SimRacing.org.uk

Grid/server capacity: 20

RACE ONE

Practice: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (10 mins) Drivers must not leave qualifying to change car make.
Race: 20:30 (14 laps)

Track: Stardust International Raceway Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg187123#post_stardust)

Cars allowed: Chevrolet Corvette (Standard GTL cars, GTC-65), Shelby Cobra Download this (http://www.mediafire.com/file/v1ouh4a1vmvcbpi/GameData.zip/file)

Car restrictions: Drivers must swop makes between races.

Time of Day Setting: 14:00
Start: STANDING
Tyre wear: Normal
Fuel consumption: Normal

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.

Special Notes: None.

DQ during quali on searching the entrance to the track.
After rejoining and end of quali I realized that I was alone on the server.
Not enough time to come back - race started.

Giving it a complete miss as it's one of my most hated tracks.

Fitted extremely well  :P

Results and replay now posted.

I found the Corvette so much harder to drive around this circuit than the Cobra, don't know why. Corvette just didn't want to turn in at corners. Wish I get the hang of driving these beast's  ::)

Same here; spent the entire race fighting it.  Took every ounce of whatever driving skills I can muster, including some alien technique I'm not really qualified to use, to prevent the damn thing from snapping left or right, if I as much as breathed on the brakes.  Still it managed to mug me at the end of the back straight...  ::)

Not a fun race at all for me.  In R1 Tony and I had a good battle, actually we were both battling the track.  It may have just me but it seemed like the online track had a different feel to it than offf line. As Erling said my brakes were touchy and steering was also.  Maybe it was just my overcorrecting, but it sure seemed weird to me.  I had more problems with the Cobra than the Vette, just too damm reponsive to inputs.  Sorry to Kurt for his connection problems, I too had my usual lost connection  between the races problem.  During practice I lost connection and GTL crashed altogether.  Had to reenter the game and then was fine.  R2 in the Vette was a little better for me but still bad handeling.  Maybe there was a sand storm before the race and that effected our traction.  Need to have a AWD option for all the off track action............

Bob M.

Perhaps to compensate for Stardust circuit, next weeks is a very simple affair.

Result_Race 1 (https://www.avonrise.co.uk/srou/kurts/_2020/03022020_Stardust_R1)

 8)

A fun evening was anticipated and almost materialised....but not quite lol. I knew the track, if not this particular version, and I thought I knew where I was with the cars.

Grats to all finishers and podium places.

In all the races thus far in the series I have found the Corvette an absolute sod to drive and the Cobra much more driveable. So I figured, " let's get that Corvette out of the way whilst I learn the finer details of this track and then we can give it beans in the Cobra".

After the somewhat unusual start in Race 1, which relegated Geoffers to a safer position  ::) and Dan's appetite for "Cut Track" warnings I found myself tailing Erling and surprisingly not losing ground  :). Just as others have mentioned I found the braking and grip levels very difficult and I was almost afraid to apply any pressure on the middle pedal as the car just squirmed and threatened to dive off the tarmac....which is exactly what Erling did!! allowing me a clear move into the lead  :o. As the laps counted down the tyres and the handling deteriorated, but I had a few seconds in hand over Erling, who was also coming under pressure from a fast recovering Geoffers. I confess that I was hoping they would occupy each other until the end of the race!!
Then I "did an Erling" and threw away that safety gap with about 5 laps to go  :-\. Now that I could see both the chasing cars in my mirrors, I could see that they were also struggling with grip, although Geoffers did not appear to have read the script and insisted on going too quickly!!
Erling made a mistake and Geoffers was through, and closing on my increasingly unstable Corvette.
When the car defeated my best attempts to wrestle it around the final corner and I ran wide, Geoff was through. I am not entirely sure what happened next  ???, I managed to avoid the barriers and point the car down the straight and get on the gas to chase Geoff and also hopefully keep Erling behind.
I expected to watch Geoff's Cobra slowly ease away over the remaining laps and that my fight would now be with Erling, but somewhere around the S/F line I swept past a Cobra ??? and regained the lead!!  At the end of the back straight he had a "moment" and re arranged some sand castles and that gave me just enough of a gap to hold on for 1st place by excessive buttock clenching each time that I applied the brakes and gently teasing the gas out of the corners.
Race 2 would be a breeze with that lovely predictable and stable Cobra...for sure.
But despite using the same setup that had worked so well at Laguna Seca and Willow Springs, where I could pour on the power and the Cobra just found the grip and was a joy to drive I found that car did not exist at Stardust!! The brakes were a nightmare ( equally as bad as the Corvette!) and getting the power down on corner exit was an adventure at every corner. My only consolation that Erling's car ahead, which in any other race is normally a perfect example of composure and control, was twitching it's rear end and wobbling under brakes with locking tyres.
But my control wavered before his and I ran wide losing valuable seconds. After that it was a lonely race with concentration solely on avoiding a race ending mistake, whilst hoping that maybe those ahead might gift me a place  ::)
These overpowered, under gripped beasts are huge fun, but the grip levels at Stardust were a real challenge. Maybe the track builders programmed in a layer of sand on the tarmac??

Agree about the Corvette, difficult track for it, I think it has a fairly low grip level. Not too good for the Cobra either judging by my efforts at the start of the first race, sorry about that guys & well done all for avoiding my wayward car.  :notworthy:  It made it quite an exciting race chasing down Clive & Erling leading to a rousing last 2-3 laps. Congrats to Clive on the win.  :clap:

Race 2 was nearly as good after a more careful start, spent half of it chasing a very speedy Dan, only spoilt by Dan getting an S/G. Congrats on the podiums to Erling & Clive.  :clap: :clap:

Not much to add after Clive's excellent write up.  The Corvette got the better of me as he mentions, snapping right, just as I wanted it to go left, letting Clive & Dan through. Apologies to Roger for the rather rude rejoin - red mist had descended..  Chased after Clive while looking out for Geoffers in my mirrors. When Clive had his moment, I smelled blood and tried to exploit it as best I could.  Ran wide enough to let Geoffers through however, but got the place back when he ploughed straight off at the end of the back straight.  Would have been nice to finish ahead of him just once, but the damn car of course had to let the rear go on the final lap, putting the rear wheels outside the track and delaying me enough for Geoffers to sail past again.

Cobra in race 2 not easy, but not quite as disagreeable as the Corvette.  After Clive had a moment and dropped back, the race was quite lonely.

Clive, were you on the short gearing in the Cobra ?   I used the long one - never even tried the short one, as the gap is so big that I was convinced it would be far too short.  Find it interesting that there apparently wasn't anything between us despite this difference  :)

Grats to Clive & Geoffers for their wins & podiums, and commiserations to habitual criminal and S/G collector Dan..   ;D

I guess I was on the "short" gearing in the Cobra, and I sort of worked out that you were running "long", although I also noticed that there was not much difference in top speed or lap times? At least, not as much as I might have expected?

I simply copied across my Cobra setup from Willow Springs when I joined the short pre Race 2 practice and went out on a recce lap. I have to confess that my immediate thoughts were "this gearing is too low for the long back straight", so I completed the lap to get a benchmark time and switched to the longer ratios. Although this gave me a few revs to spare at the end of the long back straight, it kind of compromised my corner exits elsewhere and the lap times were actually fractionally slower.
In the end I tossed a coin to decide. The higher top speed would be useful against the Corvettes, but the extra driveability of the lower ratios held an appeal. So I opted for the lower ratios and hoped that it would help control slides towards the end of the race  ;)

FWIW ...It has taken me a long time to be even slightly comfortable with seeing the red warning light in GTL and accepting that I am against the REV LIMITER which will protect the engine. If this had been a GPL race there would have been no decision to be made because in that sim we have a red needle which indicates max revs, but pushing against that needle will explode an engine, so over many years I have had aversion therapy where rev limits are concerned lol.