Scalextric: that has been my morning ..

[Batman]

Not long but they barely stay on the track long enough to burn out, they don't do corners. We had to replace the bottom magnet with a neodium one from a hard drive to get it to stick propperly and then it just dismantled the track taking the corner piece with it if you used more than a milimeter or so of controller depression. You also could not go full noise on it even on a straight as it tended to take the track apart. We were looking at mounting the track to something and getting bigger wheels but realised that we had already wasted at least half a day on a minor distraction and would need to uprate the motors then anyway. The whole set had that lovely smell of electricity barely contained in wires, motors and tracks that were way to under rated to operate safely. We were, at the time wondering which would be the first bit to catch fire. It turned out to be the controller I was holding

 

Ahh so I think what you need to do is get rid of the controller and use a higher rated rheostat of some description (a dimmer switch perhaps?) and then do what my dad's friends did... make your own slot car racing track! They cut grooves into some MDF/hardboard and ran a strip of aluminium tape down each side of the groove... I imagine you could get a conductive paint that would do even better.

 

Only thing then is the magnets, but I reckon if you're making your own track you could devise a way of anchoring the car from the underside of the board through the slot.

[soveryapt]

Ahh so I think what you need to do is get rid of the controller and use a higher rated rheostat of some description (a dimmer switch perhaps?) and then do what my dad's friends did... make your own slot car racing track! They cut grooves into some MDF/hardboard and ran a strip of aluminium tape down each side of the groove... I imagine you could get a conductive paint that would do even better.

 

Only thing then is the magnets, but I reckon if you're making your own track you could devise a way of anchoring the car from the underside of the board through the slot.

 

So, anyone who has a free weekend fancy knocking one of these up? I'm running events most of the weekend so sadly (despite my desire to attempt such thing) so who else wants to bring a bit of joy into this thread and make something .. lol ..

[rlr1]

I have quite a bit of experience of big scalextric events. I used to run an annual "Drink and Drive" charity event. Had a 4 lane track and matching cars (VW beetles). At 1 point I owned several (scale) miles of track. I have only recently had a big clear out and got rid of load of it. Sorry!

 

A couple of top tips!

 

Have spare cars. You won't have time to fix the copper brades mid race.

Time your event and add it up. it's surprising how many races you will need and how long they take.

Have a master power switch to kill the track. best way to get people off after theri race finishes (see above)

If you can, supply each lane from it's own transformer. This stops the cars from stealing power from each other. The real pain with this is when a car comes off and stops stealing power! The other gets a boost and comes off as well. This means you get "close" races all the time and can cause trouble with scoring.

Use a computerised lap counter/timer if possible. I used to use one that was free on the net. You will need to build your own track detectors though. Putting one of these through a data projector looks really cool and keeps the attention of those who can't see over the heads at the track. Failing that, use a seperate human lap counter for each lane..

 

Finally;

When you are driving, the trick is to stay on. You lose much more time scrabbling to replace a car that you ever would by running a bit slower..

[Batman]

So, anyone who has a free weekend fancy knocking one of these up? I'm running events most of the weekend so sadly (despite my desire to attempt such thing) so who else wants to bring a bit of joy into this thread and make something .. lol ..

 

I would love to but free weekends are a thing of the past. Maybe when my son's old enough to enjoy it I might be allowed to

[soveryapt]

I would love to but free weekends are a thing of the past. Maybe when my son's old enough to enjoy it I might be allowed to

 

Lol .. but if you start building one now, just imagine how big it will be when he gets to an age to appreciate it too! lol ..

[Batman]

Lol .. but if you start building one now, just imagine how big it will be when he gets to an age to appreciate it too! lol ..

 

I like your thinking!

 

I'm sure my Dad would lend a hand as well

[soveryapt]

I like your thinking!

 

I'm sure my Dad would lend a hand as well

 

Father, Son, Grandson united .. I feel my work is done ..