Actual Time Official 25 Lap Time Trial

 Now that I have an actual timer, it's time to put up some actual times. So I came up with a basic track that has a few turns in it, and will use that layout as my Test Track. That way I can make it and run any cars I get in the future on it to compare lap times. So this will be the establishing race of all times for all cars. 

Each car must run 25 laps with no crashing. They get a standard tire scrubbing with tape, and that's it, unless there's something wrong with the car that needs urgent work. 

Here's the layout:

I wanted to make it fast but also make you work for it. Progressive radius turns and a bothersome kink section keep every car busy. Each car runs on the inside lane.

I'm running the Lap Counter on "race" mode, and using the finishing times as the determining factor. I'll include an Average Lap in there as well. Since lap times will be relatively short on this track, the overall time will probably be a better indicator of how will each car runs. 

So here are the times: 

Car                             Time                  Lap               

Lola T70 III #7         1:20.68               3.2              

Elva #47                   1:21.79                3.24     

Gulf 917                   1:22.50                3.28                 

Sunoco M6A            1:23.13                3.32

Elva #2                     1:23.52                3.34                             

Gulf 908                   1:23.72                3.35

Rothmans 917          1:24.27                3.36             

Lola T70 #21           1:25.91                 3.4               

Tergal 908                1:26.81                3.44                                             

Matra Simca             1:26.94                3.44 

Chaparral #65           1:27.81                3.48                    

Alfa Romeo              1:27.96                3.48

Shell Ford                 1:28.02                3.52

Gulf Ford GT40       1:28.15                 3.53                  

Ford MKII                1:28.38                 3.54                       

Leyton House 962    1:28.76                 3.54

Chaparral #66           1:28.90                 3.55                                                                                 

Sunoco 908               1:29.27                 3.56              

Lucky Strike 917      1:29.61                 3.57

Denotes Thunderslot

Denotes NSR

Denotes Slot.it

There's a lot to take in here, notably how mixed the competition in the Top 10 is right now. They're within 2/10ths of a second. The whole field is separated by just over 3/10s. Four of the six NSR cars finished well, but two finished catastrophically bad and will need to be looked at in detail. They both posted unacceptable finishes. 

The Lucky Strike Porsche 917K setting an absolutely dismal lap time. As is tradition, the cars that performed the worst get under the screwdriver and get the business. This car will be number one on the block.

I'm not expecting the Slot.it cars to lose, although I do expect most of them to be back markers. Doesn't mean they can't still be competitive. And being only 2 or 3/10ths off the lead puts them right in it. The Matra was a tenth away from a Top 5 finish. The Chappy #65 and the Alfa also both posted fast laps. The fact that the Slot.it cars all finished about a 10th of a second apart is saying something, too. I'm pretty sure a few of those cars have more to give as well. This race will be the reference point.

Our winner, ladies and gentlemen. Virtually running away from the competition, and so completely great as a race car.

          

Like I said earlier, each car was given a tire scrub and quick check before racing. While getting ready to run the Rothmans 917, I noticed that the wheels would lock up after about a half turn. I took the car apart and discovered a small piece of sand in one of the teeth of the spur gear. Tiny, but enough to put a stop to the car. I tweezed it out and away the car went. 

The Lucky Strike 917 needs a look under the hood. I haven't done much to this car after initial setup, so it's not surprising for it to act out now. It should, however, be running right alongside the Rothmans car. So today I'll be looking at what is causing this dismal lap time. The same goes for the Sunoco 908. 

The black Elva and the M6A were incredibly good cars. Both of them have the potential to win it all, I can feel it while driving them. They both have just the standard lube/oil/tires setup, so they're running pretty much out-of-box. 

Pleasantly surprised by the Chaparral #65's ability to do so well. It's always been a bit of a back marker, but it's in the Top 3 for Slot.it cars this race. That spot is usually held for someone like the Alfa or the Shell GT40, but certainly never for the Chappy. And the #66 usually does better than the #65, but not this time. 

None of the cars had performance issues, although the Lola #7 came off the track twice while running the race. The Leyton House 962 also came off once. Each time the race was restarted. 

Both Sunoco cars [the M6A and 908] felt better than they finished, which is why I think they both should improve somewhat, especially the Porsche. It didn't give off any indication that it was dogging it around the track. 

In case you're curious, I didn't run either of the Revoslot cars. I want to work on the and get them both running better before running them. While the Porsche is running pretty well, the Ferrari is not. Neither were ready for a 25 lap test run yet, though. I'll be putting those in the shop along with the Lucky Strike 917 and the Sunoco 908. 

Some Notes:

I very much enjoy racing with the lap timer. It really allows me to focus on the car and not on the lap counting. I can feel the cars better, pay more attention to them and diagnose them better when they have trouble. And at the end I have a time I can actually use. Things go a lot faster as well. Setup is just a couple presses of the button and you're ready to race. No annoying resetting procedures to go through.

The McLaren M6A. Another car that is having its inaugural testing. Such a beauty, wonder if she'll have the punch to match. Looking great so far.

I'm thinking of a marathon with a handful of select cars. It'll probably be on a bigger track, and will be a lot of laps. Probably something like 200 laps, and I'll probably break up the three brands into classes, and maybe even constructors and teams. I actually have a couple of "teams". The Gulf Team, of which there are now three cars [917, 908 and GT40], the Sunoco Team [M6A and 908], and the Shell Team [Ferrari 333 and GT40]. It would be interesting and super easy to continue expanding on the team concept with future purchases. There are definitely 908s from Rothmans that I would love to have, as well as a few others. 

A long race would definitely spread the field out, and would be a great test for the cars. I'm a firm believer that you're better off trying to get a great overall time than you are looking just for the fastest lap. Overall time shows that your car is not only fast, but can handle itself well on the track over long distances. That's super important. And it's totally possible for a mediocre car to suddenly set a fast lap. Doesn't happen all the time, but it happens. But you wouldn't want to gauge overall performance on one lap that could be a fluke. 

I like this layout as a test track. It's got a little of everything, and I can keep it up in my living room without much trouble. I'm going to design a quick expansion I can add to it when I want something larger. 

The varying radius curves really provide a nice challenge. Since the two ends go in and come out on a 2/30, you have an opportunity to brake later and accelerate earlier. So good handling cars are going to rip through the end curves. Here's the pic again:

Counter-clockwise Inside Lane: straight into the first curve, which is slightly over 180°, featuring 2/30 [yellow] and 3/15 [green] curves mixed in with a couple of 1/60 [brown] curves. A 2/30 corrects out of the curve, leading into a Daytona-style kink, which will definitely slow the cars down, followed by a matching over-180° turn, and finally onto the main straight. The two ends require a lot of attention, as time can be won or lost through them. The kink is a deceiving set of 160s in their most innocent, yet intimidating form. Any car that's not properly balanced will suffer badly through this section.

As I go I'll find other layouts do to comparisons on, some of which may become standard Test Tracks as well. There are a few old designs that I'd like to look back at, especially from the early rug racing days when I ran the first championship. I have more track pieces now, and a wider variety, so I could maybe rebuild and modify one of those older tracks. Something like this one maybe:

This was originally a floor design, and one that I just brought up to the first table I attempted to make. It doesn't look like much, but it was a lot of fun to run on, and was faster than it looked. 

The Alfa going through the backstretch. 

So I have what works out to basically about 2x the size of available space that I had when I used to be on the rug. It's a lot smaller than the table in the attic, so any of that stuff will have to be left alone. Now that I'm on the floor, I have to build for the space that I have. It's a good, rectangular space that should give me an opportunity to design some cool tracks. I'd like a 4, a 5 and a 7 second lap design. This current Test Track is just over 3 seconds, which is about as small as I like to go. Anything smaller and you have to run a billion laps just to figure out who won. 

So there it is. Probably one of the smarter purchases I've made for my track in some time, the lap counter should prove to be a great addition. It's not the fancy digital system, but I don't think I really need that. I just need a stopwatch and counter. I can do all the other stuff.