more sets that day than they'd done in a week. Let me buy a set and cars at discount as a result and that's when HO REALLY began for me.

Money was tight but a local toyshop kept tempting me with the newest AFX releases and the collection grew, exclusively AFX, initially on a monthly basis. The biggest hiccup was when they changed the track. It put me off for a while but eventually I made the change. Then Aurora went bust and I bought a lot of 'blow out' stuff from another national hobby chain, spare parts, wheels, tyres, gears, pickups, etc. The hobby took a nosedive for a couple of years as stuff became unobtainable, then Tomy appeared and it took off again.

Twelve years ago I found others in this Country had the same interest, not many but enough to set up national racing events, a local club, etc and things blossomed. We got involved with Tomy, setting up a Guinness Book of Records 'longest track' attempt in an ex-aircraft hanger at a 1:1 Motor Racing circuit. (We set the record) then the 24-Hour Le Mans race was started. Got links into Tyco which started appearing on the back of Tomy's success, etc. etc. Then about four years ago the whole HO bubble burst here. Tomy was in financial trouble and dropped AFX, first in the UK, then in Europe. We hopped Tyco would seize the opportunity to dominate the market but they stumbled and fell too. Mattel haven't picked up on the vacuum. Scalextric had a go but their offering based on Marchon was dire and finally killed off any remaining interest in HO here, confirming the general opinion of the less well informed that it was not 'real slot racing', just kids stuff! We are currently in an 'HO drought' situation.

I still have the Aurora, Aurora AFX, G+, Tomy AFX, and SG+ cars but now I concentrate on collecting Tyco.

I got into the hobby to RACE, collecting being secondary although from the 2000+ cars I have you wouldn't think so.

I started buying just what I liked - but the more I bought, the more I liked.

As with others, ALL my cars have been run at some time and will be again in the future, at racing speeds too but not necessarily in a (club) racing environment. They were made to MOVE at speed. If I wanted a static collection I'd still be buying Hot Wheels but real cars move under their own power and so should model cars (in my opinion).

Rob Anderson's wife has a great expression for part of the hobby, 'touching cars'. As Bob Beers, I like to just sit and gaze at the collection, since they are more than just trophies. Most have stories attached: how I got them, why, where or who from, how, built from a wreck, mint boxed, traded, eBayed, given, etc. I also get great pleasure from rearranging them all through several cabinets. I can spend a whole weekend just shuffling them about. This gets prolonged into days when one is run, then another and another. Chassis get changed round; chromed wheels go under a real 'street machine', yellow under a red car, etc.

The hobby has many aspects too, social; fellow racers, collectors, individuals who are so withdrawn you'd swear they were psycho' until you mention HO and they come out of their shell. The 'cackhanded' who in the normal course of events seem to be a walking disaster area until you see the paint job on their HO cars. It crosses boundaries too, into the realms of other scales. I have 1/32nd cars, diecasts, R/C, plastic kits (If it's got wheels!) and on into 1:1 cars and racing. Scenic modelling, spray painting, car boot and garage sales, the HO:RACE magazine, etc.etc. Not so much a HO:bby, more a way of life!

I put on meetings partly for selfish reasons. I need someone to race with! I like organising and being in control - but also for magnanimous reasons. I'm fortunate I have the space to collect and the place to race. Others are like I was, HO islands thinking they are the only one with this weird interest. They want competition; they need to compare cars, collectible or performance-wise. We all crave human company with like interests and I've met or communicated with many GREAT people around the World through this HO:bby and although we've not met face-to-face, count them as friends.

Does that answer the question at all? Maybe not...