Quote from BeNoM :

There is a company behind it, Valmet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valmet_Automotive

https://www.supercars.net/blog/2005-valmet-raceabout/

RaceAbout is a company itself, 'RaceAbout Association'.

Here's contact information if you want it: https://web.archive.org/web/20190205212217/http://www.raceabout.fi/index_3.html

Valmet Automotive was only a partner in the project but doesn't own any rights to the car. Car is owned my Metropolia University and upkeep is nowdays handled with RaceAbout Club.

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

Btw, the 2k5 tech page on raceabout.fi says it's got a torsen diff. How come it had an OD when you drove it?

That page has been done two or three years ago when the updated car wasn't finished. The 02 car had a torsen diff but it doesn't work with the new engine and transmission.

Quote from Gnomie :

Nice video! How come you got to drive it?

Quote from Bawbag :

So how come you got to drive it huh?

Maybe the first reason would be that I studied in the school where is car is designed and manufactured. Main reason is that part of my thesis is to compare the real car against the LFS version. That's why I arranged the RA to be in LFS.

Quote from Huru-aito :

Different gearing, maybe?

Anyways, the gear indicator lags a bit.

Gearing is the same as in LFS already.

Gear indicator is bit funny because it only tries to quess the gear from speed and rpm. Well that's how I think it works.

Quote from Ilpav :

I don't think he was going full throttle, was he?

I was going full throttle on track where it's possible but not when doing slalom, of course.

Quote from Venom(UK) :

How much would it cost me to own an RAC? (No breakdown jokes please)

Not for sale. There is only one car made. The value isn't even possible to estimate other than it's a lot. It would be possible to make more if someone was intrested but I don't think no one is gonna do that.

Quote from Calvinaquino :

Maybe that's because you were driving with the open diff? Correct me if not.

Using open diff on both. It's not just the diff that makes the difference.

I had the chance to drive the real RaceAbout (again) couple weeks ago. So much fun. This time I drove a lot more than previously. Also the car is much better than it was last time (couple of years ago). I had a whole day to play with it. I did some driving on the track and also cone slalom. I can do the same slalom in LFS and compare the feeling and telemetry data...

Some facts about the car... It has a new engine which puts out 260-270hp and bit over 400 Nm. Car weights just under 800kg empty. Currently it has an open diff but it'll have some kind locked diff in the future. Rear suspension geometry has been redesigned and it is better than the one used in LFS.

It sure was fun to drive the car. I don't have much experience on track as you can probably see on the vid. I imagined that it would be bad to drive with open diff but it wasn't. You only noticed it missing when pushing hard. Inside back wheel would spin when coming out of corner and it's bit unstable at braking. Also it's ovesteery when coming to turn in with too much speed. In LFS the car is (on setup close to real) surprisingly similar to drive on most situations. The biggest difference is that in real life it's much more stable to drive.

About the vid... quality isn't too good, sorry. On the vid you can see car passing the camera on the main straight. Cone slalom shot from behind and front. You probably notice that there isn't actually any cones. We used tape markings on the tarmac as the cones so we wouldn't damage the car when hitting a cone. Last there is one lap around the Alastaro track shot with inside cam.

Here is the vid.

Quote from z3r0c00l :

The RAC was built by students... being a student myself, I know 90% of the work was done in the 1% of time leading up to the release... hence skipping the front arb :P

Nothing to do with time. Raceabout project started 1998 and the rear was recently redesigned and there is still no rear arb.

Quote from Ts-020 :

here i show us my design of the New rac GTR
isnt a race car just a big road car like f430, audi r8

if i have time i will make it in 3d

Really nice drawing. I'll email it to couple guys working on RA.

Quote from Vykos69 :

The F700 is really interesting because of the engine. The looks are ugly, but a small 4 zylinder engine, running normal fuel, produces 258 bhp without a turbo. While using only 5.3 liters/100kms. That's awesome!!

No turbo? The car has two-stage turbo, direct injection, variable compression ratio and small electric engine. Diesotto alone makes 238hp which is really good but even more amazing is the torque 400Nm.

Quote from AndroidXP :

I hope I didn't make any errors, and that it's more clear for you guys now

You made one big one (typical mistake though). On open diff torque is the same for both wheel in all situations.

Quote from Hyperactive :

The closest Porsche to FZ50 is the 911 Carrera S which does not have rear wing in real life (as standard).

Little hint try looking at 911 (996) GT3...

Quote from tristancliffe :

Because on snow/ice (British snow and ice, where we get slushy mess, not the nice grippy snow you get ) the TC tries to stop wheelspin by cutting power or applying the brakes, but you actually want a little bit of wheelspin sometimes, and you definately don't want braked wheels 99% of the time.

Maybe in Finland the conditions make TC appropriate, but speaking from my own experiences here TC makes things way more difficult.

Are you sure you are using it correctly? With TC you have to floor to make it work properly if you are trying to be smooth or careful with throttle it will suck.

You talked about a Merc, on that if you don't have ASR on you don't have diff "lock" either. Merc don't use mechanical locks and instead they use ESP to get the a similar effect and it works great. E-class and C-class both won big 4x4 winter tests on Auto, Motor und Sport magazine. There were all sorts of 4x4 cars like BMW, Volvo, Audi, Porsche and so on.

Quote from tristancliffe :

TC is rubbish on snow and ice.

Quote from sweetreid :

TC is pretty crap in the snow, I haven't found a use for it

How is it rubbish/crap? Car won't accelerate properly or what?

Quote from al heeley :

mrt with a chameleon paint job

Al, just out curiosity, what's your releationship to 3M? You use it on almost all of your skins and you have made 3M racing skin for FO8(?). It just always caughts my eye because my dad has been working at 3M for over 20 years.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Which explains the understeer... Just a soft one would make it turn so much better

Adding rear antiroll bar isn't everything.

It only understeers on low speed corners atleast in RL and in LFS it does it too.

Quote from squidhead :

Thinking of writing a mail to Raceabout about adding antiroll bar so that we in LFS wouldnt suffer so much

Don't bother rear suspension won't be changing anymore. They have just finished it couple of months ago.

Quote from squidhead :

I only pray for a rear antiroll bar...
that would be nice

You won't get a rear antiroll bar

Quote from BlakjeKaas :

I can barely read the clocks on the RAC now... :/

And that's realistic.

Quote from Bob Smith :

Are they even intending to sell it (at this stage)?

There is still only one car so NO

Even those photos are already old and this updating thing has been discussed many times before. Use the search Stew.

Quote from bo-kristiansen :

doh... why didnt I have that RA seat picture when I made the edit. :tired:

well... at least the color is more or less right.

Thx for the pic - I made this. - its not that good but here it is.

Nice work. I tried doing it a long time ago but didn't have enough patience. Reason you didn't have that photo is that it was only available on my HD.

edit: Tested it ingame. It's bit too orange and bright.

Last edited by Tege, Sat 30 Dec 2006, 14:38.

Bo, if you wanna make better looking RA seat this photo could be useful.

Happy Birthday Scawen!! :birthday:

Quote from 5th Earth :

So Scavier, where's my new RAC?

Patience is your friend.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Does anyone know how many Raceabouts they built? Was it a one-off or did they produce a few of them?

Since know one else has answered to this... Only one is made which has been improved over the years.

Quote from ORION :

iirc Tege said once that there is also a roof available for the real RAC - I've never seen it though.

I haven't seen it either. There is no roof for the car. Only a cover that covers the whole car but it's not even waterproof.