SimRacing.org.uk

Practice 1:	20:10	(10 minutes)	full time drivers only
Practice 2:	20:20	(10 minutes)	reserves may join too
Qual 2:	20:30	(25 minutes)
Race:	20:55	(40 minutes)	note: no warmup

Cars allowed: any GTC from the UKGTR Skin Pack v2.7.0.0 (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3356.msg54519#msg54519) (download from here (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3356.msg54519#msg54519)).
Weather: dry
Track: Dubai (National)
Race Start Time 14:00
Pit Stops: No mandatory pit stop.

Server: UKGTR Sprint
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Notes:
(1) Please make sure you are fully aware of the UKGTR Rules (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3349.0) - especially the speed limiter starting procedure and the rules about in-game chat messages.
(2) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=68;theme=3).
(3) You will not be able to join the server without the skin and ballast pack (see link above).
(4) Drivers may only change car once in the season without penalty.
(5) Drivers are reminded that they must select ISDN as their bandwidth, otherwise the stability of everyone's connection will be reduced.

Anyone got any GTC times for here please?...(and a tow rope or recovery vehicle for my modena ::))

In the Vertigo, 1:23.7 is my best so far in qualifying trim.

With my race set-up I can just about duck into the 1:24's but not very consistently :D

can I attach the tow rope to the back of you then? please ;D

;D

I thought the Verty was going to get creamed here but I think the National track suits it fairly well.

that twisty uphill infield is made for the trolley-go, but fortunately the other half of the track is made for proper race cars  ;)...1:23.7 for me too so far in the RS  :)

Is that Race setup Mark?

Now I have managed a full lap (without bouncing off the twisty curbs and attempting to go round the second last corner backwards  :-X).....I am around 1:24:8...in race trim.

Heyzeus, I had to bust the TVR's ass off to get a 1:25 :(

that was qually spec Pseudo, still need to run some race spec laps. Will let you know...maybe  ;)

I dont fancy that twisty uphill kerby section with worn tyres  :o

Just cut the track - drive beside those silly litlle corners.  ;)

TT

FAO Shark Team:

I'm I still in? I didn't know S7 has started.

Tried that (quite a few times) TT, I usually end up with the back of my car sticking out of the hot dog stand near the pit entrance. ::)

 :lol:

Order one for me, too, then.  ;)  Mustard only.  :P

TT

Can anyone please explain why driving it is so much different Online than Offline  ???

Been doing a bit of praccy offline....nothing to shout about (obviously....it's me) but at least some consistent lapping, motec data showing good tyre temps, camber angles, acceptable understeer levels etc etc....all in all a reasonably stable set up.

Just went online however and.....same track temps and weather conditions...not managed to do 2 consecutive laps without falling off the road....tyre temps all over the show....even the gearing feels oddly different  ???  massive understeer followed by snap oversteer if I correct it.....(and yes, I have loaded the right setup  ;)).....why/how can it be so different?

Dunno Bob, I think we've all experienced that feeling but I'm not sure there's a definitive answer. Track and ambient temperature can make a big difference, especially at somewhere like Dubai where it can get very hot so there can be a big difference there between offine and online :-\

FWIW, I just jumped on the UKGTR server to test, it felt OK to me, I got within a second of my PB after a couple of laps.

I always find the grip during off line practice is at very high levels.   You only get that online in later sessions and when cars have been on track.      Skip practice session 1 on the server and try either practice 2 or qualifying session and the grip will be nearer real race levels.

That sounds reasonable BK....I only really praccy offline in private praccy sessions, so I would imagine there is some inbuilt farmulae or somthing that makes the grip a little more AI ish in these than perhaps in a range of sessions for a race.

Doesnt Livetrack have any affect online?

How does GTR2 manage the online portion? Doesnt the PC calculate car and track interactions, with it only using the network to workout other peoples position on track. Maybe theres just a bit of lag between it working out what you should be doing then it talking to the server?

Carp carp carp.

Just wouldn't let me stay connected. No problem with our server, just the utterly rubbish lobby system which some complete muppet decided each client machine should poll regularly.

Come on you Mariners!

unlucky dave, i saw you connect and disconnect 3 odd times  :(

well i got disconnected after 20 mins but as much as I would like to moan and moan and moan some more....

...that was some of the best 20 mins of racing i've ever had!!! had some great place swapping with McClean before he got the best of my Vertigo and then some great racing with pops! I felt i was on a charge and under great pressure at the same time! hope the result was great and thanks for some quality racing!!!!!!

really enjoy GTC cos you see the difference in car strengths more than in any other class hence some quality racing!!!  ;D

getting this BT home hub rubbish soon so hopefully my connection might improve  ???  ::)

Was having a nice battle for 16th for quite a few laps. Munkeys I do beleive it was spun right in front of me on the up-hill S curve causeing me to clip his rear end. The TVR didn't quite feel the same after that, but I was able to fight it to keep calm.

Made some ground and made a pass on a silver Porker which caught up to me by T1. It came on my inside but I had about 3/4 car length on it, but it still managed to swirve into me pushing me off the track so it could take the line :( That was pretty much the end of my race. The TVR had lost alot of it's Aero and I could feel it on track. Not to mention the spin I was sent in to really ate up my tyres. The Pit crew was warning me about their wear roughly at the 25 min mark, and I could feel with every lap the car get more and more unstable.

Apologies to Andy, when we were comming out of that turn you had come on my inside and I lost all sight of you in my mirrors, I was attempting to move to the right of the straight so you could take the line into the next turn, I guess you were on my right :( Sorry for that.

Unlucky Andy, you gave me a hell of a fright when you disco'd, luckily I had no time to react and went right through you. Great racing while it lasted though :)

Mmmmmm carp.... sorry to see you miss out Dave :-\ hope the connection sorts itself out before the next race.

The race went as well as I could have hoped, the TVR is hopeless here.  Qualified in 2nd infront of 2 Vertigos, and my main hoe was the RS's behind them would get them into T1, which sort of panned out as I'd hoped.

Start was fine, MJ got a great start and was behind me for the first 10-15 laps, and there was no more than a couple of seconds between the top-3 pretty much the entire race.  I had a couple of times when I got close enough for a look but there was not really room to try and get by!  For the seconds half of the race TT was very close, but had the Vertigos behind him otherwise I think he'd have been past before the end (the same goes for MJ in the first half of the race).  My main problem with the TVR was brakes, in that my braking distance was bloody massive compared to others especially the RS's in my mirrors :o so apologies if that caught anyone out but most of the race I was struggling to get the car into the apexes.  Eventually, after what seemed an eternity of winding through that silly esses bit, I finished 2nd ;D

Grats to Bara for the win, just a little too fast!  And to TT/MJ for the close battles :)

Replay and Provisional Results posted

Excellent race there.  Found myself dicing with Purdie early on and the only place i could battle back was on the main straight as the vertigo was just too good thru the slow stuff.  Had to really keep an eye behind me the whole time as those vertigos would simply close right up and i was expecting them to have a lunge either at the last turn or at the slow double right hander.

Mean while TT, Zarcari and Baracus was just ahead and a few times we all got bunched up, nose to tail when we hit the back markers.  However, i could get real close to TT at the last turn but could never get a good run on him cos he was exiting there so well.  All the while Pops was just behind me and had me under pressure for the most part and i think we made contact maybe 3 times, but as we got onto the the main straight id open a little gap, but after turn 2 he'd simply close the gap as he appeared to be able to take a few of the turns flat out were as id have to come off the power.  Like Purdie said intresting racing with the different abilities of the cars.

Was seriously good fun out there.

PS. @ Pops - no worries about that m8, you waited and everything and you left  the server as i was typing a reply.

Cheers and Congrats to Bara for a good win.

alas it caught me out on lap 14/15 at T1  :'(...though i blame Bara's dodgy braking ahead of you  ;)

That was a cracking race  8)

Had problems in qually with my pedals moving about in my swanky new Race seat frame and was struggling in the 24's well off my PB. I affected a quick repair with some supplied velcro strips and then banged in a 23 to grab 4th in the dying minutes :angel:...sorry Purds  ;D

Got a good start off the line and used the porkers power to blast past Pops with a little tow to grab 3rd before T1 on lap 1 :) Then had a superb 14 or so laps glued to Zacs backside whilst he equally glued himself to Bara and we stayed like that for lap after lap. I thought about getting up the inside of Zac twice along the straight but never quite got enough car alongside so pulled back in line each time. I could tell my setup was much better under braking and i was having to back out a few times around the lap, with Zac always managing a good enough exit out of the final turn to keep him out of trouble from the Stuttgart horses  :(
Unfortunately on lap 14/15 as told above, i had to hit the anchors a tad harder than i wanted to at t1 to avoid zacs rear, who looked like he was doing the same to avoid Baras and the porker just went into what felt the worlds longest slide as i desperately tried to hold onto her but alas the back finally went around and i dropped down to 7th? The long spin also bazooked my tyres and the temps shot up making the car very slippery for a lap or two dropping me behind Simon and Backo for a while.
Once they cooled i chased them both back down and then enjoyed a titanic scrap with Backo for 10+ laps to the finish with some great close action as i tried all sorts to get past him. We were both struggling with worn tyres by looks of things and on final corner of last lap, he got out of shape and ran wide enough for me to slide up the inside and steal across the line for 6th  8)
Cracking battle Backo !

Got fastest race lap so proved the pace i had tonight, just that spin whilst 3rd cost me dearly  :'( But a good night all round for the legends with 3 cars in top 6  :euro:
Well done TT and Pops, and the Podium boys in particular  :thumbup1:
Love the Dubai track  :wub:

Wow, what a race!  :o  Exactly 'cause of the different feeling on-line I had to skip half a quali session. The race setup didn't feel quite as good as off-line. Race started ok, after Purdie made a mistake I was able to squeeze beside Pops on the main straight and then I was behind MJ on 3rd. We were both faster than the first two as they were slowing themselves down. Didn't want to quite press on the MJ, I'm still a junior team member after all.  ::)  But I was mentally forcing him to make a move, though I had a different move in mind.  :P  Too bad MJ, I think you deserved to be in front of me at the end.  :)
The race was close all the time, Bara/Zac in front, MarkMc/Pops behind. Had more trouble with MarkMc, he was beside me a few times but I was able to keep my position. Was hoping I was leaving enough room as a few times I really didn't know where you were, Mark.  :scared: Fortunately  you had your hands full with Pops (well done  ;) ) otherwise you would get by for sure. Zac had a superb exit in his TVR so I couldn't quite close for the outbraking move. On GT version I would get by on the long straight but here both were too short. Nevermind, it was cool, this race was great. Bad luck for MJ, you deserved the podium. Some more laps and we would all be looking Pops from behind, I think, my front left was at 25 at the end, couldn't hold in corners anymore and braking was starting to be crappy. Good stuff!  8)  Grats to Bara/Zac and thanks all for close racing.  :)

TT   

Great race that one...total enjoyment  ;D

Started normally, spun into last place before the end of lap 3  ::)....(must practice with cold tyres more)

took a couple of places back when Mr Bmw had the afore mentioned coming together with a porka and then started chasing Ade in the Vertigo. and that was some chase 8)

I eventually managed to catch up with him just after half distance and managed a good run out of the twisty bit to know I would be able to cruise past him on the main straight....but took the last turn a tad narrow and got a wheel hooked up on the kerbing and started to spin...again ::). managed to hold it though and started chasing again...about 3.5 secs adrift.

Caught him again 6 or 7 laps later and got a good enough run down the straight to take the inside of the braking zone into T1 side by side....only to lose the back end under heavy braking and very gracefully slid sideways across the inside of the apex and end up perfectly back on the racing line facing the right way ;D
It didn't seem quite right taking the place in that manner though, so I slowed and let Ade back past me.

Chase was on again. Managed to catch up a little quicker this time as I think Ade got held up a little by a back marker....and this time I actually managed to pass him cleanly, and make it stick.

All in all it was a great little battle....grats to Ade for some great driving and making it so hard to catch and pass him 8).

Grats to podium and Bara....how he can make the 360 go that fast is beyond me  :-\ ;D

Sorry about that! JPV lost his rear end under braking leaving me to turn in earlier than i would with my rear starting to slide aswell, managed to catch it tho, JVP came back across caught my front with you coming in to the rear....  :'(  lost the rear wing in the carnage and also the will to live.... Gutted

Didn't notice till watching the replay you ended up that far back after the very early, customary Psuedo twist  ;D good work on getting youself back up on my tail pipe.  :notworthy: Give that man a medal :yes: for giving me the place back  after the total lose of controle in exactly  the right direction   :thumbup2: notice you didn't give me the place back again at replay time 2554.975  was the most beautiful pirouette i have ever seen. good race . thank again. Ade

Good job you Legend drivers - I was expecting to be out there last night, but something came up that I had to deal with and that knackered any chance of racing :(.

Still, I WILL be there for the Enduro this weekend.

really?? hehe  ;)

Very dull race for me. Qualified in the middle somewhere and that's where I stayed.

First couple of lap my Mosler breezed by a Vertigo on the straights and then after that I just picked up places as other people made mistakes. I checked in with Carl occasionally on TeamSpeak and he always seemed to be enjoying it with a battle royale at the front.

I was in no mans land for most of the race having no one to race and when the faster guys came up to gain their positions back after their mistakes they just breezed by, there was no point trying stupid defensive driving with their pace being so superior (even flashing Jonzo through on the start finish straight so he could challenge Backo without me in the way :o).

Shame about Gizmo's problems again. British ADSL is complete rubbish, which is why I'm never getting rid of my cable connection if I can help it.

What a race that was, possibly one of the best ever!

I'd managed to get a fair bit of practice in for this one so I knew I was reasonably quick but I was stunned to qualify in 3rd, I think that's my best ever effort in a Sprint race. Unfortunately my 3rd place lasted for all of 30m as MJ effortlessly zoomed past me using all his extra power.

The rest was an lesson in why not to drive the Vertigo... Whenever one of the GT3's made a mistake in front of me (invariably in the uphill twisty bit) I had to back off, allowing the GT3 behind to close up and blast past me on the straight! Grrr! Very frustrating! ;D

After Andy's unfortunate disco I found myself in 5th behind Mark Mc & TT. I think I was a tad faster than Mark but there was just no way past despite my best efforts. I knew my tyres would still be in decent shape in the closing stages, I'd driven pretty smoothly, and from the look of the smoke billowing Mark's & TT's tyres I thought one of them would make a mistake.

In the end it was me who made the mistake, Mark caught me out in the uphill section with just over a lap to go and I turned him around. I'm really sorry about that Mark, I just hope the result wasn't affected.

I can't complain about 5th though, it's not often I find myself at the sharp end like that, it was enormous fun!


MJ never lets the facts get in the way of a good story!

LOL, of course, he meant of those that finished. ;) :angel:

FLOTTF in Dave's snazy new stats code ;) Think they are very good by the way.

oops, never saw Purdies 1:23 race lap down there in the retirements zone  :-[ ....still, you gotta be in it to win it  ;)  I was doing 1:23's in race spec offline and thats good enough for me  ;D...besides i was in a shiny new race seat and still acclimatising  :whistling:

Cool, which seat did you get?

i got the A1-Gp evolution seat from 'Playseat'  Its great 8)

Excellent. I've been eyeing one of the A1GP Playseats up for when I get GT5 Prologue so I can play it in the living room as at the moment I have nowhere to attach my spare DFP in the living room.

Did you bother getting the seat slider with it? How small does it actually fold up into for storing behind an armchair etc?

Rich kids with rich toys.  :P  Well, sometimes it helps.  :shifty:

Good job, MJ.  :yes:

TT

And how much does it cost?!? :o

Simon, yeah its a pretty nifty bit of kit. It actually folds up to a quite small size, ie right over on itself, so the back rest sits on the cushion. Most of it is hidden under my desk and if i wanted to hide it away totally i could just slide out the pedal unit (1 turn screw) and move it all the way underneath.

An added bonus, as it didnt cross my mind, is that you get improved FFB feedback through the steering column as you would a real car, because your wheel unit is no longer bolted to a big lump of wood called a desk ! So all the vibrations/rumble come back down the column into the frame of the seat. My brain was registering all sorts of excellent feedback even though i was concentrating on last nights intense race.

The only thing to beware of is that you sit a good 10inches lower than a normal chair and i now need to saw a few centimetres off my desk legs as i feel like a 5 year old looking up at the telly ! (tho the desk i was using was a bit higher than your average pc desk).
And no i didnt pay extra for the slider, i couldnt really see what advantage it would give other than getting in and out of it, and im not that old yet!  Maybe another day i'll get it and the G25 shift plate but in no hurry for either.

Cost was £209inc and i got next day delivery for £20.

Was a cracking race indeed! I was really surprised to get pole tbh (mind you, note the JR wasn't present!) and then my game plan was to just keep it steady and not overdrive. It was constant pressure from Zacari with a train of cars behind. Sorry if I was driving a bit too cautious which may have caught some of you out, but I was desparately trying not to brake too late :)

Had a bit of a coming together with JPV near the end when he spun infront of me, I did a neat little 360 spin (the irony of driving a 360, maybe that where they got the idea?) and ended up facing the right way, and online! (probably blocked Zacari coz he was close, but I doubt you would have wanted to win like that - OK maybe you would hehe!)
Luckily no noticable suspension damage so I just tried to carry on the way I was. Was really good fun - max concentration, those 28 laps flew past for me! I think the biggest gap was 1.2 seconds but average felt like about 0.6 - awesome stuff :D

Nearly caught me out, that one!  :o  Saw a commotion, Zac was slowing down and I had a moment of panic: allready braking into the corner - any more pressure on a brake pedal means an automatic MJ(tm) spin.  ;D Fortunately you and Zac got moving again before auto reaction could ruin my race.  :sweatdrop:  I wonder if MarkMc and Pops could react in time or would it be a massive first 5 big bang.  ;D  I'm sure MJ would secretly enjoy that...  :drool:

TT

Sounds very familiar..... :laugh:....I did exactly the same in my 360 too...as Ade said...

as long as he didn't sell the 911  ;)

...and if you want any free lessons round Brands MJ! i dont charge hehe

(i dont charge for driving either haha  ;D)

grats Baracus btw!!!!!!!!!! R24-7 win!!!!  :-*