The Wide Sweeper is BACK!

[Steve]

I built a track when the first ZipZaps came out and designed it's turns and straights for an all or nothing throttle and steering. It was a relatively short track, but it had sections for fast cars, and technical sections where too much speed would kill you. The speed section had a HUGE, wide, d-shaped sweeping turn that with the original Zips was never used the way I had envisioned. It became more of a short straight with a quick turn at each end, leading into a long straight. With the advent of digi-propo, however, my dreams have come true! Now, out of the technical section is a short straight across the start/finish line that leads into this big turn. At full throttle, I swear the cars lean onto that front spring, smoothly arc around the turn with the back end just barely hanging on, drifting towards the outside, coming out millimeters away from the retaining wall and shooting down the back stretch. The SE has opened up a whole new world of track design and racing, this is gonna be a great winter. Thanks Radio Shack!

[Jtskty]

Yep, the se makes racing on a 3 1/2' x 4' track a possibility. BTW, you got any pics?

[Steve]

it's under major renevation right now, but I'll get some up tomorrow so at least you can get an idea of what its like.

[crazydave]

Yeah, I recently built a track with all mostly 90 degree turns. Ended up working out really good, because the cars only make sharp turns. I got used to that track, and now the SE is kinda difficult to drive on my track, and I need to design a track to take advantage of the SEs capabilities.

[viperkilla]

Wow! Steve that track sounds really cool. How long did it take you to make it? Pictures would be nice.

[Steve]

The track has never been complete, I'd have nothing to do! So it's been a work in progress since the first Zips came out. It's a mess right now and things are just in place for picture purposes. The one thing that you can't see is the laser pointer lap timer that plugs into a laptop. the pointer is under the grandstand, and the receiver is under one of the buildings (a hole in the retaining wall lets the laser through). All wiring comes up from underneath. I'd really like to put a small LCD display somewhere like a billboard that displays the laptimes...

[Jtskty]

That thing is SWEET!!!!! How big is it? What is the surface?

[Steve]

5x6.5 feet. I used two foam core wooden doors with a few coats of flat black acrylic paint.

[Jtskty]

I was gonna make somethin like that. A city, about that size. Uhh, but I got stuck with somethin about half that size. Its all good though, I just gotta go slower.

[Steve]

Small tracks usually have the best racing, as you start to lose precision with speed. Most faster tracks have guys bouncing off walls, flipping and swerving all over the place. One mistake and it's all over. With less speed, everyone can focus on consistency, better lines, and putting moves on the guy in front of you. All of this becomes highlighted with digi-propo, and minor mistakes at slower speeds usually don't end races.

[Jtskty]

Yeah, that is true. Especially the thing about more precision w/ less speed.