46 replies to this topic

[Mike Patterson]

Bruce, have you tried any of the racing sims that are available for Xbox/PC/PS4? Why would you want to putz around with a slot car, when you can drive just about anything on just about any track?

[brucefl]

Hey we could also have streaming inter track races,multiple blue king race at same time,16 guys racing simultaneously streaming.yeah another million dollar idea,doctor evil,lol,sorry billion dollar idea,in the 60s a millionaire was a big deal but not now,gotta remember I'm in the new millenia,right guys.Don't hate the messenger.

[Justin A. Porter]

Okay, quick reality check when it comes to competing with racing sims.

 

This is Jann Mardeborough, a professional sports car driver. How did Jann get his career as a professional sports car driver with wins in the British GT Championship, the Japanese Super GT Championship, and an LMP2 podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans?

By playing Gran Turismo on Playstation, the developers of which select the very best online competitors to compete in real life driver training known as the GT Academy. 

"Mardenborough had not seriously raced prior to entering GT Academy. Mardenborough's rise is unusual because up until 2011 at the age of 19 he had never seriously competed in motorsport.^[5]

In 2011 Mardenborough participated in the GT Academy; he beat 90,000 other entrants and won the competition,^[6]and the prize for his victory was a drive with Nissan at the Dubai 24 Hour. He scored third in his class.^[2] In 2012 Mardenborough competed in the British GT Championship. Together with Alex Buncombe he won a race and ended the season in sixth place in the GT3 championship. Moreover, he took part in four rounds of the Blancpain Endurance Series."

 

And Mardenborough is far from the only GT Academy graduate. When video games are offering kids internationally the hope that they could actually BECOME A RACING DRIVER what are you offering them?

[brucefl]

Hooray!!!!!

[tonyp]

Justin, I think that sums it all up. All slot cars can offer is the satisfaction of taking something you build with your own hands and being able to test it and see if it’s faster than the last one then take it and race it. Plus the interaction at the track with other racers keeps a lot of old racers coming back long after their sell by date is long passed.

Electronically racing slot cars on a computer screen is pretty boring compared to racing sims.

To get young people interested in slots starts with a track they can run simple cars like JK or 1/32 on and eventually learn the skills to maintain and tune their cars. Not scratch building or rewinding motors. Kids are different today. No shop classes in school and computer games that slot car racing could never compete with.




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[Bill from NH]

My "sell by" date came before yours.

[James Wendel]

*** buffering ***

[tonyp]

Lol


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[Phil Smith]

Bruce, you're always brainstorming, which is a good thing, but you do little else. If it means so much to you, and is as important as you say it is, why don't you *do* something? I've yet see you do anything beyond posting on this forum.

[Bill from NH]

He made two sketches of a Wong. Now he has to build them.

[Don Weaver]

With ​al the band width he's wasted on talking about becoming the slotcar teacher to the world can you imagine what it'll be like after the first time he actually solders two pieces of piano wire together?  ....or oils a bearing.      lord help us all.....

[brucefl]

just like the surgeon these days that can operate robotically remotely.

 

I cant do anything alone(no man is an island),besides theres no hope of me finding a track for nearby the closest is thousands of mile and i want to race on a blue king again.

[brucefl]

Justin, I think that sums it all up. All slot cars can offer is the satisfaction of taking something you build with your own hands and being able to test it and see if it’s faster than the last one then take it and race it. Plus the interaction at the track with other racers keeps a lot of old racers coming back long after their sell by date is long passed.

Electronically racing slot cars on a computer screen is pretty boring compared to racing sims.

To get young people interested in slots starts with a track they can run simple cars like JK or 1/32 on and eventually learn the skills to maintain and tune their cars. Not scratch building or rewinding motors. Kids are different today. No shop classes in school and computer games that slot car racing could never compete with.but Tony they still buy plenty of r/c cars and do hands on,but if less and less is offered in the way of true hobbies which are hands on then the condition of anti social socially inept children growing into adults is what is destined.

 

my idea is just like drone racing is done by mounted camera inorder to see where they are on the course,a slotcar track on large screen video feed is similiar and viable and opens the door to millions in a practical sense,the reality is that logistics and cost effectiveness isnt working with the 10tracks throughout the country,few live close enough to bring in sufficient revenue for the hobby to thrive,something like what im suggesting will eventually be created for many activities including distance learning of technical skills,the limitation of if you live close enough to the activity your interested in venue is will no longer be an issue.

 

remember the service of recieving movies through the postal service,well sending your home built slotcar in to a track so you can practice or compete in a race isnt unrealistic and recieving it back by mail,and you paying for track time which includes marshaling and pit crew can be practical atleast with 1/24 scale,CHANGE IS GOOD.

 

like I said and more likely it will create a superior participant,like the racer above who was recruited from virtual slotcar racing to 1/1 racing,it seems that some very good skills are honed on the remote and or virtual/virtuality platform,embrace it its inevitable.

 

just think of tracks needing to expand because of demand and not even being able to keep up with need,and branching out to r/c tracks and boat tracks,and airplane courses,etc that will be the true boom!




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[brucefl]

And you know that r/c goes hand in hand with slot cars and we see Roy Wong in r/cplanes,jim greenaway going into r/c planes,Bob emott going into r/c cars and innovating a hybrid slotcar r/c controller,mike morrisey into r/c cars etc etc and probably you too.

[brucefl]

This all falls into the the simulator category,race car,boat,plane,etc,eventually onboard cameras too to see what its like from ground zero(i know current group 7 would need slow mo action but wouldnt be practical for the driver because he would be behind real time.

 

And whats wrong with fantasizing,and brainstorming and working as a group to innovate and create new things,so perhaps this idea of virtuality slotcar racing we start with baby steps,adding one thing at a time in a few years it cpuld be realized,so we start with streaming on individuals phones a race then add to the mix play by play then when someone interfaces 1lane with the suggested blue tooth controller over the internet to the users slotcar controller then we re almost there a cell phone dedicated to that racer with his streaming through his phone camera strategically placed,walla internet racing in its infantsy.

[MattD]

 I've been setting here all day trying to think of something to post. 

 

You know,  I could have started building a chassis,  or bought some used Carrera track or a set and made plans for a small track to actually race cars on.  Nah, I'll just talk about doing things instead of actually doing them.    I could have even printed up some slot cars wanted signs, or slot racers wanted.   Maybe  asked at Hobby Lobby, Ben Franklin or someplace that sells hobby stuff if I could put a small sign in the window trying to recruit racers.  I might have found a couple guys interested in some form of slot racing.  Might even have found some lonely guy like myself that has a home track set up and would like to have some racing friends..

[brucefl]

This is a blog site,blog definition:A website that contains online reflections,comments,etc. I will continue to reflect and comment using my allowed bandwidth,and along with all my projects i will seek reflection on the ideas ,looking for positive criticism to tweak to implement as a spiritual enterpreneur,i seek solutions not problems,and if my or anyone has a great idea that could solve slotcars problems for me or anyone power to ya.

[Mike Patterson]

... i want to race on a blue king again.

Move to Ohio. We have two AMCRs and 3 Gerdings.

[SlotStox#53]

There you go Bruce, no outlay except the games or devices to play.. Slot cars in digital

Screenshot_20180524-203124-810x1440.png no im talking about linking my computer to a commercial raceway and with big screen live streaming picture and linked hand controller and actually race live a slotcar on a track in the commercial raceway and have marshalls and pit crew,and either practice or entering a race.

Bruce, I read and heard your point quite clearly in your original post. I'd had the very dream or idea years ago so it's technically "nothing new" to me.

Back in '99 (have to check) I raced in the 24hr LeMans race held by Derby HO club in the UK and a couple of years afterwards.

Since moving to the USA in '08 I've always wanted to race in it again Dreams of cell network availability, cell phone or wifi controller my end and interface in the car came to mind.

But and it's a large BUT, What's the point? All that hassle trying to make already available digital slot car systems adapt or work in unison shrink down into HO size.

Then if by some spark of hope it works, internet lag, buffering, being pissed at losing connection right at a corner!?

I still wouldn't actually "be there" with the team of guys having a laugh and general bs between racers/teams..

The whole thrill of slot car racing is actually being there. Never forget my first time as a kid in the 80s walking into Wonderland aamusement arcade in Southend on Sea/ UK and seeing the Tottenham Model Raceway blue king upstairs

Think you missed the subtle yet obvious sarcasm in my original reply

[Phil Hackett]

six months after the slot car internet fad hits someone will have a holographic projector so you can virtually race any on any full sized track anywhere at any time, in fact going BACK into time (wanna run the Arco races in the 60s, sure, no problem). There'll be nothing like having your controller "hooked-up" to a holographic/real posts and racing away. I see that we'll have holographic turn marshalls and will have to beg on the internet for someone to marshal the race. THAT will be reality.

[Ecurie Martini]

A couple of reactions and a story:  For me, and, I am certain for many others, the gathering, discussions and comparisons are as much a part of slot racing as the actual, on track, racing. OTOH, a long career in experimental science taught me to be open to ideas that appear, at first, to be "off the wall."

 

Several years ago one of our local racers set up an interesting contest on his home track.  He fitted a chassis with a small RF connected camera and sent the video to a wall mounted monitor.  The challenge was to drive the track looking only at the monitor, not the track and car.  It was not easy.  The monitor image was not "3D" - there was no depth information.  After some practice one could navigate the track fairly well but still not at the speeds normally achieved.  Of course, the logical extension of this is interconnected drivers stations running virtual cars with defined parameters - but then, of course, there is nothing to build.

 

EM

[MattD]

Alan, we have a similar car at the local track and it is hard to actually race very fast.   they have goggles you put on that allow you the camera feed right thee.  I guess like these new video games?   Not really my thing.    Bottom line is that all this electronic, computer racing and games is exactly what the OP has been railing against. He is wanting to teach building skills and social skills to kids, none of which can be done thru tweets!

 

I'll stick to our simple goals of fun and socializing with friends.