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A General History of
Slot Car Controllers
Early on in the days of slot car racing the first slot car sets
used button style controllers which were simple on-off switches,
but for the tight corners a more sophisticated controller was
needed. Hobbyists attempted to construct a controller with a
volume knob of a radio.
The English firm, Model Road Racing Cars,
offered the first controller that was operated by the thumb by
pushing down on a plunger.
The first devices
were very small and became very hot.
Jim Russel, of the American Company Russkit, developed the first
pistol-grip controller. With this type of controller, the driver
did not feel the heat anymore, because the resistor was no longer
in the hand grip area of the controller. Other companies copied
the design and promoted their products in the slot track
magazines. In one ad, it was written that the modern air-flo
design of the T3X controller, kept the giant resistor out of the
hand and keeps the controller cool and comfortable.
The trigger of a pistol-grip controller is squeezed by the index
finger. A contact on the opposite end of the trigger wipes across
the ceramic wire-bound resistor inside. These days, this type slot
car controller is the standard slot car controller offered by
almost all the manufacturers in their current slot car race sets.
The designer of the pistol grip slot car controller reasoned
correctly that you have better reflex action with the index finger
than the thumb, but sometimes the natural world has its own
convention as we see in children who get a pistol-grip controller
in the hand for the first time and they routinely change the grip
and operate the trigger with their thumb.
The next development in slot car controllers was Dynamic braking
systems. A dynamic brake is an open circuit across the motor
brushes that forces the motor to act as a generator (the motor
tries to stop turning) as it slows down. A third wire was needed
to get the motor into that full "off" position. In the early days
the slot car track was not wired for controllers with a dynamic
braking system. Today, all slot car sets feature this system.
Next in the development cycle of slot car controllers came the
electronic slot car controller. It is not as widely used as the
mechanical controllers, as most racers prefer the latter, yet some
manufacturers offer this type of controller. The inexpensive Parma
controller, originally designed by Russkit, is very popular around
the world, but the electronic controller market has made
significant gains in recent years.
Finally, the latest development in slot car controller technology
is Digital racing. Each car receives an individual signal through
the track’s electrical contacts. With this technique it is
possible to run with more cars in one lane. Racing voltage remains
constant on the track and speed is controlled by components inside
the car restricting or allowing voltage proportionately with the
squeezing or lifting of the controller’s trigger.
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1978 Aurora SpeedSteer
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Vintage Tyco
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K&B Aurora
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Vintage MRC
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1960s Revell
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Modern Parma Turbo resistor type
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Parma Electronic controller
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Thanks to
James Miles for e-mailing in this information.
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Slot Car Reading
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