Posted by John on
March 1, 2010
Carrera once again welcomed crowds of spectators between 4th and 9th of February 2010 at the Stadauer expo sand at the Nuremberg Toys and Games Fair. Carrera enthusiasts were able to feast their eyes on the very latest products and issues appearing in 2010.
Among the updates are as follows:
The world of the Digital 124 race series now includes a new member of great status. The new additions to the portfolio of automobiles are Cheetah ‘66 and the magnificently streamlined Auto union Type C No. 33 AVUS 1937, Mercedes W 125 No. 35 AVUS 1937, and Maserati 4CL No. 38 Tripoli 1939.
DIGITAL 132 fans will surely love some new accessories!
The new control unit means the special racing feeling is now programmable. The new driver display and the stylish position tower make the visualization of the thrilling and challenging racing action extra-realistic. The fuel levels and current race position is now seen on the LED displays.
The fair announced the exclusive licensing agreement signed with Ferrari.
The Formula 1 grand prix duels of world champions can now be replayed on Carrera circuits in the comfort of every enthusiast’s living room. You can’t go wrong with Carrera especially when you can compare the lap times achieved in Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari F1 2010 with those clocked in Sebastian Vettel’s red Bull RB5 No. 15. The formula Redbull driver has also signed a special marketing cooperation agreement for 2010.
The unveiled new model of Carrera GO!!! Mario Kart DS edition
Expect to see “Princess Peach” as a new edition of Carrera GO!!! Mario Kart DS packed with plenty of daring maneuvers.
“and the winner is…. Stadlbauer!”
One of the highlights of the show was the long awaited unveiling of the latest Carrera RC product line. It tried to stay cool as the first prize in the Electronics and Technology category of the Toy Innovation Awards given to the Carrera RC Racing Machine right at the start of the trade fair. Innovative technology, top speeds and powerful engines all spelled out great racing enjoyment that lasted for 40 minutes.
The Nuremberg Toys and Games toy fair indeed lived up to its slogan “put the pedal to the metal!”
Technorati Tags: carrera slot car, Digital 124 race series, Ferrari, Nuremberg Toys and Games Fair, Princess Peach
Posted by John on
October 20, 2009
Get to drive Auto Express’ leading Performance Cars of the Year with Supercoupés from Audi and Porsche feature in this new set from slot car legend Carrera.
Own a 1:32-scale versions of an R8 and a 911 in the pack. They may not be exactly the same as the V10 Audi or the Cayman, but you can purchase your very own set of Carrera Evolution 132 Street Dreams
at $128.99.
Apart from owning a realistically detailed model, the package of Carrera Evolution 132 Street Dreams
contains over six meters of track to race on.
The magnificent figure of eight circuit is made up of seven straights and eight curves, designed for the classic up-and-over style. You can buy spares and extensions if you want to try a different layout.
The mechanical speed controllers are in the typical Carrera trigger design, and the starting block and guardrails are incredibly detailed, too.
If all of these components are not enough to excite you; an optional upgrade kit enables you to have six drivers on the track at the same time.
Players can also get a lap timer or pace car, while an extensive spares department can supply everything from a new wing mirror to a brushless motor, in case of accidents.
Carrera’s claim: “Race detailed, high-performance cars around a classic figure-of-eight track.”
Technorati Tags: Carrera Evolution Street Dreams slot car set, carrera slot car, hobby collection
Posted by John on
September 7, 2009
Carrera Clubzone is now being staged as part of the Carrera Challenge tour by slot car clubs in Germany and Austria for the third time! Get involved and register your slot car club and your winners can make it through to the final of the Carrera Challenge Tour 2009, win valuable prizes and qualify to compete in the Carrera European Championship 2010!
The individual ClubZone stations are to be selected in August 2009. You decide whether to visit on of the Carrera Challenge tour stops or to inquire whether you can compete at one of the ClubZone slot car clubs.
All information is available (only in german language) at Carrera Club Zone.
Technorati Tags: carrera slot car, challenge tour, clubzone slot car clubs, european championship 2010, news
Posted by John on
June 17, 2009
Carrera Go!!! Spider Man is the proclaimed as the Best Classic Toy for 2009 by the world’s leading expert on play, toys, and children’s products.
Stevanne Auerbach, PhD, aka Dr. Toy, crowns Carrera GO!!! Spider-Man as the undisputed classic toy for this year. Dr. Toy has 30 years of direct experience of including educationally oriented, developmental and skill building products from the best large and small companies in her four annual award programs. Many parents, teachers and toy buyers use Dr. Toy’s guidance in making selections.
The fondest memories that Carrera GO!!! Spider-Man provides is the good feeling of nostalgia and enjoyment made instrumental by toys that relives good old memories as a kid and now a kid at heart. In fact, Carrera makes toys you take delight in when you were younger are still available to the market for you to share with your children or perhaps your grandchildren.
You can be sure that these childhood classics lasts over generations to extend the joy it brings. They continue to prove their value and will now delight your child. The joy of sharing a toy with your child that you play with is a special treat for you and for your child. We applaud the longevity of classic toys and hope that many new generations of children will continue to enjoy the classic toys we have selected as best for this year.
Carrera USA Go, Spider-Man Race Car Set
Carrera racing is a complete and simple slot car set. All you need to do is set up your track layout and race! This exciting classic slot car set has the added excitement of SPIDER-MAN, scale 1:43. A Slot Car Race Set gives boys and girls, ages 8+, the chance to race custom designed Spider-Man “Webslinger 6000″ and Carnage “Parasite RS” through straights, curves, loops and flyover. Spider-Man comes with 2 cars, a transformer, straights, curves, 1 junction, 2 hand controllers, lap counter, guardrails and spare contact brushes and guide keels. The track length is 20.66 feet with a footprint of 5.74 x 4.00 feet. This set, like all Carrera products, provides thrills and skills that are fun for the whole family to enjoy together.
Technorati Tags: carrera go!!! Spiderman race car set, carrera slot car, toys
Posted by John on
June 2, 2009
Carrera unveiled its new lines of slot car models and happens to precisely time their latest model because it’s the Aston Martin’s arch rival - the Chevrolet Corvette C6R.
GT cars have been getting lots of attention nowadays much so emphasized with the release of the Martin DBR9 from both SCX and Scalextric.
With much effort, I almost didn’t take out this nice model out of its box. Not just because I long to keep there to avoid any untoward damage done to it but also the screw was firmly attached to the base. It was extremely fastened done up so tight that pliers are must have to get it undone. If it wasn’t for a raised plinth in thei boxes, there would be risk of warping the chassis.
The body of Carrera’s Chevrolet Corvette C6R looks great, detail-oriented and crisp molding. New models of Carrera are manufactured with less thicker materials thus the Corvette is not so heavy than its predecessors.
Its design is covered with painting and tampo-printing rendering a clear and flaw-free appearance. There is a good deal of protection on its paintings as there also shows good coat of clear lacquer to guard from anything that might scratch it.
Minor moldings of detail parts generally look sleek. The fit and finish is of good quality including a plastic mesh front grill and photo etched rear grill. You should expect it to be almost perfect partly because of its mirrors that look chunky and disproportionate. Its side indicators should have been a “real” or proper lens as opposed to its painted finish.
Fit and finish of the detail parts is also generally good, including a plastic mesh front grill and photo-etched rear grill. Carrera instead focused their efforts into some other parts of the car such as the “glass” parts found in the side windows that comes equipped with cooling vents made complete with pipe work.
Perhaps the important parts are a nice sturdy chassis, solid axles with front and rear brass bearings, standard Mabuchi type motor with 9:27 plastic gearing.
Expect to see Carrera fit front and rear lights and a reversing switch. Four screws hold body and chassis together. The chassis is a typical, strong, and heavy chassis. You can easily adjust the down-force using the supplied shim. Carrera fit two magnet that acts as a sliding magnet in the center of the car and a bar magnet under the rear axle.
When you look in its interior, it has moderate details to please most people. The driver figure looks realistic enough. You can notice minor details found commonly in race cars such as the roll cage, extinguisher and a smattering of painted details.
Let’s move on to the general overview of its strengths. Carrera’s Chevrolet Corvette C6R does make a nicely produced model. It can fare well or better when parked beside SCX and Scalextric rivals.
That’s how my first meeting with Chevrolet went. How do you find your own new set of Carrera slot car? Let’s hear what you like and not really like about them by posting comments below.
Technorati Tags: Auto, carrera slot car, cars, chevrolet corvette c6r, hobby, review, toy
Posted by John on
June 1, 2009
Carrera has released an update for X-Lap for all its enthusiasts. You must first save existing databases before you uninstall X-Lap.
Click here to download your own copy of X-Lap.
Uninstall X-Lap, install update as usual. With this update the following bugs have been fixed:
• Changed Admin rights for installation. On some computers the setup could not be started although the user had all admin rights.
• When opening race setup, some of the patches for the databases where destroyed. INI file corrupt. Databases connection therefore was lost. This happened when the user put in a either in his Driver name or in his car description. If a corrupt INI file will be recognized the program will automatically reset the database to standard databases for first start.
• Setting screen for com device: All values now will be checked for valid values between com 1 and com 16. Only if the user entered valid values between 1 and 16 the new settings will be stored.
• If a driver was selected were on which no image was determined and the user click ok in the race setup form the car picture was taken into the race monitor, Although the user selected “show driver picture”.
• Changed User rights for using x-lap. On some computers the setup could be started but not x-lap.
• On some PC an error occured when you open the race setup form. Error “Cannot find installable ISAM drivers”.
• On the result screen in the fastest lap field the sequence of car description and driver name was changed.
• If you opened the race result form without having race monitor loaded and you press ok in the race result form an error 5 occurs. This only happened, when the race monitor was not loaded before.
• Corrections on start time recognition after red lights expire.
• Start time will be now added to the time of the first lap. In some cases this caused an error when a car finished the race.
Click here to download your own copy of X-Lap.
Technorati Tags: carrera slot car, software update xlap
Posted by John on
April 6, 2009
Carrera’s new digital 132 line which refers to the scale of the cars included. All slot cars in the past used to be analogue. Thanks to its conversion to digital, slot cars have now evolved as models packed with more features making them more realistic and closer to real racing. The new system accommodates up to six drivers on the same track dueling simultaneously at full speed. With the touch of buttons, you can digitally control your individually coded cars. The feel of racing gets even better for having real time acceleration, braking, high speed passing and wide drifts. Let’s get to know one of Carrera’s new slot car models, the all new Carrera USA Digital 132, Hot Pursuit Race Car Set
.
You may be caught surprise when you see a large package of Carrera USA Digital 132, Hot Pursuit Race Car Set at your doorstep same way as I did. Carrera’s tracks are wider than most of the slot car set available in the market. The tracks are as wide as they are since they accommodate the 1:24 scale cars which are the largest. Upon opening the box, the car race set was carefully packed with styrofoam. A manual accompanied the car set same thing as with other new toys. The manual seemed vague in certain areas for covering other car sets instead of specifically explaining the Hot Pursuit Car Set. After gathering all the pieces to be assembled, I began building my own car set. Just a piece of advice, permit a lot of space when you begin assembling this set. Trial and error is the name of the game during the assembling process. You may encounter trouble assembling the bridge section which would have been easy if only the manual provided information. You have to install these supports under the bridge but the manual failed to instruct me where these parts are intended for. Most of the track sections are bigger in size which makes it more difficult to put it into place without initially positioning the supports. Another issue to look out for is the guard rails parts. With the Carrera set, you had to slide this flexible rail into these clips which clip itself onto the actual track. The manual should mention how many clips to use and where they’re intended to be used. Another setback is the track pieces made of hard plastic. These pieces should be more flexible as plastics offer little or no bend feature at all. It’s better to have bendable parts in case children steps on them while helping out on the assembly.
Have patience during the building process of your own Carrera slot car. When you finally finish building the track, congratulate yourself and your kids (if they lend a hand) for a job well done. The fully assembled Hot Pursuit car set looks so huge and magnificent towering at 9.22 x 5.54 feet!
Now that the track is full assembled, the fun begins. The layout and the theme of the set are appealing especially the thrilling idea of car chases. You get two cars with the track: a Ford Mustang GT 2005 Highway Patrol car and a Chevrolet Corvette C6. The Mustang’s police car actually lights up for the fact that most cars come with mere front and rear lights that doesn’t work. These cars are quite quick so you have to be careful not to deslot them. I noticed that the car stick to the track really well because of the installed magnets underneath the cars.
Changing of lanes is one press of a button away. It is a simple thing to do just by pressing the lane changing button down on the controller and your car will change lanes at specific locations on the track. The lane change is long so you can take it at a pretty high speed. When it comes to the look of the new models of Carrera, Hot Pursuit cars is detailed that some collectors purchase them to add in their car collection.
Another advantage that Carrera has is that you can set up a pace car or an Autonomous Car which means the car can drive itself. The Autonomous car is great if you don’t have anyone to race with. You can also buy a pit lane as an accessory which allows you to pull in there to virtually fuel your car up. The pace car will also pull in there at the start of a race. In a nutshell, I recommend Carrera USA Digital 132, Hot Pursuit Race Car Set when you have a child or even adult who like racing. Plus, it makes an excellent gift for hours of enjoyment out from chasing the other car.
Technorati Tags: carrera slot car, hot pursuit race car set review, toys
Posted by John on
November 15, 2008
I’ve recently been looking at a couple of German-language Carrera sites using Google Translate. The translation isn’t great, but it’s usually good enough to figure out what the author is trying to say.
Links to these sites below are run through the Google translator - check them out.
Carrera Rennbahn - This site has a ton of info, especially about all the various products Carrera has made over the years. Be sure to check out the beautiful Carrera paintings!
Carrera4Fun.de - This site has TONS of info on the Carrera Universal 132 track system that was manufactured from the mid-1960s until 1984. Unfortunately, the frame-based navigation system makes it hard to get around when it’s pumped through the translator. Here’s the German link - Carrera4Fun.de in German. You may want to navigate in German to see the pictures and plans and then use the Google Translate link above to get the English version of the text.
Slotkeller - This site isn’t Carrera specific, but check out the great shots of their wooden track! By the way, I’m pretty sure Google is translating the German word for track to “train”.
Technorati Tags: carrera, carrera germany, carrera slot car, carrera slot racing, carrera universal, carrera universal 132, slot racing
Posted by John on
November 10, 2008
Reader Bobby G asks:
i have about 70′ of evolution track converted to digital and there is a voltage drop around the middle section. can a second transfomer be added?
Sorry Bobby, I tried to reply to your email but I think I have the wrong address.
The short answer is no, you definitely can’t just add a second transformer. Carrera makes power extension cables under part numbers 20584 (5m) and 20585 (10m).
Here’s the word direct from the US Carrera website FAQ:
Question:
Which circuit length does require any additional supply with Digital 132?
Answer:
Tracks of an entire length of 12 metres and more should be equipped with an additional power supply. Since 2006 the generation of modified U-profile connections between the individual track parts has drastically minimised the power loss. You will get the additional supply cables required from your retailer under item number 20584 (cable length 5m) and item number 20585 (cable length 10m). Under no circumstances you shall connect any further Black Boxes and/or transformers (danger of causing a short circuit!).
Technorati Tags: carrera digital, carrera digital 132, carrera slot car, digital, power, transformer
