Scalextric Sport Digital

QUOTE (Turismo @ 5 Jan 2004, 05:45 PM)...
How many volts/amps is the power supply? It's gonna have to be substantial.....
If each car draws around 1.2 amps, 6 cars would draw 7.2 amps.

W=VA

Power increases (more cars), so if the amps go up accordingly, the voltage can remain the same.

Adrian

Lane changer required for 2-4-6 lanes. My two pennies

For the vast vast majority (>97%) of users the ability to run 6 cars is more than enough and so I would expect 2 lanes is fine. Doubt many have 6 racers let alone enough for marshalling.

However there will be a few who want to take the experience that bit further and have the ability to put deslotted cars on another lane so putting them back on does not cause a crash (ala Davic). However if you make a pitlane available then the cars could always be put in there.

For club racing which make up less than 1% of tracks then they either have a roued track or will not jump on the digital band wagon (for their club). A case a why change sommit that is not broken.

So from this logic - a 2-4-6 lane change would not be a big seller

My offer to do some testing still stands - got to make it dummy proof and I'm ideal for this!!
Matt

Hrrrmmmm....stealing from Nuro's Idea

"Could one have a track with 4 lanes down the staight and perhaps 2 lanes on some curves?"

a thought comes to mind......I wonder if you could rob the guts of this system, and adapt it to any track, including home routed? This could provide 3-4 lane straights, down to a 1 lane corner.....if there was a desire to do so......

now for the questions......

The Sport Digital Race Ready Set has 1 lane change peice
The Sport Digital Pro has 2 lane change peices.

what is the maximum number of lane change peices supported??
is there "logic" to know how many change peices/where they are?? or does the "activation" just work at the next available lane change peice?

you've said lane 1/2 to 3/4 changing will be based on demand, but would this system support 4-6-8 lane setups, with lane changes limited to the native 2 lanes?? (what I mean is, obviously the mechanics of it would work, as it would be just 2-3-4 two lane setups, but is the timing system robust enough to support more than 2 lane/6 car racing??

Functionality question have to wait till the toy fair, but..Will this interact with the current RMS timing system? is it a totaly new piece of software that replaces RMS?? or is all timing taken back to the trackside peice a-la the tradtional Scalextric lap timer??

any ideas to incorporate a "pit-stop" at a later date?

..if the system is only able to handle 6 different adresses for cars there is no sense for more than 4 lanes!
Interesting would be a reduction piece from 2 to 1 lane and reverse to handle marshalling lanes for deslotted cars and to build pit-lanes. If the system is really compatible to the sports-track there are enough track-pieces available to build interesting chicanes - just imagine to add a curve-cross-over and possibilities out of that... strategic slotracing starts in 2004

As far as I can see the Scalextric (UK) digital system will be the only mass market system that doesn't immediately obsolete my entire car collection at a stroke (500-600 cars at the last guesstimate...)

Assuming the system works satisfactorily, and I move to a digital system, the Scalex (UK) system is a no-brainer decision for the likes of me.

Regards,

-Rob

ps Adrian I'm available for testing if required I'll sign an NDA if required too... (Desparate, or what?)

This is going to get interesting.

How about the moderators setting up a Digital Forum so that themes can be created?

My guess is the longest thread in that forum will be the one for volunteer testers!

It might be names out of a hat or competition time and mean a visit to one or two secret locations with a blind fold on! Rather exciting don't you think?


Moped

Hmmmm.... thinking, thinking, thinking......

The cars, power supply, and controllers should work on virtually any track. The lane change mechanism seems to be a bit of an unkown right now... but.... I hope there will be a way to adapt it to routed tracks. May involve considerable effort, fabrication, etc., but I don't see why it would be impossible.

Hmmmm.... this could get interesting.... Glad I haven't started my track yet!

I so wish I was off today, oh well looks like I have 2 reasons for testing

I can share it, and I'm already down for trashing I mean thrashing stuff

Rob.

p.s adrian anychance? maybe? a little? please? please? maybe?

If it's a Slot Forum, don't we cover it all right here???

What I mean is, doesn't it just fit in to the individual forums we already have? If it becomes mainstream, then why break it out as something separate?

Well its good to hear at last that folk are starting to believe that digital slot car could become mainstream.

And if folk believe that now is the case then I would agree that there may not be the need for a seperate digital forum after all.

Could I just suggest that as this is the case we simply include the word "DIGITAL" in the topic heading whenever a digital topic is raised. Folk who are not interested then do not need to read the thread. But is there anybody who is not interested?

So these are the type of themes to discuss:-

a) control
power
c) lap counting/timing
d) marshalling
e) track
f) compatibility
g) event/race organisation and preparation
h) other (to cover anything I have overlooked)

It has also occurred to me that if there is the potential to run 24 cars on a 4 lane circuit then what about liveries and car recognition from a driver viewpoint. I don't want to stick colored tape on my cars if I can help it and marshalls may possibly no longer need to work out which lane to put a car in.

Now which current SlotForum catagories do the themes above fit into?

Else Slotforum will end up having the longest news thread in the whole history of slot car message boards!


Moped

Boll**Ks, i've just received the SCX Digital system!!
Still i can have a play with that and learn all the moves before the Scalextric system arrives.
Sean

Mope, you can't have 24 cars! Only six can run in a single lane! Okay... maybe 12 cars max in a side by side dual two-lane system..... and only if lanes 2 and 3 don't have an interchange (ie - two separate 2 lane tracks)....

As for all your other points, we already have forums for cars, track, pit lane, news, etc., so why try to subdivide the hobby further? We don't have separate forums for each brand, or plastic vs. routed, or home vs. club, so why does digital need its own section? Besides, you'd need a bunch of new sections - cars, track, etc.! If something arises that is clearly unique, I'm sure Nuro will add another forum. But basically, it's all just slot cars! And if it really becomes a popular thing, we are all going to want to follow it anyway - no need to separate it - do what we do now - read it ALL and enjoy!

Initially, there may be much about digital that warrants special attention and generates much talk, but over time it will just be "slot talk". If, and when, digital becomes mainstream, then why would we want separate forums? It would be what we mainly talked about anyway! And if it doesn't become mainstream, why go to the trouble?

SF is great as is! It is ABOUT the state of the hobby, and IMO already focuses on leading edge stuff and the changes the hobby is experiencing. And, given that we may end up with multiple forms of digital systems, do we want separate forums for each? I don't think so. No need for change that I can see.

First I would like to try the digital controller : is it the definitive answer for various cars / motors?
But why the brake button? Then we will have three separate controls : throttle, brake and lane changing ( today only one ).
Are we shifting towards some sort of R/C type race? Or we will need a piano player's hand?
This complication will bring more pleasure in racing?
And last I think we don't need to make a distinction for digital in our Forum, the word "digital" will speak for itself.
Ciao

We can add a new section at any stage, then prune topics and move digital stuff in afterwards. So let just see how it goes.

Why not take the plunge and start a few new threads on the aspects of digital? They don't all have to be in here.