Sim Racing Society are pleased to announce are latest commitment. We will be entering the
GT Amateur League (GTAL); a new league set up for those teams who do not yet have the experience to enter one of the bigger endurance events such as
Masters of Endurance (MoE) and the
International GT Championship (IGTC). So where does GTAL fit in amongst the other endurance leagues?
MoE features races that all last at least 6 hours, right up to their prestigious 24 hour race. MoE runs GT1 and GT2 specification GTR cars, battling it out in 4 separate qualifying sessions and then trying to give each other space on the same race track.
IGTC runs shorter races of 4 and 8 hours with GT1 specification GTR cars, with the inclusion of safety cars and pushcars that help drivers in need of assistance.
GTAL is a combination of the two: It runs one specification of GTR cars; the slower GT2 cars. The races are very short; 3 hours and 6 hours. There will be no pushcars or safety cars so the drivers are under immense pressure not to hit the kerbs to hard and to not crash into each other. They know that if it goes wrong, it will most certainly be race over for them.
SRS will be entering the series with what is regarded as the trickiest GTR car. It is the XRR with a 25% air intake restriction. The car has a number of unique handling traits and a high centre of gravity, which makes it very easy to roll over. We decided to drive this car because it would allow us to learn more about one of the least driven cars in LFS. We also feel it would be nice to beat at least some of the faster FZRs, and show that there's still life in the XRR.
So, who is going to be driving?
Michael Passingham (SRS:Passo, Mp3 Astra) is taking the role of Team Manager and will organise the team to his best ability. He will also be doing extensive testing and setup-making. Michael said, commenting on the team's aims:
'Our aim is to beat Sonicrealms. We share the same Ventrilo server, so gloating will be very easy if we're able to beat them in our XRR.''
Eduardo de Souza (SRS:de Souza, de Souza) is the second in command and will be doing extensive testing. He has a great skill in creating car setups and has a very good sense of touc; he knows exactly what needs to be done to the car to make it handle in the correct way. Eduardo was very clear in his opinion:
'I like the FZR GT2, it's fun to drive, fast and fairly easy. But everybody drives it, and that's boring. I want something different, some variety. If we can come up with a decent XRR setup (or even FXR) that makes the car enjoyable while not being as slow as a turtle, I'm all for it. Would be very nice to beat some FZRs.'
Craig Taylor (SRS:Taylor, TAYLOR-MANIA) will be one of the race drivers, and we hope to use his excellent speed and analysis skills to help us reach the top 10 positions. Craig commented:
"I'd say that the FZR is overused and a bit large in dimension. FXR i think is the slowest and dullest, so yeah, helllooo XRR... looks good, bit of a strange balance/handling but nothing some practice won't overcome.'
Scott MacDonald (SRS:Mackie, Mackie The Staggie) is another driver and, like Taylor, we will be using him to race as well as get the car in tip-top setup condition so we can take full advantage of the XRR's few strong points. He is reported to have said:
'The XRR is a car I don't think I've ever really used, so it should be fun.''
Tim Beaudet (SRS:Blackbird, blackbird04217) will be the team's strategist; making sure our pitstops come at the right time and working out the most efficient way to race. As a programmer, his logic should help us greatly!
The test race is coming up soon, so we hope to see you there for some action-packed racing!
SRS was founded in 2008 by Tim Beaudet, Eduardo de Souza and Michael Passingham,
Visit
www.simracingsociety.com for more SRS-related news and events.