85 replies to this topic

[MSwiss]

And what everyone is failing to mention here, is what happens at lane change time.

 

Do you religiously place your car onto the next lane on the exact lane segment position, or do you just place it adjacent to where you finished that heat/segment?

 

How far apart are your lane segments marked? 12" or 10 feet?   

I'm pretty sure 99% of the time, here in the U.S., anyway, the races are held where you start the next heat where you finished the last.

 

The only time I've seen that deviate is an IROC race where everyone started at the start/finish line every heat, to make it quicker

to regrid the cars, since you were using 8 different ones.

 

Obviously, like Rick said, it's part of race strategy.

 

I like it when my buddy Noose complains when racing Retro Stockers, about the lack of brakes on FK's, and then,

after switching to Chinese Proslot's, complains the FK guys are coasting by him on the track calls.

[Zippity]

Mike,

 

We race the same way here - well at least my Club does

 

Unfortunately, on most tracks, the segments/divisions are NOT always the same side-by-side.

 

Moving a car to an adjacent lane on the same section of track can gain or lose someone 4 to 5 feet each time. Multiply that by seven and someone can gain quite an "unfair" advantage.

[MSwiss]

Now I get it .

Moving it from 117 ft. spot on Yellow to the 117ft. spot on Orange.

 

I'll go with the theory it all even's out at the end, and if it doesn't, who said slot racing is 100% non-luck.?

[S.O. Watt]

I was always told it ain't over till the phat lady sings.

 

Or when the dust settles.

 

 

 

 

I guess which ever comes first?

[MG Brown]

The race is over when the race director says its ok to pick up your cars.

[MrWeiler]

In races with track calls I always gear the car for extra coasting distance..If I can keep the car on the track I want a reward for not driving past the limit. Why reward the guy who can't keep the car in the slot by letting him drive past his limits then yell "track" when he makes a mistake? He should loose some track position for driving like an idiot. So, if my super-coaster car results in my coasting past you and moving up a place at the end of the race...good for me, too bad for you, thanks for the trophy and by the way, nothing is stopping you from setting up your car to do the same coasting thing mine does when the power shuts off.

[Zippity]

   I like your thinking Mike.

[raisin27]

It's when the cars STOP!! If YOU were car B, you wouldn't ask the question!!

If every time you changed lanes, did you put your car back to where it was when the power went off?? Or did you move it from where it coasted, too??

 

Good point.

[raisin27]

I was just having this same debate the other day with a friend. I think the race should be over when the power shuts off. After all we do run 3 minute heats not 3 minutes and 2 seconds, LOL.

 

It would be nearly impossible to determine where the cars where when the power shut off before the roll at the end of the heats and the finish of the race. Even thought that's how I feel, I know it is commonly accepted in slot racing for the race to be over when all cars stop moving.

 

I lost a race like that, I led every lap flag to flag and finished second because the other guy coasted by once the race was over.

 

Another good point.

[raisin27]

Got bit in the butt by this the last time i raced.... But the winner of the race is the one who goes the furthest distance in the alotted time... coasting is a part of it...

 

Funny you mention Bud there, Steve...  that's who coasted by me.

 

True, but did car "B" pass car "A" in the allotted time?

[raisin27]

What happens if someone comes off when the power goes off and the car slides on its top half way down the straightaway and slides past another car but its not in the slot. 

 

Theres a whole 'nuther can of worms!

[raisin27]

Thank you everyone for your opinions. Some good points were brought up. I was leaning one way before the post and I think maybe I am leaning the other way now.

 

Raisin

[MrWeiler]

The race is over when the cars stop, not when the power goes off. Last year I lost a vintage race at our club track 'cause the guy in second fliped his car on the last lap as the power cut and spun on the roof all the way down the steep donut past my stopped car to take the win from me. Thems da brakes....

[Fast Freddie]

Cars that deslot during the race or at the end of the race should be reslotted as close to where they deslotted as possible. This doesn't always happen in the heat of the race. Many times I've seen cars come off exiting the finger and slide to the marshall in the hole and he puts the car on top of the bridge completely avoiding the donut. If a car coasts to a win ,well, just like "rubbin" that's racin. Sorry Mike but you got robbed.

[Phil Hackett]

"Fair" is a concept. It's not real. The evidence of laws and rules trying to make things "fair" proves my point.

 

If you get beat once-in-a-while by an "unfair" thing, that's the odds. When you get repeatedly beaten by an "unfair" thing it'll be time to change your tactics, car or attitude.

[Andy Watkins]

Need a timing system designed to allow the cars to race back to timing line after time has expired and then kill power to that lane as soon as they reach it.

That would take away the coast and create some exciting finishes.

[Tex]

But it feels so GOOOOD to coast by someone and take that position!

[JohnnySlotcar]

I've lost many races including those to "Sano Dave" and Ricky Stagen. It is part of racing, One race I forgot to hold the trigger down on a race ending "track" call. No regrets, the guy with the best coast usually has the smoothest setup and the brain to "keep it down" immediately after a track call.

[Ben Naelitz]

True, but did car "B" pass car "A" in the allotted time?

 

i was slightly ahead when the power actually went off...... in my eyes, the race is considered over when the cars stop after the power goes off...... if we are not going to allow for the cars to finish rolling,  to be completly fair we would have to move cars back after every heat of the race, to where we think they were when the power went off..... then the confusion really starts.. 

[Tex]

That's it in a nutshell... trying to move cars that coasted back to where they were when to power went off is an estimation at best. On the other hand, once all the cars stop rolling, it is irrefutable where the cars finished.

[Phil Irvin]

I have been on both ends of the coasting enough to win and not coasting enough to win . I think its about 50/50. . Most times its fun to give the other a hard time about the difference in their motors and laugh about it . Racing is competitive, which I enjoy, and maybe loosing by a car length or winning by the same. I still had fun racing.   If it were not fun. I damn sure would find something that was...

 

     OLPHRT

      PHIL I.

[Gator Bob]

Need a timing system designed to allow the cars to race back to timing line after time has expired and then kill power to that lane as soon as they reach it.

That would take away the coast and create some exciting finishes.

 

Some tracks ... local club and commercial outside of US do it this way and display the time behind the leader.

 

To solve the "roll to a win" problem ....in the last heat... after the alloted time, when the leader crosses line ... the power goes off. 

 

Anyone can still have the chance to roll to a podium.

 

If you have racing that close on a roll win/loose ... still sounds like good fun!

[James Wendel]

Most of the arguments above assume you are racing for a set amount of time, rather than for a given number of laps.  If racing for laps the answer would be different.

 

The computer tracks lap times to 1/000th of a second.  The race program "should" know which car hit the lap counter 1st on the final lap.  Assuming the lap counter is at the finish line, that car should be the winner. Where the cars stop beyond the line should make no difference.

 

Full-scale races are decided at the finish line.  Why should slot car races be different?  

[NSwanberg]

Race to a set number of laps instead of timed heats. Seems like that is more like 1/1 racing. That way "gentleman" track calls will not cost you laps if you are on a good lane.

[Mike K]

Full-scale races are decided at the finish line.  Why should slot car races be different?  

Because slot car race heats are typically for a set number of minutes on each lane....