Triple race, reverse grids - BTDC @ Club England starts Thursday!

[mr_oily]

Yes, before you say anything, I know.....it's in the Jetta. I hate it. It's the only car I don't enjoy in iRacing for a whole range of reasons .

I've seen the racing that's possible with it however (check youtube for supporting evidence!) and I figure if I'm ever going to get a slice of that action it'll be with this format. It's a new challenge, the first to use the new reverse grid features and it'd be great as always to have as many SROU bods over there as possible to ram race alongside.

First practice race is Thursday at Silverstone International and then the season starts "proppa" when the official iRacing season does the same.

Fraser's blurb from the forum :-

-----------------------------8<----------------------------

Dear Englanders and Celts!

After some discussion on the England Forum, it's been decided to organise a club series based around the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). Since we don't have a Super 2000 or NGTC-spec car though, the car has been chosen as the Jetta, and the name as the British Turbo Diesel Championship (BTDC).

This is intended to run fortnightly on Thursdays from Season 1 week 1, with the calendar soon to be announced, but will feature BTCC and WTCC circuits, with two or three replacements for tracks we don't have yet. The intention is to run a tournament based on a shortened version of a BTCC weekend in one evening, namely:

Round 1: 30 mins practice, 15 mins qualifying, 15 mins race
Round 2: 10 mins practice, 15 mins race, grid determined by round 1 finishing order
Round 3: 10 mins practice, 15 mins race, grid determined by round 2 finishing order with random lottery of the drivers who finished between 6th and 10th.

Points will be determined by BTCC 2012 rules, as shown here:
http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews_detail.php?id...r=2011&form=browse&searchterm=

Before the championship starts, we will do a trial tournament at Silverstone International on Thursday of Week 12.

I will have the time and password posted to the England and Celtic boards, but suggest any discussion takes place on this thread rather than there, so that both clubs can, er, enjoy each other's company.

See you at Silverstone!

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Full race thread here.

[lazlow]

Oh yea!....sounds ace, I'll be there.

[Legzy]

Like the format & have not tried the Jeta for a little while about 18months, so might have changed a bit
Maybe worth a little dabble to see anyway.
Will you post the details here Oily?

Cheers

[spanner]

Hmm.. i struggle to fit in even one official race with practise and a qually session in a single week. Not sure i can manage more

[Mark J]

wowee, a Jetta !...against other jettas, whoohoo, after 3 years of my hard earned cash towards this sim... where do i sign up? oh, wait a minute...zzzzz 

Sorry Oily, couldnt resist  Will pass i think but have fun! 

[mr_oily]

Great stuff lads, well done  . Yep, will defo keep you posted Legz!

Jonzo you're a mystery to me mate! I know you've put the effort in to try and get into iRacing a few times too so can't fault you there but I just can't get my head around how you're not yet enjoying it!? I'd have thought a GT40 or an LMP2 around Mid-Ohio, Sebring, Spa etc. would be right up your street. Maybe it's just the lack of Porkers!?

Anyway you've read the pitch as to why lots of people love it so I'll spare you that again but I hope you find something you enjoy soon dude!

[Mark J]

yeah i know Oily. Ive bought iR every year since it came out hoping it will improve or grab me, but sadly thats not the case and i dont find it good value for money at all. How far has it moved on in 3+ years?  I also just dont understand their philosophy of releasing individual cars with nothing similar to race against, for one. ie one LMP2, one saloon car, one F1 car etc. They seem averse to releasing another car of the same class to liven the grid up a bit.
The other sticking point is the lack of racing, unless you buy every track they make. Sometimes i look here and see an upcoming series that might interest only to find i'd need to spend another £50 on tracks to compete, despite already having purchased quite a few. 

It just seems like a nice hotlapping tool most of the time with splendid tracks, but character less for racing and non-reflective of the sort of racing i enjoy...ie mix grid GT racing, modern and vintage. (not porsche specific as you guys always conclude!!)
I just never feel inspired to jump onto Ir for some racing, it sits on my HDD all paid up but unused.
Trust me, i really wish i was using/liking it more !

[lazlow]

Well I've just had a quick run out in the Jetta and my conclusion is that the format for this series sounds really good....but the Jetta's driving experience is like having your teeth pulled out could it BE any slower. I'll show up for the test race but I'm not sure I'll be doing the series yet

[Paul968]

Do it with late models and I'd be interested!

[spanner]

 

[Darren Seal]

Do it with late models and I'd be interested!

OR the Street Stock..  anything but the Jetta and I'd be interested. 

[mr_oily]

@ MJ - I can understand the appeal of multiple cars definitely, I'd love to see a whole variety ot GT cars too but I guess it just comes down to limited resources. They'll get there, but they put so much time into developing what they deem to be a better quality product that they get drip fed unfortunately. Whenever I used to race Simbin titles I'd love the diversity of cars and tracks but I'd also always find myself craving one make races too so you know everyone's on a level playing field and the racing's hopefully got more of a chance of being closer. Horses for courses there isn't it really - I just never find myself seeing it a negative but I guess I've had the iR rose tinted glasses on for quite a while now!

As for not having the content - it's expensive, no getting away from it. I bit the bullet early on and forked out for whatever I could afford until I had the road tracks at least, now it all feels great value as the only bits I'm buying are the new releases and the renewals are always on promos so they're £40'ish quid a year. Trouble is I guess as you're not actually enjoying it yet, the prospect of spending that much probably isn't so inviting - there's great racing to be had though, no doubt about it. I rarely do any of the official series unless it's a practice for Club England but there are almost too many organised leagues running whatever you're after. If you have a scout about the forum you'll find all sorts - it's just trying to fit them all in! I often just browse the hosted races too and jump on for a blast in anything that looks interesting.

This probably isn't helping at all I'm aware - I think until you find a car you enjoy and have a few races where you've got to go wheel to wheel with some respectful drivers you'll never really fancy it but trust me, the action's out there! Maybe do a few rounds, just the ones youv'e got the content for? Are there any cars you do think are alright - if so I'll keep an eye out for anything interesting. Oh yeah - don't try the Jetta, it may kill off your interest entirely!

@Jimbo - Good man - I think @ Silverstone's it's going to be about as bad as it gets given it's a power track but who knows, this could just be a non-starter if it's no fun at all. I'm going to jump on early - will run a practice server if there isn't one (will post here when it's up).

@ Spanner - lovely, see you tonight  

@Paul/ Darren - I would love nothing more, somebody please organise it! If that's not a good new series for SROU I don't know what is. I did consider doing it myself (Dave permitting ) but it's not one you can set up and leave, it requires a bit of manual intervention between rounds and I know I don't have the time and would therefore forever be asking other people to sort it. I don't mind sorting some flyers but somebody else would have to take the lead and I'm not sure that person exists on here any more!?

[spanner]

@Paul/ Darren - I would love nothing more, somebody please organise it! If that's not a good new series for SROU I don't know what is. I did consider doing it myself (Dave permitting ) but it's not one you can set up and leave, it requires a bit of manual intervention between rounds and I know I don't have the time and would therefore forever be asking other people to sort it. I don't mind sorting some flyers but somebody else would have to take the lead and I'm not sure that person exists on here any more!?

May i politely direct you toward that little line of text below your forum name

Can you expand on what you mean in terms of manual intervention and not neing able to set up and leave?

Oh after our blast the other week i really like the street stock, deffo up for that!


You may see me trying to sneak in tonight.... Will need ALOT of practise. Tried a few laps last night and realised i think i need to learn to drive again, as i cannot drive this thing. Doesnt help thinking i can drive FWD from our Race07 races

[mr_oily]

Hahaha yes you do raise a point actually there Spanner - at the moment it's more one-offs while I'm a bit short on time and doing the Club England stuff but hopefully I'll be able to run another series before too much longer.

Manual intervention - from my experience with it, you create a tournament which you can schedule to launch automatically but then you need to wait for race one to complete so you've got a finishing order before you can set up race two. It displays the finishing order and you apply one of their algorithms (reverse top 10 or whatever) or even just drag and drop drivers to form the next grid. It's pretty cool actually but yeah, requires somebody being there. Don't suppose you fancy it do you - alternate Sundays  are currently free I believe!?  

Mate FWD just does not agree with me, never has so we'll be in the same boat - see you there nice and early then LOL

EDIT: Practice server now up for 2 hours. 60 mins practice, 45 mins qually and then a 15 minute race should happen about 7:10pm'ish I think...just to get us in the mood 

[Legzy]

Oily has put on a practice server at Oulton in the Streetstock (free).
It's actually rather fun