I can't modify the cars so I tried to make a faraday cage with a king sized beer can. First I had to empty the can and several others in case I wrecked the first one cutting the top off.
I put the bread board in the can and covered the other end with foil. I poked a small hole so i could see if the light flickered and to let the power and ir detect wires in and set it up.
It seemed to make no difference what so ever.
I was about to try grounding the can to a wire attached to the ground on the outlet and desided to try the other idea of a cap on the ir pin. This greatly reduced the flicker.
I used a 10 uf electrolite cap.
The project works well enough to move in and start programming reset buttond and relays to start and stop the cars.
Thanks for the posts