Steve has the adjustment method exactly right, John. The
fact that your map is "too straight" and the speed is too
high both indicate that you need to go to adjustments and
decrease end speed. Do this until the shape of the map
looks closer to you. In most cases, I bet most of us use
just this one primary adjustment.
After you have the map looking close, meaning that most of
the corners appear about right, then you can fine tune the
map by adjusting just individual turns. In some cases
you'll need to do this to make the course look right, but
please don't do it until you've done the primary adjustment
of the end-speed above.
The adjustments for endspeed DO affect your ratings. The
reason why is that the forward acceleration potential is
dependent upon the speed the vehicle is moving. As you
adjust the end-speed, you adjust the speed throughout the
run, and that effects ratings. The most accurate ratings
are with the speed correct. This will generally result in a
pretty good map as well.
If you want to get really picky about a map, you can usually
make it look almost exactly like the course. Always start
with the end speed adjustment. Use individual turn
adjustments only once you have the basics right with
end-speed.
Also, don't worry about calibration numbers under 250 or
so. So a 149 is okay. A calibration number of 500 or 1200
would not be okay. Most incorrect calibration numbers are
either around 1200 or 2400. These numbers indicate that
either the cube wasn't rolled onto the proper side, or it
was rolled onto the opposite side. Numbers from 250 down
are believable, and numbers from 0-150 are pretty normal.
--Byron
Steve Hudson wrote:
>
> What I have found that works is to adjust the ending speed of your run until
> the map looks something like the course. I have never gotten the map to
> look exactly like the course, but by adjusting the end speed I can at least
> make the map be in the same basic shape as the course.
> My understanding is that making the adjustments for the map don't affect
> your ratings (usage, smoothness, etc.).
> I would check with Byron about your calibration string, particularly the
> number 149. I had a lot of problems getting my cube to calibrate with my
> Palm Pilot and spent quite a bit of time on the phone with Byron getting it
> sorted out. Thanks Byron! As I recall he said that the numbers in the
> string should be 1 or 2 digit, not 3 digit.
>
> Steve Hudson
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: R. John Lye <rjl6n@server1.mail.virginia.edu>
> To: <geez@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Monday, May 08, 2000 8:39 AM
> Subject: How much adjustment is normal?
>
> > Hi all,
> > I feel kinda stupid asking this, but I'm getting a bit
> > frustrated right now. Anyway, how much adjustment should
> > one have to make to get the map to make sense? I've never
> > yet been able to get a map that looks anything like the
> > course. I had thought that it was a calibration problem
> > last year, but I recently downloaded the new version which
> > makes calibration a lot easier and I now have calibration
> > numbers that make sense. At the VMSC event yesterday, the
> > course was basically figure eight shaped, but my maps and
> > those of my co-driver came out looking "L" shaped (this is
> > a total of eight runs - all of them looked like this). In
> > addition, the speeds were completely unrealistic - like
> > seeing 99 mph at several spots on course. If I had actually
> > been going that fast, I suspect that I'd have caught Dick
> > R.! Also, the speeds were still quite high at the ends of
> > the runs when we should have been at rest.
> > Is this still an operator error or something that I
> > have got set wrong? Any ideas? For reference, this is
> > a Triumph TR-4 that is currently running in A/P. My current
> > calibration string is 1A64A77A149B91 and my preferences are
> > set to: roll %g = 2.7, pitch %g = 1.7, Autostart g = 0.40,
> > Austostop g = 0.10, Autostop duration = 4, Minimum run = 35
> >
> > Thanks for any help that anyone can offer,
> >
> > John Lye
> > rjl6n@Virginia.edu
> >
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