Blackpond racetrack

Tell us about your track, post a picture from the track together with description

Where is the track located, and is it open for visitors like a club track,
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steellynx
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat 26. Apr 2014 00:16

Blackpond racetrack

Post by steellynx »

This is the first (real) track I've built and all things considered it went fairly well. I need to do some more experiments with the lane changes to get them right, but I see that as part of the experience :)
Blackpond 01 800w.png
Blackpond 01 800w.png (38.35 KiB) Viewed 11737 times
Blackpond 800x600.jpg
Blackpond 800x600.jpg (91.77 KiB) Viewed 11737 times
Since this track was used for a competition at my work I needed some kind of lap counting system. I haven't had time to look at building one into the track yet (though I've got some ideas for a home built system that should be fairly cheap to build) so I decided to go for a simple "click the button" solution using a couple of controllers from the playstation game "Buzz" to control the score board. That worked well, but the person counting can neither participate in the race nor look at anything but the finish line to make sure laps are counted correctly.
simple lap counter.jpg
simple lap counter.jpg (106.07 KiB) Viewed 11737 times
Please note that the names shown above were some I put in after we had finished racing. I didn't really want to use either my coworkers' names nor things like "Driver 1" and so on. I hope the people listed there don't mind. If you do let me know and I'll remove the picture :)
WesR
Posts: 371
Joined: Fri 21. Dec 2012 17:37

Re: Blackpond racetrack

Post by WesR »

I was pleased to see my name at No. 1! Well done and I hope all the cars performed
well. I know from experience that you can get everything working well beforehand
but when several people are racing, it it hard for one person to keep several cars
charged up and all running properly. Congratulations on your excellent English also!
steellynx
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat 26. Apr 2014 00:16

Re: Blackpond racetrack

Post by steellynx »

Thank you, Wes. The cars performed really well. The only real issue was that one of them must have had a few crashes too many so the cables from the controller board to the engine got twisted off. But that's nothing that can't be easily fixed once I figure out where I've hidden my soldering iron.

Oh, and I'm sorry to say that the '1' next to your name is the car number and not the position. But with 20 laps remaining of the race anything can happen ;)
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Lasp
Posts: 313
Joined: Wed 16. Jan 2013 16:35
Location: Helsingborg, Sweden

Re: Blackpond racetrack

Post by Lasp »

I am glad too bee in that position,
the meaning with a race is too drive as slow as posible,
and still win the race, soo i am coming after the pitstop.
steellynx
Posts: 30
Joined: Sat 26. Apr 2014 00:16

Re: Blackpond racetrack

Post by steellynx »

The video below was filmed with a handheld phone so it's a bit shaky, but it should be possible to see the track in action. The feet belong to a coworker's son. I think he was about five years old and while he didn't really grasp the concept of the racing lines and the lane changes he quickly got the hang of controlling the speed.

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