This holiday season has been tight for many families, and even in a good year it’s unlikely that you’d find a real dream car under ye old tannenbaum, or in celebration of the lighting of the Shamash. But slot and R/C cars can help fill that void – and fit more comfortably under said tree – providing you with hours of racing fun while never even needing to change out of your footie pajamas.

There seem to be two types of model car racers- those who like the wheel-to-wheel competition, and tail-dragging cornering that a well-sorted slot car track affords, and those who like the unfettered and boundless freedom that the R/C racers provide.

The R/C’-ers don’t want to be tied down to a slot- they want to be able to gain air on curb jumps, scare neighborhood dogs and squirrels, and be the masters of their remote control vehicles destiny.

Slot car drivers, on the other hand, feed off of the adrenaline that comes with trying to keep that car in the slot while getting to the finish line ahead of their opponents, no mean feat considering the limits of adhesion and massive amounts of scale torque the little cars generate, making corners treacherous and flipping into the weeds, or under the sofa a real threat.

So, which are you, a slot car maven, or an R/C freak? And which would you rather find when tearing through that holiday paper?

Image sources: [iwishihadthis, rctech, rummagingaround]