Tuesday 11 September 2007

Caledon Races: Race course

This map shows the course for both the Tako Races and the Three Laps Steamboat Races.
It will also be available on the island of Murdann, near the start.


When reaching the finishline the first and second time, the steamboats must cross the line from east to west, since it funtions as a buoy. Failing this counts as an incomplete lap. And yes, we have functionaries around the buoys. ;)

I did a testrun with the "race version" of my Canal Runner earlier today, just to get an idea of what time we talking about. Of course it was only a testrun, etc, etc, but my time for completing it was 11 minutes and 24 seconds. So calculate between 10 and 12 minutes for the race, I'd say.
This means it is not entirely about who has the most optimal engine, since steering, rounding, chosing course and handling the boat also are factors that enter the equation.

I hope the events will be enjoyable! I will keep
onposting any news or updates here.

6 comments:

Sin Trenton said...

Oops recalculate that time for the steamboat race.
I tinkered a bit with my Runner and instead of 22 knots (approx 11 m/s) it now does twice that.

However, a word of caution. When I travlled at that speed, my poor pooter didn't stand a chance to rezz the surrounding landscape, including islands, docks and other obstacles.

Perhaps you have better machines.. and PCs. :)

Oh, and in order to turn in Caledon Sound at that speed, I had to start banking in Lionsgate...

Eladrienne Laval said...

Race version??? And yes, I've found that even with my "regular" version, the Runner's faster than rezzing, which makes for an, um, interesting outing...

Diamanda Gustafson said...

What Miss Laval said. *bounces

Hotspur O'Toole said...

What's a "runner"? I had a normal store-bought Hunley steam boat and it fell a lap behind PDQ.

Sin Trenton said...

Sir,

More information about the Canal Runner is in an earlier entry:
http://sintrenton.blogspot.com/2007/09/canal-runner-12-released.html

The racer is a Tesla oiled (oiled, not just coiled) driven version, stripped down and much faster than the original Runner.
Regular top speed of the Runner is 13 knots (approx 6 m/s, 15 mph).
The Race version makes about 50 knots (26 m/s, 57 mph), though at low lag times I have even clocked over 80(!) knots. Or the speedometer broke, not sure which.

It is just a prototype, unfortunately not available on the public market, though enthusiasts and members of the Caledon Sail & Steam Society may contact me if they like to know more and do some testing themselves.

Beware though that at these speeds the boat behaves like a energetic maverick with a whole jar of mustard up the aft regions.

Diamanda Gustafson said...

me! me! I'll test it!