Revoslot Quality Issues

[Kevan]

When I raced 1/12th R/C cars we did three qually races and a final each. We put all the top drivers in the 'A' heats, the next best in the 'B' and so on. The loser of each combined heat dropped into the next heat whilst the winners went up one. It wasn't fair to have a noob wrecking the better guys cars through lack of control, it worked fantastically and when I started racing Slot cars in 2015 I couldn't understand why noobs went in with the top guys with the inevitable deslot-crash-deslot-crash-deslot-crash.
When setting up heats I've been seeding the heats to keep the two extremes of driving ability apart with the added bonuses that the slower drivers don't have to keep slowing down every few laps to be lapped again and again and again whilst being more competitive themselves against other slower drivers so they get to experience racing someone instead of keeping out of the way.

[MrFlippant]

Ah, I mis-read his post, then. Being kicked completely out of the race for about one off per two minutes is pretty harsh. That said, I'd be even more careful to stay on, especially after the 6th off. ;-) I'd be letting people pass me all over the place, just to avoid getting nerfed.

I agree that it's nice to split up the racers according to skill, but not always practical, either, especially for small groups. EMSA isn't a large group, really. 10 racers on a good night. We also run multiple rounds of the series race, so usually each person gets 12 heats (one on each lane, three times).

With DRAWW, my digital club, we race with track calls and stiff penalties for crashing, which are served through pit lane options such as stop and go, or damage repair, on top of the delay from when they crashed to when the track call kicks in, so they lose a good amount of lap length to start with.

[SouthShoreRacing]

With Crash and Burn, you're done for a heat, not the whole race. Some people don't have the space or $$$ to build there own. It's pretty rare not to see someone improve with help and guidance. Also, separating experienced drivers from novices can help. The experienced drivers get a clean race and the novice drivers are able to improve while competing against people of like skill.

[MrFlippant]

If anyone is driving a few hours to get to a race, then I'd suggest they look for closer venues, or make their own. ;-)

But why wouldn't that be even more encouragement to keep it in the slot? They presumably know the rules before making such a trek, and so should know that crashing a lot will just result in less track time... never mind not getting any better at actually driving.

EMSA races crash and burn. You only get one more chance in a two minute heat when we pause at 1 minute and put any crashers back on. Crash again, and you're out. It's rare, but sometimes a driver having a bad heat will only get one or two laps in the entire two minutes because s/he crashed in their first lap for each minute.

SLOW DOWN. To finish first, you must first finish!
Even some of the best racers will back off a little when their judgement is that getting a few more laps will be more beneficial than getting or staying ahead of some hot-shot who drives faster than he can without crashing.

[SouthShoreRacing]

Pretty draconian. Somebody drives a few hours to end up racing only a few laps isn't going to inspire anyone to get better. I can see parking someone if they have an excessive number of offs in a heat, but they should be allowed to join the next heat. You can't improve if you're not driving.

[RichD]

For races with track calls my HO club imposes a limit on how many offs a driver can have before he is out of the race. The number of offs is based on the length of the race, for a typical 12 minute race that would be seven offs. The offs would include getting nerfed or getting involved in someone else's incident. Usually new racers learn to drive more carefully, if not at least they are no longer going the be a problem for the other drivers.

[MrFlippant]

If you don't slow down enough, and at the right time, even 3v is too much.

[Kevan]

...and a starting voltage of 10V

[MrFlippant]

Balr14 did mention that his competitors are not very skilled, and that they apparently believe they need more rotation.

Hopefully he learns that they don't. They just need to keep racing and become better drivers. He needs to impose some rules that help them learn to keep the car under control, rather than overdriving them all the time in every corner with apparently no negative reinforcement. He doesn't want to discourage them. The problem is, if the drivers are all rewarded for driving so hard that snapping out is seen as beneficial, then they'll never improve, only complain when the car deslots instead of snapping out.

I can suggest a variety of rules, racing styles, and driving "games" that can help drivers improve, but he seems quite set in his desire to have cars that snap out wide instead, so I'll save my energy.

[dangermouse]

Fixing a non existent flaw.... We raced a round of Revoslot last race meeting. 15 drivers - 4 lane track 20m track - 25 laps. So in each heat the cars travelled 500m so every driver would have raved for 2km across the 4 lanes so 30km all up for all racers and not once did anyone have an issue with the car not having enough guide rotation, so if you are getting the cars to go that much sideways then maybe you do need to look at the grip level and/or the driving style of the drivers. You can't be getting very good laps in if the cars over-rotate in corners.

cheers
DM

[MrFlippant]

Why is it considered a "flaw" to have less of a limit for the car spinning out when either amount is too much? Why is it better to allow a car to go almost 90 degrees to the slot? I find it incredibly annoying when that happens, because it's rare that the car can continue forward from there without someone straightening it up at least a little bit. With a reduced angle for the limit, the car can still push itself forward when it's at that limit... which again, is already too far to actually be driving at.

If anything, it's the chassis that allow the car to go too far out that are flawed, not RevoSlot cars.

[NicoRosberg.]

It seemed a fair question.

[Balr14]

I give up! This is like talking to the wall.

[dinglebery]

I don't think advising people to drive better is the best marketing concept. Fixing the flaw would be a much more profitable approach. At least acknowledging it would be a step in the right direction.

What "flaw" exactly?

[Balr14]

I don't think advising people to drive better is the best marketing concept. Fixing the flaw would be a much more profitable approach. At least acknowledging it would be a step in the right direction.