Wiggle Trace Intro

Hi there,
I retired a year ago and returned to the UK (Cambridge) just in time for the first lockdown.

I was schooled in Scalextric, Revell, and later home builds on a short, fixed, home circuit in the early 60s. 30 years later I tried Aurora and Tyco HO sets. They had a lot going for them but the magnetic downforce and close spaced crash barriers became a negative and interest waned. Last year I figured how to convert Tyco track to copper tape and fitted all the HO cars (G+,Tomy, and Tyco 440s) with braided pick ups to run on them. For traction weight I adapted Hot Wheels die cast metal bodyshells to fit the chassis.

I now have a 4 lane, 11.5m flyover circuit with shoulders all round (no crash barriers). I have a dozen fast cars, many are Porsche 911s because they have the short wheel bases that match most of the standard size chassis (39mm wheel base).

I learned to program in Python on a Raspberry Pi and have a reliable lap counter and millisecond timer using infra red sensors. I made duplicate 2.8" displays for each driver too. Lap record = 6.022 secs. It all works well and if anyone else wants to try to do the same I have a load of experience I'd be pleased to share.

Cheers,
Wiggle Trace