Race Timer and Speed Measurer Development

26 May

Race Timer and Speed Measurer for diecast model cars, compatible with Hot Wheels, Matchbox and other 1:64 scale model cars — *Race Timer Finish Line and Speed Measurer for diecast model cars, compatible with Hot Wheels, Matchbox and other 1:64 scale model cars*

Race Timer Development

It all started one rainy day when I was playing with my youngest. We set up some Hot Wheels track and raced a car down the stairs. Next came 2 tracks so that we could see which car was fastest. From where we were sat releasing the cars, we couldn’t properly tell which one was the winner! They both appeared to reach the finish line together. So I wanted to find a finish line for Hot Wheels cars. But there really was nothing available! We thought we had found a speed measurer in the Hot Wheels Rev ‘n Launch track builder set, but this turned out to be a basic plastic flap that flung the ‘speed’ indication pointer in an attempt to indicate the speed. However, it did not record the maximum speed and fell back to 0 so quickly it was impossible to determine what speed had been indicated.

*Hot Wheels Rev ‘n Launch Challenge featuring a ‘speed gate’.*

*Using the Hot Wheels Rev ‘n Launch set*

Race Timer Finish Line Speedometer for sale in our store — The latest Race Timer product available to buy from our store.

With nothing available on the market, I started to explore making a finish line device that would indicate which car had won. As I researched different options in Lego or cardboard I discovered the Arduino Uno and Nano micro controllers. Suddenly, I realised I could use a microprocessor to build the finish line.

The prototype Race Timer and Speed Measurer.

A few more weeks of reading and experimentation improved my rudimentary understanding of electronics to enable the development of the Finish Line Race Timer. I was watching the F1 Grand Prix and decided that the Race Timer should also start the race in a similar way. After the start sequence, the Finish Line Race Timer indicated the first car to pass through by lighting an LED above the lane and recording the time it took for the car to reach the line from the end of the start sequence. i.e the actual race time including reaction time to launch the car. Once the hardware was working and detecting cars as they passed, I realised I could add more functionality. Further development provided an ability to measure the speed of the car as it passed the finish line. Whilst using the Race Timer, we realised that we would like to just be able to measure the speed of any car that passed through the gate. A limitation of the time taken to display and output the race data meant that a complete redesign would be required in order to accurately measure speeds at any moment. Another few weeks of experimentation allowed me to exploit the maximum accuracy I could get out of the Arduino. It meant that the Race Timer was now also a Speed Measurer, Speedometer or speed gun and that the unit could be placed in different modes to achieve the best accuracy for the type of function needed.

This continuous development lead to a production Version 1 and then 1.2 where the Race Timer, when used as a Timer and Finish Line, could theoretically measure speeds up to 144Km/h with an accuracy of +/-2milliseconds (2/1000th of a second). When in the Speed Measure mode, the optimisation of the algorithm allowed the same unit to detect speeds up to 288Km/h! These are real speeds, not scale speeds (note: scale speeds are 64x the measured speed). [This information refers to the first production units released in June 2021. The latest releases have significantly improved on this performance. Version 2 Advanced is capable of measuring to an accuracy of 33 microseconds, (33/1,000,000 of a second) giving a theoretical maximum detectable speed of more than 999km/h and allowing real speed accuracy to within 0.03km/h at normal car speed. See our Products Menu for more information on the current models.]

We made a YouTube video of the unit in use and provided some help for those that wanted to make their own. We were then contacted by a number of viewers who wanted to buy one. Due to these enquiries, we began the development and limited production of a self-contained working finish line Race Timer and Speedometer for Hot Wheels and other diecast cars. Whilst we can hold a limited stock, Race Timers are normal made to order.