Features

 Also added recently is the Median Time. This provides the midpoint of all the sorted lap times in ascending order. Thus, it allows the driver to have a few bad laps yet still provide a good Median time. The Time Sort search engine also now allows a sort on this time, as well as Best, Average and Reaction times. 

The LED's can also be configured to construct a Formula 1 style Traffic Light Start. Below is a track bridge containing two sets of lights. On the top are five LED's that make up the Formula 1 traffic lights. Facing front are four separately coloured LED's, one above each lane providing the driver's leader display. 

The pictures below show an alternative arrangement with traffic lights also facing forward. They also show underneath lights for when HO cars are used and the normal slotted optical sensors will not work.

A new unique feature has been included that adds two blue Penalty LED's either side of the normal five red F1 Lights. These blue LED's wil light if anyone jumps the lights at the start, triggered by the false start detection circuit. Also, these LED's will be lit if a STOP-GO penalty has been enforced by the race controller.

 Another new feature to the Slotmaster is the ability to add strip lights to the side of the track. These lights come in a standard 5m lengths and any number can be added together, with the only limit being the size of the power supply required. 

Each 5m strip light consists of 150 multi coloured LED's that can glow red, green and blue. These LED's are controlled from the software, showing red at the start, green during the race and blue for a false start or stop /go penalty.

These strip lights can also be used as colour coded leader lights for up to six lanes. The colour will indicate the lead driver. The six colors possible are red, green, blue, yellow (green & red) pink (red & blue) and white (all on).

This package consists of three independent programs designed to run on separate PC's networked together. It is designed to provide a Time Sell facility for slot car racing. 

The three programs consist of the Time Sell Setup, the Track Monitor and the Examine Results.

The Time Sell Setup is designed to be operated by the Race Track operator. This program assigns driver names to time slots on any lane on up to 6 different tracks. When this assignment has been completed, the information can be sent to the Trackside PC

The Monitor program, on receiving this data, will activate the track at the start of the next enabled time slot. The selected lanes will be enabled for the timeslot period and the lap times will be displayed on the screen. At the end of the period (minus 10 seconds), all lanes will be disabled. 

The timing information will be stored to a file and the program will reload the data base in case new information has been sent form the time sell setup program. Then after a ten second wait period, the program will activate on the next time slot and so the cycle will repeat until the last slot.

The Examine Program will reside on yet another PC not associated with any one track. This PC is for used by the drivers after they have completed their time slot period. Here they can access all of the data collected during their time slot period. The information is sorted into a readable format that can be viewed and printed.

The following article appeared in the April 1998 Newsletter of the National Scalextric Collectors Club. It was written by Adrain Norman of the Viking Club.

During the last twelve months our club has been using a computer-controlled race management system. For all you club organisers still using a manual system, you might consider using a computerised system if you find your club nights are becoming too busy for your race organiser, or that racers are querying the results (as if they would!). 

When I looked into buying a system for our club I wanted two benefits; no manual recording of results and scores and, secondly, driver confidence in lap recording integrity.

After trials with various systems, visiting other clubs and talking to people we settled on a product called 'Slot Master' produced by Dave Lelievre. 

Slot Master has been evolving since it was first advertised in this newsletter several years ago. Originally a track side box of electronics offering full race control it is now also available as a PC based Windows 3.x or Windows95 application with 'online' race control and 'offline' editing.

Our club started with the basic Slot Master PC system. Our initial system came with infra-red sensors, cabling, external traffic light display, PC interface card and software. We had to insert the sensors in to the slots on our mdf track (they can also be supplied already fitted to plexy track if required) and then fit the special interface card into a 286 PC.

We are in the process of adding 'false start detection' and will later look at incorporating the individual lane power control module. Windows 3.x or Win/95 are not necessary for the basic system as the software will run direct from DOS. 

During the year we have upgraded to each new release of the software as new enhancements have become available. In fact, we are now at a point where we run the latest version on a laptop with a port simulator docking station (to house the special interface card) running Windows 3.11.

 The following article was submitted for the May 1999 Slot Racing. However, the reference to my system was removed by Scalextric. It was written by Roger of the Bournemouth Model Railway Centre. This is the original text that was submitted.

In the sixties, a young, sylph-like Derek Purkis who had always had a great love of all things automotive, embraced the booming world of slot car racing. Almost three decades later, as the genial, knowledgeable and rather more rotund proprietor of the Bournemouth Model Railway Centre, he decided that the time was right to embark on his long-held dream of building his own raceway. 

With the help of Chris Frost, Secretary of the British Slot Car Racing Association, who drew up the track plan and later installed the electrics, suitable premises having been found work was commenced in 1992. 

The track was to be constructed of MDF board with routed slots and pick up to be provided by copper braid rather than copper tape as had become the norm in the States. It remained to find a builder. 

The complex curves of the track seemed to require the expertise of someone like a boat builder and who should appear at just that time but a one-time boat builder and expert joiner, Terry White. This character (and character he certainly was) made a superb job of construction and the Raceway opened in 1993. 

Initially, race control was only semi-automatic but after looking carefully at most of the available options both in this country and abroad, the "Slot Master" system, programmed and designed by Dave Lelievre, a local computer wizard, was chosen as being best able to fulfil our requirements. 

To date the software and hardware have performed extremely well and we would recommend this system to others most strongly. Now home to the Bournemouth Slot Car Club, the track is used every Tuesday evening from 7pm onwards for Scalextric type cars which are unmodified with the exception of added weight inside the chassis and some deepening of the guide blade. 

There are three championships - one for GT cars, one for F1 cars and one for saloons. On the second and fourth Thursday each month Parma Home Set cars and 1/24th cars are raced alternately again on a championship basis. With the Junior section meeting on Saturdays from 11am to 1pm, the club has quite a full programme. Prizes are presented each year at the Christmas party. 

The club also hosts BSC rounds and is available for corporate events and birthday parties - for further details contact Derek on 01202 309872. Also, on the premises is a fully stocked slot racing shop maintained by Slot Racing Supplies. 

The products of all the major manufacturers both in this country and abroad are readily available and again Derek's expertise in the field is much in demand. If you are visiting this area at any time why not bring some cars with you and try out the track? Alternatively, cars are also available for hire.

 The following article appeared in the February2000 Newsletter of the National Scalextric Collectors Club. It was written by Adrain Norman of the Viking Club.

At Viking Slot Car Club

We have been using the SlotMaster computerised race control system for three years now and have seen many enhancements to the system. The latest is worth reporting on because it opens up a new way of staging races and replicates full size race strategies. 

The new feature is fuel management. This means that you can now run a Grand Prix, and endurance or NASCAR race and simulate the strategies of fuel consumption. drive smoothly and get most out of a tank of fuel but perhaps sacrificing wild acceleration and knife-edge lap times. 

Perhaps you may decide to go for it at full throttle and hope that a quick splash and dash near the end of the race will get you across the line first!

The Slot Master fuel management package has been introduced for the internal PC version of the system. It has been incorporated into a user-friendly windows environment that is packed with enhanced features. 

The system measures the hand throttle voltage for each car, since there is a relationship between the power used by the car's motor and the voltage applied. It also has the advantage of allowing existing customers to easily upgrade to the new system simply by swapping the internal ISA module, without changing any system wiring. 

The new module uses the false start detect wires to measure the hand throttle voltage. At the beginning of a race a simulated amount of fuel is given to each car. When the race starts, the system samples the hand throttle voltage at a regular sample rate and deducts a small amount of fuel in proportion to the voltage applied. The more power sent to the car, the more fuel is used. 

The amount of fuel left is displayed on the screen and is updated on each lap. When the car runs out of fuel the car's power is turned off and that driver's race is terminated. Each driver is also able to make pit stops and take on fuel. If the driver stops the car directly after the track lap sensor, then a pit stop will be implemented and the car will be refuelled. 

The driver can watch the tank level rise as the fuel is pumped in. The pit stop can be aborted any time simply by re applying the power to the car. Two warning levels have been introduced, a blue level (yellow was not very visible) and a red level. These levels are a programmable option within the software and are indicated by appropriate colour changes of the fuel level numbers. 

The external leader board LED's can also be programmed to flash on and off when these warning levels have been reached, if the driver cannot see the computer screen. At the end of a race it is also possible for each driver to see the amount of fuel he has used besides the amount of fuel left in the tank. 

Many options exist for setting up the fuel management parameters. These consist of the following:

• The size of the fuel tank in litres together with the initial fuel load.
• The time of the pit stop refuelling window.
• The burn rate in litres per (volt/10) per second
• Burn rate additions to compensate for the tank level going down and getting lighter.
• An exponent value to the throttle voltage measured. This method is used to provide a non-linearity in the fuel consumption to reflect real cars
• Red and Blue warning levels in litres.
• Warning level at which leader lights will flash.
• Leader light flash rate
• Pit stop refuel rate in litres per second.
• Sample rate to compensate for slow speed PC's

One bonus feature that has been implemented is the ability to record and store all the captured throttle voltage readings for one lap. This data is stored in a format suitable for direct transfer into Microsoft Excel or equivalent. 

The data will consist of the time stamp in seconds plus the voltage read for each driver. In this way drivers can compare their throttle settings using graphs to understand how and where the best drivers achieve the most speed. 

The data can be very useful for comparing your throttle usage against an opponent or if you are comparing different set ups you may be making to your car. When you use the graph, you'll recognise the moment when the car is at 13 volts full throttle and the driver suddenly released the throttle and the voltage dropped to zero volts. 

This would usually represent the braking zone before a corner. You can then determine whether the driver is braking too early or late. 

Additionally, you can determine whether your tyres are not gripping when the voltage is higher than other lanes at a given point, but your graph line is losing time against other lanes. Therefore, you can experiment with changing tyres, slowing down or just accepting that you are beaten. 

So, whether you need to discover why, when and how you are being left behind or how you can stay ahead on the track, this performance graph is a real help.