A couple of simulators: Race Driving and World Grand Prix (WGP)

[baritonomarchetto]

Hi all,

this deal started exactly one year ago (october 2010), when a nice guy called me to notify that the Race Driving that was lying in it's warehouse was going to be destroyed if no-one would buy it... WHAT THE HELL! I could not leave that beast be given to the flames, then i told him to keep it until i could store it somewhere (i am out-of-space at home and also my father place is fulfilled).

The machine was in discrete aestetic conditions, no side arts, but complete. The monitor (a 25 inces low res Wells Gardner with a damn Zenith Fly in it) was working and the PCB gave a GSP error... it was worth the price asked, anyhow!

Found the place to store it, (a semi-grounded garage), one year ago i decided to unmount the monitor, glasses, the mirror and other “easy-to-remove” components. This helped reducing the weight to a 70%. Here are some images taken during the unmounting (i took them in order to be able to re-mount everything )







There are no images from the backside, sorry. I had not the opportunity to take detailed images of the inside today, also, beacuse there's little to no room and the machine is close to the wall.







But this is not everithing: the last week i went to the warehouse, just to see if something new was there... i go there more or less a couple of times per month, to say the truth, and i had the opportunity to play with very nice machines, like Cisco Heat Deluxe, various PCB's... and an Electrocoin World Grand Prix. I really did not had the space to store it, nor i was in the need for it (even if i remember i played it in the 90's and it got me at the time)... then i decided to let it go.

Well, one year have passed and i received the awaited call: the Race Driving was ready to be delivered to me! Not sure any other ware-houser would keep the machine FOR FREE one year in it's place, so thank you very much Devis!

… and what about the WGP? Well, i could not resist and asked him if we could find “the nice price”... and we found it

… here are some pictures i took this morning of the WGP, then. As always, the place has very little space to move so images can be taken only from close distancies  …



I think that the control panel is a beauty!!


side art


only few games played


the PCB. This game was playable with up to 8 cabinets linked  


the monitor: Hantarex MTC 9000 20 inches


Here you can see the handle bar, from the bottom side: the big metal disk in the center of the pict is the force feedback weight. When i played the game the FF was not working, but i am confident that it could be activated and disactivated via DIP switches. The japanese deluxe version has also the possibility to activate manual gears (not present in the euro machine)


Manuals where inside: the one on the left can be found on the net, but the one on the right will be scanned and uploaded  




This two machines will be nice close toghether when working  

[Muerto]

Great saves!!!!
You can get new sideart for the Race Driving...
And that TAITO look allmost brand new inside!!!!!

[level42]

Yes yes, more Drivin's !

[Superully]

cool, looks like you've got some work ahead of you!

btw, there was a WGP in the famous arcade hotel as well, but in much worse condition!

[Etienne MacGyver]

Nice saves ! 

[Muerto]

cool, looks like you've got some work ahead of you!

btw, there was a WGP in the famous arcade hotel as well, but in much worse condition!

What about the Gauntlet next to it??

[Superully]

What about the Gauntlet next to it??

still there, and not only one, but two of them. however, as i've said before, that place is locked down for good!

[Alpha1]

Can't we just break in? How easy would that be?

I'll come over to Germany to help.

[level42]

So.....where are the pics ? It's been a long time now, who's going to arrest you ? 

[baritonomarchetto]

Uh, I have just noticed that I have not updated this post for years!

I don't want you to think that those two games have been trashed: they are fully working now!
In particular, I had the opportunity to work on them starting from this summer.

WGP was the first of the line because it was 90% working and not too much work was predicted. After a good cleaning i replaced the (linear) not working secondary PSU with a switching PSU. As it was juicing the rumble motor, this (and reconnecting the cables) was all it needed to have it back to work. Another problem was the audio: only one channel was working. After some google i noticed that TAITO's are known for audio problem caused by the op-amp going bad. Piggybacked the old IC and the channel started working right after... yes! Last problem was mechanical :the springs that keep the wheel in place where broken, so i had to replace them.

Race Drivin' was another story: i knew it had some board problem, mechanical and the monitor had color issues. This board is incredible: it gives you the position of defective RAMs and you can bet that replacing them the pcb will work! I had 2 defective VRAMs and by replacing them the PCB was fixed! I would never be able to fix it without those self test, great work ATARI! While doing this, the monitor died. It had xray shutdown, but trying to fix it i shorted the EAT (and i am not a noob on this ). Being a zenith K7000 (K7000a) i had to replace it. Found that MTC9110 is a good replacement for those (you need to swap the neckboard socket and place a higher value resistor in series with the filament, 2.2 ohm if i remember well, i wrote this somewhere else so if someone need the correct value i can source it and replace some connector) and it really is
Some additional work (greasing of the pedals, cleaning of the cab, a good revision of the "new" monitor) and now it works great!

I have some pic on the phone, let me see if i can upload them...

[baritonomarchetto]

Here they are, side by side. I will post a light-up pic too in the enxt few days, don't worry  

[blackie63]

Here they are, side by side. I will post a light-up pic too in the enxt few days, don't worry  

just took delivery of a WGP myself monitor powers up great  nothing from the game pcb  hantarex us250 psu inside ,can you tell me when the game is on do you get either the green or red led on the lan board working ?

thanks Gavin 

[baritonomarchetto]

Hi,
as a rule of thumb, you cannot rely on board's led because they can go bad. To check if it's a board issue or a psu issue you must measure the voltages coming from the psu on the connector first, then on the game pcb. If the voltages are there (in particular the 5V line) it's likely that you have a board issue (or a monitor issue).

[blackie63]

Uh, I have just noticed that I have not updated this post for years!

I don't want you to think that those two games have been trashed: they are fully working now!
In particular, I had the opportunity to work on them starting from this summer.

WGP was the first of the line because it was 90% working and not too much work was predicted. After a good cleaning i replaced the (linear) not working secondary PSU with a switching PSU. As it was juicing the rumble motor, this (and reconnecting the cables) was all it needed to have it back to work. Another problem was the audio: only one channel was working. After some google i noticed that TAITO's are known for audio problem caused by the op-amp going bad. Piggybacked the old IC and the channel started working right after... yes! Last problem was mechanical :the springs that keep the wheel in place where broken, so i had to replace them.

Race Drivin' was another story: i knew it had some board problem, mechanical and the monitor had color issues. This board is incredible: it gives you the position of defective RAMs and you can bet that replacing them the pcb will work! I had 2 defective VRAMs and by replacing them the PCB was fixed! I would never be able to fix it without those self test, great work ATARI! While doing this, the monitor died. It had xray shutdown, but trying to fix it i shorted the EAT (and i am not a noob on this ). Being a zenith K7000 (K7000a) i had to replace it. Found that MTC9110 is a good replacement for those (you need to swap the neckboard socket and place a higher value resistor in series with the filament, 2.2 ohm if i remember well, i wrote this somewhere else so if someone need the correct value i can source it and replace some connector) and it really is
Some additional work (greasing of the pedals, cleaning of the cab, a good revision of the "new" monitor) and now it works great!

I have some pic on the phone, let me see if i can upload them...

Did you have a diagram  of the power supply wiring as im in the same situation needing to replace the board power supply with a switcher thank you 

[baritonomarchetto]

No, i have not but it's very easy to track down the 5v and 12v lines and replace.