Just the good ol' boys, Never meanin' no harm...

Just released by Scalextric (and delivered a few days ago) is the Duke boys' 1969 Dodge Charger, the "General Lee".

This is a large and fast car, fairly well detailed.  But it can't race around the track on its own.  Fortunately, Andy spotted a Plymouth Road Runner at the Donington Slot Car Festival and I snapped it up.

This is a 1970 American muscle car in California Highway Patrol livery, manufactured by Carrera.  Ok, so it should be Georgia State or Hazzard County to really be Sheriff Rosco P Coltrane's car, but it's not a bad match.  And Daisy Duke did drive a yellow Road Runner - albeit a 1974 model - in later series.  Which is a great excuse for another photo...

Donington Slot Car Festival

Andy and I went up to Donington Park last weekend for this annual slot car festival.  A really hot day and a nice drive up in the Lotus.

There were lots of circuits set up (with "driving licences" for kids to acquire by driving different types of vehicles), a competition on a huge track, and lots of traders.  Andy stocked up on yet more Metros and motorcycles.  I bought a couple of Mini Coopers plus another car I'll blog about next time.  I registered and obtained a bidding number for the auction in the afternoon but the lots I was interested in went for more than I wanted to pay, and I managed to keep in control.  (I've never seen Andy sit so still).

Included in the ticket was entrance to the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition which has five halls of Grand Prix and other interesting cars plus lots of motorsport memorabilia.  A well laid out exhibition which was a nice bonus on the entrance price.

Fire up the quattro!

Another companion purchase, this time for the Audi quattro Andy got me last year.  This car is the later short wheelbase version that won the Ivory Coast Rally in 1984.  This is the first model I've bought made by Revell, probably better known for model kits than slot cars.  Size-wise it compares well with the Fly model (although obviously shorter) but disappointingly doesn't have proper four-wheel drive.  It is fun to drive though as it's not as magnetic as the Fly version so does get its end out round the corners.  The dirt effect is also well done.  But it's probably not well matched against the Fly quattro on the track.

Ford GTs

A couple more eBay purchases.  A gold Ford GT40 (left) to be raced against the silver one that Kieron got me at Christmas (back).  GT40 #5 finished third in the 1966 Le Mans and was driven by Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson.  It has been painted with a weathered effect to reflect how it might have looked at the end of the race.  I also got the (inevitably) larger, taller re-working of the GT40 - the Ford GT, in red with what looks like Stig at the wheel.  All with magnatraction and lighting.  And nice and fast.

Detection and prevention

In an effort for more accurate and reliable lap detection, I've made an infra-red detection circuit to use instead of the mechanical hardware that comes with the Scalextric Race Management System.

Next to the numbers on the start line, I've drilled two small holes.  Underneath each of those in an infra-red light detector.  These are wired up to the circuit board of a USB gamepad I took apart, which in turn is plugged into the laptop.

Above the startline is a white light source cobbled together from a broken desk lamp.  When the light source is interrupted by the car driving over the hole, the laptop software detects the change in state, and records a lap.  Some more investigation is needed, but I should be able to use the same approach for pitstops - when the car is stopped over the hole, the software can calculate refuelling.

The cats have still not got bored of shooting up the ladder every time I go into the loft.  As well as cars to watch, there's plenty to explore up there and they love it.  But they also love chewing wires and there's metres of the stuff under the table now.  So I've had to fit an extra trap door for when I go up in the loft.  The cardboard piece is a flap so the whole thing can slide under the top of the ladder - otherwise the cats can still get in.

This is the usual view underneath.