My Scalextric Set

His lap time flashes up on the TV monitor and it's a new circuit record.  Just as well he loosened the screws on the chassis, sanded the tyres and added some lead ballast from wheel balancer weights and angling sinkers.

Welcome to "Eggy's" world of model racing in the purpose-built room under his Buderim house.  The police officer has built his own 19m track under his home after removing 80 cubic metres of soil to build the room that houses his motoring hobby.

"I built this room under the house just for the track. But that's nothing. I know blokes who have built a house especially to fit their set," he says.  "But I don't go to the pub all the time, I don't smoke, gamble or go out with bad women. This is my only vice."

His obsession began almost four decades ago.  "When I was a kid, the kid across the road had a Scalextric set and I used to go across and play all the time," he says.

"I never had one because dad couldn't to buy me one.  "Then 12 years ago I bought a Thunder Down Under Scalextric set for $249 set because my wife was going to have a boy  — at least that's what I thought, but it didn't turn out that way.

"I was going to buy it and keep it for my son but he never came. Instead I have two beautiful daughters who just aren't that interested in it."  That original track is still in a box under the couch in his track room while Van Egmond has moved on to bigger things with a track he handbuilt from wood and copper foil used in led lighting as the contacts for the model cars' brushes.

It includes a computerised timing system accurate to one-thousandth of a second and if you jump the start, it shuts down power to your lane for five seconds as a penalty.  "I'm a bit embarrassed by it all. It's a bit nerdy," he says.

The set even includes $178 variable ohm controllers that can adjust the triggers sensitivity and the cars braking.  He also has more than 400 model cars, trucks and go-karts.

"The exact number of them I'm not sure and I don't really want to know, plus I've got three more on order," he says.  The most expensive is a Spanish-made Fly brand Porsche 935 Jaegermeister Le Mans car he paid $145 for a few years ago and is now worth more than $200.  "I don't race it. It's a collectible classic and I don't want to wreck it," he says.

He claims to have made some money on shrewd trading.  "I'm a shift worker and I get the Weekend Shopper and I'd never know when to call people," he says."I'd ring people at 5am and I got a few abusive answers but I also made a bit of money on it.  I bought a set for $40, sold about a third of it for $473 and still have the rest."

His collection features cars from Ninco, Fly, Cartrix from Spain, SCX formerly made in Spain but now from China, Scalextric originally made in UK now China, Carrera and Revell Monogram from Germany and Slot.it from China.  "Once I started collecting them, I didn't stop. I just kept going," he says.

He has insured his collection and track for $10,000 but reckons it's worth a lot more.  "It's a sickness." he says.  "It's like when you go past a car yard and you like a car but you can't afford to buy that Porsche. However, you can afford to buy a model car."

He currently drives a Toyota RAV-4 and a Ford Courier dual cab but his first car was a Chrysler Charger CM four-speed that he bought when he was 18.  "My old man had a V8 Charger 318 and we used to live near Lakeside and watch Brock and Johnson racing," he says.

"I always wanted to race, but never did. This is where I get my kicks now.  "When you have four blokes racing who are very close in skill it is a hell of a lot of fun."

The world of model racing is very technical and racers spend hours tuning their cars to perfection.  "Each car drives differently and you can tweak them in all sorts of ways," he says.  For stability, he adds lead fishing sinkers or wheel balancer weights.

To improve grip, he sands the tyres until they are perfectly round and fits alloy wheels because plastic wheels go out of shape.  He also glues the motor in and loosens the body screws or shaves the inside of the body so it rattles and doesn't axle hop.

"I'm not a master tuner by any stretch of the imagination," he says.  He belongs to a couple of different clubs that meet frequently and stage six-monthly championships in various classes according to motor capacity and A and B grades according to driver skill.

Sometimes they race while Van Egmond screens the Steve McQueen Le Mans movie or during the V8 Supercars or Bathurst telecasts.  "It's good to get a few mates around and have a few beers, although that does affect your driving skills and then your lap times get worse," he says.