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Carrera (slot car brand)
Encyclopedia
Slot car
A slot car is a powered miniature auto or other vehicle that is guided by a groove or slot in the track on which it runs. A pin or blade extends from the bottom of the car into the slot...
brand introduced in the early 1960s by Josef Neuhierl GmbH & Co. KG based in the Franconian town of Fürth
Fürth
The city of Fürth is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart....
, Germany. The name Carrera
Carrera
Carrera, de la Carrera or Karrera is a surname originated in Venice, Italy. Later, also a Basque surname from Alegría de Oria and Amezketa, in Guipúzcoa . Other references show that is a Castilian surname...
was inspired by the Porsche Carrera
Porsche Carrera
Carrera is a trademarked name exclusively used by Porsche for its models to honor the company's success in the Carrera Panamericana race.The following vehicles have been called Carrera:* Porsche 356* Porsche 904* Porsche 911...
models which took their name from the Carrera Panamericana
Carrera Panamericana
The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sports car racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy. Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, it was widely held by contemporaries to be the most dangerous race of any type in the world...
road race.
Carrera dominated the German markets in the 1960s and 1970s, due to using an additional third wire, and effective marketing, also at the nearby Nuremberg International Toy Fair
Nuremberg International Toy Fair
Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nürnberg is the largest international trade fair for toys and games. Only trade visitors associated with the toy business, journalists and invited guests are admitted...
.
In the 1970, Carrera offered 1:24, 1:32 and 1:60 scales for slot cars, and the slot-free "Servo" systems which allowed cars to switch lanes, guided by the guard rails on the outside. Due to the many systems offered, and fewer customers (Generation X
Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
), Neuhierl had to sell his company in 1985, and took his own life. The new owners sold rather cheap products.
In 1999, the Stadlbauer Group from Salzburg, Austria took over. Following the restructuring of Carrera, Stadlbauer company relaunched “Carrera 124” line as a premium product range Carrera Exclusiv. In 2001 “Carrera Go!!! was developed as an action track developed for beginners and the young was released to the market. Carrera is all about innovation and quality which marked the creation of a bigger scale 1:43 and the traditional 1:32 scale, Carrera Evolution, was integrated with new Digital 132 technology. The function of Digital 132 technology is to allow a maximum of six vehicles to overtake each other at high speeds on both analogue and digital racetracks.
For over 40 years in the business, the company works closely with the State Trade Agency in Nürnberg as a standard check if Carrera’s lines of products meet the required safety standards. The modern Carrera sports a whole host of authentic top license deals. These include Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, BMW, Bentley, Nintendo and NASCAR. On January 1, 2005, the company opened its own subsidiary in the United States, “Carrera of America Inc”, in addition to its subsidiary companies in France since 2006 and in Poland and Hungary.
In the year 2006, Carrera organized its very first Carrera World Championship and another championship in 2007 until the spring of 2008. September 2007 set the start of the Carrera World Championship at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt.
Today, Carrera is available in more than forty countries around the globe.