SimRacing.org.uk

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cYqFeLAi3z0/maxresdefault.jpg)

Password: see above (#post_event_password)

(2) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=1372)

Practice: 19:45 GMT (30 mins)
Qual 2: 20:15 (15 mins)
Race: 20:30 ~ 30 Mins

Cars allowed: VW Scirocco
Track: Brands Hatch GP
Time of Day Setting: 13:00
Weather: Dry

Start: Standing
Tyre wear: Normal
Fuel consumption:  Normal
Pit-stops: None required

Server: Simracing.org.uk E8
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Championship Standings (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=1372&theme=4)

Example Setups:

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 (https://www.simracing.org.uk/index.php?pid=7) especially the
rules about in-game chat messages.
(3) You will need to install Race Room Racing Experience from Steam, and have the Euro and American Track Packs for this series (And maybe another
non pack track occasionally)
(4) Please exercise caution when pitting as some tracks have a speed limit.

(5) Please follow the SROUK guidelines for using kerbs etc. Please keep 2 wheels on the track surface (kerbs do not count as track surface)
Excessive cutting of corners will seen as cheating and the results may be altered to reflect this.

@ Matt, changed track to read Brands Hatch (it was showing as Spa). Also which version is it?

Flip, have I lost that many brain cells  :-[
Must have been late and I was rushing miss  ::)

Ta for the heads up

I thought the M1 was also in Group 2? Thats confusing..

M1 is in Group 4.

This is front wheel drive? IT feels like it, but then raceroom dont really give much info on the cars.

Yep, Sciroccos are FWD.

The lift off oversteer was a clue!

I am a bit perplexed regarding that. I have got quite a nice setup in testing with very little lift off oversteer, just the right amount to help the car turn. However when I tried setting a leaderboard time with the same setup the lift off oversteer was back. Not sure why this was, maybe it is to do with fuel load, maybe it is to do with tyre temps, as the tyres are preheated for leaderboard laps & the car handles better with more fuel and/or colder tyres.

I only did Leaderboard challenge laps so know its not exactly realistic, whether you use the tyres as hard in a normal practise session to get up to those temps I'm never sure on.

I think the fuel weight is taken out as well on those timetrials? Maybe that was it.

Outside of leaderboard mode the rears remain quite cold, which should reduce grip and increase lift-off oversteer. Not sure why are you are seeing the opposite. You can reduce the differential coast to make it more pronounced, but the adjustments are quite limited. I avoid doing setup work in leaderboard mode because the car behaves differently in race sessions.

My usual test for FWD is whether you can do donuts in reverse.  ;)

I have left the server as 30 mins. I don't have any times to go off. I don't mind either way, but if some tells
me average times, I could set it to Laps instead.

Yeh, that is what baffled me, with the tyres heated, in theory you should have better grip. Anyway tried a few laps in practice mode this afternoon & the car felt fine.

Matt, I expect race laps to average around 1.44.

Hi all,
Is there a password for the server? Thanks.

Regards,
Jos Ogos

Usual practise password..

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2929.0

But for the race there will be but doesn't look like Matt has set it up here properly as it should display it at the top of this page.

It will be '*****'

Thanks!

Hmmm, seem to have lost connection to the server. Server seems to think the race has 1781 minutes left. ???

Enjoyed the half of the race I got to do anyway. Had a good battle with Jos in the early laps, hard luck to Geoff who had a moment in the gravel at the last corner gifting me second at the same time I was inside Pete for third.

I wouldn't have caught Frex as the gap was back and forth a little but overall consistent. Assuming Frex wins well done on a strong win and to the podium finishers  :clap:

Another intense race (the 4th this week at Brands Hatch!), and full of battles. https://youtu.be/GdBRbw6b6YE (https://youtu.be/GdBRbw6b6YE)
First with Glenn, although he was really a level up and, as soon as he overtook, he disappeared in the distance... I might have been able to hold a bit longer if it wasn't because the massive battle with Mark and Toni started immediately. Toni seemed to have been waiting for a moment to overtake us both that didn't materialise but Mark was charging and finding every door open that I left, especially after the Sheene curve that I wasn't precisely mastering yesterday...
We had a few exchanges of position, very close fighting, and had managed to climb to 3rd and 4th due to shenanigans at front.  There was that moment at Surtees, where we touched and lost almost all momentum... This was greatly exploited by Geoff with a brutal pace but who had lost it a couple of times earlier in the race.
With Geoff gone in the distance, Mark, Toni and I resumed our long-lasting battle until we came again all close together at Paddock Hill Bend. Mark hadn't exited Clearways with good speed and I managed to overtake him in the Brabham straight but, being on the inside, I had a compromised entry to Paddock Hill Bend. With my late braking, I think my scirocco was understeering with an increasing risk of not making it if I didn't get off the throttle and waited before pushing again. I was also expecting Mark to take the wide lane and didn't want to invade the left side of the track... He must have anticipated I would overrun and I believe was planning to overtake on the inside but, with my correcting maneuvers in front, he found a brick wall in the middle of his way... Result was awful for Mark and Toni as Mark hit the brakes, bumped on my rear and lost his with the subsequent spin that also affected Toni... I can only say sorry for my sluggishness at that moment.
With no further battles and unreachable Geoff ahead, the last few laps of the race were pretty relaxed.
I was challenged by the terrific pace you all had with the Scirocco. I don't think I have worked enough on the setup and have a big deficit of speed in some parts of the track. Any advice on the setup department would be greatly appreciated.
All the best,
Jos Ogos

Fun cars to drive,


i found that raising the engine break helped to counter the liftoff oversteer.

Good quali, but terrible start. At the first turn i had the inside but have a really slide tab towards Toni. Car went sideways i countersteered but slinged towards the otherside in the gravel (luckily hitting no one).

afterwards tried to catch the group but was impossible i think i lost approx 15sec. Came towards +/- 5/6sec of Martin but that was aloso due to two mistakes.

Sorry towards Toni, i saw in the replay you lost 2/3 places due to my tab.  :-[

Congrats towards Frex, Pete and Geoff  :clap:

and thanks towards Jos for the coverage :clap: (first time on youtube, because i just started in front of you, and i crash in the first 10sec  ;D) Was only my second big crash in league racing and directly on youtube  :-[

;D Birger, now you have your claim to fame. How unjust is always the media!  ;)

I'm sure and hope you will be revindicated in future reports...  ;D

Didn't know what to expect last night, only bought the car Wednesday and this was my first time in it. I just ran the default setup with a little fuel taken out.

My speed seems to have been in line with Mark, Jos, Toni etc. but bagging the better qualifying position gave me a chance in the early laps to have a bit of a gap. Dieter, Geoff and Glen were in a different league and if it wasn't for the disconnections or small offs I wouldn't have been on podium. Fully expect to be embroiled in the mid-field battle until you all work out how to make the car better.

Video looks good Jos, thanks for that :)

I also struggled with setup, a lot of trial and error meant I finally found a setup I liked late in qualifying.

Similar to WTCR, I like these cars as loose at the rear as possible - it's just a shame the rear suspension is less adjustable. If you don't like an oversteery car it might be best to avoid my setup changes below.

Brake pressure increased two clicks.
Front camber increased two clicks.
Front tyre pressure increased to 24.9psi.
Rear anti-roll bar increased one click to maximum.
Rear damper bump and rebound increased two clicks each.
Final drive increased one click.
Differential coast reduced one click to the lower of the two settings.

Geoff and Frex have a smoother driving style than I do so their setups may prove more useful.

Thanks a lot Glenn. I'll check it out. I normally prefer oversteering setups as well.
Jos

You can't reduce the lift-off oversteer too much, otherwise you won't have any turn-in and will be too slow. I found it's best to just learn to manage it with judicious use of throttle and brake. I had to put the brake pressure to 89% due to locking up constantly. Apart from that, I mainly softened the front suspension to get on the throttle faster out of corners after attacking the apex aggressively.

After a hairy moment in turn 1 that I managed to save somehow, it was a four-way battle with varying participants all the way through until Mark's spin. Knutstorp should be fun.

I got lucky here because I was still thinking the race was 30 minutes which I calculated to be 16-17 laps, whereas soon after race start I noticed it was actually 18 laps. This made my fuel a bit too marginal for comfort, and Crew Chief was soon telling me we may not make it to the finish.. I had already started fuel saving after Geoff went wide early on at the last turn (which also helped me to cool the left front tyre) but it was only when Glenn dropped out that I could relax a bit. Even so, had to short shift heavily on the last few laps and started the final lap with 0 Litres showing on the gauge. If Geoff had got to T1 first, or not gone into the gravel, or if Glenn hadn't discoed or Pete was a little closer or any other ifs and maybes and I had had to push hard the whole way it could have been a very different result.

Still, the car is super to drive and it felt great here at the full Brands circuit; this should be a really good series with some close battles. Congrats Pete and Geoff for the podium, commiserations to Glenn for the bad luck.

Congrats to Frex & Pete on the podium  :clap: :clap:, bad luck to Glenn on the disco. :(

Agree with Frex, great fun car to drive. Only real small problems I had were a little too much power understeer & 3 corners where I could not decide which was the best gear to use. Only having 4 gears means inevitably some corners are going to be between gears, the Scirocco we are using in Monday GTL races has 5 speeds which makes it much easier to drive.

Race was great fun even though I twice succeeded in understeering off the road at Clearways, only just touched the grass both times but it just sucked the car off track & into the gravel. Moment of the race was overtaking both Mark & Jos at Surtees when they slowed each other up. I got a great run through the corner & was about to stamp on the brake to avoid an accident when a gap appeared around the outside & I got through with the car half on the grass :o. Brilliant fun.

Knutsdorp next, not one of my favourite tracks but should suit these quite well.

I too like some lift-off oversteer, and in this car it is very progressive and easy to manage; however, too much of it was just losing me time. I tried some different damper settings (which helped a little but not enough), and some springs and ARB changes (which helped a lot, but blunted the turn-in and mid corner speed too much). My preferred solution was to increase brake balance to the front - I was running 70:30 I think and could possibly have gone more extreme but it was starting to lock up and overheat the fronts too much. In the race I think I used 69:31 combined with 94% brake pressure. For me this was the best way of being able to brake deep into the corner to get the weight over the front axle for a good turn-in and still get a good exit without wasting too much time with the rear braking too loose, although it did require some brake pedal modulation at times to prevent lockups.

Also the default gearing did not seem quite right at some of the corners here, and it was sometimes difficult to know whether to change down or not. In an attempt to get around this I tried to get a bit creative with the ratios and ended up shifting down to first gear for Druids, second for Graham Hill bend, Surtees and Stirlings and third for Hawthorns, Westfield and Sheene. However, I watched Geoff in qually and he was generally a gear higher in most of those corners (and quicker than me) so maybe disregard these changes!

Anyway, combined with the usual tyre pressure, springs, ARB, damper and engine braking reduction changes, here (https://www.dropbox.com/s/l84ehc0yp9oisi2/frex_scirocco_gr2_brandsgp.svm?dl=0) is my full setup if anyone wants to give it a try.

Nice one, setup save for future fun and games :) Thanks

Yeh, I was using the default gearing except for one ratio up on 2nd gear, this meant I could potentially use it at Bottom Bend & Surtees. Those two corners were a toss up as to wether it was best to use 2nd or 3rd. The other corner that I was not certain what gear was best was Hawthorns, I normally stayed in 4th but using 3rd seemed just as quick.

FWD has never been my thing, it feels completely alien, touching the brakes or accel just introduce understeer when its the last thing i want. It took all practise and qually to try and work it all out.

We all had varying starts though it seemed quite simple as its quite low powered: full throttle! With the first corner issues ended up with some close racing for the length of it with Jos and Azaris. Annoyingly Geoof can right past us all as we were fighting in Surtees.

It was all going well until Jos got up the inside into Paddock, didnt realise he was keeping it tight, while also trying to cover off Azaris, and braked hard but hit Jos and spun out.