Solo Racing

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I should have mentioned that the controller is easily removed from that little cradle so it can be used in the normal way. It took about 5 minutes, and was made from scrap laying around my shop. Works great.

[dge467]

That is so neat Rob!!!

[Dangermouse]

I am a bit like Bob - pick a class of cars and run them for a few laps but rather than make notes I will tackle the tuning then and there and then once I am happy with how the car runs I put it away and move to the next one.

For solo racing -(once I get my timing re-installed) I am planning on running a race series where I setup the programme where all my cars from a certain class are set up as a driver in the computer programme. Then I will set the track as a one lane track and race say 30 laps. Each driver in the rotation will be a car - XK120 Jag - Ferrari 250 - Porsche 356 etc.. Plan is then to work on the other cars to get them up to the same speed as the fastest car and then race again see if I get a new winner.

I do go racing against other people generally once a fortnight.

[slothead]

I just wrote a long post explaining my method of solo racing, and it disappeared when I clicked on 'preview', so here's a condensed version.

I copied the Barry Boor system of running full races to recreate a full season of racing. So far I do this with Trans Am and Le Mans type World Sportscar Championship Series cars. I time trial all the cars to create a sorted list from fastest to slowest. Then I invert them to create a starting order where the slower cars are up front and the faster cars are in back (top qualifier starts last).

For Trans Am I run 20 car races for 70 laps, and race each car to record all of the lap times. When completed I have a database of 1400 lap times that get loaded into a program I wrote to run the simulation. Two other things besides inverting the starting order keep it interesting - 1) if a car de-slots or stops while recording lap times for the race it incurs a time penalty for that lap, and 2) the track has both passing and no passing sections. The program divides up each car's total lap time into how long it will take in each of the 7 sections of track that make up a lap. For example, the hairpin section of the track is no passing, so if a car enters that section behind a slower car it has to slow down to it's speed and follow it through the section. If it is fast enough in the next section (back straight) it might overcome the delay it had exiting the no passing section, otherwise it will end up staying behind the car through more no passing sections till it can pull off a pass. The program displays each car's lap and current position on the track as the race simulation progresses. I can cheer for a car moving up in the field or have sympathy for a car falling behind knowing it was me who generated the lap times.

I have a very busy schedule during the academic year and I've only run about 8 practice races so far but it all works great so far. A faster car starting at the rear gets to the front about half the time, but the slower cars at the front tend to do well too since they have little or no traffic to contend with. The plan is to recreate whole seasons of races where the inverted starting orders will be based on points earned by finish position rather than qualifying after a race or two. This way the cars that seem to be better performers should end up competing for the championship, but especially with time penalties for de-slots the cars with smooth and consistent error-free runs will be contenders too.

It took me a year of spare time to write the race simulation program and it's still a work in progress. It works well for road course races as is, but I want to enhance it for use with oval track races where de-slots lead to caution flags, regrouping the field, and restarts. These are all things I never thought about when creating the current version.

These are the confessions of a nerd who loved slot cars.

Slothead

[MikeyAutobahn]

I like that. I tend to blame my cars when they come off the track, when I should really be blaming myself. But I do the same: try to get the slower cars to beat the fastest one. That's always a good challenge.

[glasshorsevh]

Slothead, Just as a point of interest, what do you code in?

[TsgtRet]

[davek]

I should have stuck with my trains :angry-tappingfoot:

[slothead]

I code in C, using the same Turbo C++ compiler I bought almost 20 years ago. I only run my programs on older PC's running Windows 95 and the like. I guess the exec file would still run on a newer Windows PC, but haven't tried it because all my old PC's still work just fine.

When I routed my road course I made it 2 lanes, but have only put copper tape on the outside lane which I use for all my lap times. In the three no passing sections I mentioned the lanes are only 2" apart - they were meant to be no passing areas all along, and he program just implements that during the simulation. The only cars that can be passed in a no passing section is a car running a slower lap because of a deslot penalty. This addresses one of the unrealistic things about slot car racing, being able to crash a lot and still be competitive and even win. In this simulation method having a deslot penalty means getting passed by cars you just worked very hard to get ahead of, and now having to battle back toward the front of the field. Being fast and consistent wins, which we all understand is how it should be.

Slothead

[Austin]

I like to just sit back with a few beers and see how many laps I can do at a speed that feels good without any offs. The more beers you have the faster you go, and still no offs.

[slothead]

[Kemtronracer]

I keep an index card for each of my cars. Then I run four one minute heats and record my lap totals for each lane and my total laps. When one car is drastically slower than the others, I make some adjustments to see if the lap totals improve. The adjustments that work get recorded on the index card for future reference. This process helps me to group my cars that are evenly matched so when friends come over we can have a decent race.

[chappy]

I don't think there is anything to be embarassed about when solo racing.
For some of us it is the most common form of racing we do. When I had my Scaley Sport set up I ran agai stnthe Pacer car, unfortunately it was a Track Marshall Mercedes and not really a race car , so it looked a bit strange, but did the job, better than me more often than not. I also remember a chap who used to post with a name or quote in his post's, " kneeling with one eye squinting " yes I did that too and it was for a more realistic view. On the routed track that got flooded out , I initially routed to squares out so I could put my Carrera lap counter in the squares at the correct depth for counting the cars laps. Then when I upgraded, to a proper computer lap timer, I would run 20 laps per car, and after 20 laps would go in 3 lap segments until I no longer heard the fastest lap beep.
I would notice that cars that were quick off the bat , slowed a tad around lap 12 , as the motor got warm , and then about lap 20 it would pick up again , thats why I did the 20 lap plus thing.
And I would do them by class , not manufacturer and record the times on a sheet of paper. Then a sticky pad not went with the car so I could work on those that needed it.
Personally I didnt care if I was alone or not, so long as my hobby was bringing me fun.
Still do.
Bob

[dreinecke]