Hello, iam new to the H.O. Racing Hobby. And i LOVE it!!! I started with 1 car last week (LifeLike M Chassis) and now a week later iam up to 6 cars! And iam now wanting to build some tracks in my house. I currently race UTAC and "IROC" Racing this Fall. My main goal is to start a Winter Racing Series with my fellow High-School Friends. And i have some questions.

1. Iam currently getting a kit to build the Tuckaway 25 Road Course Track. Iam wanting this to be my main focus track. I plan are racing "IROC" style racing. Classes that use the Tyco 440x2, LifeLife M Chassis, and X-Tractions Cars. But my problem is that i dont know what power supply to get. Iam really looking at the BSRT 12 Volt for the G-jet Cars. I do plan on racing G-Jet Cars in the future, but will the 2amps be enough to run the "Magnet" Cars?

2. This goes along with Question #1. For the Track Timer/Counter, will i need to buy Greg Baunn LapTimer 2000 Kit? And which one would i need for a Old PC/Monitor system? The "Joystick" or the "Printer" Kits? Iam very confused on the differnce.

3. Iam also wanting to do a couple Oval races too. I currently have a LifeLike Checkard Flag 400 Track Set that i run on. I was thinking about about adding more straights and run it as a "Tourny" Style of racing. 2 Racers race each other, and the 1st one to reach a certain number of laps moves up the ladder/bracket. This would also be using the "IROC" style. My cars and controllers. Would you guys think that using the BSRT 12 Volt Power Supply make the racing better? Since the LifeLike cars are already going insanly fast, would it put the racing more into the driver?

I have lots more questions, but figured ill ask them later on in this thread.
Iam open to opinoins, comments, suggestions on running a "Club".

Thanks
Blake

1. My layout is based on the Tuckaway 25 streched to 4x8 with 4 18" radius 1/8 curves worked in. I screwed it down eariler this year, but changed a couple of the infield curves this past weekend. Sectional track provides some flexibility. Starting with one of the 4-Lane Tomy sets is usually cheaper than buying seperate track peices and you get 4 cars too. the Super International and 4 way split sets fit the bill and the Long beach set looks good too. The Super International set has LOTS of 6" curves. Four of which I actually used. Try a bunch of different layouts and tweek them until you find one that suits you.

Look for a used routed or pro-quality sectional track. They are not as costly as they appear when you add up what you will have in Tomy track. But, there's little or no changing the layout.

Get $2.95 Mattel Chassis here (maximum of 6 per order):
https://store.mattel.com/CatalogBrowser.aspx?cat=139&sec=9225&productid=none&tx=103

The Life-Like T chassis is current production and much easier to come by than the discontinued M chassis.

The Johnny Lightning/Auto World X-Traction chassis are junk compared to any Tomy, Life-Like, Tyco/Mattel chassis. They can be made into good runners, but plan on buying a case of 12 cars if you want to build 4 runners.

I use a "Galinko" power supply. AFAIK it will run a 4 lane anything. Much cleaner power. The cars will run cooler and last longer between tun-ups. No one has ever posted that they were sorry they made the investment in one:
http://agg.fsmra.com/aggstore/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=28

2. Haven't fooled with a lap counter yet.

3. My son and I have a big box of Life-Like track with 12" banked turns that we occasionally setup on the floor in a BIG oval layout. The Life-Like cars launch like crazy with the wall wart power supplies. I've got to rig-up a power plug for the perm. power supply so we can adjust the voltage down a little. It would be a real yawner @ 12v though.

For an older pc, I would guess that the printer kit is the better bet.

hi i am new to the hobby to and i am getting ready to make a 4-lane track with long straight aways trying to get some ideahs, i wanted to say hello and good luck with your new hobby, shon:thumbsup: