SimRacing.org.uk

Season 26 Privateers Trophy - Round 7 - Virginia International Raceway (VIR)

Final Race before the Easter break and the Joe Shaw Memorial Trophy. Only our second visit here for the Privateers.

The Virginia International Raceway (commonly known as just "VIR") is a road course located in the community of Alton, Virginia.The track originally opened in August 1957 and as one of the first permanent American road racing tracks, VIR soon became a fixture on the SCCA circuit and a favorite among racers due to its high-speed straights, challenging turns and dramatic elevation changes. The track fell on hard times in the early 1970s, and that, combined with the fuel crisis of 1973, spelled the end for VIR. The track was shut following an SCCA enduro on October 13, 1974. It reverted to farmland for 25 years until it was redeveloped and reopened in March 2000.

We will run Intermediate Damage with the allowance of ONE shift-R reset. No Shift-Rs are allowed in practice unless authorized by the moderator. A Shift-R (fault or not) MUST be followed by a Stop & Go. A Shift-R for tyres/fuel is not allowed. Any driver taking more then ONE Shift-R OR failing to take a Stop & Go will be disqualified from the race result.

For Season 26, all drivers must complete at least 50% of race distance to be classified.

Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL8
IP address = tba
Race date = 06-04-2014
Race Time = race starts at 21:30 UK time
Qualifying Time = Between 30 and 60 minutes, starting no later than 21:00 UK time
Track = Virginia International (http://ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Tracks/VIR)
Variant = 67F1
Damage Model = INT
Race length = 50 minutes (laps 27)
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Replays Available here (http://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/inc_replaysS26_js.aspx)

Driver lists and token rules can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=426&theme=6)

The full time drivers can start to practice as soon as the server is available.  Reserve drivers can also join as soon as the server becomes available but must leave the server with 35 minutes of qualifying left, for a total of 5 minutes; this will allow any remaining full timers to join.  If there is enough space on the grid, the reserve drivers will be able to rejoin when there are 30 mins of qualifying left.  

Moderating The red zone will be fully moderated for lap 1 only. For this event the red zone will be from the start to Oak Tree. Other moderation will be on reported incidents only.  However any incidents that occur in the red zone that are not reported by the drivers will be reported by the moderator.  This will allow all affected drivers the opportunity to present their case before the incident is moderated.  This should ensure there are no surprises when the moderator's report is published and hence appeals will be less likely.  If you haven't received a PM about an incident before the link below the results table is removed, you can be sure that you will not appear in the moderator's report.

The chassis token system is explained on the Privateers (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=426&theme=6) standings page. Please ensure you choose a chassis that is within your budget, which can be seen by hovering the mouse over your points total in the standings.

Please restrict chat to pit messages including at the end of the race until ALL drivers still racing have crossed the line.

Password doesn't appears on the top  ???

I added it. Hope everything is OK !

What a wonderfull track!

I installed it yesterday and was confused by this horrible wrong groove line...  ::)
But in the race it never became boring, no, it got better from lap to lap  :clap:
I will  do everything to find the .cln file of this track to make a better groove!!!

Of course its hard if you are fixed on this line as you will allways enter the turns in wrong way...

So my race was one of the most enjoyable drives I ever had, even alone most of the time!


Grats to David and Andy for the podium :thumbup1:

Hadn't driven this track before today.  I should have put some practice in but I've been busy installing a new bathroom for my Dad (lots still to do so not much chance of praccy this side of Easter ::)).

I did half a dozen laps before I had to break off to start the works server.  Managed to get a few good laps in during qually and whilst I was well off the pace I had learnt the track.  I got a decent start and managed to avoid a shunt before T1 and settled in to let my tyres warm up.  Had a good battle with Dave Curtis, I needed to push hard to get ahead and I overdid it a couple of times and Dave retook the position.  Quite pleased with my result in the end, I didn't have the race pace to trouble the leaders but my fastest lap was respectable.

Wasn't very well over the weekend. Didn't practice but knew the track. Couldn't actually keep it on the grey stuff and started to feel motion sick so I bailed out. Hope it was fun.

A strange thing happened on the way to VIG , after a pre race play "on line" with Axel , during which I learned which way the track went ( mostly down hill ) and did a few earth shatteringly low 1m 59s

I decided it would be a great idea to try off line and improve my times before joining the server , but somewhere between leaving "Home" and joining the server , GPL or Igor ? decided it was time to forget all my wheel settings .

There I was , sat in the pits , ready to go , but when I pressed the gas button " nothing "  , no gears , no gas , no go , except the steering was OK . So went into "options" only to find everything was set back to the GPL default values .  To cut a long and boring story into a short and boring story , I exited GPL poked around with pedals and stuff , did a quick reboot , and all was OK again ( Very Strange don't you all think ?)

In the race I got squeezed off track at the start , by the time I had recovered everyone had dissapeared into the distance leaving me with Tesco's version of the Brabham , somewhere the mechanics had replaved the rear wheels with castors , at least thats how it felt , suffered this for a few laps but when the sound engineers decided to go on strike I thought it was all a bit too much and decided it was time to retired and save my energy for a better day  ! ( It was awful lonely at the back )

Hoping all the gremlins have retired too

Grats to Axel and the podium boys and all who finished this gruelling track  :)

@Bernie, I have had all of the above issues at one time or another. There was one time when my sound turned off during a race. It happened when I accidently hit a button on the keyboard, which may have opened up a help program in the background. I pulled off the track, and fiddled around a bit. I pressed the "windows" button, turned off the help program, and returned to the race with sound. It is impossible to race without sound.

Secondly, congrats to Cookie and to all the finishers! I figured out in qualifying session that I was not competitive. I decided to focus on being consistent for the race strategy. I did make some mistakes in spite of this, but I enjoyed the challenge. If I were to do it over, I would stiffen the suspension, add a little more tire pressure, and maybe reduce the camber. I feel even more motivated for the upcoming races.  


I have watched many races here on the TV, and I will have more sympathy for the gentleman drivers at the next race (Aug 23rd and 24th, 2014). The race will be broadcast online at http://www.imsa.com/ (http://www.imsa.com/) (at the very least they will post the video online a day or two after the race).

I was lucky to get a few laps in here a week or so ago as I didn't get back to it until qualy. I was very pleased to improve my time to qualify 3rd. We all went away in grid order at the front until Jonny fell off near the end of the first lap. So I inherited 2nd with Dave R close behind. It seemed that if I could get a clean exit onto the straights then I could keep him behind. Jonny closed back up to us, but then pulled off like he had realised that he had something better to do. Dave had a little off, but quickly closed back up to me. Evidently I was holding him up, but he couldn't get into a passing position. Then my engine started smoking. I didn't realise it for a few seconds as I still had some power - sorry Dave for not pulling out of the way sooner. So I reset, SnG and rejoined with a healthy gap back to Hendy's BRM in 4th and carefully made sure I finished.
Grats to Axel for an untroubled win. Well done to Dave for 2nd and for being patient with me.

I watched the replay yesterday and I enjoyed your battle, good racing!

You must be very keen if you are watching the replays George!  Nice to see you enjoyed the racing, hopefully it showed that you don't have to be the fastest to enjoy GPL.  Good etiquette and and an awareness of what is happening around you is all that is required.  Hope you can join us in the next round :).