Hey guys, As my other thread stated, I am in the planning stages of my slot car track. I will be using Tomy track....which will be soldered at the joints. I'm curious to know if Tomy makes a 4 lane lap timer system.

I know I could just build my own timing system using a lap timing program...and a laptop....but I don't have a laptop......and this PC is at the other end of my house ;)

Any ideas fellas???

Drive up to my place and pick up a free PC.. I have a garage full..LOL.. I used to Own BDR systems before the great CPU Crash of 2000 nothing rocket science but good enough for a lap counter...I just bought my supplies to make one cost me 9 something at Radical shack and I have a pile of hand controlers for the pc so that will be free..


Dave

Doesn't sound like you would but if you need any extra parts you could also swing by my place. I cleaned house not too long ago of most of my extras, but I broke them down and salvaged all that was worth keeping before sending them out the door. (Yes, the TM had some influence in that decision)
I'm serious about that offer too.

-Marcos

Wow, what is this, a Texas board? Seems everyone's from Texas. lol

Wow, what is this, a Texas board? Seems everyone's from Texas. lol

What, you haven't heard???? We Texans are taking over the HT boards :devil: :p

Texas...the GREATEST state in the nation......


Man, a free PC......that would ROCK!!!!

It'll be a bit before I can really get far away from home.....I just don't trust my daily beater (84 S15 Jimmy) on long runs..... so perhaps after I get my truck put back together and on the road I can take a few weekend roadtrips :thumbsup:

I so badly would like to get back to "Neil's Wheels" in Plano too...... can you say "HO drag strip" ....hehehe


Seriously, I'm psyched to see as many Texans as there are popping up here..... we DEFINATELY have to get a bunch of us together for some Bbq,beers,slots, and FUN!!!

Rather than go on lavishing praise on what we all know is the greatest state in the union...

I agree that it would be great to get together sometime. I stopped by Neil's Wheels about 3 weeks ago for the first time and my girls had a blast. Really friendly place too.

By the way, we usually take the girls down to the Renaissance Festival every fall. If you haven't made it up by then, maybe I could pick up that PC from Dave and bring it down. Just something to keep in mind.

I don't know about the greatest state, but I'd have to say they have some great BARBECUE! :thumbsup: rr

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Looks like you may be on your way to a PC system.

I was in the same boat years ago and kit bashed a 4 lane lap counter/timer from 2 old AFX Ultra 5 lap counters. I simply took the guts out and mounted them into one display unit. (Although now I look back and wonder what those Ultra 5 counters would be worth today.) :o

http://www.supervipersystems.com/VargoSpeedway/About_Vargo_Speedway/oldtimer.jpg

Then made 2 dead strips for triggering. The position switches for LAPS or TIME was positioned at the drivers station and each controlled a set of lanes. The LED read out only displayed 2 characters so it wasn't very efficient. Better for lap counting than timing but it worked in the early days before our club got TrakMate.

Man, soooo much info to take in.....so much to plan ahead for.....so much to do...LOL.

PC system sounds like my best bet...... Dave, the windows version you described sounds great......$120 ......hmmm.... that's out of my reach currently....I'd like to get the table and track laid first. Can I add this track timing system in later??? What would I need to do to my track to prepare it for the future planned timing system???

Hey Marcos, I have indeed been to the Renaissance Festival before...but it's been years. I do crave those smoked Turkey legs....LOL!!! My wife and I might try to go this year....last year a bunch of our friends wanted to go....but it's one of those things were each weekend just didn't seem to include a road trip to the RF :( Maybe this year will be different. I know I'll be open to doing alot more when my truck is back on the road :thumbsup:

I laid out my track on the floor in the garage conversion room (I'm working on preparing a new storage area so I can convert the storage shed into raceway central). I then worked on preparing 2 9" inch straight sections of track with photosensors pretty much following Greg Braun's instructions on his website. Once I had all the light related stuff working I replaced a pair of 9" sections in my layout, plugged it into the laptop and was off and running.

Since this if for our family to use, I've been using Greg's software which takes care of our needs now and worked without a hitch. As you get closer regardless of which direction you choose I'm sure you'll get tons of good recommendations here and it shouldn't be a problem to later add the track triggers as long as you plan for that ahead of time.

-Marcos

Wow, what is this, a Texas board? Seems everyone's from Texas. lol

I'm off for the summer. Lets get together and play! :thumbsup: Hehehe

Hey TX,

I checked and found 4 pieces of 15" straight track I could send you. PM me your address and I'll try to get it in the mail before I head out this weekend.

-Marcos

I built a 4-lane lap timer using Gregory Braun's directions and software. Got the parts from Radio Shack and an old computer from a friend. Less than $30 invested and it works great and is way cool. Not difficult and I impressed my tech-geek friends with the computer interfacing. I've bought lots of other parts from Gregory just to support him and his very helpful website.

I use greg brauns laptimer and have never had problem. it works great and if there is a problem he is always willing to help