Check out our website and feel free to come and join us for a race. All levels of skill and very helpful admins.

My favorite so far is FBM at FE4, but I still have many combinations to try out.

Prefered Team: Race
Age: 60
Country: Ohio, USA
Preferred Car: FBM
Driver name when on track: Wheldon 77
Preferred Track: Blackwood
Average Lap time: 1:14's (best hot lap 1:13.65)
How Active Are You: 1 hour per night, multiple hours on weekends
What Control Device Do You Use: G27
Time Zone: EST - like New York

Raced go-karts and was mechanic, financier for my sons when they were racing go-karts. Will be teaching my two grandchildren on go-karts soon.
There are many European racers on public BL track racing FBM, but don't see many from North America. Hoping to find people awake when I am and would like to be part of something bigger than just logging on and picking up on a public race. My skills are very limited, but I enjoy very much and would like to learn more and contribute to a team that values both performance and relationships. Can message me here or to my email: [email protected] Like to race with any age, but maturity on the track is essential. Love to have fun!

Nice to meet you as well Hilljack. I see that you are from the US. I am from Ohio. My preference is FBM on Blackwood GP. There are several good demo servers for this racing style.

Hope to see you at the track soon. Wheldon 77

Hello...

I have been driving S2 for about 5 months. I am focusing on FBM at Blackwood GP. My best laptime is around 1:14.0, but I have not improved in about a month. In fact, my times have been getting worse recently as I may be trying too hard.

Was wondering if anyone would be interested in helping me with my driving?

I see a lot of guys driving in the 1:12's. I suspect my setup could improve, but I have used setups from guys running these fast times. More than likely I need coaching on technique (or maybe I just don't have the talent - :shrug

If any of the hot shoes would be willing to help a noob out it would be most appreciated. Since I am in the US, it would be best for someone from the Americas so time shifting is not such a problem, but I know a lot of the fast drivers are European.

I know it is a lot to ask, but I am wanting to get better and have hit a wall.

If anyone would be willing to help, please let me know here or you can email me at [email protected]

Sincerely,

Joe

Good morning Jazz90! It is always nice to see more Americans getting involved in LFS. With the time shift it can sometimes be difficult to find well populated races during the prime time here in America. I like to drive Formula BMW and hope to see you at the track!
Best Regards,
Wheldon 77

Hello leo1954au... Good to hear from a mate from down under. Lots of good racing going on here. Since you are fairly new, you might want to use Demo sites to race on for a while. There are a lot of good tracks with great people willing to help new people get up to speed. Hope to see you soon! Joe (Wheldon 77)

Thanks for your response CheerioDM!

I have always had the setting on high resolution and that did not change. After a few hours of confusion, I went into my graphics card which was set for "let the game decide" and reset it to high quality independent of the game and it is now fine. Apparently the signal from the game that high resolution was requested was no longer being clearly understood by the graphics card. In any case, it is fine now!

Thanks again for stepping in to help me... much appreciated!

Joe

Hello,

I have been an S2 driver for about 4 months. My screen image has been high resolution and very nice. Just today, with no changes from me, the track resolution has become very bad. The car graphics and other screens are fine, but the track is grainy, like low resolution. I have checked to make sure that my settings are okay, rebooted, etc., but still the same result.

Has anyone else had this problem, and if so what do I need to do to fix?

Thank you!

Joe

Hello Crizze! I can see that your times are quite fast. Hope to see you soon.

I am looking forward to racing with you Dievoorje91! I enjoy racing the Formula BMW on the Blackwood Grand Prix track. There are a lot of good Demo tracks for this racing platform.

Be courteous and be fast! See you at the track.

Joe

Hope to see you at the track tiinano!

Welcome Panesy!

Since you are in Australia and I am in the US it might be hard for us to be on the track at the same time. But I hope I see you soon out there! I drive FBM on Blackwood Grand Prix track. There are a lot of good servers hosting these events.

Good on ya Mate!

Joe

Welcome TacTicalNoob!

I am fairly new as well. I have been driving the FBM for a couple of months. Although I am not competitive with the fast guys yet, I can already fit nicely in the middle of the pack. You do have to watch the sites, but the AA Demo sites usually have good racers. If you are trying hard, most of the experienced guys have lots of patience and will help you with racing lines and setups.

I hope to see you at the track real soon!
Joe (Wheldon 77)

Hello Hydroid,
Welcome to LFS. I am also quite new and have found a lot of good people here. Enjoy! Hope to see you at the track.
Joe

Welcome Henry. I have only been with LFS for a month, but I am having a great time. I am racing Formula BMW on the Blackwood Grand Prix course. I hope to see you at the track real soon!

Joe

Thanks Bishtop!

Thanks Zay... took off a couple of more tenths tonight. I'll keep working at it!!

You are most gracious Ingolf.

See you at the track!!

Joe

Thanks for the words of encouragement Ingolf!

I enjoy putting in the effort. I would like to run longer races, but am staying with Blackwood GP and Formula BMW for now so I can become somewhat competent before I move to other equipment. The servers I have found seem to run short races of 4 laps or less. I did a 20 lap race on one of the servers, but I was the only one on at the time. I was hoping that by running a race it would attract others, but it didn't.

Is there a car/ track that you would recommend for longer races. At this point in my learning it would be especially nice if there were other racers there that were beginner or intermediate level.

I also wonder about my equipment. I do have a nice G27 wheel and pedals, but I am just using a small computer monitor. It is often hard for me to sense another racer beside me and the "look left/ look right" buttons are so distracting at this point that I am almost certain to wreck if I try to use them. Sometimes I do hear the engine noise though and leave a lane just in case. Do the fast guys use the three screen setups for better visibility?

Also, my wheel is just clamped to the desk, and I am in an office chair - so not the best driving position. Does taking a "racing position" have any good effect?

Thanks again!

Joe

Good morning, afternoon, or evening wherever you may be.

I am brand new to sim racing. It has already become addictive though. My wife is wondering if I will ever come out of the computer room again...

I have been driving the FBM because of the training and I like open cockpit racing. I started with lap times around 1:24 and have worked my way down to the 1:17 range. I can sometimes get in the high 1:16's if I tie together a good lap. My progress seems to have come to halt though. Car adjustments don't seem to help me improve. Have tried a couple of setups from others, but my style hasn't adapted yet.

I do notice, when I spectate others running in the 1:13 - 1:14 range that they are leaving an awful lot of rubber on the road. I can't imagine someone really racing and scrubbing the tires like that. Even the fastest guys in F1 on a qualifying lap leave very little rubber except for the occassional lockup under braking and of course the smooth rub of being on the edge around a corner.

Am I missing something here? Do you have to "drift" the corners to be fast, kind of like running the cushion in a dirt car?

Anyway, it is great to be part of the community. Hope to see you guys out there. If I get in your way, it is not on purpose. It is really fun to race real people, even if they are faster than me.

Thank you!

Joe

Thank you!! I do have several setups downloaded now! Happy Thanksgiving!
Joe

Thanks Rageshgr!

I was able to follow your instructions pretty well. What I am now struggling with is unzipping the files. They are saved to the location you indicated but still zipped. When and how do I unzip them so I can use them?

Thank you!

Joe

Another question from a newbie

I have been driving the FBM for a couple of weeks and have squeezed about all I can out of the default setup. I would like to try some faster setups that others have developed.

I am able to find sites with the setups, but don't know how to download them to my system so I can try them out.

So... if possible, I need some "Downloading sets for Dummies" as I am not very computer savy.

The more basic the better.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you!

Joe

Thanks Emyn and rageshgr. I have been able to get in a few races with guys that are tolerant. I am not as good as them yet, but I am working on it! Joe