My Policar Build and Adventure - Running Inside Four of Six Lanes

Analog Terminal Block / Controller Stations

Having run (Carrera) digital for several months I found I never used the digital aspect and when I switched to more of a commercial vibe layout I decided to drop digital completely. For me the more old school the better. Instead of adding two lanes to my existing analog wiring I decided to start from scratch. My abilities are limited however I can struggle through and when it eventually works there is undeniable satisfaction in knowing you constructed it.

With a lot of help from Professor Motor as I used their Wiring Center, Controller Hookups, Wire and Boost Clips. The only things I purchased elsewhere were the DPDT switches to reverse direction which I received from Amazon along with the power supply. Having built a two lane version from scratch it was pretty straight forward since Professor Motor had already wired one side of the terminal block. Luckily once completed all four lanes tested out 100% which made my day!

For controllers I have been using Professor Motor PMTR2111 recommended by Greg and they have been working like a champ so I see no reason to change. Might order two more, run some jumpers at the controller posts (if possible) or simply swap the controllers around as needed. I have an aversion to mounting anything on the layout tables (since I often change configurations and I know it's strange ) so I picked up a IKEA (cheap) table and mounted the board angled upwards just a tad. It's plenty secure as it slides into the brackets and they are doubled-sided foam taped to the table.

UPDATE: I decided to purchase Slot.it SCP201ai Universal analog controllers and sell the Professor Motor controllers (nothing but good things to say about them). I like that they have a contactless magnetic trigger system and figured since I'm starting over with the track why not the controllers too. For now I'm jumping lanes 2 & 3 and lanes 4 & 5 so I can use the same controller on both without continually swapping controller from lane to lane. If for some reason I want to run the jumped lanes separately I can remove the jumpers.

Having used the new controller for several months I have been impressed. I like how the adjustments have reference numbers so you can use the exact same settings per car. As it makes it easy to go back and forth. On top of the typical adjustments minimum power and sensitivity really helps to adjust the car's performance per the layout.

The Adventure

Below are images of my previous layouts. The first layout was less than a year ago and I was excited to get back into slot cars as the nostalgic aspect hit me hard. Slot cars meant long sweeping curves, endless lanes and alligator clips. And the "recent" addition of digital features intrigued me. My initial layout went great and I was excited to add even more which resulted in 81 feet of track and virtually every digital feature. At this point I noticed two things. I didn't use the digital features at all and both of my layouts felt like home layouts, not the commercial vibe I fondly remember and was looking for.

Which resulted in changing directions and creating one of the loves of my life. Four lanes of Carrera you could drive in your sleep since it was so sweeping. I could have driven this layout forever and been content. It was a long winding road that never ended. You weren't turning laps rather driving up the coast on California's Highway One. So why did I leave it all behind? As wonderful as that adventure was I had experienced it. I wanted more adventures and to get even closer to what slot cars meant to me. Six lanes, a turn or two you curse at on occasion as it ruins your perfect lap and the unknown.

The current Policar layout is still rather unknown as it's hours old. However I have the feeling it's the end of the adventure. As close to the commercial vibe I'm going to achieve and I look forward to experiencing it. Hopefully for a long time...

Background Story

We lived in Northern New Jersey at the time. My brother was roughly 16 and started racing slot cars at the local hobby store. He began scratch building car after car and it didn't take long before he worked at the store and stopped racing. It wasn't fair or competitive for him. Rather he managed the track. I don't know how MRC (Model Rectifier Corporation) approached him however he was invited to join their team. Complete with (gold?) sports jacket and their emblem on the breast pocket. I remember seeing that jacket in many photos. He was the only kid.

I raced HO cars at home and couldn't solder two pieces of brass tubing together. It wouldn't be right if I raced one of his cars so when the Russkit came out he must have thought... here's something you can race kid. Being 1/24 scale it felt like an actual race car as did the hobby store's track. My chance came at the six hour endurance. It was the only store bought car yet I qualified with the leaders. Lasting memory is the car effortlessly sweeping from turn to turn endlessly floating above the track. With the occasional break to change lanes.

I did my car proud. I can't remember what place I took but I know it was near the top and I got what was possible out of her. My brother seemed satisfied. He went on (along with his team) to hold events at neighboring towns. Racing against the locals representing MRC. Before long we moved out of state and his career was over as was my HO tracks.

Current Stable of Cars

Rather unique (at least for here), I'm not a car collector. Rather I try to find cars suited to my layout defined by still accelerating at the main straightaway's braking point and being able to control its slide. I also believe you should be able to run the car out of the box beyond the required prep, oil, lube and front wheel adjustment. Right now the following are meeting these requirements. I own at least a couple of each and race them against themselves which typically offers the closest (most fun) racing. Of the other dozen or more cars I have tried honorable mention goes to the NSR Porsche 908/3. Simply a kick to drive. As far as construction I'll give it to RevoSlot GT1 cars. All metal with a precision build. Looking for a commercial vibe car... order one.

Missed my old RevoSlots enough I had to purchase another one. Sure they will never be the fastest around my layout but I have I gotten over that (and my layout is rather short now so being slow is a good thing!). Just too much of an old school car to not appreciate. All metal chassis that grounds the car to the point it ain't going anywhere and great handling even with the rather hard tires that let you control the slide.

Scaleauto F1 - Holds multiple track records



NSR Mosler - Fast and a little unruly


BRM 1:24 Alfa



Procession of Layouts

First Blush Policar Track

I included a few Policar track pieces with my "wiring station" order to see what I would be getting into if I switch to Policar. Now I only have four straights so this isn't any type of actual review per se. Rather an instant reaction and to some degree how it compares to Carrera track. Understand I'm rather "picky" and as such some of this might be making a mountain out of a mole hill.

The biggest difference I noticed (beyond the obvious) is the rails appear to join better. By this I mean the gap appears smaller and more "level" which should make the transition smoother. On my Carrera track often the top of the rails would stop before the end of the plastic track leaving a decent gap and at times they wouldn't be level with the next piece. So much so you could hear a "click" as the car passed over the joint. This would cause me to swap x pieces hoping to get a better match. Or in a few cases RMA a piece if it was really "out of whack". Now I can't say Policar is better however from what I have seen it appears to be... I'm hoping.

There are obvious differences in size and surface texture. Which can go either way based on your usage and preferences. I have had two and four lane Carrera layouts on my tables and never really given its appearance much thought outside of... it looks rather nice and of reasonable quality. Placing a few pieces of Policar next to the Carrera track I had a few thoughts about both. All of a sudden the Carrera track felt large almost oversized for my tables. The Policar was simply smaller all around and felt more in scale. And I had ignored the white passing stripes since that's just the way is but after seeing the Policar I thought why as they just distract from the track itself. Cosmetically it's largely preferences. I do like the textured look and the rails being smaller however the texture does appear to have variations even as the grid itself is the same. Not sure what is is. Perhaps slightly different colors (of black) in the plastic. Which for a real road makes sense however since I know it's a piece of plastic I keep wondering why it isn't all the same.

Haven't put the connecting clips to good use yet but it looks like Policar has a win here. Carrera clips work for the most part however often when they are really needed they aren't strong enough to do the job. The Policar multi-lane clips appears to really work where Carrera only offers metal "sliders" that more or less work which you might need in the hundreds.

Again I'm largely guessing regarding Policar but so far I'm still good to go. Haven't seen anything to scare me off... Connected the boost clips to the four inner lanes and the car goes vroom. Now I just need a longer straightaway.

Re colour change, I'm sure that's down to the way the light reflects of the track at slightly different angles, you do get a similar but not so strong effect with Ninco track. The more sideways on the light the more noticeable it seems to be, when I had my track on the floor the day time light from from a window on one side of the track. If you find the connect clips aren't sitting flush remove them and try wiggling the track together a bit more. I have found some joints to be a bit tight on the rails and the wiggle together seems to work. If they're not flush the multi lane and border clips/tabs won't fit properly.

If you've change tyres to extra grippy ones you might want to try the original stock ones again. I find my softest club tyres, routed wood track, are to grippy and don't let the car slide and the car just tends to give way, a bit like pushing to hard with a magnet fitted.

If you want to solder your power leads to the track dismantle the power bases and unsolder the wires and then use these solder joints for your wiring. That way you don't need to apply very much heat as the rails are, as I understand it, stainless steel like Carrera so would normally need a bit more heat to get a good joint.

I'm scared but I did it. I got confirmation the 4-lane set in was in stock and decided what the heck so I ordered the rest of the track required to make my "best" proposed layout. Alan is going to "rip out" the pieces of the set I don't need (power supply, controllers, etc with perhaps a small credit) and ship everything at once. I figured why put together half a layout and then wait for the rest. If I do come up with something better I'll probably need most of the pieces anyway. I ordered an extra pack of everything in case I find a few that don't meet my "standards".

Scared? Yeah the layout is only 43 feet far shorter than any of my others. I figured the extra grip will make up for some of that but probably not much. I tried various other layouts however they only added a few feet and the flow just didn't seem as nice. What I found last time doing from 81 to 60 feet length isn't everything. Hopefully dropping to 43 will be something. Just now someone placed a like on my first layout and I don't remember its length but it was considerably longer. A trip down memory lane... pretty sure six lanes will make it a winner based on my usage.

Surprisingly what I liked least about the first and second layouts were the esses as for some reason they always felt like filler. What I liked most about both were the chicanes especially on the second layout - difficult to get just right but when you did you made all kinds of time. With the third layout it's clearly the sweeping turn after the straightaway. Once I reversed direction it was no looking back. Maintaining speed through that turn set up the entire next lap. Now I sort of have the two favorite features with the new track and I hope they carry over... and I think the driving experience between lanes two and five will be rather dramatic.

Charles R said:

My guess is there is (minor) variations in the texture depth and the light is reflected differently.

Click to expand...

There are variations in texture and they do, slightly, alter the way light reflects, but my Policar track has distinct colour variations in the track surface too, R5 curves in particular being darker than other pieces, as can be seen in the attached photos of my track.

The other thing to note is that the slight difference in surface textures also affects the grip that those pieces give. It's a very subtle difference, so subtle that initially I thought it was down to the way I had set my cars up, but after many thousands of laps with many different cars, I can say for certain that grip is not uniform across the various radii corners that I have in my track.

R5 curves are particularly affected by this. Mine make almost all of my cars "shudder" when cornering on the limit. I really can't think of another way to describe it, as it's a characteristic unlike any other I've experienced on wood, Ninco, Carrera, Scalextric Classic and Scalextric Sport track surfaces. As I said previously, it's a very subtle difference and probably not noticeable unless you're driving a car that you're extremely familiar with and are testing it for many hundreds of laps, but it's definitely something to be aware of.

I've tried everything I can think of to dial the "shudder" out: hard chassis, soft chassis, numerous tyre compounds and tyre-edge profiles, motor pods loose and tight, suspension, everything, but none other than fitting very hard tyres has worked, and doing that makes the cars so unrewarding to drive that I prefer to use slightly softer tyres and live with the consequences. I now just accept it as part of the challenge of driving the track and drive accordingly, but if, as you say, you're "picky", (I am too), you might find it a niggle which you can't quite learn to live entirely happily with.

Despite this, the pros of Policar track easily, for me, outweigh the grip disparities, and the track system is such an improvement over the other plastic tracks I've used and raced on (I've no experience of Scaleauto track) that I won't be changing it anytime soon.




R5 pieces in the foreground on the bridge. Noticeably darker than the other pieces.