YW gets the Racing Bug at MPH Show

Heading out to the MPH show in Birmingham this month ? YW says search out the Racing Bug stand for a little bit of racing fun ( Stand MP46A ). Remember your Scalextric set ? Fun, but with only two lanes and a fixed track, there’s only so much skill involved: sort your throttle action and the rest is easy. Remember your first radio controlled car ? You could go in any direction, only you never had the discipline to stick to a predefined course. The Racing Bug has the best features of both combined with straight-forward controls. A fixed, very clear track, steering wheel and pedals to control your car, and the excitement of racing eleven other hopefuls leads to a sensational experience. With a little practice you can transport your mind to the miniature Ferrari that bears your number and experience the adrenaline of racing with zero risk to life and limb.

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Timtim reports :

I pounced on car number 4, a yellow Ferrari 360 when the previous race had finished and the driving position, with corresponding yellow nosecone, became vacant . It felt like jumping the queue at a fair ground ride. Little did The Racing Bug know that I planned to fix my Contour HD headcam to the car for some exciting footage in the melee. To my surprise they enthusiastically agreed and even found some matching yellow tape. All gaffered up, my clumsy looking car was placed on the starting grid and the countdown begun. Fellow racers and I, only had a couple of minutes to practice and fumble with the controls. Luckily they are arranged just like the kart I used to race, unluckily the responses are not the same. Strong initial steering bite doesn’t build up progressively the way you’d expect a racing car to behave; there’s no controllable understeer, but linear front end grip that makes you steer too far. The backend never breaks away fortunately, but you have to learn to unwind the steering unintuitively early, unless you are happy to weave wildy along the track. Not a recipe for a good lap time.

After the mayhem of the start, there was, errr…..more mayhem. In fact it would be accurate to say that the whole race was a series of accidents interspersed with a few flashes of driving genius! The trick would be to enter several races to get your brain in tune with your racer. You have to transpose your mind to the vehicle, rather than fidget with the controls. Feel the force, as Obi-Wan Kenobi would have said. Remember that as the car comes towards you, just as with any radio controlled device, steering directions are reversed. Once you can mentally place yourself in the car, it all becomes a lot more natural, fluid and therefore fast. At this point I forgot all about my surroundings and my adrenaline pumped mind concentrated 100 percent on scything through the field.

How was I doing? After a promising start I heard the commentator explain that the headcam taped onto my Ferrari’s roof was blocking the timing system transponder, so my lap times and position were not being downloaded to the computerised scoring system. Disaster then, as I thought I was in the lead, and controversy too, as a spectator challenged the commentators race order.

Never mind the experience was fantastic fun and I would have happily raced several times if the queue hadn’t been so large. I was particularly impressed by the layout of the track, the perspex bridge allowed you to eyeball your car at all times. It was even lit underneath. Spectators get live video feeds, full race order info and lighthearted commentary. The staff were exceptionally quick at dealing with stranded cars, and kept the inter-race interval to a minimum. The Racing Bug don’t just do shows, but will bring the whole outfit to you for family or corporate events.

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