Yas Island track test

Yesterday we tested the full size Yas Island track layout in preparation for its dispatch to Abu Dhabi this week.
We had hoped to get some pictures to post but due to the poor weather we were racing against the elements to get the track assembled and re-boxed for transit before the heavens opened.

The test went surprisingly well. We ran the four lane scalextric track by two powerbases with 4 cars on each. The 6 car powerbases Version 1.5 had no power problems. The track was by no means perfectly laid, with the surface being uneven and time was an issue, both lanes ran without any sports booster cables, in another test we also ran 3 cars on one transformer, the cars did feel a little underpowered but we do not feel this will be to much of an issue.

When the powerbases have been modified they will be run by an independent Power Supply Unit (PSU) We have a large 45 amp PSU to run both tracks without any problems with power, the PSU has a variable dial operated power output so we can judge how much power we want to give to the track once we have a full set up with booster cables in place. We can also lower the power output if we are finding the users are crashing to much and slow them down for the safety of the cars.

Other work we had to do was to chip all 20 McLaren cars, we were please that they client did not want a selection of cars causing us to sit for hours with a soldering iron in hand to chip all the cars. The McLaren DPR choice was a pleasing one for us. However we did have to extend 8 of the 16 hand controllers to save a scrumage at the powerbases for the 8 drivers. We added about 2-3 meters of cable to each of the 8 controllers and this will be enough to spread the racers along the huge back straight.

With the purchase of the PSU from http://www.rapidonline.com/ we did find that they sold Female push on receptacle 2.8mm crimp connectors and this with the use of some twin 3amp cable allow us to create booster cables to length for the track once it has been set up, we only hope 100m of cable is going to be enough :)

Our next piece of work is to get the 3 powerbases sent off to be modified ready to get the Lap counting software in place for the track. This will complete all the work that we have to do till it comes to assembling the track over in Abu Dhabi.