[Dr_C2]

   

[woodcote]

Carrera Hybrid?

The prices on UK Amazon are super-cheap at the moment as they shift the original 2025 sets to bring in this year’s offerings. Currently one Porsche set is £32 for two cars and a load of track. The perfect time to explore the system…

Did you buy a set too? What do you think of it?

[Dr_C2]

Hi Andy,

Yes, the price arrived at the level where it had to be explored further. I bought a basic set, some extra straights and an extra car (as above).

For me there are two questions:

1/ How much fun is it to race?
2/ What are the technical details?

Clive

[Qman]

Sounds interesting, I've put it to our club members, if 3 or 4 of us bought a set we should have quite a good sized circuit and 6/8 cars to race.... will they go for it?

[Dr_C2]

Hi Qman - a group of folk each buying a set to build a big circuit sounds a great idea. And there are online shops selling cars for circa £14 so a range of liveries is possible too.

Meanwhile I am curious about the technology… I see the cars use a downward facing optical motion sensor and I see the hybrid track uses a micro-textured surface for guidance. This appears to comprise of parallel wedge shaped patterns which taper right to left across the track. I presume after optical detection and signal processing this gives a signal with a mark to space ratio that corresponds to the lateral position across the track.

I’m guessing the optical sensor uses technology similar to the optical mice we attach to our computers.

But I wonder, has any of this already been reported? It’s very interesting and certainly a highly innovative way to replace the physics of a slot and guide!

c

[Dr_C2]

   

Carrera Hybrid track photographed with shallow angle illumination to highlight the micro-textured wedge shaped stripes which run across the track surface. The stripes taper from the right-side to the left-side of the track.

c

[Dr_C2]

   

A view of the in-car circuit board of the Carrera Hybrid system showing the two components of the steering sensor system:

1/ The track reading LED plus optical sensor configuration which uses glancing angle illumination to detect the track patterns described earlier.

2/ A 6-axis motion tracking sensor i.e. gyro plus linear accelerometers.

Track racing will use a mix of these sensors while non-track racing will clearly rely on the latter.

It all makes sense - what a technically innovative system!

c

[Dr_C2]

Meanwhile the component labelled ‘H653’ is a Toshiba TC78H653FTG which has the drive circuits on board to control two brushed dc motors. Presumably one for forward/reverse drive and one for steering.

On the other side of the board sits the wireless/processor chip - an nRF52832.

c

[woodcote]

Fascinating stuff Dr_C - great to have someone who knows what they’re looking at!

I’ve only had a brief play so far, including off-track (ie unadulterated RC). 

The app was recently updated to give us the long-awaited AI-controlled grid to race against, plus improved battery life.

There are bargains galore on Amazon at the moment if anyone wants to give it a go.

[dazee]

My inner child is thinking about this on a scenic track....

Only thing is lack of availability here as our Amazon listings have the same 30 quid set more in the price of 150 quids.  Can probably get it down to half that if shipped from the UK stores.