SNAIL Holiday Events

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Holiday Weekend Event

Friday 27 December 2024
Room Open 9PM EST


(Practice/Test rooms open occasionally until race night, details will be posted in thread)

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.

We are asking folks who are D1 paced to run join DW and myself in running without ABS. Though I strongly encourage everyone to drive the Jaguar and W196 with ABS off. The cars are extremely well matched that way. It may sound 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. Try setting your max brake calibration in the game options to 70-75% and give it shot.

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 have in the game 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!





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That Aston was much better around Brands with ABS off for me. And, I plugged in my G27 shifter and that made these cars even more fun to tool around in.
 
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This is right up my alley. I’ll be there on the 27th for sure. Thanks for setting this up and this looks like it’ll be a blast. Less grip more fun. ;)
Can't say as I equate less grip to being more fun. What I do find fun is driving cars that don't bang on their bump stops and/or wheel arches and behave in expected ways versus pirouetting on their noses or not going where I point them.
 
This is right up my alley. I’ll be there on the 27th for sure. Thanks for setting this up and this looks like it’ll be a blast. Less grip more fun. ;)
The cars are even following the current tyre regs for December, except for the W196, which would have been on SH since it is over 250hp. Because the cars are very light, the pp is higher than other 250hp cars, so they would have been on SM on the PP based formula. We're still a lot grippier than they ran on the cars back then, turning laps seconds faster than the cars run in real life at the same tracks now. And the cars running nowadays are not 250hp anymore lol.

But, yes the cars are a little more challenging as they are on pizza cutter wheels with wonky suspensions. :lol:

A couple of tips for everyone. I recommend going into the pedal calibration menu on the game and reviewing your brake pedal max pressure for these cars. Many non-load cell brakes have a default max pedal pressure somewhere in the 60% range. What this means is that the game will register 100% brake force when your pedal has only reached 60% of its stroke/force. I recommend playing with this, and trying something between 70-75%. As well, if you typically run your wheel with FFB sensitivity in game up high, I recommend turning that down to 5 or below for these cars. They can be sort of twitchy.

I will open a room tomorrow evening for folks to come check out the cars and tracks and get some seat time. I will also be happy to go into more detail on the how and why of the settings stuff above.
 
Just a heads up for anyone interested, I will have a room open this evening about 930PM EST to drive these cars and tracks. I will make a post when I open the lobby.

Also, a nice review with details on the design of the W196 with John Watson, some period footage of the car in action, and input from Stirling Moss;



The complete program is available, Part 2 just conveniently starts with the segment on the return of the Silver Arrows to Grand Prix racing.
 
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I will be attending as much of this as I can. Finally a chance to race some of the pricey vintage cars I own. I have the Jaguar and Aston Martin. The D7 has always had a place in my heart as one of my most notable Christmas gifts was a Strombecker road race set and the 2 cars were the Jag D7 and the Ferrari Testa Rosa. I still have the set in a closet. Ah, the start of my racing career, from slot cars to SIM cars. 😁
 
Practice room is open. Starting at Watkins Glen Short for a while. Will be moving to Brands Hatch and Goodwood later on.

Thanks to everyone who stopped in. Will have more open practice sessions in the future!
 
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Just a reminder, race night is tomorrow. Practice room will be open tonight approximately 930PM EST. We will run a short practice race at each track, using the rolling start procedure so that folks can get used to it.

I will update here when the room opens.
 


If the above looks like as much fun to you as it does to us, come join us tomorrow night for a second helping of Snail Holiday Fun!

Snail Sunday Holiday Event
29 December 2024
Room Open 9PM EDT


While the Gordini is still fresh, we'll take it on a world tour of 20 minute races. Along with the spirit of last night's event, the cars will be run on Comfort Hards, with ABS off. It is super easy to drive and very forgiving. Come and give it a try!

General Information
  • Sunday, 29 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 in the driver's meeting.
Eligible Car
  • 1966 Renault R8 Gordini
Stock Wheels Required

As with the previous event, if you really really want to slide old cars around but do not have the Gordini; let us know and we will find something appropriate for you to drive. This is a fun event, no points, nothing.

Tracks
  • Red Bull Ring
  • Autopolis
  • Kyoto Yamagiwa
  • Spa-Francorchamps*
*Bonus reverse grid race

Additional Information
  • Comfort Hard tyres
  • ABS off
  • The lobby will be run under normal Snail Sunday night lobby 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.
 
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I’ll be there, I’ve never raced on CH yet
It's really easy to drive, you can go WOT and it yaws just right. Take it for a ride at Goodwood and Madgwick(t1) is just a lift. No brakes, even on CH.

Will have a room open in about 25 minutes for anyone who wants to check it all out.
 
The Gordini is a lot of fun around Goodwood. Very relaxing drive. Up and downshifts sound glorious with full manual. You can one finger steer around everything but the chicane, whatever Marcus and the English folks call that. You could one finger the chicane too if you're brave enough. It was a bit more challenging around RBR and Autopolis. It definitely benefits from entry and mid-turn maintenance throttle application, similar to how the RR and MR cars in GT5 & 6 behaved. Get braking done in straight lines. It can be trail-braked, but it better be a damn little bit of it. It can be steered with any and all combinations of wheel, throttle or brake, it does best with just wheel and throttle though. Didn't run it at Kyoto or Spa last night so can't say what they're gonna be like.

I've pulled the wheel off the stand this morning to make another strength mod to the wheel plate attachment point. I aped it Friday night getting one or the other cars off the wall and exposed the expected weak point there. Gonna drill a hole right above the bolt and slide a hitch lock pin in to keep that from slipping again. Also, moved clutch pedal plate as far left and lower on its arm and slid the whole brake module left as far as it would go. May move the brake pedal plate to the right as well. Haven't decided on that just yet.

@Marcus Garvey warmup at 3p eastern?
 
The Gordini is a lot of fun around Goodwood. Very relaxing drive. Up and downshifts sound glorious with full manual. You can one finger steer around everything but the chicane, whatever Marcus and the English folks call that. You could one finger the chicane too if you're brave enough. It was a bit more challenging around RBR and Autopolis. It definitely benefits from entry and mid-turn maintenance throttle application, similar to how the RR and MR cars in GT5 & 6 behaved. Get braking done in straight lines. It can be trail-braked, but it better be a damn little bit of it. It can be steered with any and all combinations of wheel, throttle or brake, it does best with just wheel and throttle though. Didn't run it at Kyoto or Spa last night so can't say what they're gonna be like.

I've pulled the wheel off the stand this morning to make another strength mod to the wheel plate attachment point. I aped it Friday night getting one or the other cars off the wall and exposed the expected weak point there. Gonna drill a hole right above the bolt and slide a hitch lock pin in to keep that from slipping again. Also, moved clutch pedal plate as far left and lower on its arm and slid the whole brake module left as far as it would go. May move the brake pedal plate to the right as well. Haven't decided on that just yet.

@Marcus Garvey warmup at 3p eastern?
I have to run out a little later and I'm not sure I'll be back by 3, but feel free to open a room and I'll join if I make it back in time. 👍
 
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