SimRacing.org.uk

Track:                      Spa (Classic Pits)
Car:                          Chevrolet Impalla Class B (NTM)

Practice:                   5.30pm BST (4.30pm GMT) 2 hours 15 minutes
Qualify:                     7.45pm BST (6.45pm GMT) 15 minutes
Race:                        8.00pm BST (7.00pm GMT) 24 laps (approx 1 hour)

Start procedure:         Rolling - single file start
Pitstops:                    Not mandatory, but at least one will be needed anyway for fuel.
Resets:                      One fast tow

Server password         see above (#post_event_password) (only available on evening of race)

Teamspeak info           http://goo.gl/hoYFc

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.

I'll give this a whirl, any setups out there to get me started. Obviously ones a mortal can drive ;)

I think the advanced road america setup should work ok Pete. I've got a couple of others I grabbed off the forums but I'm not sure they are that much better.

Thanks Paul. I'll start from there and see how I get on!

I be there, yet to try Spa out on 3 monitor setup, so havent clue how bad my FPS will be lol  :laugh:

I hope I can make it for this but it will be close... should be fun!

You've made it about 55 minutes too long for me Paul, I usually manage about 5 mins before I stuff the thing ::)

Regards
Gary

It won't be until the next build that we can do 10 5-minute heat races. :D

I find it quite easy round spa as long as I don't dive off the brakes late in the corner and downchange at the same time. The exit of Stavelot gives you a nice little tail slide every lap  :)

is this a 'free' car?  Got no other racing planned this weekend (as there is none on that interests) so might take part if so, as i love Spa and interested to feel out this new tyre update. Dont even know what an Impalla is  :P

Your'll need to buy it Mark.

So what sort of lap times should I be aiming for, I'm assuming a 2.32 is not going to cut it :( Seems that as once I've done an out lap and warmed up the rubber I just fall off :(

As long as you don't overdrive it, you should be able to improve a fair bit on that Pete. My best so far (not that many laps) is a mid 27, but mid 28s are quite possible after 8 or 9 laps of tyre wear. If I really drive extra conservatively (brake a long way before the normal point) then I was doing mid 29s. All those times were using the advanced road america setup.

The only times I spin are when I start pushing the braking zones looking for quick times. I then have to jump off the brakes and change down just as I turn in, which overloads the tyres. Make sure that you are off the brakes a bit before turn in, and also make sure that you delay a change down to 1st until the last possible moment. 

I've now done  exactly two laps - the first one I cut Eau Rouge and the second one was a dentist-o-clock.

Struggling more than a bit hopping between the NTM and otherwise shod cars right now - hopefully it will all feel much more consistent in iR 2.0.

Hmmm, doesn't sound like this is the most popular thing at the moment! There haven'e been any replies to the posts I made on the iR forums although around 8-10 people did express interest when I posted before. Perhaps we should just wait for the road cars?

Hey I find it all difficult :( I'm not very representative of anything much  :laugh:

I've set up a 2 hour practice session open to all. Feel free to join.

For some reason the session failed, but there is already a spa NTM session running so I suggest people try that.

Well at Paul's insistence I tried the Impala at Spa. Its a lot better here for me than Road America and I can stay on track for longer. I only did one 28 but they would be easy enough now and another half an hour would see 27's I think.

Finally I can start to appreciate NTM.

Regards
Gary

omg.... managing a few 2.34's before the old snap oversteer sends me in the wall!
Getting easier but it's tough :(

You have to be over-driving it Martin. With the basic road america setup you can drive round with quite a lot to spare and get under 2.30. You just need to make sure you enter the corner slow enough to get the line right and be able to get back on the power early. Diving into the corners late on the brakes doesn't work at all. Make sure that you change the steering ratio though - 12:1 seems much too twitchy to me, so I always turn it down to 16:1. Even then it is easy to put too much lock on. If you want a replay I'll post one up.

any practice servers?

Even i know that they they were stopped as many people didnt run them.

not completely true spanner - they are run when there is enough demand. Not really enough in this case  :'( ;)

Well, that was more eventful than I expected! Felt comfortable in practice but qual just didn't work for whatever reason - overdriving I guess. Anyway, this left me 3rd on the grid behind Mike and Dave, both of whom had found extra pace. I was happy to take it easy at the start of the race and follow for a while, but Dave got a poor run through Blanchimont and I was able to slide down the inside into the new bus stop. A short while later Mike got it sideways on the exit of la source (too much curb I think) and by backing out of the throttle (as you now have to do to correct a slide with the NTM) let me past on the way down to eau rouge. After that I gradually eased out a gap over Mike as Dave was dropping back quite quickly, so that by the time we got to half distance I was about 8-9 secs ahead. I did consider not taking tyres but it would have been a risky strategy so I went for a new set. Mike pitted a lap or so before me, but when I came out the gap was around 10 secs so he must have changed as well. All I needed to do was bring it home from there, but the gods were not on my side tonight  :(

On the run down to Pouhon I went to change the black box back to F3 but hit the wrong key. Suddenly I was transported out of the game and into email, which isn't a lot of use for controlling a racing car  ::) I tried to slow the car down and keep it in a straight line as I scrambled for the mouse to bring the game back, but while I was blind the car hit the barrier on the left a glancing blow before spinning to a stop (luckily) just before the barrier on the outside of Pouhon  :sweatdrop: The car was still quite driveable but I had the meatball flag and so had to pit again to repair the damage.

This didn't lose as much time as I expected but by then Mike was 45 secs up the road and Dave was also 25 ahead. I thought I had a chance to catch Dave in the 10 laps remaining so pushed as hard as I could to close the gap. He must have made a mistake at some point as he lost quite a few secs. As the laps ticked down I was closing in and finally caught him by lap 22. He then seemed to pick up the pace a fair bit, being quick in all the right places to keep me behind. By then my front tyres were overworked, which hurt my turn in to the crucial corners and Dave could hold his own at least down the next straight. We got quite close at Pouhon but this just made me lock up and kill the fronts even more. Dave was then able to keep it together and bring it home in 2nd - nice driving  :) Congrats also to Mike for the win. Thx to all who turned up to race and well done to all the finishers. I expected a high dropout rate but a good percentage made it to the flag.

I'm disappointed about the lack of drivers from outside, but perhaps they are put off by having to join the league? I have been in quite a few hosted sessions and there are certainly quite a few drivers out there who want to road race the ntm, but none of them made it here. Perhaps it would be better to just host them as open races next time?

I thought I was that slow through there every lap. :laugh:

Mike's little indiscrection there looked like quite a big moment from where I was sat. :o :D


Yeah - when the gap was 20+ seconds I was confident that I could finish ahead, but then going into Les Combes I got the line wrong by some miniscule amount and the front got away from me, slithering off and brushing the barriers. After that I had to start pushing much harder - at one pount the rears were going away quite badly and I had to slow down again for a few laps. Well chuffed to get a 27 at last!


Or post the password in the iRacing forums, which at least means we won't get random "hosted surfers" dropping in and then dropping out (or worse).

---

Results now up. :)

Yeah, I think I was just on the wrong bit of kerb.  It was suddenly a bit pointy going into Eau Rouge too  :o

I really couldn't stay with your pace, the setup could be better but I think I'm running too much steering lock at 14:1.  It wasn't until you went off in a cloud of smoke after the stops that I got the lead again, I just had to drive round after that.  That's bad because I nearly binned it with a lapse of concentration, and went for a trip over the grass at Les Combes  ::)

This car really isn't the best thing in road racing, but it now has grip, it turns, you can feel what it's doing.  Can't wait to try the NTM on a proper road racer. :)

Not sure I'm so enthused with the NTM Mike :( Agree that when the tyres are cold or at operating temperature the model feels better but I can't understand the total loss of all grip when one gets just a little hotter. Ok,  I've never driven a slick shod car so have no RW experience but it just doesn't seem right. It appears only a very small mistake is enough to flip the grip switch to.

I lucked in last night when I had my inevitable trip to make friends with a shiny section of armco. It was lap 6 and by filling the tank up to the brim at the required stop (got the old meatball) I had just enough fuel to make the 24th and final race lap. Don't think I would have made another!

It was a shame about the turnout, although would have been better if the 3 who practiced had raced. Might have given me something more to worry about rather than lapping on my own hoping someone ahead would make a mistake and let me catch up. Made it to the end which I never expected before the event.

I think you were quicker at the end, but I was also starting to overwork the front tyres which gave me too much understeer - I was definitly slower through Blanchimont as a result.


I use 16:1 as I find 14 a bit too twitchy. I also think that you need less lock than it seems to get optimum grip, so less pointy steering helps find the sweet spot.

As far as setup is concerned, I just raced with the basic setup in the end (with the brake bias back a bit). I knew that the advanced setup could get a bit squirrelly later in a run and the basic setup could still do 27s so I took the safe option.

Just saw it today :-(

Love the idea, but 1hr seems a long time to spend in the tank. Raced last night in Legends League last night which was fun, looking for something a bit of "fun" but which can still be taken seriously.

That is apparently how the real NASCAR tyres behave.  Their best grip is when cold, then they drop off a bit as they come up to temp.  Because it's a heavy car, sliding around heats up the tyres very quickly and grip drops off a lot.

The more conventional road course tyres will behave very differently.  Less grip until you get them up to temp, possibly more forgiving of sliding around but over-do it and grip will drop.

As much as I'd love to I'm afraid I can't make it for these races, other things get in the way unfortunately :'(

Now you tell me!  ;D

Struggled the whole time but by the end I was getting a better feel for it!

Good fun actually despite the turnout but it's a car that needs more effort to get a grip of... imho!
I nearly didn't bother myself, feelin so off the pace but was worth the effort in the end.

Thanks Paul

I ran the Advanced setup to. Briefly tried Dave's shared one but felt a bit safer with the iR supplied one. Did change steering to 16:1 though and put the brake balance forward 1%. Managed to get under 2:30 in the end but it was a struggle to be anything like consistent. Glad you stayed to race as it gave me someone to chase :)

I did post the day before, responding to your first post, saying:


Not sure I can be much clearer than that!  ::) ;)