Saturday June 17, 2017 was a beautiful day ,
perfect for a day at the races. The Giant Snail races to be exact. The races are held at Gullwing Coast Racers
every
Saturday. Snail racing is the longest
regular event on Secondlife. It runs
from approximately 10:45 am SLT to 12 noon.
If it
happens to be your first visit to Giant Snail racing, there is a lot to see and
do , once there. You will be greeted
with a lot of information and you may find yourself in a live show. Snail Racing is filmed by Treet T.V. (Treet.Tv Channel: http://treet.tv/shows/snailraces
) and you can a free Treet T.V. near the landing spot!
There is a theme every week and the entire sim ,
including fans and snails are dressed up according to theme. On June 17th the theme was “Summer
Camp”.
Many thanks to Tindallia Soothsayer for the camp
gear she made and passed on to those of us in the stands who did not come
prepared. It truly looked like a day at summer camp , even Jason from Friday
the 13th showed up!
(pic of
summer camp crew)
Once at the stands , take a seat and enjoy ! The seats are guided seats which allow you to
cheer the racers and watch without your view being obstructed.
Along with other information, you are given a
filming schedule which explains the order of events, it goes as follows;
“Here is our Filming Schedule (You need this for
the show):
You will sit in a guided seat so get
ready for us to take control of your avatar while in the audience. The seats
are made to make you cheer, clap on cue and your even able to follow your
favorite Giant Snail while they Race on the Sky Track.
10:45a Fireworks Begin!
10:45a Fly Through Crowd Cheering
10:47a Announcers Opening Introductions
in the Balloon
10:50a Best Themed Snail Fan Contest
Voting from the Balloon
10:50a RacerX Announces Stats for First
Race
11:00a RacerX Announces Stats for Second
Race
11:01a Fireworks Again!
11:02a SnailDude Launch
11:05a Best of Show Voting
11:25a Beginner Giant Snail Races On
Ground Track
11:30a Best of Show Results
11:45a Pro Giant Snail Races On Sky
Track
12:00p Background Credits Run Through
Announce the Best Themed Snail
Fan Contest Winner! (Cash Prize)
Picture of Best Themed Snail Fan
Winner
Once we are done filming the show everyone who
attended is invited to take a ride on the bus and watch the last weeks show in
Club Snailo! “
The races
are very fast paced , these are not your regular garden variety snails, they
are indeed giant, racing snails. The
course is not an easy one at all, even walking the course with just my avatar
was challenging. There are obstacles
that can slow down a racer and cost time, the mushrooms in particular, are
really bad and the terrain is varied.
There are a few rules to follow when watching
the races , these make it more enjoyable for everyone attending and it is a PG
sim , everyone is welcome.
Giant Snail Race Rules
1.
Please do not play any sounds. (Unless they are extremely Funny)
2.
Wearing Weapons is acceptable if worn only. No weapon USE whatsoever.
3.
The Venue is General Audience. No Cursing allowed.
4.
Keep unnecessary scripts to a minimum. See 2.
5.
No Gestures allowed that have music in them, the music industry is very picky.
See 3.
6.
No private bits hanging out. We are a Rated “G” sim after all.
7.
No Nudity
8.
No Adult themed role play.
9.
Follow the Covenant Rules as well as Linden Labs ToS.
10. HAVE
FUN! As long as it’s GOOD, CLEAN, FUN!
...and also some tips for getting the
maximum benefit from the races ;
ENJOY BEING
****A SNAIL RACE SPECTATOR*****
FOR MAXIMUM FUN & PLEASURE
1. When at the Snail Races you are allowed to
dress for theme. Where your best avatar and you may noticed by the camera a
lot.
2.
There is a HUD provided when you sit in the seats. Wear the HUD and turn
it on (green) until we tell you to turn it off (red) or back on again. Once you
turn it on hit escape a few times so that it resets your camera view. Now that
it’s on we will be controlling your camera view. So you can see everything that
is being filmed. You can also turn it off. Do that at your own risk.
3.
There is a Confused Foxy that hangs out by the audience. You can talk to
them and they will respond. Sometimes though they get a little uppity and need
to be cleansed (reset) for their bad thoughts, so they don’t cuss people out.
4.
Scripts can be a problem when filming. So the less scripts you have
running the better. So please turn off
any non-essential Scripts (Tiny AO’s are ok) Any other huds please turn off or
remove.
5.
Follow the instructions of the staff for maximum experience during filming.
If you are new there are some surprises we don’t want to let out in our
information packet.
6.
Our seats are enhanced with Bunny Magic, pick the colour of the scarf of
the Snail you want to follow and our seats will follow them in the race and bring
you back at the end. Help your Snail out by cheering.
7.
Since this is a voice event, it is streamed on the sim. There is going
to be a slight delay in the stream (Approx. 30 secs)
8.
Check out the extra items you can use during the race. Look for the gift
box behind the seats!
The races
are really a lot of fun and the people behind the races are largely to
thank. Everyone knows SL can act up on
occasion and there can be malfunctions, but mostly, it runs like a well oiled machine. Behind the
scenes there is team of people putting in a maximum effort to make everything
go as smoothly as possible and making
sure the spectators get the most from their experience at the Giant Snail
Races. The entire sim is devoted to the
races and training racers. One can even
get a free snail , a Giant one or a Tiny one and a free racing hud , You can
try out racing at the sim, you can go early and practice and also, if you are
at all interested in racing a snail , contact Racer X Gullwing, who can train
you for the races. Anyone entering for
the race on Saturday should show up at around 8 a.m. Slt. A lot of the fans and
team members have raced snails themselves and have pretty impressive records.
It takes a team to run these events. The team at
the Giant Snail Races has been doing this for years and their ability is
incredible. The amount of work is
staggering but with the creativity, knowledge , talent and sheer joy of what
they do is evident. Together they make a
truly enjoyable, fun experience for everyone.
The people who make up this team are ;
Announcers
RacerX Gullwing, Mae Best, Tindallia Soothsayer, Stephanie Brimmer,Lobbie
Riggles,Cally Kane,Oodlemi Noodle,Fukuju Amaterasu ,
Giant
Racing Snail Pros, Alden Cortes,Oodlemi Noodle
Giant
Racing Snails, Cally Kane,Lobbie Riggles,Josu Tenk,Abby Black
Music by Alazarin Mobius
There is also the jobs of posting results ,
pictures and films on Youtube, Flkr, Itunes , Treet T.V. And Facebook.
Follow Us on the following:
SLURL:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gullwing%20Coast%20Racers/152/98/777
YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIzUNyz8RHrBc--NIXwEAEg
Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/121990117839655/
Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/giantsnailracessl/
SnailDude’s Blog:
http://snailracers.blogspot.com/
SnailDude's Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/Snail-Dude-11775713522749
Treet.Tv Channel:
http://treet.tv/shows/snailraces
Revised 7-16-16 /sp
The results are passed out to spectators after
the races.
After the races everyone piles into the bus and
heads over to club Snail0! Here people
unwind from the hectic pace of the races and watch a recap of the last weeks
race and chat. It is a very friendly , fun place to hang
out.
How did Giant Snail racing start?
As Racer x Gullwing, (founder of the Giant Snail
Racing) explains, it was a learning process,” It all started with a contest
called Giant Avatar contest I saw was coming up in a few days back when events
were only a few a day and finding them
was easy. I went to the sandbox
where you could usually work for about 30 minutes
at a time between sim crashes .”
“ I started attaching prims to my feet but that
didn't make you any taller just made prims that went into the ground. So I
thought about it and figured the way I'd have to do this is be in the foot. I
didn't have a clue how to script legs to move and back then movement scripts
didn't work in avatars anyway . Narrowed
it down a bit to a one footed animal . The shell was maxed out at 30 meters or
maybe I just remember it that big . Thing is I didn't have a clue how to see
out of that so had to stop a lot an cam
outside the shell to see where I was.”
How did the contest go?
“It was hilarious I got to the contest about 20
minutes early and the guy holding it told me to please park off to the side
somewhere I thought he was steering me over there because I had obviously won
and he didn't want to discourage the other avatars. Ends up I was the only one that took it him
literally and made a giant avatar. Well I didn't win .
How
did this lead to Giant Snail Racing?
“
I was in group called Montmartre Artists and we were trying to get on the most
popular places list before camping chairs were invented and were each asked to
come up with an event Mae Best
had got another Quiz every other night it seemed and that alone got us up to
about 30th or so but not the top 20. Anyway I was trying to come up with an
event and talking to my good scripting friend and neighbor in fujin Catfart and
he suggested giant snail racing. That's where it all started, that's when I put
together a better .cuter avatar with blinky eyes that everyone loves and they
haven't changed much since. We did get into the top 20 a couple times.”
Where
did you Manage to Race Giant Snails?
“It
started on the ground using stone paths that circled Montmartre. I made all the
arrows and things needed for the race rez from a single prim and go find their
spot in the sim just for the race, then I'd go around after the race and shout
the race is over and all of signs of the race track would vanish just leaving
the stone path built by May Best.
“
They also went down the city streets of Chase Rutherford's Manhattan in the
Hawthorne sim an Aimee Weber build. at 8 pm on Tuesday nights.”
“
The thing that brought them to an end was mostly due to the physics in SL,
where. if you can find something to trip
over.. you can fall a lot faster than
anyone can run. Also. once you get into that falling state you can close chat
bar and hold the space bar down and get yourself to glide a long ways. “
“ So I moved the race up
into the sky onto a perfectly flat surface where there is nothing you can trip
over. Same time, Seifert Surface was experimenting with a transportation system
that would use push and throw you across the map. He had set this set of
“flingers” up at the future sim, just one Sim south of Montmartre and owned by
Chase Rutherford.”
“In
fact I used his experiments as the track ,I just built the course around them.
The race stayed in the future sim as it changed hands to Gus Plisskin . who said it was welcome to
stay as long as I wanted to have it there, but the sim slowly filled to capacity
and had a lot of scripts going and the”
flingers” stopped working consistently
and the sport became more of a luck thing but eventually become an endurance
race. I got Seifert Surface to give me a copy of his experiments and carefully
packed it all into a prim and moved it all back to where it started from
Montmartre. Also, if you go to http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/ and look search
using the tag snail race you can see 99 percent of that history there. The
snail race is only a few months older than snapzilla. Snail races will be three years old at the
end of November and have been held every Saturday but cancelled 2 or 3 about a
year ago when I was very sick.”
If you have a Saturday morning free tryGiant
Snail Racing out. It is truly an
enjoyable experience for everyone. You
will be welcomed and entertained from a group of very professional, witty ,
creative people. It is highly
recommended !
This
week's them is “ Aliens” and the sim looks absolutely wonderful ! The big event is July 15th, 2017,
it is the Relay for Life so if you can make it , please do!
See you at the Races !
ITunes hit the podcast button and type snail
in search
or see them on the web at
http://treet.tv/shows/snailraces
or facebook https://www.facebook.com/giantsnailracessl/
ITunes hit the podcast button and type snail
in search
or see them on the web at
http://treet.tv/shows/snailraces
or facebook https://www.facebook.com/giantsnailracessl/
ITunes hit the podcast button and type snail
in search
or see them on the web at
http://treet.tv/shows/snailraces
or facebook
https://www.facebook.com/giantsnailracessl/