X,Y Coordinates For All Track Types

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If we want to simulate a car going around a track we naturally need to have a set of x and y coordinates to simulate the physical track.

Columbia competes on four different tracks. Thus we will need coordinates for the following events:

1. Acceleration
2. Skid Pad
3. Autocross
4. Endurance

Here is an overview of the track shapes for each event:

• Acceleration: 75 m from starting line to finish line (straight line, flat pavement)
• Skid Pad: We can assume the center of the car is traveling in the middle of this path. That would mean the car would be traveling in a circle with radius 9.125 m.

• Autocross: a. Straights: No longer than 60 m with hairpins at both ends b. Straights: No longer than 45 m with wide turns on the ends c. Constant Turns: 23 m to 45 m diameter d. Hairpin Turns: 9 m minimum outside diameter (of the turn) e. Slaloms: Cones in a straight line with 7.62 m to 12.19 m spacing f. Miscellaneous: Chicanes, multiple turns, decreasing radius turns, etc.

• Endurance: A total distance of approximately 22 km. a. Straights: No longer than 77 m with hairpins at both ends b. Straights: No longer than 61 m with wide turns on the ends c. Constant Turns: 30 m to 54 m diameter d. Hairpin Turns: 9 m minimum outside diameter (of the turn) e. Slaloms: Cones in a straight line with 9 m to 15 m spacing f. Miscellaneous: Chicanes, multiple turns, decreasing radius turns, etc. g. Minimum track width: 4.5 m h. Designated passing zones at several locations

We will complete the issue in the same sequence as the numbered list. Ideally, we will have some race-line data to model the autocross and endurance courses. We should be able to create the other courses manually.

For more details, see this file

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Using this to estimate the initial starting point for the skidpad event. Recall that timing doesn't start until you get to the circle of your second lap, but it may be important to include this initial extra acceleration.

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Attempting to use this for the endurance track.

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Skidpad is complete and meets specifications exactly.

An attempted endurance track has been constructed. It looks like this.

As you can see, the endurance has been built using the google image. I looked at landmarks like buildings and physically looked at MIS in google maps to manually rebuild the track into latitude and longitude coordinates.

I used this powerpoint to convert latitude and longitude coordinates to X and Y coordinates. These formulas can be seen in the code.

Clearly, making the endurance track is not a precise science. I am relying on images, drawings, and estimations.

Going forward, we will be comparing historic lap times with our current sim program. Changes will be made to the track to reflect the racing line. We may be able to use video of cars on the 2019 course to better map the racing line. We also should be able to smooth out X Y values to make the output more reasonable.

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Looking at the 2019 MIS results we see that for all cars that finished 11 laps the best car averaged a lap time of 113 seconds and the worst car averaged a time of 162 seconds.

Columbia averaged 160 second lap times during its four laps.

The current sim using the endurance track estimates 165 second lap times given our parameters. Perhaps, we can more accurately track the racing line since drivers are trimming corners?

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Distance measurement might be off .... using google maps measuring tool I get about a total distance of 2250 meters, not the 2600 seen in the lap time sim.