Every year during the fair, we get many visitors asking us “what happened to the highway cars? Over the years the grooves that the original cars ran in became unusable so many attempts to resurrect the cars began. These included cars that followed a white stripe on the road (too many variations in shade and sun) and cleaning/resurfacing the original tracks in the roadbed( too little space left in the groove). Prior to 2020 we also tried to install a 1/2” square plastic guide for the cars to guide on but the sun quickly dissolved the plastic although the cars seemed to operate on it fine.
This year, we decided to try using a similar guide but using 1/2″ square steel tube. Several attempts were made and we finally developed a system of using concrete screws to attach the guides to the roadbed. A single lane was installed and tested and the cars ran fine on it. Our crew was so enthusiastic about the result that everyone pitched in and in a few sessions the second lane was added. We are currently testing the cars in anticipation of operating several in each lane during the upcoming LA County Fair.
Our cars are four wheel drive models from rc4wd.com but our volunteers have completely redesigned the electronics. Each car runs at a set speed on a battery pack and an infrared sensor slows down the cars if they get too close to another car. The cars also have solar powered headlights and taillights!
We hope our visitors enjoy this new addition to our exhibit and I thank everyone who worked so hard to make this happen!
2 Cars pass each other during testing on the new guide rails.