SimRacing.org.uk

Track:	Spa (Classic Pits)
Cars:	Radical SR8 or Riley Daytona Prototype
Practice:	18:00 for 150 mins (approx)
Qualifying:	20:30 (15 mins)
Race:	20:45 26 laps (approx 60 mins)
Resets:	One fast tow
Start procedure:	Rolling - standard iRacing double file start
Pit stops:	One mandatory stop
Password:	see above (#post_event_password) (only available on evening of race)]
Teamspeak info:	https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5646.0

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(2) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=290;theme=33)

Just the get an idea of the car distribution, what cars are people planning on taking to Spa?

There's no need to stick to one car all season, in fact I'm hoping to balance the track choice to suit both and encourage those who want to to swap and change but it'd be nice to know I won't be the only Radical there. :)

Paul

Radical for me :)

mmmmmmm not sure about this race I've never raced either of these cars yet  :-\

DP.

I'm sure we can help you out with setups.  They're actually quite similar, the DP's just bigger and more powerful.

DP

I recommend the Radical, it's just bonkers ;D

I had best get my ass on track in them both and see which to run  ;D






 any set-ups welcomed ;) ;) ;) ;)

Radical feels ok round here. Just trying to get the hang of the track which feels different to all other versions.
After 10 laps my best is a 2.21.5 on full tanks tweaking the baseline setup.

To be honest I can't make up my mind, both are great cars ;D

Regards
Gary

Just to point out chaps, we're running the Classic pits as it puts the start/finish straight after La Source which I think is likely to cause fewer problems with a mix of DPs and Rads on lap one than the alternative.

Oh of course! it wont record your best time if you pick up any 1X which around here is far too easy to do. I cant believe its so strict ???

Wow, love the Radical round here!  1m21.3 on full fuel for me so far, but there's another second to be had I think.

So the Rad for me!

Times come down quite a bit with the fuel.  I've just managed a 2:17.3 on the 9th timed lap of a run but at the start I was doing 2:20s.

The most difficult part of the lap for me is finding a braking point into La Source.  There's just nothing.

ok me thinks it's gona be the Radical for me hopefully with a lot more practice i'll get below 2:23's :-\ also IF i can run more than 2 consecutive clean laps  :-\

It's a tricky one, in a "touch the big kerbs and die" kind of way, but fun in the Radical. ;D

2:17 - 2:16 so far. :)

I'm leaning towards the Rad too, tried both cars back to back tonight and whilst I'd like to drive the DP more I just don't have the time to relearn the car before Tuesday. I'll make a final decision tomorrow.

Both are very good round here but I did manage to have a couple of big ones at Eau Rouge in the DP.

Regards
Gary

Yes, I've had a few very interesting opposite lock moments, particularly off the kerbs at Pouhon and the top of Eau Rouge.  caught 'em though. :)

Hmm, so I'm pretty well on the pace?  Interesting.  :euro:

Anyone got any DP times yet for a comparison?

Paul
:)

I think I'll take the DP for this all being well - hope we see a good amount of people for this as it's an epic combo.

What set-up are you guys using for the Rad?  I just took the long road, set the rear roll bar to medium and wing at 17, but I've really no idea what I'm doing although it seemed to feel just about right.

Cheers, Ross.

Jeeezzz I need more practice, can't go that fast in the Williams ;)

Hope to do this but will probably be a mobile chicane in the corners for the Rads as I'll take the DP  :-[

Ah, I suspect I meant to say 2m21s there!  lol

Low 2:17s in the DP on race fuel so far.

I'm using the same one I used at the Glen but with medium bars front and rear.

I'll try to make this one, just because it's Spa!

I'm just using my Watkins Glen setup. :)

But since this is the only scanned version you would have to say it's the only truly accurate rendition?!

Not neccesarily.

Really is that the only reason Iain ;)

Hopefully not!

Pops for podium ;)

Well I suppose there could be innacuracies in the process of converting scanning data to actual game rendition. Some of us here have driven Spa. What do they think??

I was tempted for the very same reason Iain, but I'm on the 'return offspring to Uni' mission on Sunday so I doubt whether I'd be back in time be ready for this. And I'd have to buy the Radical, but I've been tempted to do that for a while too!

Oh stop dithering man. ;)

Im seeing something thats starting to annoy me and wanted to chck if others see it. Effectively a couple of meters in front of the car is where there seems to be a LOD change of the track surface. Its easy to see at speed but a still picture doesnt seem to convey it quite so easily. Not sure if if i've done something in the option that has done this, have most things on high detail, shadows on but none of the settings ticked, 4xAA 4xAF. Ticking Trilinear filtering seems to lessen it a bit.

(http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/oo90/spanner76/iR-graphic.jpg)

Keep Trilinear filtering on and increase AF to x16.  If your frame rates drop too much try lowering your AA to x2 to compensate.

I used to be indecisive, but I'm not so sure now!!

Ken, its a brilliant car, just buy it. ;D

Gary

In the interests of keeping the combined championship alive, can I point out that the following is not exactly true:


The DP can easily do an hour on a full tank and the tyres should last too. The DP is significantly quicker than the radical here anyway, but without a pitstop extra the radicals have no chance to compete.

Ta.  Serves me right for cutting and pasting.  I'm still getting the hang of this.

Paul
:)

I can now reveal the reason for my annoying and vague comments earlier about wanting to race on Tuesday...

I've joined Gary in the Frex SimWheel owners club :D

Picked it up today at a price which frankly, I couldn't say "no" to given that I'll be replacing my G25 in the near future anyway.

It's going to take me a while to get used to it I think so I'll probably just toodle around at the back wondering why I'm STILL so slow / thinking about how much money I've spent / admiring the view  :)

Good man, they are awesome. As I said on the phone the American's give them a hard time on the forums but most of the people doing that don't own them. As for the ECCI 7000 the settings people are running show it has very little power.

What are you racing Iain, Radical or DP?

Cheers
Gary

DP I think, I'd rather enjoy my first race with the new wheel  :laugh:

...and a nice one it is too! Been practising in the DP here so fingers crossed I can make it

I can't make this after all .... I checked my diary and I've got a badminton match.

Pretty gutted as I've yet to really run round the iRacing version of Spa - and I was really looking forward to it ... oh well .... it's coming up in the Endurance champ in any case.

Hope you guys have fun - and a corking turnout.

Is there a practice server for tonight ??

Oooh very nice, Be good to hear what you think of it Ian. ;)

I've just started one, password ---- as usual, first time I've set up a hosted session so hopefully its worked ok

Regards
Gary

I'm not planning on running practice server this season as the attendance at them last time was dwindling to nothing.  If there's a demand I'm happy to bring them back but they normally cost SRO as much as the races so it seems an extravagance.

Paul
:)

Quick word of warning about the exit of Fagnes/Pif Paf:-

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/0/1379013.page#3014947

Just happened to me and I seem to have been DQ'd from the session  >:(

DQ'd from the session?  That's bizarre.

thanks for hosting Fred


Spa is getting a little disappointing with it's strict limits to the track edge there is no margin for error, sometimes it seems your nowhere near half the cars width over an it gives you a cut :-\ I hope they loosen it up a tad in the next build or it's gona be a SR killer in official races  :-\

So far I can't go quicker than a 2m17 with the DP....  ::)

btw.....found this useful tool for comparing setups - you just have to export the setup -

http://iracing.flybell.com/index.htm (http://iracing.flybell.com/index.htm)

Doh! Not going to be able to make this one either due to work commitments - sorry Paul, will aim to be there next week!

Great little app that Andy, nice one - should be a big help.

Brendan did a 2:12 ?!?!?!

Yes Paul and I felt he had a bigger engine than us ;D

Fine times from the young man though.

Regards
Gary

Wow! Impressive! :eek:

The rest of you DP boys are obviously sandbagging.  Sneaky.

Nice combo but I'm really struggling with the frame rates. :(  If you guys don't mind I'll join in the DP and see how it goes....

2:12 is an impressive time Brendan.  The best I can manage is 2:13.6  :-[

I don't think you're alone there Darren.  We'll see how it goes.

Perhaps we should have waited till after the patch to run Spa but it's too good a combination and I couldn't resist.

Yes I'm in the same boat as Darren, good performance everywhere else but Spa is just horrible.

I'll try it but if it looks like its too choppy in practice I'll withdraw

Regards
Gary

Ross was practising last night. Someone not done his homework? ;)

Bloody drama queen.  :P

Only place i suffer FPS drop is around rivage as the view opens out. But it only drops down to 100 ;D

We probably don't get the problem Mark because we're monitorly challenged. ;)

Server on the way...

Damaged even before the startline, car pretty much undriveable with rear suspension hit. Started again on cold tires and lost it around Radillion on cold tyres. I spent more time in the pits than I did on track.

Poor show all round. Hopefully Brands will be less eventful :)

Phew, that was hard work.

Couldn't hook up a decent Q lap but was still pleased with pole.  After the pace car had a brainfart I set off with the intention of trying to pull a gap to Darren.  That plan lasted all of 2 laps when I had to concede position after making an error at Eau Rouge.  Kept with Darren but was aware of how much I'd be taking out of the tyres.

Decided to pit earlier than planned and hope to leapfrog Darren somehow.  Was mighty surprised that when Darren took his stop I was 6 seconds ahead.  For the next few laps I managed to keep the gap around the same level although Darren was taking a few tenths here and there.

Lost around 3-4 seconds behind Dan who was on a late stop strategy.  By the time he pitted Darren was only 2 seconds behind and my ageing tyres were making life very difficult.  On the penultimate lap, Darren got a run through Eau Rouge and I held the inside line up the hill.  Unfortunately, I missed my downshift from 3rd-2nd and careered across the grass, right into Darren's path and contact was made.  The car was undriveable after this so reset and tootled round to finish 6th.

Well done Darren and the podium.

disappointing is an understatement  :-\

the start tossed me a wobbly ???  I'm there expecting a lap behind pace car, BUT shortly after the turn it goes green, I go then realize cars in front haven't  :-\  I thought I had miss heard the start so checked up only to skid onto the grass to avoid a car in front end up loosing places, then all was going well  having a good race then I decided to do the pit stop  ran into the pits  did the tyre/fuel adjustments that I had practised during practice only to find my pit guy behind me in pit spot something like 9 or 10 .I was expecting pit 3 where I had been all practice  :-\ got a black flag I assume for reversing in the pits  ::) came out with a car handling like a bag of s*** was getting the handling when  the back end went silly on me coming out of a turn and ended up collecting Robert {sorry! I was just a passenger :-\} so then had to reset due to damage, at that point I was debating if to continue the race or just pack it in a a bad joke   :-\ then I saw the white flag so ran the last lap a couple laps down  :-\



as for Spa ..........nice track ;D  awful 1x's >:( awful pits  ???

What happened at the start?  The Pace car started on the wrong grid and then instead of doing a full pace lap tried to dive into the pits through the pit wall.  :o

Race started well and I soon got the run on Brendan out of Eau Rouge.  Brendan took the inside but thankfully I managed to beat him into Les Combes.  From then on we both slowly pulled away from the field.

On lap 10 I was surprised to see Brendan pit.  I had a feeling he would try something sneaky like no tyres.  This belief was further enforced when I found him 7 seconds up the road after my pit stop.  I slowly closed the gap, but a double downshift at La Source meant a half spin and 5 seconds lost.  :-[

I was given some hope when I noticed Dan just in front of Brendan somehow fighting for 1st place.  Not sure how this happened because I thought Dan was 30 seconds behind.  ::)

Anyway, I soon caught them both up and with 5 to go Dan peeled off into the pits.  For the next few laps I closely followed Brendan and with 2 to go I managed to again get the run on him exiting Eau Rouge.  However, this time Brendan tried to defend the inside by braking late into Les Combes.  Unfortunately  a missed gear sent him flying up onto the grass spinning back onto the track right in front of me.  I tried to avoid him but couldn't...  :(

My car was badly damaged, but I think Brendan's car received the worst of it.  When he tried to pull away he went flying straight across the track into a barrier...  This left me to limp home to claim 1st place...

Not the way I wanted to win, but a win is a win I guess....  Unlucky Brendan...

Congrats to Gary in the Radical and well done to all those that finished on the podium...  

  

Was going to stop with 3 laps to go but went in a bit earlier as i could see Darren catching.

Well that didn't go as planned. I got the server settings right and that's about the last good decision I made. ::)

Figured I needed to be a fair chunk of time faster than any Radicals I wanted to beat on account of the DP's increased sensitivity to tyre wear. Fuelled for 13 plus a pace lap, qualifying confirmed my suspicions that the car was too low on cold tyres when I spun on my out lap. Luckily I didn't break the car and managed to get 4th on the grid... but with Gary's SR8 breathing down my neck by just five thousandths of a second I could see I wasn't likely to get a good finish. :o

Was confused to say the least to find us on the F1 grid at the start, but worse was to come when my spotter called the start as we exited La Source and I knew my low tyre pressures were going to be a major issue. (Apparently the start location is known but not acknowledged as a bug, and the pace car driving through a wall is common on ovals. Great advert for this ultrarealistic game simulator.) I think Dan was caught out even more and I squeezed into 3rd, but the first warning sign that the car was not happy came at the end of the Kemmel straight as I took an *ahem* unconventional line into Les Combes. Survived that and pushed hard to try and get the tyres up the temperature and pressure, but surprise surprise, dropped it at the exit of the pif paf in exactly the same way I did in qualifying, but this time going hard into the wall and having to reset.

My tow ended about a minute behind the cars I'd started amongst, which I reckoned was about 20s extra lost comnpared to a normal stop, and I converted the tow into my stop, adding my second stint's fuel (another five seconds or so) and set off after the tail end of the field. Happily the car handled okay even with the fuel on board.

I reeled Blunder in and was looking forward to actually effecting a pass in another couple of laps when he pitted and robbed me of the chance. ::) :laugh: The only car I actually passed on the track was Ross, and I nearly gave him the place back late in the race when I touched the grass braking for the silly final chicane (sorry, but I still think that's a complete dog's breakfast of a chicane) and spun, getting not one but two slow downs in the process. ::)

All the other places I made up were from people pitting, crashing or otherwise disappearing. In the end seventh was probably more than I deserved. Brendan managed to finish 6th, some 30 seconds ahead despite a tow in the closing stages.

Results imported. Well done Darren and Gary.

What an epic race!

Qualified 3rd of the Radicals, but the start really took me by surprise!  All very confused but we all made it through Eau Rouge  and the race was on.  I was soon hassling Paul and we both blew past Gary when he got a slow-down.  Gary caught us back up and passed us.. then spun! In the meantime I was all over Paul like a bad suit, but couldn't find an opening.  Then Paul pitted and I knew I had one lap extra to try and pass him in the pits.  Since Gary was closing this was my only chance of beating him to the flag.

Then Brendan's DP dragged past me up the hill.  Noooo!  So the lap ended up being not particularly special and I duly rejoined right on Paul's gearbox.  He seemed to be struggling more this time and I really turned the screws on him and had a couple of chances that he expertly fended off.  Then when he was slow exiting Pouhon, I managed to pass around the outside in the Pif Paf  ;D  I now had 4 laps to survive and hope I could break away, but Gary was soon past Paul and closed in again.  Then I caught a kerb in 4th gear and nearly binned the car catching it  :o but that had let Gary past and there didn't seem much chance of getting him back.

Brilliant race Gary and Paul.  I'll put some video of it up :D

The world's gone mad, that's two consecutive races I've finished!

Qually went nicely.  My 2:15.6 was a PB by nearly half a second, though I'd not done any low fuel running for a few days.

The start threw me, like everyone else.  I'm amazed most people got through unscathed to be honest.  In hindsight I would prefer that to tooling round for 3 minutes but only if I know it's going to happen. ;)

The confusion meant people went at all different times and I nearly came together with Gary into Eau Rouge when he appeared from my right.  We did in fact touch but luckily he caught it and we both carried on unscathed.

I had Mike on my tail but not too badly at this point but when Gary slowed for his penalty I had to swerve and lost a little time which put him right with me.  I held him off till Gary got past him and took over the attack.  After a couple of laps he got nearly alongside up the hill but I braked later and shut the door into Les Combes.  Gary slotted in behind me for the left hander but then span and I was on my own.

That put me about 5-6 seconds ahead of Mike who'd lost time and comfortable until I screwed up Pouhon and went wide, losing my comfort zone.  That put Mike right back on my tail again.  By now he was appreciably quicker than me but I held him off till the stop.  I noticed a DP behind him and figured he'd slow us both down when he passed.  With that in mind I dived into the pits a lap early and from what Mike says it worked perfectly, bringing me back out just behind Mike but with the momentum to power past.

At about 2/3 distance I started to have problems out of Pouhon.  One lap Mike came past me on the left like I was standing still.  I managed to stay ahead into Pif Paf but that puzzled me as I didn't seem to be doing anything different.  A couple of laps later he did it again and this time he was far enough alongside that he was on the inside into the left hander and away.

Gary was quickly up behind me and got past into le Combes before setting off after Mike.  In reality I didn't defend too hard as he was substantially quicker than both me and Mike.

I eased of and inevitably started to lap more quickly as a result.  Third in class isn't bad at all and fifth overall when I expected the DPs to be all over the Radicals.  If the Radical can be competitive at Spa then just maybe this isn't such a mismatch as I thought. :)

Congrats to Darren and Gary.

Paul
:)

That wasn't an auspicious start with my new wheel ::)

It wasn't looking good with 2 disco's in practice (problems at my end) but I decided to give it a crack anyway.

For some reason I couldn't get on with the car at all last night, I switched to Darren's set-up for qualifying, which I found worse, then switched to what I thought was my previous set-up for the race but the car felt even weirder so I think I must have loaded up something else entirely  :wetfish:

I decided to just lap the race out when I started losing connection, all the other cars disappeared as I approached Eau Rouge then reappeared on the other side when I found myself hurtling towards Spanners stationary car which gave me a split second to avoid, I just managed it but put it into the wall in the process :(

Paul, I watched some of the race, and it looked like you were slightly on the brakes out of Pouhon (and I mean a long way after the apex). Could you be riding the brake slightly by accident?

Started 8th, finished 8th which was as high up as I was realistically going to finish given the pace of the guys ahead so I'm happy with that although I spent the majority of the race on my own with only brief spells of excitement with Dave, Ian Rogers and Rob.

Realised around lap 8 that I'd underfilled for a half time stop, so pitted on lap 10 just as Ian was starting to gain ground on me.  Wasn't sure whether I'd need new tyres or not but figured my only chance of getting ahead of Rob and Ian was to hope they had longer stops than me so didn't bother changing them - right choice in the end although it sounds like I was very lucky that Ian had problems during his stop.

Around lap 17 I saw a slower than expected Dave behind me so figured I should help him out by getting myself a cut corner at Eau Rouge.  That let him past without any drama but as I turned into Les Combes I saw that Rob was trying a do or die dive up the inside which wasn't ever going to stick. There was only minor contact but clearly Rob's car was damaged and needing a tow while mine seemed to have some very minor damage to the rear (gearbox also seemed a bit less easy to change as well) - thankfully I didn't need a tow.

After that it was a case of just keeping it on the track.  I could see that Dave was struggling for grip in front and I guess if I'd still been on pace, I could maybe have made more of it, but as it was a couple of big slides at the top of Eau Rouge put paid to any thoughts of gaining any places.

The Radical at Spa is fantastic combination - would love to do this again with a bigger Radical only field.  No idea how you guys were doing 15s in the Radical!!!  Congrats to the pods.

Spot on Paul.  Ta for looking. :)

After I posted I looked at the MoTeC trace and I was doing it quite often and losing time as a consequence.  The lap Mike got past was particularly bad and I was a full 10MPH down mid corner.

I think a footrest might be a good investment. :)

Paul
:)

I'm waiting for the new official season schedule before deciding on the venues for the latter part of the series but I am very tempted to run Spa a second time as the last race.  By then we should have the efficiency upgrades and hence fewer frame rate problems.

How would people feel about that?

Also, we did get a decent turnout at Gary's impromptu Monday practice session this week.  What's everyone's feelings on that?  Should we run them?  The Indy cars races are mostly synchronised with the official series so there's no point but if there's a demand for the Sports Cars then I'm happy to run them?

Paul
:)

 :thumbup2:  :thumbup2:  :thumbup2:

Err.. yeah sorry about that :-[

Not sure why but i seemed to struggle with eau rouge in the race. Admittedly i never went through it the same way twice in practise but still never got it as bad as i kept doing in the race. Kept hitting the inside kerb at the top. Then i stupidly ended it by watching Dan in the mirror trying to gauge how quick he was gaining, while i then drive into the pit wall... sigh..

Perhaps the fact that it's a fairly difficult corner could have been a contributing factor?  ;D

have you got motec working with iRacing??? please please please tell me how  ::)

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/457406.page

As Mike and Paul have said the Radicals were excellent here and we had a great race.

I really didn't do any practice here until Sunday night due to work, family commitments and some bloke pestering me about Japanese steering wheels - only kidding Iain. ;D

After practice I thought I might just be able to pip Dave but knowing he's a wiley old bird that he might have more speed than he revealed. Lining up fifth on the grid I twigged pretty much straight away we were'nt going to do a full lap. The start was ok and on the lead lap I was pestering Dan, lap 2 and I pretty much hitched my front spoiler to the back of his DP through Eau Rouge but I made a mistake on lap 3 and got a slow down penalty which let Paul and Mike through. The 1x etc are really bad here and I hope iRacing sort it out.

I was six seconds down on Paul and Mike and set to work on catching them. I got Mike with a classic slipstreaming move coming out of Eau Rouge onto the straight and set after Paul. He was quicker through Eau Rouge and it was harder but I thought I'd show him my intent but it went wrong on the exit as I clipped the kerb and span.

This dropped me behind them both again and Rob in the DP. Rob and I had some close but fair racing over a couple of laps and I was off again after the leading Rads but now 16 seconds down. A quick check of the number of laps left and the pace I thought I could run showed it was worth a spirited drive to see if I could catch them. For once my pitstop worked like a charm and I took a couple of seconds out of them there and just as I got on their tails they swapped places.

I got Paul at the top of the hill and realised he hadn't fought too hard and then it took a little while to close on Mike who was now pushing on. As I got closer he just turned in too early, clipped a kerb and whilst controlling it I was through. Shame as it would have been a thrilling battle to the end.

Congrats to Darren and thanks to Mike and Paul for a great race.

I actually like the DP better than the Rad but wanted to see how the latter would fair against the DP over a season, its a real blast at Spa so I'm more than happy to run it again. As for the practice sessions I think we should run them if we aren't using one of the official weeks tracks as they help people get used to running with others on the track.

Regards
Gary

cheers mate

You b*&^&%d.  I now have Duran Dubloodyran going round and round in my head!!! ;)

Mu works really well.  I've found a lot of time by analysing the telemetry files.

Paul
:)

Whose files though?

By the way WHS is dead.

Gary

Anyone and everyone's. :)

The WHS being dead explains a lot.  Did I kill it?

The race was ok but a typical Spa one driving round on my own. Was dissapointed when Dave spun out as it would have been a good race between us as Darren and Brendan were untouchable.   Coudnt run the mid to high 14's i was running in practice on race fuel and had way to much mid corner understeer which forthe life of me i couldnt get rid of.
Was lucky to get second , hopefully have a better car for Brands.

Well done winners.

I think the Radicals will be right up there at Brands.

the original or dance remix?  ;)

yeah just playing with it now with the DP round Brands.

Race video ;D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvZGZ-Ph_3w

You've missed my custom skin.  :(

Moan, moan, moan.

Very nice Mike, thanks
Gary

Sorry Mike, I didn't mean that to come over as ungrateful.  It is a great video. :)