Lots of posts on wanting to slow down newbies. No consensus on how to do it. Most suggestions have been indirect fixes (such as take away HP). Seem like what we really want is lower speeds, so why not look for solutions that do exactly that. How about this for an idea:
Use the remote GPS speed monitoring technology the trucking companies and rental car companies use (to check the speeds that their vehicles travel). This will tell you the speed a car is traveling in real time. Newbies could then be given speed limits with penalties assessed for "speeding". If the speed was really bad, the steward could radio a control to yank their score card immediately.
If you wanted to get even more aggressive, you could combine this with a remote engine kill device that gives a steward the ability to shut the speeder down.
This could also be used on all competitors if you felt it needed to. It wouldn't take competitors long to figure out their gearing and set their rev limiters for whatever speed was allowed as max.
It would bascially limit the racing to the twisty parts of the course without having to place lots of new start and finish controls evey place there was a scary straight section. Our dirt bike enduros sort of work this way, except you have a target of 24 MPH, so when you're on a road, you just putt-putt, but when you get into the single track, no one can average 24, so it turns onto a race to determine who is fastest in the woods.
Jim Cox
#558
Use the remote GPS speed monitoring technology the trucking companies and rental car companies use (to check the speeds that their vehicles travel). This will tell you the speed a car is traveling in real time. Newbies could then be given speed limits with penalties assessed for "speeding". If the speed was really bad, the steward could radio a control to yank their score card immediately.
If you wanted to get even more aggressive, you could combine this with a remote engine kill device that gives a steward the ability to shut the speeder down.
This could also be used on all competitors if you felt it needed to. It wouldn't take competitors long to figure out their gearing and set their rev limiters for whatever speed was allowed as max.
It would bascially limit the racing to the twisty parts of the course without having to place lots of new start and finish controls evey place there was a scary straight section. Our dirt bike enduros sort of work this way, except you have a target of 24 MPH, so when you're on a road, you just putt-putt, but when you get into the single track, no one can average 24, so it turns onto a race to determine who is fastest in the woods.
Jim Cox
#558