14 replies to this topic

[gonegonzo]

I live in a small apartment and have a small 2 lane track . I have enough romm for 6 racers to be comfortable . 

 

I need a race format that I can use with a 2 lane track . A mechanical lap counter will be used to count laps and a stop watch for timing .

 

Im not sure what to do as to lane rotaion or to use a ladder system like a drag strip . This is the hard part with 2 lanes .

 

Any suggestions will be appreciated .

 

Thank you 

[Revtor]

Lane rotation.. Every guy drives every lane. When they finished with Lane one, you move their car at the exact same position to the next lane and then they carry-on. When a guy comes out or the rotation he becomes a Marshall.

Make the rotation schedule ahead of time ( once you have a list of everyone that is going to be there ) so it can all run smoothly.

Keep track of the laps and sections ( mark your track every foot) per heat for everyone. Either on graph paper or a spreadsheet. Tally it up at the end and there you go. Have someone with the stopwatch call out when the heat is halfway over and also when there is 10 seconds remaining.
If a car hits the floor you should kill the track power and pause the stopwatch (track call) .

Keep it relaxed and have fun!!

[mreibman]

on the Math side of things, if you have 6 drivers, and they race against each other on 2 lanes, there are 15 possible combinations (order matters) of driver matchups head to head. This doesn't account for the lanes, and if you do account for the lanes, then it's 30 permutations (order doesn't matter) of the same setup.

 

If you're really up to doing it this way, it's the fairest way to do it.

With the 15 combinations, each driver will run 5 times, once each against each opponent.

With the 30 permutations, each driver will run 10 times, twice against each opponent.

 

See if this makes sense - view the pic attached.

 

Mix the order up as you like. If you have a relaxing saturday afternoon, you could do 2-3 minute heats. If you're in a hurry, scale it back to 1 minute heats.

 

you can manage it, but is it worth it?

 

Attached Images

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[Revtor]

In my experience its not every driver against every other driver, its every driver gets an chance at every lane.

 

If you want every driver against every driver then you have to think about which lane does each driver get?  -double the number of heats?

 

6 guys isn't a lot, try it a few ways!!

 

~Steve

[slotbaker]

Why not go a little bit further initially, and save youself a lot of ongoing hassles on race nights by installing a free race programe?

Race Coordinator works on an old PC, does accurate timing, and can handle a few different race formats, including Round Robin, it saves race results, can do printouts, plus, plus....

I've got connection with the program or the writer, and I know there are many home racing groups happily using it.

[Brian Czeiner]

I have had experience with Trackmate on both commercial and club/hobby from HO scale to 1/24.  You didn't mention if your track was routed or not but they have options from 2 lane up to 8 lane, plastic or routed. The link is for a dead strip type counting system. If you go this route consider getting a 4 lane set up from the beginning. Its only a $5 difference and you can delete two of the lanes or designate them as corner marshals. Then if the future allows you more space, just put the lanes back in rotation. It runs on several old windows systems which means dirt cheap laptops.  I think my current garage track is running windows XP. Anyway just another option for you.

 

 

http://www.trackmate...dead-strip.html

 

 

[mdiv]

This is what the nerds do:

 

Say we get 7 guys total.  We get a bag, 3 white poker chips, and 1 green poker chip.  Write "1" on two white chips, "2" on two white chips, and "3" on two white chips.  Write something interesting on the green chip.  Put all 7 chips in the bag, and mix it up.  Each guy draws a chip, one at a time, until all chips are removed from the bag.  This sets up round 1.

 

"1" and "1" race each other, first guy to 3 laps total, with both racers completing at least one lap each, wins that race.  "2" and "2" race.  "3" and "3" race.  Green is a rare color so, congrats!!, he gets a pass on to round 2.

 

You are left with 4 guys for round 2.

 

Throw the "1" and "2" chips in the bag.  Winners from round 1 pull the chips -- Winners move to the finals, finalists race each other, we get a champion for that particular class and they get grand poobah bragging rights.

 

Run as many classes as you can, make the lanes as fair as possible, crossovers make things interesting!  If you just want to run T-jets, there's plenty of info out there for fun, stress-free but competitive racing.  Sometimes a pencil eraser, a small oiler, and some sandpaper is all you need.  

 

We race T-jets, for the most part, on original Aurora road course with great scenery...we also have a scale 1/4-mile drag strip that we race heads-up on after the road course.  I personally like the road course better than the drag strip.

 

We each toss in a few bucks for pizza before the race, mangia mangia!  BYOB!

 

Here are some pics of  what we do:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most important thing to do, is have fun.  If something ain't fun, don't do it.

 

Good luck and have fun!

Mike

[mdiv]

Tom, are you still out there?  I'm wondering if I met you at a slot car show this past weekend..

 

Let me know,

Mike

[gonegonzo]

I'm still out here Mike . However it wasn't me you met at the slot car show . 

 

I'm curious though if you met someone talking about 2 lane racing . I have to wait until after New Years to host my little group . I plan to use your concept on scoring .

 

Thx for touching base , Tom

[mdiv]

Hi Tom,

 

You never know, right?  I picked up a rare car from a vendor who's name was Tom, thought I'd say something.

 

That's cool you're going to try out the Nerds racing style!  If you can post pictures of the track that would be cool.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, hope Santa brings you some nice toys

Mike

[gonegonzo]

I'll keep you posted Mike with some pictures . We run bone stock T-Jets and Magnatractions . The T-Jets can run Bob Beers replacement tires while the Magnatractions can run double flanged rims and tires .

 

Merry Christmas to you and your family as well Mike . I'm sure Santa will spoil me just a little .

 

Tom

[mdiv]

Just wanted to post a recap and show a few pictures of The NJ Slot Car Nerds meeting held on December 27th.

 

We had one heck of a turn-out!  We had at one point 13 guys in Ernie's Garage, and ran 6 T-Jet races.  Carl was the big winner with 4 finals under his belt, and James did extremely well with a final and several semifinals to his name.  Your's truly was ill-prepared, and it didn't help that my Club T-Shirt had a serious run-in with a tub of bleach in the wash!

 

Here are some pictures to show you what we were up to:

 

 

 

Me presenting Carl his Winner's Prize for his victory, a JL Orange Dodge Charger makes a nice runner to add to the collection when a $600+ original is a little beyond reach:

 

 

 

 

Was a fun night of racing, and the pizza was delicious!

 

Mike D

[mdiv]

By the way Greg, I thought I would give a preemptive apology for bending the rules on this post.  Hope you can give me a pass on this one!

Mikey

[gonegonzo]

It looks like a good time was had by all . Bummer on the bleach stripe on the shirt . 

 

An original JL makes a nice prize . I still have a few Camaro's and 6 Willys coupe pull backs . I'll convert them one day . Did I mention that I don't really collect cars . I race every one of them I have rare or not .

 

After New Years , Bob is setting up his original lock and joiner track he had as a kid . He usually goes 4 lane but this year is going 2 lane to get more racing area . John has his original lock and joiner set up now in 4 lane and of course I'm going with my 2x4 TYCO 2 lane as space allows . I still have my 4 lane TOMY Tuckaway track and my 6 lane TYCO door slab bull ring but I have to set them up in our apartment living room and put back into storage after use . Shesssh what a hassle . Hence the 2x4  track .

 

Tom aka Gonzo

[Paul Lindewall]

I live in a small apartment and have a small 2 lane track . I have enough romm for 6 racers to be comfortable . 

 

I need a race format that I can use with a 2 lane track . A mechanical lap counter will be used to count laps and a stop watch for timing .

 

Im not sure what to do as to lane rotaion or to use a ladder system like a drag strip . This is the hard part with 2 lanes .

 

Any suggestions will be appreciated .

 

Thank you 

If you have a computer, and use Race Coordinator as mentioned in a previous post, you can build a 2 lane lap counter with an Arduino Uno board and a couple of magnetic reed switch sensors for very little money (<$50)