Post by Scottish Cartie Association on Oct 24, 2011 14:54:17 GMT
I've been playing with CartieSim and looking at different courses, both current and potential, and have found what I think might be a quite useful way of asessing how challenging any given course is. Basically, what you do is overlay two speed profiles for identical carties, but with one you model speeds assuming the driver uses his brakes and the other you see what happens if the brakes are not used at all.
For some courses this makes little or no difference. For instance, Course #1 shown below has just one significant bend (note the critical velocity 'stalactite' at ~1420m), but it is not tight enough to require any braking. Consequently the "brakes on" and "brakes off" velocity profiles are identical. This course is pretty fast (50+mph), but is something of a drag race.
Course #2 is a different story altogether. The masses of critical velocity stalactites and high predicted speeds indicate an exceptionally challenging course. There are several significant bends which could potentially be approached at very high speed, and heavy braking will be needed for 5 of them. This course is not trivial.
The winner on course #1 will be the driver with the best cartie. The winner on course #2 will be the cartie with the best driver.
The final profile should be familiar to many. It is the analysis for Cairngorm, and it illustrates quite nicely how CartieSim can be used to assess which corners are potentially hazardous. It is clear that The Switch is a significant bend as the driver needs to brake from approaching 50mph down to about 35mph, and that the high speeds at Turn #6 (between Dead Tree and the Allt Mor Bridge) make that a bend where some braking may be needed. Sugarbowl, however, which is a very tight hairpin on the map, is not a major concern because the likely speeds there are relatively low.
For some courses this makes little or no difference. For instance, Course #1 shown below has just one significant bend (note the critical velocity 'stalactite' at ~1420m), but it is not tight enough to require any braking. Consequently the "brakes on" and "brakes off" velocity profiles are identical. This course is pretty fast (50+mph), but is something of a drag race.
Course #2 is a different story altogether. The masses of critical velocity stalactites and high predicted speeds indicate an exceptionally challenging course. There are several significant bends which could potentially be approached at very high speed, and heavy braking will be needed for 5 of them. This course is not trivial.
The winner on course #1 will be the driver with the best cartie. The winner on course #2 will be the cartie with the best driver.
The final profile should be familiar to many. It is the analysis for Cairngorm, and it illustrates quite nicely how CartieSim can be used to assess which corners are potentially hazardous. It is clear that The Switch is a significant bend as the driver needs to brake from approaching 50mph down to about 35mph, and that the high speeds at Turn #6 (between Dead Tree and the Allt Mor Bridge) make that a bend where some braking may be needed. Sugarbowl, however, which is a very tight hairpin on the map, is not a major concern because the likely speeds there are relatively low.