Scalextric is a brand of slot car racing sets which first appeared in the late 1950s. The Scalextric were first invented by engineer B. Fred Francis, when he added an electric motor to the Scalex tin cars that were produced by Minimodels Ltd, his own company The first "Scalextric" were first made in Havant, Hampshire, in 1956. The brand is currently owned and distributed by Hornby. History The forerunner to Scalextric was Scalex, which Francis first produced through the company Minimodels Ltd which he had founded in 1947. The company was based in London and made tinplate toys and models. Early products included the Startex toy car range and the very popular Scalex, which was introduced in 1952. Scalex was a range of toy racing cars with clockwork motors which were activated by pulling out the steering wheel. In 1952, Minimodels moved to a larger factory in New Lane, Havant to meet the growing demand for the toy cars. At the peak of its popularity, over 7,000 Scalex models were being produced weekly. By 1956, the novelty of clockwork racing cars had worn off and sales began to fall. Eventually the future of the company and its one hundred employees was threatened. In an attempt to revive his company's flagging fortunes, Fred Francis began to look at alternatives. He was inspired by seeing model car racing tracks, but wanted to develop the player's control of the car so as to increase the sense of competition. He experimented by putting small electric motors into Scalex cars and running them on model railway track. Next he introduced rubber slotted track and gave the cars a 'gimbal' wheel to pick up the electric current in the groove of the track. Original tin-plate cars had one hard plastic rear wheel and one rubber-tyred wheel, with gave different handling characteristics for left and right corners. Power was supplied by batteries hidden in a little cardboard hut, with players having their own on-off button to control their cars. Therefore Scalex-electric became Scalextric. Scalextric was unveiled at the Harrogate Toy Fair in 1957 to immediate acclaim. It appealed to both adults and children as it combined speed, competition and the glamour of Formula One motor racing. Demand for the toy was immense and the Minimodels factory struggled to keep up with the orders. In 1958, Fred Francis sold the Minimodels company to Lines Brothers (who operated as