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| Running drone laps on this track will show me which cars have a better overall speed, and take out the possibility of a car being faster because of its ease of use. |
RESULTS [does not count in standings]
Gulf Ford 5:40.84
Shell Ford 5:21.66
Alfa Romeo 5:28.19
Gulf 1:25.24 1:24.87 1:25.25 1:25.47
Shell 1:20.70 1:20.42 1:20.42 1:20.10
Alfa 1:22.53 1:21.12 1:22.94 1:21.59
You'd figure that if I set the controller and left it at the beginning of the race that all of the time segments would match, but they don't. The Alfa was the most flagrant party, and ran a pretty poor third section [it kicked the back out in the 180º but didn't go off for 3 laps in a row].
I guess the Gulf is running better. I probably should have done this race before tearing them all down and rebuilding them. Too late for that. The Shell car ran so smoothly that I really shouldn't be all that surprised at this point. It's a great car and handles quite well for being bigger than the Alfa, and I think it would make a great drone car to race against.
How the Alfa varies so wildly in these tests, I don't know. I've said it before; it's the easiest of the cars to drive, most responsive, and [I thought] has the best handling. I think maybe it has the best combination of size/braking, and the reason it handles so well is because it gets to a more reasonable speed in the technical sections at a faster rate. I know that it has great straight line acceleration, and I'd bet it would win in a drag race between the three cars. Between that and the braking, as well as the short wheelbase keeping the butt in better, sets it apart from the Fords. You can feel it when you drive. The quicker response of the Alfa allows for quicker times through the corners, even if the drone race didn't show that.
But then, I don't know exactly what the drone race tells me, other than which car is the fastest drone. I suppose if I could set speed at smaller increments I could be more even in each car's distribution of power. But for me this'll do. I'm not a scientist, just a fan. But this race does show some interesting things, notably that the Shell Ford is so fast on its own that it has to be an advantage in a real race. Maybe the only thing this information tells me is which car is best tuned. Or maybe has the best motor. Or was just built the best.
By the way, I make the decision whether to run a race or not prior to running it. I'll frequently run a race without being official about it, but those are usually for a purpose other than scoring points. A lot of the time it's to give another car a chance to try the various changes that might have been done to it.
Here's a list of the competitors and how many races they've won:
Alfa Romeo #2 6 Wins
Shell Ford 4 Wins
Gulf Ford 2 Wins
R18 0 Wins
Safety Car 1 Win
Class B gets further and further away, and it's all due to the amount of enjoyment I get out of the Class A cars. I was going to run the Carreras today, but I just didn't feel like it. I'm so hooked on these Slot.it cars and their ability to run so well without magnets that I really struggle enjoying a car with magnets in it. There's just no challenge. I'm pretty close to making them experiments, and shaving away pointless bits and trying to get the weight down. I had originally thought about upgrading them with parts, but then I'd end up spending almost as much as if I were to buy a new Slot.it car, and they have an R18 anyway. Not that I want another R18, mind you. I think it's got to be one of the ugliest cars ever designed. I understand why it's built the way it is, but that doesn't make it any prettier.
So there it is. A possibly meaningless test, but a test just the same.
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