RaceTrack

It started as a plain, boring toy racetrack — the kind that just goes around in circles at the same speed. I wanted it to feel like a real mario kart race, so I rebuilt it around the fun of Mario Kart 8.

The cars are driven by an Arduino with Wi-Fi. It setup a local network automatically with DHCP, so android phones can connect to the isolated network and the arduino is ready to receive commands. Motor control goes through a MOSFET driver, and the whole thing is steered from Android apps — my wireless remotes for the tracks.

On top of plain laps, the cars can fire items to speed up or slow down the opponent — a mushroom boost or a red shell. The system calculates remaining fuel, counts laps for each car, and applies controlled acceleration and speed. The winner is the first to finish 20 laps, with everything shown live on the apps and on a display in the arch above the track.

An Arduino MKR WiFi 1010 creates its own Wi-Fi network and runs the whole track. Two cars race head-to-head, each driven by its own Android app. The cars can fire items to speed up or slow down the opponent, while the system tracks fuel, laps and lap times for each car and applies controlled acceleration and speed. The winner is the first to finish 20 laps — all visible on the apps and on a display in the arch above the track.