Gravitywerx Raingutter Grande Event

Gravitywerx Saturday, 6/12/2010

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Round One, A race: All the qualifiers showed up for the first ever online Gravitywerx event, collecting their point in the process. The point system is simple: 1 point to show up, a point for every car you beat, and a bonus point to win. The winner of a ten-car race gets 11 points, second place 9, etc. The Acura NSX led for 2 fast laps before flying off the track in the third turn along with another car. A grey primered '40 Ford coupe, starting 5th, took the lead followed by a hard-charging Racing Champions Pontiac starting 10th! The Pontiac took the lead on lap 4 with another R/C car, starting 9th, in second. The pontiac was in command for what looked like the rest of the race but was passed coming out of turn three by the '40 Ford on the 10th lap, with the NSX back up to second. Another lap was run because of the rule that says you must win the last two laps to win the race. The old Ford prevailed, Pontiac second and the NSX flew off the track again for last.
B race: The FTE Mustang led for two laps before crashing and sliding within a foot and a half of crossing the finish stripe and was passed by 4 cars. On the next lap it crashed again and was never in contention. A pair of R/C cars ran 1 and 2 for most of the race. They started second and third. On the 7th lap, the lead car crashed and slid to within 1/8 of an inch of the finish stripe and was passed by 7 cars. It eventually finished 5th. The winner was a R/C Buick, with an Ultra Hot Diablo second.


Discussion

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JDC442 6/13/10

Hi George~
I've seen the videos and read most of the threads, but am still not sure exactly how big your track is and how many curves it has. The 12 second video just shows the one curve, but the longer video makes it seem as though it is a very long track with several curves. Could you please clear this up for me? Also, in the 'Grand Event' is one lap just one time down the track, then lap two is starting from the top again?
Thanks, Jim

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Gravitywerx 6/13/10

I just uploaded some half-speed video from round 1 that shows more of the track. There are 4 straights and 3 180 degree radius turns. The track is about 20 feet or so. A round is when all of the contestants have raced one complete race. The grid holds ten cars, so if there's 20 contestants as it is in this case, there are 2 classes, an A and B. Each race is ten runs long, and the cars are returned to grid in the order that they finish the preceding run. Cars that are flipped are scored behind cars that are not. The fastest cars move to the A race by finish points. The car with the most points starts at the tail end of the A race. It has ten laps to get to the front somewhere to keep the points lead. It gets more competitive as the series drags on because non-performers are replaced. George

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Gravitywerx 6/13/10

I recycled the half-speed vid a couple more times for quarter and eighth-speed vids. I think the car flying off the track in the first shot is the Acura NSX. Eerie wheel noise in slo-mo. I don't have anyone to help me so I have to hold the camera with one hand and work the gate with the other. I might rig up a pulley system to lift the gate from remote spots. George

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JDC442 6/14/10

Thanks for the clarification George. How can I access the slowed video?

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Gravitywerx 6/14/10

I don't know how to put the link on here. search gravitywerx, raingutter, and/or hot wheels racing.

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redlinederby 6/14/10
Site manager

Just post the YouTube link is probably the easiest for everyone.

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Gravitywerx 6/14/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_g3dK_c7Lk

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Gravitywerx 6/16/10

Round 2 Pre-race Hype: In round 1 both the A and B races were pretty much equal in stature due to the random starting order. Now we have, based on one set of races, an actual A and B class. All the 1-5 finishers will start in the A race, and the 6-10 cars in the B. The sorriest performers will be replaced, keeping the same # and whatever points they received so far. The old Ford looks good but has to start at the tail end, behind the B race winner, the R/C Buick. On the pole of the A race will be the R/C Buick that led the B race for 4 laps until it flipped and was pushed to 1/8 of an inch of the finish line. If it was bumped by one more car it probably would have won the race (but anything could have happened in the four remaining laps). I predict that this car will be in command of this race until the previous race winners arrive on the scene. The old Ford, once it left it's fifth place starting position, stayed on it's wheels and was never farther back than third. The R/C Pontiac went from 10th to 4th in one lap and to 1st in 2 more. It led for six laps but was hounded by the faster Ford and eventually passed. I'll probably replace the NSX, the FTE Mustang, and the # 2 car that can be seen flying off the track in the video. The replacement cars will occupy the front positions of the B race.

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Gravitywerx 6/20/10

Chevy's Rule Gravitywerx Round 2 A race Crashfest! Looks like a Ford/Chevy battle has developed amongst some cars that have never raced on this track before; I don't even know when I got them. The old Ford last week and a couple of Chevy's today. The old Ford was moving through the pack today as expected but it's progress was halted behind a trio of crashing-but-finishing newbies. It eventually faded to 8th. The R/C Buick that I thought would lead the early going crashed on the first lap and never recovered. The race was completely dominated by a see-saw battle between a silver Corvair and a '55 Chevy, followed by a Lambourgini unable to capitalize on the fact that either one or both other leaders were either spinning or on their roof every lap. The Lambourgini led lap 1, Chevy 2,3,4, Corvair 5,6, Chevy 7, Corvair 8,9,10.
The B race was won by an early R/C Pontiac. The #6 Camaro flew off the track on the first lap and it took awhile to find it. It charged through the pack and was in the lead by lap 8. But it took a bad line through the third turn and hit the end of the home stretch guardrail and 8 cars came pouring by. It finished 7th.

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Gravitywerx 6/20/10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFTWuhY7PTw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFsb3inL6X0
eighth-speed and quarter-speed vids. Kind of dark, maybe I'll drag it outside for round 3.

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markkaz 6/20/10

The lighting and video is much better in this recent batch than
your first videos. The slow-mo allows the viewer to have a much
better experience and they are able to see the action much easier.

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JDC442 6/22/10

George!!! This video is far superior to anything before. I finally get it! Although the cars slide around and crash a lot, the racing is pretty cool to watch. I agree with Martin that the lighting is far better and we get to see the entire track for once!! I love the narrow single-file start and how the cars line up at the bottom as well. I feel bad for the cars at the end of the line though, because it seems they don't have much of a chance, yet with all the sliding and crashing, cars in the first half of the line seem as though they could move ahead quite a bit. Overall, I like the track and am pleased you finally got some quality video up. Great work!!!


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