For quite a while now (40 years) I've been racing and collecting HO Scale cars. I do a lot of scratch building and vacuforming for the small scales. The problem is that there are no dedicated commercial HO programs within 200 miles of me, and I'm usually building and vacuforming for guys that I'll more than likely never meet, let alone race against.

I'm not going to give up my roots but I am considering getting a 1/32nd scale set. I went to a local hobby store and saw a digital set where you can actually run 4 cars on a 2 lane set, and this seems to be a very interesting set up. I just need to know a few things.

1. Are the cars for this set specific only to a digital set? There are several commercial 1/32nd scale tracks within an hour of my location and they have SCX class racing. If I got cars for my set I want to make sure I can race on their non-digital set too.

2. Are the parts and pieces (powerpacks, lap counters, etc.) interchangable?

3. Is a digital set worth the considerably higher expense or is a non-digital set more bang for the buck?

I have an area of about 12'X5' for a two-laned oval or small tight road course. It there a commercially availavle track designed where I can lay down my idea's before I buy? I like the Tri-Oval Superspeedway, and could expand on that set up with extra track.

I have a pretty good supply of parts as well but only for the analog cars. Common sense tells me that I'm going to break stuff, so sticking with what I can run across town and get seems prudent. Still, knowing all that I can before I write a check is better.

Pete,

Good questions!

1) It really depends on which brand of Digital set that you are considering. Ninco N-Digital and Scalextric SSD both use decoder chips that are used to convert just about any 1/32 slot car to digital. These chips can be either disconnected or removed to convert the cars back to analog. Most of the newer SCX analog cars can be converted to SCX Digital with the SCX Digital conversion kit. I haven't done it myself but I am assuming that the SCX conversion is reversible. Meaning you can switch the cars from Digital to analog and vice versa.

2) Ninco N-Digital and Scalextric SSD both use regular analog track. For each system, all the digital components must be removed and replaced with an analog power base to run the slot car track with analog cars. The SCX Digital track is made specifically for digital and is not compatible with SCX analog or any other brand of 1/32 slot car track.

3) I think of Digital as a racing experience that is in between R/C cars and regular slot cars. It offers more racing strategy than a regular slot car track but less freedom than Radio Control. Generally, Digital is very good when racing with other drivers with similar driving skills. This allows the racing to flow better and cuts down on the amount of collisions. An analog track is good for racing with drivers of different skill levels as everyone is confined to a lane.

4) Trackpower is very good for designing layouts - http://www.trackpower.net/english.htm

Best regards,
Brian

Thanks Brian. Being a plastic modeler I like the idea of modeling my subject matter, something that is limited in HO Scale. I've been looking through both the Ninco and SCX websites and I love the car selection. It will be this fall before I build anything and I haven't set a budget yet, so everything is wide open at this point.

Hi Pete,
Here is a Yahoo Group that deals with Digital Slot Racing:
Digital Scale Racing (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Digital_Scale_Racing/)
I am sure they could answer your questions about digital.
Greg

Digital Slotcars is really in its Infancy and I cant wait to see what it grows into!!!

At the moment every manufacturer has his own gig and Each has some nice features...weighing these features and their importance to your situation is the best.
For example, youve said that you have an SCX group near you......This would carry alot of weight for me, even though SCX would not be my first choice as a system...Dont get me wrong, it has some cool features and you can get a working pit lane into a much tighter space with SCX than any other brand............BUT (and heres the real kicker) You can at this point use ONLY SCX cars with the SCX system!! )

Now, if you like their cars and ar only planning on owning a few, this will probobly not be a detterent.
If you like a Variety of cars and plan on buying a new one every chance you get.....thats a whole nuther ballgame.

If you are not in a hurry for digital, consider waiting to see what happens in the next 8-10 months.
Scalextric is working on a New Powerbase I understand (at least theres a rumor to this effect)
And i wouldnt be surprised to see them come out with a Fuel tower similar to what SCX offers.

SCX cars in my experience are inferior to for example Scalextric/Ninco/Fly/Slot it models.
Granted, they also cost less but performance is ussually high on any racers want list.
and the above 4 perform well right out of the box.

Scalextric is the Number 1 seller and happens to be what I went with. While I wouldnt call it the Perfect Digital Set, I believe it to have many advantages over most of its competitors as a System. NINCO's new system is also well thought out and worth looking at.

( i say this because their mother company MRC is well versed in digital technology and has put out high quility Model Railroad Power & Control Modules for many many years)

Oh, and by all means, stop by Digital Scale Racing..........couldnt hurt :)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Digital_Scale_Racing/