Darda Nascar Victory Lane ~ Holiday SPLURGE {Review & Giveaway #5}

Darda is a division of Wm. K. Walthers, Inc., a 78-year-old family owned and operated business based in Milwaukee and Baltimore. If you are unfamiliar with Darda cars and racetracks, they are unique in that they require no electricity or batteries to run. Instead, they utilize a unique, German-designed motor that contains a special clutch preventing the motor from being over-wound. If you’ve got a car or racing fan in your family I know I’ve got your attention now.

To make the car go, simply roll the Darda car with a back and forth motion while lightly pressing down on the car. The clicking sounds tell you the motor is winding; when the clicks get louder, you know it’s fully wound and ready to go. Release the car and watch it shoot forward at up to 30 mph. When properly used, Darda motors can last for thousands of uses.

Just in time for the holiday season, Darda has introduced a new NASCAR® branded play set called Victory Lane.

Kids can set up the 60+ piece Victory Lane track, and race each other using the two Darda NASCAR cars. They’ll watch as each car races through twists and turns at a scale speed of 600 mph! As cars round the final curve onto the Victory Lane straightaway, a checkered flag is set up and ready to signal the winner. This play set features two NASCAR heroes, Jeff Gordon® and Jimmie Johnson®, in their trademark DuPont and Lowe’s branded cars. Instructions are included for three track variations, or create your very own race track from the included pieces! No batteries or electricity needed. Full track size is 53” x 25” x 12.5”

My three year old son Lucian who happens to be obsessed with cars was more than happy to help test it out! While this set has a suggested age of 4+ my three year old had no problems whatsoever playing with the cars and getting them moving along the track. However he does have trouble with assembling the pieces. In our case it makes for a great activity for Lucian and dad to do together and later when he is old enough it will add a new dimension to this toy. The track itself is very lightweight and is very easy to reassemble.

Can you sense his pure joy with this racetrack? My husband has set the track up in numerous ways and has already mentioned adding to the track and getting some more cars. This has become one of those gifts that seems to be just as much for dad as the child! I know this will be a favorite in our house for a long time and will grow with him. Since he has gotten the track he asks to play with it every day!

Another great Darda racetrack is the Power Loop Pyramid which features Bump ‘n Go action which has one car bumping into another to send it racing down the track!

A 2-1/2′ (76.2cm) pyramid supports five incredible loops challenging the Ultra Speed™ cars to defy gravity at speeds up to 600 scale mph! More loops, more thrills, and more possibilities create more excitement! This 152-piece set includes a Bump ‘n’ Go racer for double the fun. Set comes with car, track and instructions for layout!

You can purchase Darda racetracks directly from Darda or on Amazon. They retail for $64.95 and $69.95 each.

{ Giveaway }

Darda would like to give one of my readers their choice of the Nascar Victory Lane or the Power Loop Pyramid racetrack!

MAIN ENTRY: Visit Darda and tell me which racetrack you would choose if money weren’t an issue and why.

Want more entries? (I know you must!) After answering my question do any of the following and leave a comment telling me what you did. Each is worth one entry unless otherwise noted. Your comment is your entry so please leave the appropriate number of comments for each extra entry.

-Tell me why you’d like to win this and who it would be for!
-Follow my blog publicly
-Subscribe to my feed in a reader or by email
-Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway

Win a Darda Nascar Victory Lane or Power Loop Pyramid racetrack! No batteries! @babylovingmama http://tinyurl.com/yfo7koh #giveaway PLS RT!

-Add my button to your blog
-Add my Holiday Splurge event button to your blog
-Blog about this contest and link back here and to Darda (3 entries)

This contest will end on 12/2/09 at 11:59 pm CST. U.S. residents only. The winner will be drawn via random.org. The winner will have 72 hours to respond to winning notification email before I draw another winner or do a live giveaway.

Disclosure: I received a sample for the purpose of this review . This has no bearing on my completely honest review above and was not influenced by any type of monetary compensation. The opinions and experiences I’ve shared with these products are my own and yours may differ.