Experimental Racing...

The history of Le Mans is littered with prototypes. And our last race is no different.
Behold, I now use one of these!

And here is my first attempt:

Things I've learnt from this:

• 1080i doesn't translate well to watching on the PC, 720p is probably better.
• File size, 2Gb+
• Movie maker cracks it around about this size.
• Youtube doesn't allow edits, so a direct upload uploads all the pre/post shenanigans too. Ugly.

I seriously can't be bothered to re-upload this now, though I might from a faster connection (Fibre based upload anyone?). For now, this'll do - with apologies for the meconium.

As an aside, we like endurance yes, how about 24 hour racing in it's proper form:

Nice.

Race #3 Results

Race round up folks.
Rich media review to follow - hopefully something special (watch this space, or rather the one just above this post).

Clubman Roundup
Errr, oops. We forgot to race clubmans.
Now, we can skip it, or use next week's off race to catch up. Though I think that those at FCL will be at a buzz night, so probably not ideal.
As such, we'll save that for another week, perhaps in a couple of races time. In any case, no matter.


Superstars Roundup
Top race folks. Seven runners saw us with a good spread of cars in the race. I think all of us had something properly quick to run with, and the replay does look exceptionally good with the eclectic mix on the grid.
I think it was Chris that pointed out that in all our other classes we use the most recent cars, whilst nearly everything in this race was around the 2000 or before mark. Nice.

Highlights - well, so many. Once we got over my room kick (PSN I don't like you at all), the racing was re-run on the six lap format with time sped up a little more so that we weren't night racing the entire race.
Chris, Evan, Paul and I had a battle royal at the front. Well, Chris had a battle with his car keeping it on the road at the front, and the rest of us scrapped it out behind.
Paul, I'm not sure how many times we traded places per lap, but certainly your car was quicker into and round the corners whilst I could pull away down the straights. Ultimately as has been the case in many races a car that handles well will out race one that is just plain fast - though if you have a car that is lightspeed then you're in also, as Chris proved.
Special mention to Simon, well done in getting a good result chap - I suspect you didn't know that for enduro races we double the points. So a good uplift there that's brought you closer to Luke's spot.
And another special mention to Luke. Luke had this car:

Which tuned up to over 700Bhp (we/I was racing with around 650Bhp) and still had a bit of wing on it. Even the in-game write up said this car was epic. Which it is.
Alas, it turns out that it's fuel consumption was epic too, Luke's clever tyre strategy worked a charm to get him past Simon, but alas the fuel one wasn't so hot. What an excellent race to have events like that kick in.



Official Results

Clubman Series:
- Scratched -

Championship Race #3
1. Chris
2. Paul
3. Andrew
4. Evan
5. Simon
6. Luke
7. Roderick

Next week

Next week's event (this by the time you read it) is a no-points night, with a twist.
We'll be racing the hill-climb track that I have - it's a short minute or so length track, with some serious switch backs and elevation changes in it.
Essentially, this session is not a race session, it's a best time attack practice session.

Format
We'll start at 8:45, as we want to get into this, each class will have 1/2 an hour to race, before we step into the next class, so:
08:45 - TC500
09:15 - GT590
09:45 - 650Open
10:15 - Unlimited.

Note: I might change this if we get bored!

Classes are as per our usual race rules - see this as a 'getting to know you' session for your cars!
In each class it's a race to see who can set the fastest time - this gets posted on the practice lap time doobry on the top right of the screen (no name, but we'll figure that bit out). As we go up the classes we'll see the times come down (I hope!).
I'll also be turning on the penalties for practice, so wall riding won't work.

Here's me doing a hot lap in a 500pp RUF (not TC500!):

Anyway, let's see how we go in this session.

Race on!

League Race #3 - Le Mans - This Thursday

We've done it before.

Replay time:

The quote was "Not Factory Standard"

25 Minutes of epicness - this race could be almost twice as long!

See you either tonight for some race practice time, or tomorrow for the main event!

Race on!

Race #3 Le Mans Endurance Race

So here it is folks, the first of the endurance races of the season. Nervous? You should be!

It's time to get some serious racing into the season, 10 laps of the world famous Le-Mans race track (less with Clubman of course!). With night racing and tyre wear!

The track:

In the game it's called Circuit La Sarthe which in fairness it is in real life. What you need to know is that it's a fast track that benefits from little down force and lots of power... except, the pesky Porsche Curves, no down force there means no cornering.

The cars:

They're the 650Open cars that we all have (we do don't we). Things to note:

• In this class you can have TCS (traction control), I would, it'll save your tyres.
• Race cars are the order of the day.
• None of that red-bull, bull either. Check the charter if you need help on car rules.
• Racing in cockpit or behind the car may be a challenge. In car, no dash is one of the better views, it makes a difference at night.

The twist:

So this race is going to have tyre wear. For the first time (since the last update) we can now set the rate of wear. I've done some test laps (in the name of science you understand) and reckon that we'll launch on "FAST" tyre wear, the options being None/Normal/Fast/Very-Fast. I'll let your practice sessions figure out what that means...

Oh, and learn where the pit stop is, it's hard to find in the dark!

But this is not twist enough. We have time advance turned on (be thankfull I didn't want to race wet racing at night!). For this race we will start racing in game time at 1:00pm and have an advance of x45 which essentially means that for every minute of real time we advance 45 minutes in game time. So, 10 laps at roughly 4 minutes a lap means we'll have 30 hours in game time to race - plenty to see the sun come up.

Official Race Details:

Clubman:

Host: Andrew (Andyc709292)

Lounge: FCT GT5 Andrew

Date: 29-Nov-2012

Track: Circuit La Sarthe

Start time: 9:00 PM

Laps: 2

Cars: Fixed

Tyres: TBC

Boost: High

Championship:

Host: Andrew

Start time: 9:15 PM

Track: Circuit La Sarthe

Laps: 10

Cars: 650Open

Tyres: Open

Boost: Low

Tyre Wear on

Time Advance on (x45)

Reminder...

587pp Road Car, no TCS, Racing Soft, a stiff drink and a challenge from George had me hit 3:54:08:

Slippery Fellows...

It's Elise racing time, an engaging viewing if not our usual clean pro approach...

Now, Luke has requested that I record in HD and publish in a similar vein. This is fine, I can stomach the pure pain of watching a PC that's old enough to have some dude from the raj with an Ostrich feather for it's cooling meander through it's upload. But, I don't have the means to capture said video in the first place.

So I suggested we have a subscription service to the league to pay for the tech* 

Feel free to pass the love for this on to Luke in our next pointless race.

(Banger) Race On!

*Not really, if I were to charge I'd have to do it properly.

Race #2 Results

Finally...

Here they are folks.
The results of the Season's race #2. Oh, and a video.

Race Round Up

Clubman
Well, it wasn't the race we thought it would be, moving to Trial Mountain for the evening certainly opened things up, and using the Elise road cars opened things up even further. The challenge was keeping the cars on the  track more than anything - almost too much really. Still, was an epic race that saw season favourite (only cos he won last season) Chris way down the ranking.
Simon's first official race was a challenge I think - normally the cars are much easier than that!
The only reason I (Andrew) won was a last minute dash down the outside passing Paul and Evan on the line. Lucky me.

Championship Season
GT590s are a mixed bag of a car I think. They're very quick but it's still possible to put one into an easy spin, and certainly both races were decided by the accidents as much as the extremely close driving. If these two races indicate what the rest of the season is going to be like we're in for some serious action.
Whilst Simon and Luke didn't have the right tools for the job, there was still a good field to race, and we all had fun I think on the night.
Take note of Chris folks - he won few races last year, but took the championship with a consistently high finish, same again this year?

Overall, excellent driving folks. It's worth saving replays and watching them from other driver's perspectives. It's great to see that in the most part we're all trying to avoid pesky collisions - giving the rest of the league great driving experiences.

Official Results:

Clubman Series:
1.  Andrew
2. Paul
3. Evan
4. Luke
5. Roderick
6. Chris
7. Simon

Championship Race #1
1. Andrew
2. Chris
3. Paul
4. Roderick
5. Evan
6. Luke
7. Simon

Championship Race #2
1. Evan
2. Chris
3. Andrew
4. Paul
5. Roderick
6. Luke
7. Simon

Well done for reading this far, have a video of the second race in the GT590 class, Elise race to follow (maybe):

Next Race

We're doing the Eiger Shuffle folks. Which some of you will remember us racing cars such as this:

The keen eyed amongst you will notice the tank parked at the back. That's Dodge Roulette that is...

Race on!

League Race #2 - Motegi East - GT590

Welcome to the next points race in the series folks.
Apologies for the lateness, no matter, after Race 1 I know you'll all be on board for this one...

Firstly, you'll need to ensure you've downloaded this track.If you've done the last academy then you'll have it already, otherwise read this.

The Track

Twin-Ring Motegi East is a real track that's been around in the GT series before. This track is well suited to the cars we race, making it an iconic Japanese event.

The Cars

Started in the last season, this season they feature heavily. Why? Because they're so much fun that's why.
That's right, the GT590 spec cars, so stuff like this works...

 NSX - Fast, and Fidgety

 Lexus, maybe some Lexi - Ahaha!

 Old School Rule

Do Not Race This Car

Official event details:


Clubman:
Host: Andrew
Date: 15-Nov-2012
Start time: 9:00 PM
Laps: 5
Cars: Fixed
Tyres: TBC
Boost: High


Championship
Host: Andrew
Date: 15-Nov-2012
Start time: 9:15 PM
Lounge: FCT GT5 Andrew
Track: Motegi East (DLC)
Laps: 6
Cars: GT590
Tyres: Racing Med
Boost: Low

Noosa Hill Climb

The weather didn't start off fantastic (looking quite torrential for a while) but Sunday afternoon turned into a please sunny spring afternoon....perfect for racing and soaking up the atmosphere of these classics.

 Rob Van Wegan, 1965 Ford Mustang.  Quite a few Mustangs having a run and making some beautiful noises.

 George Brook, 1982 Alfa Romeo GTV.  How can you not love a classic Alfa-so much soul.

 Kevin Krosh, 1969 Ford Capri GT coupe

 Julian Segar, 1984 BMW E30 318i  Quite a few E30 bimmers there, very nice.

 Brian Munn, 1975 Ford Escort Mk1 Rally Spec!!

 Bruce McKenzie, 1978 Ford Escort RS1800 Another Rally Spec!

 Leonard Falknau, 1982 Nissan Bluebird.  Sports sedan class bringing back Group C memories when these used to head wheel to wheel with Commodores, Falcon,s RX-7's etc at Bathurst.

 Chris Fung, 1974 Porsche Carrera.  Still simply stunning, a true classic.

 Bruce Chamberlain, 2011 Westfield XTR2.  Very fine looking bit of kit indeed...not sure where the groceries go in this one.

Johann Koelmeyer, 1973 Mercedes-Benz 450SLC  The mighty auto running in the regularity event.

Nev Scott, 1999 Subaru WRX

We never ended up seeing the, ahem slightly modified Subie run at speed, only run was aborted after getting stuck in 5th gear. Shame really as Nev set the fastest hard top time Saturday talking the class win and 3rd outright  next to 2 open wheelers.

Here's Nev's run quickest run onboard from Saturday.

Randall North, 2010 Ford Focus RS, not sure what was creating the noise but this thing sounded like a jet going by.

League Race #1 Results

Golly there's a lot that goes into organising these races now that there's a few more of us and we have the clubman series.

Champion Series Roundup
Still, all for the best I say. Pics to follow, but here's a video of what I think was the first TC500 race, so the second (Clubman being first). Whatever, it's a great race and proves the class...

So many good moments, Evan, on Lap six there's a point where your track is obscured by dirt, you come through it into a smoke screen, good commitment!

Paul, I think I was lucky in your drifting wide on one of the last corners, it handed me the lead.

And Chris, well, every time I got a break I'd look in my mirror to see the orange machine slamming up behind me.

Excellent stuff folks, and certainly a very clean one considering so many racers and such nimble cars!

Championship Race 1 Results

1. Andrew

2. Evan

3. Chris

4. Luke

5. Paul

6. Baloo

7. Simon

Championship Race 2 Results

1. Andrew

2. Paul

3. Luke

4. Chris

5. Baloo

6. Simon

7. Evan (DNF)

Interesting note, three of you scored 9 points overall, nice tight start to the season!

Clubman Roundup

M3s and Mazzer's at the TC500 Track #2 - 488pp sounded like they'd be similar performance to our TC500s but in reality not a patch. 

Early betting had the M3s pegged for an easy win, but it certainly wasn't in the end. We all had our fun moments, mine on lap four taking me from hero to zero - I think with these cars a clean race is needed otherwise having the same cars can mean a hard slog to catch up.

Clubman Results:

1. Evan

2. Paul

3. Chris

4. Andrew

5. Luke

6. Baloo

7. Roderick

8. Simon

Next week 

Remember the 8th is a non-points night, so whilst there's racing to be had it's an opportunity to try out new cars in a competitive environment.

Also, as we have some new and returning racers can we operate a gentleman's rule around catch-up if a car spins and drops back - i.e. lets try and give the cars at the back a good race too.

Planned racing is Trial Mountain in GT590 race cars.

See you then!

Best foot forward....

In preparation for this Thursday's racing I thought I'd share some more in-depth analysis on the track.
No this isn't a boring graph, though graphs can be very interesting you know.

Anyway, I took what I reckon is a reasonable TC500 candidate, ditched it, and moved to this beauty:

Yes, it's front wheel drive. But it is compliant, this season we allow 2 door FWD cars.
So this bad boy is 500pp and frankly a bit mad (as Clarkson will testify).

And so here it is, a replay of that car doing a hot lap. If I recall it was around 1:18, so not shabby by any stretch. Note the corners are called in the video, this is for a virtual walk around.

Almost corner by corner:

Turn 1. Don't overshoot the lead into this corner. It's far better to go in slow and tight than fast and wide as over shooting here can really slow the resulting down hill dash. Also, it's possible to cut the left hand jink on the way out a fair bit (as I did) - it's rare to get that so out it's a cut penalty.

Turn 2. Quicker than it may look. A higher gear than suggested (normally 2nd is suggested) and low revs will take you through this corner well. It has a wide exit, but it's hard to make use of it as often the entry is too fast as a result of the downhill dash over accelerating the car and going wide.

Turn 3. All about flat out. If you're having to let off here your car is badly set up.

Turn 4 - S Bends. This is the make or break on this track. It's possible to carry a lot of speed through this, but only 1 in 5 times seems to work, the others result in being spat off on the exit of the first left hander (over crest).
Safe racing has a gear dropped going into the initial right hander, and then accelerate through the left. Even then, as it's an over crest bend cars can easily go wide.
Best tactic to practice is not taking the initial right jink too tight, don't over throttle it and try and keep the car neutral and don't throw it into the right or left hand bend. With luck you'll get high speed through this set - gaining an easy 2 seconds on the lap as a result! The remainder of the set can be taken flat so long as you've not stuffed the initial left hand over crest.

Turn 5. This can be entered flat and speed carried through a good half of the straight. However, if you're at all out of shape from the previous bend it'll end badly.
Also, as you go exit the initial right hand bend now is the time to get the car straight and drop a couple of gears. Get it right and the car will start to step out a bit, setting you up for the next up hill right hander. Going into the uphill bend you need to be scrubbing a fair bit of speed off, a good line seems to see the car tight to the track on the left and cut across tight to the right ready for the final set.

Turn 6 - Final set. There are two clear lines on this set. Taking a wider line on the initial left hander will set you up for a better line onto the start/finish straight and that can really help, or a tight line in is I think quicker around the initial bend, and guards against diving down the inside. Not sure what the quicker line is, but I do prefer the inside line in racing as it's safer to drift wide. In the video you'll see I take this line but have to reset the car before the final bend, this costs me time for sure.

Of course every car is different, and this car is most different of all (one reason I used it). Also, driving styles will predict some of the lines we take. Hope it was helpful and gets us ready to race in a few short hours!

Race on.