Carrera DIGITAL 124/132 Pit Lane & Pit Stop Adapter Unit

Carrera DIGITAL 124/132 Pit Lane & Pit Stop Adapter Unit

Fill Up and Take a Break!
Review by CoMod JoergW of Carrera DIGITAL 124the /132 Pit Lane
(Item No. 30356)

After the fuel level has been set on the Main Unit in 10% increments, the Driver Display initially shows all lights, which then fade more or less quickly depending on driving style.

Once all green LEDs have gone out and the display enters the red LED zone, a pit stop is indicated. Toward the end of the red phase, the need for a pit stop is additionally indicated by the vehicle’s lights flashing rapidly. If the warnings are ignored, laps will no longer be counted when passing through the Control Unit and/or Pit Stop Lane, and the display on the Position Tower will freeze. However, you’ll only notice this if you’re in the lead, since the display shows your lapssind.Nach . When entering the pit lane, you must hold down the fuel button until you reach the desired fuel level!

If you forget this, you’ll be there a bit longer ;-) 

There’s the normal and the “real” refueling mode. But I didn’t notice any significant difference during my tests on the small track. On the large track, with its higher proportion of high-speed sections, things could look quite different.

CoMod Joerg

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Test report by CoMod Carrera124 on Carrera DIGITAL 124 the /132 Pit Lane
(Item No. 30356) and Pit Stop Adapter Unit (Item No. 30361)


New to the pit lane is the single-lane straight where refueling takes place. This is also available separately, making it easy to retrofit the old pit lane.

Unlike the prototypes shown at the Toy Fair, the single-lane straight does not have a direct electrical connection to the control unit. This means you can integrate the pit lane into the track layout however you like.

If you decide to install the pit lane parallel to the Control Unit (i.e., with the entrance before the Control Unit and the exit after it), the old pit lane had the problem that the laps of the refueling cars were not counted. This problem has been solved with the new refueling straight. Thanks to the corresponding sensor on the top of the track, a lap is counted even during the refueling process.
This function can also be disabled if you do not want to place the pit lane parallel to the Control Unit, but rather in a different location. To do this, the single-lane straight must be temporarily attached directly to the control unit. Next, a programming sequence is carried out on the control unit. The setting configured in this way is permanently saved.

However, the sensor counts a single pass as a completed refueling stop, regardless of how long it lasted. Even a simple drive-through is counted as a refueling stop.

  Important: You should install only a single refueling straight within a pit lane! Otherwise, a single drive-through will be counted as multiple refueling stops. This behavior can only be prevented by disabling the refueling function on the Control Unit altogether.

One might then consider not using a pit lane at all, but instead misusing the refueling straights as an extension of the timing system for a potential third and fourth lane. However, this is not recommended, as the data protocol means that timing inaccuracies in lap times are to be expected. When used as intended in the pit lane, these potential inaccuracies are hardly significant, since the key factor there is that the pit stop is recorded as a completed lap at all.

Refueling Back
to Refueling! This process works a bit differently than before: first, don’t be confused by the marked refueling zone, as it’s quite short. The usable area for refueling extends from the moment you cross the pit stop sensor until you exit the pit lane. The refueling process itself no longer happens automatically; you must hold down the soft key on your hand controller. On the driver display, you can then watch as the tank miraculously “fills up” again. However, filling the tank completely is not mandatory; you can stop the refueling process at any time and continue driving.

Fuel Level:
The maximum possible fuel level for the vehicles can be programmed on the Control Unit. A new feature is the ability to set a one-time, different fuel capacity for the race start, independent of this setting. This is done via an additional programming sequence on the Control Unit; a Driver Display is also required to show the set fuel capacity.

CoMod Carrera124