Need help/advice

[Lyndon68]

Hi all, 

I'm a new comer to the forum but not to scalextric..I'm 51 years young and am not ashamed to say I love my slot cars..

 

My question is, I've offered to do a scalextric day for friends and colleges early next year to raise some money for cancer charity (my sister died of breast cancer a few years ago) I have an area of 12 x 8 to use for the layout but can't seem to come up with a layout that seems challenging and fun, I have downloaded some software which I really can't get on with.

So guys any ideas? I have loads of both digital/arc pro/sports track types and classic type track and am more than happy to buy as much extra as is needed. 

I was looking for some 4 lane area with lane changers, possibly hairpins..

 

Cheers Lyndon

 

 

[woodcote]

Hi Lyndon - welcome to the forum!

 

That's a wonderful event to remember your sister and raise funds for charity.

 

I think my first question is whether those attending will include any slot car newbies? If so, I would be tempted to go with a simple track with wide corners and cars that aren't too fast and that handle well. My personal preference is two-lane digital. Four lanes can just get too complicated and frustrating if you have a pit lane. A long-ish two-lane track - say 30-50 feet - is ideal for four to six cars to run at the same time.

 

I often find myself going back to the old Scalextric 101 Circuits booklet for inspiration. There is a copy online here: slotracer.online/plans/101-circuits-for-scalextric-drivers/ - I think the Monza track (with the oval) or Silverstone might be ideal for your day. Just add three or four lane changers before corners and make sure the pit lane does not enclose the ARC Pro powerbase. It is always wise to keep lane changers and pit entries away from the powerbase to make sure laps are counted reliably.

 

My experience of public events is that the format is often more important... As you have all day, you can gradually introduce digital racing, with more complex and entertaining formats as the day goes on. ARC Pro is ideal for this. I have written up an introduction - using various race formats - here: https://slotracer.online/missing-manual/

 

At our digital club in Worthing, our introductory Wednesday evenings (five a year) start with a team race competition. Five or six teams rotate through a set of similar cars (we use Scalextric Nascars) with the winners swapping cars with the last place team etc... Each race is 15 minutes with driver changes (always in the pits) every five minutes. The first race we use no simulations - it's just learning digital driving. The second race we use the fuel simulation to learn pit stops and the third race could involve fuel and tyres - or use another ARC simulation like weather or incidents.

 

The nice thing about the team race is you can mix newbies with more experienced racers - and everyone learns and has fun together. You might find the new racers understand the race strategy better than the Scalextric veterans - we've noticed that happens, especially with youngsters. The format has the potential to involve 8 (four pairs) to 18 racers (six teams of three) - or by changing the timing and team sizes, up to 30 or 40 people.

 

After the team race 'learning session' you can use various other formats to add variety to the day. An individual rotation race (when all the drivers rotate through the six cars, 2-3 minutes each with total laps recorded) is always good fun and a challenge. Results from that race could help you 'seed' the drivers for an endurance team race at the end of the day. If you run a long race (more than 15-20 minutes) you'd need to run without traction magnets, which is another challenge. I've described a long race format for ARC Pro in the Slot.it section of the guide: slotracer.online/missing-manual/slot-it

 

I hope that helps. And good luck with the event planning!

[Lyndon68]

Thanks Andy for you help, you've given me plenty to think about.

I've scooped up a few layout booklets off eBay including the 101 layouts you mention. 

I've held a summer scalextric event for a few years, I have a rather large (10m x 4m) covered decking area in my garden with a bar where I set everything up. I usually get all those attending to pick a random number which refers to a car, they then use the same car all day in a series of knockouts.. i.e 32 to 16 to 8 to 4 to 2 to a winner.. this has always been done in analogue, however your idea of teams seems different and more interesting with more cars on the track.

 

Again thanks for your advice..

Lyndon