Racing solo

[HomeRacingWorld]

Good stuff! Was thinking of changing the name to commercial track world but you saved me :)

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Nah, they have dozens of their own!

[Ember]

Nice grab Dave.

I started out using a worked over Scalex Challenger to race against. It's really the only way I can have a drone car on my track. There's no really comfortable speed that a car can lap at continuously. But when I embedded the track permanently I forgot to put a couple of magnets underneath for the Challenger's start/finish line. D'oh!

[Florida_Slotter]

[Ember]

The Scalex Challenger (not the Mopar car) is an automated racing companion. It supposedly learns the track, so isn't just circulating at a single low speed. For a start I had troubles with it getting around some of my tighter off camber corners because it absolutely crawls around the track on it's first learning lap and it was dropping off the inside edge on the road. The magnets under the track tell it when it has completed a lap.

It's a great tool when you're starting out and learning to drive. It's not superfast but it's very consistent. Deslot in front of it and it'll drive right through you.

[Ember]

They are getting very hard to come by. Occasionally they appear on eBay, but not often.

The one I have was tuned by an Auslot stalwart that unfortunately lost his battle with Cancer about 5 years ago. It has been chipped so it can run on digital track too.

[Ember]

It is a step up from the rubberband on the controller. It can be made to run on any track. The controller station insert is only a short circuit to keep the power to the track. All of the control gubbins is in the car. The control tower piece is just a remote switch for the car.

Not sure how quick it would be without magnatraction. But sans-mag against a mag car is a challenge.

[Dangermouse]

I have one here - maybe that can be a weekend project - see if I can get it running on my mdf track.

[Ember]

It's not a difficult task DM. But you will need some strong magnets. In the Scalex track I used the magnetic back from name badges. Just perfect for sitting under the track and fitting either side of the slot. On routed you'll probably need neodymium mags and even then they might need embedding in the track to get enough effect for the Challenger to read. The plug for the controller station is a simple jumper device.

I'd like to see this legacy Challenger of Drummer's that I've got go to a new home, but I don't really want to eBay it. I kind of feel it's a bit of Auslot history.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

That explains why I never heard of it. No magnets, ever. All wood track, etc. But then, the little rig I have is as much as I can chase around, anyway!

[HomeRacingWorld]

I am messing around with these. New tires on a pair of them and usual tuning.



Many miles on them and very smooth. Just having a ball :)

[Hundo]

Never minded running alone. Being an "only child" there wasn't much of a choice :mrgreen:

[HomeRacingWorld]

Enjoying a model solo is plenty of fun for me. I like going through a car and just trying different tuning methods to see what works. Then watching it go through the turns without a hint of chatter and punching out of the corners straight and true gives you that sense of accomplishment.

[SRQSloter]

I pretty much just run solo for best times and laps . Now that I have a layout that I like I made up a spreadsheet to keep track better. Also use the SCC Imformation Assitant for my scratchbuilds just cause it has more detail info to keep track of what parts I have used in it. Here's what I did for a spreadsheet to get things rolling. Ran a few cars to get started. All need some work yet. Tires mainly.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... sp=sharing

[Wolseley Hornet]

On the Luf Linkert rally track, and on the ice racing track(which are both two-lane with independent power supplies to each lane), I use the "Billy No-Mates switch" to run a drone car.
When this is set to run at the maximum constant speed without coming off(which actually looks quite slow), it can be surprisingly difficult to catch up and overtake. I guess the programmable Scalex car that "learns" your track must be even harder.


David.