On The Track: 3DBotMaker

by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

Anew king has been crowned at Race Mountain. It’s not Steven King, the three-time DRC Champion, although he will be seen on the mountain in the not-toodistant future, as the end of the year event will feature the DRC all-stars on the regular 3DBotMaker road course.

No, it isn’t even Terry Hill, the winner of the first KotM tournament. At the end of Tournament 2, the winner got to take on Hill for the Mountain’s most prestigious title. And that head-tohead match-up was one for the ages!

The KotM Finals featured cars that had done exceptionally well in the earlier rounds. The first-seeded Kong, driven by the FGC Family managed to advance to the finals despite some very erratic driving in the earlier rounds. Garbanzo MacElroy drove Dynamo through the same exact bracket in a more reliable manner, and one could argue that he deserved to be the favorite coming into the final race.

From the other side of the bracket, Timmy Vincent drove Audihouse consistently well and hoped to continue on theme in this event.

T-Lamont returned to the track in The Executioner. This car was dominant through the lower rounds of the tournament.

The cars were well matched, and this Final round was probably the most anticipated set of races in quite some time.

The rules for the final were somewhat different than they had been in earlier rounds. The first four laps would be done exactly as they had been for the rest of the tournament, but after that, the top two drivers would face off head-tohead to earn the right to face off against Terry Hill’s Dollar General Evo.

Lap 1 saw Garbanzo MacElroy and the FGC Family neck & neck through turn 3. Coming out of the turn, Dynamo led Kong by about a car length as they went down the final stretch.

Lap 2 was taken by Audihouse and the Executioner, in first and second, respectively. Kong flipped in turn two.

In lap 3 FGC pinballed about and let both T-Lamont and Garbanzo MacElroy pass for a one-two finish.

All of the cars were in contention until the last lap. Only the highest seed in the tournament hadn’t won a lap outright up to that point. And the FGC family looked like they would be missing out on a chance to become “King” Kong.

But, the fates had other ideas, as Kong was the only car to finish the fourth lap. The other three cars’ DNF altered the point standings greatly, and T-Lamont and the FGC Family were slated as the two cars On The Trackin the head-to-head match-up.

In a best two-out-of-three, The FGC Family managed to put in a great run with straight lines and good approaches to the curves. T-Lamont, on the other hand, put the Executioner on its lid.

In the second lap, both Kong and the Executioner were off their wheels between the second and third turns, and neither was able to finish the lap.

According to the rules at 3DBotMaker, the Double DNF is reset with the same starting positions, and that means both cars take a mulligan on lap two.

In Lap 2 Redux, FGC won the cleanest lap of the entire tournament. Kong held tight lines through the corners and was true the whole way down the mountain, putting up a fantastic time of 16.900.

Somehow, by coming through at the right time, Kong made good on the FGC Family’s number one seed.

At the top of the mountain, Terry Hill awaited his new challenger in his once-again-orange color shifter 2008 Mistubishi Lance Evolution.

Terry Hill was clearly the best car in the field in the first KotM tournament of 2020. There can be only one king, so winning the second tournament was not the end of Kong’s journey.

THE CROWNING EVENT -- The FGC FAMILY leads the fourth and final lap of Kong's head-to-head match with Terry Hill, the former King.

The FGC Family clearly had learned from past years’ 3DBotMaker videos, as they pulled out a maneuver that hasn’t been seen much since the days Fat Track and Coroplast.

Kong went into turn two nose-high and blocked the Dollar General Evo through the entire 180 degrees, straightening out only once it was clear that Terry Hill’s car wasn’t going to get its momentum back. The FGC family took lap 1 in style.

The block may have done something to the Evo, or perhaps Terry Hill’s confidence was shaken, because he wasn’t the dominant racer fans of 3DBotMaker have come to know.

Lap two of the best-of-five finale went easily to the FGC Family who posted a quite zippy 16.716 track time.

This was looking like it might be a quick three laps and done. But, Kong returned to erratic behavior and drove right off the side of the mountain at the McClyde site. Not to worry, that VW Golf is like a Timex. It took its licking and kept right on ticking.

Back at the top of the mountain, the two cars lined up once more. And, after pulling long before the chicane yet again, Kong carried the day, and became the new King of the Mountain.

The only other new content on the 3DBotMaker channel in the last two weeks was a promo for the upcoming Fast and Famous Car Tournament. This tournament is a result of a vote taken on the channel’s subscriber page.

The eight car tournament is quite small for the regular races at the Mountain, but with just six weeks left in the year, it’s just the right size. Otherwise, there won’t be enough time to fit in the previously plugged race of the DRC All-Stars. The cars that are competing are a rogues gallery of famous vehicles, and it is sure to be a fun tournament. With cars such as the 1966 Batmobile, Mr. Bean’s Mini, Doc Brown’s time machine, and the 1982 GMC Vanura from the A-Team, the cars are all over the map when you compare their vital stats. But, as the axiom says, open track is the great equalizer.

There is no word yet as to whether there will be a race of all the series champions of 2020. There was a race of that type at the end of both 2018 and 2019, so there is hope that 2020 won’t deviate from the pattern.

There was also a post in the 3DBotMaker Facebook group earlier this week updating potential drivers on the status of entries into the future KotM tournaments. To sum up: all cars that have already had timed qualifying solo runs will be headed for the group qualifiers before those that have not yet taken their solo trips down the Mountain.

There are so many cars in 3DBotMaker’s studio, both qualified and yet-to-be qualified, that there will not be another call for cars in the near future. In fact, the notice stated that the current batch of cars will be racing into 2022.