My Hand Fabricated Simulation Racing Rig. "Vintage" Forza Motorsports 4 Racing.

May 7 2021

#424

Gentle reader,

I last wrote about this favorite hobby of mine, here:

The Robb Collections: Just What IS Inside Of A Microsoft Xbox 360 Steering Wheel? How Does It Work?

And here is the webpage with ALL of my articles about this hobby:

The Robb Collections: INDEX TO Simulation Racing THE ROBB COLLECTIONS 

I have always been a car racing fan, however, I don't care for any open-wheel types of racing, like Indy or F1, nor do I care for NASCAR. My favorites are IMSA (and WEC), Vintage sports cars/Trans Am and V8 Supercars which are in Australia and New Zealand. They ARE what NASCAR could be!

That is a V8 Supercar from 2014, piloted by young "Kiwi", Scott McLaughlin. Back then, aside from Ford and Holden (when they were called Australian V8 Supercars) they invited other makers to participate around 2012, and Mercedes Benz, Nissan and Volvo stepped up to the plate.

And that is the V8 Volvo engine they raced with. The S8 sedan and XC90 SUV models had the option of a Yamaha-built V8 engine, which is what this race-modified one is.

I first got into this hobby when a coworker/buddy gave me some PC racing games. My favorite was Test Drive Le Mans, I could not "drive" with a keyboard anymore than I can with a controller. So, I bought a Logitech wheel and pedal set.

Later, my daughter bought me a SONY PlayStation 2 Slim two and my son bought me Gran Turismo 4. 

 

Daniel later had an Xbox 360 and when I saw what one could do to cars, (GT4 also allows many changes, but they are far more technical and one must know what they are doing) to modify them, and later found out one can decorate/paint/stripe, etc. them AND buy (for credits) the already done liveries, I switched to my own Xbox 360 and never looked back. Oh, and the engine sounds are WAY better in Forza 4.

 

When we bought this house, this bedroom was designated as a home office. We had planned to have two desks in it, but that never happened.

This photo is from 2008, the chair and desk where I am sitting at this moment. The photo below shows an electrician's nightmare due to all the electronics I have in here, as well as my new monitor arm with a larger monitor. 

The room has changed many times as far as what went where, but has been like this for some time. Those speakers are actually mini-monitors, but since my PC's monitor has built-in speakers, I realized they would better serve me for racing. 

The wall opposite me. I squeezed the "Simulation Racing Station" between that sunlit shelf and the back, or is it the front, of this desk. You can see that I rearranged the photos and posters, which lightened the room by being spread out.

The 42" HDTV is plasma (and HEAVY!) and was given to me. Initially, I used a 32" Samsung Monitor which has a much better picture, but the HDMI input stopped working, so it has been banished to the family room.

The oak/granite table I found in a thrift store, but the TV was too low (I'm 6'3" tall, so I added a little stand to raise it.

My ever-supportive wife bought me this gaming chair. It had a built-in amplifier with speakers in the headrest (ala: Fiero) and a 4" "subwoofer" under the seat. Right, one can't get much bass from that.

The amp died after a year and I replaced it with a digital one, but it did not last half that time. So I use those speakers seen in the first photo.

The TV does not have analog audio outputs, so I have a small DAC with Toslink input and stereo RCA analog outputs to the speakers which have built-in stereo amplifier in the right one.

I added this foam tape as padding for my delicate elbows.

I also made this cushion to extend the child-sized seat and made some brackets to attach it beneath the seat. It does the job. 

In summer, I put a sheepskin over the seating surface since my skin tends to stick to the black vinyl.

I made this stand out of one inch square aluminum tubing. It is collapsible for storage, if need be. 

The angle of the wheel platform is adjustable and I can move if forward down the supports for grandkids to race.

The angle of the pedal platform is also adjustable, but I have found this angle ideal. I added a thicker SPRING to the brake pedal which prevents the brakes from locking so easily. 

I also padded the brake pedal (real cars have rubber covers) since the hard raised round pieces literally wore THROUGH the left sole of a pair of Piloti driving shoes like these which my wife bought me years ago.

Frankly, they are too WIDE to be driving shoes. I've bought a number of them over the years. They should be thin-soled and fit like gloves so one can feel the pedals, like the one below. 

But, again, I have gone off on a tangent. One more photo, these are what I wear to race in now:

See how the sole wraps up around the back of the heel? That is helpful for heal-and-toe moves on the pedals. Which does not apply to simulation racing with a two-pedal set. I DO LEFT-FOOT brake while racing, to allow me to keep the engine revs up while cornering. 

And here they are, well worn, on the seat. I used to keep them there because Mo, the cat, would sleep EVERYWHERE I sat! He's gone now. Rest in peace, Mo.

I found that sometimes I pulled the wheel assembly off the platform, so created these brackets to keep it in place. Those black things beneath the edges are what one buys to cover the sharp edges of rifle mounts, (see below) they are glued to the bottom edges of the wheel base. 

You can see one of them facing the camera. While the top rail is unprotected. By the way, this is a .22 rifle, not an "assault rifle" which is a made up term.

This is an inside view of the adjustable bracket for the "rake" of the steering wheel platform. 

That handle/lever is perfect for applying enough torque to keep the slider from sliding.

If you look closely, you can see the upright bracket is "U" shaped to allow for the long bolts to slide out and in for folding and storing the rig. 

Easier seen in these photos.

You no doubt noticed the red covering on the pedals cable? I accidentally cut it! Since it is just four wires, it was easy to solder them back together.

Here are closer looks at the brackets I came up with to keep the wheel assembly from being pulled off during intense racing.

You can also see the rubber pieces I told you about above. The bracket pieces are two 1/8" thick steel "L" brackets and the upright pieces are two of four that came with the monitor arm for this PC desk.

Note also how I had to notch the 3/4" thick plywood since it extends over the upright brackets. I used a 3/4" rotary file in a drill to produce the half-round notches. This allows the platform to rotate over the squared off ends of the upright 1" square tubing. 

Lastly, I glued this round piece of wood to the bottom of the plywood for the clamp to tighten to.

The plywood, while thick, was not thick enough and the clamp's screw was nearly at the end of it's threads without it.

See what I mean? This is the old platform. The bolts stuck up and interfered with the ends of the base. Also, note how the clamp screw is all the way out. My new platform is MUCH better.

 

I hope that you enjoyed this article highlighting the hand-made racing rig. One can BUY factory built ones, but in our modest home, I needed one which could be collapsed if it needed to be out of the way. 

 

I made this YEARS ago, and had built a second one so that Daniel and I could split-screen race, but he has is now in his place. 

 

For fun, when we had finished a race, (he usually won) we would deliberately crash our cars into each other. Now SONY's GT4 would NOT allow cars to overturn, nor get damaged. FM4 definitely does with accompanying sounds!

 

Sometimes, especially if the AI cars had knocked me off the course, I would swing around and start racing the WRONG direction. I would try and crash head-on into the AI cars. Try it sometime, it's loads of fun and a great way to release tension.

 

I don't know about you, but when I'm racing, my heartbeat is up and, if they are closing in on me, the adrenaline is also flowing!

That's it for now! Thanks for taking the time to read my humble blog. I started doing this just for fun, never dreaming anyone would read it. But, to my utter surprise, over 350,000 people read it! I truly am humbled.

Scott

May 7, 2021

#424