MoonMan Motorsports Park

[Fourshipp]

With apologies to Mnfordguy ( we totally ripped off the New Glarus beer theme) we broke ground this week on MMMSP. The track came down this summer to replace carpet after a basement flood. The new table is four feet longer to make room for a double pit lane, pace car lane, and maybe a banked turn on the 180 sweeper at the end.



The new table is 20 x 6. The old was 16 x 6. We will be running by Christmas. More pictures to follow as we make progress.

Bruce

[MnFordGuy]

No apologies necessary. Like the name, and it looks to be a fun track to run. Bummer about the flood, but the new track look great.

MNfordguy.

[Fourshipp]

Getting there. Still need to install side fences on the table and hook up monitor and clean up wiring.

I also need to install Pro X hardware for double lane change, install pace car lane, paint table edges and install requisite checkered table skirt.

We’ll run like this through the holidays.

my new 124 cars need tuning as well. Should be a fun week.

[Fourshipp]

Got our first hot laps in this afternoon. The track drives nice except for this R1 joggle. We’ve got to really back off after the left hander to keep from deslotting. I think I have the parts to soften the transition and go straight into the lane change.

We added 4 feet to the table and all the straights. I added these S’s to try to give the track a little character and avoid four relatively long straight straights, but the R1s just don’t seem to work

Thoughts?

[slothead]

I have a routed road course with 2 similar switchback turns. One has a quick right jog before a 180 degree left hander, and the other is right after the banked right hand turn at the end of the back straight. The latter one is also before the track flattens out from the banking so it's actually a quick reverse banked left turn. These are the two most likely places to deslot on my track.

In your case as you start to accelerate out of the left hand corner the car wants to drift to the right, then the quick right jog upsets the car's momentum. Yes, this does make for a challenging area to drive..BUT, give it time before you make a major change. When I first started using the road course I thought the quick reverse banked turn at the end of the banked turn was absolutely undriveable - not only did I frequently deslot, a few cars even tumbled off the track table onto the floor (thankfully with no serious damage). Over time I did learn how to master both switchback turns and even though they remain the places a deslot is most likely to occur, they are now rare. I can drive cars for 100 laps at speed and stay on. When I get a near miss in one of these turns I know I'm at my limit and have to back off a bit.

You'll probably have to learn to stay out of the throttle till you get to the middle of the switchback turn, then accelerate into the short straight. But I'm betting with a little practice you'll acquire the muscle memory to master this. You won't be consciously aware of what you're doing differently, but it will become a habit.

[Fourshipp]

Thank you Slothead, I agree that it is learnable. However, I’m the only regular on my track and 90% of the other drivers are guests and not regular slot car drivers. A few will race regularly enough to learn but they are the exception. My oldest son is in town for Christmas. We drove the track again tonight for about 30 minutes and he found it as annoying as I did. He’s a gear head and understands how to drive but only sees a slot car track for the few days he’s home.

I found a turn combo that keeps the tight 180 but removed the opposite direction R1s. It was an easy swap and we’ll drive the change tomorrow. I can go back to the original in about 20 minutes. Pics to follow.

Merry Christmas.

Bruce
.

[Slotspeed]

Look forward to seeing the adjustment Bruce. I had some esses in my track for a while, they were arranged (mostly by accident) in a manner that made them very driveable and fun. Hope your changes test out well. But keep open minded until you are happy with it.

[slothead]

Bruce - I thought about what you mentioned as I made my post and thought you'd go ahead and take the switchback out for that reason. My point was just that we can learn to master difficult sections of a track with patience and practice. Though this would be hard to test, even though you would likely not remember it, if you drove on the track before going to bed you'd probably dream about it and be slightly better the next day. Like how mice trained on a maze can be seen to make running motions with their feet if observed closely while sleeping.

I'm essentially a solo racer and don't have your problem with new drivers. After tens of thousands of laps on the road course I'm amazed how effortlessly I can manage the sections that seemed undriveable at first, and my lap times continue to improve by small amounts.

Merry Christmas.

[MnFordGuy]

Hey Bruce:

Great job on your track. Runnin’ into ‘Sconnie tomorrow to get my allotment of “the Cow” and “Moon Man”

MnFordguy

[Fourshipp]

We straightened out the center section and also increased braking on the cars. My son and I ran about 15 minutes of hot laps tonight with a ghost car. Great fun. I thought I had video but was just taking pictures...doh! We’re having a few folks over to race tomorrow so we’ll get some video than. Merry Christmas!

Bruce

[Fourshipp]

Well see if this works: my son’s first 124 laps

It worked!

We we only have one 124 car tuned. I can’t find my 1/8 axle pulley for my tire razor. I trued this car’s tires on the track but I hate doing that to the motor. We’ll have the rest going soon.

[Fourshipp]

This car runs very noisy, a lot of gear noise. Any suggestions? Hisnis my first experience with Carrera 124.

[Fourshipp]

Running a couple of 132 cars.

im a few weeks behind on the track. Yet to do: paint the side rails and catch fences, install the pro x hardware and electronics in the double pit lane, install the table skirt, add the pace car lane on the front stretch, and hook up the scoring software and TV.

[Fourshipp]

Are the videos I posted in posts 11 and 13 working? Can anyone see them? I posted a vid in another thread and two folks said they could not see them. Still trying to figure out the video thing. Thesemaremooatedmin vimeo.

thanks,

bruce

[SlotCat]

Nice looking track with the softened jog, videos both work.

[RvE]

Thats a nice looking track. The videos come up as "private videos" and need a log in to be viewed. So they are linked in the thread but maybe you need to make the videos "public" or something on the Vimeo site for users here to view them?