[Wankel Ickx]

Four cars, two lanes. No digital boxes in sight.

Obviously then, no scope for an actual passing manoeuvre.

Obviously.

Tried it out last night.

Initial excitement at seeing independently controlled cars on the same lane faded as the incidence of deslots caused by the guy behind grew.

All good fun and games really but the K.I.S.S. principle won over and we reverted to the simple one lane, one car equation.

Perhaps it would have been different had we had a changeover piece but I suspect not.

Oh, how was it done, you ask?

Well it was a cunning conversion of four Hornby Subarus and two Hornby Track Buster transformers, apparently. The guy also mentioned diodes, positive and negative current(?) in the same rail and some other stuff but to be honest it all went over my head (which is mostly filled with fluff anyhow).

So I've tried an analogue simulation of digital, kinda. And the conclusion? You change lanes if you want to, this bloke's not for change.

 

[Xlot]

Hey, that's a very ingenious training simulator for digital !!

And Wankel, you are not fooling anybody : there are cracks in your ivory tower

Beppe

 

[jonny s]

wankel mate that`s just not right! Doing it without the LC `s is liking doing the Mrs with her bits missing!

The lane changing is everything , even with just two cars it`s the whole essence of the system aint it

 

[Wankel Ickx]

Tee, hee.

I'm sorry (what am I saying, I'm not sorry) but Wankel Towers aren't painted ivory at all.

My experience of diode digital slot racing has taught me that the potential for fun-frustrating collisions and track blockages on a two laner is greatly increased. And with everyone on track at the same time there were no marshals - play was constantly interupted.

Way more frustrating than it should be.

What's more, whilst it is true that we didn't have proper lane-changers, we did have, in lieu of a figure eight layout, standard crossovers and that's where the bulk of the carnage took place. Just as well the four cars were sapping the transformers and not running at a quarter of the speed that the normal mode let us race at later.

Cracks in my will? Well... I could maybe see the point in a big set up, with plenty of lanes and plenty of marshals but that's not where the big brand manufacturers are aiming is it. They want more of the family on two lanes at once - in which case be prepared for more moans about broken cars.

Nope, I still maintain it is a white elephant (Back in another thread I posted it was the future as a joke, honest).

 

[moped rider]

I thought we had concluded that there was a lot more to digital than just driving 4 cars in two lanes.

How can a fast driver overtake a slow driver if you cannot change lanes?

What Oxford should have done is have 2 cars starting half way around the circuit and tried to catch each other up. The winner being the first car to catch the second car. You would all have kept out of each others way then. And you could rotate who you are chasing.

Also if you have no track marshalls then surely you race crash and burn. Simple.

You have to invent rules to go with the situation to make it fun.

Moped

 

[Oilslick]

Exactly, no lane change = no fun.

Your opinion on Digital is ignored.

 

[Intergrali]

QUOTE Exactly, no lane change = no fun.

Your opinion on Digital is ignored.

harsh and untrue.
there was lane changing and well you summed up digital entirely! no fun! ha!

 

[jonny s]

I wouldn`t write it off til you have had a go with the real system You may get an opportunity sooner than you think if you can get to the Midlands in March?

 

[Intergrali]

hope it's not the 20th I'm busy - racing! Porker challenge

at that place that isnt marshalable

Rob.

 

[Tropi]

What Wankel's people did was very sensible and practical - getting a taste of the things that can and WILL happen. Thanks for being brave enough to withstand the all the rose tinted spectacle wearers and simply tell it like it is, Wankel!
Crash and burn is total CRAP and simply pisses everyone off, as we have discussed to death before.

 

[peter]

ok So how about two cars two lanes but with lane change and both cars independently controllable?

Has been done quite succesfully without any digital stuff in sight. Used to be called Carrera Universal 1/32 which also had another great thing. That the cars could turn 360 degrees in the slot - and this was actually hilariously fun. Imagine when you slide a little too much in a curve and instead of deslotting the car swirles around and starts to go in the wrong direction - can be fantastically entertaining (for the audience) if for no other reason then that the (unfortunate and frustrated) driver must drive to the closest turn and try to get a controlled 180 while staying in the slot to be able to race in the correct direction again.

I think that the totally free turning possibility is the part that I miss the most actually. There should be a modern guide available that allow a car to turn 360 - at least as an option available for all the current systems - I know I would buy them. Out with the magnets and give us some revolutionary free turning guides I say...

//peter

 

[Tropi]

I must say I too would much prefer a 360 spin to the alternative of deslotting through limited guide swivel. Reasonably close to reality too.
Carrera Universal still has a very small but dedicated following.
Unfortunately, one has to ask - if it was so good, why isn't it still available?
One has to ask that question after each 'best-thing-since-sliced-bread' gimmick has faded from the scene, though I really don't know the answer for Universal.

 

[Xlot]

QUOTE That the cars could turn 360 degrees in the slot - and this was actually hilariously fun. Imagine when you slide a little too much in a curve and instead of deslotting the car swirles around

I think that the totally free turning possibility is the part that I miss the most actually. There should be a modern guide available that allow a car to turn 360 - at least as an option available for all the current systems - I know I would buy them. Out with the magnets and give us some revolutionary free turning guides I say...

Hey, it's an excellent idea !! and maybe this could even be coupled with digital !!!

 

[Mr.M]

QUOTE (Tropi @ 12 Feb 2004, 12:46 AM)Crash and burn is total CRAP and simply pisses everyone off, as we have discussed to death before.
I have to take issue with this statement, it quite plainly does not piss EVERYONE off as if it did there would be no instances of it.

Also I believe Tropi, by your own admission, you regularly make a round trip of over 100 miles to take part in such an event. Why?

When I have more time- difficult because I currently race at 3 different crash & burn clubs- I think I will start a new topic along the lines of "What your night club racing consists of"

Perhaps then it will give us more insight into the different "systems".

Mr.M

 

[Tropi]

QUOTE it quite plainly does not piss EVERYONE off as if it did there would be no instances of it.
Absolutely right, Mr M!
Take that as a sloppy sleepy version of 'most people'.
I nearly changed it after posting last night but was nodding off and too idle to be bothered.
"Ah, no one will notice", mumbled my semi-comatose grey sludge.

But they did - bugger!

 

[jonny s]

Too muck of the Guiness too I reckon!

Cars that turn around a full circle into other cars alongside.... oh great! Still got one of those Scaley porches,total nonsense. I reckon the loonies have taken over the asylum here

 

[Xlot]

Well jonny,
you might start looking up crow recipes - they might come handy in a while......

 

[peter]

oh missed the 'crash and burn' comments...

eh - doesn't everyone prefer 'crash and burn'? - I thought only kids wanted to be superglued with magnets to the track and then have a go at their parents (?) for not putting the cars back on track fast enough?

crash into other cars (in curves) has probably not much to do with wether a car can turn 360 or not - the scalextric track is not that wide is it?

On the Carrera Universal reference - I did not suggest it was 'the best' since sliced bread - I did say it was a lot of fun. Well carrera went into chapter 11 in the eighties - note that there was a lot of issues with Hornby at that time - and SCX was bought and sold a couple of times and so on. Basically - none of these companies were that fantastically well managed during this period and it was hardly any forsight or great management behaviour and skill that was the cause of their current existence. I do believe that these companies basically had lost touch with their market. It would be far too easy to blame the computers for their demise in the 80's.

I am really glad though that these companies due to whatever reasons do exist today.
There is one more reason for why some things are 'better' today - the systems are compatible in the sense that most cars run on most tracks in one way or another. This was not the case earlier.

//peter

 

[jonny s]

No Peter we don`t all prefer C&B as it has been thrashed out somewhere else,not going there again mate. What has magnets got to do with it? Don`t use them ever!

Do think cars that have 360 will cause carnage in club races no matter how wide your track is but ok for a bit of fun on home circuit .

 

[Difflock]

Wasn't it Matchbox's Race & Chase sets that had cars which could pull 180s and a seesaw bridge which the chasing car couldn't get over because you'd just tipped it the wrong way?
I think the controllers used to have a large button on the top which you pressed when you got to a curved section of track with large borders and that spun the car around.

Mark.