Road B Sampler SeriesPS4

[Zolon32]

Ladies, gentlemen and all those in between, welcome to the inaugural, we're almost there, it's only a practice, taster mini series for Road B cars.





Commencing the week following the end of the “How the Hell do I Drive This Thing?” Championship we are currently engaged in (That'll be 11th July then) we shall have a six races over three weeks.





There will be ten minutes of qualifying, followed by an (approximately) twenty minute race. Then, an approximately forty-five minute race with a compulsory pit stop.
The grid for the second race will be reversed, formed as we are currently doing in the “How the Hell etc” series.





The cars we will be using are those from the Road B category, with the exception of the Jaguar XJ220 and the BAC Mono, both of which are oddballs which have no place in a perfectly sensible series such as this.

So, just to clarify, I'll answer the question now. No, you can't use either the Jaguar XJ220 or the BAC Mono. No.








You can use any other car in the Road B class, except...



The handicap system introduced by Paul in the GT Won Championship, whereby a podium finish meant that that driver could not use that particular car again, will be taken into use. Therefore, if you finish on the podium in a race, then you can not use that car again. (Not even in the last race, because we are only having three weeks in this trial. If you get on the podium six times, you'll be using six different cars. You all know who I'm talking to...)





In view of the fact that this is a short practice series, it will mean that some drivers have to change cars between races. On the plus side, they have to do so because they just had a good finish. On the negative side they will be starting at the rear of the field for the long race. Swings and roundabouts I guess.





It has been pointed out to me that some people might not have the full compliment of Road B cars because of DLC.... I can only say, get them, they're ace!





Road cars demand road racing conditions. So, the first meeting will be at that wonderful Bannokbr... Banuchb..... Braniikbr.... place up in Scotland. Do not fear, I have discovered when the day was that they had nice weather in Scotland, and we'll all be racing then. Nice cosy tyres.




​

Spa-Francorchamps is always popular, and feels a bit roady, so it is where the second meeting will be held.

Finally Silverstone. I remember travelling there on a road one time, so it will do.





Tadaa! Three weeks, six races, seven fabulous motors.





Rules are the usual, no tuning (except loose/stable) TC/ABS available, penalties on. Have fun.​

 

[Zolon32]

Podium Drivers, and their banned cars.


Rich, Enzo.

Duarte, Enzo.

Raeggee, Enzo, Ford GT

Mario, Ford GT, Zonda.

Half, Ford GT (?).

Hartur, Enzo.

Zo, Porsche, Enzo, Ferrari 458, Zonda.​

 

[tal]

Sounds like a great format! And with pit stops, my specialty. Count me in please.


With having to change cars if you get a podium, there's going to be a lot of strategy involved. I'm thinking on starting with the Jaguar XJ220, that car looks great!

 

[Napalm_LT]

My holliday is starting July 4 and I will be away on July 11 for sure, other meetings is also under question

 

[IfAndOr]

Can I use the BAC Mono?


Oh and if anyone hasn't got all the DLC the Deluxe version of PC2 is currently on sale (85% off). That will give you everything except the Japanese Pack.

 

[tal]

Can I use the BAC Mono?


Oh and if anyone hasn't got all the DLC the Deluxe version of PC2 is currently on sale (85% off). That will give you everything except the Japanese Pack.

Thanks, I’ll get it!

 

[Zolon32]

My holliday is starting July 4 and I will be away on July 11 for sure, other meetings is also under question

That's unfortunate Napalm. But this is only a tester to see how it goes, and if other people enjoy racing these motors as much as I do (or even about 10% as much, because I love them so much) we'll be having an eight week series later in the year.

Can I use the BAC Mono?

Yes Paul you can. You'll be disqualified, but you can use it. (I have a sneaking suspicion that there's another car you prefer anyway )

 

[tal]

Deluxe Version bought, DLCs installed, all ready to go! 👍

There's one thing puzzling me. Does Deluxe only have the DLCs, not the base game?
It only allowed me to install the DLCs, not the base game. I've been playing with a disc version I had bought.

 

[IfAndOr]

No the Deluxe includes the base game as well. Because you already have the game installed it sees this and just installs the missing DLC.

You could actually delete the game off your system and then download it all as the digital version. As long as you don't delete your save files (which are saved separately) you won't loose any settings. There's not much difference really. It'll be a little quicker loading because it doesn't have to look at the disk and you won't have to have said disk in - so it's a bit quieter.

I originaly had the disk version but my BluRay player became faulty so I did the above and now I'm diskless.

 

[IfAndOr]

I have a sneaking suspicion that there's another car you prefer anyway

Actually I'd forgotten the Zonda Cinque was in road B, that's a right blast to drive. And sounds great!

 

[Pantheons]

Sounds great, Thanks Zolon for organising. More to learn, its a hard life.

 

[Zolon32]

I'm thinking on starting with the Jaguar XJ220, that car looks great!

I'm glad that everyone is taking note of the OP

I'd forgotten the Zonda Cinque was in road B

I think that it may be "The One" in the group. Grunt, grip, balance, it's got the lot. And with that open top those who still have hair can feel the wind scorching through it. Although, we all ought to be wearing helmets really.

Thanks Zolon for organising.

You're welcome Simon. I'm just glad that there are people out there who like to indulge in this sort of thing 👍

 

[Madbigdog]

Sounds very interesting! Thanks for putting this together!
Hope I can make it to all events this time!

 

[Zolon32]

Well folks, I've given Bannach a big bashing with the B class bruisers, and I can't believe how closely matched they all are in terms of lap times. The Enzo, even on loose setting, has impeccable manners, with the Porsche being reasonably easy to handle too. But the rest simply want to kill you; even in a straight line sometimes. THEY'RE BRILLIANT!

Lambos are my least favourite, they are soooo heavy.

Anyway, one thing I didn't mention in the OP is that fuel use will be on, and tyre wear will be accelerated.

Additionally, I want to try a compulsory tyre change in the long race. That doesn't mean that you have to use a different compound/type of tyre, but that you must put new tyres on during the pit stop. The reason for this is to bring about a payoff for those who time their stop to be somewhere in the middle of the race, as opposed to pitting near to the beginning or end.

If you are uncertain how to set up your pit team to change the tyres, have a word with Paul... or me, 'cos I always set it up on the fly. It's dead easy, and I've never had the team do anything I didn't want them to do since adopting that method.


Finally, the reverse grid for the second race. We'll set off steadily, and get into the correct order as soon as possible. The person on pole will drive slowly across the metal bridge near to the start of the lap.

1/ At the end of the bridge, immediately before turning right, the pole sitter will bring his car to a complete halt. Then set off, racing.

2/ The driver in second place will bring his car to a complete halt as close as possible to the point where car 1 stopped, then set off.

3/ Car three will be brought to a complete halt... etc etc.


This will, if we get it right, spread the field out nicely, and give everyone a chance to scrap on a one-to-one basis, I hope. And don't forget, you will have twenty one laps in which to climb through the field. Being twenty seconds off the lead at the end of the first lap doesn't meant that there's no hope.


Now, get off up to Scotland and do some practice!

 

[Hun200kmh]

Aye aye sir!

 

[half_sourly]

the rest simply want to kill you; even in a straight line sometimes

I tried them all last night and yep, they are evil. Even the mostly docile Porsche flipped around a couple of times on the undulating section after passing under the bridge. The understeer on the Lamborghinis is nuts.

RXC Turbo, all is forgiven.

 

[xeronima]

Hi @Zolon32
If there's an open spot tomorrow (Monday 11th) I'll be happy to join. The following week I'll be on vacation

Best regards X

 

[Zolon32]

Hi @Zolon32
If there's an open spot tomorrow (Monday 11th) I'll be happy to join. The following week I'll be on vacation

Best regards X

There certainly have been two or three spaces each time we've raced recently Xero, so I imagine that there'll be room. I'll send you an invite 👍

 

[xeronima]

There certainly have been two or three spaces each time we've raced recently Xero, so I imagine that there'll be room. I'll send you an invite 👍

Sweet looking forward for the race tonight 🙂

 

[Zolon32]

Chaps, there is a give-way line just after the metal bridge referred to in my guidance on the routine to be adopted for the start of the second race. This is the perfect opportunity to get this type of start right.

So, please, as you move forward in the reverse order of the finish of the first race, bring your car to a halt at that give-way line, before setting of at full chat to give chase to the bloke in front.

@Hun200kmh Mario, can you relay this to Reggie please

 

[Hun200kmh]

Will do 👍

 

[half_sourly]

Results from 'brae:

Race 1:

Race 2:

Standings:

 

[Napalm_LT]

I think it was fun races yesterday and I miss you guys and racing in general (I haven’t raced for few weeks), but what an amazing headbangers party I had yesterday - HEATHEN, EXODUS and TESTAMENT at Krakow…

 

[Hun200kmh]

Great racing last night, although personally I made a mess of it, especially first race (with the Porsche). I should know by now that without practise Bannochbrae doesn't forgive you. The second race was better but I made a blunder of it because I never imagined I'd need to add fuel in the pistop to end the race. So had to pit twice. Don't think it made anyy difference though, @tal was way ahead by the end of the race, the second pitstop doesn't cover all that distance/time lost to the guy in front.

It was nice to notice that @Zolon32 really took the fight to Duarte ( @Madbigdog ), was interesting to watch the times there. That said, the best lap time by Duarte is almost unbelievable, congratulatios on that (and the win, obvisouly)

 

[Zolon32]

It was nice to notice that @Zolon32 really took the fight to Duarte

I think he was toying with me Mario, although I was thoroughly fed up with myself for binning it early in the last lap, I had visions of making a real scrap of it towards the end.


Okay folks, lessons from last night. Apologies to those who needed to stop twice for fuel, I had no idea that that was going to happen. Fuel use will be switched off for Spa.

The reverse start with stop/go didn't work. I really would like to find a way of spreading the field a little at the beginning of a long reverse grid race, but that will remain a work-in-progress for now. At Spa the start of the second race will once again have a random grid. We'll move off and get into the correct reverse order on our way towards the right-left-right at the end of the long straight which follows Eau Rouge. KEEP A ONE SECOND GAP TO THE CAR IN FRONT!

The pole sitter can accelerate as he enters the right hand corner, and the race is on. KEEP THE ONE SECOND GAP TO THE CAR IN FRONT UNTIL YOU ARE PAST THE APEX OF THE FIRST CORNER IN THAT RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT SEQUENCE.

Sorry for shouting, but I do want to get the message across, and, judging by the confusion at the start of the second race yesterday I have some difficulty in explaining things clearly. So, like a frustrated Chimp, I resort to just making a more noise

 

[half_sourly]

HEATHEN, EXODUS and TESTAMENT

Thrash metal bands do like their biblical references, don't they. See you back on track soon.

 

[tal]

Good races yesterday. I'm happy with my 3rd place on 2nd race, but unfortunately that means I'll lose the car which is the MVP so far: Ferrari Enzo.

Probably due to the nature of this track, there seemed to be a lot more crashes, so less occasions for actually fighting for positions. Keen to see how that differs in Spa.

Regarding the reversed grid, I do agree this format didn't work that well, so good you're looking for different options for Spa @Zolon32.

Regarding the fuel, any consideration for keeping it switched on for the next race? This was the first race, so for next time there will be more awareness to avoid the problems with refueling.

 

[Madbigdog]

Yeah last night was pretty fun! First race I chose the Veneno because why not, looks like a spaceship goes fast like one! The car was fast but proved to be a terrible choice because it just couldn't handle bumps and jumps.

but unfortunately that means I'll lose the car which is the MVP so far: Ferrari Enzo.

So, following on the above, I don't think the Enzo is necessarily the car to beat all around, it understeers a lot so I can imagine there being other more interesting choices for the next two (actual race)tracks. In this track and on races of this lenght, however, a car that happily jumps over anything with no major issues really turned out to be the deciding factor (for me at least).

That's why I ended up picking the Enzo for the 2nd race, as in the first stages of the first race when I was following the Enzos they'd gain massive time on me whenever bumps or elevation changes were in play, and I envyed that quite a bit!

It was nice to notice that @Zolon32 really took the fight to Duarte (@Madbigdog), was interesting to watch the times there. That said, the best lap time by Duarte is almost unbelievable, congratulatios on that (and the win, obvisouly)

I think he was toying with me Mario, although I was thoroughly fed up with myself for binning it early in the last lap, I had visions of making a real scrap of it towards the end.

Hahaha thanks! I wasn't toying around, I was actually genuinely worried and feeling the pressure.

Let me explain, as it was actually quite funny (and apologies for the wall of text):

I felt pretty quick before the pitstop, it was a pretty consistent stint and my fastest lap (which I was quite impressed with, the lap really came together with no mistakes, about 1,5 seconds clear from my consistent laps) was made prior to the pitstop.

I noticed I had a 30-40 second buffer to 2nd place and I was really itching to go to the bathroom so when the car went into auto in the pits I sprinted to let out the 1,5l of water I had drank from the bottle along the first race, and figured I'd make it back in time or at least would make it back still in 1st! I managed to get back just as the car was leaving the pits and managed to get going while getting the headset on and stuff, managed to not lose a lot of time.

When I left the pits I noticed two things: one was that I wasn't sure I had put in enough fuel to the end, my math was way too close to 0 for comfort, and that Zolon was 15ish seconds behind. That was a big surprise but still I figured that was a decent buffer and I (thought I) had the pace to keep the distance and maybe save some fuel towards the end if needed.

After doing a couple of laps, I started worrying, the car didn't feel right. I was wasn't arriving with as much speed to the corners (where I'd normaly be arriving in 5th, now I was in 4th, p. ex.) and, was understeering even more than before and mistakes were happening because my usual braking points weren't working as well. The first couple of laps after the pits which I thought were fast, were some 3 or 4 seconds down on what I was doing before. Initially I thought it was the fuel load or maybe I had lost my rythm and just had to get back on it, but the laps were passing, the laptimes were still on that 3 to 4 second below my usual and the gap to Zolon was falling...

It took me a while to figure it out, the new tyres had the tyre pressures completely tanked, I don't know if I had set it wrong or not, but tyre pressures were on the bare minimum the game allows, while the default is quite a bit higher than that. By then Zolon was some 5 seconds back with some 4 laps to go. Not all was going wrong, as my fuel concerns evaporated (hehe) as it was seeming like I was safe in that regard, but I was really feeling like I just couldn't do anything about that dwindling gap and all there was to it was to hold on for dear life...

Things got really peak tense for me when, with 2 laps to go and some 3ish seconds on the gap, coming into the metal bridge someone was rejoining the track and I had to go on the grass to avoid collision, and when I rejoined the track and made the right hander after the bridge, I looked at the gap again and it was 1 second

I genuinely thought there was no chance, started thinking about where would overtakes be possible and how to defend safely... All while a yellow enzo loomed in the rearview mirror... The lap went by and on the start finish straight into the final lap the gap was 0,4!

But then, in an anticlimatic fashion, on the first right hander, as we were going by someone who was being lapped, something happened and Zolon crashed! I thought it was a shame as it was probably going to be a nail biter to the end, but at the same time the relief I felt was enormous!

Anyway, it was pretty fun!

Regarding the start procedures, @Zolon32, the one we used yesterday would work, in my opinion, if either someone is managing the start, telling people when to stop and to go, or if we all stopped and then each car would get underway with 1 or 2 seconds gap (with either someone calling out start or just everyone controlling it via laptime counter).

Regarding the new starting procedures, I just need clarification on one thing, when the 1st place gets going after the final right hander, does everyone get going? Or do we only get going when going past that corner? I see you mention that we must stay 1s clear until the first corner but I think that may be a bit troublesome to control if everyone gets going when the poleman starts.

 

[tal]

@Madbigdog , seems like you were under pressure.

 

[Zolon32]

I see you mention that we must stay 1s clear until the first corner but I think that may be a bit troublesome to control if everyone gets going when the poleman starts.

Aha! I wondered if anyone would notice that I made a deliberate omission from those instructions, just trying to keep everyone alert!

So, (hopefully) we will all drive gently up to the corner, keeping the one second distance, and each individual driver, once at the corner, can start driving at race pace.

new tyres had the tyre pressures completely tanked

I knew there was a reason... I'm sort of glad that I didn't get first now, although I would have enjoyed a race to the end, I would have felt bad taking advantage of a misfortune.

Regarding the fuel, any consideration for keeping it switched on for the next race?

Well, funnily enough, I have had a couple of starts driving the Aventador and GT, both of which I would have thought were gas guzzlers. In offline AI races the "Race Strategy" menu seems to think that it is perfectly possible to fuel up enough for the whole race just with one stop. If this is so for online racing (And there aren't any other cars that are unable to make full race distance, 21 laps again, with just one stop) then I'm all for keeping fuel use on. I like the way the cars get lighter as the race unfolds. And then get heavier again!