Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

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Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby slothead » Thu Jun 01, 2017 12:13 pm

Vonsirius' solo racing series has been so well received, there just had to be a spinoff - the Trans Am Challenge.

This series will be unique because all cars will compete in the same race. How? Due to the magic of technology. I'm now a solo racer and also a programming nerd. This combination resulted in a program that reads in a description of a track, a list of cars, a list of lap times. The track is Shelby-Hendrix Speedway (SHS), a routed MDF track with a lot of turns and elevation changes. It has passing (4 inch lane spacing) and no-passing (2 inch lane spacing) sections. I designed it that way to make passing difficult as occurs in road racing. There are 7 sections in all - 1) start straight, 2) corner two, 3) corner three, 4) hairpin turn, 5) back straight, 6) loop turn, and 7) finish straight. Sections 2,4, and 6 are no-passing areas - cars have to exit those sections in the same order they enter. A faster car can catch a slower car in a no-passing section, but can't pass them.

At the start of a race the program reads the Racedata file which tells it what cars are in the race and sets the starting grid. In computer memory its as though the cars are starting single file, each a few tenths of a second behind the car in front of it. The lead car starts the race at time 0.00 by entering the 1st section. Shortly there after, at say time 0.25, the second car enters the first section and so on. Each car's lap time is divided up between the sections based on each section's length. At SHS section 1 is 12% of a lap, so if the lap time were 100 seconds it would exit section 1 after 12 seconds. If another car had a significantly faster lap time it's section 1 time might be fast enough to exit section 1 before cars that were ahead of it, meaning it passed them. However, since section 2 is a no-passing section the best a faster car can do there is catch a slower car and follow it till they get into section 3 where it might be able to make a pass. As the race timer moves forward the program keeps track of where each car is on the track and what the current running order is. The program displays what section each car is in as the race progresses and updates the leader board each time a lap is completed. All the data is saved to a log file so I can go back and see all the details afterwards.

From the program's perspective SHS is 1.56 miles long, and to make lap times realistic for a road course of that length I multiply the raw time (around 10 seconds) by 2.5 and add 42. This way a 10 second raw time becomes 67 seconds (83.82 mph). Because of the no-passing sections a faster lap time does not always mean making a pass during a lap, it depends on where a faster car catches a slower one. The first car out of a no-passing section gets to accelerate first and enters the next section with a slight lead that trailing cars would need to overcome. Trailing cars would also have to complete a pass before entering the next no-passing zone or be forced to 'fall back in line' and try again in another passing section. This keeps it interesting as it can take a faster car several laps to complete a pass.

Lastly, when recording lap times I keep track of any deslots and a penalty is assessed for each one. The length of the penalty is determined by where on the track a car deslots and how serious the spin or crash was. For a minor deslot where the car remains on the track right next to the slot the penalty is 4 - 6 seconds, just like when a 1:1 race car gets loose and has to get out of the gas. If the car leaves the track or hits a retaining wall the penalty is longer, around 12 seconds (though it could be as much as 99 seconds). A simple deslot would make a 67 second lap into a 71 second lap, with the extra time spent in the section where the incident took place. A section time of 12 seconds would become 16 seconds, and even if it's a no-passing section cars with a penalty can be passed (they are considered to be running out of the groove).

If I get 12 teams to sign up I'll be running 12 car races of around 40 laps each. The series will be 7 races long to see how it goes and the starting order will be set by series points with last place starting on the pole and the point leader starting last. This way every team has a chance and the ultimate winner will be the car/team with the most consistent performance.

Questions?

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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby vonsirius » Thu Jun 01, 2017 12:47 pm

Sounds Cool!
Can't wait to chose a car
Last edited by vonsirius on Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby chappy » Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:39 pm

Yes sir cool idea , thus is catching on in a good way.
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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby hksk25 » Thu Jun 01, 2017 3:03 pm

I'm in, sounds interesting

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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby arroldn » Thu Jun 01, 2017 6:56 pm

OK I am a-clueistic. How does this work? I didn't follow the other proxy. Do you build a car and send it to you? Or is this an all digital experience. You build the car on paper?
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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby BARC 1 » Thu Jun 01, 2017 7:00 pm

BORG racing competed in the Online Racing Series(ORS) Back in 2001. In that series each driver raced on his home track and downloaded the file to the race organizer. Each file then went through a mathematical logarithm and the series had display software that compiled all the data and graphically showed the race with all cars competing head to head. It was a lot of fun. Sounds like Slothhead may have the the programming smarts to maybe enhance this so guys can actually race their cars and download the file just like we did in the ORS days.

Here is an old poster from 2002
Image


BARC racing is in and will take a Camero if it is available
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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby slothead » Thu Jun 01, 2017 9:16 pm

Guys - sorry if my introduction to the series was a bit lengthy and complicated. This program has been a pet project of mine for the last 3 years and is responsible for my increasing interest in slot car racing after my grandsons reached college age and I became a solo racer. The math and simulation details make it interesting for me to keep working on.

arroldn - I'll be racing my own slot cars, and folks here who want to can claim a car and follow it's fortunes. The cars I'll be using are going to be stock Scalextric and Pioneer Trans Am cars (only modification is PG tires on the rear). I'll be channeling (like a psychic) the driving ability of the HRW member who claimed the car as I record lap times. Once I have 40 lap times for each car I'll build the Racedata file and let the program simulate all of the cars being in a race at the same time. I'll do a race report here that recounts what happened and how each car/team did. Cars/teams will be awarded points based on finish position, and that order will be inverted to set the grid for the next race.

BARC 1 - the data could come from any track. It would just be a matter of finding a formula to convert lap times from different tracks so they are roughly equal, which is very doable and something a slot-nerd like myself would find interesting.

I don't have an online account for posting photos but I'm open to doing that to make this more enjoyable to follow. I'll start by listing the cars to be used tomorrow and then find images of the cars from hobby sites so everyone can see them. First dibs will go to teams in vonsirius' solo racing series 5.

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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby vonsirius » Thu Jun 01, 2017 9:34 pm

Slothead, it's quite easy to post pictures at this forum If you download Tapatalk at your mobile phone and use it as a camera
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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby arroldn » Thu Jun 01, 2017 10:21 pm

OK so I claim a Dodge Challenger or a Plymouth Cuda and you race the car on your track. Oh no Cuda that car is SCX. OK so you run the car to build race data. Then you key this data into a program that, I take, determines how the car would perform at different tracks. After the cars are run at all digital venues a winner is pronounced. Is this correct or did I misunderstand? So how do you determine who gets what car? Everyone who wants a Challenger assigned to the Challenger team? Everyone who wants a Camaro assigned to team Chevy? Curious!!!

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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby clivearmstrong74 » Thu Jun 01, 2017 10:48 pm

Guys, you make this sound so easy... could CARacing please claim a Pontiac Firebird (if the is one...).
I just love this forum, always something new. Thanx Slothead for including us in your race!!

Cheers
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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby TuscoTodd » Fri Jun 02, 2017 8:22 am

slothead -
This sounds pretty entertaining! I'd like to participate in this series as well!
Thanks!
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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby slothead » Fri Jun 02, 2017 9:20 am

So far I have these teams signed up:

Clive (CARacing) - #8 RMS resin Firebird on a Scalextric chassis
Arrold - #42 SCX 'Cuda
chappy - Camaro(?)

Tusco Todd, hksk25, and vonsiruis - pick a car from the list below.

Others, Let me know if I missed you or you want to claim a car.

Cars available:
Scalextric Camaros - #1, #9, #13, #40
Scalextric Challenger - #77
Scalextric Javelin - #1j (the new release, when it arrives!)
Pioneer Mustangs - #2, #17, #22, #28

These are all production RTR cars. Photos coming soon.

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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby slothead » Fri Jun 02, 2017 9:48 am

Trans Am challenge cars:

#1 Scalextric Camaro
Image

#9 Scalextric Camaro
Image

#13 Scalextric Camaro
Image

#40 Scalextric Camaro
Image

#77 Scalextric Challenger
Image

#1j Scalextric Javelin
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#2 Pioneer Mustang
Image

#17 Pioneer Mustang
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#22 Pioneer Mustang
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#28 Pioneer Mustang
Image

The RMS resin Firebird and SCX 'Cuda are already claimed.

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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby vonsirius » Fri Jun 02, 2017 10:32 am

#13 for me please!
My son Artús would like to take #40 if possible.
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Re: Vonsirius-Slothead Trans Am Challenge

Postby TuscoTodd » Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:17 pm

#1 Camaro for me please!
:banana-dance:
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