6 questions for Sven Hoffmann - Founder of the online store Slotracing Studio

1. Sven, when did you first come into contact with model building?

I was already involved in model building at the age of about 10. It all started in the classic way with kits from Revell of various types and in different scales. It started with kits for military vehicles, for which I then also built dioramas. But I quickly switched to classic racing cars on a larger scale. In addition to model building, I was also involved with RC racing cars and an HO scale railroad during this time. Of course, I also built the landscape and buildings for the railroad landscape, e.g. from Faller. The enthusiasm for model building was never lost, but only came back into focus a good 10 years ago when the topic of motor sports in 1/32 was revived.

2. You launched your online shop Slotracing Studio in the middle of this year. What inspired you to take this step?

That's a longer story. It started with the idea of showcasing the small speedsters in 1/32 in pictures so that these vehicles look like the big ones in 1:1 and I then published these pictures on Instagram and Facebook. At the same time, I started building a Carrera track or my specially designed wooden track in 1/32, for which I built everything myself. As part of the publication of the pictures of the track construction, contact was made with Race Track Scenics in the USA. Race Track Scenics is a manufacturer of racetrack buildings made of MDF wood in various scales and there was not yet a sales channel in Germany or the EU. This led to the decision to open a web shop in order to be able to offer the kits to customers outside the USA. Ultimately, I bring my model building experience here and we also offer our customers a model building service, with which we then take over the construction and painting of the kits - also in the colors of your choice. This means that the buildings can be placed on the racetrack directly from the shipping box. We went online with the shop in June 2023 and we are gradually expanding our product portfolio to include selected slot car brands, but especially in the area of figures in different scales. Here too, we bring our model building experience and offer the service of coloring the figures according to the customer's wishes, for example as a racing team with the same look. Our focus is generally on individual design, so that the customer receives something unique from us.

3. Your project “World Panorama Raceway – slot racing beyond your expectations” caught my eye on your website. I would like to find out more about it.

Exactly. This is the wooden track I just mentioned that I've been building for a long time. The basic idea of this project is to recreate the layout and track design of various well-known race track sections. Elements from the Nürburgring, Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamp, Monza, Laguna Seca and Daytona were ultimately incorporated. If buildings also play a role in the track design, I built them completely myself, e.g. like the old large Daytona grandstands with the well-known race center in the middle, for Monza the old (small) race track towers on the almost forgotten banked curve and for Le Mans the legendary pit system as it still stood there in the 1960s. The project is not yet finished, also because new ideas continue to grow the project.

4. You took over European sales for the Race Track Scenics USA MDF kits. What does the product portfolio look like in detail?

The product portfolio initially includes the scales of 1/32, 1/43 and 1/64. For these standards, we offer kits for pit lane buildings of well-known race tracks, as well as kits for the pit box, e.g. modern race director stands, tire stands or lifting platforms. For general route design, we have marshal buildings, marshal towers, kiosks and advertising signs in our range. Bridges for 2 or 4 lanes are also available. So basically everything that shouldn't be missing on a race track.

5. I suspect that your interest lies not only in the small speedsters, but in motorsport in general. Am I right?

Yes, that's right. Of course, like many people, it started with simply attending motorsport events. In the 1990s we went to the DTM very often and also went to Formula 1 at the Nürburgring, all a long time ago. But as luck would have it, I came into contact with motorsports about 15 years ago and so I was able to drive a racing car myself. And as everyone knows, this can have the same effect as a virus, and that's what happened. After I was infected, I got a racing license and then drove in the BMW Challenge for several years and we also had regular guest starts in Dutch racing series. I drove a BMW M3 E46 GTR1 with around 440 hp and a weight of around 1,100 kilos, so in other words something is happening and the performance is similar to today's GT4 class racing car.

6. Sven, would you like to share your many years of experience with the readers of RS65photos – Motorsport in 1/32? I'm thinking of a section entitled Tips and tricks about slot racing with Sven Hoffmann.

Very much. There are definitely some tips and tricks that can help others design their racetrack at home and also get ideas. I think we could start here with some ideas from the construction of my track.