Recently I went to Spain. Before I went I emailed a few friends in Spain and asked them where I should go while I was in Barcelona..."Oh, you need to visit Cric Crac, it's worth the drive." Well, that was the understatement of the year. Slot car shops are hard to find here in the US. They're on nearly every street corner in Barcelona it seems but even with slot cars being so available Cric Crac stands out as THE place to visit if you're in the general vicinity of Barcelona (it's about 45 minutes away if you're driving quickly...and we were!). Even if you're say in the vicinity of Spain...or in the vicinity of Cleveland for that matter!
Upstairs there are several tracks...so why no photos of the floor of the store? Well I was busy...it got ugly, really ugly. I bought parts, decals, and a few cars for friends back in the US. While I was looking (ok, more like freaking out over the selection of parts and decals) Bernat Basas, who runs the store, helped me with my search for the coolest, most useful and unavailable parts that every slotter needs for his proxy racing endeavors. I have no idea how long I was there, though according to Chuck and Bryan from SCX (who had the great misfortune agreeing to take me to the shop) it was at least an hour and a half...I have no idea, I was crazed from seeing all the "Unobtanium*" on the shelves of the store. Actually when I think about it, the best part wasn't really actually buying the stuff, it was talking with Bernat about each line of products. We compared notes about what we considered "fast" to be. Surprisingly our thoughts we quite similar...the top dog racer on both sides of the Atlantic is the McLaren Slot It, with the NSR Mosler, and MRRC/ScaleAuto Toyota GT1 closely behind or ahead. But the consensus was that all three were worth the money and were cars to be raced when the goal was all out speed.
The Cric Crac special edition cars are the stuff of eBay legend. Either you have one, or more than likely, you don't have one of the special editions but you want one. So what happened next was a complete surprise and was shock to me. Bernat went into the back of the store and came back out with a car to give to me. The car below is that car.
The Corvette C5.R by Fly made specially for Cric Crac is stunning. The yellow and white paint job is perfect. 
How does it run? Well...I have no idea! This is one of a few cars that I think will actually become a shelf queen for me. A certain Canadian slot brother has a "strict no shelf queen policy" but in this case maybe I can get an exemption from him for this car... in any case it's a very cool car to have. And a very special reminder of an amazing trip to a store that can't be missed. Really... go now and buy plane tickets for Spain.So if you're in need of really just about anything slot-related you can find them at:
http://criccrac.es/
Or via email at:
info@criccrac.es
"Unobtanium"- Noun - Slot car enthusiast slang for products that are readily available everywhere else in the slot car world but not in the US market.
3 comments:
Very interesting! More pictures please ? More information about the unobtainium stuff too, perhaps ?
Hmmm unobtanium.... Revell Beetles, the entire line of MRRC/ScaleAuto parts, the entire line of MB Slot Parts, Sloting Plus parts, the entire line of Fly parts (including the Fly Racing chassis/parts, none of which have found their way to the US), decals, decals, decals...more decals in every scale than you can imagine. IBB decals are available only in Spain and they're amazing looking. I haven't used them yet but they look fantastic. Check out the Cric Crac site to see everything you can't get "here".
And as I said I have no more photos inside the store...I was too busy and drunk with consumerism to take more photos.
...maybe on my next trip!
DK
Great article and pics - thank you! The car gift was a very good gesture, too. You know, "shelf Queens" do get run once in a blue moon.
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