The US Formula 1 Grand Prix is held annually in Austin, Texas, and along with it are many events hosted by teams and sponsors from around the globe. This year was no different, and our slot car racing and simulators were in high demand. One of our more interesting and challenging events this year was to set up a huge slot car track for ExxonMobil at their corporate campus near Houston, Texas. The idea was to have Exxon employees race each other, and the winner would get to race Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. The track was a 6-lane analog “hill climb” that was approximately 24 feet long by 12 feet wide, and featured some tight turns as well as a high sweeping banked turn that led into the front straightaway. Of course, everything needed to be branded for Exxon, and we wrapped the entire track in printed vinyl with all their various logos, as well as painting a dozen Scalextric Formula 1 cars and labeling them with the ExxonMobil brand. The large wooden track took 8 man-hours to assemble, with a crew working on it at 5:30 in the morning to get it up and running in time for the Exxon employees to come and race.
For this analog track, we used Slot.It SCP-2 controllers. These sturdy and versatile controllers can be used for digital or analog racing on almost any type of slot car track with the correct module installed. For this race, since we were running 1/32 scale Formula 1 cars that did not require much current, we used the SCP201b analog module. These controllers have a wide range of adjustments, including throttle sensitivity, braking feedback, and minimum and maximum voltage to tailor the driving experience to each racer’s preference and ability. When I asked Max Verstappen how he would like his controller set up, he replies “As aggressive as possible”, with maximum sensitivity and throttle and fast braking.
As it turns out, Max is every bit as skilled at slot car racing as he is behind the wheel of a real F1 car. With never having seen the track, he took his first three practice laps without an incident, and set a track record time while doing it. When it came to the race however, while Max was off to a great start and was leading the race until there was only one lap remaining, one of the other drivers crashed into him hard and took them both out, so a very lucky Exxon employee won the race. Just like Austin, Max should have had the podium, only to have it taken away from him at the last moment. However, he was a great sport about it, and it was our pleasure to meet him. A big THANK YOU! to Natalie for all her help, the Races2U team- Rich, Sharmyn, Donald, and Skylar, and to all the great ExxonMobil staff who raced with us and who helped us navigate the beautiful campus. We look forward to racing with you all again soon!
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