Season Standings

So the tally is in, and Pops you're it.

Race results:

What an excellent night's racing. The 650's can always be a bit fickle, the cars spreading out across the field, but not tonight, well, not too much. As often happens with a larger field there ends up being two races, front runners and back markers - I'm cool with that, the boost helps close the gap a bit, and of course it's all about the racing.

For me, the Bentley ran well, and no issues with tyres, only with foolish mistakes, but to be fair I don't think I/We would have caught Hoggy and his Toyota racer.  Top driving there chap, a demonstration if you will.

And two new starters, SFoamy (we shall call you Foamy) and Yould951(Yould). Not the best cars for the job, but excellent racing and certainly in the mix with the racing so great stuff.

Special mention to Evan this week for staying with us for the entire night's racing, a rare treat!

Season results:

As mentioned, Pops, you've dominated this season, and well deserved, between you and Hoggy we've all had to raise our games somewhat, good stuff. I think next season may be a bit more of a mix up, we'll see...

So the points:

Pops, you broke my points listing on the righth hand side, I've had to introduce another multiple of 10, you've gone over the hundred mark. Great stuff.
My high place is testament to racing in all the races - as I host them I'm always in there somewhere and the points add up. My second place at Spa did lift me up too though, Chris you'd have had third otherwise.

And that's it. Season over.

Pops, here's your trophy:

Next season:

And to business, discussion points feedback:

• Rocket racing - a complete class for this - every race night. i.e. single make.
• GT590 will be retired for a season.
• More HRC460 races.
• Maybe one make specials.
• More "slower" class cars - with slipper tyres.
• Epic enduro races are out - mindful we need our beauty sleep.
• Probably not going to change the night folks, unless to a weekend.

Learning curve

Hopefully I've seen a back of unproductive weekend work on the E30 for a while.
Last weekend was this:

Which doesn't look too bad, well, it does. It looks like the finest 70's Italian designed electrics. Sadly it was about as functional as that too.

But I've learned about relays, feedback loops and poor earth connections. And as a result of this I now have a three way switch instead of the BMW standard window circuit breaker.
What did that do (the breaker?) well, it allowed you to override the entire circuit for the power windows. Which seems like a good idea. Except, on my car it meant illuminated switches the entire time, or windows off. And with no air-con/heater (more on that later) they're going to be turned on a fair bit. And that means a flat battery more often than not.

So, now I have a three way switch - Off / On / Ignition - which literally means I can forget about the switch now. Handy, as I want to.

The heater? Yes, the heater. It's disconnected on my car. So I reconnected it. And then I flooded my garage. And then I disconnected it again.

No heater for me, or rather, quote from a mobile mechanic time: "Please remove from car B and place in car A" - I'm not doing it, it's one of the all time worst jobs out there. Anyone fancy earning a couple of hundred give me a shout.

Finally, this weekend is get car running weekend, finally.

Wish us luck!

GT5 - Taxi!

PSA

GT5 goes off line soon.
sniff.

But, if you do the last seasonal you'll accrue some cars in GT6 - link to details here

Also, if you want access to your DLC post GT5 server closing - read this

Personally, I doubt I'll go back, but I'll do the download thing, and of course I'd like the cars, so I'll be online on GT5 tonight.

Here are some memories of GT5 league racing for nostalgia...

Which one were you?

(B)rat pack

The birth of clubman racing

Distant memories

Suzuka in the wet - so much fun!

/PSA

In my head...

In my head my E30 looks, sounds and goes like this...

Classic in-car E30 driving.

I'm going to need a roll cage and some serious insurance. And a much faster car.

Race #9 Results

Top racing last night folks and a good call to bring it down to 12 laps - maybe 15 may have been more in keeping with the enduro approach to racing these cars, but I'm only saying that because of my disastrous tyre strategy that saw me go from what could have been a solid second place at least to fourth.

Official results

Sfoamy, you get a point for starting, a drop out will not matter post that point. Same for you Evan, though of course you dropped out later... much later. So late in fact you were leading on the last lap as I recall. "Adult words" indeed!

Next race
The next race is the final race of the season, which means that it's double points. So Pops, if you boycott the next race, and someone wins both (with six racers racing) anyone with 40 or more points could take the win. By coincidence I have 41 points, control the room and it's limited to friends only...

And the races?

Same cars as before unless it was faster than mine, then it's something else, slower...

Next season
So questions below got a bit of a mention last night.
Current thinking is:

• More of the slower classes, or at least give the 590 class a rest. Happy for that.
• Rocket racing. Yup, a single make class is a great idea, we'll do this.

More as I get feedback.

Also, you can subscribe to this blog, if you do I'll add you to my gmail updates account too, which I'm more likely to use given I can email from work (and posting pics of Dick Dastardly is a touch harder...).

Cheers

Andrew

League Update

GT590 Race #8 Results
A sterling job by all but me it seems. For me GT590 has been a terrible class. I just can't find a car that I like and even comes close to the rest of the field, then it's spin, boost and repeat. For such a fun class for some it's not been much fun at all! So I'm changing the rules for next season! (see below).
Evan's really found his pace with his 590 car. And as this vid shows, it's possible in real life too!



Results
I hang my head in shame...

As usual, season standings are on the right hand side. Pops, you're still able to be beaten. Not least as the last race of the season is a double points - so for an enduro, it's double double points. I'm saving myself for that race you see...

Next race
Into the big cars now. 650Open - this is 650pp, Open tyres, Traction Control allowed, and no four wheel drive cars (the 4x4 R35 racer was unbeatable at 650pp). Hint: The Le Mans racers are key. Time to get saving!

And yes, that's an enduro race this time around. So double points. It'll also have night racing, tough to do so practice folks!

Next season
So as we crest towards the end of the season, time to think about the next. Questions I've got in my mind that could do with discussion are:

1. Shall we extend GT590 to all countries - to allow the BMW/Audi racers that are in GT6.
2. Should we shuffle the season, so not all one class together.
3. Should we do more of the "slower cars". The racing is arguably better.
4. Any new classes requested?
5. Shall we move the night - it would be great to have Callum back racing with us.
6. Should TC500 ban FWD cars - in GT6 they seem to have the edge, or is it the drivers?

Win

E30 Sit Rep Time. And this time it's well worth it...

So this is the culmination of a lot of hard work - too much hard work. I now know how to remove a bearing (thanks Evan for the help - actually I think you masterminded most of this).

I also know that I don't want to do another one. Not fun really. 

Heat & Hammer. The duo that fixes most if not all things...

So that's the bearing inner off the hub shaft. I think I should use the word "flange" and "back bracket multiplier tool" in this somewhere. But in reality it was just a lot of hot air and hitting it. So right in line with my career in IT then. 

And a shiny new hub bearing.

Lesson to us all - don't ever try to repair a bearing. Replace it and walk away. I/we wasted several weekends with this, and in the end buying a new one and drifting it in was by far the easiest thing to do. Doing it wrong - 3+ days. Doing it right - 2-3 hours. Lesson learnt.

But what's that below...

This is new (to me) chrome bumpers. The eagle eyed will remember my car had white ones. But these came up at a reasonable price, and look pretty good - so I bought them. Is this important? It is, this is pretty much the last part that I can do to the car before it gets "professional". Exciting times.

These can never be shiny enough.

It does mean that my panda car might have to be rethought though. Black wheels and lots of chrome is going to make my car look like a kitchen implement. Thinking that now the original wheels might be in order. Though I still would rather be at 15" at least instead of the 14". Hmm, a happy problem!

Race #7 Results

Another epic race folks.
Bringing in the tyre wear was a great idea, though Hoggy's love of Monza shone through I think - and it repaid him handsomely with a drive through... Unlucky chap.

But not as unlucky as Evan. Your handicap in racing is your WiFi - I feel like buying you a 10m cable so you can go direct. Still, a point for starting, if not what you deserve for a stellar qualifying (or is that interstellar?).

And remember folks - double points for endurance...

Results

Next race

Back to the normal grind in the next race...

Interestingly we're doing the Americana thing then, Daytona road is cool, and of course Laguna Seca is better!

See you tomorrow...

Points update

Not sure if anyone's following the championship, but here's the results as I had them for what has been a few races now..

Race #5 (delayed)

Race #6 (GT590-4)

So there we have it. In the previous post there was the replay from the Fuji 590 race, and a great bit of motorsport it was too.

Gentleman Racers

I'll make comment about newbie drivers and hot heads too. Certainly we all enjoyed a closer kind of racing in the TC500 race (Race#5) but if you watch this replay there's plenty of typical accidental rubs only a few 'dives down the inside'.

So, newbie - remember you're racing real racers not AI. For the rest of us, give him space, if he's going to crash let him have the space to do so.

I'll finish by saying that the Fuji race appeared to be better than the Cape Ring Race - if we don't want penalties then please observe gentleman rules.

Championship Racing
So who's winning the championship? Pops of course... but not by much, a couple of average races has meant hoggy has crept up fast. And whilst we have reasonable fields it's possible that others will catch up if we continue to race hard like the last 590 race. My guess, Pop's advantage with the lower spec cars will be lost with the higher ones, but that's a guess!

Next Race
It's a big one, not only is it a test of endurance for our cars, but it's a test of endurance for my plasma TV. I'm nervous about that and considering turning off the TV as I pit in....

Race on folks!

Back to the blog

It's been a while.
Sorry for that, very busy at the moment and finally getting on top of things.

By way of apology, here's a vid of the Fuji race, great stuff...

I have the results all over the place, I'll post them soon. Promise!