[Lurcher]

 Thanks for the welcome JasonB and thank you for the advice Woodcote.

Woodcote - you've actually been more helpful than you know as I've been studying your posts in other threads and you always seem to have wise words, I and I'm sure many others out there appreciate your willingness to help out, even if it means answering a variation on same question many times! (like mine I know!)

Yes, I'd definitely like to add a pitlane. What rekindled my excitement for slot racing was the introduction of digital, the ability to have more than 2 racers and being able to change lane for me adds loads more fun when racing with others and the pitlane would add to that. It adds a level of tactical thought which I appreciate.

It's very hard not to get sucked in when looking at what's available and wanting to get everything, but you're right - there is no rush.

What's a little frustrating is that I can't quite do what i want with what i have right now, I can slow things down on the Carrera set but can't count laps and have a proper 'race' (my little boy likes to win something as you can expect). I can run a race on the APB but can't dial the power down low enough and it's unreliable. (Am I correct that on the 1.09 firmware you can go down to 25% power?)

Maybe I'll do some more research on the Mac Windows Emulation. I could pick up a USB cable, borrow a PC if BootCamp doesn't workout and just update the firmware at least on the APB. I can always live with the demo versions of SSDC and RSC. I'm sure if I later choose to sell the APB having a USB cable included will at least make it easier to sell?

Then, come Christmas, I'll keep an eye out for any reductions on ArcPro sets in case it works out cheaper than buying things individually whilst adding some track and cars. (The upcoming ArcPro Platinum GT looks terrific but a bit rich at £499)

I am quite taken with the Carrera set tho, but again you're quite right, we only need one extra car and one extra controller and if I hunt around I may find something second hand just to get things going. Does anyone know whether the Carrera App adds any kind of 'yellow flag' function like the APB? As you say controllers aren't great although the coiled wire seems a lot less prone to getting tangled up than with the Scalextric ones.

I know what's going to happen, I'll end up keeping all three and then also getting into 1/24 scale racing on the Carrera and then my wife will kill me.

Thank you again for your thoughts and advice!