• Garage Settings:
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Racing:
1500 med tires/soft suspension
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Blocking:
1100 med tires/soft suspension
• Fast Lap to date:
1:33.87 by SLO_HotShoe
SLO_HotShoe’s newest release is called “Old Snowy Top”, a track he’s dedicated to a member of our team. That person is none other than SLO_PaPa, and he’s one of the coolest guys you’d ever want to meet. By his own admission PaPa is anything but a speed demon on the tracks. You won’t find any
Hall of Fame records with his name on it, he’s not the holder of any tournament titles, and he seldom wins a race when we all get together for a night on the tracks. However . . . when it comes to
RnR, he transforms into a die-hard competitor, a mauler of men, devourer of women, and children (actually not, but I needed something after “mauler of men” lol), a fierce warrior who has the words, “Give me RnR or give me death!” embroidered on his bathrobe. Anyway, you get the idea lol.
Speaking of RnR, “Old Snowy Top” was made specifically for that particular format, and was dedicated to PaPa based mostly on the friendship they share, but also because the guy loves RnR. I’ll go out on a limb and say that PaPa’s reasons for liking RnR are probably on par with mine, which are:
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1) Teamwork – being fast on the tracks doesn’t mean you’ll be good at RnR. Likewise, just because you’re nickname is ‘Bonecrusher’ or ‘Bruiser McGirt’ on the cube doesn’t mean you’ll be an effective blocker when two or three trucks are closing in on you with speeds of 90+ mph. It’s all about teamwork and using the entire track effectively.
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2) Extremely unpredictable – huge leads at the start mean absolutely nothing. Conversely, being dead last and a ½-lap behind on the 5th lap of an 8-lap race doesn’t equate to a lost cause. I’ve seen incredible comebacks with last minute victories by teams who looked to be totally out of it. Awesome, awesome stuff!
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3) Excitement from start to finish – I’m a racer, and I love conventional, straight-up racing, but there’s nothing like RnR. If you try it, you’ll know what I mean.
Just as there are different types of circuits and rallies, there are various types of RnR tracks. Some are ‘blocker oriented’ while others can be more advantageous to the racer. In general, a good RnR track has limits with respect to certain characteristics. For example, blockers are free-roamers, therefore the track has to be open, with a minimum of obstacles impeding their path across the track. Severe elevation changes should be avoided as well. Blockers shouldn’t have to scale the side of a 150ft mountain just to get to a racer lol. At the same time blockers shouldn’t expect a cake walk while transitioning from checkpoint to checkpoint in search of racers to beat up on either. A few obstacles, and some rough terrain are perfect; it forces blockers to be mindful of “how” they go from point A to point B. Racers, on the other hand, don’t require special provisions of any kind. They too are free to make use of the track as they see fit in order to avoid blockers. The only hitch is that they must pass through all checkpoints.
This track is probably more advantageous to racers, however, I don’t think blockers will complain. Starting with the racers, the roads are wide, and there’s ample room off-road to make adjustments for emergency evasive maneuvers. Blockers have the luxury of trees set to no-collide, as well as built-in passage-ways, as shown
here and
here. He even went the extra mile and adjusted the water level so that it’s shallow; racers can drive out of it with relative ease.
I’d love to be able to report on some actual races we’ve had on Old Snowy Top, but unfortunately we haven’t gotten around to it yet. It matters not, however, because I’m here to tell ya this is definitely a very good RnR track – I can feel it lol. But hey, if you don’t get the chance to use it for its intended purpose, another really cool thing about this baby is that it’s also great for conventional racing.
As far as I’m concerned Shoe is at the very top of his game, and that’s quite a statement considering ALL the great tracks he’s
made. Old Snowy Top personifies excellence in track making, and I’m sure few would disagree. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that it pegged the meter on the Copey Rating scale, driving in
10 out of 10 possible points!
In closing, all that’s left to be said is he’s not only an incredibly talented track maker, but a great guy as well. Like PaPa (and all the other SLOs for that matter), I too am extremely proud to call him a friend and teammate. A truly masterful piece of workmanship, Shoe – outstanding, bud!!!