SimRacing.org.uk

Car: Skip Barber Formula 2000
Track: Road America (Full)

Practice: 18:00 for 135 mins (approx)
Qualifying: 20:15 (15 mins)
Race: 20:30 - 16 laps (approx 40 mins)

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

Practice: A server will be available from approx. 19:00 - 23:00 the day before the race

Password: see above (#post_event_password)
Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=243;theme=33)

Is there any chance we can have 20 mins qually due to the long laps?

Good point Brendan

I actually disagree.  It's a big track, there's loads of room to find space for a clean lap and 15 minutes is plenty of time to get one in.

I like the short qually sessions.  They put the pressure on and force you to concentrate.

Paul
:)

15 minutes it is you bunch of cry-babies ;)

So that's a no, then?  ;) :angel:

You're lucky we even have qualifying, I should make you run to your car from the garage like they did in the early days, that was proper racing!

Have you thought of applying for the vacany thats opened this morning in Downing Street, the country could do with democracy like this :angel:

 ;D

Gary

Seeing as I can't even get agreement on which flippin' car we should all race I'm not entirely sure I'd be the right man for the job!!!  :laugh:

Ah well, you're using two sorts of democracy, the one in this thread where everyone has to agree with you as they have no choice and a different one in the car selection one where you're trying to get people to agree.

Perhaps its time to use the former method in both cases ;)

I doubt you're open to lobbying but if you are, I've got two packets of crisps and a picked onion which may "help" you decide.

Gary

From your 'onion tree' I presume? ;)

Gary, you had me at "two packets of crisps "... ;)

 ;D

Pickled!

2:34.8 without a tow in qually and then repeated in the official race just now. You'll need 4.5 gallons for 16 laps.

I have to be honest I do hate this car/track combo, some reason I find the Indycar (least favourite) easier to drive then the skip, can be 2 secs faster 1 lap but then slower the next lap...

Looks like I might be doubtful for this race :(

I think my router is on the blink, it thinks it's connected but the internet is dropping out very frequently and seems to be getting worse. There doesn't appear to be any problems with the line.

Fingers crossed for a speedy resolution but I'm not overly hopeful  :-\

With that in mind, can I have a volunteer to start the practice server for tonight please?

The official series is still running at Road America today so people could just use the open practice servers...

Unless something changes I'm out.

Just too much on at the moment and not had a second to turn the PC on. I've not touched iRacing other than a few laps last week in the Dallara for a while.

Good plan Dave :)

Can't see anyone out there atm. Are you all watching Suzi Perry in a leather jumpsuit??! I am plusing it so I can watch it over and over again! Ooops, did I just say that out loud?! :)

leather jumpsuit................  :P


ahem... I am not sure if I will be racing, I haven't had a chance to practice and I will only be able to join in qually.  I don't want to cause carnage due to lack of practice.

How am I meant to concentrate during all those long straights with the image of a leather jump-suited Suzi Perry in my head? Thanks a bunch Ken!

I wouldn't worry about practice too much Mike - RA is pretty easy in the Skippy, although not that easy to go really quickly. Personally I find it rather dull which has meant very little practice, so not expecting great things tomorrow.

I had a brief go around 10:30 last night, notched up another 2:34.8 on race fuel without a tow, although there was somebody on there doing mid-33s, presumably also without a tow.

The tricky thing about Road America in the Skippy is that if you can't pull out a 2 second gap on the car behind in a single corner complex, it will just tow back up onto your gearbox on the following straight. People are going to have to be very tolerant of risky outbraking moves if they want to race each other safely.

Best I've managed so far is a low 36. Last night my FF seemed very spikey and seemed to suddenly go light randomly. Even with the car sat stationary I could turn the wheel left and right and most of the time there was resistance but occasionally it would just go light in my hands??! I tried the Mazda to compare and while it didn't seem as bad there still seemed to be some spiking. Anybody had anything similar? I tried GPL to make sure it wasn't the wheel but it was as smooth as a baby's when running the "old girl".

Sometimes the FF seems to lose 'focus' in iR for me and the steering is very light as you describe. Not often, maybe once every 4-6 weeks. It's odd.

Quitting and re-joining a session always cures it.

I thought if I give Paul an even stronger image to think about on those long straights he will be more likely to go off!!

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ByQBtHyViok/SH0bdbW7PDI/AAAAAAAABYs/m3YeOp-6lPo/s400/suziperry.jpg)

After an evening of flakey internet and me going through the troubleshooting tips with no improvement my internet looks like it's been perfect since about 11pm last night ::)

If I can get to the point I feel safe before the race then I'll join but as I haven't done any practice so far I'm not sure this will happen.

I get that occasionally too but the bigger problem for me is if iRacing loses focus then the steering becomes 3 times more sensitive. That's  guaranteed to put me in a wall. Again a quit and rejoin of the game cures it. Doesn't matter if I have the Logitech Profiler running or not.

What do women put inside those spiky shoes? Erm, lead? :P

one week without driving and now I feel like its a new game..... hopefully getting some early practice in before official praccy  ::)

Feet. :P

Have to see how I do tonight, Havent done any practice of late, specially in the skips..

I don't see much likelyhood of making this actually. Just about to go and pick the mrs up from the station, but by the time we get back and make/eat tea then it'll be getting quite late. Plus I don't know how well it would go down after she's been away all week if I wolfed my meal down and then said, "right I'm off in to the loft for an hour or so, hope you had a good time, tell me all about it later!!" :D

I could be out too, Notwork Rail seems to be doing its best to prevent me racing tonight >:(

Gary

Joined for an hours practice and felt ok right away. Pulled down to mid 34s running myself.

Qualifying did not go well again. Everybody was trying to take advantage of each others toe. I had Dave ahead and was on a hot lap but once he moved over I went in too hot to the next bend and ruined my lap.

Next lap he was on my tail and took full advantage of the toe and Brendan stuck in a flier for pole.

With the championship in mind, I did not want to get into a risky battle and kept myself safe.

Dave and Brendan had a little rub and that put Dave off.

I was hot on the tail of Brendan and at the last turn of lap 3 he nearly went. The car swung right and I thought he was gone, left and I thought he was going that way but he managed to recover.

I had the run to T1 and could get my nose up the inside but I decided not to risk it.

After laps of chasing Brendan ran wide into T2 and that allowed me to pass. Coming into T3 it was too close and I decided to leave the door open.

Dropped back a little then nearly crashed myself. Snatched 2nd into T1 and nearly lost it.
Well done Brandon on pole and a great win.

I think I may have benefitted a little from Brian's lack of practice and after a stressful day at work I wasn't really expecting much here.

I made a point of not doing too much in practice prior to qually as I generally get slower as I go.  I was also mindful that Dave was sandbagging somewhat  ;) and I knew a good Q session would be required.  As it was I put in a PB for pole.

Start was clean and I kept ahead of Dave but knew a tough battle would ensue.  On lap 2 I was a little slower through the 2nd left hander than I think Dave expected and he caught my rear end.  My steering was a tad off to the left but still driveable.

Brian therefore took over where Dave had been and was keeping me very honest.  A huge tank slapper on lap 3 nearly caught me out and I thought Brian would nip by but I managed to retain my place.  From then it was lap after lap of pushing with Brian close behind.  I made a point of turning off F3 so I could focus on staying ahead.  I think if Brian had got ahead he would probably have pulled away and he very nearly did get by when I made a mistake at T2.  On the long run down to the left hander he appeared to have done enough to claim the position and I was a little suprised (and relieved) when he didn't take a tighter line.

After that, it was a case of pushing all the way to the finish and I started to relax a bit when I couldn't see the whites of Brian's eyes in my mirrors.

So, a bittersweet race for me.  Pole position and the win and the team championship for the Kerbies, but no more Skippy :(

Thanks all for a great race, especially Brian and a special mention for teamie Gary who sealed 3rd in the drivers shampionship with a fine podium.

I'll keep my engine running so I can make my escape quickly after restating ;D:

If the lower season consisted of 2 races in each of the three cars, you'd have had a much bigger grid tonight.

 tumbleweed


Leaves so quick there's a dirty big skid mark!! (that didn't come out right... :-[ ;))

I wasn't sandbagging at all in practice, it just wasn't quite clicking for me. I was a bit lucky with the front row slot as I was only really meant to be following Brian in qually hoping to at least match him, then he ran wide somewhere around Carousel and I the tow I'd been picking up through the lap before that was enough for a monstrously good time, easily a PB. The next lap I was hoping to give Brian a tow in return but then Brendan turned up side by side with him and I made a completely horlicks of trying to let both by and spoiled Brian's final shot at pole. :-[


I have to say I was gobsmacked by how slow most people were through a few critical corners, particularly turns 6 and 8. Having bashed my front left in about 2 inches after bouncing off Brendan on lap 2, luckily not bending the steering though it felt a bit odd for a lap or two, I ended up behind Darren and Paul and was amazed to find myself having to be really careful not to rear end them in those corners. :o Fast in, slow out doesn't work even in a bush kangaroo, you know... ::)

Unfortunately, as exciting as the ensuing battle was (as my heart rate will attest!) I was getting really fed up seeing Gary 3-4 seconds up the road and knowing that it only I could break away from the two I was fighting I could catch him. I don't think Paul was deliberately keeping our pack together to keep me away from Gary and I suspect that we been able to break away from Darren we'd have towed each other up to him quite easily, but as it was there wasn't anything I could do and I ended up sitting back for a few laps and hoping that they'd take each other out instead.

All race I could see Paul was trying just a little bit too hard and sure enough with two to go he lost it in the Kink whilst right behind Darren. That just left Darren and without the complication of Paul I executed exactly the same plan I used in my second official race last week, sitting behind him through the early part of the final lap, getting a good run into Carousel, then getting alongside into Canada and sticking my elbows out through the last few corners to prevent any counter-attack.

At the start of the season it would've been a good result, but given that I knew I could turn 34.8s unassisted I really should've had a podium to close out the season, and perhaps even challenged for the win. :-\ What's really annoying is that I had two corking official races with this combo last week and our race ended up feeling like an oval race and not a road race. :(

p.s. At least my lap record will probably stand forever. ;D

p.p.s. Well done to the Kerbies on the team championship, I think Brian and I needed a 1-2 to steal it and we just didn't quite have enough on the night, and well done to Brian for a well-deserved drivers championship. :clap:

p.p.p.s. Paul, you were blinking a little bit in that race, once every 3 or 4 minutes perhaps, just for a second or two at a time. Not enough to be really dangerous, at least it didn't happen anywhere really scary, but enough to make me slightly nervous... Just thought you should know in case there wasn't any sign of it on your side.

Sorry for getting in the way and ruining your race Dave.  Next time I'll pull over so that you can gain the position your levels of practise truly deserve.  :-*

No it wouldn't.  Attendance always drops off towards the end of league seasons, running multiple cars would have made no difference.  GRC sees this every single time.  At the start of the next season, attendance is right back up.

The Skippy is hard to drive which doesn't help, hopefully if we use the Mazda next season (which is easier to drive) the drop-off will not be as bad.

I agree Mike and actually one person was out tonight because they were on holiday, another because they were working.

If we ran 3x2 races I'd race elsewhere.

Gary

Well done to Brendan and Brian.

Beyond racing at Elkhart Lake in Cart Precision Racing many years ago and four Jetta laps I'd never driven here in iRacing until 10 days ago. Through practice I got into a natural race pace of low 2.35's with the odd high 34.

I knew I was racing Dave for 3rd in the championship and I fully expected him to be quicker than me here as he has more time to race. Therefore I was quite content to trail in behind if necessary and protect my lead in the table.

Things did not go well before the race, issues on the train meant my normal fifty minute journey took two and a half hours and I did not get the normal amount of warm up done. Things initially went wrong in qually with a crash at the kink on my second flyer, just turned in a tad too early. Anyway out again and pushed for a 35.0 which put me 4th.

With Dave up in second I knew I needed to keep my place off the line. In reality I got a great start and had quite an overlap with Brian but settled in behind, this put me at a slight disadvantage and both Paul and Darren were lining up passes at the end of the long back straight. I kept the place with a bit of demon braking into the left hander and this was the making of my race as it gave me a gap whilst the two of them squabbled of a second or so.

When Dave spun this became a 3 way scrap that became quite entertaining to watch in my mirrors. I just drove steady laps with no mistakes, most of the time half to a second off my best race pace but because of the scrap behind even this opened the gap out to 5 seconds at one point. A few laps to go and I just brought it home.

As I said after the race I was lucky, having said that I am quite content that my pace would have put me in good stead against Paul and Darren and I really did not need to beat Dave, just finish within 80 points of him ;D

So whats that you said about the tortoise and the hare before the race Dave? :angel:

Like Brendan I'm a little sad to see the Skippy go, I've had a great season with 4 podiums out of 6 races. Thanks to Iain, Paul H and Dave for all the organisation etc

Gary

Ruddy hard shelled fiend! :P

I don't think Rob took my advice - IIRC he binned it on lap 1. ::)

If you wouldn't mind. :P :P :P :laugh:

Work was what stopped me too.  If I had finished at 6pm  instead of 8pm, I could have had some practice pre-race.  With having no other practice, I didn't fancy spending 40mins tugging around at the back.  If I'm entering a race, I want to race not spend most of it learning the car/track combination.

No but I did ;)

Gary

Was the 'hard shelled fiend' line too subtle? :P

I sucked - thus endeth my race report.

Grats to everyone who got on the podium this season, well done Brian on the championship 8)

I was totally godsmacked I was like 3.5 secs of my pb, Started at back being slowest, had a fight on my hands, and really I just couldnt explain, dont think I ever had a race being this far off my pace...

I swear, the braking was totaly different 3 minutes beforehand on my own... When I joined the hosted server I barely touched the brakes and it was locking the fronts like hell. It was set to 51%, mind you. ??? I had to set it to 47% and then catch the rear every time. Was doing ok - but not fast - until some laps before end. I'm glad we're done with this car.

TT, in iRacing I always have to push both pedals to the floor whenever I exit the garage for the first time otherwise they are not setup right in game. Another bug since day 1 they still haven't fixed ::). It's amazing how many times I still forget, go steaming out of the pits to get 100% brake when I tap the brakes for the first corner instead of the amount I'm actually pressing it. Once you've pressed the pedals full once it's fine until you restart the game.

Maybe that's the problem you describe?

You might be right, Simon. Just came from C6R time-trial and I swear it acted different yesterday. >:( Will try this.

The G25/27 both only calibrate the pedal ranges when you fully exercise them. I find the same in GTR2 etc. Once I've done it once since booting I don't need to do it again unless I reboot or unplug and replug the wheel.

Not really sure what to say after Dave's post. Did very little practice as I don't like RA, especially in the skippy and if Brian turned up I knew he would be quicker than me. The race though was brilliant, with so many side by side moments and overtakes that I lost count. What is more remarkable is that we all managed to avoid any contact, although it was mighty close at times  :o In the end I tried just a bit too hard and took an inch too much exit curb at the kink and it put me in the wall before I knew it. Luckily only Ross was close enough to pass me before I dragged my crippled skippy across the finish line.

Grats to Brendan on a great win to seal victory for the Kerbies, backed up yet again by the 'Gizmo' in our team, Gary Tall. I hope he appreciates my efforts to hold DG back - you can send the cheque over any time m8  ;) Well done to Brian for the series win.

Finally, big thanks to Dave for deliberately making all those little mistakes to let me back past - must be tricky to make it look accidental when you are so talented. Really appreciate the lesson in racecraft too - not often I get the chance to see such a master in action.

PS Thanks also to Darren - I had a blast m8  :thumbup1:

Hmm, must've been a different race, Paul. I made one big mistake in T8 desperately trying to get enough of a gap having overtaken te pair of you to not simply get re-passed after the Kink, other than that every time you or Darren got past was entirely down to the enourous draft effect of my giant Shark fins. :P

Hmmm, have a look at the replay - you may be surprised  :)

Sorry you feel so strongly against participating in some/all of six races that would be for the long term benefit of UKiR. :(

I'm sorry, I've raced in every Skippy race this season and put in practice to learn each new track to ensure I'm competitive and not a danger to others despite the fact that I work 14 hour days.

You chipped in a post without knowing all the facts about why the turnout was low in a race you did not compete in to express your opinion. I'm quite entitled to express mine, its based on the fact that I won't have time to learn the cars based on the length of my working day and that the format is a turn off for me.

I don't appreciate your comment Chris and really don't think its deserved, you are entitled to your opinion but I don't think that the 3x2 format is for the long term benefit of UKiR.

Gary

No Garry, I'm sorry. The content of my comment was genuine & your right to express your opinion was never in doubt with me.

To explain my comment hopefully in a way that will not offend... If UKiR choose (doubtful) to use 'one half season' to experiment with finding the long term best car to race here, then I believe that is for the long term benefit of UKiR. If that meant that you choose not to race here any longer, I think that would be a loss for both UKiR & yourself. But like your post said ("If we ran 3x2 races I'd race elsewhere") every driver has the right/ability to choose where/when they race, I would be sad if you made the choice to go :(.



I'll follow Oily's lead from earlier now & stop P'ing in the wind about this & move on before I cause more offence.

The sooner Pops publishes a format for the new season the better so all this "brain storming" can stop. ;) :P

Chris, thanks for the clarification and sorry for being a little prickly. As I've said elsewhere after thinking it through I can see some benefit for it as an experiment.

Hopefully no hard feelings

Gary

I thought the format for next season was quite clear, the same as this season but potentially using different cars with the cars recieving the highest number of votes being used.

Apologies if this wasn't clear.

A dictatorship is always more palatable with clear communication I feel ;)

For some strange reason, can't think why, I had a feeling people thought the subject was still up for debate. :shifty:

Perhaps they're getting in early for next season  ;D