In an earlier post I mentioned my growing interest in the “TCR” format. As this old TV ‘mersh shows, this was a 1:64-ish electric racing platform developed by Ideal in the late ‘70’s and later taken over my Tyco, who kept the basic idea going at least into the early ’90’s. Unlike some of the other innovative slot- and “slotless-” car types from the ‘70s, such as the Aurora “XLerators” and AFX “Ultra 5” and “Speed-steer” platforms, the TCR cars and tracks seem relatively plentiful today and are not terribly hard to find. I don’t know much about them, although I do know the chassis design can be divided into 4 different types as they evolved over time, and that they were apparently more popular in Europe than they were in North America.
But never mind all that; what I’m focusing on for the purposes on this post is not the “slotless” format or the steering ability, but something else that really appeals to me: the idea of a pilotless competitor, called a “Jam Car”, that was used to increase competition by adding another car as an obstacle to pass. Matchbox apparently had something similar on a later variation of their slotted Speedtrack/Powertrack that they just called a Pace Car.
That basically amounts to a “Phantom Racer,” another car that, while perhaps not a direct competitor, did liven up a race a lot by adding that dose of realism: a slower car that had to be maneuvered around even as you attempted to beat your opponent. As a more current concern, its especially appealing to those of us who are unfortunate enough to have made it to 2021 and are now trapped at home and isolated due to the global viral outbreak. With the exception of one old friend who lives 100 miles from me, no one that I know is “safe” to interact with or who is willing to enter someone else’s home in the current state of things shares an interest in this hobby, and as I’ve mentioned ad nauseum, all the clubs in my area are essentially on permanent hiatus until everyone wraps their heads around the fact that this virus is never going away and that at some point, life will have to go on.
So, how did these “jam cars” work? Were they battery powered cars that didn’t need a controller? Was there a position on the terminal for this 3rd car that was essentially an on/off switch? And, in the final versions from the early ’90’s when computers began to come into the picture, is there a chance that these self propelled “jam cars” had some sort of “intelligence” and could speed up/slow down or change lanes based on what other racers were doing? And now the real question…how hard would it be to rig up a Tomy AFX track with a “Phantom Racer”, and has anyone else done it? If so, I’d love to know how! Maybe it’s time to hit the forums, but if anyone reading this wants to answer, feel free to email me!
Incidentally, a well-known information site on the web has a list of all the TCR cars ever made:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Control_Racing#Cars_non-themed
In addition to the timeless classic excerpted above, a look around the web makes it appear that I’m not the only one who sees some appeal in this idea:
Corny stuff, but fun!
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