5/15/11 Course Design

Looking good.  the only thing to note even if it seams tight it does not seam to happen at SAD...  It always seams to pick up a LOT of speed there...  I see a few of your changes to what a assume to slow things down...  :)

Thanks guys!

The turn into the P I've already moved it in from what it was before... look closely. That said, I do agree, but one slow element might be welcomed. I will toy with it a bit, and yes, moving the gate after should allow for speed control, but the next gate may have to change as a result.

I changed the turns in and out of the concrete to make the run more parallel with the bumps... not necessarily to slow things down. However, moderate speed over those transitions helps. My concern now is the bump coming out and the tight(er) turn just following. It will upset karts and mini-like cars.

What about the return section from the far end? Any ideas?

lotar_6 wrote: The turn into the P I've already moved it in from what it was before... look closely. That said, I do agree, but one slow element might be welcomed. I will toy with it a bit, and yes, moving the gate after should allow for speed control, but the next gate may have to change as a result.

I do see the change you made, and you're certainly going in the right direction. My only suggestion is taking it further than you already have - but then again, that's something that can easily be a "game time" decision when you see it on the pavement.

lotar_6 wrote: I changed the turns in and out of the concrete to make the run more parallel with the bumps... not necessarily to slow things down. However, moderate speed over those transitions helps. My concern now is the bump coming out and the tight(er) turn just following. It will upset karts and mini-like cars.

As someone who hopefully will be driving one of those "mini-like cars" this weekend, I appreciate the changes. It's hard for me to line up the coursemap with my memory of the bumps, but I do know that the "sweet spot" is roughly where you're crossing. You'll just want to move the course accordingly when you get there in person.

As for the exit turn - I can't tell if you intend to have the turn before or after the bump (i.e. is the box on concrete or asphault). Either way, I think you're in good shape largely because it's going to be a low speed section. I know for me at least, it's really only the high-speed bumps that tend to break things.

I also know that for me, I prefer the bumps be AFTER the corner (i.e. an acceleration zone) rather than BEFORE or DURING. However, I do know that such a setup does stress the drivetrain, so I don't know if karts would have problems with snapping chains or cars with snapping axles with such a setup - it may be fine, it may not, I don't know.

The logic in my case is that most formula cars run minimal front ride height, so when under braking front ride height is ideally zero. Thus bumps under braking seem to hurt more. Mid-corner bumps don't seem to break things, but do unsettle the car quite a bit (probably an advantage for FVee's though). Under acceleration though the front is at it's highest, and the rear still has adequate clearance that it's less a concern.

lotar_6 wrote: What about the return section from the far end? Any ideas?

What you have looks good to me. You can play around with visual cues to try and lure people into early-apexing that corner, but it seems everyone just settles on what equates to a simple 180 like what you have. While it is a tighter corner, it's well within reason IMHO. It's normally right at the lower end of the power band for most cars in 2nd gear, but still well within the power band so you don't have to shift to 1st.

thanks for the input! I'm hoping to get the bump on the exit to hit before the turn. But that might make it hard for early braking. Definitely the set-up will tell and influence changes.

Here's draft #2:



link

That looks really good Kyle. Can't wait for Sunday!

On a side note, did you get the v dub sorted?

Colin