ARDUINO AND SLOT CARS - HELP NEEDED!

I have recently purchased a Vilros Ultimate Starter Kit for ARDUINO (great purchase, by the way).  I am very interested in this microcontroller and the possibility of learning, at the same time, electronics and programming. Right now, I have just started and blinked a LED and use a potentiometer to keep it blinking longer or shorter.

But I am already thinking about the future, and my other hobby, Slot Cars...So, I would like to know if anybody has already tinkered with Arduino, doing things for slot cars. I was thinking of building a lap counter with speedometer, but, I still have to learn a lot.

Please share if you already know how to do things with Arduino for slot cars.

Thank you.