Scalextric Digital, Analogue and Micro Scalextric at Slotcarcentre.co.uk

Getting more out of your Scalextric Digital layout
If you would like to delve further into SSD racing, the first place you need to go is the Digital section of Slot Forum. If you are going to start chipping lots of different types of cars, or are looking to improve the power distribution and supply around the circuit, and maybe carry out other modifications to get your track just the way you want it, you will find many people there who have already stripped their equipment down to the last nut and washer and rebuilt it.

The following are some brief descriptions of just some of the easier modifications or improvements you might like to consider, with links in to Slot Forum for more details. None are in any way essential and your system will work perfectly well without them, but some people like to experiment further and "push the envelope" to get the absolute maximum performance. Needless to say, all this stuff is for adults only, any warranties you have on your product will go well out of the window as soon as you start taking your SSD system to bits, so unless you are confident you know what you are doing, best leave well alone.

Car chipping database
Click here to go to the discussion on the various types of cars people have been chipping, how they did it, what chip they used, where they placed it and so on. You can search the thread to look for a particular car name. Might save you valuable time and money.

Separately powered lanechangers
This is a popular modification and pretty easy to do if you follow these instructions. Why might you want to do this? Well, out of the box, all the lanechangers take their power from the rails - each operation of a lanechanger requires a not-insignificant amount of current - 2 Amps for ¼ second. If you power them separately that means more power is available for the cars, so the cars can go a little bit faster, and it also removes any slight drop in power you may notice when several cars are using lanechangers at once. Really only applicable for larger, permanently-laid circuits where 6 car running is a regular occurrence.

Test your throttles
Particularly in some of the earlier production lines, there were manufacturing differences in the hand throttles and some were not able let the cars reach full speed. Click here to find out more about testing your throttles. If you are fed up with the standard throttles, you can get modified Parma controllers for SSD - find out more here.

Pace / ghost cars
At the moment, there are no pace or ghost cars for Scalextric Digital - although we expect that this sort of feature will soon be developed (it is the one main feature of the other brands of digital racing that Scalextric doesn't have).

In the meantime, the easiest solution, if you want something to race against, is to plug in a throttle and set it at a steady speed. Use an adjustable clamp, very cheap to buy from your local hardware store, to keep the throttle squeezed in. Put a car on the track that has good roadholding, like a Boxster or an Audi TT - perhaps also put "Sport +" tyres on it so it is even grippier - and get it running around at a speed that it's *just* able to stay on the track around the slowest corner. [NB keeping the old analogue throttles permanently held at one fixed position caused them to burn out, but this is not the case with digital ones]. If you like, put another one of these "ghost cars" on the other lane.

Although they won't change lanes, you will find that these are extremely hard to beat, particularly if you give yourself a more slippery car. In theory, they should never crash, if you have set their speed right (they will also go a tiny bit slower when you put your own car on, as the power is shared). You will need to remember that they will always keep running while the powerbase is in a race or free practice mode, so with the 6 car powerbase you may find it better to set the "power off" options for the start and end of the race.

See also PB-Pro.

Third-party power supply
You might want to consider doing away with the standard Scalextric power supplies and get in a professional third-party slot car supply, possibly one with variable power so you can again get your cars to go a little faster (without blowing the powerbase, that is), and also have the option to reduce the power for novice drivers. Click here to go to the discussion thread about these supplies, to find out what kind will work best in your circumstances.

Sensing cars in the pit lane
If you have laid out your circuit in traditional style you are probably missing the lapcounter/powerbase when you go into the pits. This modification will allow you to count cars while they are in the pit lane. Requires modification of two powerbases. Find out more here. A similar modification will also permit lap sector timing in conjunction with PC Lapcounter.

Lanechanger collision fix
If you have some of the earlier lanechangers (corner ones) in your circuit, you may find that occasionally a car's guide blade hits the leading flipper head-on and jumps out of the slot. It can also damage the car's undertray. This simple fix will sort that problem out for you.

Powering the flippers
You have probably realised that if you go too slowly over a lanechange flipper, you will get stuck, as it is not powered. By careful placement of small magnets inside the inbound lanechange flipper only, you can get some power to it to reduce the possibility of getting stranded. Find out more here.

Le Mans Starts
The only way you can properly use the "false start penalty" option on the 6-car powerbase. The track pieces are not made by Scalextric any more but you can probably pick up some secondhand ones on Ebay, or buy new ones in the SCX brand (both are compatible with Sport Digital track using the C8222 converter straights). Find out more here.

Lap Count Tower
Order one of these from Slot Forum member RichG and you can plug it in to the 6-car powerbase. As it comes without any surround, you also get to make your own design to fit in with your circuit. See this thread for some great examples of what others have done.

Will any of these features be available from Scalextric themselves?
Well probably, at some point in the future - remember digital racing is only in its infancy, and Hornby are investing a lot in developing it - but the main difficulty is generally making such extra features available at an acceptable cost. Some of them have already been addressed, like the guide collision fix and improvements to the latest throttles. Meantime it is great that there is such an avid fan base supporting the product and developing these kinds of add-ons for the specialist racers who demand them.

It is known that Hornby do take notice of comments on Slot Forum, and they also have a discussion forum on their own web site here. So if you want to help in the future development of SSD, log in to either or both of these places, share your views with other racers and generally support the "SSD development community". By doing so you will gain a more detailed understanding of where we are, what is possible, what has already been tried and what potential pitfalls may lie ahead - as well as meeting a bunch of really nice people and making sure SSD users keep Hornby aware of what they want to see next!

PB-Pro
Also, check out the PB-Pro upgrade for some new features now possible on SSD.

Ask questions on our forum
If you have any questions about SSD, hop over to our forum.