Scalextric VS RC Cars for Schools?

[Dday]

Hi All, 

Greetings from Tasmania Australia

New to this forum but as a  school teacher and innovator I am looking at different ways to introduce Electric Vehicles to my Year 9-10 Automotive Studies Class. At the moment I lean towards small RC cars on a rubber mat. If there are teachers using Scalextric....WHY? Please fill me in on the advantages

Cheers

Dday

[Andy P.]

I would argue RC cars are much more complicated than slot cars given they require radio transmitters and receivers as well as steering etc. They often have suspensions as well.

Slot cars may be more basic but from a scentific and testing point of view make it easier to see how any changes to the car affect its performance as the track is more or less a constant variable.

The advent of ARC though is a huge leap as it shows how electronic control variables in the car and its performance. I don't know if there is anything similar in the RC world.

Computer controlled cars and the enhancements they provide are vital to modern transport. Since the release of the BLE Protocol for ARC it could mean you could be desiging systems similar to what Tesla is building in their cars...

[woodcote]

@Dday - There was a Scalextric 4 Schools program for quite a few years and this was the most recent incarnation: https://www.scalextric.com/uk-en/scalextric-4-schools

 

In that program were design elements, understanding electrical components and engineering concepts, plus racing and tweaking performance.

 

I agree with Andy that slot cars are a good platform for introducing a whole range of subjects from a very basic level onwards. Although not a teacher, I have run Micro Scalextric tracks as part of our local library service's 'Geek Week'  - a STEM event for young people. Personally, I think the simpler the platform, the more accessible the activity is to all youngsters, but then the questions can keep going deeper and deeper - so still loads to look at for year 9-10 students. We currently have young people of that age at our club who are including slot car racing as a skills activity in their Duke of Edinburgh Award program.

 

With an RC car, there are a lot of systems and variables that have to work together and diagnosing problems or evaluating modifications can be far from straightforward. With slot cars, you have a car in a slot - no steering. It's much simpler - cause and effect are more obvious, in my opinion.

 

There's this great project Racing to the Future in Kentucky, based around an HO scale drag racing competition for school students. I also know a former lecturer at a further education college who used an HO drag strip to introduce concepts to his first year (16-17 year old) Level 2 Motorsport Engineering students. Both suggest the more simple the platform - and you can't get much more simple than a drag strip - the easier it is to teach those basic concepts.

 

I hope that helps.