SimRacing.org.uk

Endurance Championship Division 1 - Season 1, Round 1 at Barcelona

Date: Sunday 17th July

Practice 1: 8:30pm (30 mins)
Qual 2: 9:00pm (30 mins)
Warmup: 9:30pm (2 mins)
Race: 9:32pm (60 mins)

Cars allowed: Any. (Seat Toledo, Lotus Elise, BMW Z3M and Porsche GT3 Cup will not be eligable for points.)
Weather: Random.

Notes:
(1) Please try to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to qualifying, during Practice 1.
(2) Server Password will be emailed to those registered racers for this championship. This means you must ensure you have registered a valid email address on the forums as this will be the address used to inform drivers of the password. If you have not received the password by the day of the event, please contact a member of the admin team to get the password.
(3) See  UKGTR Season 1 Info (http://www.ukgtr.org/series.php?series=103) for general Season 1 info.
(4) Please make sure you are fully aware of the UKGTR Rules (http://www.ukgtr.org/rules.php)

ok.

Ready and waiting to get my arse badly kicked.

Fozzmeister

If things go to plan I'll be on my way back from the Nurburgring when this is on, so have fun and I'll be back for round 2.

Heh.  17th July is going to be fun. 

7.20-8.50:  UKGPL Masters at the Glen.
9.00-11.00:  UKGTR at Barcelona.

Hehehe ;D

To expand on Matjaz's point in the Div2 thread:

I assume we haven't been allocated a class?  In which case we can turn up in whatever we like?  I only ask because it seems likely we will have a large proportion of GTs, as opposed to NGTs.  Or has that all been sorted and calculated from what people have said behind the scenes?

Yeh, I've been an NGT man so far. But I was allocated in Div1, There's probably 7 people who i can just about keep up with on a good day, maybe three that i can run with consistently. If they go GT, I am, I'm hoping that they go NGT coz thats what I've practiced most with.

I suspect I'm in Div1 because of the fact that i tend to run in NGT.

It says that each division will have a relatively even split of GT and N-GT cars. I was just wondering how will this be achieved. I'm an NGT driver myself and I hope there will be enough drivers of my class so we can have some nice competition but it might as well happen that majority turns up with GT's so it can get very boring for me.

We had a poll a couple of months ago to see what people wanted run and there looked to be a fairly even split.

I would ask that if you're undecided, you run in NGT because it is generally the less well subscribed class.

But at the end of the day we're supposed to be doing this for fun and I don't want to start dictating car classes unless I absolutely have to.

Hmm interesting, will need a fuel stop.
The Lambo only takes 45 mins max fuel.

Yeh I noticed that when I was thinking about taking the Lambo, its bound to be the same at most other tracks. On the plus side the lambo eats tires comparitively so at least its not a pointless stop.

Fozzmeister

Not sure it eats tyres. It heats them up nicely, but it's on Michelins which have the best wear of the 3 manufacturers.

I looked at fule levels for all the GT's.  The Viper get 55mins of fuel according to the garage, so it may be worth a gamble on a non-stop run, IF I can save the fuel, and IF the tyres don't give up :)

I've not been able to test a 1hr run, so whether it'll work is anyones guess  :o

I showed up to race but I was an hour late.  :o

I got my time zones confused. There was only 3 minutes left in qualifying 2. I ran out and did a quick lap.

Following the 2 minute warm-up it showed heavy rain in the forecast and current conditions with the track flooded, track temperature 0 degrees and ambient at 37. So I through on some wet tires and waited for the start button to light up or the countdown to start. Suddenly the forecast current conditions went to dry with the track still flooded and the race started!  ???

I went to monitor and watched the cars pull away from the grid. I hoped it would let me join late but the standing showed me as "DQ" so no such luck. The exact same thing happened to two other drivers as well.

Maybe because I showed up late or the warm-up was too short? I also saw it said "996PIRELLI MISMATCH" after my name. I have seen this before with other drivers but it never happened to me before, I have no idea what that means. Maybe that is why I was DQ?

Oh well, maybe next time.

Chris Moses

Pfff.  Wet weather.  Never driven wet in my life.  Did OK considering.  Now pissed off though.

Although we were all in the same boat the random weather was stupid.

Qualifying was mad! I had full vent and short shifted and the engine was still very easily overheating. air temp of 37 or something with track temp of 47. Hot and dry.

Warmup was damp track but dry and dry forecast.

I like the rain and found the race nice and easy very smooth in the monsoon conditions and then keeping the tyres cool on the wet stuff when a dry line emerged 2/3s of the way through, but all the sessions had completely different weather and the warmup forecast was for Dry and we got to race session and it was Monsoon and flooded. Quickly put on some wets no time to adjust anything else (as this was in the countdown (that wasn't there)) and hurridly got to race without the extra wing i would have wanted etc and no real thought behind tyre choice. About 3 didn't make it into race (must have missed the countdown I guess (which wasn't displayed) and then Mark dissapeared whilst leading the formation lap with 1 corner to go (i guessed he'd disco'd as his car froze and dissapeared, but apparently not as I later saw him in the pits), so i was left to lead the formation lap over the start line and never looked back. Nice having a clear track with no spray, dunno what it must have been like for some of you behind with mountains of spray.

That was horrid, first only about 14 drivers, and only 3 ngt, then weather that was stupidly hot in Qual, then normal in warmup, then it rained in race.

My race was a disaster, all over the place. I can't handle wet. if it had stayed dry I could run my compititors (NGT) qual pace pace in race trim with a full tank.

Still these things are made to try us :-(

Fozzmeister

Horrible race for me. I decided to run the NGT class and only 3 NGT's were there. Although I didn't get any practice before hand in the 360 (always drove the f550), I thought I could run ok. Wrong. So I hoped I could run the race at a consistant pace and end up atleast finishing and maybe even challenge a little a long the way. I made a hugh mental mistake and screwed up by not switching to rain tires from my int. tires from earlier and could not drive on the flooded track. Went off the track into the sand on the 1st turn (like being on ice without the rain tires),  :-X  :-X  :-X disaster

After all these months of waiting and looking forward to the start of the season, I mess it up like this by a mental error of hurrying to get on the track without checking the weather.

It looked like fun for everyone else out there dicing back and forth.

Theres always the next round, right....................can't wait  ;D ;D ;D

Grats Shark :)

Oh yeah, I was shuffled to the back of the grid after a 10 second freeze on formation lap.  Then went off T1.  Was woefully inept in the wet conditions, never done it before.  Was quick, but after the first corner mayhem, had no discipline.

Never mind eh.  Can't say I enjoyed the race though.  Can't have been any fun for the NGT runners either :(

We need to sort this weather thing out - it was well stupid - I saw track conditions flooded, made two changes, and by the time I get back to the screen I'd missed the start - fooking stupid. I thought there was a countdown or something? How are you supposed to know if you've missed the start? You can't even make changes if the track condition suddenly changes! - In a lot of leagues I know they run set weather throughout the weekend - I really think we should designate Dry and wet races, otherwise the race just isn't enjoyable. Or you miss it altogether. Like me and two other people.

Very bizarre!

Scorching hot in practice and qually, then just before the race, Flooded Track!!!  Changed to soft wets (already had full tank) and clicked join only to find I'd only just made it as the lights went green 1 second later!!!  That was really fast and I'd almost missed it!

Start was fine, got jumped by a couple of cars but they ended up in the gravel in the next couple of laps.  Soldiered on in 4th, then 3rd and then up to 2nd by the time the dry line appeared.  Checked the tyre temps and they were well up, so had to start running on the wet patches to cool them off. Trutom was closing on me near the end and with the tyres getting worse and the Viper's handling getting more and more hairy, I spun and let him through.  3rd place was satisfying though :)

Lesson to be learned, u only have 30 seconds tops to make changes when it changes to race session, I'll have to prepare a wet setup for each race that can be loaded in fast in case this happens again.

Thanx for the race chaps.I dented my car on last lap and went into pits,didnt realise it was last lap so i lost fifth place bummer ::).Car was a pig,jus had time to fill up tank and put on soft wets and hit the "Race " button in time phew! :o.Sorry for those that didnt get out in time thats a real bummer,we have all been done like that at some point and its damn frustrating i know. :'(Setup was useless in race :D,needed another gear on the straight had to keep backin off as my man was goin screwy about me overheating the engine :D.Its the first online race i have had in a long while and great fun tryin to concentrate hard again.Welldone to top 3 you earnt it today.
Is there a skin pack for drivers here or jus using the default cars ,cos i hate the standard listers they look poo. ;)

I enjoyed the race. Not despite the weather, it was BECAUSE of the weather. This is what mixes things up! More chaos, the better.  ;D

Also, I came 2nd 'cause of wet mayhem only, I know. I was only 4th in qual, so I guess that would be about it in the race, Mark, Shark and Muorali would have left me far behind and would be racing for a 4th place with Mark as we had about the same quali time. We did compete in this race, too - kind of. Our tires were competing more than we did.  :D Luckily mine were in a bit of better shape and when he spun I came through. Otherwise it would have been fun, a deathmatch on last two laps on worn tires, maybe we'd both gone out. I must say I never had a race on tires so worn, not even in practice. I was literaly praying for them to last to the end, they were really melted on dry surface. FUN! Is there a way to see on MOTEC Analyser what was left of my tires?

As for the weather, I vote to leave it on random. We have sprints with set weather, why not leave this as it is?!  :-\

No, we chose to keep things standard for season 1 at least.

Yeh after the race I decided to do some wet weather testing, took a dry setup and stuck wets on, undrivable (which is what i had in the race), put 15% more on power diff, 5% more on coast, softened the dampeners, decreased the brake pressure, and i could powerslide pretty much without a care in the world.

Still I guess my fault for not having a wet setup ready.

To all those that didn't turn up, you coming next time?

Fozzmeister

Sorry to have missed the race(though the weather thing sounds bad). Had a family function that went on a bit longer than I had anticipated.
Will download the replay(if there is one) when it's ready and see how you guys got on.
Don.

If I read Fozz's earlier post correctly, and there were only 14 drivers, shame there was such a poor turnout :(

Dammit, I could have raced (as a reserve) last night but as there are so many reserves for endurance I didn't bother logging on as I thought there would be no shortage of drivers.

Sounds like it was a fun(!) race.

Pops.

If there's one thing I've learned in any racing league it's this:  If you are a reserve, ALWAYS turn up because you will probably get a race.  I've yet to see a league where everyone who signs up full-time actually turns up to race :) and it was proved again last night, which was a big shame as there are plenty of reserves who could have filled the grid.

As for the weather, it adds extra interest for me.  Whats the point of all these sims having weather simulation if nobody ever uses it ??? It keeps us on our toes and forces drivers to adapt.  If the weather was fixed, then the setups are well known and you soon get to know where you stand, if the weather changes then setups have to change and can't be quite as focussed.  Some drivers will like the wet driving as it gives them an extra chance that they might not ordinarily have.

I have to say:  Well done everyone at the start, nice and clean despite no practice of those conditions :)

i really hated it when i got the 1FPS bug,after a few rounds i was running on 6e place and was making a good time, to get to nr 5, and then sudddenly 1fps.    >:(  crashed my 550 into the tyres, and that was it.

gosh i really am starting to hate this multiplayer part of the game, and for as far ias i can see simbin is not taking the efort to fix it.
how can you drive a league when you don't know if you can finish a race, knowing a bug can kill you ?

I totally agree, I like post people practice dry.

To be honest I wasn't set up for it, but if it gave me a little more time or someone said "20% chance of rain" then I would have made half a setup and I think i would have done quite well, as it was I had 30 seconds to get to grid, after in, shit that looks dark, oh no! that becomes more like 15 to get a wet setup, of course i just changed the tires. It was totally useless to drive though.

I had it at that nice zone where the rear end slides just the right amount to straighten you out of the corners, while still being able to use close to full throttle just before the apex on most corners, sticking wets on that is pretty hard to control.

Saying that I didn't look at the weather in warmup, so i guess it's mostly my own fault.

Fozzmeister

It wouldn't have made any difference. In warmup the track was "damp" but weather was dry and forecast was dry, but that was just the forecast for warmup not race which for me is a pointless forecast therefore.

Replay available from www.ukgtr.org  :)

Noooooooooooooooooo, the shame :-(

I'll upload the results when I get home.

Here's some shots of the "good for ducks" conditions in last nights race. Excuse the missing wheels on the cars, but please send all complaints to Simbin for their most excellent code...

http://www.teamshark.org.uk/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core:ShowItem&g2_itemId=242

Wish I was there! :) Looks great. I only drove 1 race so far in the wet on a public server, which was good too. (Thank someone the Bi-T doesn't have a lot of power, hehe)

:D

T

Results are now up.

http://www.filsca.com/results,gt,1000253,1361,2131,186,0

Even though I never practice in the rain, I think you should leave weather on random/changing since it adds to the challenge and I will not forget to check my tires and weather forecast ever again.  ;D


Hope more show up for the next round, although 14 wasn't bad for the 1st race.


can't wait until the next round to redeem myself hopefully.