19th-Aug-19, 10:14 AM
I do enjoy taking slot car racing out to the public, although it can be a bit of a palaver and difficult to give people a taste of what our club racing will be like - should they fancy giving it a go. To take all the club's 4-lane HO or Scalextric digital kit to another venue is not really practical, so it's finding a compromise between something that is too simple or too unwieldy.
The last couple of years, we've done a few trips with the Scalextric ARC Air system (see here) and a small-ish 3 x 8 layout. ARC Air is the analogue-only version of ARC Pro, having almost all the digital-style simulations, lap-timing and the nice wireless throttles. All the track, cars, publicity, tools, tablecloths etc fit in one of the those handy Sports Direct bags and - potentially - can be taken to a venue on the bus.
This weekend, we took the ARC Air track to an open day at the High Salvington Windmill, just north of Worthing. The fortnightly open days attract a good crowd, including lots of young families looking for a cheap afternoon out. Our visit was publicised widely and - thankfully - the recent rain held off as we had to set up outside. The wind was too strong for a gazebo - even a professionally erected one - so it was an unusual experience with everything exposed to the elements.
I use a cheap Amazon Fire 7 tablet for these public events, plus the original 'Legacy' version of the ARC app from the Amazon AppStore. I do enjoy playing with the various ARC app simulations and race features (see here), but usually keep it simple for public events. For this weekend, we used a Grand Prix race of 21 laps with the fuel simulation. What this meant is that a stop for fuel was necessary between laps 11 and 13 - failure to stop in time would mean a DNF. There's no time-trialing - each race is a competitive two-car battle and the winner's total race time is recorded.
The 20-foot track had a racing crossover curve at each end, making the lanes as equal as possible, but introducing a significant hazard. The Scalextric Mini Coopers had magnets and stock tyres, making them great fun round the little track. No digital chips are necessary - ARC Air is a purely analogue system. I did reduce the Max Power setting in the ARC app to 75%, helping new and younger racers to master the track and have maximum fun. It was still a challenge for better racers - especially mastering the strategy of the simulation - the key to the fastest overall race time was to drive perfectly, avoid any collisions, stop on lap 12 and short-pit by re-fuelling to about 75%. Easier said than done!
The gate was open at 2.30pm and we were busy immediately. With a warm-up, followed by the 21 lap race, we rattled through seven races in the first 30 minutes. The quickest time was 1:36.890 by 12-year-old Alex, just beating five-year-old Charlotte's 1:39.430. Alex was presented with a copy of Slot Car Magazine...
The cars and track were probably at their best in the hour between 3 and 4pm - that's when we got most of the best times. During the ten races, three winners got into the 1 minute 20s. Top of the list was 12-year-old Ollie with 1:23.630, followed by 'grown-up' James with 1:23.820 and 19-year-old Charlie with 1:24.430. Ollie got a Slot Car Magazine and was in pole position for taking home the grand prize - a Micro Scalextric Dirt Rally Racers set.
The final hour crammed in fourteen races. I do think the track was losing a bit of grip and no-one got into the 1m 20s. Fastest again was Alex with 1:31.330, ahead of ten-year-old Harry with 1:31.840. After 32 races over the two and a half hours, Ollie was delighted with his prizes - as were his sisters and parents who had also enjoyed their racing...
I think ARC Air ticks all the boxes for an event like this - and for a fabulous home track on a table or on the floor. It is simple to set up, reliable, has the wireless throttles and the exciting 'gameplay' that both youngsters and grown-ups get the hang of pretty quickly. Our winners included five, six and seven-year-olds and some of the racers were as young as three. Only a couple of slightly older kids (seven and eight) had more fun crashing the cars than racing them...
We will see if anyone comes along and tries out our club racing - we have a club car team race this Wednesday - but we did hand out plenty of fliers, took a few email addresses and had at least four families tell us they would come along to the club. One mum and son had a good look at our club website, pictures and videos while they enjoyed afternoon tea and cake.
I also suspect Father Christmas will be busy delivering Scalextric sets this year. The 2019 Scalextric catalogue we had on the table was well-browsed by parents. ARC Air seemed to tempt the dads, especially as it will fit into any old Scalextric 'Classic' sets that might be lying around in attics. The addition of a C8222 Sport-to-Classic converter at either end of the powerbase does the job. There's also the new C1403 ARC Air World GT set due out very soon for those starting from scratch.
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