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Ah yes. Life before the Dark Times!

Thanks for posting Mitch!

Thanks Stan! It's pretty easy to make it look good when SRT does such a nice job on their "board" for the relays and all the electrical connections.

Last night I found the Trackmate components off of my old track in Fairview. I will try to get it installed and running this week.

As a track owner/race promoter there is one thing I hate worse than anything else. It's when there is some sort of operational problem with my track. Especially on a race day! I have attended races where there have been track issues and I'll say the issues bother track owners even more than racers!

So the other day I went out to the shop to fire up the track for a practice session. Much to my dismay the computer would not boot up. After spending most of the day trying to get the computer to work, along with help from John Gill, we finally gave up on it. That evening I took the computer over to our son Greg for his expertise in solving its issues.

Since the current lap counting / timing system is DOS based, and the computer in use is old, I made the decision to put backup equipment into place. I decided I wanted to be able to override the computer controlled race system and be able to turn the track on manually. In addition I want the ability to easily switch from one computer system to another in case of a computer problem.

Today I started work on the project and here is what I came up with. I built and installed a switch panel with four, single pole double throw toggle switches. The three position switches will give me three options for track operation. With the switches in the up or on position the track lanes are powered manually. Each lane can be manually activated individually, all together, or whatever combination is required. With the switches in the down or off position the track can be operated on a computer system that utilizes a single relay to activate track power. I plan to use my Trackmate timing/counting system for this setting. Since it is Windows based I will use a second, much newer computer to run it. The middle position of the switches will be used for the current SRT DOS track system running on the old computer (Greg called and said the computer's hard drive checked out fine, and he thinks he can get it running again).

So once I figure out where I put the Trackmate hardware from my old track in Fairview and get it installed, Inslot' Checkered Flag Raceway will have a second computer and operating system as a backup to the original SRT system and old computer. With a flip of four switches I will be able to switch over to a different computer, which will give me the option of three different operating systems, SRT, Trackmate, or Race Coordinator (SRT will still be the primary system). In addition I have the option of turning on one or more lanes manually.

Here's the switch panel:

Here it is installed:

That looks great Rico!

John Gill and I routed out a 4' X 16' 3 lane track yesterday.

There is a lot to look at when visiting Rob's track. He has some really cool displays!

These vintage Porsche 904 cars by Monogram are sometimes overlooked. Rob did an awesome job on this build.

You're welcome Rico, and thanks for the positive feedback!

Yes Mitch. Beau built it for the PASER/OSCAR Clubman Class. Although on Beau's build he used wheels and tires closer to True Scale specs. the Clubman class does allow shorter wheel/tire combinations.

I have a Scaleauto blue ball bearing motor.........

The initial testing at Inslot's Checkered Flag Raceway has gone well. On Thursday of last week, Chris Kouba stopped by for some test laps with BRM 1/24 Group C cars and some miscellaneous 1/32 cars. The track was unprepped as far as any traction compound. We cleaned the surface off using a rag and a citrus cleaner. I was surprised at how well the cars worked on urethane or rubber tires after just a few laps. it seemed to rack about 5 to 10 laps to get the cars to hook up. Here are some initial test results from that session:

1/32: Thunderslot Lola T70 w/rubber tires 6.04 sec. - Chris
1/32 Revoslot Toyota w/rubber tires 6.16 sec. - Chris
1/24 BRM Porsche 962 w/shore 30 stock rubber tires 6.23 sec. - Chris
1/24 Revell Cheetah 36D sidewinder w/urethane tires (NASTE Over 50 Class) 7.57 sec. - Bill

In this first testing there was only one issue with the track. One of the LED power indicator lights burned out on the blue lane's controller hook up. I replaced the LED the next day.

Yesterday a few guys that race in the PASER and OSCAR events stopped by. For this test session I prepped the track by spraying it with the usual traction compound solution.  Ted, John, Stuart, and Bob Nak ran a bunch of laps with PASER/OSCAR spec cars giving the track a thorough shake down. All the cars run in this session were heavy hardbody 1/24 cars. There were no issues with the track during this session. Here are some results from this session:

Fastest lap 1/24 hardbody NASCAR 4.479 sec. - John
Laps in the 4.7 sec. range were routinely made by all drivers, John, Bob Nak, Stuart, and Ted.

This test session indicated the course reconfiguration increased average lap times by just about a full second. Here's a little video of this test session (new camera - I couldn't figure out how to get it off of the black & white setting. Found out today it was set to record in night vision....).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYKi4yqMftc

I want thank everyone that helped me get the track reconstruction to this point, Beau, Howie, John, and Diane! Thank you all!