Apricot Hill

GT6 has Apricot Hill.

This is good news. This is very good news as it's a great test'n'tune track to say the least, and a good all round short track.

And, I remembered I had a video clip from my GT4 days - apologies for the low quality, the technology wasn't all that back then...

Wooo hoo, errr wait...

Now as we know there are some very cool features coming with GT6, and if you fancy a trip to Kuwait (almost completely not a warzone) you can pick up a copy now. If you don't want to spoil the surprise stay off the fourms I say.

But, as in the reveal here, we will see a return of the "coffee break" events.

Great I think you'll agree, but I'll just quote this:

These are mini-games that appear between events in the Career Mode. There are many challenges that can be tried over and over again, such as a cone knockdown event inside a stadium, and eco-challenges where you compete for how far you can drive on just 1 litre of petrol.

I bet we're all excited at how far we can drive on a litre of petrol eh!. Personally, I think we should compete to see how quickly we can burn through that litre - much more fun!

When the rally goes to poo - literally

Mikko Hirvonen eats...

GT5 News.

Well folks, 2 weeks until GT6 is released and I'm a bit sad actually. Sat doing 3 minute hot laps around a custom Toscana road course in a HRC460 car (a few actually) last night and it dawned on me that my well sorted collection of cars is probably never going to see the light of day again. Why would it, the track list that we know is included in GT6 is enough to move things on, new tracks include:

• Goodwood hill climb.
• Ascari
• Brands Hatch
• Silverstone
• Bathurst
• GT Arena (look it up in the link above).
• Willow Springs
• Matterhorn
• Apricot Hill

I bet there are more too...

We also get 25+ launch cars and $1m in the bank to go spend - again, why go back! If you've not got a pre-order, it's worth doing it for the extra cars you get. And of course some ultra classic cars out there too.

For the league two huge questions.... First, and I think this paramount, do we change our name! Ok so not so serious. The other question is do we want to restart the league in the new year in GT6? There are some cool features that we can make use of no doubt, and I do enjoy the racing.

Do let me know folks, without the league I'll just race on, and as time has proven, this game will be a great friend for some time. 

Raise a glass to GT5 folks - it's been fun!

Here are some pics from the racing we've had enjoy!

Cheers

Andrew

I've reached the edge...

...of the Internet again, this time at least it's motorsport related.
No sound to start with.

This is why should fear Russia, they don't break the rules, they have no rules.

GT 86 Meets WRC

Maybe enough to revitalise the WRC scene, but I doubt it:

Toyota Motorsport is developing a rally version of the GT86 sports car that will be eligible to compete in the World Rally Championship.


In other news here are some pics of cars that I've taken of late...

Great Fun

Great Wallpaper

Just Like This

Just Like When This Goes Around A Corner

Red. Neck. Gold. Car

587 Master Car

The Hill. The Mix

Well, you all missed a great day's racing and no mistake.
But, for a short period I took video footage on my phone...

No apologies for quality, this vid just doesn't do the day (or indeed the fact that I thought I'd kept my hand steady) justice.

Same time next year?

And of GT5 - expect to see a hill climb or two in this week's racing!

Oh my....

Look away now if you want to save the surprise of GT6...

Not long to go folks!

The Hill.

It's here folks:

Noosa hill climb

I'll be going on the 10th. So anyone who can make it, I can give a lift from my place. Drop me a line!

Last year we had showers, but that didn't detract from the event significantly, plenty of historic and contemporary racing going on.

I'd say think of it as your local Goodwood festival of speed, but that might be overdoing it a bit. Mind you, as a bitumen drag up a hill it's pretty great, and there are plenty of vantage points.

Order of the day will be:

• Leave my place around 7:30am (unless it 's raining, see below).
• Take the following:
• A red cagoule so you look like a car nerd. (or something similar I suppose).
• Something to eat, there was a reasonable cafe, but it's at the bottom of the hill.
• A camera - you can walk the pits. Fast shutter/SLR for racing shots or you'll be disappointed.
• Maybe something to sit on - even a basic sheet or similar, it gets tiring standing all day.
• Racing finishes at 4pm, I'm planning on staying the distance unless it's raining (see below).

Oh no it's raining!
If it's raining I'll be watching the radar for an hour, if it's typical monsoon then no racing. If it's patchy showers then I'll be going. So leaving around 8:30.

This folks, is one of the better motoring events of the year in this region and has the capacity to be an excellent day's outing.

If you're driving, my advice is to head for Sunrise Road - it's at the top of the hill and generally speaking is easier to get into and out of (you can hook in from the Bruce easily enough).

Hope you can make it,
Andrew

E30 Sit Rep....

I think this sums up where I'm at right now:

Turns out there's quite a lot of parts in a car - I can see why folks end up with a half dismantled car parked under their house now. Like this in fact....

Amazingly the car would or at least should still drive! Commitment to breaking this one this weekend I think!

Of my white one?

• Rear light replaced - old one was cracked.
• Headlights replaced - were wobbly, the 'Ron' had new style.
• Air box replaced - was wobbly, the 'Ron' had a proper BMW one - good for now.
• Myriad of electrical and interior parts swapped out or fitted. My good one doesn't look like the above!

Work progresses, I'm heading towards investment time though, only big jobs left really...

League Fatigue

Hi Folks.
We're not exactly filling the grid on our Thursday nights, no matter, but it does mean the whole "let's have a championship" is thrown into a bit of disarray.

As such, unless there's an overwhelming response I'm going to ditch the points for this season - we'll consider regrouping for GT6 I think, possibly in the new year.

Oh no!

Oh wait...

I'll still be making a point of racing on a Thursday night, and when there's four or more racers online (not so much of late) then we'll look to meet the racing calendar's events. If it's three of us, well, we'll run what we brung on the night - as we have been - and have a jolly good thrash nevertheless.

Keep your class cars, including your GroupB racer - we'll still observe league rules in most of our races, lets face it the classes work and provide most entertaining racing!

It has all got a bit GroupB though - a few races and all cancel! Here's one of if not the last race of that class...

Epic racing I'm sure you'll agree.

I'll also keep posting to this blog - I like it as a resource for me and blogging what I'm doing with my Beemer - though I do need to sort image hosting.

Finally (and I wish I had camera evidence) I had the good fortune to race on RFactor at an industry conference, using these guys. Of course, I set fastest lap around Lakeside on my second lap - apparently to the surprise of the organiser, given it had been in heavy use for three days before I sat down there for a quick blast. Alas I wasn't eligible for the finale (Fix!), which was 3 laps around Bathurst in a V8 racer. Shame, I had a go after and was five seconds up on the winners time, 2:22 which I'm pleased enough with given the time I had on the set-up. Highlight of my conference I can tell you!

See you all on Thursday night(s) - I'm up for the racing of course*

Cheers
Andrew

* Except on the 31st, I'm away then!