American Trans Am Series Season III

[Kalmiya117]

"And if you'd care to take a dare, I'll make a bet with you. Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the devil his due:
I bet a fiddle of gold against your soul, 'cos I think I'm better than you............"


Went and played int he woods with a friend today. He actually was crazy enough to let em drive his jeep. Needless to say I helped him find the Max flex it can do. Apparently his brake lines need to be longer. Spent about 4-5 hours trail riding. Had a great time and my desire to get a 4x4 jeep grows even stupid-er.

Man I need more money.

And I just realized how the song fits my avatar. HAHAHA.

Also, I made a Black 530PP Camaro to match my Black RM Camaro just because I could. I have this whole Red Rim kick deal form some reason.

 

[Skeletor27]

Jeeps are tons of fun. When I first moved to Tahoe, I traded my '94 corvette for a '95 wrangler. When that thing took me straight up a hill to a ridge where theres 2,000' drop on both sides, I was sold. It only goes everywhere. Now the thing has over 250,000 miles on it (hard miles). Gotta love those straight 6's. Built like brick s:censored: house. AND it passes CA emissions with ease. I love my Jeep.

Yes Kal, that's 1/2 the reason I started singing the song.

 

[Mudd]

My '91 Wrangler is the first veh I bought as a 17 year old, kept it all this time. It's a little too heavily modified for a daily driver, so with the kids and all, I've also picked up a 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport to haul the grocery's in. The Wrangler and the Camaro look pretty good sitting next to each other out in the Man-Cave.

 

[Mudd]

Good racin' last night. Looks like the Esparente will fit in well, Ken managed to swap spots with my Z06 RM about six times in one race with it. I'm also starting to come around on our new tracks, I'm at least racing against people instead of hanging out by myself half a lap behind, a little more practice on a couple of the tracks and I'll be in good shape. Still hate Monaco, dont think that's gonna change.

 

[Skeletor27]

My 69 Z28 RM handled Monaco quite nicely. Infact all my camaros are handling everything nicely. I'm happy to be finally driving stable cars in this season. cahill had a real good run in the challenger RM @ Monaco.

Esparente wasn't what I expected. Unless Ken sandbagging us!

 

[Mudd]

Well, being a holiday and it's rainy outside, I've got a couple hours into practicing and tuning for the T/A series today. Been concentrating on the '63 Vette and practicing Monaco. I've managed to beat the AI drivers in the Historic Cup driving the Vette, beating that race isn't a huge deal, but in that car I think it's impressive. More impressive is the lap times I've gotten the Vette down to at the Forest, I think I've 'bout got this car figured out.

Also, since nobody is choosing it and I wanna make sure the different Vette's are represented fairly, I believe I'll switch my MG1 from the Z06 RM to the ZR1 RM. I'll send another pic of 'em when I get a chance, I'm still trying to match the paint on the '63.

Add: What's the plan, guys? Do we go ahead and kick off the season this week, or one more weekend of practice? I'm anxious to start and my Vintage cars are dialed in, could always spend a little more time on my Modern cars, so I'm on the fence there. (also one of our front runners will be absent this weekend)

 

[kenkwilinski]

No Esperante for me. It is great off the line but once in 4th gear it looses all it's speed at 611hp. I have been working on my garage, trying to just use my favs in lobbies. So I don't get stuck loading my garage anymore. And I am narrowing down my selection. So don't qoute anything yet from me. But definitely no Panoz, or 300C, or Challenger. My goal is to have a car above 90% reduction with full weight reduction, scaling in at around 450hp & 1250kg. So my prefered cars are looking like the Camaros. I am really thinking about using the IROC-Z. I also said I would use the Charger 440 R/T but scratch that too. I might go with the GT350R. Or I may do the whole (redundant) Camaro theme. But I am really trying not too. (My first car for 5 years was the '94 Z28). So I may go with the Camaro LM or the C5-R (both are dialed in and ready to go at a moments notice lol)

 

[Kalmiya117]

No Esperante for me. It is great off the line but once in 4th gear it looses all it's speed at 611hp. I have been working on my garage, trying to just use my favs in lobbies. So I don't get stuck loading my garage anymore. And I am narrowing down my selection. So don't qoute anything yet from me. But definitely no Panoz, or 300C, or Challenger. My goal is to have a car above 90% reduction with full weight reduction, scaling in at around 450hp & 1250kg. So my prefered cars are looking like the Camaros. I am really thinking about using the IROC-Z. I also said I would use the Charger 440 R/T but scratch that too. I might go with the GT350R. Or I may do the whole (redundant) Camaro theme. But I am really trying not too. (My first car for 5 years was the '94 Z28). So I may go with the Camaro LM or the C5-R (both are dialed in and ready to go at a moments notice lol)

Raced Skel in my Panoz and did failry well. def feels more stable than my GT I wll be running.

 

[kenkwilinski]

Yea its definitly stable compared to a Ford GT(and so are a lot of other cars lol) but it's power is like only 60% and really lacks in 4th gear.

 

[Skeletor27]

What's the plan, guys? Do we go ahead and kick off the season this week, or one more weekend of practice? I'm anxious to start and my Vintage cars are dialed in, could always spend a little more time on my Modern cars, so I'm on the fence there. (also one of our front runners will be absent this weekend)

I have no problem if you guys want to get started this weekend. After this little vacation, I should be done with bigger plans untill holidays roll around. There's also a chance my PS3 won't make it through the season. I just had to fix the YLOD again. seems like every 2 weeks. There is now NO screws holding it together besides the (4) that hold the heat sinks down. And the (1) screw for grounding.

Yea its definitly stable compared to a Ford GT(and so are a lot of other cars lol) but it's power is like only 60% and really lacks in 4th gear.

Using power limiter beyond 90% really starts to kill the high end torque. And you really start noticing weaker cars pulling away when it should be the other way around. On pp based restrictions, I've started adding wieght in favor of lowering hp via limiter. Which I hated since patch 1.0xxxx.

 

[Mudd]

I'm still on my third YLOD patch job, but I get really nervous every time my game freezes or when it starts loading for extended time...I know I'm due any moment.

 

[kenkwilinski]

On pp based restrictions, I've started adding wieght in favor of lowering hp via limiter. Which I hated since patch 1.0xxxx.

That is actually how I have always set my cars up. Full weight with max hp in a pp restricted series. I have seen enough guys win with lighter cars. IMO from tuning like this there is not enough racing with long straightaways in this group for that tuning method to really have an upperhand. Basically we never hit 200mph and we are driving technical courses that prefer lighter cars to get around these tight corners.

 

[kenkwilinski]

All this YLOD makes me nervous, I have had my PS3 for 4 years now. I never had a PS2 last more than a year prior to my PS3. How long have you guys owned the PS3 you are using?

 

[Mudd]

Shamefully, I actually spent the night in front of a local Walmart to purchase my PS3 on day one of the original release. (we did at least keep a back-pack full of cold Budwiesers with us)

Got a whole lot of miles on it though, I think mine has lasted longer then any other I'm aware of.

 

[kenkwilinski]

Wow Mudd thats old, older than mine. Mine is a 2nd generation. I would die to have yours that way I could play my 100s of PS2 games.

 

[Skeletor27]

I think I got mine 6 months or so after the original release date. 80 gb fatty. I've already replaced the blu-ray lense last year. I'm trying a diffrent thermal compound this time around.
My PS2, I've had to break it apart and clean it several times. The door wouldn't open properly, and it wouldn't play gold-backed discs. Cleaning it fixed all that.
My PS1, has had beer spilled on it a several times, and it still works fine. But the PS1 is like a '57 chevy compared to the new stuff.

Ken, 5 years isn't 'old' for anything. If you spend $500 or so on an electronic device, it should last 20 years. And the fact most don't make it 4 years is extremely pathetic.

 

[kenkwilinski]

I only have 60gb

 

[coolracer101]

my friends the I will make a trip to another city from the sunday 11 to next saturday , the 18 I will be here again .If you start the series I will catch you in the 18 ,good luck

 

[Mudd]

Wow Mudd thats old, older than mine. Mine is a 2nd generation. I would die to have yours that way I could play my 100s of PS2 games.

Make me an offer!

 

[Skeletor27]

The fan doesn't need to be taken out of the heat sink assembly to do the reflow. That whole assembly comes out in one piece. Save you a few minutes for the next time.

Anyways, this is getting a little too off-topic for this thread.

 

[Mudd]

Your right, sorry to get distracted there, back on topic. We're now down two of our regulars for this weekend. I would be fine waiting one more week, as long as everyone can survive that long without an actual points race. I'd even be up for some full length races at a couple tracks from last season for this weekend.

 

[kenkwilinski]

I am hosting a Vintage LeMans Race on Sunday at 9pm cdt.
620pp limit
You obviously can use Vinatge G1 cars.
LeMans 2005 No Chicanes

Kinda a practice for this Series, I think we are at Sarthe for one race, or maybe not, i forget

 

[Kalmiya117]

Shamefully, I actually spent the night in front of a local Walmart to purchase my PS3 on day one of the original release. (we did at least keep a back-pack full of cold Budwiesers with us)

Got a whole lot of miles on it though, I think mine has lasted longer then any other I'm aware of.

I think I got mine 6 months or so after the original release date. 80 gb fatty. I've already replaced the blu-ray lense last year. I'm trying a diffrent thermal compound this time around.
My PS2, I've had to break it apart and clean it several times. The door wouldn't open properly, and it wouldn't play gold-backed discs. Cleaning it fixed all that.
My PS1, has had beer spilled on it a several times, and it still works fine. But the PS1 is like a '57 chevy compared to the new stuff.

Ken, 5 years isn't 'old' for anything. If you spend $500 or so on an electronic device, it should last 20 years. And the fact most don't make it 4 years is extremely pathetic.

Did I ever mention I paid 50 bucks for my !st gen PS3 fatty, replaced the HD with a 320 gb unit and did the reflow and now, nearing year and half later Have ha no issue with it. Not to mention the $2 dollar 30in LCD tv it's hooked to as well.



I am okay with doing some specialty races this weekend and wait one more week so everyone can join.

 

[Mudd]

Perhaps a couple laps at Nordschleife would make for a nice exhibition weekend....MG1 cars should be able to handle those turns well enough...

 

[Skeletor27]

Yes, Kal, you mentioned that about a 1,000 times! That's cool though. I'm hoping a better thermal compound will solve my issues. 320gb HD seems like overkill. I could get by just fine with only 5gb.

 

[Kalmiya117]

Yes, Kal, you mentioned that about a 1,000 times! That's cool though. I'm hoping a better thermal compound will solve my issues. 320gb HD seems like overkill. I could get by just fine with only 5gb.

it was 40 bucks so figured why not. And at the time it was one of the smaller sized laptop IDE HDs at bestbuy any how. Plus I have a crap load of music and Now nearing 20 full featured Movies on the hard drive.

The hard drive was the reason I got it cheap, it had failed creating a no-turn on condition. But I did the reflow regardless. I used Arctic Silver thermal compound, heard it was good stuff. I regularly open it up and dust everything down.

 

[Mudd]

Definitely gonna need a couple full length races this weekend. Last night at Road Indy for 6 laps, I managed to finish with the '63 Z06 within two tenths of the leader and the three of us (two Z28's) battle for position just about every turn of every lap. The only problem I noticed was that at those very equal and competitive speeds, the Z28 only shown about a third of the tire wear that the Z06 did. That means if we ran 30 laps, the Z28 could make it on one set where the Z06 would have to pit twice, and I don't think there's enough straits to make up a deficit like that...

My concern is with the cars we've each selected, two of our fastest and most consistent drivers are running Z28's and I'm afraid they are gonna only be completive with each other, leaving the rest of us laps behind. I think some long races will be necessary to either confirm this or prove it wrong.

 

[kenkwilinski]

It is what it is man, its a video game and nothing about will be perfect.

Well all my cars in VG1 were tuned for LeMans last night, so between that and a collicy baby I gave up a few times.

But Mudd, I drove the Z06 last season and tire wear was horendous. Not much else you can do other than take it easier in the turns and go for no pit like I did, at least when the race finish delay ends you finish the race on the lead lap lol. The Z06 is a pain in the a$$ like that. Thats why I'm not saying for sure what I'm driving until D-Day. I'm inbetween the Z06 & Z28 for VG1.

 

[Mudd]

I understand at the price of having a greater top speed that I am sacrificing tire life, and it's a fair trade. I'm only suggesting that we consider enforcing one mandatory pit per race, just to help keep us all closer. I only want to bring this up for a quick discussion, if the idea is shut down you'll hear no more of it from me, but I think even our Camaro drivers are on the same page here.

 

[kenkwilinski]

^I think a mandatory pit stop at our descretion would be good