HQ Reports on Gouda! (Dutch Championships)

With a big smile on my face I can tell you that last Sunday we had a very successful SSD event in the middle of the Netherlands.
With some help from members of a dutch slottrack forum, a dutch webshop and Hobbytime I hired a space in Gouda and designed a track that would fit in, the legendary Zandvoort track.

Reading all the stories about other digital events, some more successful than others, I wanted to see what we could achieve with standard SSD hardware and the 27m Zandvoort track.

Standard = Firmware update, some powertaps, C7042 with 2 standard supplies, standard Scalextric controllers and out of the box Scalextric GT cars. To make it a little more interesting we removed the magnets and added Sport+ silicone tyres.

Within a few weeks of announcing the event we had 6 teams of 3-4 guys/girls that wanted to participate. I am very proud to say that the racers were made up of all types of slot car racer varying from seasoned analog club racers, to young digital newbies.

I was prepared for everything, I had a double set of cars, controllers, 2nd powerbase, 2nd PC. But believe it or not, after a whole day of racing including practice, 1 hr qualify and 4 hr race;
– No ID loss
– No power loss
– ALL cars made it to the end
– even the controllers managed the entire 4+ hours
– RCS64 worked flawless (as usual wink.gif )
– and NO DESLOTS!…OK, that is not true smile.gif

The day was a blast, we kept the rules simple and as far as RCS64 goes, we only used fuel load simulation because more than 50% of the people had never raced digital before, so even lane changing was new for them, we kept tyre and weather simulation for next time.

The racing was very good, we used marshals, and large tank sizes, took about 20 min before you had to refuel. Pit stops lasted about 2 minutes so drivers could change, maintain their car etc. The last hour especially was very exciting. Strategy was really important as the teams in 2nd and 3rd position where within 3 laps of each other and the teams in 5th and 6th kept switching positions until the last stint !

No surprise everybody really enjoyed themselves and can’t wait for the next event. I learned a lot -future events will go to the next level!

You can expect more video’s and pictures soon,couldn’t wait to post this one. (Thanks Adrie!)

WATCH THE VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXz9XLvmjAg#t=13

OR SEE THE SLOTFORUM POST (with track plan and details) http://www.slotforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72416

Marcel
RCS Team HQ