New Batteries in Place
(Wednesday 6th October)

Steve has sourced two batteries (a couple of years old in good nick) for a great price.
Testing shows these can hold the voltage under load so our power problems should be at an end.

New Detector Module for the Lap Counter
(Tuesday 13th September)

Tim Wright has now installed an updated version of the new detector module which worked perfectly last night.
The module uses PIC technology (if you don't know what this is don't worry) to send signals via the USB port to the PC.
This replaces the old system where the opto-sensors were linked via relays to an old style keyboard. The relay closing was read as a keypress by the PC software. On our system the cable linking the keyboard to the PC had fractured leading to the problems we experienced earlier in the year. A number of clubs around New Zealand run counters based on the keyboard system.

A big advantage of Tim's module is that the PC thinks the signals it receives are coming from a keyboard. The PIC can be programmed to send the appropriate character for each lane. This means that there is no need to make any changes to the lap counting / timing software.

NZSCA Enduro
Saturday 12th March 2011
Wellington Slot Car Club

The Pitlane Slot Car Club fielded a four man team.
Garry Ferguson, Graeme Mitchell, Graeme Saxton and Sefton Davis making the trip.

As expected by some the event soon turned into a battle between three pairs of teams.
NZ All Stars challenging the Wellington A team, Blenheim and Pitlane fighting for third, Team Kiwi and Napier Dragons tussling over fifth.
The Pitlane team ran in third after the Blenheim team struck trouble but fell to fifth when changing the first of three motors.
Following the period of darkness we managed  to get the car handling well but while the motor ran smoothly it was down on power. The gap to third placed Blenheim was narrowed but there were too many laps to be recovered.

Track Power Improvements
(Monday 24th January)

Following a comment from Tim that his car performed differently when he was the last one running, we decided to have a look at the track power.
Using the load testing setup we soon found that the voltages under load were away below what they should have been.

The power switch has been replaced (the old one probably was okay) and larger power leads put in place.
Almost all the track now has over 12 volts when under load (there are some smallish areas that are below this, probably due the the tape having worn very thin).

The changes will almost certainly require the adjustment of the sensitivity on your controller, so it will pay to be early and get some track time before racing on Monday.

Garry Ferguson and Graeme Mitchell made the trip
(many thanks to Keith Cheeseman for our accomodation and transport)

A very enjoyable event with 21 competitors from around the country.
Auckland 3, Hamilton 2, Napier 1, Palmerston North 3, Wellington 7, Blenheim 2, Nelson 1, Dunedin 2.

Congratulations to the champions

More information shortly on www.nzsca.co.nz
or Wellington Slot Car Clubs Site

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