iRacing Season 2 - Late Model - Brands Hatch (GP) - Feb 3

[Legzy]

p.s. I've heard a rumor that somebody somewhere races these things on road tracks regularly... can anybody point me in their direction please?

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Congrats to Gizmo. Don't know how you drove that and got no incidents at all!

Heh heh, that was my introduction to LM road racing at Christman when the ORO chaps ran a fun race. I'm not sure which one of them supplied the setup but I didn't do much to it back then, and then for tonight I just filled the tank and raised the ride height all round to compensate for the extra weight.

Car felt alien for the first few laps of practice but once it started to click I was unstoppable. My times tumbled and with the fuel out for qualifying I banged in a set of increasingly quick laps to grab pole by a fair margin.

I've never been good at launching these cars so it wasn't a surprise to see Paul grab the lead briefly into Paddock Hill before I braved it out up the hill and held the inside at Druids to regain the lead. I'm guessing we had different gearing because out of Surtees I stormed away up the hill, and once Paul had slid off coming out of Clark curve at the end of lap 1 I was never under any pressure and just gently pulled away from Ken and later Bernie Lomax.

Had one "oops" moment when lapping Don - was in two minds about whether to storm past into Stirling's and then found myself going in a bit too hot and effectivey forcing him onto the dirt on the outside as I ran in a little too deep.

Other than that the car felt great all race, and other than a couple of locked brakes late on in the fast corners of the GP loop and getting up on two wheels once or twice in Westfield and Sheene it just flowed beautifully from corner to corner.

Nice to get a win after yesterday's disaster at Infineon!

p.s. I've heard a rumor that somebody somewhere races these things on road tracks regularly... can anybody point me in their direction please?

http://www.oval-road-odyssey.com/ - you need to sign up to the site to get the password. Races are on Saturday evenings and announcements post in Hosted Races forum on the iRacing site. Warning! Some of those guys are 2+ seconds a lap quicker than me at most tracks.

[Legzy]

p.s. I've heard a rumor that somebody somewhere races these things on road tracks regularly... can anybody point me in their direction please?

http://www.oval-road-odyssey.com/ - you need to sign up to the site to get the password. Races are on Saturday evenings and announcements post in Hosted Races forum on the iRacing site. Warning! Some of those guys are 2+ seconds a lap quicker than me at most tracks.

Cheers Dave

[Ken Murray]

Horses for courses I suppose, because I just don't get this tub of lard! I have a new worst car in iRacing. I thought the SFR was bad, but at least I can drive that!! It's maybe partly though frustration at seeing Daves pace, but hopefuly some of that is due to his familiarity with the beast. As I said in chat, give me the single seaters any day, least they go where you point them. 

[Ken Murray]

Am I reading that results table correctly, 27 incidents in 28 laps for John?!!!

[Paul968]

Rubbish from me tonight, but not helped by wednesdays being my 'Dad's taxi' night. Got a few laps in early on but by the time I got back Dave was quite a bit quicker. The ORO setup helped a bit, and on race fuel I wasn't much slower, but in qual he was in a different league. Not sure exactly why, but I suspect my tail-out style is to blame.

Anyway, got a better start than Dave, could have taken the racing line but put too much brake on and slid wide, letting him have the inside which he held until the exit of druids where I had to give way. He was inching away all the time, and as John behind was dropping back I knew I had to hang on and try to learn how to be quicker. It all ended in tears at the last corner though as I slid wide, lazily spun and took forever to get going. To make things worse the steering was bent and the car understeering, so I stopped and reset. I couldn't face waiting 3 mins more for the tow so I quit then and there.

Grats to Dave who was very quick in qual and obviously very consistent in the race. I think I could keep up (sort of) in race trim with a tidier style and more practice, but I need a different setup or something to do mid 33s in qual - great stuff!

I'd like to do more of this too (as long as Dave slows down a bit  ) as the cars are normally forgiving but rewarding at the same time.

[Paul968]

Get off the brakes into the corners Ken or they make the whole thing wash horribly wide. It has a min brake bias of over 70% so trail braking is fraught with danger. It will turn in quite eagerly if you avoid this trap.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

but I suspect my tail-out style is to blame.

It may be that you're not tail out enough - watching the fastest drivers in ORO, they usually have the car with 20+ degrees of slip into, through and out of the corners.

I think I get on with these cars better than the single seaters because all the weight makes it easier to feel what it's doing, and it doesn't change direction faster than I can think.

Get off the brakes into the corners Ken or they make the whole thing wash horribly wide. It has a min brake bias of over 70% so trail braking is fraught with danger. It will turn in quick eagerly if you avoid this trap.

Wierd, it's like a different car to me! I carry a little brake all the way in (and a little throttle) and then pretty much mash the loud pedal again to keep it turning. I do wish you could crank the brake bias back a bit though!

[Paul968]

I've only done one road race before in the LM and that was at Lime Rock which has little braking, so this was all new to me. The biggest problem I had was dealing with the brakes - stay on them a touch too long and the car washed wide, come off them too fast and it went sideways. The last corner was my biggest problem. I never felt I got it right as I understeered or oversteered every lap - no big surprise I cocked it up in the race then 

I am used to running the LM sideways from a few ovals, but I suspect I am too aggresive coming off the brakes and probably using too much brake. I had the feeling that I could brake less and carry more speed but never had enough laps to try it out.

If the ORO races were a bit later I'd probably take part in some, but they are just a touch early for me.

[Blunder]

Wow how much fun was that!?

I still need to compare the ORO set up and the one I was working on it!? it was like jumping into a different car!

Took a few laps to adjust to the new set up but got back into the 1.37's eventually!
Had a great race in the early laps but a few unforced errors dropped me back a bit!
Was running well and loving it but a slight error caused me to brush the barriers.... unfortunately it decided that the 'light brush' was actually 'you've landed on to of' !  so I was stuck and had to reset!
Rejoined with Legzy and then we both just had fun and waited for each other as we each had a 'moment' great fun!

Managed to get into the 1.35's in the race which took me by suprise! I overtook Ken twice as he seemed to be struggling but both times then immediately span into turn 1 ! what a wally! 

Skip vs LM.... I was never going to do the skip series, ( hate the car and have little time ) but will turn up for all LM races we arrange! 
( Hate = lack of talent! and don't have the time to dedicate to it to master it! )

Congrats Dave, awesome pace buddy!

Thanks to Don? was it? that organised this! Much appreciated!

[Ken Murray]

Get off the brakes into the corners Ken or they make the whole thing wash horribly wide. It has a min brake bias of over 70% so trail braking is fraught with danger. It will turn in quite eagerly if you avoid this trap.

Yes, I did notice that, especially at Paddock Hill. Maybe I need to try this ORO setup? Where can I find it?

[Adam Parle]

With practice it could be fun, but for me it just wasn't on Wednesday.  I was off pace and tootling round at the back by myself isn't really that much fun .... hence the early exit.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Maybe I need to try this ORO setup? Where can I find it?

http://www.humyo.com/9240347/iRacing/Late%20Model%20Gizmo%20Brands%20GP.sto
I think the only thing I did for Tuesday's race was fill the tank and raise the ride height evenly all round until it wasn't reporting "too low".

[Legzy]

Reporting "to low"? Where does it do that?

[popabawa]

The ride heights go to red and it won't let you leave the garage if the car is illegally low.