Quote from keiran :

Nothing I've come across in MSA or FIA rules have stated that the meaning of the blue flag changes when you are in a battle for position. F1 drivers are penalised if they pass 3 blue flags no matter what.

Best thing you can do in that situation is let the quick guy through in a corner and then use him to help you pass the car in front.

And if there are 3 lead lap cars wanting by? Its a classic prisoner's dilemma. If I'm the second (the car fighting for position) car and I'm polite enough to let the faster cars through, is the first car (the car trying not to be overtaken) going to do the same. If he doesn't I've lost a lot of ground. If he does than I can use the faster cars to pull me through. He's likely not going to so though. Prisoner's dilemma says that both cars will try to use the faster group to thier advantage so niether is going to let teh fast group through, possible penalty be damned. At least if a penalty is assessed its assessed to both cars, so niether gets the advantage.

Quote from filur :

When you are racing for position, the blue flag message is basically an error. If you're racing the actual car that's giving you the flag, there should definitely not be a blue flag. If you're racing within a pack of backmarkers and you're all being caught by the leader it gets more complicated as you should not obstruct the leader (on purpose) but still fight the cars you're racing for position.

Basically there's no blue flag if you're still racing for position.

That is a question I had? What to do when you are racing for position for, say, 8th place but are being lapped by the leader?

I watched a Rolex Grand Am race last year where two GT cars were battling for the lead with about 2-4 laps left. A group of faster DP cars came up from behind but could not pass the GT cars (which were NOT letting the DP cars through). IIRC, the DP cars were 3rd and 4th and the holdup allowed the 5th place DP car to get into the mix and altered the finishing order of the DP class. Slightly different, but similar.

Ghost cars for head to head racing on teh hill climb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvVyEPQwBJA&NR

Thought some here might find this interesting. No BF1, though.

http://www.freebyte.com/cad/fea.htm#fea

Here you go. All they need to do is take one of these and incorporate it into LFS. Done.

Aces High (combat flight simulator) has 'teamspeak' embedded right into teh game. It works out really well. It would be a nice feature to have in LFS and would be a key diferentiator. Just to be able to tell a lapped car that you are passing underneath them would be a huge help.

Quote from farcar :

READY: LOAD "LIVE FOR SPEED"

****PRESS PLAY ON TAPE****

:biggrinfl

I wonder how many of the young whipper snappers here got that. Pretty funny. Ahhh...the good old days.

Quote from Knight_Atack :

You can't compare F1 to NASCAR or IRL. It's too different, So you can't say which is best, which is worse. Oval racing has as much advantages strategie, and thrill as any other racing, it's just another type.

The comparison was to illustrate the quality of drivers in NASCAR.

Quote :

And who is the second F1 driver moving to NASCAR apart from Montoya?

I believe Jacques Villeneuve is considering the move. Though its not certain, unlike JPM's move.

Quote from afterlife2k :

Also keep in mind that Tony Stewart, last year's Cup champion also ran IndyCar, not to mention other series. He can pretty much drive anything, yet he's still sticking with NASCAR.

Don't foget that Jeff Gordon jumped into JPM's F1 car a few years ago for some test laps and promptly ran only a few seconds off the pace of the race held at Indy.

Quote from SchneeFee :

maybe your modded lfs car (which is it?) produces a lot (too much)of drag, otherwise it would be capable to over 400km/h (300mp/h?).

edit: a tractor could do 200mp/h with 1200+ hp.

OT: Nice sedan. Nitro or Electric?

Quote from geeman1 :

Bugatti has AWD, thats about it

its close enough. no other car gets as close.

Quote from Pumuky :

BWX, there are always anyone who say that's not real, but it's not true at all. Team radio could say and be sure they say to his pilots if the behind pilot is a lapper or not.

I think this minimap will be very interesting.

Thanks for your info.

Why not just have spotter audio? GTR has spotter audio which is kinda cool (but can be annoying). It would be great if a spotter came on the radio to tell you that the yellow flag is because there is a crashed car on teh inside/outside of the turn.

Quote from v4forlife :

i just say zx12, as people know what im talking about.

does that mean you have a zx6r and a zx6(zzr600)

http://www.kawasaki.com/produc ... gory=2&tag=motorcycle

Bugatti Veyron?

Interesting that with all the bashing of ovals and NASCAR that we now have two F1 drivers heading to NASCAR. I can't wait until NASCAR holds an event over across the pond.

Also, I'd give anything to have the talent and opportunity to race in NASCAR, though I'm not a NASCAR fan and prefer road racing. Racing is racing. NASCAR simply has its own set of challenges and nuances.

Doesn't Westhill (I think) have an Eau Rouge style sequence. Westhill seems to be a very Spa-like track.

Improved race. Here it is.

Quote from operator0 :

To go fast, just add lightness -Colin Chapman

It's amazing to me how many people in club racing really don't take this to heart. Can anyone take a guess as to how many roll cages in BMWCCA don't use Chrome moly as their metal of choice? As far as I can tell, I'm the only cage builder in the series who uses the stuff. Mostly because other builders charge outrageous prices to install chrome moly because they don't want to take the time to preheat and anneal the welds. But a chrome moly cage can save 100lbs (45 kgs) or more.

We just finished building a new car for our shop. This car isn't a customer's car. It was built by us for us. This means that we sparred no expense in weight savings and chassis strength. The chassis is a BMW E36 which normally weighs in at ~3200 lbs (1450 kgs). After we were finished with it, it weighed in at just under 2200 lbs (997 kgs). It has an extensive cage that ties into all the suspension/subframe mounting points. It still has the heavy iron block straight six (for durability's sake) and giant 18 x 305 tires and wheels. There's still weight to be taken out of the car.

Here's the thing. Everyone says the magic number for this chassis is 2400 lbs (1088 kgs) and if you get under that you're a magician. I mean, big time builders are saying this. People who've spent a decade building these chassis are all saying that. Recently, Jon posted the weight on a BMWCCA message list and got a very lukewarm response. NO ONE BELIVES US! Well, it's going to be fun when we show up at an event and roll that thing up on the scales for all to see and then go out on the track and proceed to kick their ass with 40 less HP.

This E36 weighs the same as our old E30.

Did you post about it on Bimmerforums? I think I might have seen that. To say the response was "lukewarm" is a bit of an overstatement. I don't think the response was even that positive. Sounds like you guys put together a winner, though.

Excellent advice everybody!!!!!!!!!!!

I got on Blackwood last night (on Redline again) and immediately dropped 2 seconds off my time without any setup changes.

I only did I race because my network crapped out briefly. So, I jumped on Blackwood on my machine, solo, and did some laps. And sucked it up. I know a few of you have advised doing solo laps to improve, but I just can't seem to get into the groove without someone to chase or someone chasing me. illepall

In any case, I was about 00:01:20 off the pace.

Thanks for the input.

I saved the race. I'll post it soon.

GTR versus LFS has been brought over and over, yes. But have the GTR2 and LFS comparisons been brought up. GTR2 has only been out a couple weeks and only in demo form.

Quote from Cue-Ball :

Try doing some hotlapping with Kegetys ghost car mod. That will let you run back to back comparisons against yourself. You'll quickly see where you're losing time and what lines are the fastest. If you want a real challenge get a quick lap from a friend, convert it to a ghost, then race against that. Just make sure you're racing against a real lap, not a WR lap or a "qualifying" lap since those often have strange tire choices, uber-camber setups, etc. You won't be able to consistently lap and have a prayer of keeping up.

That's interesting. I'll check it out. Thanks.

Quote from the_winch :

It might be better to practice on a quieter server. With fox at blackwood on a busy server there are usually cars everywhere. If you are constantly dodging stuff it's hard to work on you lap times.

Yeah, I thought about that. The crowded track makes it a bit harder to be consistent. But I choose to record a race because I'm typically faster during a race than when hotlapping by myself. I learn more and improve more in races than just solo practice.

On teh other hand, its much more difficult to be consistent and get the repetition.

Quote from Forbin :

Spoken like a true rider.

For others not aware, this is the common wisdom given to all motorcyclists and should also probably be given to car drivers as well. The idea is that you will go where you are looking, so if you're looking at the wall, you'll hit the wall. Of course, the effect is much more pronounced on motorcycles since you are more closely tied to the machine than in a car, but it still holds true.

Mountain biking as well. That's probably the single biggest thing that helps new mountain bikers.

Quote from mrodgers :

Some things that help me. Look ahead. Look where you want to go, not where you are going. When you look ahead, your car will go there. For example, you are in turn 2, you should be looking up ahead at the straight where you want to end up at, not at the apex when you are already there.

Yeah, that is probably something I could be better about doing.

Quote :

Don't pay attention to lap times or what everyone else is running. Race the track. And remember, you are not racing the lead/fastest car. At any point in the race, you are only racing the guy in front of you and the guy behind you. The only time you are racing the leader is when you are in 2nd place. Realize this and it helps alot.

This I already do, and I agree that it helps. I worry only about catching the car in front of me. Once I make the pass I forget about that guy and work to catch the next car.

Quote :

You need to be aware of where others are, but that is not where your concentration should be. It takes time and comes naturally eventually. This is when you are able to race door to door with others without constantly looking to see where they are.

Agreed.

Here is a replay of a Blackwood race from last night on Redline. Its a bit ugly. I didn't have time for more than 1 race and only had about 4 warmup laps, but maybe you guys can see some specific trouble areas. I haven't looked at it myself yet (no time), but I would appreciate any critiques.

Brutal honesty is appreciated. Insults are not.

Thanks