And another video for those interested.
Me on the left, a mate on the right in a Mk1 Golf.
Grab a cuppa...
http://vimeo.com/28974969
Me on the left, a mate on the right in a Mk1 Golf.
Grab a cuppa...
http://vimeo.com/28974969
Just thought I'd bump this thread with my latest video from Cadwell Park, it gets interesting around lap 2 or 3 
http://vimeo.com/26855635
http://vimeo.com/26855635
Minimaxman,
Yep I do, quite a few of them in fact
Ant,
Race entries vary depending on the circuit (and the dreaded VAT increase in 2011) but are approx £300 per car. You don't have to have a transponder but if you don't own one then you can rent a battery powered one for about £25 per day I believe, I bought mine as it's cheaper in the long run and when you come to sell it they still fetch decent money.
5Haz,
If you've got any questions then fire away. Hopefully I'll see you on the grid next year. Got a car sorted yet? If not, PM me, I might be able to help out.
Chris
Yep I do, quite a few of them in fact
Ant,
Race entries vary depending on the circuit (and the dreaded VAT increase in 2011) but are approx £300 per car. You don't have to have a transponder but if you don't own one then you can rent a battery powered one for about £25 per day I believe, I bought mine as it's cheaper in the long run and when you come to sell it they still fetch decent money.
5Haz,
If you've got any questions then fire away. Hopefully I'll see you on the grid next year. Got a car sorted yet? If not, PM me, I might be able to help out.
Chris
Sim racer to RL racer....
Not sure I can remember who was sending me messages approx 1 year ago about making the jump to motor racing IRL as I've deleted them so I thought I'd just share my experiences with racing in my first season.
A little bit of background. I've been driving on circuit non-competitively for the last 7 years doing regular trackdays in various cars and in that time I've been a frequent visitor to Germany for touristfahren on the Nordschleife. Over winter last year I decided that I wanted to take the plunge and have a crack at racing for real in the UK.
I already had a car nearly suitable that I'd been using for trackdays and my trips to Germany so went looking for series it would be suitable in. The first one I found was Trackday Trophy aimed at novice racer drivers with long races allowing the ability to share a car with someone and more importantly share the costs. As a serviceman I had the opportuinity to race my car in a series just for serving personnel, not an outright race for the line but consistency scored, meaning anyone can win regardless of power, weight and cost!
The build of the car can be seen here. Before the conversion to race car it was standard apart from race seats, harnesses and a full roll cage.
The first race is covered in the thread above but race day was a disaster with horrible weather conditions and us taking a massive gamble by staying on hard compound race tyres, it was very difficult to generate heat for the first few laps.
My second race was at Anglesey, North Wales in May. This was the first RAF race meeting I'd attended, hot weather but I was very thankful of the newly fitted roof vent for cabin cooling. Video can be found here: Click me for video.
Unfortunatley I couldn't make the 2nd round of the Trackday Trophy as I was on a charity rally around Europe raising money for Help For Heroes, but my friend (andyjeb on here) drove the car on his own at Snetterton and came a respectable 2nd in class (beaten by an E36 M3, upto 125bhp/ton????).
In June prior to me attending my charity rally round Europe I had my Land Rover tow vehicle stolen with all my race equipment inside (tools, spares, suit, boots, helmet etc) luckily though the race car was nowhere near it at the time. This prevented me from racing at Lydden Hill in early July as I couldn't replace my equipment in time.
Mallory Park - 25th July - RAFMSA round 3. This is where I really wanted to get stuck in now, another new circuit I'd never driven before. When we do the RAF races I always book an 'Allcomers' race at the end of the day, this is just a fun race where any cars from the meeting can go together at the end, afterall it's a long way to drive just for 1x 15minute race!
Here are the vids:
Race 1 - I got punted at the hairpin by an out of control Locost race car, he avoided 4 other cars before he was committed to hitting me, there was no where else for him to go. I was rather angry by this and didn't really concentrate for the race. Poor driving standards by me followed. Video.
Race 2 - Car preservation was my main priority for this race as it was booked a another race 7 days later and we already had some damage to get fixed from Race 1. Another poor start again by me then a great battle with a Jaguar for most of the race. Video with GPS overlay here.
Round 3 of the Trackday Trophy saw us hire out 'my' seat in the car as I was Best Man at a stag weekend, not something I could really get out of. The seat was hired out to a close friend who'd worked at Mallory Park for a few years (he was driving the green D-Type replica in Race 1 above at Mallory). They came first in class and 4th or 5th overall. The M3 that beat the car at Snetterton 4 weeks earlier was weighed and promoted upto class C as it was underweight to fit into ours, meaning we just have won at Snetterton also. No video from this event, sorry.
Cadwell Park, September. No video from this one either but the car did three races that weekend, one with a friend driving on the Saturday and two with me driving on the sunday. I managed to get my first outright win in the RAF consitency challenge even with a few mishaps. I was much more comfortable at Cadwell Park as it is a circuit I've done a lot of trackdays at and utilised a lot of instruction there also. I had a good battle in the 'Allcomers' race where I finally managed to beat the yellow rover I lost to at Mallory Park in the year.
Brands Hatch, October 23rd. The forth and final round of the trackday trophy and a wet race. No video either for this one but we qualified 6th O/A and 2nd in class next to a Golf mkII on the grid. I got my first decent start of the year and managed to take 1st in class and 5th O/A at paddock hill bend, from here I ended up defending the position for three laps and allow 4th place to pull clear. To get away from 6th place I managed to back him up into a Mazda MX5 so he had to defend. This allowed me to pull away from attacking distance and get my head down. We started to catch back markers after only about 10minutes and when the pit lane opened at 18minutes I decided to jump in for an early pit. I was catching a battle of approximately 5 back markers and didn't want to get held up.
We were one of the first cars to pit, it is a forced 3-minute pit stop too allow for the driver changed, I briefed the 2nd driver (Andy Jeb again) where it was slippy as it was wet etc etc. When Andy left the pits most of the field entered meaning he had a clear track for three laps, straight away Andy was on the pace, whereas the class B Peugeot 205 that was in 4th before out pit got caught up in the traffic I wanted to avoid, after pit stops we were 10 secs infront of 5th but a massive 40 secs down on 3rd.
Andy managed to drive a sensible race, we showed him the gaps on the pit board and he adjusted his drive accordingly. We won the class and managed 4th overall. The classes for this race were A=upto 200bhp/ton, B=151-175bhp/ton, C=126-150bhp/ton and ours D=upto 125bhp/ton. My car came in at 119bhp/ton after the race.
The final part of the season was a 6 hour relay race at Silverstone on the Bridge GP (F1 circuit upto 2009). 64 cars on the grid and upto 6 cars per team, we had 5. I was in a team with a MG Midget, Rover Metro VVC, Locost (with Fireblade engine) and my friend in his D-Type replica. I was to be used as a wet weather capability (I prefer it in the wet).
Here are the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU3b-3BFDU0
Stint 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAadfcHzAz8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... y--So&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... 9mj9M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... snP7U&feature=related
Stint 3 (nearly dry now)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... 0vk5I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... 0p3Ik&feature=related
How has LFS helped out with my transition?
Well mainly LFS taught me the art of racecraft. XRG/XFG racing taught me the move to get past the big Jaguar at Mallory park seen in the video above, I was quicker in the corner but he was faster on the straights so I left room to make sure I didn't get stuck behind him in the bend and got straight past when I did catch him as he wasn't expecting it.
XFG driving also taught me the art of using Lift-Off-Oversteer to an advantage when carrying too much speed, or even when you need to make a move on someone.
Next years plan?
Same RAF series again but I'm upgrading my license over winter to allow me to race in Europe. I've got an offer of a drive in RCN at the Nurburgring, Germany and possibly a drive in the VW FunCup 25hr race at Spa, Belgium.
If you've ever thought about having a go I would definitely recommend it, however I would have a go at doing trackdays first to see if you've got the ability to drive fast on a circuit with the advantage of being able to carry an instructor on a trackday.
So, here's to 2011
A little bit of background. I've been driving on circuit non-competitively for the last 7 years doing regular trackdays in various cars and in that time I've been a frequent visitor to Germany for touristfahren on the Nordschleife. Over winter last year I decided that I wanted to take the plunge and have a crack at racing for real in the UK.
I already had a car nearly suitable that I'd been using for trackdays and my trips to Germany so went looking for series it would be suitable in. The first one I found was Trackday Trophy aimed at novice racer drivers with long races allowing the ability to share a car with someone and more importantly share the costs. As a serviceman I had the opportuinity to race my car in a series just for serving personnel, not an outright race for the line but consistency scored, meaning anyone can win regardless of power, weight and cost!
The build of the car can be seen here. Before the conversion to race car it was standard apart from race seats, harnesses and a full roll cage.
The first race is covered in the thread above but race day was a disaster with horrible weather conditions and us taking a massive gamble by staying on hard compound race tyres, it was very difficult to generate heat for the first few laps.
My second race was at Anglesey, North Wales in May. This was the first RAF race meeting I'd attended, hot weather but I was very thankful of the newly fitted roof vent for cabin cooling. Video can be found here: Click me for video.
Unfortunatley I couldn't make the 2nd round of the Trackday Trophy as I was on a charity rally around Europe raising money for Help For Heroes, but my friend (andyjeb on here) drove the car on his own at Snetterton and came a respectable 2nd in class (beaten by an E36 M3, upto 125bhp/ton????).
In June prior to me attending my charity rally round Europe I had my Land Rover tow vehicle stolen with all my race equipment inside (tools, spares, suit, boots, helmet etc) luckily though the race car was nowhere near it at the time. This prevented me from racing at Lydden Hill in early July as I couldn't replace my equipment in time.
Mallory Park - 25th July - RAFMSA round 3. This is where I really wanted to get stuck in now, another new circuit I'd never driven before. When we do the RAF races I always book an 'Allcomers' race at the end of the day, this is just a fun race where any cars from the meeting can go together at the end, afterall it's a long way to drive just for 1x 15minute race!
Here are the vids:
Race 1 - I got punted at the hairpin by an out of control Locost race car, he avoided 4 other cars before he was committed to hitting me, there was no where else for him to go. I was rather angry by this and didn't really concentrate for the race. Poor driving standards by me followed. Video.
Race 2 - Car preservation was my main priority for this race as it was booked a another race 7 days later and we already had some damage to get fixed from Race 1. Another poor start again by me then a great battle with a Jaguar for most of the race. Video with GPS overlay here.
Round 3 of the Trackday Trophy saw us hire out 'my' seat in the car as I was Best Man at a stag weekend, not something I could really get out of. The seat was hired out to a close friend who'd worked at Mallory Park for a few years (he was driving the green D-Type replica in Race 1 above at Mallory). They came first in class and 4th or 5th overall. The M3 that beat the car at Snetterton 4 weeks earlier was weighed and promoted upto class C as it was underweight to fit into ours, meaning we just have won at Snetterton also. No video from this event, sorry.
Cadwell Park, September. No video from this one either but the car did three races that weekend, one with a friend driving on the Saturday and two with me driving on the sunday. I managed to get my first outright win in the RAF consitency challenge even with a few mishaps. I was much more comfortable at Cadwell Park as it is a circuit I've done a lot of trackdays at and utilised a lot of instruction there also. I had a good battle in the 'Allcomers' race where I finally managed to beat the yellow rover I lost to at Mallory Park in the year.
Brands Hatch, October 23rd. The forth and final round of the trackday trophy and a wet race. No video either for this one but we qualified 6th O/A and 2nd in class next to a Golf mkII on the grid. I got my first decent start of the year and managed to take 1st in class and 5th O/A at paddock hill bend, from here I ended up defending the position for three laps and allow 4th place to pull clear. To get away from 6th place I managed to back him up into a Mazda MX5 so he had to defend. This allowed me to pull away from attacking distance and get my head down. We started to catch back markers after only about 10minutes and when the pit lane opened at 18minutes I decided to jump in for an early pit. I was catching a battle of approximately 5 back markers and didn't want to get held up.
We were one of the first cars to pit, it is a forced 3-minute pit stop too allow for the driver changed, I briefed the 2nd driver (Andy Jeb again) where it was slippy as it was wet etc etc. When Andy left the pits most of the field entered meaning he had a clear track for three laps, straight away Andy was on the pace, whereas the class B Peugeot 205 that was in 4th before out pit got caught up in the traffic I wanted to avoid, after pit stops we were 10 secs infront of 5th but a massive 40 secs down on 3rd.
Andy managed to drive a sensible race, we showed him the gaps on the pit board and he adjusted his drive accordingly. We won the class and managed 4th overall. The classes for this race were A=upto 200bhp/ton, B=151-175bhp/ton, C=126-150bhp/ton and ours D=upto 125bhp/ton. My car came in at 119bhp/ton after the race.
The final part of the season was a 6 hour relay race at Silverstone on the Bridge GP (F1 circuit upto 2009). 64 cars on the grid and upto 6 cars per team, we had 5. I was in a team with a MG Midget, Rover Metro VVC, Locost (with Fireblade engine) and my friend in his D-Type replica. I was to be used as a wet weather capability (I prefer it in the wet).
Here are the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU3b-3BFDU0
Stint 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAadfcHzAz8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... y--So&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... 9mj9M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... snP7U&feature=related
Stint 3 (nearly dry now)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... 0vk5I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... 0p3Ik&feature=related
How has LFS helped out with my transition?
Well mainly LFS taught me the art of racecraft. XRG/XFG racing taught me the move to get past the big Jaguar at Mallory park seen in the video above, I was quicker in the corner but he was faster on the straights so I left room to make sure I didn't get stuck behind him in the bend and got straight past when I did catch him as he wasn't expecting it.
XFG driving also taught me the art of using Lift-Off-Oversteer to an advantage when carrying too much speed, or even when you need to make a move on someone.
Next years plan?
Same RAF series again but I'm upgrading my license over winter to allow me to race in Europe. I've got an offer of a drive in RCN at the Nurburgring, Germany and possibly a drive in the VW FunCup 25hr race at Spa, Belgium.
If you've ever thought about having a go I would definitely recommend it, however I would have a go at doing trackdays first to see if you've got the ability to drive fast on a circuit with the advantage of being able to carry an instructor on a trackday.
So, here's to 2011
Tenacious D - Wonderboy
Hi Cabby,
Thanks for the reply, yep I have tried it also when in a race. When in multiplayer this is what is displayed when I press the Connect button on the G15 (3rd button from left)
InSim - TCP : LiveForG15 (UDP port 30000)
OutGauge : enabled
IS_MTC - only for multiplayer hosts
OutGauge : enabled
IS_MTC - only for multiplayer hosts
OutGauge : enabled
Thanks for the reply, yep I have tried it also when in a race. When in multiplayer this is what is displayed when I press the Connect button on the G15 (3rd button from left)
InSim - TCP : LiveForG15 (UDP port 30000)
OutGauge : enabled
IS_MTC - only for multiplayer hosts
OutGauge : enabled
IS_MTC - only for multiplayer hosts
OutGauge : enabled
wonder if anyone can help me?
I have installed as per instructions, installed the fonts etc.
The app works on the LCD but only on the rev/speed and split time screens but not the screen with the main information screen, which is what I was after most.
Here is the contents of my configuation.txt
I am running Vista Home Premium x64 if that helps.
Many thanks in advance
I have installed as per instructions, installed the fonts etc.
The app works on the LCD but only on the rev/speed and split time screens but not the screen with the main information screen, which is what I was after most.
Here is the contents of my configuation.txt
I am running Vista Home Premium x64 if that helps.
Many thanks in advance
Very capable car also nice and easy to drive too, however also expensive considering other options.
I have been thinking about doing it and building a car from scratch. I think I could knock a competitive nova/205/xr2 together for around £2k. I that option would be best, especially in the event of a 'big one' as another car could be bought for £100 . Just my way of looking at it, I suppose it all depends how 'handy' you are with car's and have the patience to sorted them out.
The reason I want to do it is to get some races under my belt and my dream is to compete in a/some VLN races
I have been thinking about doing it and building a car from scratch. I think I could knock a competitive nova/205/xr2 together for around £2k. I that option would be best, especially in the event of a 'big one' as another car could be bought for £100 . Just my way of looking at it, I suppose it all depends how 'handy' you are with car's and have the patience to sorted them out.
The reason I want to do it is to get some races under my belt and my dream is to compete in a/some VLN races
I have also looked into doing some stock hatch races with the 750MC, would love to do the full championship but dont think that funds/work commitments would stretch that far.
What car are you looking at Danowat? You been to watch any of the racing with the 'lower' classes of the 750MC?
Chris
What car are you looking at Danowat? You been to watch any of the racing with the 'lower' classes of the 750MC?
Chris
/me yawns and nearly drops off to sleep.
Great for SP god damn awful for MP, it is difficult to get a decent race on Forza2 online, never mind LFS.
Plus, IMO the only cars which would be anygood on there would be the GTR's so a bit of a waste really
found the voltage on the side of the RAM which says 1.8v, however the spec sheet from Corsair says tested at 1.9v, however none work.
Just to note, when the machine locks up at the Microsoft Logo the keyboard also locks up, i.e can't toggle NUM lock on and off, this would point at memory/cpu?
Just to note, when the machine locks up at the Microsoft Logo the keyboard also locks up, i.e can't toggle NUM lock on and off, this would point at memory/cpu?
yep, tried that to 2.1v still with no effect 
Starting to think that something is broke? All parts were brand new.
The RAM is Corsair xms2 Extreme DDR2, is it worth trying any other voltages, higher or lower?
Starting to think that something is broke? All parts were brand new.
The RAM is Corsair xms2 Extreme DDR2, is it worth trying any other voltages, higher or lower?
p.s DL'ing Knoppix now
right guys,
Many thanks for all the replies. Here is where I am at atm
All connections and cables are good, checked and re-checked
Raid is disabled in the BIOS in the matter of J-Micron eSATA/PATA Controller
Garph,
"Might also be worth checking what the voltage the RAM is getting.
By default my RAM timings were off and so was the voltage, had to increase the voltage and adjust the timings manually. When the voltage was to low it did the same kind of thing, got to the windows logos then crashed."
I don't suppose you can tell me how to check what the voltage on the RAM is? Looked all the way through the BIOS with no idea, should I be looking from something else other than DRAM voltage?
Stry90dis, tried all those settings mate and they dont make a difference
Thanks again for the on-going help guys
Chris
Many thanks for all the replies. Here is where I am at atm
All connections and cables are good, checked and re-checked
Raid is disabled in the BIOS in the matter of J-Micron eSATA/PATA Controller
Garph,
"Might also be worth checking what the voltage the RAM is getting.
By default my RAM timings were off and so was the voltage, had to increase the voltage and adjust the timings manually. When the voltage was to low it did the same kind of thing, got to the windows logos then crashed."
I don't suppose you can tell me how to check what the voltage on the RAM is? Looked all the way through the BIOS with no idea, should I be looking from something else other than DRAM voltage?
Stry90dis, tried all those settings mate and they dont make a difference
Thanks again for the on-going help guys
Chris
new pc build, booting problems :(
Hi all,
I've been spending this week and bought myself a new pc (in bits) to build up, got it all built up today, however for the life of me I can't get it to boot into anything.
It post's and boots from the CD (MS Vista), it loads the files then displays the microsoft corporation writing with the bar which runs from left to right, and freezes.
Things I have tried so far....
Updated BIOS
Disabled unrequired onboard features on MOBO
Removed one stick of RAM
Tried RAM in different slots
Tried an IDE HDD
Tried to boot from UBCD4WIN which it loads the files then locks up on the Windows XP screen with the same Left to Right bar as the vista setup
Manually set the FSB to 800Mhz to match the RAM
Tried booting with no keyboard or mouse connected (seems to go further with no keyboard but still locks)
Tried moving the DVD drive to SATA3 instead or SATA2
Here's the Spec:
ASUS P5KC mobo
Intel Q6600 Quad proc
Corsair 2x2Gb DDR2 800Mhz
Inno 3D 9600GT 512Mb gfx
Antec 650W Modular PSU
CoolerMaster RC-1000 Cosmos case
Sony DRD/RW SATA
Samsung 500Gb SATA
Please help someone, really want to get back on LFS
Chris
I've been spending this week and bought myself a new pc (in bits) to build up, got it all built up today, however for the life of me I can't get it to boot into anything.
It post's and boots from the CD (MS Vista), it loads the files then displays the microsoft corporation writing with the bar which runs from left to right, and freezes.
Things I have tried so far....
Updated BIOS
Disabled unrequired onboard features on MOBO
Removed one stick of RAM
Tried RAM in different slots
Tried an IDE HDD
Tried to boot from UBCD4WIN which it loads the files then locks up on the Windows XP screen with the same Left to Right bar as the vista setup
Manually set the FSB to 800Mhz to match the RAM
Tried booting with no keyboard or mouse connected (seems to go further with no keyboard but still locks)
Tried moving the DVD drive to SATA3 instead or SATA2
Here's the Spec:
ASUS P5KC mobo
Intel Q6600 Quad proc
Corsair 2x2Gb DDR2 800Mhz
Inno 3D 9600GT 512Mb gfx
Antec 650W Modular PSU
CoolerMaster RC-1000 Cosmos case
Sony DRD/RW SATA
Samsung 500Gb SATA
Please help someone, really want to get back on LFS
Chris
I can confirm that I will be attending Will be able to get a deposit over to you at the end of the month Bob 
Will be able to get a deposit over to you at the end of the month Bob not all companies do. Driving Sensations don't limit you on revs/gears, however the instructor does have a 'kill' switch incase someone gets too giddy.
Nice choice of cars too
Nice choice of cars too
lol, fair play. Get the chin on the tank and do it in 3
I will be up for this, so long as it is on a weekend
Also interested in lift sharing for Norfolk (I can seat me + 6). Danowat?
Also interested in lift sharing for Norfolk (I can seat me + 6). Danowat?
if people want offline play to be better it could be made to improve the online play once that player returns online. Like more/harder challenges in the training. If it is difficult to do then people may work harder to get better, thus increasing the pace once online again. However, if people dont like that because they cant do it they know where GT/PGR/FM etc are sold
LMAO
A test patch is released first. Once this patch is known to run ok without any problems then Y will be released
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG