Drag strip project
 

Hey guys, I'm working on a project to build a drag strip. It's just in the planning stages so far and will remain as such untill I can save up the money for the hardware.

I needed a drag strip with a tree and beams for finish and foul. I was unable to find an existing product that either had the features I wanted or was within a reasonable price range. So I started designing my own.

The plans call for a basic stamp 2px microcontroller, so I decided to elaborate on the features in order to better make use of the processor. I added in the ability to dial in a handicap for either lane, an LCD panel to deplay average speed, elapsed time, reaction time, total time for each lane, and stage and prestage lights and beams.

I would like to know if people would be interested in using such a system. If so, what additional features would you like to see in the system? Are there any features that should be cut out?

The schematic is very alpha. I need to do some math still to make sure all the tidbits are correct, but I'm pretty sure it's all kosher. I could do away with the seven segment displays and pipe the handicap to the LCD instead. Can't think of anything to do with the additional LEDs the driver IC has open though. Any ideas? The processor has one more IO pin free. With one more IO I could add an RFID reader to the staging area.

After I get the hardware, I can start writing the program.

I should mention that I am not an electrical engineer, and I have never built anything like this before :o

Killer idea, I would love to see it made into a kit. That is a lot of connections going everywhere.

Check out this thread. It has an idea for a timer that I found on another forum. Good luck with this project though.
Drag Strip Thread

Another feture that would be nice would be scale 60ft times. though that would require another beam. also trap speed would be nice and again, another beam there.

Scale times is just a matter of math. If I have the actual numbers, I can just massage them to scale numbers.

Traps would require beams. One per lane per trap. Technically I could just add more beams to the foul/finish circuit and use logic to figgure out which one is being broken, thus requiring no additional IO pins. Unless a car goes airborn and jumps over a beam, or reverses, it has to pass them in order...

Hmmm...that'd be cool, especially if I ever finish my tube-frame xmod rail. I sketched out a plan to put a 6 cell xmod electronics package into a custom brass tube frame. I'll probably use medium lego slicks, and the electronics will be donated by a friend and his wrecked NSX.