What is a slot car?

Slot car

A slot car is an electric toy car that has a guide or pin that sits in a slot that runs on a rail. While the car is on the rail electricity is passed to the motor that makes the car go.

They come in different sizes HO, 1/43, 1/32, and 1/24.

AFX Slot Car Bottom
Blue HO AFX Bottom showing Pin, Guide, Motor and Pickup Leads

Slot cars can run on different tracks made by other brands. Most of the time as long as the track is made for that size of car you will be fine. So in other words an HO car like this needs to be run on an HO track regardless of who makes it. You can’t put this on a 1/32 track and expect it to run.