SNAIL Holiday Events

Necrobump...

Holiday Weekend Event
Friday 27 December 2024
Room Open 9PM EST


(Practice/Test meet and greet room open tonight at 930PM and occasionally until race night)

Is half of your GT7 net worth tied up in a handful of Legends Dealership cars that you never use? Do you long for the days when a race suit included pleated slacks and a bow tie? Or do you just want to have fun sliding some old cars around with no responsibilities?

This is the place. No points, no pressure, just fun. If you are in VR, you can say fun twice.

Like that kid and his pharmaceutically induced elderly friend, we're going back in time, to the 1950s. Except, this time; we're not here to take our mother on a date. Instead, we're going to drive some mid century sports racers on some mid century sports car circuits.
The idea is to dust off some of these cars that are rarely used, and enjoy them in the closest manner that we can replicate the conditions in which they ran originally. They're light and agile, and they dance like Vera-Ellen. Three cars, three tracks, and maybe a bonus race if we have anything left after sawing away at the wheel all night. A one-off event using some cars that aren't eligible for Sunday nights, that happen to be matched exceptionally well in stock form. The races will be held under Snail rules regarding driving etiquette and track limits, however there will be no points and no awards. The spirit of the event is to celebrate and enjoy the cars, and have fun with friends. There will be a few twists, such as running a manual rolling start, as you would in real life. Details and other good stuff below.

General Information
  • Friday, 27 December 2024
  • Lobby Open 9PM EST
  • Driver's Meeting 9:15PM
  • Open practice/qualifying session, followed by races of ~20 minute duration at each track
  • We will be using a manual double-file rolling start. With a warm-up/formation lap, we will tighten up the pack and the leader will pace us to the start. Details below.
Eligible Cars - You can use any of these, you do not need them all!
  • 1953 Aston Martin DB3S
  • 1954 Jaguar D-Type
  • 1955 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R
Stock Wheels Required

All of the three cars will be allowed to be used in any of the races. You can switch cars freely, there is no requirement to use any one or all of them. They are all very competitive with each other, though they all drive very uniquely. If you do not have any of these three cars(they aren't available at the time of this post) but you really really want to drive some old loose and sloppy cars around, let me know and we will find something for you to drive.

Tracks
  • Watkins Glen Short(old) Course
  • Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit
  • Goodwood
  • Nurburgring*
*Bonus race if we have any fuel left in the tank and beer left in the fridge.

Additional Information
  • The lobby will be run under normal Snail Sunday night settings and regulations, including BOP on, with the exception of tyre wear being set at 1x instead of off
  • Stock wheels are required on all cars
  • While I'm not going to publish any livery restrictions, I ask that folks consider something period appropriate in the chance others would like to take some nice photographs. Default liveries are good examples of the types seen at the time, other examples can be found in period footage and Goodwood Revival footage.

As two of the cars run on CS per Snail tyre regulations, we will run all three cars on CS. The W196 and Jaguar will be run with ABS off. I know it sounds scary, but as @Dragonwhisky can attest, the Jaguar actually drives BETTER with the ABS off, and he was in fact FASTER in the car with ABS off. The Aston, having front discs and rear drums, is tough to drive without ABS, so the car will be allowed to use ABS. Personally, I recommend ABS on weak for the Aston. Default seems to make it twitchy.

Some folks here know that I am involved in vintage racing*, and I will do my best to provide the same type of experience for you here. The Snail lobby settings provide for the most realistic course conditions the game can provide, and we will have a driver's meeting prior to the first race to go over the double file rolling start procedure.

Once we enter the race, we will make a lap around the course in starting order, leaving space for each driver to scrub and warm tyres. A couple of turns prior to the start we will slow down and pack up double-file. The polesitter will pace us to the green flag. We will go over this in the lobby, and we can do a practice start if necessary.

These three cars run very competitive times, though each require very different approaches to extract the time they have available. Each person's style may prefer a different car, and you may even prefer a different car on different courses. That is why everyone can switch cars at anytime.

As with the anyone who doesn't have the car, accommodations can be made. There are certain settings within the game and some hardware, that we will gladly work through with you if you are struggling(though, I bet on the Jaguar you don't much notice the ABS is off after 3 or 4 laps.) With BOP on, the game doesn't let us add ballast or otherwise adjust BOP, and we don't want anyone left out either. These are non-points fun races. If you join in one of the practice rooms going on the next two weeks between now and the race night and you are 10 seconds off the pace with the cars, we'll figure something out. So that is a good reason to join in a practice session, along with getting a chance to practice with the cars and see how everyone else is driving them. You never know what you'll pick up.

Lastly. In case I haven't said it enough, this is a non-points fun event. This is gentlemen racing. While being a one-off event we are not utilising the protest forms and there are no points or awards to take away, we are racing with friends. We understand that in close quarters racing, particularly with old cars that have vague steering, things happen. However, rubbin' is not racing here, and intentional contact and reckless driving has no place. We reserve the right to tell you to put it on the trailer. Be the racer you want to race against. This is a friendly night, so leave the glorified pro-racing(tm Jabaay) stuff for sport mode. I would like to save the weaving back and forth down the straight, parking it on apex, blocking, ebrake usage, dive bombing, bump and run, pinch and squeeze stuff for another night. These are old cars, and if you watch any of the old videos or even modern Goodwood Revival footage you'll see that car control is big part of the challenge. Crashes happen. I'll probably crash. I'm just going to do my best to do it by myself out into the grass or the wall and not another driver. Drive like someone you would like to drive fender to fender with.

The potential exists for future events of a similar nature, where we can enjoy cars like the Honda RA272, Ford GT, Ferraris, Porsches, and maybe even another Mercedes.

*As I mentioned and many of you already knew, I've been involved in historic racing for a number of years. Aside from running my 1992 Civic club racing in SCCA and Gridlife GLTC, I also run a 1973 Porsche 914 in historic events. I am also variously a contact steward and conduct observer. I have been privileged to work with people like Dorsey Schroeder, and have had the pleasure of spending time with people like Sam Posey, Skip Barber, David Hobbs, John Fitch, Sir Stirling Moss, and countless others.

These particular cars hold a special place in racing history, and a special place in my appreciation of the sport.

The W196R we got is the livery of the car Fangio was driving much of 1955 to his third season championship, though Moss drove the car at the Dutch Grand Prix. The W196S (3.0 fendered sports racer configuration - 300SLR), the D-Type, and DB3S competed against each other in the most notorious 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mercedes withdrew after the accident involving the W196S being driven by Pierre Levegh at the time, John Fitch's codriver for the race. Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss were codriving one of the other three works Mercedes in the race, leading by 2 laps at the time. 60 years later, Moss never forgave Fitch for what he perceived as Fitch convincing them to withdraw from the race, costing him a Le Mans overall win he would never get. The D-types went on to win that year and the next two after Mercedes withdrew from all motor racing at the end of 1955.

The D-type shortnose we have, is in the livery of the exact car that was driven by Stirling Moss and Peter Walker at the 1954 24 Hours of Le Mans, which did not finish the race after a brake failure at top speed along the Mulsanne Straight.

The DB3S we got in the game is in the livery of the first chassis they built. The car was run with reasonable success at a number of events in the UK in 1953-54 before I think becoming a test car for a period.

Come for the cars, stay for the history!


If this sounds like fun, stop on by. I will have a lobby open tonight, 14 December, where we can check out the cars and run some laps and field complaints lol. I will make a post when I open the lobby, aiming for 930PM EST.
 
Own one of them (:
 

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