5/8 Dirt late model simulator

This is my late model simulator that I built about 15 years ago. When I first built it we used to take it to County fairs and several race events. At that time we used to charge five bucks a for a six lap race and then if they won a free ride at higher car and opponent strength. We purchased licensing from InfoGrames to use their Dirt Track Racing software. We made good money with it but it just took to much of our time and shows had to be lined up too much in advance and you had to have two people all the time. Most times we would be running the car for 14 hours a day straight with no breaks. We do not build or sell these as we just don't have time. The car is moved by five pneumatic cylinders which are much faster than hydraulics and gives a very realistic simulation of what its like to drive a real race car on dirt. I've built and driven a lot of real race cars through the years. Here are some pics of how the car was built
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I'm not sure why there are duplicate pictures. I guess I'm just not that good at posting on forums. A few more details on the car. The roll cage and side bars are PVC electrical conduit to reduce weight. The car is now stored in an unheated shed covered with a tarp for 364 days a year. We bring it in the shop for our annual Daytona party that's open to anyone, we run it before and after the race and we don't charge for rides. Anyone close to Anamosa Iowa is welcome to come. I'm currently experimenting with replacing potentiometers with Hall Effect Sensors and will be doing a full scale test today. We currently use ETI potentiometers in most of our analog controllers that have a 10,000,000 cycle life span rating but I'm hoping to replace all pots with HES's as theoretically they should never have to be replaced as they are non-contacting. I will start a new thread on this subject after testing is completed

Dave T
www.thomas-superwheel.com

Just wanted to say Hi to everybody. We have replaced the old picture tube TV and mirrors with a widescreen 32" flat wide screen TV mounted right behind the windshield that gives us a much clearer and better picture and has reduced the weight of the car by quite a bit and seems to holding up so far. These were much too expensive when we built the car but now you can buy them for less than a hundred bucks on Ebay.

Dave T