Magracing under new management

[Keld]

Timing system is crucial for me - good racing is hard without.

Using wired controllers is huge step backwards, I see no reason for going back.
Make sure they become usable for both left and right-handed. (pistol grip with wheel at the top).

Yes that is right, without timing system there are no race, nobody can see who is winning after 10 min. pit stop and 5 cars on the track.


I was thinking about rebuilt the controllers into a smaller version, I can't see the use of the steering wheel when it is only used to make lane change.

A controller, like a parma controller to slotracing, only on trigger, can be used in both hands.
A hole in the bottom to implant to battery, could still be hold by a magnet for easy change.
A button (2) on the top which used to do lane change, can be used by the other hand.

and without any wire, this system should be driveable without a pc, if you want kids to start up too you need a simple track to the floor, 1 car and 1 controller, GO - driving

[Ned]

Keld, I like your idea of 2 buttons instead of a steering wheel. Buttons may be more durable. I twisted a steering wheel off a controller one time in the heat of a race.!

But I think the current size and shape of the controller is good. Two buttons could be positioned on top of the current controller, one in the middle on top and one about .75" in front of it. The controller could be held in both hands, with the index finger of one hand on the trigger to control speed, and the index finger of the other on the end of the "barrel". Then the buttons could be easily pressed by the thumb of the other hand. The steering wheel would be eliminated and one controller should work well for both left-handed and right-hand people. A controller with this design should cost slightly less to produce.

I don't think I'm coordinated enough to control both the speed and lane changing with one hand. I would like a controller where I use my index finger of one hand to control speed and the thumb of my other hand to control lane changing.

[Keld]

Keld, Why do you want adjustable sidebars to fit inside the body? This will add weight.

Because the system used on 1/32 will first of all not work on 1/24 the heavyer body will need much stronger or more magnets, and the different body'es will not all fit this system, the hight will also give a weight balance to high, it is better with a smal plastic piece glued to the bottum in the side of the car.
We are talking bodies around 20 gr. if we should use those allready on the market, like these:
http://butik.slotworld.dk/produkt-kateg ... -bemalede/

The heavyer car in 1/24 will also need better connection than 3 magnets, if it should stay on even at smal crashes.

[HeliumFrog]

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are still working long hours to complete the new car designs. The chassis will be completely new and have quite a few new features. I don't want to give too much away, but I think it will be quite a step up from the MK1 design. Your feedback has proved invaluable to us in the design process.

We have a couple of prototypes running around the track and the lane change (which is always an issue) is proving very positive. Incidentally we are finding the new cars work better with the gap type of lane change rather than the change plate design. This is great as it makes the track much easier to make. We are using 0.7mm music wire on a routed track. The cars have slightly better magnets in them so should work with smaller wire diameters or allow the magnets to be set slightly higher. We have also improved the grip a little which is what a lot of people are asking for.

There have been a lot of challenges, the main one being the radio gear, but we have now sorted this and are just sorting out the supply chain. It is surprising how many parts are in the chassis! The magracing cars can prove very temperamental if you change one part of the puzzle, so we want to take out time to get it just right.

Whilst you wait for the cars to come, as a side line we are also starting to do some trackside buildings in 1/32". These will be marketed alongside the cars on the website but because they will also be useful to the general slot car community we thought this would be a good idea as this will help fund the magracing development.
Initially we will be selling them through ebay. Our first building should be out sometime next week.

Martin

[Ned]

Good news!
Let us know when the buildings are available.

[MagRacer]

Great news!
Looking forward to see the buildings and the cars

[bdub12780]

Awesome! cant wait to see what you come up with

[vmibert]

I'm just now getting back to adding the wires to my track and then some simple landscaping.

I hope that the new cars will have some compatibility with the old Magracing setup as I've already spent a considerable amount of time and money for my track. I would hate to have to tear it up now.

Bert

[HeliumFrog]

@vmibert
Yes the cars will run on the old track. My test track has lane changes with plates, without plates and and some with gaps. It works on all of them, however we are finding that with the slightly stronger magnets the lane change plates can drag the wire follower down to the track as there is much more force. This means that you have to set up the magnet a little higher on the car and then this gives you slightly less adhesion elsewhere.

The best setup is with gaps for the new cars. we are using 40 mm gaps and the alternative route wire runs 12 mm parallel to it. It seems to work very well for slow and fast areas of the track and we are finding that we never miss a lane change. We prefer this method because its really easy to set out your track. You first lay two complete loops around the whole circuit and glue in the wire. To add in the lane change, you simply grind across two grooves perpendicular to the main wire 40mm apart with a dremel, flick out the small 40mm long wire section with a small screwdriver and then add the alternate route wiring.

Of course its a difficult thing for us to design a car as there are so many tracks out there running different wire diameters and setups, but you should be able to set the cars up for any track configuration.

[bdub12780]

could you post a picture or diagram of the 40mm gapping/lane change? I'm building a track and I'm not quite sure what you mean
Thanks!!