KSC Cockpit View Race Challenge

[Klapaucius]

OBJECTIVE: Fly this route as fast as possible.

THE CATCH: You have to do the entire thing in cockpit view.

 

RACE 1: Follow the route as outlined on the diagram below. Note rule 6: once past the control tower you can turn whenever. You do not need to go to the end of the runway.

RACE 2: Same as one but with an additional loop around the VAB.

RACE 3: Same as one but after passing control tower circle left and fly back between the control tower and VAB, and then continue around VAB and end as before. In other words, do a figure-8.

 

RULES:

1. No fly by wire, probe cores or additional reaction wheels.  Cockpit SAS okay. 

2. Airplane must be manned (and actually you cannot have a cockpit view without a Kerbal anyway).  So that rules out command seats and Kerbals seated inside cargo bays and lander cans.

3. You must follow the route outlined below.  You must fly between the control tower and VAB. (The control tower should be on your left after you have flown around the VAB.)

4. You must land on the runway or you will be docked time (see penalties outlined below for failing to do so)

5. You must approach  and land heading west. You cannot land east and turn the plane around on the runway.

6. While this is a bit hard to measure, you should strive to stay at building height. Going a few meters above is acceptable. Flying the whole route 10s of meters above the VAB is not. The OP will be the final judge and jury on this one. You have been warned. Stay low.  See video for an idea.

7. Once you have passed the control tower, you are free to choose how you approach the landing. You may take a tight turn, do a loop, do some crazy aerobatic move..whatever, just make sure you are heading west. You do not need to go all the way to the end of the runway before turning around.

8. If at all possible, post a video of your run. Since I want to be inclusive, if you do not have video, please hit F1 a few times and post screenshots. Please abide by the honor system.

9. If you are not taking video, just make sure we can see your flight time.  If you are posting photos, make sure you get a shot showing your flight time once you have come to a complete stop. 

11. Mods okay within reason. Nothing that messes horribly with physics.

12. VTOLs okay if folks are keen, but they will be scored separately. VTOLS must land back on the "60"

13. As always with my challenges, keep to the spirit of the challenge. Be clever but don't go looking for loopholes. This is about design, flying skills and crashing, not gaming the system.

14 Show a shot of your plane in non cockpit view just so we can see what it was.

 

SCORING: Your time from the moment you hit the spacebar until you come to a complete stop.

PENALTIES:

Add 5 seconds for:

1. Stopping on the grass (but touching down on the runway)

2. Add an additional 5 seconds for touching down on the grass.

Add 10 seconds for:

1. Not landing intact but surviving.

 

You will be disqualified if you:

1. Fly too high (until passing the control tower)

2. Land eastwards

3. Die (but you may gain glory if you die well)

 

KUDOS and brownie points for crazy stunts, near misses or spectacular fails.

 

LEADERBOARDS:

 

RACE 1

@ralanboyle 0:27

@έķ νίĻĻάίή 0:40

@Klapaucius 0:48

@Hotel26  1:00

@sturmhauke 1:17 (prop plane!)

@zanie420  2:21

 

RACE 2

 

@ralanboyle  0:34

@Klapaucius 0:57

@sturmhauke 1:23(prop plane!)

@zanie420  1:33

 

RACE 3

@ralanboyle 0:44

@Klapaucius 1:32

@sturmhauke 1:40 (prop plane!)

 

OVERALL SERIES WINNER (COMBINED TIMES)

 

 

MOST SPECTACULAR FAILS

 

 

 

MY RUNS (This is an insanely twitchy stunt plane, but it is crazy maneuverable assuming you don't come to grief):  (UPDATE: I've got better now and will post the new runs after a few others have contributed.)

Spoiler

RACE 1   1:15 + 5 second penalty for having ended on the grass = 1:20

 

 

RACE 2  1:25

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2020 by Klapaucius

[Hotel26]

Race 1:     01m 00s

 

Pretty slow to land.  Done over, I'd align with the runway better and dive harder.

It's not clear whether you have to go fully to the R27 end before landing...  I think the OP Race 2 entry may NOT have?

Incidentally, for the record and assistance of others, the VAB is just under 176m MSL.  That's one feature of this run I was really pleased with: don't think the altitude went over 175m the whole way until clear of the VAB...

UPDATE: I predict the winner of Race 1 is going to clock in, under 40s...

Request for Rule Clarification: @Klapaucius a stipulation about chutes: permitted or not.  (My recommendation is do not permit them.)

 

Edited February 28, 2020 by Hotel26

[Guest]

Whoaaa, that's some serious piloting there, mad respect!

[sturmhauke]

I might need a break from trying to stuff a Munar base into a shuttle cargo bay, I'll see if I can whip something up for this.

[zanie420]

just a submission for fun

[Klapaucius]

 

5 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

It's not clear whether you have to go fully to the R27 end before landing...  I think the OP Race 2 entry may NOT have?

 

You do not have to go to the R27 end. Sorry, I thought I had put that in the rules but I hadn't. I have added it.

@Hotel26  I was so proud of myself for this later run (it was 1:00 am when I went to bed after a lot of death and destruction) and I wake up to find you beat me by 2 seconds!   Nice entry, BTW.

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by Klapaucius

[Klapaucius]

Third race with a figure-8 Race added.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Klapaucius

[Klapaucius]

 

48 seconds. This plane is real handful.

 

 

 

 

[Klapaucius]

Race 2 (57 seconds) I landed west but spun out when applying the brakes. I think I will let myself off the hook on that one if that is okay...

 

Race 3 (figure 8) 1:32

I went way too wide on this run at the start and same again on the landing, so could certainly do better, but I have killed enough Kerbals this evening. Spun out again.

 

 

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

Almost.

 

[Klapaucius]

35 minutes ago, έķ νίĻĻάίή said:

Almost.

 

Still pretty respectable. You came to a full stop at 53 seconds. 5 second penalty for ending up on the grass and 10 second penalty for breaking your plane.  So a total of 68 seconds or 1:08.  I look forward to another run from you. I think you could own this.

Edited February 28, 2020 by Klapaucius

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

1 hour ago, Klapaucius said:

Still pretty respectable. You came to a full stop at 53 seconds. 5 second penalty for ending up on the grass and 10 second penalty for breaking your plane.  So a total of 68 seconds or 1:08.  I look forward to another run from you. I think you could own this.

OH wow ok!  Time to go again I guess

[zanie420]

 

[Klapaucius]

8 minutes ago, zanie420 said:

 

Nice flying. Technically I should dock you for flying just to the left of the control tower, but you were so close that I think there was no effect (and it looked really cool, so that makes the judges more favorable). For future, all contestants need to stay to the left of it on the initial turn. 

It was a seriously quick flight.  Looks like 1:33 but you were past the control tower after the second lap at 39 seconds.  BTW: You do not need to head all the way past the end of the runway before landing.

You improved upon the first flight (which was only one lap) by 50 seconds!

Edited February 28, 2020 by Klapaucius

[ralanboyle]

Alright, I believe I have the top scores for now in all 3 races with 42, 54 and 55 seconds respectively. Here is the video, all 3 races are flown in sequence.  I really enjoyed this challenge and think I might continue to get the times lower. How about making a badge? 

Okie Dokie... I improved it a lot. Here is the new video with new scores of 34, 41, 47. The flames at the end of each run are the Seperatrons I use for braking. 

Edited February 29, 2020 by ralanboyle
Flames

[Klapaucius]

17 hours ago, ralanboyle said:

Alright, I believe I have the top scores for now in all 3 races with 42, 54 and 55 seconds respectively. Here is the video, all 3 races are flown in sequence.  I really enjoyed this challenge and think I might continue to get the times lower. How about making a badge? 

Okie Dokie... I improved it a lot. Here is the new video with new scores of 34, 41, 47. The flames at the end of each run are the Seperatrons I use for braking. 

Nice. Great first two. Race 3 was not the correct route (though still great flying). The route follows the same path as race one, but once you pass the control tower after having gone around the VAB you go left and back between the control tower and VAB and then continue on.

 

Badge to come at some point.

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Klapaucius
typo

[Hotel26]

8 hours ago, ralanboyle said:

with new scores of 34

Very, very nice job.  I watched your Race 1 video with eyes focused only on the altimeter the whole way and you kept it under 175m the whole time.

Well done!

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

Welp, I did it in fourty seconds

 

Probably could do it faster

[ralanboyle]

8 hours ago, Klapaucius said:

Nice. Great first two. Race 3 was not the correct route (though still great flying). The route follows the same path as race one, but once you pass the control tower after having gone around the VAB you go left and back between the control tower and VAB and the continue on.

 

Badge to come at some point.

 

Ahhhhh, got it. I’ll probably redo 3 this weekend. 

[zanie420]

[Klapaucius]

9 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

Very, very nice job.  I watched your Race 1 video with eyes focused only on the altimeter the whole way and you kept it under 175m the whole time.

Well done!

I had an idea first for a low-altitude race challenge to the mountains just west and back. I think I will do that one next month.  There is some great flying talent here.

[ralanboyle]

Ive been  playing KSP for 4 years (2500 hours) and I just discovered this forum. I’m loving the challenges because I was getting bored of just challenging myself and not interacting with other KSPers. Thanks for admining this. 

Also, on point 12 of your description you refer to the "60 spot." Just a friendly note that you are looking at that upside down. It is runway "09" as in Heading 090 (East.) FYI. 

Edited February 29, 2020 by ralanboyle
added

[ralanboyle]

I’m pretty sure I just clocked 27 seconds, but I haven’t reviewed the video yet. Can we get a hard number for what constitutes “stopped.” I feel like it shouldn’t be 0.0m/s because of landing gear wobble but I don’t know...

[Klapaucius]

50 minutes ago, ralanboyle said:

I’m pretty sure I just clocked 27 seconds, but I haven’t reviewed the video yet. Can we get a hard number for what constitutes “stopped.” I feel like it shouldn’t be 0.0m/s because of landing gear wobble but I don’t know...

Stopped is no visible motion. I noticed as well the speed indicator does not always cooperate.

[ralanboyle]

Ladies and Gentlemen, 27, 34, 44!!!