So it turns out getting the nRF24L01 code that I copied into my last post was pretty good, just minor amendments to the code to get it passing the full character array containing all the race information.
A couple of hours spent amending the circuits and the code and the project is now running very happily using the nRF24L01 transceivers. Very happy with that, the range is impressive and I haven’t even tweaked the power or bandwidth settings yet!
RC Race Information Board Project 