Why is the t.c.r. stuff so un popular(ideal or tyco)can somebody help me before i dump money on a track.And tell pro's n con's of t.c.r.

I think it's because only 2 can race. People will share, but only two cars (besides the optional jam car) can get old. If someone could produce a track with 4 rails instead of 3 (which could accomodate 4 independantly operated cars), that may be more attractive.

Main reason is: They do not work well! Tempormental at best, junk, more often than not.

As a former tcr slothead, last summer or two summers ago I sold like 80 or 90 of these cars and the track. The cars I had did run good, they weren't very fast or anything like that and one thing that used to just frustrate the tar out of me was that if you had 1 car that was faster than the other, oh man was it ever obvious and no matter how good or bad of a driver you were you just couldn't overcome the speed. This was even with the jamcar on track. I never really had problems with the cars being tempermental or anything of that nature they just either worked or they didn't. Pretty simple really. The old ideal tcr stuff was what I had I never bothered with the tyco or ultra 5 stuff.

I liked the tcr stuff but hey to each his own. One good thing about the tcr stuff though was that it really was cheap. I don't think I even got $100 for all of that stuff a couple years ago. So that is definitely a plus.

One thing too and I agree with dlw on this is that I wish they had 4 rails instead of just the 2. I guarantee that would be the big thing and not what we currently race. Having 4 cars on a track would have been an absolute hoot. Heck I'm surprised no one has come along and adopted that new Scalextric electronic racing to the 1/64th venue. That has passing and all and it's slotted and you can put 4 cars on it. I always thought that was pretty neat.

My 2 cents. Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Xence

I like the old Ideal TCR stuff. The Tyco cars die (too much brake) when you try to change lanes. The Ideal cars coast, which also is beneficial when you make one of those awkward lane changes and get stuck between the lanes. The Tycos will just die, the Ideals will coast and get contact again. Get some silicone rear tires. This greatly improves their performance. You can use Ideal cars on Tyco track and vise versa. I like the turns without the dividers. Digital TCR stuff would be cool. The advantage of slotless is you can make a great move, or you can hang yourself by trying to make a pass in the wrong place.

It's all fun.

Rich

And now i fully understand.Thanks to all for all the info!(i'll keep collecting just the cars)

Just stumbled across a TCR yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TCRHO

Thanks for that too!

I still believe a slotless system would be the best introduction for digital to HO....

An Ultra 5 or TCR based system with the abilty to run 8 cars would be a hit...

Dont need lane changers with no slots...the rails only need to provide power....etc...

I don't understand how there could ever be more than 2 lanes in a TCR track... Given that the car is always being steered to the right or left.
By the geared hubs on Ideal or armature shaft steering mechanism on the Tyco cars.

But as I see many mentioning multiple 2+ lane TCR, I must be missing something.

The old cars I thought were dogs. But the older no barrier turns forced you to do some lane changes. The Tyco cars gears are always engaged so that may be why they are not the best lane changers. When the AC alternating current is switched, ie. lane change... The gears slow it down as opposed to the older cars that have the top gear that alternates engaging either the right or left geared hub.
When power is cut off on the Ideal car its free wheeling, top gear is not engaged with the right or left geared hub. When power is switched, ie. lane change there is a similar free wheeling until the lane change is completed.

Have not had good luck with the Aurora SpeedSteer on TCR track though. Maybe its just me but I think the chasis is narrower which alows the pick ups to just miss the rail at times. Flattening the pick ups seems to help but not great.

Please be advised the above is just my opinion and is in no way meant to conflict with the slot car gods.

thanks alot!