SimRacing.org.uk

Track:	Brands Hatch Grand Prix
Cars:	Radical SR8 or Riley Daytona Prototype
Practice:	18:00 for 150 mins (approx)
Qualifying:	20:30 (15 mins)
Race:	20:45 43 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

Pit Stops: You must make a minimum of one pit stop during which you must take on at least 1 litre of fuel and/or change at least two tyres. You cannot take a mandatory stop at the end of the pace lap, or with less than 1 lap to go.

Please make sure you are fully aware of the UKiR Rules (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3349.0) before joining - particularly those concerning general conduct and in-game chat messages

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

Another good track, so maybe the time to buy the Rad?!!

Just buy the thing Ken.  It's the best road car in the bloody sim.

Sorry but I disagree....

It is very good though  ;D

You are obviously either mad or a person of no discernment who can be ignored.  ;)

Personally I think the DP is the best modelled car, the Radical is very good though.

I am getting the Corvette a bit more now but I don't think its a patch on the DP or Radical.

Regards
Gary

I agree the DP is the best GT class car.  But in terms of racing enjoyment, nothing comes close to a grid of 42 MX5s.  8)

Club England are hosting two races @ Sebring tonight if anyone is interested...

Why's that Darren, does it go downhill after you all get off the grid.

I'll get my coat ::)

Gary

Well certainly real life in car footage of the Radical looks like as close as you'll come to the raw thrill of motorcycling on a four wheeled vehicle!!

I'd wager it has more downforce than most bikes. :)

No doubt, and it is probably one of the few that would come any where near like matching a bikes acceleration, but it does use a bike engine I think? Still the wrong side of 3 secs compared to a bike though!!

Radicals all have bike engines.  The SR8 uses a bike-derived V8.  At the risk of repeating myself, it's completely bonkers :D

It understeers quite a bit in low speed turns, but sticks well in the high speed stuff.

...and they were both really good fun!  Definitely going to try and run more of these.

Glad to hear you enjoyed them.   Spa next week.  Should be fun!

OK I got it, and yes it's great fun!

In to the 1:21's round BH. Will this be on the pace??

Using Simon's Mid Ohio setup from the Shark site. Seems to work really well, for me anyway.

If you can do 1.21s with race fuel you will be very competitive.  Slow down ;)

I think the Rad's will be a lot closer to the DP here than they were at Spa, possibly ahead.

Well I had a bit more than qually fuel, but not a full tank by any means.

If I'd looked at the top of the page I would have seen Brendan's DP times. So it looks like we need 20's for qually.

Good spot!  I hadn't seen them..  Looks like I have some time to find...  In this weeks Grand Am Series I could only manage 1:20.9 in qually and a 1:21.5 in the race...

The funny thing is we both did that DP race, and I have no memory of doing it.  ::)

The tyres have changed since then remember.  I don't know how much it affected the DP mind you.

He he, yes. After reading the race report I do remember it now. You chased me down over the last few laps but I just hung on to 5th.

And it looks like I was on a similar pace back then in the DP as I am in the Rad. But with the Rad I do feel more or less in control of the car and able to push the pace, whereas with the DP I feel I have to drive very conservatively just to stay on track.

Is there anymore free driver slots for this series available? I would like to attend if possible  :)

There's room for everyone, it's an open series.  You're very welcome. :)

has anybody done any laps here yet in the Rad  ??? if so what sorta times are folks getting and would anybody share a set-up ........I'm not savy with this car at all yet in how the set-up effects it as the last race was the first I've ever run in it  ;D

any help would be gracefully accepted  ::)

TiA Ian

Well as mentioned below I have been in the 1:21's using Simon's Mid Ohio setup off the Shark website.

We'll run a practice session for this one.

I'll have to do it around 5:45 because there's maintenance tonight and they're disabling new hosted sessions from 6.

I've put some credit onto my account and will attempt to start it from the train.  If I fail though and there's no SRO session listed by 5:55 can anyone else manage it?

Paul
:)

Yeah np Paul - I'll stick one up if it's not there in the next 10 mins...

Success!   Server's up from the train between Harlow Town and Bishops Stortford. :)

Haha good work indeed that man! Catch you on later...

The wonders of modern technology!! :)

Got to go to a school meeting, but may make it on later.

Don't leave it too late.  I could only run it till 9:45 and the service goes down at 10 anyway.

good effort!  ;)

thanks for hosting Paul


sorry had to dash away early..had an emergency had to dash out

Pleasure. :)

1:22 seems to be a nice average time so 43 laps makes a nice round hour with one pitstop I think.

Paul
:)

Looks like this will be an interesting race, the DP seems quick with Brendan doing excellent times in it. Over 43 laps it will be interesting to see what the tyre degradation will be like for the DP.

Should be fun.

Regards
Gary

I think the Rad might have the edge when fuelled up and as you say, Gary, tyre degradation will play a part.  However, the DP did manage a full hour on one set when we ran here a couple of seasons ago.

Strategy will play a big part me thinks.

Agreed, I knew we didn't take tyres last time.

Looking forward to it ;D

Gary

Dont think i'll turn up for this, not comfortable round here and its pretty narrow.

jezz your an A class driver and you never driven or had the Radical, your insane  :laugh: :P

But there's plenty of run-off so if you do go off you're unlikely to take anyone out.

Go on...

Server on its way...

my deepest most sincere apologies to the 2 guys at the back

my apologies to who it was I spun at turn 2 your double brake took me by surprise

cracking qualifying, decent start, pushed off track turn 5 then major cock-up trying to predict slower cars, race over, to annoyed with myself to continue




won't mess any of ya races up again guys I'll  be staying away from now on  ::)

Doh, I should have gone to bed early!

Really sorry to both Ian and Samu.  Ian, I thought I was past you when I started moving over to get on line for the corner, but clearly I misjudged it, really sorry.

Samu, I feel like a right knob even though there was little time to do anything before you'd hit me.  I was trying to work out if you were close enough to let you past before Paddock, then clipped the rough with a back wheel and got a tank slapper and next thing I know I was in the air.  Really sorry - I wish I'd not bothered getting a tow after my first off so I could have avoided wrecking your race.

One of those nights - always seem to have a nightmare at Brands....

Really sorry for the first contact Paul...  Coming out of druids I was waiting and waiting for you to get on the power, but it never happened.  The gap between us closed slowly, and then you seemed to slow down further.  No excuse though, I should have avoided you...  :-[  I waited for you to rejoin but unfortunately 2 cars had sneaked through. :(

The 2nd contact was when you came out of the pits and slid across the front of my car in the attempt to defend your position.  My replay clearly shows a 2 foot gap between our cars and no contact, yet you back end kicked out. :(   Sorry, but other than throwing my car off the track I'm not sure what I could have done differently....  Also sorry for the guys behind that got caught up in the incident. :(

 

More tales of woe here too - thoroughly enjoyed the first part of the race, having brief tussles with Darren, Paul and some others (sorry, was all happening a little quickly!) the car felt great and the lap times were tumbling nicely but it all came undone after the pit stops.

Was enjoying chasing down Paul for quite a few laps, hoping he'd make a mistake but when it didn't come I decided to duck into the pits a little early. Little did I know, he had the same idea and before I could change my mind we were both entering the pits together.  Had a decent stop and we both came out more or less the same distance apart as when we went in but round two wasn't to be. As we exited the pits we quickly got tangled with Purds and Gizmo and it was game over.

Sorry for the clout Andy, I don't know if I could have missed you if I didn't have half an eye on Dave steaming up behind me but that certainly wasn't the way I wanted it to end!

Got the tow and thought I'd see the race through, see if I could work on some technique but I made my first proper mistake of the race a few laps later and my poor SR8 became one with the barrier on the left hand side after Graham Hill.

Still enjoyed myself - thanks for hosting Paul, and again to Gary for the tips. Good job Daytona's only a short one hey ;)

I came to server 3 or 4 min before qual - with absolut 0 practice. I had driven this track few times at iRacing's Grand Am -series but it was weeks ago. So whole qualifying I were just trying to learn the braking points and driving lines. Thus my Q time was as lousy as it was. Race was going along okay considering my zero practice untill around lap 10 a lapped Radical spun in front of me at main straight and collected me. 2 min and 45 sec tow and I ended up almost dead last. After that I just cruised to home, zero concentration and zero interest about race.

Shame that this series and my job as commentating our Finnish Radical -series on web stream goes this badly over each others. Those races usually ends like 22:15 my local time and this series qualifying starts like 22:20 so I really cant promise I'll make the rest of the events, sorry  :-[

That was myself Ian! I wouldn't worry about it mate. It happens so often in real life. Plus these brake lights on the Rad are crud.

Don't be silly about not coming back!

My race was a simple one. Don't crash. I over-estimated just how much fuel I needed. Ended up putting 1.4g in at the stop and having over 30 laps worth left at the end. The car was a wee bit heavy!

I finished, albeit two laps down with a bent rear end, but enjoyed it :)

After the disappointing end at Spa, I'd decided beforehand to take tyres at my pitstop and push like mad all race.

The first stint went pretty much to plan although Gary was a little closer than I had hoped.  Had been practicing my pitstops and got the braking down to a tee, that was until Burt decided he would pit at exactly the same time as me so I lost a little time there  ::)   Rejoined in the middle of the scrap between Purds and Simon and was keeping an eye on the gap to Gary ahead, realising I'd need to get it down to around 25-secs to stand any chance of leapfrogging him.  I didn't, so when Gary rejoined 7 secs up the road I had to push again to try and reel him in.  

With about 5 to go the gap was down to just over 4 seconds and the car was feeling great, but I was overdriving it and this cost time which I stood no chance of re-gaining with so few laps remaining.

So, grats on a great drive Gary and thanks all for a great race.

Was having a race long battle with AndyP. I got past him in the pit stops by not changing tyres, then struggled a bit in the second half with far too much fuel and no fresh rubber whilst Andy easily caught me. Out of nowhere though I managed a 1:21.6 when I had been doing late 1:22s and 1:23s with Andy chasing. No idea where that came from all of a sudden. It was short lived and Andy continued to press. I then caught the grass out of Hawthorns I think it was with Andy right behind me and as I put the power down of course I span and right into him. :(

Again so sorry for that. Really gutted as we were having a great fight. Especially gauling cause it let Dave have an easy 2 places LOL and of course stopped the battling continuing for the remaining 5 laps. Lucky for me my car was driveable although it was very snappy in the slow stuff and very understeery round all the fast right handers.

Still, not a bad evening as I enjoyed nearly all of it and I didn't fall off in Dingle Dell where I was sure I would.

Was very interesting to see the Radical and Riley so evenly matched too.

+1

Was a bit to tense in the race and couldnt really relax which caused me to make too many mistakes.  Cocked up the pit stop slightly as i thought 9.9g wouldn't be enough so clicked up to 11.3 and came out with 10 laps too much  ::). Came out quite close to Brendan but car was too heavy , tires were too worn and Brendan was to fast so could not challenge for second. Nursed it home to a satisfiying 2nd in class.

Grats to Gary ..Megaton drive. ;)

Cheers.

Dont be silly Ian, We all have one of those nights every now and then ;)

Don't give up on the back of a single bad incident, not enough Gizmo(to)s around! :laugh:

---

Damned hard work that - qualified much better than I expected and then immediately started throwing time away with a very scrapping opening two corners, letting Purds past. After a few laps of staring at his bum I decided to roll the dice and pit early. That was working okay but I didn't really have the pace to make it back to where I'd started. That was confirmed when Darren came out the pits slap bang in front of me.

Pushed him hard for a few laps before he eeked out a tiny gap, and then the Radicals of Bananaman and Oily came out of the pits in a flanking move... I saw the smoke, slowed a little and hoped to dodge them; almost managed it, but I couldn't quite get far enough out onto the Paddock Hill gravel trap and just clipped Oily's SR8. :'(

I knew the car was bent the moment I reached Druids, but rather than just reset I pushed on for a few corners to see how it was, figuring that the other three must also all have some damage, and that now that I was ahead of them I might as well at the very least struggle back as far as I could before resetting to cut the tow time down.

By the end of the lap I felt it was okay to do another exploratory lap, and despite left handers being a bit hairy, I declared the car roadworthy and pressed on. Was just about able to maintain a gap to Paul T behind, and that left me 6th behind the Shark/Purdie scrap. I thought that's how things would end, but I hadn't counted on how hard Simona de Sharkestro was pushing trying to hold Andy off, and their misfortune was my gain as I capitalized on Shark's spin collecting Andy to hand me 4th overall and 3rd in the DP class. :-\ ;D :angel:

I thought Brands needed huge concentration when I was driving with a straight car. Eyeballs on stalks with the wheels not pointing in the right direction! :o :D

Well done to Gary - I said to Robert and Simon on the grid that I thought he had it in the bag - and to Brendan for making him work for it.

With my usual late and brief qually I was nearer the back than the front, but even a PB would only have lifted me 3 or 4 places.

An early mistake allowed 2 cars through, but when they repeated my error on the next lap I got them back. By then James was 9 secs up the road, whereas before I'd been on his tail. That gap remained pretty constant until his pitstop and involvement in the multicar Paddock Hill incident. My spotter called me in 5th at that point but as the pitstops unravelled I dropped back to 8th I think. My stop was pretty poor as I overshot and had to reverse a little, but I didn't take tyres and only 4.2 gals of fuel didn't take the crew long. That had me within shooting distance of Paul. Initially I got all excited and overdrove, but when I calmed down I started reeling him in. I didn't have any panels up because they really interfere with my view in the Rad for some reason, especially with my small FOV setting. So when the spotter said, 'you have five laps of fuel left, that's more than enough to finish the race', I had no reason not to believe him. However, just as I was homing in on Paul on the final lap the car spluttered out of Druids and didn't even make half a lap from there! :(

Luckily I was the last person on the lead lap, so even though I had to retire I kept my position. But it would have been nice to go to the flag and Duke it out with Paul!

I dunno how they've managed to get the fuel spotter calls so utterly wrong. You ran out and yet I had "you'll need to stop for more fuel" as I took the chequered flag with 2 laps worth left! ::)

Wow, another epic race but I had a manic build up to it.

In common with Pops I use a Frex Simwheel and between the last race and this I replaced a major component in it that wears out. Its the first time I've done it and although not that hard it needs some adjustment to get right. After last nights practice session I knew it wasn't right and got the spanners out for more adjustments. With iRacing being down I couldn't really test it as I don't have any other sims (apart from F1 2010) on my PC.

I left work early tonight to get a little more time in case it needed further adjustments but just after I came home the car alarm started going off on my wife's car. Its not been used for a bit so clearly the battery, stupid design though as the battery is in the boot and the boot has an electric release with no manual mechanism. It was also penned in the garage so I had 30 minutes of messing about with cars to get it to at least shut up.

Fortunately when I got started it was clear that the wheel was now brilliantly adjusted but it was completely different in feel to how it has been for the last two weeks and initially I was all over the place and could not find a rhythm. Eventually it started coming together and I found some pace although a couple of corners I didn't attack for the whole evening so wound up 3rd in qually. I'd also figured after seeing Brendan's times last night and spending an hour stuck behind him in the DP a couple of seasons ago that a long stint with no tyres might just work.

Dan had a little wobble a few laps in and that got me up to second and then it was just a case of making sure I was somewhere near Brendan when he pitted. Seemed to work ok ;D

In reality by the end I was coming to terms with the wheel (and really liking it) but my tyres were very worn and with Brendan on new tyres it was pretty hard work keeping it on the island and being fast enough.

Some very courteous drivers today with lapping, thanks to all.

Brendan you've got to win one soon mate, I almost felt guilty nicking this one off you, almost! ::)

Sorry to Ken for the little tap in qually mate, really didn't want that to happen.

Regards
Gary

my decision is based on lack of experience with the Radical up until the first event I had only driven this car for max 4 laps at Silverstone {my usual test track for new gear} as a test for when I first picked it up, I had intended to run in but never got round to it. ::)


so that was my second race ever only in it, and I have managed to mess up in both races taking other people out in the process :( so it's going back under the dust cover until I find time to learn the car more. ::)

was a mistake to jump into racing with it before I figured out it's handling characteristics, pretty darn stupid of me really  :-\

so maybe if there is another season with these I'll have had more time to learn the car better but till then it's back under the dust covered in the corner  until I find time teach it my driving style {may see about using the official Rad Vette season to learn the car}

Finally feel back in the groove with iRacing, taken two weeks of continuous driving  ::)

Developed my setup from the Grand-Am race there recently and gained a second overall... odd thing is I can't get the most out of this car on a low fuel load. It feels far less planted and I only go 0.3s slower with another 10 gallons.

In qually I didn't get the most out of the car but it made no difference as Dave in 7th was quicker than my pb. Started 8th and got a good start, managed to slip past a cautious Dave  ;) and tried to hang onto Paul with Dave right behind for 3 laps till he pitted..... then Simon sat no more than a second behind for half of the race running 4th/5th when he pitted. I went for a fresh set of tyres  :) and 7g to be safe and came out 8 secs behind Simon and Dave right behind me.... decided to push with new tyres and closed up to Simon, I guessed he had worn tyres but when I caught him he seemed to pick up the pace and hold me 0.5-1.0 sec back for a few laps until going wide on Hawthorns... didn't realise his car was coming round and then it shot across  :o

Car was mangled but got to use the fast-tow (now I remembered it repairs the car! :P) and brought it home 8th and still 5th in class  ;D

Great racing  8)

+2

Robin, last night would have been really dull if I didn't have you to chase!

No problem for the first one Darren, stuff happens.  The Rad needs a bit of a lull before you can get the power in at Druids or it understeers off on the exit.  I was doing the same on the other laps but I think you were closer that lap as I'd avoided a spinner.

Coming out of the pits though was my fault entirely.  I had Oily on my tail in the pitlane, looked at my F3 screen and it was on F1 so I had no idea who was where.  It was too late to do anything about it as I came out and saw you bearing down.  I was actually trying to stay to the right round Paddock but that's not easy and I slid to the middle down the slope.  You never stood a chance.

Even on my replay there was about a foot between us on "contact" but that's online racing.  With that sort of changing speed differential the prediction's near impossible.

I should have been far more careful coming out of the pits.  I'm really sorry, not only to you but to Oily and Simon who were caught up in it.

*** Edit - after reading the reports it was Dave not Simon, sorry mate ***

Paul

Results up.

And watch the language, folks, there are some naughty words creeping back in... :nono:

Another curate's egg of a race.

I couldn't really get as quick as I should have in qually but got a 1:20.9 in on the last lap with fuel.  The chequered flag lap would have been quicker had I not run out of fuel coming out of Surtees.

At the start I got the drop on Samu and used him as a shield for the first couple of laps before he got by at Graham Hill.  I'm focussing on the Radical title this season so wasn't too concerned about the DPs.

That put Darren behind me.  I found that if I got a decent run out of Surtees I could pull out a gap all the way round Hawthorn and up the hill.  Darren would catch me roound Westfield and Sheene but I'd have the gap to really pull away out of Stirlings and I was starting to pull out a little gap.  A couple of DPs spinning up ahead and small mistakes lost me time though so Darren would get tight back on my tail.

On lap 12 Darren just nudged me out of Druids.  I span half round so got away again quickly but had lost two places by then.  It quickly became clear than the car was damaged.  It was straight but the rear end was all over the place in the quick corners and I was nearly a second down on the pace I'd been routinely doing in practice.

Coning up to the stops Oily was all over me but I was just about keeping him behind.  Then Brendan came out in front of me.  Full of fuel I was right on his tail and figured he was holding me up slightly so decided to come in a few laps early.  To my surprise Oily followed me but I hit my marks and stayed in front.

Then I made the pit exit mistake for which I am truly sorry.  That left me behind Oily but he quickly pulled off with obvious damage.

I knew Ken was up ahead but couldn't see how far.  I figured the delay from the accident would give him the edge after his stop but I pushed as hard as I could anyway.  To my surprise I came round ontot he pit straight to see him in the pits and got past.

After that he was about 5-6 seconds behind me.  I found that if I really concentrated hard I could edge out a little extra but the car was difficult with the fuel back on and I was tiring so I'd make mistakes that dropped me back again.  With a few to go I made a mistake and went wide at Sheene.  I held it together but it brought Ken to within a few seconds.

Then I spotted Simon getting closer up ahead.  I was pulling over a second a lap on him so he was obviously struggling with a problem.  That gave me something positive to focus on and I started catching him more quickly.  At the line I was right up behind him but he held it together.  Another lap and it would have been interesting.

Overall that was a great race.  Very intense, very hard work.

Congratulations to Gary on a superb win.  I knew he was quick but didn't think he'd beat the DPs who were quicker than they were on paper.

I am trying to pick tracks that even out the cars a bit where possible but it's not easy.  This one worked well though I think.

I'll be posting the remainder of the tracks in the next couple of days now the official schedule's out.  The only real decision to make is whether to run Road America in the last race or do Spa again.  Anyone got any preference?

Paul
:)

Sorry Mum. :-X

Spa please. Done Road America a lot and only just bought Spa with one race under my belt. Although obviously I've raced there a lot in other games, but it's the new layout with that stupid chicane just before the start/finish line. :)

We ran the Classic pits last time so the S/F line was after La Source.  The new build is bringing in the full Sports Cars pits I believe, we could run that in preference.

Paul
:)

Why do that, I'd prefer more time racing at speed than the trundle down the pit lane that layout gives us.

Regards
Gary

Forcing you to use the pit limiter is the only way the rest of us can keep up!

+1


+1
 ;D

No probs Gazza. You were obviously were running much quicker than me and ideally I would have liked to have been able to pull over and let you past and maybe tried to tag on. However the clock was ticking and I'd only been able to join qually very late so I had no option but to attempt to complete the lap as fast as possible.

For anyone not checking the announcements forum the rest of the schedule is up.  I've updated the series details too so you can see where we're racing on the standings pages too.

Please direct complaints at National Rail who were incapable of keeping their signalling systems working North of Bishops Stortford last night, thus giving me lots of time to apply my warped logic to the selections.

Paul
:)

Any ideas why I'm showing as finishing 3rd in this race on my SROU race history page? ???

Maybe because you were 3rd Ken, in the Radicals.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

Doh, LOL, of course   :-[