TURBO BOOST – can I find this kind of control for AFX?

There is a reason beyond “sticking with what I know” that I was so attached to my Tyco sets until finally taking the plunge late in the year and moving to Tomy AFX: its this little piece here:

By now if you’ve spent any time on this blog you’ve seen this piece over and over again in my countless pix of my track with the cars running over the words “TURBO BOOST.” This is nothing more than a secondary rheostat, but I love the granular control it gives me over my cars. When racing on a small, tight track-like my Tyco track is-its easy to get carried away and wind up with your car halfway across the room. And since some cars are much faster than others, and some are much more sensitive than others, and some handle better than others, I find its very beneficial to have a piece like this; it allows me to “dial-in” a very precise amount of power for the car that helps balance the performance between competitors, and allows me to lower the risk of a de-slot or crash.

I suspect I’m already setting off the traditionalists and “serious racers” again with another of my goofy little toys that no “real” slot car racer would use! Well, since they’re my toys and I’m playing with them my way, let me ask everyone a question: where is an equivalent piece like this for Tomy AFX? As far as I can tell, there isn’t one! I’ve looked, extensively, and all I’ve found that seems to even be in the ballpark is a set of controllers that were allegedly never offered for the US market that have an extra control on them called a “turbo boost.” Not sure if this is the same thing or not (although I’ll be finding out soon, see a rapidly upcoming post on that!)

Now, there’ll be some people who will respond with: “why don’t you make your own?”

Well…the first reason I can think of is: I don’t know how. I’m sure I could figure out how to wire a commercially available rheostat to a piece of track but that doesn’t mean I have to skill to make it look nice, and if there’s anything clear about my involvement with this hobby, it’s that I’m very focused on how things look. And besides, I don’t want to make everything myself; I want to spend my time building and customizing my cars and creating my diorama, and I try to minimize the less fun stuff (because that’s the thing about a hobby; if its not fun, why do it? Amirite?)

So yeah, maybe I will make one myself if I get frustrated enough, but I’d rather buy something that’s been professionally made and looks good, with an elegant and easily usable control, just like this Tyco terminal. So if anyone knows of a similar product that will work with a Tomy AFX track, I’d love to hear about it!