We have ignition! We’ve managed to connect our microcontroller to the HO slot car racetrack without triggering any catastrophic events. Watch in this video as we use a light sensor and microcontroller to alter the speed of the car.

In this setup, the microcontroller is using an external power supply at 9V DC to provide extra power for the track.  After a little testing, it turns out that the maximum voltage needed for each lane is around 8V DC, and as you can see, 9V+ DC is more than enough power to send this car skidding off the track.

Several parts arrived today including the Arduino microcontroller. This is the main component we will use to collect the sensor data from the track and relay to the N900. In addition to the Arduino, we received a variety of resistors and sensors:

Most of the sensors are in the bag in the lower right. We have a few reed switches and several hall effect, optical, and vibration sensors to get started with.

Also, the new Tomy AFX track was set up in a basic layout on the floor to make sure we had all the parts and that everything is working properly. Surprisingly, it took a bit longer than anticipated to do all the necessary field testing, several hundred laps probably – every lap reluctantly performed of course for purely scientific research purposes.

Walter from Pit Crew here to give everyone a quick update. OK, the tools, sensors, and various components are either being ordered or on their way. In the mean time, the track has been delivered (see below)

We are still going to use vintage slot cars but decided on using a new track to have better control over some of the variables like the quality of the connections between the track pieces and between the cars and the track.

Soon we’ll be putting it together and testing it out. Can’t wait to make the cars skid around the corners. We’ll use this track to begin testing the various sensors we have on order. Sometime in the near future we hope to connect it to an Arduino that will serve as the interface between the car, track, and sensors and the N900.