James' White Lake F1 Ring

James' track was designed using Lightwave 3D and Adobe Illustrator. Here is a 3D shot of the track and the track description.

Driving around the track

White Lake Formula One Ring was dreamt up the night after racing at Dave's Legends Raceway in December 2007. I was instantly hooked. I have been an avid Formula One fan for twenty some years, so it was natural that I wanted a modern F1 track look and feel. AC2car provided me the opportunity to conceive real racing lines where cars clip the apexes at corners, provide special passing opportunities at various points on the track and lane changing at the pit straight end. The most notable corner at WLF1 Ring is Eau Rouge from Spa Francorchamps in Belgium. I plotted the track in the computer which was thrilling because I was able to see and plan specific passing areas before cutting a single piece of wood. After plotting the track in the computer I had the MDF track pieces CNC milled (computer controlled router). Once those were received it was about 3-4 weeks until I ran the first laps. Now April, 2008 all four lanes are running in true AC2car mode.

WLF1 Ring sports 4 lanes each 140 feet in length, so with AC2 car capability each driver can experience 280 feet of unique racing lines. The circuit is smooth and fast with some excellent hairpin corners, quick esses and a twenty foot straightaway across a custom cable stay type bridge. The main straight is flanked by the pitlane, where drivers can use lane changers to enter as well as additional lane changers for an actual pit stop. Entering the first corner at the end of the Main Straight drivers are posed with a lane change option to attempt a pass very much like modern F1 circuits. From there drivers climb up hill and twist through the medium speed Schumacher Esses and then arrive on a short eight foot long straightaway with passing opportunities. Then its hard braking for the sharp left hand Spoon Curve, easily the tightest corner on the track. Coming out of Spoon drivers can accelerate quickly downhill through the fast Senna Esses, past the first Sector Line, then hard braking for the right handed 190R turn. Next smooth throttle control is essential through the left handed Parabolica and then gradual acceleration through the Apex Quad corner, a unique corner with four apexes as the name suggests. Now a quick blast uphill to the AJH turn before the Bridge Straight. There drivers enter an all out drag race on either side of the bridge's spire for twenty feet of speed. Then its a medium speed two apex left hand corner called Bridge after which drivers pass the second sector split time. Lanes open up again after this for some more passing opportunities as the drivers race toward the heart of the WLF1 Ring, Eau Rouge! Eau Rouge is about 35 feet of fast downhill left hitting bottom in a right-hander then climbing back uphill and to the left to the Benetton 90 corner. Eau Rouge is nearly a flat out section and all but the bravest of drivers will blip the throttle to stay on track. Drivers then descend on James Boys J shaped corner as the Normal and Passing lanes converge upon each other before the final Porsche Kurve and then back onto the main straight. AC2car has provided me with a genuine thrill of racing with the challenges of not being able to pass all the time. It's a much more realistic feel then even spaced lane racing could ever provide. Thanks Dave and Jimmy for turning on an (Ex) Remote Control Car guy to the thrills of slot car racing AC2 style!