SimRacing.org.uk

Grid/server capacity: 28

Practice: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (10 mins)
Race: 20:30 (40 laps)

Track: Rostok  Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg187123#post_rostock)

Cars allowed: Ferrari 250 Testarossa Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_ferrari_250tr), Jaguar D-Type (1957 version only) Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_jag_dtype), Maserati 450S Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_maserati_450s), Aston Martin DBR2 (includes GTC-65 class fix) Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_aston_dbr2), Ferrari 375 Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_ferrari_375plus)

Time of Day Setting: 03:00
Start: STANDING
Tyre wear: Normal
Fuel consumption: 2x

Server: simracing.org.uk Mondays
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Notes:
(1) It's best if all drivers can make sure they are connected before the Qualifying session as drivers on track during qualifying will not see cars that join after they are on track until they go back to the garage.
(2) Please make sure you are fully aware of the SimRacing.org.uk Rules.
(3) The AI control should be turned off so that you have control of the car at all times, including pitting. Your player file should therefore read
Autopit="0"
Force Autopit Off="1" // Forces autopit always off
No AI Control="1" // AI never has control over car
If you still finding pitting problematic, experience tells us that its less to do with positioning and more to do with approach speed. A slow approach to pit crew chief has proved most reliable.
(4) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=422&theme=5)

Special Notes: Note earlier start time.

 :thumbup1: :thumbup2:

Get your brighter headlamp fix here http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=7396

Pit stop guide https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=11812.msg212761#msg212761

Just downloaded and tried this new circuit as I had a spare 30 mins and opted for the Aston DB2 for no particular reason.

Awwwwww!!! that engine note when it gets up near max revs is just ...........................  :drool: :drool::thumbup2: :thumbup2: :thumbup2: :thumbup2:

Watched a couple of the DB2's and some C type Jags at the Goodwood Revival last year and probably a couple of those Fezzas too. I may not be fast enough to worry the quick boys around this narrow circuit, but I can assure you I will be competing on volume level with my surround sound  :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes:

Just had a blast in each car yesterday.  They get me grinning from ear to ear..  :yes:

Sorely tempted by the Ferrari 250, but sadly it seems to be one of the slowest.  Maserati is an absolute ANIMAL. My ears were bleeding after testing it (somehow turning the volume down didn't occur to me..  ;D).  It seems to come in two engine flavors.  Tony, can you confirm we can use both ?   I only tried the most powerful, but maybe its lesser sibling is a more harmonic combination of excessive engine power and nonexistent grip...  ;)

Nice track BTW, with great sense of speed in these open cars, on those narrow, tree lined lanes.  Haven't checked yet, but can imagine it might be very dark there at 03:00...  :o

Cheers,
Erling

I ran a few cars last night, and the DB2 was a drivable fast option, didn't try the 250
did try the 375 which was very drivable but slower than I expected, then i tried my
old fave the Monster Mazzer.  ;D  I was fastest in it, but experience tells me that
the setup needs to cripple it to have any chance of finishing a race with burnt rears  :o
I think I was doing 1:42 ish with the Mazzer, 43 with the DB2, and 45 with the 375.
The Jag was really slow, which was a bit odd, as I thought it was nearly as fast as a DB2.

Either Maserati can be used.

Practise you pit entry as due to the short entry you may get caught out with a stop/go for pit lane speeding.

I'll have to try that myself tonight to see if the limiter is required at this track.

There is street lighting in places but loss of headlamps will require xray vision in some sectors.

Thanks for the pm Tony, I had noticed this was on & since I won the first race at Snetterton it would be rude to miss this one.

Ran a few practice laps in something slower to learn the track, not too difficult, & then took the Testa Rossa for a run. Had a setup for it, but was well off Matt's pace initially & the car was all over the place under braking. Some setup changes cured that & after around 10 more laps I got down to 1.41.0 with it. If I have time I will try some other cars, but the only other one I have driven before is the D-type, so I will probably stick with the Testa Rossa for the race. Not run any laps in the dark yet!!!  :o

My best time so far is 1:40.6 in the Big Mazzer. I tried the 250 and it was a really
nice drive, but I don't think I got under 44 in it. The Mazzer limps round corners
and has wooden brakes, but flies down the straights at a shocking pace.
I went back to the DB2 which was my first test, and went no better than before.
Have done all testing without any headlights. I don't like to use lights because
if I lose them it makes it really awkward.

Forgot to report that this track has a pit limiter function so don't get caught out

That's a mighty impressive time in the 250 Geoffers  :o
It's my favorite of the cars, but sadly the slowest for me, bar the D-Type, which I can't get to grips with. Haven't noticed any braking problems; in fact it's the car that I can brake the latest in, possibly because it isn't going so fast.  That's with the default setup though.  Would love to use it, but my best time is 2 secs off your pace.  Are there any setup tips for it you would be willing to share ?

My overall fastest is 1:40.3, in either of the Maseratis, but that's hanging on to dear life for most of the lap, especially in the bigger one, so doubt I'd make 40 laps in those.

Matt, it really is dark in places, like Tony stated earlier, so you probably can't avoid using the lights.

Cheers,
Erling

The scenery is dark, but the road is mostly white or very light, the village with the
cobbles is a darker surface but is no problem to see the road. Only slightly dodgy bit
is getting the line right on the corner before the long stright were there are lots of
shadows.

I'm guessing that Matt has his monitor brightness set high because the road when not lit by streetlamps is pitch black to me.

Only tried the Ferrari TR and the Aston so far. The TR is altogether more refined to drive and although possibly not the quickest, may be the better choice for an endurance event. More praccy to be fitted in this weekend.

I have tried a few laps in the nasty Maserati...what a beast that is. So much power and so little handling lol. I think that would be a handful for a long race and at night.

Also managed a few exploratory laps in the D-type but did not have time to make any successful tweaks to the setup and found it surprisingly slow( kind of expected it to be the class of the field??), but that might be just lack of quality track time.

A few laps in the DB2 felt good ...might be potential there for some improvement and I have not had chance to sample the Fezzas as yet. But they are red and logic dictates that red cars won't be fast. :wacko:

Looking forward to this race, although I have to practice the pitstops no matter which car I drive as I have yet to complete a proper pitstop in any GTL or PnG races!!   :-\

Great track - best cars in GTL ! Looking forward to this one,
although my computer problems are still not solved  :(

Seems to be a graphics card thing. On my PC in SOuthport, the road is dark and "normal" with no lights
but on my PC at Newhey the road is very light grey. I have wondered in the past why people made a fuss
when I ran without lights  ;D

Concluded my testing (which was also good info gathering for next season). For me, running with full tanks, this was the order from fastest to slowest.

Aston Martin
Maserati 4.5L
Ferrari 375+
Jaguar D-Type
Ferrari 250TR

I didn't bother with the monster Mazzer as on this circuit and at night I'd be lucky to finish one lap!

Although I'm slowest in the Ferrari 250TR I think I'll chose it as it's the most controlled at this circuit. And Endurance is about finishing and not being fastest IMO.

I managed to negotiate a 30 minute slot last night to get some laps in and practice pitstops. Geez! driving in the dark is spooky, but adds some real theatre to this track. My biggest problem is picking out the apexes when they are in shadow ( as many bent posts and rearranged shrubbery will testify!  ::) ).

I can see that cars pulling into the pits, and trying to slow down to the acceptable speed, could be a major hazard for those who still have the hammer down.

I would agree with Tony's assessment of the D-type. I thought that it would be at the top of the pile, but I cannot coax it around any faster than about 1:44 and I certainly would not keep all of the body panels intact for the duration of the race at that speed!!!

Just to clarify things for a dork who keeps getting the pitstops wrong....

We are running the race with 2x fuel consumption. So I assume that if I adjust my setup to read 20 laps of fuel, it will in fact only do 10 ( allowing for the fact that it is never quite that perfectly accurate  ;) ). In other words, I will only get half of the laps that the setup is promising??

If you set the fuel amount to say 50 litres (or the equivalent imperial measure) offline, see how many laps that estimates. Then go online, advance sessions to race, and see what the corresponding number of laps shows now.

Drivers: Note early start time!

hmm i'm not getting any servers up, I not changed anything from a few weeks ago...

Well that didn't last too long.  ::)

The brighter headlights worked fine in offline practice, but reverted back to normal for the online race. Couldn't see anything through the wooded bits, total guesswork.

Anyhow, I crashed at the end of the first lap & lost the lights, had to do a whole lap in pitch black. Got em repaired & was going quite well until a moments inattention around lap 10 put me off the road again. No lights again, so retired to the bar.

We had to switch back to the Altbierbuden-Lobby two weeks ago, because it looks like the
SimBin lobby doesn't work anymore.

How to do it:

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=12746.0 (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=12746.0)

ah that explains it, all working again now..

Was enjoying that as far as it went. Came hurtling past the pits with low light to find two cars side by side at low speed, maybe coming out of the pits ?
might have dodged one, but two was unavoidable and rammed them up the bum which bent my car a bit and put me on my roof  :o
Sorry whoever it was, but you were hard to see. :tank: Ah well, got going again without too much damage but the tyres started
going off, and the car was  a bit wobbly and I lost it somewhere 0% health. Game over.

Results and replay now posted

Championship results

1st - Erling G-P  :clap: :clap: :clap:

2nd - Geoffers  :clap: :clap:

3rd - Roguk  :clap:

Well done Gents and thanks to everyone who took part. Hope that's whet your appetite for the full series in Season 15  8)

Sorry Mate, I should have mentioned it in the Race announcement.

Guess I should have installed the patch on the server DOH  :oops:

Done now for that next time when I forget.

That's weird - I noticed no problems with the lights  ???


About the race:
I spent a lot of time trying to decide which car to use.  Loved the sound and handling of the 250 TR, but bar the E-Type, it was the slowest car for me.  After much testing back and forth, I still decided to use it, although it would mean a non-stellar result (but perhaps a chance of finishing  ;))  Shaved a little off my pb in qual, but still almost a sec after Geoffers in the same car, and nowhere near Matt's pace in the insane Maserati.

Very careful at the start and L1, as I didn't want to break my headlamps.  Had slipped into 3rd, but at the end of L1, Geoffers bounced off the walls, coming on to the start/finish straight.  I narrowly avoided him and slipped into 2nd, with Roger in tow.  I tried my best to shake him, but he hung on for a few laps, until a gap slowly formed.  Thus ran in 2nd for most of the first half, until Matt's untimely exit, which handed me the lead.  

Had a good gap to 2nd by now, so didn't have to push too hard - just had to keep myself from making mistakes :)  With about 10 laps to go, my concentration was starting to slip, and I almost hit one of those solid signposts (the very same that became Geoffers undoing, judging from the replay).  Thought it had woken me up, but no, it got me on the next lap!  ;D  Broke my headlights, but fortunately it had turned a little lighter by then, so I could see my way round to the pits without losing too much time.  Repair was quick fortunately, and I had enough of a gap to remain in the lead till the finish.

Fantastic cars and a great track for them.  Making it a night race made it extra interesting, and racing into the dawn sets a very special mood.  Had surely not expected to win, so can't complain about the result, but a shame the turnout was relatively low, and that we lost so many during the race.  Hopefully we can make up for it next season - I can't wait to revisit these cars  :wub:

Thanks once again to Tony for organising.

Cheers,
Erling

Looks like a good time was had by all!  Congratulations Erling.

My PC has packed up big time, looks like M/B problem.

Grats to all the finishers and to those who took part.

Still absolutely steaming over missing last nights race!!  :taz: :taz: :taz: :taz: :taz: :taz:

I had been looking forward to this event since it was posted way back at the beginning of the year. Those iconic cars and a really simple yet challenging circuit... and head lights... and a longer endurance style race :drool:

I even found time over the last weekend to get some serious practice in, especially for those pit stops which have been my failing in so many previous races. Usually I get 30 mins over a weekend and a frantic setup tweaking in the pre race practice and qually.

I had tried a few of the cars and settled on the Aston DB2 as the first one that I tried that had a setup that appeared to respond to my style. I had that car singing after some demon tweaks to gearing and the setup, able to do 1:37 laps on full fuel and with the headlights on. The handling was smooth and predictable and I could slide that lovely car in a 4 wheel drift past the apexes and just clip the grass verge under power on the exits. I never hooked up a perfect lap, but a low 1:36 should have been quite a possibility, and I never even tried it with low fuel for pure qually time.

However!!  despite having done several sessions on the server over the weekend ( just to be sure that all was in order) when I tried to join last night everything went t*ts up just as the screen was about to change to the pit view.
It continually looped around adding Erling and Matt and I could see from the dimmed out timing board behind the message that they were both driving "SS Camaros" !!! I smelt a rat.  :(

I actually had to crash the PC as the sound just looped in a warble and GT legends would not exit.
Reboot and went into the GT legends directory, Camaro hunting.  Nothing in the LM55 folder that should not have been, but the Ferrari 250 was missing?????? Hmmmm quick d/load of Ferrari 250 and install, try again...same result....crash PC, restart and delete any evidence of SS Camaro from any of the car files!! that should kill the blighter!!

Tried to join again and....... race had started!!! :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing: :cursing:


The cat will be out of the vets before Christmas I am told ::)

If you were doing 37s on race fuel then you would have wiped the floor with us!
My best in the wayward 5.7 Mazzer was a low 39, and he flies down the straights much faster than
any of the others, though you need to start braking half a mile before any one else, and it goes round
corners like an aircraft carrier. I think I was doing 43s in the DBR2 at best.

I love these cars, they are ridiculous but great fun  ;D The Big Mazzer just makes me grin from ear to ear
like the Matra does with it's nutter screaming noises  :laugh:

Congrats to Erling on the race win & the Endurance Championship.  :clap: :notworthy:

@ EvilClive - it looks like GTL was throwing up the Camaro as it couldn't find the Ferrari it needed and it got it's knickers knotted.

Re: Headlights. Don't think it's server related as I'm sure I have had bright headlamps at other tracks. So I'm thinking it's something amis with this track.

With folk having different spec/age hardware it's hard to find out if everyone is having the same "night time" experience. So whilst some can't see the track even with lights on, others can drive around quite quickly with no lights at all. We seldom do night races and I don't plan running any in Season 15. There may be some moody dawn/dusk races however but only in the Fifties Endurance series.

Yeh I found it odd that they worked OK offline, but not online. I only put them in the Ferrari TR folder as that was the car I was using, maybe you need to install them for every car in the race, don't know why though.

That kind of confirms what I suspected Tony, although why it should select the Camaro as a replacement leaves one wondering.....why the Camaro???

Great to hear that you are contemplating a season of races with these wonderful cars ;D

I agree with Phspok's appraisal of that big Mazzer, just an insane piece of equipment.. nail the gas and just hang on for grim death, press the brake pedal and wait for something or anything to happen..........eventually. To drive something like that in real life would have severely tested one's bowel control I think  ;)

If you put them in the Teams folder they work for all cars

My friendly PC man was in the area and has visited and sort out problem. 

Back running again.  :jumpjoy: :rockon:

Good to hear Bill  :thumbup1:

More than contemplating mate  ::)

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=443&theme=5

Yeah - I'm very excited about season 15 to come, especially the 50's stuff  8)
Thank you Tony for all your work!!!

Hoping for a bigger turnout next season.

Made a short note concerning the Rostock race over at RaceConnect, who are
running an own 50's series this year but obviously without any success  :(.

Was in a bad mood yesterday but turned a bit more optimistic after free practice
and quali. However, race ended in an very early stage after several crashes due
to engine failure. Really hope to improve for next season.

Congratulations to all finishers and to Erling for winning the championship for team GTLDK  ;)

Thanks for your efforts with the PR Kurt, really appreciated  :yes:

Spread the word guys, particularly you GPL'ers. Can we entice any more drivers?

Thanks.  ;D

Ah OK, installation instructions were a bit vague.

Thanks Kurt and all  :)   Certainly didn't expect to haul this one home, but strange things can happen in endurance...  ;)

Bill: Glad you got your PC troubles sorted.  Hope you're still recovering and that we'll see you back on track sometime soon  :yes:

Cheers,
Erling

Glad i got home in time for this race, great track, fab cars, and bonus night time, took the Aston and head lights worked fine. Mistake had to pit early got the fuel level wrong, pitted out and left the limiter on brain dead 2 cars approaching fast Matt could not avoid me Sorry Matt, eventually got out of plough field and car ok. Had prob later pit crew would not give me fuel had to pit 3 times before allowed,(worrying as needle nearly on empty). Also lap 23 ish with Tony close behind GTL froze then black screen then back to GTL amazing car still on road and continued race, with all probs this race was the most enjoyable ive had with GTL Thanks Tony.
Glad to hear your computers working Bill.
Grats to Coyote on win.

Good news Bill !

That's truly great news Bill.  Hope you get the heart beat problem sorted too, and look forward to seeing you back on track Monday.

Cheers,
Erling