SimRacing.org.uk

Car: Skip Barber Formula 2000
Track: Virginia International Raceway (Full)

Practice: 18:00 for 135 mins (approx)
Qualifying: 20:15 (15 mins)
Race: 20:30 (18 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.

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 TBC slots available at VIR.

Unfortunately, there's a good chance I'll have to miss this race due to family Christmas stuff :(

There's a good chance my missus will be cross with me because she will be expecting me to do family Christmas stuff, but I'll be racing ;D

Gary

Oh, nooo....not a big fan of the skippy but this combination is excellent...
Unfortunatley I'm having Xmas lunch at the pub at lunchtime and then planning on drinking all day so may not be in a fit state!  ;D
Actually... I couldn't be any slower!  ;D ;D ;D

Away for crimbo, so will not have to suffer the Skippy for this one.....thank the festive lord!!

I'm at a lose end tonight and may setup a session at VIR if anyone is interested in some early practice.

If I do it, it will most likely start at 7-7:30 ish.

A handful of us will be racing at Interlagos with PnG till about 9:30pm... but I'm sure some of the hardcore will be straight over to join you after that  :whistling:

I won't do that tonight, on reflection its probably a bit early, I forget most of you race in other series!!

Looking forward to it as I'm a big fan of VIR.

Without a doubt VIR is one, if not the most challenging track in iRacing.

Lots of practice is required to even manage to keep the car on the track as a number of corners really bite.

As a guide I see PaulH and myself have mid to high 2.11s recorded.

I done 2:13.2 if thats any good? , could be lucky and get into 12s

Hmm, looks like I've got a lot of improving to do :( 2:14.505 is my best.

If you can do consistent 13s in the race and keep it on the track, I'd guess that pace would be around top 5.

Looking forward to this :) I might try and put a practice server up over the weekend if any one is interested?

Bully :gun_bandana:

You do realise the race is 10 days away? Its Indycars at road amaerica on tuesday. Just checking :)

I'll be racing PnG that Evening :) Donington in probably the Alfa :D

Bully

OMG, what a horrible track. I think i've attempted 15Laps and set a time twice! lol Those blind corners over crest near the end get me every time. I'm going to need alot of practise!

Just stick with it, its a brilliant track when its working, a tip for that last corner its definitely a place for slow in, fast out and keep some throttle on to avoid losing the back end.

Regards
Gary

There are some far worse tracks for blind corners!

Road Atlanta is a nightmare!

Spanner - can't believe you don't like this track!  Only managed one clean lap so far (2m17s), but it's a really fantastic challenge I think.  Odd but in some ways it kind of reminds me of a stretch out Cadwell.

God knows how far off the pace I'm going to be though - I thought 2m17 felt pretty good until I saw the 2m10s/11s mentioned on here!  More practice I guess!

Cheers, Ross.

2:17 seems good to me, Ross.  :D
Lovely, lovely track. My Skip can now be rightfully called "The Lawnomower". :P
(http://www.knfilters.com/images/press/Lawnmower1.jpg)

POPS !!! I SHOULD SPANK YOU !!! :taz: Did you try how fabulous this track is with Dallara ?!?! :tt1:

Yes but its much better with the Skippy don't you think TT ;D

What about Brands?!!!

I thought we said we'd keep that between ourselves?  :whistling: ;)

My wife forbids me. :-*

I suspect not.  btw, I just realised that we were in the Spec race a few minutes ago!  Only just realised it was you!  Looking at the replay, it seems the game decided I clipped two other cars when passing although during the race, I really couldn't tell at all.

Maybe I just know Brands  better, but there aren't many fully blind corners - most have distinct identifiable turn in markers. The opening section of Road Atlanta is just guesswork every lap. Barber's downhill chicane-hairpin is the same - despite numerous suggestions I've never found any clear identifiable piece of track furniture or background scenery to make the line into it more than gut feel.

I can't say I've had too much difficulty with the hills, humps and bumps.

Once you have learned the track and know where you are going you will be good.

I finally used up my gift of the Ferrari 360 driving experience at Knockhill. I must admit the very blind chicane in real life was just a bit more intimidating that I can remember from GTL.

You really can't see anything and have to rely purely on the cone placed on the apex to aim for.

Trouble is it's a bit too stretched out. You kinda seem to drive a long way out to negotiate one corner and then come all the way back!! :)

Heres my best lap at VIR in skips - 2:13.290

http://www.burtoner.com/iracing/rb_skippy_virfull_213290.rpy

I might skip the Skip race if I get 4 sec per lap slower laptimes. That's not fun. :-\ Though there might be some guys that fall off the track and that's an opportunity.

VIR is almost all about staying on the track. :laugh:

Crimbo stuff means I'll not make this. Have fun :)

It had better be!  I'm down to a low 2'15'' now, but how on earth people get a further 5 seconds off that I don't know...

Is there likely to be a practice server up tonight at all?

I'd be keen to join you Ross from 8:30pm
I'm not even down to 2:15's yet! I think following other will help me a lot!

You offering? ;)

I'm around tonight, so I'll run up a practice server about 6.30 unless anyone wants it earlier.

Thanks Paul!

I'll try and join on for some practice around 8.30.  Make sure you've got your off roading tyres ready Legzy!  We're going mowing ;)

Cheers, Ross.

Cheers Paul, I'll try join in for a while.

Thanks Paul. Will be one shortly :)

2:12.6 (4.5g) and 2:12.2 (1.7g) are both PBs for me. :yes: I expect that in the meantime somebody's been along and plopped in a 2:09. ::) :D

I managed to jump in for the last few minutes and do 4 laps.

Not sure if it's me, but there did seem to be more grip than normal.

I had not put in any practice and had been driving the Vette all night.

Right away I was making the 12s and the lap was really sloppy with lots of room for improvement.

Going to need it though with 3 guys already in the 11s.

I'm a big doubt for this one, but hopefully plans change tomorrow.

Picked up some nasty stomach desease. I'm all miserable. :( If I can join I will though might change my mind. :(

bugger i completely missed this announcement, not done a stitch of praccy  :(  If i can get some decent laps in beforehand i'll join in. At least i know the circuit.

I did manage to creep in to the 12's but mainly low 13's. Following Paul and Brendan on various occasions it seems like I'm loosing a little bit everywhere. Much harder to to anything about that than if you discover you're taking a particular bend totally wrong! Practice, practice, practice, but there are plenty of other jobs on the list, especially at this time of year!!

In the 2.11s here too with a .4 as a PB. Most are high 2.11s though. For some reason thats quite a bit quicker than the last time I drove the skip here. I think a few races at VIR in the DP have helped.

If  the roads are clear, I might make the race just

straight back to 70-20fps drops for me in practise in the hosted session so withdrew for my sanity and your safety  :( another track ive never had a problem with online or off until these hosted sessions  :'(

Sorry guys :(

Had some contact right at the start which left my steering wonky, thought I could carry on without resetting, it was OK for a few laps then it seemed to go completely off into the last turn and I collected a couple of others.

I feel like such an idiot, I tried to steer the spin off the track and ended up right in the middle of it  :-[

Wasn't very competitive and after someone fondled my rear the car was a further 4 secs a lap off my pace. Tows are pointless so I quit out.

Sorry Pops - that was me.  Squeezed in between you and TT at the start, was looking for TT and we touched wheels :(  I think I may have contacted TT as my car got pushed over to the right.

Kept out of trouble after that, good racing with Don for a while before I lost concentration and went off twice.

This banging headache isn't helping - I guess missing the race would have been a better idea, but not having raced for a while I really wanted to!!

Sorry for the start, Picnic was slow and I tried using the grass on the pt exit! sorry bit too agressive. Then seemed to find myself in a group of legends but with Pops going off in the last corner myself and TT tried to avoid it but obviously didnt. Being mindful i was straight across the track i just tried to get back onto the grass before anyone else appeared.
Not a particularly fun combo, not a fan of this track and the car far too twitchy, here's looking forward to the Indycar :P

Bah, perfectly good 5th place thrown away at the end of the last lap just as I was running out of concentration. ::)

Crimbo prep done, had some first time pracci tonight and was encouraged when I could stay on, so gave it a go.

Sorry to all for my terrible start as I stalled and rather panicked. Rolling starts would be nice (and not just cause I stink at starts  ;)). Got rather stuck behind the Bassi train after that with rather fun results. Think there was 3 or 4 of us who had a go at him and only the much faster Brian could get past and even then not easily. I joined Ian again for last 4 laps and was really looking forward to trying to think of a way past and was gutted when he pitted. We'll do that again  :)

Congrats to all as there seemed to be very few offs.

I rushed home to make this after visiting someone in hospital 65 miles away. Some not too advisable driving got me into the street with a few minutes to spare.

My driveway is on a slope and so far this week with the snow, I keep my speed up and carry enough to turn 90 degrees on to it to get up.

However because the other cars have now cut tyre grooves in the snow, I turned right however the car followed the tracks and went straight ahead.

It was an effort to get the car out and it looks abandoned at the foot of the drive just off the street road.

19" wheels with 245mm wide tyres do not work in the snow!

My total practice was a full 4 laps which is not good enough for entering any race and it certainly showed.


VIR is one of my favourite tracks and I was just hoping that if I played it safe things would come back to me quickly.

It never really happened through the whole race, I never felt confortable or confident enough to push.

Through the race I made lots of errors getting braking points wrong, running wide or just having to control big errors and lucky not to go off.

I started right at the back as I joined when cars were already on the grid, guessed at 4.5g and went for it.

I was as cautious as I could be at the start and just tried to pick holes as they opened up in front of me.

That seemed to work well and I soon was up to about 8th I think.

Then at the last corner I made a big mistake and had to catch it. I ended up running right off the track and in my attempts to avoid slamming into the barrier I travelled further and further away from the track to control the slide costing a lot of time.

To recover I then had to pass half the cars again.

Stunning pace up front. I just wish I had managed to put the practice in and made it a 3 way battle.

Right, I better go find a shovel and move the car.

Qually was just about on my PB so can't complain. Lost a couple of places off the start. Brian has previously confirmed that the quickest way to get the Skip away from standstill is to rev it against the stop and bang it in to 1st. Previously I had been trying to use my clutch pedal. Anyway, tried the rough method and still got away slow. If everyone is doing the same how come some move away faster than others??

Once things had settled over the first lap or so I was trailing Stuart, and after loosing some time initially I spent the next 16 laps slowly reeling him in. There was a group of three more cars just ahead of him the whole time and for the first half of the race the lead group was still visible on the long straight. I finally got right on Stu's gearbox with the aid of a spin by Gary I think. With a lap and half to go Stuart hit a curb really hard through the twisties and got a right snake on. I went straight across the grass to avoid him and was sure the old black flag would be displayed for me. Amazingly it was never shown and I thought that's it, I should be able to hold him off for the last lap. It was looking good but as we motored up the last long straight I couldn't believe how quick he loomed up in my mirrors. I thought about a really dirty block in to the blind crest but hoped if I gave him the inside he might overshoot. However he was to good for that and held it, even with the distraction of Dave spinning across the grass. Still top six isn't bad for someone of my mediocre talents!!

For the first five or so laps I managed to hang on to the coat tails of messrs Harrington and Richards.  I was happy to be keeping the gap at 1-2 seconds and was looking to pick up any scraps that were thrown my way.

Unfortunately, I got a bit too enthusiastic and had a half-spin at Oak Tree which cost me 6 seconds.  There was no way I was going to reel that back in so I decided to consolidate and bang in some solid laps.  This was enough to eek out the gap to the Gymer brothers and I was pleased to roll over the line in 3rd.

Stunning pace from the two Paul's, just wish I'd been able to stick around longer to enjoy the show.

Anyway, thanks all for a good nights racing and best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas.  Looking forward to the enduro next week.

Pretty pleased with that one.  Managed a PB for qualy and kept it on the track for all but one corner during the race - which probably cost me a top 10 position.

Apologies if my half spin caused any problems on the first corner after the start - I don't think I caught anyone and I'm not sure why I ended up semi-spinning to start with.

Great track, loved it - but didn't have a huge amount of racing to do.

Cheers, Ross.

I had great fun.  My Qual time was very very fast,  thanks to a drag from Rob in Qual.  The start was messy, and I have to apologize for touching Robs car on the first lap.  Just one of those things.  After a few laps Rob made a mistake and I managed to get past.  I then had 15 Laps of Great fun.  Brian showed that it was possible to get past me.  Sorry for holding everyone up, but thats just part of racing.  Hopefully in the next race, it will be my turn to try and overtake someone :)

Thanks for the race

Ian

I was not too confident about trying big moves to pass as I was not accurate in what I was doing tonight.

In the circumstances I thought the best thing to do was either aim to get a good exit after the trees on to the back staight or the last best on to the home straight.

Its one of those tracks with two clear cut overtaking places.  The one after a tree is a Nightmare,  I hate that corner.  Struggle with a late breaking point there.  T1,  I love it,  I felt very confident on the breaks onto that corner :)

3 Legends side by side, eh? Epic. ;)

Was it you that bulldozer then? ;D Felt strange to be pushed around slowly on the grass before the race ended. :P

I finaly quit when I spun on my own and was a bit fed up of the car and track. Looking forward to Watkins. :)

I always like VIR, not that I'm any quicker there, but like the flow to the track.
Seemed like there was a lot of cars spinning off during the first couple of laps I was lucky not have collected any! I was a bit hesitant on lap 2 and lost the car at the Oaktree, luckily I span off to the right and the following cars got past safely. Then I was behind my Team mates and thought that would make for some fun racing, but they seemed to get tangled up a few corners later and that left me to try chase Adam down, His car looked in a bad way and I was amazed how he could keep it running so quick! Think a bit later he went wide and I got by.
Richard Ames was then my target out in front after getting by earlier on, I tried to hang on/catch up but no doing. That was about all the action there was in my race. Other than battling with myself trying to make sure I didn't bin it lol.


(not a big fan of the next 2 tracks, but I'll try turn up anyways)

Does anyone have a replay of the first lap that I can download?

Cheers, Ross.

I have had a number of epic races this season, with Brian at Summit and Paul at Laguna both of which I came out second best. This one though was the best of all with the arguably more difficult track to drive going full tilt right on edge nose to tail for the entire race.

Qual went well. Was on a good lap when I came across Bully on the back straight I guess recovering from an off. I was able to pick up a draft which gained me a couple of tenths and got pole with a 2.11.2. I thought Paul was generally a bit quicker here but will I take it!

Race start went fine. I was a little bit cautious in the first few laps in the low 12s and Paul was all over me. Brendan was also keeping close contention too with me and Paul battling. Paul eventually got a good run out of the final corner on lap 5 so I decided not to contest it and he passed into T1. I assumed he would drive off so would string the 3 of us out a bit leaving me not to have to worry about Brendan. However Brendan wasn't going anywhere so it seemed like a bad plan! He then had a moment and dropped back 6 seconds leaving me to concentrate on Paul.

To my surprise I was able to stay with Paul quite well with the draft helping of course and was able to start challenging. I was a touch quicker through Oak Tree which enabled me to challenge up the back straight most laps with the aid of the draft up the hill. Lost count of the number of times we were side by side at the top of the hill. There was no way past though with Paul driving superbly especially in the final two corners giving me no chance to make a move into T1. I then got lucky, on the one lap I was able to stay close in the final corners Paul made a small mistake in T1. He slid and although he caught the back end expertly he went wide and lost lots of momentum. I happened to be right in touch enabling me to pass on exit. With I think 6 laps to go I went for it trying to pull out a gap in the corners so that Paul wouldn't be able to draft alongside in the following straight especially at Oak Tree. I have never been forced to drive so hard for so long to keep Paul at bay. A couple of times I had to go full defensive. I was putting in good times but Paul was constantly challenging. On the final lap I was expecting an onslaught so I attacked every corner as best I could to keep him away. Fortunately I stayed on track and it was the best lap I have ever done at VIR in the skip doing a 2.11.1 without a draft. Paul of course although not able to make a move was still in touch and with the back straight draft did an 2.11.0! Was hoping he would break into the 10s but it wasn't to be this time.

Fantastic race again with Paul it a pleasure to to be able to drive so close for so long. Neither of us tried any rash moves showing each other lots of respect and this meant for a great clean race albeit a very tough battle! Was delighted to get my first official win for the Legends and it was even more satisfying after such a tough battle.

I will be missing in two weeks time as at Winchester hospital with my wife having a c-section that morning giving birth to our son. I have to come home overnight but won't be back in time to make the race. Hope you all have a good one.  

 

I've uploaded lap 1 here:

http://www.simventure.co.uk/KC/srouk%20skippy%20vir%20lap%201.rpy

Thanks Paul!

Some people get their priorities all wrong!!  ;D

Seriously though, hope all goes well and the future f1 world champ comes in to the world ok!!

+1  :thumbup1:

As Paul says, that was a fantastic race from start to finish.  :thumbup1: Not sure why, but whoever was behind seemed to be quicker, not just on the straights but also in the corners. At first, when Paul was leading, I felt quicker in some places, but once I was ahead that seemed to turn around and Paul was putting the pressure on. After I slipped up and let Paul back in front I suddenly had more speed again, although not quite enough to get the place back. Paul did a great job on the last lap, just when he needed to, and left me no chance of a last minute challenge - great driving under pressure. Grats to him and to Brendan on another good finish to leave us 1st and 3rd in the champoinship. Big shame to see that Paul won't be there at Lime Rock - where's your commitment?  ;)

Decent start then i lost it bit in turn 2 but kept it together, only for Ian to get through then spend next 6 laps behind him trying to get past and blocking and defending every side, so i quit indisgust.

If you truly believe he was blocking you should raise an incident report. It is not appropriate to discuss such things in public.

Can anyone upload a replay of this race? Ta in adavance  :)

I'll upload it, but it will take a while. I'll post a link when it's done.

OK, you can get it here:

http://www.simventure.co.uk/KC/vir%20skippy%20221209.zip

Cheers Paul.

This race has now been moderated and the results are now official - see above.

Just read the moderation report - I honestly hadn't realised that I'd actually made contact (it was nowhere near on my replay!) so a belated apology on that one Simon.

Cheers, Ross.