SimRacing.org.uk

Grid/server capacity: 22

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

Cars allowed: AC Cobra (320kw/429hp, 1068kg/2349lbs only), Alpine A110 1800S Gr.4  Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_alpine_a110_76), Ferrari 250 GTO Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_f250gto), Porsche 904 GTS/6, Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_porsche904gts)

Required Skins

AC Cobra Download this (http://www.mediafire.com/file/despot1vczdc43t/AC_Cobra.zip)

Drivers are reminded that they are limited to only two drives per manufacturer. Check your status HERE (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hBXHZB-152ZVESM4gmvm21f9XPBPeeJn_SxQ1be6xfk/edit?usp=sharing)

Practice: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (20 mins)
Race: 20:40 (32 laps)

Time of Day Setting: 04:00
Start: STANDING
Tyre wear: 2x
Fuel consumption: Normal

Server: simracing.org.uk Monday
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.

Special Notes: None

IMPORTANT

Unwarranted cuts are given by this track so cuts will be off for this event.

Usual rules apply. Two wheels on the tarmac is fine, more than that could result in an eye watering penalty. Consistent chicane naughtiness will be rewarded with a DQ. You have been warned  :nono:

Drivers should note revised time of day for this event.

I am expecting to be here for this one  8)

There is definitely a sadistic side to our Tony. :devil: :death:

04:00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honestly it's not that bad. For those who do not have, here is a link to get brighter headlights  ;) http://www.mediafire.com/file/n7qtexj5gqls11k/More_power_headlights_v1_0_by_vince-92.rar  Add content to the Teams folder.

Just given it a try & it is quite easy to see where you are going.

Tony could you please set the correct time of day for race on the server?  ;D

Oops sorry Bill. Someone is online at the mo but it will be corrected later today.

It was only me sorry, not online now 

No sorry's necessary

Server now sorted

Thanks Tony.  ;D

Hi Tony,
I was on with misnoimis last night and the server still seems to be running at a daytime setting. (Well, it's a lot lighter than 4am appears off-line).

TTFN
John.

Thanks John, I'll check that out

EDIT: Erm, you did do a RACE session did you? If not it will be daylight.

Ah, Erm no.  :stupid:

ok, Sorry ignore me. We were just circulating in practice mode..

TTFN
John.

Ok. If you are online and you need to try race conditions go to the chat screen and click on advance session until Race comes around.

Sorry I can’t make this one. I was late home from Golf so I am going out for a curry with friends (less demanding that GTL online). It looks good for next week though so I hope to race then.

Have fun.  :)

Just to say, very sorry to Matt for bumping you into a spin at T1 on the first lap, & also to Bob for very nearly doing the same thing later in the race. Not one of my better nights driving.  :no: :cursing:

Results and replay now posted

One of my rare weeks to be able to race and it was wasted at T1.
Stuck at it anyway, and had some fun chasing Tony, had a tangle with Steve at one point
when we were both struggling with tyres, sorry if it was my fault.
Went to pit, as it was just masochism with the worn rears, I just hit return when the clipboard came up
but probably should have turned off damage or something, as it went on for several minutes.
came out 2 laps down. ah well, I can do another event in 3 weeks.

Very hard race for me; probably the hardest yet this season.

Hardware changes and setup tweaking had shaved a massive amount off my pb, compared to my earlier best during a find-out-which-car-to-use-where run. Thus had high hopes for this race, but hadn't factored in the raw speed of the Cobras, and sobering too to be only 3rd fastest Ferrari, as once again the aliens got the better of me. Had never been below 1:34, so took a Herculean effort to get down to 1:33.47 in qual, landing me 4th on the grid.

Fairly bad start, bogging down somewhat and being outdragged by a Cobra down to the chicane. Gained two places when Matt & Geoffers tangled, only to lose 1 again when John roared past down the semi-straight.  Couldn't live with his straight line speed at all, so he quickly moved away.  Behind me, Steve and later Bob kept up a relentless pursuit.  Whatever they gained on the straight sections, I had to claw back through the corners, so couldn't afford to get any of them wrong.

Early in the 2nd half, I gained on John, and when he lost it under braking for the chicane, I slipped past into 3rd.  Behind me, Bob had been replaced by Geoffers.  Didn't make the pursuit any less relentless - the slightest weakness from me and the gap dropped.  Got unlucky when I repeatedly caught traffic just before the chicane.  No fault of those I lapped; just bad luck, but didn't help maintain the gap to the chasers.

Very late in the race, I caught Bambi Clive, seemingly driving on the rims. Still, once he got the squirreling rear under some semblance of control, you couldn't deny the straight line speed of that Cobra. His shenanigans into, through, and out of corners still cost me time though, so suddenly Geoffers was right on my tailpipes.  Desperately needed to get past Clive, who was helpful enough to have a moment at the chicane, letting me slip past.  Tried to keep a tight line to stay in front; hope it wasn't too tight.. :P

Managed to hang onto 2nd to the finish of this very tough race.  Had to drive to the max of my abilities for the entire race, so quite drained at the end.

Grats to Ziu on the win and Geoffers on 3rd.

Cheers,
Erling

Thanks to all for the nice evening, rather is better say for the nice night as it ran at 4.00 AM.
  Thanks to Tony for the organization
  Clive sorry, i can understand the difficulty to hold the AC Cobra when tires melt
  Grats to Erling and Geoffers for podium

Grats to Ziu Erling and Geoffers who took the podium despite my best efforts to keep Bambi upright on roller skates!!

The decision to try the Cobra was simply because it was mentioned on the forum as being quick on the straights. My twisted logic said that this track was just two straights with a couple of corners......maybe a rather simplistic view of this circuit as I discovered!!

I discovered just how clumsy the Cobra was in the tighter corners very quickly, but there was no doubting the sheer raw grunt on those straights. In fact I was astonished in pre race practice just how much faster it was than the Ferrari, but it all depended on getting a smooth clean exit out of the corners and holding on as the warp drive engaged.  ;D
The downside was that the brakes appeared to be totally worn out before I left the pits!!

I had expected that the aliens would be sub 1:30 but it was fun to get the monster on pole. A quick plan was formed to get ahead, build a safety cushion and then manage the tyres....simple? what could possibly go wrong??? Well, just about everything lol.

Ziu got a better start and stuck his Ferrari down the inside for the chicane to take the lead. That meant that I had to get past him if I wanted to make my plan work and that took a couple of laps to line him up for the pass. Once ahead, I was able to slowly pull away and once the gap grew to around 5 secs  I was beginning to feel confident and began to ease off slightly to just to keep Ziu at a safe distance. Two laps would have been much more comfortable, but hey! I had to take what I could get.
I was too busy looking for Ziu in the mirror to check the gap as I approached the chicane and put a wheel onto the grass. If the brakes were poor with 4 wheels on the tarmac, they were non existent with 2 wheels on grass and I ended up spiralling into the kitty litter and watched Ziu sweep past, followed by John....disaster!!! :o
Chasing down John and his Cobra took a few laps more than I would have liked, and getting past was proving a problem when he allowed me through. I suspect that he was aware of the tyre wear? Then I chased after Ziu.
But it was those laps pushing hard that screwed up my tyre plan and at about the time that I caught Ziu and was looking for a chance to pass the tyres were past their best and I was struggling to stop or turn the Cobra.
The last 10 laps to the flag became more and more difficult, if not absolutely impossible! 

With no brakes and very little front end grip to turn the car, I was running along the edge of the cliff and fell off several times.
Ziu just pulled away, and although I tried to hold on to 2nd spot it all proved way beyond the polished rims of the rear wheels and the oozing gunge that pretended to be tyres wrapped around the front rims.

 I was a sitting duck for Erling and Geoffers to pick off in the last laps and was lucky to get 4th as there was zero rubber showing on the rear rims for the last lap..a puncture would have been the final straw!!

At least I have 2 drives left in the much more civilised 250 GTO, but I did enjoy wrestling that Cobra.  ;)

Thanks Tony for organising this Series and congrats to Podium. Decided to race the Cobra, need to drive it sometime. This track showed up my inability to get around S bends at any appreciable speed, I like open tracks with fast curves and no very slow tight corners. As a result I take these corners at a pedestrian place which catches other drivers out with my heavy braking and smoking tyres as I accelerate away in 1st gear.

As a result I'm hard on brakes and tyres and tests showed up the need to change tyres at half distance so ran the race in 2 half's (started race with 17 laps worth of fuel).   With a poorly handling car in the later stages of each half and the brakes starting to snatch making the car extremely difficult to control into the S bends causing  a number of spins. Apologies to any driver I adversely affected, particularly Huggy who I know I inadvertently baulked a few times. The most difficult was try to unlap myself as I was much faster on new tyres on the faster section and had to back off to try and avoid passing him just before the slower sections of the track.

Notwithstanding, I enjoyed the event with a new PB in qualifying and almost another in the race. Took a while to adjust to the dark but after that had some fun fighting the Cobra on acceleration particularly in first gear.

" Apologies to any driver I adversely affected, particularly Huggy who I know I inadvertently baulked a few times."

No worries Bill, I was miles behind the rest of the field in any case.... you wrestling with a Cobra provided me with a bit of entertainment in an otherwise tiresome race on my own, interspersed with going off a few too many times!   Not a great one for me.

If I might humbly offer a little advice Bill on how I tried to harness the beast. I could post my setup online if you want to try it?

With something that has the monstrous torque like the Cobra, try using 2nd gear instead of 1st. I only used 1st gear to get the beast rolling off the start line and then short shifted into 2nd to keep wheelspin down. I would guess that my overall ratios were not that much different to yours, as I was not quite hitting max revs in 4th at the end of the uphill straight. I dropped to 3rd for the fast right hander at the top of the hill and used the power to keep the car hooked into the corner.

Using 2nd may feel unbelievably slow, but actually it makes the car far more controllable and a) less likely to lock the rear wheels under braking and downshift...and b) the power feeds in much more smoothly on the exits.

I was almost coasting through the "S" bends with featherlight touches on the gas, until I could begin to very carefully ease in the throttle progressively as I came onto the straight bits.
Even using 2nd gear that Cobra had enough pure grunt to catch me out, and I had to be very careful not too generate terminal oversteer and harpoon the barriers.

I would suggest running a few laps around Salzburg again and avoid using 1st gear anywhere and see how your lap times compare  ;)  You might be surprised  ::)

Interesting observations and advice Clive - given your undisputed pole time, you must definitely be on to something!  :)

One trait of the Cobra that's always irked me to no end, is the way it seemingly at random darts left and right, when you're going (trying to go) in a straight line. Makes it very tiresome to drive, that you have to keep correcting these, and woe if one of the 'dartings' coincide with you hitting the brakes - certain to spin off then.  Would you happen to have any advice on how to dial that out via setup, if it's at all possible ?

Cheers,
Erling

Thanks Clive for that observation, tried coasting into S bends in 2nd but the engine was so bogged down it took and age to start pulling again. My problem is that I just can't get around these S bends are a reasonable speed compared to most other drivers!  ::) >:(

If you wish to try it Bill, I have uploaded my setup to the Salzburgring folder online  "Cobra 320KW Q".  I would suggest that you adjust the steering ratio to suit your preference/wheel setup.

I agree about the instability of the Cobra under braking ( actually EVERYWHERE!!) and I found that I had to start using the brakes way earlier than I wanted to and very cautiously. As far as I can recall this is how and where I braked/accelerated etc. but always being aware of preventing the rear tyre from spinning up, and never dropping into 1st gear. Even with fresh tyres the car was very uncooperative and by the end of the race my nerves were shredded as I was constantly trying to predict where it would try and bite me next.

It was important to be completely off of the brake pedal at the point of turn in and just allow the car to settle into the corners. For the chicane I was braking just before the first marker post on the left, delaying the downshifts as late as I could and aiming to be slow ( but stable) through the first right hand element and then aim for a clean smooth line to (avoid the kerbs) on the left hand exit, feeding in the power, but not stomping on the gas and breaking the rear end away, as I got up to the red line in 3rd before the 180.

At the next 180 I would brake as I aimed for the inside white line, d/shift to 2nd and get off the pedals to allow the car to turn easily. From around the half way point of the bend I would begin to feed in the power and "feel the grip" as oversteer pulled the front around to the point where I could give it the full beans up the hill.

At the top of the hill I aimed to ( almost) straight line the couple of minor sweeping curves so that I arrived on the left side of the track before the long right hander. Dropping to 3rd gear and momentarily lifting off the gas just before hooking up with the white line on the inside and feeding in the power in 3rd to balance the oversteer.

Braking for the tight R/H started at the beginning of the darker tarmac and again off the brake pedal ( and the gas) completely allowing the car to settle into the corner aiming to keep it tight and exiting on the right side of the tarmac, before feeding in some go juice for a squirt towards the Esses.

The Esses were the hardest part and felt unbelievably slow, being sure to brake early again, here I took the first Left hander very close to the marker barrel, maybe even riding the red/white kerb. The aim was to keep to the left side, just the merest tickle on the gas to allow the car to sweep smoothly through the next R/Hander ( again it felt like driving in treacle!!). Then wait and wait as it cruised into the final left hander until I could ease some power in. The optimum here was to just clip the inside kerb ( but not get the tyres up onto it) and then aim for the far end of the red/white kerbing on the outside as I turned on the juice. It was a case of feeling the grip on the rear and not giving it 100% until the car was straight and settled.

Hope this does not sound patronising Bill, but I have always believed that in simracing, setups are designed for the way that an individual drives and trying to drive someone else's setup without knowing how they use it, is a waste of time.

Results (https://www.avonrise.co.uk/srou/kurts/Salzburgring 13032017)

8)

Thanks Kurt  :thumbup1:

Well the Cobra is not one of my fave rides in any event and I adopted much the same thinking as Clive in as much as this seemed an ideal track to get one of the Cobra drives off my schedule and make use of its speed with only a few turns thrown in to make life difficult.

Due to lack of time I had not run anything near race distance in a single session so was more than a little surprised when the tyre grip fell off a cliff on lap 21. It wasn't so much the lack of grip under power, I could control that it was it's reaction to braking. It always seemed to be plotting to kill me at every available opportunity.

Qualified in 6th with a mid 1:34 which was pretty close to my PB, Got a great start but had to hit the brakes almost immediately so as not to run into the back of Erling who seemed very slow off the mark Saw Geoffers tag Matt at the 1st chicane and slow for him to recover so  had gained a place by the Semperit Kurve. Got a very good run onto the back straight and passed Both Steve and Erling into the gentle right before Öst-schleife. Erling was so much faster than me though through Schikane and also the chicane at the end of the S/F straight but fortunately not enough to make up for the speed difference down the long straights so I slowly increased the gap over the next few laps while (Almost) staying in touch with Ziu and Clive ahead.

Then around Lap 7 found a recovering Clive who had found the limits of adhesion at the 1st Chicane so I was through to 2nd. This lasted for about 3 laps and the odd nudge from Clive pointing out I was very slow into the chicanes, that combined with the realisation I was going to destroy my tyres even more quickly trying to stay ahead I waved him back through on lap 11. A few very untidy laps followed as I mistakenly thought I might find it easier to follow Clive than be harassed by him put Erling back within spitting distance and finally I lost it under braking into the 1st chicane on lap  20 (Possibly due to entering unknown territory regarding the tyres) and was passed 1st by Erling and at the end of the same lap Geoffers and now had Bob making enquires, To be honest the last 8 laps or so were disastrous. Handling degenerated into like trying to herd cows on rollerskates  and I was all over the place, Bob seemed to have similar issues and the pair of us slid around the circuit like two people auditioning for Bambi on Ice. Finally on the last lap I succumbed to the pressure and made a complete horlicks of Schikane and Bob was through. Spitting feathers I roared out of the final turn and..... Bob hit the brakes????? I tried to stop as well somewhat confused but slid across the line ahead of him to take 5th.

Not really happy with the result as I didn't deserve it at all. The only reason I messed up Schikane in the 1st place was due to unrelenting pressure from Bob so it seems unfair  to be handed the place back when there was no contact at any time. for sure I will return the favour given the chance in future races.

TTFN
John.

 :lol: :lol:

Cheers,
Erling

I've always enjoyed driving the Cobra yet somehow this was the first time online for me.

The replay showed I had an excellent start - I must have been really close to getting an immediate stop 'n go penalty - that I quickly caught a sluggish Erling bogged down on the start line. By the end of the first chicane I was already up to P4! Had a friendly nudge from Bob a few laps later when our brake zones went out of sync, which took out my brake lights.

Later, I was slowly reeled in first by Geoffers, who in my rear mirror seemed to be taking the corners a lot more smoothly than I could, and then by Matt who thought he had at last caught and overtaken me, except that on exiting the last bend of the lap, I powered down a little too soon causing the car to veer to the left, right in front of Matt. Definitely not your fault Matt (re your comment earlier). We both pitted a little later at the same time to repair damage and replace tyres and remained 8th and 9th to the end.

Pleased that I managed to lower my pb by 0.5 sec but a little disappointed I didn't finish 2 or 3 places higher.

Congrats to Ziu for the win and Erling and Geoffers for filling the podium.