Released 1987/88: Final Lap is a racing video game developed by Namco and released in Japan in 1987. It supported uptil eight simultaneously players in network and was maybe the first racing game with the “rubber band effect”, meaning the player in lead will never be way to far ahead of the other players.
My Final Lap and restoration: This cabinet was really beaten up when I got it and was restored as a general driving cab instead of the original. It’s now setup with modern PC hardware to emulate all sorts of arcade racing games. Emulators like MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) uses the original arcade ROM’s, stored as image files on harddrive. An 25″ CRT picture tube has replaced the original 19″ arcade monitor, I’m still using RGB connection for video signal.
My rebuilt Final Lap cabinet
Before the rebuild.
Installed a pedal cluster with two pedals, original had only a single pedal.
A lot of sanding.
Replacing a lot of broken wood. Fitting new pieces with reinforcement on the inside.
Fitting a 25″ CRT tube from a donor TV set.
Replacing broken wood in the corners with new pieces.
paining the “new” pedal cluster.
Sanding the coin doors and metal lists for painting.
Drilling out holes for “view”-buttons.
“View-buttons”, steering wheel and a “two-switch” auto-center shifter in place.
Coin doors painted.
Backside of the control panel, also fitted a new 270 degree potensionmeter.
Testing the 25″ CRT screen.
25″ CRT screen fitted.
Hardware inside.
New rear hatch plate compared with the old.
Sanding and painting.
Masking up for sanding and painting.
Starting to getting somewhere.
I used a cutout Plexiglas with black foil in front of the screen.
Testing the controls.
Mounting the t-molding.
T-molding in place.
All finished.
Final Lap arcade supported up to 8 players at once.
Upright twin machine.
Final Lap art.
Final Lap
Remi Jakobsen
I'm collecting classic computers and video games, stretching from the 70's into the 90's. Restoration, history, usage ...
