Grizz wrote: Why not run both on the same track?
Have you SEEN some of the custom tracks?! 
Although I think it would be entertaining to run Touring Cars at Mt A-Hole, it might get a bit ridiculous... Hey, I'm up for trying!
If we do go with the customs, I will need to rework Little E36 M3e, it currently does not have a pit! I will see what I can do.
Tokyo is not a good custom course for longer races.
Tonight: Cape Ring 11 laps:
I (again) haven't had a lot of practice, but I am pretty familiar with the track. There are a few tricky corners. T1 - seems a bit off camber and needs to be taken rather slow. T6 is another corner that needs to be taken slower then you would think lest you meet the guardrail. T9 can be fun, not sure the cars can take this full throttle all the way through. T16 is one of the trickiest corners, there will be lots of outside cuts on this one if it is not taken nice an slow. And of course the T20 ring, the cars seem to be able to hold this pretty well, but as noted above, getting into the paint equals instant low traction.
I will try and get a room setup before 1/2 hour from go time. I MIGHT have some delays tonight, but I should be able to at least get on, set up the room and leave a status update.
Might not make it. Apparently south east side of the city (where i happen to live) has lost power, with no ETA on restoration.
In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac:
Well crap!
I was looking forward to seeing those jump and drift pictures.
In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac:
Aw crap! 
It's back on, no worries. 
Next challenge is making it home and making dinner in time to race.
I'm really starting to get annoyed with the fact that the internet here screws up every berkeleying wednesday for the past couple of months. I wanted to run, even though my head was pounding and I couldn't breathe, but no, both of the networks went to crap and only the E36 M3ty one has come back.
Grizzly wrote: I wanted to run, even though my head was pounding and I couldn't breathe
Wow, Grizz, what's going on with that? Missed you last night. I'd say you missed out on another 3rd. for the Commie.
I watched the Saloon replay this morning in order to see the race between Hunter and Air. Wow! Cudos to both of you. That's got to be one of the best GRM battles yet. Both of you were taking chances over and over again. Looking forward to hearing your account of the race.
GT:
I can't believe I lead for half the race. I CAN believe that Hunter and Air caught and passed me. I was going to try for a no stopper but my tired were too far gone for my pace and on lap 9 I slid off and got damage.
Does anyone know for sure if the off track setting was low or real?
Saloon:
Again I managed to get a good launch, make it through T1 and stay in front untill I put my braking off too late and slid off course getting rear damage. Hunter, you're right, substantial rear damage is hard to drive with . . . very hard. I had to pit once more for damage and then on L 9 for tires. My hands went numb in both races again. I'm so determined to do this that I keep trying to overcome that but it gets so bad towards the end that I can't figure out how to have any finesse at all. I think a wheel may be in my future if I can figure out a place to mount it.
DRIFTASTIC!!!!
In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac:
Celica, what was your qual. time in GT?
Graefin10 wrote: In reply to 92CelicaHalfTrac: Celica, what was your qual. time in GT?
Slow.
Like... a 2:52. And i don't think i really ever got any faster during the race itself. I don't think i ever got a clean fast lap. You just saw a few sections where i was hoofin' it pretty good. 
But in all honesty, that was also the very first lap i'd EVER done on that track backwards. Also the very first lap i'd EVER done on that track in any form with that car.
I feel like if i had practiced enough, i might have done well. Haven't really had much time to practice, though.
But you're right, the car IS obnoxiously fast, isn't it?
So yeah, you guys saw all 12 laps i've ever done on Cape Ring Reverse last night.
Yes, great night last night.
GT: Nice clean start, nobody hitting nobody, nice. Hunter promptly slide off the end of turn 1 (cold tires I guess). I followed Grae around for a bit while Hunter quickly caught up. Hunter seemed to really like making dust clouds though, I think I saw him slide of the road at least 3 times! Each time though, he was right back on me.
At one point, I was following Grea (after various position swaps) going into T16 (I knew it was going to be trouble) both of our tires going a bit, he went wide into the grass, this distracted me a bit (but I did not need to avoid him) and caused me to slide inside. I hit the rear and took rear damage (with the update, these cars are pretty undriveable with rear damage). That was pretty much it for racing for me, I eventually passed Grea back up when he pitted with damage.
Saloon: Epic battle with Hunter ensued (I think we both knew this would happen eventually). It was a three way battle with Grea for a bit, but he slide back. Then it was pretty much an M5 nose to tail run for the entire race. The part that made it particularly interesting (I followed for most of it) was that it was clear Hunters non-wing car and my wing car had distinct advantages / disadvantages.
He would run away from me in the front straight (never did catch him there) but I could run him down pretty easy in some of the corners, Especially the ring portion. I could see him bucking and sliding through that and I would just smoothly come up behind him. The big issue though was HOW TO PASS. There was a point were I was WAY faster then him on the loop but passing was a very dangerous proposition there. You have to stay out of the paint, and Hunter was wagging all over the place. I might have passed there, but i would have been luck and likely would have taken both of us out.
The turn right before he loop was interesting also. Hunter could take it a bit faster then me (he had more turn drift without the wing) but on the first few laps, both of us made dust clouds clipping the outside dirt. This was a pretty scary place to hit dirt BTW. About 5 laps in, Hunter finally over did it and lost it on that turn allowing me to go ahead.
This is were the quick strategic decision making comes in. I know Hunter HAD to pit (it was a hard hit), I was ahead, but had OK tires at that point. For some reason I decided to pit right away (Hunter coming in behind me) I only ended up about 6 second ahead of him out of the pits. I kept a good margin, but got stupid near the end of the lap a lap or two later and slid off, letting him by. I then followed him (sometimes VERY closely) around waiting for his tires to go.
I could tell he was using more tires then me. He was doing a bit of sliding and that can kill the tires. This is were the passing problem cropped up. Now, if I would have WAITED one more lap to pit, I probably would have had a much better tire advantage, but as it turned out, my tires started to go a bit slick on the last lap! I really did not want to press it on the last lap and blow it so sat back and hoped for an off. That did not happen, and there was no way I would get him on the straight. Ended up .4 seconds behind, after 11 laps! Pretty close.
A note on the cars: I am pretty certain now the BMW has some inherent advantage in this series (as you may have noticed in Saloon). From following Hunter in Saloon with the exact same car, we ran almost exactly the same lap times (slower and faster in different areas) so I think our driving is similar. In GT though, there was NO way I could hold him off in the M3. He would slide off, and be right back on me in a few turns. I know the M3 is faster in the straights from the last race, and from this race it seems to be a lot faster coming out of the corners (probably a rotary torque thing). Anyway, that's my excuse and I sticking to it 
Grizzly wrote: I'm really starting to get annoyed with the fact that the internet here screws up every berkeleying wednesday for the past couple of months.
yeah, it's berkeleying fantastic ain't it >:/ and for some reason, my internet was all fine and dandy last night but it was slower than frozen molasses with the server. I started out good but that's about it. That track was fun in the Mustang
Note for next session:
We did a test of Touring and GT cars on some of the custom tracks. Hunters track was no problem, very big, very fast (definitely a 600 pp Shuffle track). We even did a few races at A-Hole mountain! That was pretty silly, but fun, so I think we can go with it. We will have to totally eliminate penalties and damage for that night though!
I would really like to use Little E36 M3e for the Shuffle series, but it would probably be REALLY boring for the second series (its very small). Maybe I will try making a Big E36 M3e track and we can do a switch between the series.
So I think we can all start building cars. Brad please confirm this is the settings you have been using:
625PP races, with RS tires, abs, no other aids.
I am not entirely sold on using power limiters, but that is pretty much the standard online, so this could be a good series to setup good online cars. This series will have less of the subtle driving technique requirements of the previous series, but could involve a lot more tuning.
Also, remember to work up a track for the series. I can fill in the blanks with standard tracks, and if it is OK with everyone, I want to add Spa into it. If you don't have Spa, you can still practice, it will just have to be with someone who has it.
Let me know what you think.
I got a few custom tracks if you ant to use them and i'm down for those classes but i'm not even fully sure if i'll be competing anymore...
Grea on using a wheel:
I would be very interested to see how your controller prowess transfers!
As far as mounting it. Using a small folding table works. A good setup, and what I use, is getting one of those small work tables they sell at Home Despot and such. It looks like a skateboard attached to folding legs. It stores away nicely and it reasonably stable. I ended up cutting the center post down though to allow me to get my leg under it better for left foot braking.
I can get you a specific model number / type when I get home.
In reply to aircooled:
For some reason, the BMW sticks better coming out of corners. I've noticed this with the RX8. For not having a TON of torque, it sure likes to kick out the ass end coming out of 2nd or 3rd gear corners.
The RX8 has a TON of top end, but probably not the best car for that track.
I have reason to believe that if someone had been able to get a handle on the IS-F, it would have been the fastest saloon car. It's MILES faster in Saloon trim in a straight line than the M5, and handles pretty good.
It's just too much to handle for a controller user, though.
Also: Pics?!?!?!
In reply to aircooled:
OK, that's 625 full race touring cars with 625pp on RS using the limiter. Sounds great to me. I just bought several of them I've been wanting. As of right now I'll have another 20M and intend to buy the 20M Alfa vintage car. Don't remember the exact full designation. Since I can't practice much because of my hands and time constraints I keep running the new Bspec race @ Tokyo getting 440K every 15 minutes. I've got about 560 cars now. Absurd, but WTH.
Air, during some of the clean up we've done on my Mom's place I found a folding table that may fit the bill for the wheel. My wife wants an ipad that she'll not use for Chrismas. I think I want a quality wheel. Just talked to my Mom's PT about my hands. He says prob. carpel tunnel and showed me some exercises to do. I will do them! Yes, I'd like to see how I can do with a wheel also. I'm sure it would take a while to get the hang of it. However, I also think that even if my hands did go numb that I could still drive with one. After all, 50% of the work is done with your feet. I would have liked to be right in the middle of that battle you and Hunter had last night.
I forgot to save the GT race. Did anyone watch it? I was curious to see what everyone else was experiencing.
Nick, hate to hear you say that you may give up on our series but I can't say that I blame you. I groan for you every time I see you leave suddenly.
Celica, I tried hard to use the ISF. I think is was a little faster @ SS7 than the BMW but pushed in a way I couldn't tune out. The M5 snaps to oversteer easier but after getting used to it I was consistently turning faster lap times everywhere but SS7.
Grae: In regards to buying an iPad. I am contemplating the same thing. One thing to note, they are nearing completion the iPad3 (I know, I know, there is always something better). I was rumored it MIGHT have been ready this year, but will likely go into next year. The big change (and the reason it is being delayed) is that the screen resolution is supposed to double. Getting the screens manufactured is a bit of an issue. I can't say for certain, but if you buy one now, there might be a new one a few months away. Your choice though, playing the tech waiting game could drive you mad.
I did save both races last night, so I will see if I can get some pics if I have time. Maybe a good jump shot from the first laps!
Graefin10 wrote: Wow, Grizz, what's going on with that? Missed you last night. I'd say you missed out on another 3rd. for the Commie.
I dunno, just been really congested for the past few days is all. I blame Air. My internet went poopy the second he went online.
NickF40 wrote: yeah, it's berkeleying fantastic ain't it >:/ and for some reason, my internet was all fine and dandy last night but it was slower than frozen molasses with the server. I started out good but that's about it. That track was fun in the Mustang
I'm just hoping it's not turning into the beginning of the last series, where I couldn't even get many practices in, much less racing. I'm stuck on the crappy network right now till the landlord fixes the good one
aircooled wrote: Brad please confirm this is the settings you have been using: 625PP races, with RS tires, abs, no other aids.
Correct.
aircooled wrote: I am not entirely sold on using power limiters, but that is pretty much the standard online, so this could be a good series to setup good online cars. This series will have less of the subtle driving technique requirements of the previous series, but could involve a lot more tuning.
Me neither, but honestly I haven't really seen much of an impact in any of the races that I've be involved with.
aircooled wrote: Also, remember to work up a track for the series. I can fill in the blanks with standard tracks, and if it is OK with everyone, I want to add Spa into it. If you don't have Spa, you can still practice, it will just have to be with someone who has it.
I think I'll just go with MSR for my custom track. It seemed to do good in the RoC.
Also, I have Spa and can (tentatively) host that week.
aircooled wrote: Let me know what you think.
I think it sounds great. I'm pretty excited about the TC series. What order do you think we'll run?
On Power Limiters: Realistically, even when they flatten the torque curve, that's not going to provide any advantage unless you like driving way out of the powerband. Might help with my RX8 though.
I did the DLC thing, so I have Spa also, I was just worried about others.
Order, I didn't think about that. I would say do the TC class first since we will usually have a good amount of practice time before the race for those who have not been practicing during the week. You don't really need to practice for the shuffle race, you can get to know the track in the first practice.
I still need to figure out how many shuffles we can do in 40 min or so. 3 min between and 7-9 min races so we can do 4 but 7-9 min races seems long. I guess we need to do a test (anyone else can do it also) to figure out what the goal should be. Maybe 2 min between and 4-5 min races and we can get 6 races in? Obviously it will depend a bit on the track, Spa will almost certainly have to be a 1 laper (not sure you can get a 600pp shuffle car around there in less then 3).
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