B-Wald's Blog: Monday, August 13, 2012: SOAPBOX RACING

Hey FHCC populace, it's me again! Ever hear of soapbox-racing? These are wooden cars piloted by children, with no engine and occasionally, no brakes. They're powered by gravity, with races taking place on downhill tracks or streets. Speeds are low, spirits are high, and the kid that wins has earned him-or-herself some proper badass points.

The other day I was online with Shangrilama and some other folks, and someone toward the end of the session suggested we do a soapbox race. We didn't end up doing it, but later on I gave it a try in free-play mode. It was incredible how much fun this actually was. I encourage everyone who reads this to give it a try. Here's what you do:

Take your car of choice (I used a stock '63 Beetle), turn off all assists, and make sure you have manual WITH CLUTCH as your transmission option. Select Fujimi Kaido New Downhill (FKND) as your track. When the race starts, hold the clutch button and rev the engine to get the car rolling. You don't have to rev high, anything above idle will do. When the car reaches 10 mph, you can release the throttle, but keep holding the clutch. The challenge is to roll all the way to the finish line without ever powering the drive wheels, keeping a smooth line and using JUST enough brakes to corner properly while maintaining enough speed to keep going. It's a lot of fun, but this is actually easy mode.

If you enjoyed your downhill run using only the steering and brakes, challenge yourself further by removing the brakes as well. Now it gets REALLY interesting. There are quite a few places on FK where you get a nice straight downhill bit before a hard corner. You have knife the car left and right to scrub away your speed fishtailing, and the timing is crucial because you still have to set up a good line into the corner. If you stop fishtailing too soon, the car will pick up too much speed before the corner. Too late, and you could fail to enter the corner properly.

I'm not leading you all on a fool's errand here- I have done it, I drove down FKND with no engine and no brakes. In a VW Beetle. The replay is on my storefront, if you want/need proof (disclaimer: I DO use the handbrake, but only once, at the very end). I'm going to set up a VW soapbox race in the near future, check the FM4 community events section for the details (when I get around to posting it should be soon). Anyone who considers cheating and using petrol, be forewarned: I will be recording the replays and watching the telemetry to see if anyone uses their throttle or releases the clutch. Brakes will be permitted. This could be the first organized FM4 event where you aren't allowed to use your engine, lols. Keep posted!

-B-Wald