SimRacing.org.uk

Car: Skip Barber Formula 2000
Track: Summit Point Raceway

Practice: 19:00 for 75 mins (I'll possibly start praccy a bit earlier and let it run for longer)
Qualifying: 20:15 (15 mins)
Race: 20:30 (28 laps, approx 40 mins)

Start: standing
1 'fast tow' (reset) available for each driver (available by pressing SHIFT+R by default)

NOTE: All sessions protected by the main password, there is no seperate 'pre-event practice'

A couple of notes re. Blue Flags during qualifying and race where they differ from GTR2;

Blue Flags during qualifying - if you see a blue flag during qualifying it will be on your outlap and the driver approaching is on a hotlap. Please take this into account and act accordingly. The driver behind does not know you are on an outlap so no rash moves out of the way please :) Usual SRouk rules / guidelines should be applied.

Blue Flags during the race -  if you see a blue flag during the race it means the driver approaching is about to lap you. Please take this into account and act accordingly. It differs from GTR2 in that you will not be penalised for not allowing the lapping driver to pass within a certain period. The flag is informational only. Usual SRouk rules / guidelines should be applied.

Pit Boxes - there are 28 slots available at Summit Point Raceway. I don't think we'll hit that limit but we might be close so if you don't intent to take part in the race, please don't join the practise session beforehand. This rule will be on a track-by-track basis as the number of pit boxes differs by track.

Deja-vu ;D

I hope not .... giving up places to my teammates was bad enough the first time!!!

Same track - still really looking forward to it ... and this time it counts!

Does that mean we're stuck with this car for the season?

Ummm... that's the plan, I thought that intention was clear? Maybe not?

The idea was to keep it as cheap as possible so if anyone fancied trying an iRacing league out they'd have to fork out the minimum amount. When we discussed it, there wasn't a majority wanting to race the Pontiac Solstice or Spec Racer Ford. Remember, if we use any other cars other than the Solstice, SRF or Skippy, you'll have to buy them.

Maybe I'm being overly cautious, especially as iRacing have now substantially lowered the prices.

I see this championship as sticking with the Skippy but I'm MORE than happy to arrange some other events using different cars & tracks as fun events this season and then moving on to something else next season.

The HUGE hurdle is that there is a lot of us who have a significant amount of content and would obviously like to use it but that means there's a financial barrier to new entries. I wouldn't join a SRouk league if I have to subscribe and buy 8 tracks and a car, it's too much to ask.

My hope is that the new guys and re-subscribers enjoy the environment enough to buy some new stuff for next season, there's no getting around that, I don't think we can run a league that uses Laguna / Summitt / Lime Rock every week! What that amounts to I have no idea at this stage.

I'd like to try one or 2 of the other tracks instead of lime rock chicane and summit short, but if the new guys are not in favour that's cool.

Wasnt it also discussed about running an alternating series using the indycar for those that a more expensive experience? ;D

It was but I didn't take into account the clash with PnG and I don't want to step on anyone's toes :-[

Watch this space though, I want there to be some more events other than the Skippy races :yes:

This discussion is probably best done in the iRacing bit, I'll start a thread :)

I'll be up for this. With some practice, hopefully I can keep up with you lot!

Bully.

I'll try and be along for this...

...and how do I get the former UKGPL Moderators tag, as a former UKGPL moderator!

Regards
Gary

I'm sure Dave will be along shortly Gary  :)

 :sorcerer: :whistling:

will dip my toes into this murky water and see how it goes  ;)

Dont think ive ever used Summit point ? its not that bloody awful park track is it ?

I'd best get some praccy in as not used IR in months and am still a crappy low license driver  :-[

How does it work then with these private leagues? Do we just fire up IR as normal and there is now a lobby present? Been away so missed any instructions.
Are there praccy lobby sessions setup as well ?

Yeah, go to the members section and there's now a 'Hosted' option, you get to it via that.

Hosted sessions consist of Praccy, qually and race. Practice is around 2 hours but dependant on when I start the server. Other than that you have to practice offline.

Look forward to seeing you on track MJ, it's been too long :)

thank you kind sir ;D

And you'll be more than welcome Gary :)

Does that mean it's possible to have an online practice session tonight?
Blunder & I were just chatting & if anyone is already having or is interested in joining us for a SROUK style practice session tonight?

With me being a total iR rookie, it's the only way I'll get to practice the car/track in company  :-\.

But as I only got iR last night & Blunder is Blunder (:clown: ;))... we don't know what we're doing to set a session up. So would love to know if anyone fancies a practice session tonight & if they'd help us host? (we'd both be on SROUK's Team Speak)

Cheers Chris

I might be around tonight after 8ish, I can attempt to give you guys some pointers, I'm not the quickest though!

Setting a practice session is pretty easy, you access it through the 'Hosted' secion of the members site. Creating a Hosted session costs $3 for the host, it's free for anyone else to join. Hosted sessions can be up to 4 hours long.

iRacing has voice comms built-in and works pretty well so TeamSpeak isn't essential.

I've added some further info. to the original announcement, please read, especially if you are an iRacing noob ;)

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7047.msg122962#msg122962

Thanks for the help!

I'm guessing Chris and I will be about we hope from 8.30-9pm.
I will host if necessary! once I figure out how to do it! :)

Have done an hours practice now and am down to a very slow 1.26.2.
Must try harder! lol :)

Would be good if more people joined us!

Martin Mason ( in iRacing! )

If you do host a session, post up in the iRacing forum, I suspect a few guys will pop in for a while :)

Oh, and before you get as confused as I did... To host a session you need some credit in your account.

The way to do this is to buy a gift card and redeem it yourself. Yes, this is absolutely riduculous but it's the only way to do it at present.

Buy a gift card from here (min $10 but you can use any extra on content or subscriptions);
https://members.iracing.com/membersite/store/GiftCards.do

Once you have the code, go here and apply it to your account;
https://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/ViewCart.do

You then will see credits in your account on the hosting page;
http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/CreateHostedSessionBegin.do

Hope that's clear!

Perfect.. all done! Thanks

Stupidly I thought , what the hell I'll stick 50 dollars into my account...
Only to find out later that I already had 60 dollars in credit! lol !
I must have got a few discount codes or something?
So have loads of dosh to spend! :)

Anyway, looked at the hosting seem really easy.

Just wondered then .... is anyone else interested tonight?
Because if I host I can of course specifiy exactly what I want hosted so...

I have 2 choices?

a. 3 hour practice session!? starting at say 9pm?

or

b. could do say 1.5hours practice? 20mins quali? and however many lap race as we fancy!?

I will have to pay the $3 anyway so whether anyone else turns up or not Chris and I will be there!

I'll post a thread later with details!

M.

Let me know guys?

Would love to turn up but am going to a fireworks display at 7pm, family outing and all that.

I'm doing that tomorrow!  ;D

I'm out tonight  :(

Anytime, Martin. :) Though, might be more fun with more people.

Join us when you're back, you know we'll still be there  ;D

I shared a set-up for the Skip at Summit last week with a couple of the newer drivers that they seemed to get on with OK, I'll share it with you guys tonight.

Dunno if you've noticed but one cool feature that iRacing have just introduced is sharing set-ups in-game, you can just go to your garage and grab it once it's been shared, no messing around with downloading and copying files 8)

Please do assume we know nothing (it's not hard :P) when it comes to things that might help us.
Thanks

OK, will do.

I'm often guilty of assuming people know their way around iRacing so please tell me when I'm not making sense! ;D

I tried Dave's shared setup last time and it instantly felt nicer. Though looking at it the front is alot higher than the rear ???

So much to my brother's chagrin (he reckons I'll get my ass soudly kicked by you guys------and he's probably right, but who listens to younger brothers) I have signed up for a 3 month stint with the Skip Barber. Anybody got any setups---yes I am looking at you Legzy and Team Oldie "team mates".

I reckon I'm a way off the pace at the moment but practice should see me close the gap a little.

Now all I need is for you to let me win to shut my annoyingly correct brother up  LOL

Hope to see you lads on track soon

Thanks to Popabawa for the info he PM'd me


Oilseal

Hey Oilseal, I'm too new to have a setup yet, but Paul told me to reduce rear tyre pressure a bit, raise my front ride height & reduce my rear roll bar... all to make the skippy a bit more understeery to start. then when you get the hang of it a bit more, start bringing the settings back (i think)

Fingers crossed I can make this one now ... my graphics card's died :(

Thankfully I extended my warranty a couple of months back so I'll be getting a replacement couriered to me free of charge.  It's due to be delivered on Tuesday - so I should still be okay ... just a little light on practice.

This could tempt me to renew my subscription :)

Nooo! You're too quick! ;)

Hope to see you on track soon Mike :)

Hi, Mike! :) You still around? :)

Going to be practising like mad tonight....don't want to embarrass myself to much ;D

Guys, in case you didn't notice my recent EDIT, please note;


We might get VERY close to the 28 car limit this week. If there are 28 drivers registered it will not allow anyone else to join so please don't join if you don't intend to race.

This shouldn't be a problem anywhere else but Summit Point as the other tracks have more pit boxes. So if we do start to get more than 28 drivers wanting to attend then I might think about using a different venue for the last race with more slots, Summit Short is probably the least appealing track anyway IMHO.

Not yet I won't be  :D

Endless pickup racing got boring, so I haven't driven iRacing for about a year.  If I can race with a league, then I'll renew for a year.  If I get in for tommorrow, I'll be too busy trying to get used to the car to worry too much about results  ;D

I'd be up for another group practice session tonight (about 8:30pm)?
Anybody else fancy it?

I don't have two iRacing dollars to rub together yet, but I'm sure I can work out how to get some (to do the hosting), unless anybody else has spare ones coming out of their ears? ;)

p.s. Just managed to earn my Class D license  ;D ;D ;D (did it with the new instant promotion at SR=4)

Christ dont you lot have jobs or something  :D

I wish the instant promotion would work from Class A to >SR4 for Pro  :laugh:

Why would you want to be a Pro? They spend all their time complaining that they don't want to do the Pro races. ??? :P

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!  Not going to make it now ... unless I can magic up a new graphics card in 24 hours ....

Surprise surprise, XYZ acting on behalf of Dell don't have any nVidia 8800GTX cards in stock, and have no ETA .... delivery will be 2-3 days after they have some.

I'm thinking that's pretty much never then .... and time to get a new card myself.  It should all be covered by the warranty but I'd like to do SOME racing this season .....

[/quote]
I'd be up for another group practice session tonight (about 8:30pm)?
Anybody else fancy it?

I don't have two iRacing dollars to rub together yet, but I'm sure I can work out how to get some (to do the hosting), unless anybody else has spare ones coming out of their ears? ;)


[/quote]

Ive just put $10 in my iracing account if you want me to sort it legzy?
If so how should i set it up practice/qualifying/race times and such like.

                                                      Cheers Ade

just had a quick half hour after not touching IR for months...err, mr spinalot springs to mind.

Be afraid..i managed a whopping 1:27.2  :laugh: think i need more laps...and a setup. :-[

Probably 11:30ish :-[

Ive just put $10 in my iracing account if you want me to sort it legzy?
If so how should i set it up practice/qualifying/race times and such like.
[/quote]
Cool. Set it up with "UK" in the name & with the normal praccy password mate. I'll be about from about 8:30 (on TS too), but when ever is good for you.
Martin stuck it on practice for the maximum time the other night (4 hours?). Maybe set a quick race for the end if anybody is still going :-\

Let us know when it's up  :)

Cheers Ade. I'll pop in later if thats ok  :)

Really doubt I'll make the race morrow though. Our work makes redundancies during "lean times" and now we have our busiest period ever  :'( Got to be grateful really.

Servers up ;D srouk test 3hr prac 15min quali and a 25 lap race, usual practice password.

Nice one Ade, I see there are 7 on the server already... I'll be right with you 8)

enjoyed the little praccy sesh, makes a world of difference to this sim having fellow srouk racers on track rather than nameless strangers.

Took 2 secs off my time, now on 1:25's so bit better but still expect to be running near the back. Hey ho, early days. Need to get that feel back for the lightweight skippy  :)

Well, I'm signed up for a year  :o

Now I just have to learn a new track and car in about 2 hours.... gulp.

Cheers for that Ade :)

Cheers for that Ade & good to do a test race at the end  :yes:
pb now at 1:24.1 & feeling happier with the car.

Thanks Ade. Enjoyed that. Sorry to Ian for the little tag at T1 in the race. I was right up the curb to try to avoid you. You should have taken the tow. I got back in the race and was actually leading by the time I was dragged away by the missus!!!

Wow, these are twitchy little sods huh :D

PB of 1:25.3 so far, but I need to get controls set properly and find a nicer setup.

See you all tommorrow!

Adam, the Nvidia 250GTX is their rebranding of the 8800GTX, I doubt they would have any of the older cards left. The 250 is the exact same chip.

I'm on course to see you boys later, blimey seven and a half years since I last raced in a UK league :-)

Regards
Gary

Np Ken  :) All that pracci really wetted the appetite but I'll have to wait for Laguna, have fun all.

Cheers - wasn't aware of that - will be looking at the upgrade options this morning, but my race is already run for this evening.  Gutted.

Well, they were my first ever laps in iRacing last night thanks to the free Radical trial and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed trying to get to grips with the Skippy.

Super impressed with the physics and the quality of the track but it was the movement and detail on the car that really stood out most for me. Had a little ding-dong with Ade towards the end of the session and just watching his car slide around with the various suspension parts moving was an absolute joy.

A brilliant game but I'm not sure it's far enough ahead of some of the other sims to justify the cost. That was one car and one track so probably too early to say.

Really looking forward to having a spin out with everyone this eve....see you there.

If anything, Summit Point is, for me at least, one of the most uninspiring circuits in the whole sim (although it does seem to suit the Skip rather well.) 

Wait till you try Road America or Watkins Glen, especially in some of the higher powered cars.

For me, the ability to race in an SROU league has lifted the whole experience to another level.  I was always impressed with the feel of the sim but never completely comfortable with the 'pick up racing' structure.

Roll on tonight  ;D

Yeah I got the impression that was probably as basic as it gets - looking forward to trying the Radical @ Silverstone at least...didn't really get a chance to look at what I've got access to with this one month trial but will give it the once over later.

Really I'm after a decent single seater sim (not ovals) and although the Skippy is probably one of the best I've driven in terms of feel, I didn't feel it was ahead of the Nippons in rF...even if they're very different beasts.

Anyway, one step at a time - definitely going to have some fun with this while I've got it, see if it wins me over.

The fun race next week is the Radical at Laguna Seca (which you've got as part of your sub) :)

 :rockon:

Due to the daughters dancing being cancelled again I shall actually be able to make it for this one now.   :)

OK guys, server is up! Get practicing :)

Server: SRouk Skippy

Woh, I haven't had my tea yet!!

I won't be in until around 8 but I've grabbed my spot already just to make sure! :D

I'll be in as soon as Jo Caufield stops talking. :D

Apologies to John Stamper who I hit when I drifted accross the track.   What a muppet! >:(

Luckily it was just me that got all the pain!

Hope the rest of the race is a good un!

No worries mate, just one of those things.
I picked up some damage from the incident and had to retire a lap or so later as the car was handling like junk and I was struggling to control it.

I'm gutted.
I was hoping the driving standards would be up there with the normal SROUK races. That was an awful display of driving. I'm wondering if some people have gotten used to public server races?

Lap 1) I took it easy into t1, car spun ahead & had nowhere to go so stopped just short of him, got clouted from behind  >:(
Lap 2) Exited the pits, let lots of people past... went round the slow left & into the wiggly bit, got clouted from behind  >:( >:(
Lap 3) Exited the pits ::), following a driver closely into the flat out right-hander, he broke ??? & I was in his rear end  >:( >:( >:(  (I obviously have to take some of the blame for that last one, but that corner is easiest to get through if you don't left or brake!)

Car now knackered & pits wont repair. End of the worst race I've had in 2009, having not passed the finish line once under my own steam in three laps. So gutted after the time in practice I've put into this race.

With three & a bit weeks of my month to go, I make the score:
iR -1  Vs  Other Sims 0 (PnG, GTR2, GTL)

what a feckin debacle that was  >:(

all sorts of problems on the technical side from wildly varying fps to stupid steering losing its calibration and going hyper sensitive  ::) One minute i had 123fps and it dropped to 30 after the quit/rejoin.
Thanks DG for tip of rebooting at qually, that worked a treat. Didnt know it would save my place in race after reboot.

Missed all my praccy and only got a few mins qually so started 2nd last  :-[

Race start was diabolical with cars going off all over the place. Too many people were doing 'days of thunder'  and trying to bomb past cars having spins and incidents, adding to the mayhem. I must have made up about 15 places in half lap just picking my way through the nutters.
Alas at that half way point on lap flipping one my steering went again and about 3 cars careened into me as the car drifted rudderless off track. Sorry to those 3 for their damage.

Sorted steering again in pits and rejoined only to get smashed into by 'Freddie' Laker...assume that was him as he flew into me rather than steered around ::)

Finally got about 10 laps in of semi normal driving before Darren used his voice chat and my FPS then dropped to 23  >:( could not continue as undriveable. Gave up in disgust.

other than that it was a good night  :laugh:

Yup it was me (I choose not to name you in an incident ;)).
Mate I was too close & expecting you to keep your foot to the floor going into the corner, to have any chance to stop/swerve round you.
Regardless, I was behind you & I should have allowed for you braking in the middle of a straight  ;) :laugh:. Sorry buddy.

Freddie

p.s. Any race where Dave "4.99" Gymer picks up 6 incident points, had to be a tough one ;D
p.p.s. The car did feel good to drive (before it got broken :D)

Well Legz its something I've been saying for ages.
On the plus side I thought the car was a blast to drive. It felt as I imagined a race car should feel. Its the first time in a long time that I've really nailed the braking. As a perennial back marker most of my race was compromised by blue flags, but they worked well I thought.

On the negative side I was hugely disappointed in the variable frame rate. I expected more from a sim that has been touted as the best.
And it wasn't that I had set things too high. In fact, nearly everything was set to low.As Legzy has said the driving was a little wayward but I hope that will improve as drivers get to know the cars better.

All in all not a bad night. But a long way off what I had hoped


Oilseal

Can the following drivers (or anyone else) let me know the SRouk forum names of the following;

Gary Tall
Matthew Bater
Michael Cooper

Thanks

Pops I'm devasted you dont know my stage name LOL


Michael"Oilseal" Cooper

Sorry for T1, Pops. :-[ Still learning the girth of this car. :(
Hard to unlap in these cars.

Pops my tag is Madd-RIP

lol, I know your tag is Madd-RIP!!!

It's the other bit I need, You Matthew?

lol, i didnt even know you was freddie Laker Legz  :laugh: by avoiding my braking like to know how you would have managed that considering you went off on the grass well before you slammed into me as i was about to turn into the corner ?  ;)

disaster all round. Hope for better with the rads at a bigger wider track like silverstone. Too many cars for this tight little track it would seem  :-\

I've got the names correctly mapped now and the results imported. Let me know if there's any oddness there.

oooh, that was a tough re-introduction to iRacing.  :o  It seemed that half the field were finding the cars a real handfull.

Even now I'm still not feeling comfortable with the Skippy, during the race I was too tense and very inconsistent.  The Skippy has big oversteer all the time and even though Dave's setup helped, i would have liked it to have a bit more stability.

I seemed to start lapping well, then spin hugely.  The first time wrecked the car and the second left me stranded at T2 trying desperately to get going before I got clobbered.

I had some fun with Matthew right at the end, but I need a good bit more practice in these cars yet.

What a way to start the season.

27 drivers on the grid and there was a few names missing that will be racing soon.

I'm still a bit rusty when it comes to the Skip as not raced it for ages.

I've completely lost the smoothness required and now have adopted a more sideways approach, but it's great fun!

Was happy to have got the pole but come the race it was short lived.

Touched the gravel on the exit of the last bend and could only watch Paul Richards crawl passed.

For countless laps I was sitting right on his tail waiting for a little slip. I did not seem to be coming and I always had the worry of the other Paul and Brendan close on the tail.

Finally PaulR returned the favour and lost momentum out of the last bend and I was back in the lead.

PaulR was on my tail for the next few laps then come the last 10 it started getting really hot.

I was giving it everything but could not do anything to shake off Paul.

I got sideways on the exit of T1 and thought I has lost the lead but Paul backed out from a move into T2.

After that he managed to get alongside at the exit of T1 again, but I had the line for T2 and could hold my position.

It was great fun but I was looking for the chequered flag to come.

Nice to win the first real iRace.

I guess I have mixed feelings about that :-\

It was awesome to get so many on the grid but I wonder if the field size was too big? That's a lot of cars on that small track, everything was fine last week.

I'm sad to say that it looked to me like there were a few drivers who really weren't adequately prepared for the standards required in a SRouk race :no: coupled with a small track and lots of cars, mistakes can be amplified considerably. I know the Skip isn't the quickest car but it does require a fair amount of practice and application to keep it on for 40 minutes, you can't just jump in and race it.

I think some of the comments re. iRacing are a little unfair too, I think it was the standard of driving that was at fault, not the standard of the sim.

I'm really concerned about Lime Rock next race now, it's possibly tougher than Summit and if drivers aren't ready it's not going to be pretty :surrender:

My race prep was thrown in to dissaray when a mate of mine rang just as I was about to climb up in to the loft and then I couldn't get him off the phone!! When I eventually did manage to get away I only managed 2 laps in practice, compared to Brian's 80+!!!

After that I had no great ambitions for qually and I was reasonably happy with a mid grid 12th place. The first few laps where rather hectic and I was really fortunate when two cars touched as they crossed the s/f line just in front of me and one of them spun in to my path. but to my great amazement I passed clean through him!!

After things settled down I had a nice battle with Darren. He dropped back after a mistake but he caught and passed me and then we got seperated by some backmarkers. I have to say some people a lap down didn't seem in a hurry to move over. Granted some of them had good pace and were probably only a lap down due to incidents, but when they get between two battling cars it can be annoying.

So I was basically driving to the finish when Darren got away but I think he caught the next car and must have been tempted in to a move which resulted in another mistake and I was up one more place again. So all in all I was quite happy with my final position.

They were all after the flag. :P

5th to 5th was pretty good considering both the calibre of the top third of the grid, the fact that after I ran into Oilseal's spinning car at the start of qually, my steering was off centre. I quit, unplugged and replugged the wheel, returned and recalibrated and it seemed okay. Big mistake - once on the grid it was obvious that the wheel had returned to its original calibration. :o :So I had to do the whole race with the wheel about 10 degrees left of centre. ::)

Was glad to have a grid slot on the right hand side of the track, and with the top 4 holding each other up I actually looked like I might be able to keep up for a while. Gradually they dropped me and I had to start concentrating on just keeping a good enough gap over Simmo to avoid him getting into my draft.

Then Paul968 had some sort of moment in the slow wiggles and I squeezed by. Held him at bay for a few laps but he was soon towing past on that long front straight. By that time, Simmo had evidently had a problem behind me so I had a nice big gap and was able to put pressure on Paul right to the end without worrying about having a spin.


The only 'bad' thing I saw was an almost constant dust screen through the fast left hander from the leading 4. ::) I wonder if they realised they were making such a visibility hazard for the cars behind?

I had no problem with lapped cars although the number of cars coming out of the pits suggested that more than a few were attempting to drive well beyond their own abilities. :-\


I guess the incident reports and replays will give us a better picture of what went wrong.

Anyone who was involved in an incident with another car which was down to poor etiquette (rather than mere temporary incompetence :D ) please file a report, preferably with a client replay clip if you have one.

That felt like an amateur race rather than a race with seasoned racers in it >:(. I thought i joined with plenty of time left before Qually but managed to be the 2nd from last. Trying to put some laps in practise but people seemed to want to race me which then ruins my lap so never really got any proper laps in, not to mention nearly getting taken out on my outlap as someone decided to go two wide into the last corner i have to almost take to the grass.

The first corner of the race went well ;D Managed to stick to the inside and managed to get through after TT rolled his car. Then with half the field in the pits for repairs people dont seem quite so observant of wether they are being lapped or not, having to force my way through, or they rejoin right infront after an off. Then on the last lap people are clearly just passing the line and stopping as i have to avoid both Dave and Paul who are taking avoiding action or stopping as well while i still have another lap to do.

I think alot of us on TS were pretty disappointed with how that went and are hoping it was more the track/car/ full grid combo than anything else.

Were you coming out of the pits then? Because otherwise, if you were behind us you would've taken the flag before we slowed down. I backed off the throttle gently after crossing the line, only to have Paul slow dramatically and duck out, revealing a very slow car ahead which I ran into. (4 incident points - good job they don't count. Got the other 2 deliberately spinning after that.)

You aren't allowed to do your last lap if you are one lap down. The race ends when the leader crosses the line. Even if you did carry on and complete the lap it wouldn't be counted. As far as I know it is like that in every form of motorsport except the Isle of Man TT.

Yep, I lapped you mark before the last corner so the race was over when you crossed the line (it was anyway as the leader had finished and the chequered flag was out).

I think that what we had there were a portion of the grid that were either fairly new to iRacing, hadn't raced the Skippy in ages, hadn't raced the Skippy at all (me) and for the first race of a new league, everyone was nervous.

It's not an easy car to race, I'm sure we will all get better for the next round. :)

I gave the car another hours practice and trimmed a second off my best time, so I'm already much happier with how the car responds

So you are in the low 22's now Mike, nice going. You were going well at the end of the race and I was making no impression on you over those final 7 or 8 laps.

Yeah, I did some fiddling with the setup and control settings and found myself lapping in 22.6 / 22.7. Then suddenly a 22.2 flashed up  :o

I have to say the start last night was the worst I have seen in ages, reminded me of the old GTL dodgem days :(
Divebombing down the inside into T1 is a joke in a 40 min Race and I expected more from so called seasoned Vets. I was one of the lucky ones to get away unscathed.

For the most part after the start I enjoyed the race, trying to pass even a slightly slower car was hard work but rewarding once you got it right.
I had a couple of scares mid race ran wide into the last turn was lucky to be able to keep it straight on the grass and rejoined ok. Then with only a few laps left I got caught out by someone in front (Madd-Ripp) losing it into that same last corner couldn't avoid contact, I just had a moments choice to go inside or outside and of course got it wrong and ended up having to reset :( The other car seemed to skoot off prety quick so think he got away unscathed.

If I hadn't had to use the reset I would of said I'd had a half decent race.

Onto Lime Rock Park next, where things will be even more difficult..

 

I had fun, I'd not done any racing at all for about a month and little in the last six months. I had 2 hours practice over Sunday and Monday and the half an hour before qually. Qualified 7th just behind Stuart but gradually got seperated from him by backmarkers, mostly ok but I was a little cross with three together out of turn 1, only 1 of which (Oilseal) backed out of it to let me by. The other two cost me quite a few seconds.

I ran around 5 secs behind Stuart then and could see Dave and Paul H just in front. After Stuart and Oilseal tangled I got past Stuart but think I surprised Mike at the last turn and he surprised me with his early turn in so he caught my back wheel which gave me a quick trip into the barrier. A racing incident in my book, hopefully Mike feels the same.

I then decided to watch the rest of the race and that was good fun.

Limerock in two weeks, can't wait:-)

Regards
Gary

From my view point, and without seeing the replay, T1 looked appauling.
I took the inside line, held back, braked early, let all the incidents happen in front of me and then continued.
I just blame bad driving and may be a little inexperience with open wheelers may be?
Let's face it as long as we all learn from it and moderate our driving next time then we will get back to a more 'normal'
SROU situation.
I have to say iRacing seems less forgiving of mistakes generally.
I'm sure my car set up was poor.
I tried one of Ade's late on in practice and was spinning everywhere, were as he was very quick !
I was at least used to my set up but I think my tyres did not warm up much as I somehow felt I had less grip!
Had an unforced spin on T4 on the first lap, leaving me last of those not in the pits! and then came across 2 or 3 cars very badly rejoining at T8, took avoiding action and luckily missed all the barriers but rejoined way down!
Made up a couple of places but have not been near iRacing for 8 months so was trying to re-familiarise myself with it.
Was using F3 to keep an eye on who was about but got confused when it didn't seem to update? and let someone through without a fight!
Will be better at that next time! ;)

Mmmmmm, still keen to give this a go but we all need to improve if this is gonna work out.

Grats to the looney aliens, by that I mean anyone in front of me !!  ;D

The positions and colours typically only get updated as cars cross the line - the gaps are updated constantly, although elevation changes tend to skew them a bit.

Thanks Dave,
Yeah got my head round it eventually, just my inexperience!
 ;)

If guys were not happy with their setups, you should have said during practice.

It's very easy to share setups and I'm sure everyone would be willing to help.

Bugger, that's me another place down in the next race then!!  :)

Make that two Ken, I'm not planning on crashing next time!

 ;D
Gary

Oh OK, I'm sure i never had anything come up about it, no flags, no message that the race is over. All i was going by was my lap count.

Better make sure your leading next time buddy  :lol: so you don't get the problem  ;D ;D

Thanks, didn't even realise how wrong mine was until too late.
I thought the old Spring perch thing was only set on 1,2 or 3 for some daft reason!
Must engage brain next time! :)

As for the race, I enjoyed it despite having to reset after T1.

I had a good time chasing down Martin until we had a comedic; "After you", "No sir, after you" moment into T1  :D

After that I was amazed at how many places I picked up just lapping at a constant rate until I messed up into T1 and dropped back to 12th.

Nooooo - don't mention fish - there are sharks about you know!!


I'm gutted to have missed the race after my graphics card blew up (no pop, bang, flash of light or puff of smoke - it just passed away in it's sleep, at least it was peaceful), but I must admit the post race posts aren't massively encouraging.

It does seem that the limitations of the car or the driver might be being ignored, or that a good few people got over excited in racing a new sim at SRouk in the run to T1.

The Skippy isn't a massively quick car, but it does demand respect when driving it, to be fast you've got to be close to the limit, being over the limit is just going to end in a mess.  We're all experienced sim racers, and all the guys who've been with iR for a while will be only too happy to help with setups etc, but familiarity with the track and car are the first things to deal with.


T1 at Lime Rock is not as slow as at Summit Point, but there's a good enough run down to it to get a head of steam up and get into trouble if we're not sensible.

I just think that there are too many new people coming in at the same time and all have to learn.

Many guys only joined last week and have still to learn what is going on.

First corner pile ups seem to happen more often from standing starts (reading the GTL reviews) and a little nudge in a GT car in GTR2 that would be brushed off as a simple rub of paint, usually results in an accident in the Skip.

I had a quick glance at replay after a race and it looked 3 wide into T1. One car barely touched the other and that was enough to trigger a spin and the knock on effects.

One little incident seemed to make one bigger incident from what I viewed.

As for the starts, I'm not sure how it ended up 3 wide down the straight from a standing start.

The best way to launch the Skip is max revs and stay in neutral. Slam it in 1st on green and no use for the clutch either.

Other than reaction time everyone should launch about the same and hopefully have a few extra feet space come turn 1.

After the first race and seeing how popular it was, I'm sure more guys will dedicate more practice time and be right on the pace next time around.

Can we do pace car starts in hosted races? :laugh:

Yup :D

I enjoyed that despite the horrid circuit. I've never raced at summit long, so I was fully expecting to bin it at some point. 3rd on the grid was nice, and the first 11 laps were a blast as Brian, Paul, Brendan and I were stuck together in a little train.  In the end though I got too greedy in that codding slow left hander (T4?) and spun on the outside curb. Got going just as Dave came round and he just sneaked ahead with Stuart close behind. We then had a good couple of laps before I got a better exit onto the straight and He didn't fight that hard to stop me (thought you would go right Dave, as the outside pass at T1 is not easy with the groove). Brendan was too far away by then to catch without a big mistake, and Dave was grimly hanging on for a while, but I kept pushing, only to make little slips that let Dave catch up again. With 2 laps to go the gap was big enough to relax a bit, as there was little to gain by pushing. Judged it to perfection as the gap was down 0.2 at the line  :o  ;)

Congrats to Brian and Paul for fantastic consistency and pace, and to Brendan for a strong 3rd. I don't agree that the race was that bad in terms of incidents. T1 was an unfortunate chain reaction, with nobody doing anything that daft but the end result was a big mess  :( Single seaters need a bit more space because any side by side contact causes the wheels to tangle, so hopefully people will just leave a touch more room next time, especially at the start. Given that we had a bunch of drivers new to the (somewhat narrow) track, the car and even the sim, and several others who were shaking off their iRacing rust, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise that things didn't go completely to plan.

As one of the early negative comment makers post-race... yes you're right, I agree.
I think that maybe the number of drivers, track & car was a very tough combination for our first race (which included such a mixed bag of iRacing experienced/rusty/new/unpracticed drivers).


I'm happy with Lime Rock, but is it worth selecting an easier wider circuit in these early days? :-\


This has been discussed a lot recently due to mixed class GTR2 racing. Assuming we're following SROUK rules(?), a person a lap down has no need to "move over". A quick reminder for everyone of the lapping rules can be found here: https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3349.msg65156#msg65156
But I would sympathise if you were being unreasonably held up (that would be more then "a few corners" apparently)

That was an epic race last night  :o

Didnt get many laps in prior to qual and i couldnt hook up a perfect lap to get into the 21s but was pleased with starting second behind Brian who posted a great time.

The race start was fine and I followed Brian through. He ran wide on the exit of the final corner of the first lap and I got past. I pushed as hard as I could to try and open a gap. In the first few laps it seemed pretty much every lap there was a car or two coming out of the pits following resets so I was being cautious approaching these. The problem with the skip barber (and I got caught out in practice) is that when close to the limit you need plenty of throttle to keep the weight over the rear wheels. If a car in front is slower than expected getting out of the throttle to avoid running into them can cause a loss of control. Not the car in fronts fault in any way but something you have to be constantly aware of when catching someone. So with this in mind I took it easy when coming up on other cars. With the front 4 of us so close in times anyway the draft down the front straight kept us pretty much together until Paul had a spin and myself and Brian started to pull away slowly from Brendan.

I couldnt shake Brian off even when the track was clear. I would eek out the smallest of gaps through the twisty section (as its hard to follow really close) only for him be right behind me again into T1. Any mistake and he would be passed and I obliged by going in slightly too hot into the last corner. The rear slid and I lost some momentum on exit and Brian was able to draft past into T1. Brian then had the same problem as me in that he could eek out a gap but then I could just draft back up down the front straight. Even when we got seperated through traffic by nearly a second it was impossible for him to get away. With 10 to go I tried to stay as close to him as possible in case he made the slightest error. That didnt come so with 3 to go I started to make a few moves. It was never going to be possible in just one corner so I tried to work it through a couple. I took a different line into T1 after drafting up close and was able to get to the outside on the exit of T1. Approaching the fast left I was on the left side but Brian was still ahead of me by half a car so I backed out to remain close rtaher than go for a risky pass. I tried to the same tactic on the final lap but was on the outside for the fast left so gave that up for a good run out of it. This worked to some extent as I was very close in the right kink before the sharp left at the start of the twisty section. I took a wider entry into the left and got to Brian's inside on exit but again that was the outside for the next right. As it goes right again I gave that up to stay close for one last try on the exit of the final corner. I over did it slightly again so there was no chance to draft past before the finish line.

In the end was pleased to get second and glad I wasn't tempted into trying a lungy 50\50 pass wouldnt have felt great about that at all especially if it went wrong  :laugh: Great race looking forward to the next one.

I am sure once everyone gets a grip on the car the racing will be great throughout the field. For those that were having technical difficulties make sure you post in the forum and hopefully between us all we can sort them out. There are certain things like the memory texture slider being set too high that can cause bad stuttering when more Graphics card memory is needed (when there are lots of cars etc..)  

What, really?! :o No wonder I had good pace, I must've done hundreds of laps round here, many in the Skippy.


I thought about it, but with my steering not being straight I didn't fancy my chances of being able to hold a tight line and not wash out into you.

A combination of holidays and dislike for the circuit meant that I had virtually no seat time there - look in my stats, the only record I have is a qual session (although it is blindingly fast - 0.00 lap time!  ;D)


Thanks for that, but you didn't seem to be having that much trouble holding a line the rest of the time.

Was an interesting experience for me as a noob - put in well over 100 laps in practice so was feeling pretty comfortable in the car, managed a 23.2 in practice so not miles away, prone to the odd spin but felt the limit was fairly obvious and it was only when i was consciously pushing it that the rear would occasionally snap away.

As a race experience though, it was the worst I can remember going back some seasons but I'm not blaming the sim for a moment. It really was a combination of me losing my comfortable balance on the brakes (too much bias tinkering pre-race), some questionable driving from others and silly mistakes by me on track and in the pits which made it incredibly frustrating!

Got divebombed by somebody at T1, took avoiding action only to give Ade the slightest of nudges who looked to be doing something similar. Then proceeded to have the most ridiculous dice yet, i don't know who it was but clearly running a much slower pace they weaved about on and off the racing line until eventually collecting me as I stuck it up the inside. Lovely stuff.

As the race went on it just descended into chaos for me, made some silly mistakes, some which caused the people behind some probs as I spun unpredictably so apologies but an underlying reasonable pace I felt given the problems with the brakes.

This was a familiarisation race so I guess incidents were to be expected, not what I was expecting given the high standards in other SROU series (including GTL) but I guess it's down to preparation. If you jump into a car you've never driven before and expect to go from last to first at T1 then you're likely to meet complications...and cause a few for others.

Congrats to the podium, I bet that was some race - I could see the potential from some racing we did in practice the night before.

Still remain totally impressed by the physics, I'm loving the fact I'm struggling to get on the pace in what is basically a Formula Ford around the most basic of circuits.

Can I download a replay somehow, mine missed all the good stuff for some reason?

I have a replay here;
http://www.legendsracing.net/iracing/SRouk_week1_Summit.rar

I've never seen this before but there's quite a few disappearing cars in the replay. might be the number of drivers? Dunno. It was fine last week.

LOL, yes and I think there will be more than Mike making improvements in the future. It's going to be tough!!  :)

Thanks Pops , but i cant find a folder to stick the replay in ???

It's down under My Documents.

On Vista it's; C:\Users\Ade\Documents\iRacing\replay

Change 'Ade' for whatever is appropriate :)

Ive put it in a replay folder in my documents / iracing but cant see a replay tab on the main iracing page  ??? I can only  find my way to the replay following a link somebody put on the iracing forum.

                                                                  Cheers Ade

replays are under Events

Ti's OK Ive found it in the dropdown from the events tab :D what a #"~^ i am.

                                                      Thanks again Ade

Great to see 12 different teams racing in the TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=230&scoring=448&theme=4#ch448) already! 8)

Team Shark leading the way of course  :laugh:

As from next race, I be adding myself to it  ;D

I couldn't post before, I was away from my comp, so first I'd like to apologize to Pops, made contact with him and I guess drivers behind had trouble then as well. Sorry to any who might have gotten tangled in the mess. :-\
To my defence I must say that I was sure the car would go through the gap, I even thought there was plenty of space. Guess the view out of the cockpit doesn't cover the width of the whole car - what with the wheels sticking out twice as wide as cockpit. :-\ My mistake, of course, though this thinking doesn't come to mind in a rush to T1.
Another thing is lack of crowdy practice - I couldn't find any Skippy races to try multi playing and hosted practice saw too much curtesy among drivers to get used to a crowdy T1. There's no AI drivers in iRacing (AFAIK) so you can't train this in single player - I did a lot of this in my early GTR(2) days.
Also: the talking is about how we're all veterans of simracing and that T1 shouldn't have been the way it was. Well, I don't feel as an experienced simracer here. I feel as an iRookie. Why don't you guys who went iRacing come back to GTR2 race and you'll see how you'll feel there. :( I bet it might get as crowdy in T1 as it was here. Considering a fun race with standing start at GT2 U10 Valencia Streets... :P
I might skip qualifying in the next race and start from the rear. I might have more luck and no need to use the fast tow, like I had to do here. :(

Have your say. tumbleweed  
  

It's a shame to hear so many negative comments over last nights race.  I doubt any of the incidents were intentional and as frustrating as it may be, we are all on a learning curve when it comes to iLeague racing.  Hopefully, as we progress, incidents will become more of a rarity and the limitations of the tracks and cars can be understood and accounted for.

For me the race was an absolute blast.  After a PB in qually, I lined up 4th on the grid with a distinct sense of deja vu with Dave sitting one place behind me.  As we started, I expected to be dropped by the aliens infront and hustled by Dave from the rear (ooh, err!).

As it was, the tussle ahead was allowing me to keep pace with the leaders and the tow I got brought about another PB.  This was enough to build a healthy gap over Dave so that was one less thing to worry about.  Anyway, after about a dozen laps I was still in touch and seeing Paul drop off allowed me to snaffle 3rd (tunnel vision very nearly caused me to follow you off though, Paul). 

From here it was a case of trying to maintain a decent pace to keep Paul at arms length and after a near catastrophic lapping of a back marker  :o I was thrilled to bring her home in 3rd.


On that front, any teams got any room for a 'slightly above average but never gonna be an alien' type driver?

we might have a vacancy Brendan  ;D

Its a good point and, as I'm in the same boat, I gotta agree TT. Its important that the iR "veterans" stick with us noobs until we get up to UKGTR standard(which isn't perfect of course ;)). Every new sim/mod has these teething problems when introduced here, and elsewhere I'm sure, but it'll get there. I would call for a little patience for those lucky enough to be "there" already and I apologise for my driving in advance :)

Can I apologise in advance too!  :D

To clear - I ask patience for getting used to differences, not for numpty or even st00pid moves. There was lots of this as well. :(

I'll take this one on the chin... I don't think my earlier comments were particularly clear and I might have come across a bit harsh :wetfish:

To clarify... I didn't intent to come across as critical of rookie mistakes.

Sorry if I did.

Driving these small open-wheelers is a lot different to the GT's and there are factors like being forced into the cockpit view, no look behind etc. that add to that difficulty.

As TT pointed out to me, I'd struggle horribly if I entered a GTR2 race. Yes, I would (some would say I always did!) but I hope I'd at least make sure I would make sure I had the required car control before I entered the race.

There were a couple of drivers who, didn't really look 100% ready to take part on Tuesday, that's who my comments were aimed at :-\

Everyone makes mistakes and gets the benefit of the doubt at this stage :yes:

I spent a bit of time last night (as did Ade, H@L & Gazza) racing the 'Spec Ford Racer', which is currently doing Lime Rock for the week.

Now I'm sure better drivers would disagree, but I found the "Specy" to be a very similar driving experience to the "Skippy", particularly on corner entry. So maybe some of my fellow iR Rookies may benefit from entering a few of these events in preparation for our next Skippy race (which is at Lime Rock). I've actually found the public racing a lot cleaner then what I'd been led to expect.

Give it a go, see what you think. :)