Robertshaw Racing - simulators!

[Darkane]

So I was an exhibitor at the oil trade show in mcmurray these last two days and seiko had an F1 simulator there!

I got talking with the dudes and they're a race team based in calgary. It seemed like they did Indy and most recently had an open wheel mazda powered car.

Their next project is a 4 simulator race-school or hangout to be opening in the next 3 weeks or so.

http://www.robertshawracing.com/were-back/

Yesterday I came within 0.4s of the best lap of the day at Indianapolis. Today I sucked ass in the Williams F1.

Sort of an option for racing here anyway. Sims are built for GT,
Indy, F1.

[Modelexis]

I forget what oil/gas show I was at but I tried the F1 simulator and they had a hp restrictor programmed into the game that cut power for the average joe.

Sucked, and the course was a banked ring, like nascar..

Had that bitch flat out around the whole lap.

[Darkane]

Hmm. This one the real deal. 800hp and yes i span out right in the pits because I nailed it - cold tires lol.

[Canmorite]

Would love to try the simulator! That's really cool.

[Modelexis]

Originally posted by Darkane
Hmm. This one the real deal. 800hp and yes i span out right in the pits because I nailed it - cold tires lol.

I also spun in the pits, haha
I think it restricted power once you got up to a certain speed.

I'd pay to do sessions on this simulator if they had project CARS or Assetta Corsa loaded on it.

[BlackArcher101]

I believe they use iRacing as Robertshaw was on the forums looking for new employees that are already familiar with the sim. Would be a pretty cool place to work if I didn't already have a job.
There's been a few other iRacing motion rigs at the GPS show this year as well. Awesome fun to play with.

[Darkane]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101
I believe they use iRacing as Robertshaw was on the forums looking for new employees that are already familiar with the sim. Would be a pretty cool place to work if I didn't already have a job.
There's been a few other iRacing motion rigs at the GPS show this year as well. Awesome fun to play with.

Yep you're right. Iracing.

50,000 members and they just had their 1 billionth lap raced the last week.

[HiSpec]

This might be the same simulator that a local sponsor was trying to partner up with. If I remember correctly, either the owner is from Vancouver or the equipment is sourced from Vancouver.

[Blair Robertsha]

Hi, I was the guy at Ft Mac. (this is Blair) and yes the motion sim we had there is from a company in BC. it's a great trade show sim that introduces people to motion sims, it is of very high quality but that said, it is not a great race training tool or racing simulator.

The simulators we feature in the Race Room are full motion, 3 DOF professional grade component simulators. we have 1 Stock car, 1 GT and 2 open wheel full motion simulators. 3 screens surround, 1 screen on top for real time immersion data reporting. Delta, sector, fuel consumption 5 lap average and so on. we also run MOTEC data, the MacLaren f1 data software.

We use top shelf F1 force feed back servo motors on our steering components, in the formula chassis they are remote mounted. we also feature RW stock car wheel, GT wheels, f1 carbon wheels crafted by UK F1 suppliers, hydraulic brakes, seat belts, brake pressure sensors and gauges. seats are selected based on racing discipline. the stock car features Lajoie Custom, the GT is a Cobra Sebring Pro Kevlar. Formula chassis seats are universal until a person wants a custom bead seat made for them which we also do. Our formula chassis' are near exact replicas of the formula cars we own, race and rent to qualified drivers.

the room is 3 fold, it features top shelf, bespoke simulators in a residential racing theater environment as an alternative to a video room for the discerning individual, race drivers train there and we also will be offering Corporate Team Building days similar to what a 24 Hour LeMans Racing team would employ but we do it over 6 hours.

Im sorry, going on too much. in short, we, all of our team at the Race Room race cars, we strive for our simulators to be as close to real world as reasonable budgets allow. I know reasonable is subjective but I promise you, our sims will challenge you, you will learn real race craft that is measurable from our instructors and even from yourself if you decide to learn in the absence of an instructor.

so, thanks for reading, we are about 4 weeks away from our opening. the web site is just way behind so if its ok I will post back here when we are green!

I really hope some of you come by, I dont think we will disappoint

[Blair Robertsha]

here are some pics of the wheels we offer;

[Blair Robertsha]

the back, all buttons paddles and rotary dials are functional, this wheel is used for F1 sim racing and is made by people who make F1 wheels for the teams that dont make their own wheels

[Blair Robertsha]

this is the GT wheel you see as sitting in the GT Cobra seat GT simulator.
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/br214/Fast%20Formula%20Chassis/DSC00010_zpsdf10a6ed.jpg

[Blair Robertsha]

I cant seem to post the pics so I will try again, I do apologize for may lack of dexterity for posting...

[firebane]

Dude this is nuts I can't wait for you guys to finish this up and please keep this thread updated.

[Blair Robertsha]

SC Wheel

Man I cant get the pics to load. can anyone tell me if there is a limit? or how I may go about posting them? thanks

and here is a link that will give you a better view of what we are attempting to do

http://www.robertshawracing.com/were-back/

I will post pics to Photo bucket tomorrow and then post the link, thanks again for your interest. hope to see you come by/

[firebane]

Originally posted by Blair Robertsha
SC Wheel

Man I cant get the pics to load. can anyone tell me if there is a limit? or how I may go about posting them? thanks

Toss em on imgur and then paste them here with the bbcode they provide.

[Blair Robertsha]

here is a link to the GT simulator and a brief look at the interior of the Race Room;

http://s791.photobucket.com/user/br214/library/Fast%20Formula%20Chassis?sort=3&page=1

the red sim you see is our stock car sim, the force feedback wheel hub is designed for stock car simulation. the fellow driving is actually an open wheel F200 race driver, we wanted his feedback on a discipline he was unfamiliar with... he said "it's gooood"

we also had a pro NASCAR driver in the sim last week training for a Camper World truck series race last weekend in New Hampshire, he also commented that is was very good, he said.
"its the best sim I have been in"

so enough. more pics to come as someone has shared with me how to post pics! Thanks Will.

thanks again everyone,

hope to see some of you come and try our service, we hope we wont and dont think we will disappoint!

[Canmorite]

Blair, will you be opening this shop in Calgary?

[EM2FTL]

so racing in western Canada is all but gone, at least for us.

Ya'll have heard of Castrol Raceway, yes? Racing in Western Canada is alive and well :)

[Blair Robertsha]

yes, I have heard of Castrol. I have even been there, done laps there and its not a road race track IMO.

[Darkane]

Hey Blair. Thanks for stopping by. I was talking to your son for the most part while at the trade show. Welcome to the forums!

[EM2FTL]

Originally posted by Blair Robertsha
yes, I have heard of Castrol. I have even been there, done laps there and its not a road race track IMO.

Have you turned laps in a road race on the track? Have you been there since the walls were pushed back?

I'm curious why you hold that opinion, any interest in expanding your statement? Is it too tight? Bus-stop ruins the track for you?

[JustinL]

Cool gear! Who are your instructors?

[Blair Robertsha]

yes I have turned laps there and in a race!. for us the track is too small, not wide enough and the lack of runoff area, lack of curbing and concrete walls so close is too great a risk. in addition, an open wheel car going down the back straight with another car fighting for position going into the right hander, man if 2 cars touch, one is going off and god forbid you are the car on the outside. 3' tall wheat growing in the adjacent field that you drop into. that stuff gets a hold of a front wing and even more carnage. not to mention a hot set of headers, oil leak or fuel cell leak in the field and now potentially your really into a bad scenario.

I am happy for the closed wheel groups and the lappers that do enjoy the track but it just doesnt really suit our cars and the above mentioned risks are too great from a safety and financial perspective for us. maybe once the curbs all get down and a few more walls are moved back we will reconsider but that does not change the track length. Castrol did what they could with the area and budgets they had. And the multi use for all the different race groups is nice to see. last time we were there, with our shortest gear cluster in the race car we just touched 3rd gear so like I said for us its short.

the chicane is fun and it does separate those who can really drive from those that think they can drive. really only room for one car but I have seen 2 try to go through it, dicy but fun to watch. and there are some great turns too, just not right for us.

[EM2FTL]

^Thanks for the explanation!

[Blair Robertsha]

instructors are still being selected. what we are going to do is have an instructor day / open house kind of thing where the instructors come by, see and try the equipment and then see how they can use the tools. we need to have instructors that also know how to read data, (we use MOTEC, Atlas and iSpeed) and then use that data to augment the instructors teaching and their quest to improve the driver.

currently we have 3 but they are open wheel guys, we need some tin top / sedan instructors and some stock car instructors.

a few have come by in the last week so word is getting out or so it seems.

so if any of you instructors out there are reading this please send me a private message.

I have contacted the forum to see about advertising for just what it is we need so I think something may happen on that front in the next week or two.

Thanks again for the interest.

B

[JustinL]

Too bad you're not in Edmonton. I've got iracing experience and some real life too. Would be fun to get some other people hooked.

[Blair Robertsha]

we are about 10 months maybe 14 from a Race Room in Edmonton. takes a while to find correct location, fabricate sims and get all the components together. hope to have a location within 6 months Justini, we will keep you posted on developments. I will private email you as we get closer if thats OK...

[JustinL]

I hope you guys have good success with this venture. It would be worth looking at buying a couple Oculus Rifts to go with your systems. I'm not sure if there are many sims out there combining VR and a motion base... that could be pretty damn immersive. I've been using the Rift for my league races and it is a pretty wild experience.

[Blair Robertsha]

Hi Justin, thanks for the reply. We don't use Oculus because of the race wheels we use. Our race wheels are fully functioning and require the race driver to see and use the button and switches on the wheels while at speed. Oculus does not allow us that function.

[94boosted]

This sounds very promising. Once you get it up & running you should make sure to post it up on the CSCC and SASC forums.

[Blair Robertsha]

Hello Motorsport enthusiasts,

The Race Room has now been in a soft opening mode for the last 4 weeks. While in this operation mode we have had many people through the doors as well as a few focus groups. With the feed back received we have come to learn a few things and with the information we have found that our Group Pricing is pretty much spot on but the individual hourly rates were high.

Our focus group has spoken and we have listened. Please see attached, our revised rate schedules for individuals and group racing.

Also, we will be having an Open House on Saturday January 24th from 10:00 AM to 4:00PM and Sunday from 10:00Am to 4:00PM. come on by, we will walk through a brief tour of The Race Room, give you some insight on the components of each simulator and let each of you have a go for 10 minutes in each simulator.

Happy New Year to you all, we wish you a fast, safe racing year with many wins.

Yours in Motorsports,

Blair Robertshaw / ROBERTSHAW RACING / The RACE ROOM

[Type_S1]

Definitely going to swing by the open house but wow that seems pricey for an hour.

[Blair Robertsha]

These are not Arcade Racing Simulators, they are top shelf Professional Grade full motion racing simulators costing over $60,000 USD per simulator.

We use F1 components, real world race car components. our experience is, nothing of really high quality comes cheap!

[BerserkerCatSplat]

For a full hour in a quality sim like that, under fifty bucks doesn't seem unreasonable at all.

[D'z Nutz]

Do you have any life-like parking simulators for Asian people? I ask because a friend of mine...

[Blair Robertsha]

No but you may want to try an Oculus! I think that may be a great tool for that because as you look around the horizon moves with you.

Not so good for sim racing though!

[Blair Robertsha]

Hello all,

Please note that our OPEN HOUSE time for Saturday has been changed to 10AM to 4Pm on Saturday. Change is due to a group booking. hope to see some of here. Thank you

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I will come check out the open house! As suggested by someone else, it may keep me out of trouble in my race car and help me save money by curing that "I want to drive my racecar just because" feeling.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by Twin_Cam_Turbo
help me save money Hahahahahaha
AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Originally posted by Mibz
Hahahahahaha
AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Just like speeders saved my money. Right? RIGHT.

[Type_S1]

so 5 hours a day per machine @ $50 = 240 day payout. Plus all money from food/beverage. Place could make decent coin if costs are recouped within a year.

Good idea but I'm not sure how many people will pay that much to race in a Sim. Girls won't get anything out of it as they will just think it's a video game. Most guys aren't passionate enough about racing to actually clean the wallet out for it when there are options like speeders or just playing forza. My opinion of course, but interesting business plan. All the luck to you guys.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Originally posted by Type_S1
so 5 hours a day per machine @ $50 = 240 day payout. Plus all money from food/beverage. Place could make decent coin if costs are recouped within a year.

Good idea but I'm not sure how many people will pay that much to race in a Sim. Girls won't get anything out of it as they will just think it's a video game. Most guys aren't passionate enough about racing to actually clean the wallet out for it when there are options like speeders or just playing forza. My opinion of course, but interesting business plan. All the luck to you guys.

Speeders is actually considerably more expensive than this if you look at the drive time.

[Cos]

.

[A2VR6]

Will have to try this, setup looks like its well thought out

[94boosted]

I think I'm going to try to head down to open house as well.

[94boosted]

I went down to the Race Room today to check it out and was blown away. I got to meet Blair, Jess and Zac and what a stand up bunch of guys. The simulators they have are unbelievable, the components they use, the way these things feel/respond is amazing, very realistic. Had a great time and can't wait to go back.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j174/94boosted/20150124_143626_zpskyypkvwj.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j174/94boosted/20150124_143617_zpsgl5gqmlz.jpg

[frozenrice]

Originally posted by Type_S1
so 5 hours a day per machine @ $50 = 240 day payout. Plus all money from food/beverage. Place could make decent coin if costs are recouped within a year.

Good idea but I'm not sure how many people will pay that much to race in a Sim. Girls won't get anything out of it as they will just think it's a video game. Most guys aren't passionate enough about racing to actually clean the wallet out for it when there are options like speeders or just playing forza. My opinion of course, but interesting business plan. All the luck to you guys.

They may seem like just a video game, but the BIG difference, is that they have force feed back controls, and instead of a rumble pack to resemble crashes or bumps in the road, the entire simulator moves to simulate g-forces. May not be 100% realistic, but they're probably closer to the real thing than anything you'll get from playing on a game console. Speeders is great for getting your fix for real life, but I think there are people that see this as another alternative. The Raceroom may not be for everyone, but neither is Speeders or a game console.

This is like comparing Wii golf to playing on a simulator where you actually use real clubs and a real ball.

[Xamim]

Originally posted by 94boosted
I went down to the Race Room today to check it out and was blown away. I got to meet Blair, Jess and Zac and what a stand up bunch of guys. The simulators they have are unbelievable, the components they use, the way these things feel/respond is amazing, very realistic. Had a great time and can't wait to go back.


Also went today to check out the open house and totally agree with what you've said. The simulators are very impressive and very well set up. The force feedback is amazing, arms definitely got a bit of a work out. It was cool to see how the different simulators were set up for different types racing, from stock car to GT to open-wheel. Blair, Jes and Zac were super cool too, explained the technology behind the sims and gave a tour of the shop. If you're an F1 fan, then you'll appreciate how they have their working area set up. I'll be back for sure to practice and race with a few friends.

[A2VR6]

Originally posted by 94boosted
I went down to the Race Room today to check it out and was blown away. I got to meet Blair, Jess and Zac and what a stand up bunch of guys. The simulators they have are unbelievable, the components they use, the way these things feel/respond is amazing, very realistic. Had a great time and can't wait to go back.



Went to check this out today as well. All I can say is these are the best sims i've experienced thus far. It was pretty cool how absolutely everything was adjustable with these sims, had a pretty fun time playing around with the brake pedal resistance on the GT sim and seeing how the different settings worked.

It was also pretty cool feeling the difference between a full fuel run in the formula sim vs. a minimum fuel load. I'll definitely be dropping by again.

[Blair Robertsha]

"Good idea but I'm not sure how many people will pay that much to race in a Sim. Girls won't get anything out of it as they will just think it's a video game"

Man you could not have missed the nail any farther with the quoted comment above.

Here's a link,

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Race-Room/580289038739472?ref=hl

read the reviews, have a look at the pics. And as a side note, women get up to speed in the simulators as fast if not faster than men. You see, we men, we KNOW how to drive, we don't read instructions and don't use maps, we know how to get there! :)

Ladies come in, ask us how to drive the race cars in the sims, we instruct them, they do what we have explained. No resistance to instruction. It's fantastic. Last Canada Day we did a party for an Equestrian Club and their friends and members. The ladies there who jump horses had an uncanny sense for feeling the car start to drift and understeer and in fact catch the race car well before a track off. In many cases, way before they guys did. They demonstrated patience on the throttle application, great car control and great sense of looking far ahead.

And with respect to the comment about our revenue streams and profit centers. We don't sell food, we can arrange for catering. We don't sell adult beverages or any beverages for that matter, we can arrange that by permit if the group would like us to do that and finally, our sims are not going 5 hours a day each sim.... yet, we hope that the public will receive us well and that the sims actually do get rented 5 hours a day. Our overhead does not stop when the sims stop running!

And to all those who came by this weekend, Thank you for dropping in, we had a huge time hosting you all and we hope you too had some fun with us!

The RACE ROOM.

[Blair Robertsha]

This is a really good link to Motorsports.com and sim racing. All of which are offered at The Race Room.

Enjoy!

http://www.motorsport.com/sim-racing/news/features/

[94boosted]

Did a two hour coaching session with Blair on Friday afternoon and it was very helpful. Did some skid pad exercises, some lead follow and a lot of data review & analyzing. Blair helped me realize that I had a tendency to late apex, downshift a little too soon and wasn't quite assertive enough on the brakes. After reviewing the data on screen, have Blair explain it all to me and then having a chance to practice, practice and practice some more I saw some real improvements in my lap times. I eventually got to within a second of the optimal lap time. Thanks again Blair. I can't wait to get back on the track this summer and take some time out of my real lap times.

And the guys at Robertshaw didn't have a Corvette loaded on their sim so they were kind enough to purchase a C6R for me to practice on :D

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j174/94boosted/20150213_174546_zpstbixezg4.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j174/94boosted/20150213_174509_zpsaazslsaz.jpg

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j174/94boosted/20150213_174757_zps7rnnes3k.jpg

[Blair Robertsha]

Hi Tom, thanks for coming in. For the readers who may be unaware of the significance of Tom's optimal quote. With the simulator, we keep track of all your sector times as well as corner entry, mid and exit speeds. Every time you go through a turn better the simulator logs your speeds and times through the turn and then compiles an OPTIMAL LAP. When we work as we we did with Tom, the optimal lap time is always changing (hopefully to a quicker lap time and a smaller gap between the two times).

When we started with Tom, his lap times and his optimal time, there was over 3 seconds difference, this shows us inconsistency among other things. We then looked at brake points and corner entry. Once we got Tom to actually use the brakes and be more aggressive with the brakes his times started to fall and get more aligned with his optimal. Once we got him to use the brakes properly we started on corner entry and the apex. In addition, data review of brake spikes, turn in points and track outs made it much easier for Tom to see where he was losing time and more important, that he does have the ability to drive the car better and faster. It didn't take long for Tom to see it and by the end of the 2 hours he was quicker and getting more consistent.

Next time out for Tom, we will put a few more race cars and drivers in the session with him and apply on track pressure to help him develop some confidence and consistency with another race car pressuring him awaiting any mistake he may make.

Good job Tom, without question, if you apply what you have learned so far this year, when you are on the track, I am sure you will be faster as long as you remember to apply what you have learned.

And again, thanks for coming in, we appreciate your business and have had a great time working with you so far.:thumbsup:

[Mibz]

Your web server's borked. If you want to hire a network guy in exchange for some simulator time, you give me a call :P

[Blair Robertsha]

Hi Mibz,

sorry not up on the term borked. can you give us a call later today to discuss, we are at 403 460 6775. thanks.

[Mibz]

Looks like it's working again. Damn.

[Blair Robertsha]

Why not give us a call. We do need at some time a backroom software person. You never know. Might be able to serve both of us well.

[AzNxHyDrA]

Dropped in for an hour long session with my girlfriend on Valentines and we both had a blast. Blair took us through a quick orientation and then moved over to the racing sims. During lapping, Blair would walk back and forth helping us correct our problems and provide tips on how to approach and deal with each individual turn. The hour flew by way too quickly. We finished off by watching our fastest laps of the session.

Definitely going to be coming back for more sessions in the future.

:D

[Blair Robertsha]

Hey John,

Thanks for coming by, I had a really fun time with you and your GF as well. After you left we did a few laps and we got into the 1:08's pretty quick so I know there is more time to be had but like you said, the hour flies by quickly. You two are really keen so I expect next time you are in your lap times will fall dramatically. But a word of caution, your GF was getting quick, she just might kick your butt next time out!
:thumbsup:

Thanks for coming, I look forward to your return John.

[Blair Robertsha]

Get Ready! So over the last few months we have had many drivers come in. Some with race experience, some not. Many have requested that we set up some sort of competition for them against similar driving levels and experience so we have done just that.

Two nights a week The Race Room will have "The Weekly Sim Stig" driving competition.

So what is a Sim Stig? Well, that's kind of hard to put into words as The Stig means many things but for clarity and unlike The Stig, The winning Sim Stig's name and photo will get posted to our FB page and on our web site so all the public can see just how fast a driver the winner truly is. No anonymity here, plain, full on public disclosure on the winner and their accomplishment! Nothing humble about it!

Tuesday night from 6 until 10 pm we will run "Rookie" Stigs. A Rookie Stig is a driver (male or female) who does not have any racing experience of any kind. The competition format is as follows;

Minimum of 8 drivers per night. All drivers in the same car at the same track. All drivers go into a 2 hour session that includes 70 minute practice, 10 minute lone qualifier and a 20 minute race. The driver who does the fastest lap that FINISHES the race will win 2 hours of sim time the following week!

On Wednesday night its "The Kart Stig", same program but for kart racing drivers only.

In addition, our instructors will be on hand to offer up (at no additional charge) some driver coaching to ensure a close battle ensues between all drivers entered in the competition.

So now you and your friends can come into The Race Room for a few hours, lose the street shoes for race boots, get in the cockpit, sit down, get fast, get winning and get boasting!

Call or email us now to secure your place on the grid!

[jwslam]

Anyone have any recent reviews of The Race Room?
I've been holding a gift cert since xmas and just haven't gotten around to trekking all the way south.

[lilmira]

Went there a few months ago. It's pretty hard. The full motion seat is a bit gimmicky, not enough as feedback. Other than that the equipment is nice, really solid. The brake pedal is really stiff with very little travel, supposedly how a race car should be. That's the most difficult part to get used to for me and the motion seat doesn't give me enough feed back to feel the brakes.

[94boosted]

Still awesome, the stuff these guys use for their sims is the real deal and in many cases interchangeable with the actual formula race cars they build and race. These sims are not a toy/game they are the type of sims that pro drivers train on. No ABS, no stability or traction control, it's all up to the driver. I'd highly recommend the Race Room.

I suppose the only drawback to the sims they use is that it makes you realize just how woefully inadequate your racing wheel/pedal/stand setup at home is, ask me how I know :rofl: