VCRC vintage & low power :: Sunday 3pm GMT / 10am US EST

The room is up. If we get 9 or more we'll do an enduro, otherwise we'll do two 20 minute races. If nobody objects we'll do false starts with the starting light. Qualifying will begin a bit after 10am EDT.
 
I will not be able to host racing this weekend as I'll be attending the Indy 500. If someone else wants to put something together, feel free.

Any thoughts on what we should do here? The turnout last week was quite small and it seems to be dwindling more every week. The current state of this thread is probably leading to some of this. I've reached out to Miss Punch about how I should proceed with making a new thread, keeping the VCRC name or creating a new one, etc. but I've not had any response. I'm hesitant to keep using the VCRC name without her blessing so if I create a new thread I'll probably create a slightly different name for it and I will make a few minor changes to how we do things (but nothing drastic as I want people to get what they expect from this vintage racing group).

I'd like some feedback from you guys on what to do next. I enjoy the vintage cars more than anything and want to continue with the vintage racing, but I want to make sure it still appeals to the usual crowd. The one thing I know I will change is the qualifying procedure, the automated qualifier will go away and we will do it like the Ferrari Fest with open qualifying. There are many advantages to doing it this way, and I personally hate having to look at the ghost lines during qualifying (and on my side monitors during the race). I'd also prefer the race format we do with the Ferrari's, a 15 minute race followed by a 30 minute reverse grid race. I find this format much more enjoyable and it allows people who show up late to still participate in the second race. Maybe once a month we could do a 50 minute special enduro, if there are enough people.

:cheers:
 
If it's allowed I'll join any event or series you're running. It's true, the crowd is pretty small these days but I thinks It's because of the time.
for me it's perfect because it's starts at 4pm, but I'm fine if it's later. As long as it gets no midnight race :D
Miss @watermelonpunch seems pretty busy since weeks now ,but I believe she'll get back sooner or later .
she put so many effort in this series and the mixer makeshift shuffle , I don't think she forgot about us :odd:
just keep me informated @BrandonW77 whatever you're about to do :cheers:
 
I know she hasn't forgotten about us, Life just doesn't allow her to play with us right now or for the foreseeable future. I've enjoyed hosting, but I hadn't planned on controlling things this long and while I'm happy to do so I think it's time to reboot it under my own "brand" so we can attract some new pilots (and not lose the few participants we have left) and I can have more control over things. But at the same time I don't want to copy it too directly, just in case she has time to pick the VCRC back up in the future.

In the meantime, toss some my ideas my way about things you'd like to see, cars you'd like to race, formats you'd like to try, anything you'd like to change or improve. For those that have participated in the Ferrari events, would you enjoy that kind of format with vintage cars? I could call it the Vintage Festival and basically just copy/paste the formats and rules and procedures, which would be quite easy and make everything familiar to those who have done both.
 
Vintage Festival sounds great!

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(Shameless google rip)
 
I think that sounds great Brandon! 👍 One thing I might like to see is some faster cars every once in a while if possible. Although I love racing the low power cars it'd be interesting to have something different.
 
Sorry I missed last weeks race Brandon, TV was broke, so couldn't do any games:nervous:

What about some oval racing, with stock USA Muscle cars:)

What does anyone else think?
 
Personally, I would prefer to keep the old 50-odd minute format whenever possible, as I find it more satisfying. Managing tyre wear, fuel burn and trying to optimize pit strategy is something I really like. 👍

The format you have for the Ferrari Festival is definitely a good one, but if we do two races I'd rather have two 25-30 minute events instead. :)

I too would like to see a wider variety of vintage cars, particularly faster ones from time to time. Pity some of the best vintage race cars are so bloody expensive :mad: but I intend on acquiring them eventually.

Just my two cents, I'll more than likely be happy with whatever you choose to do.
 
I ended scraping enough together to buy the Alfa Romeo giulia carrozzata-or however you spell it-in gt5

Edit: it was 10,000,000 credits well spent. It was a really fun little sports car that had awesome maneuverability. I also loved the shifting animation with the h pattern shifter!
 
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I've wanted to race the Shelby but it's weird on some tracks. Willow kind of straightens it out since you don't have to do a lot of technical stuff. I will go off in the final turn though, perhaps many times, and perhaps dramatically.
 
Took the Shelby out for a spin last night. Handles well on CS with no abs (which it wouldn't have had anyway, I think? Mustangs are not something I know much about). Really chews through the rubber and fuel. I'm strongly hoping we can do a 50 minute endurance, because the strategy could be quite interesting -- a driver with a careful right foot could probably make it on one stop, but two stops would be more likely. I didn't get a perfect read on fuel burn because of some early spins and lots of wheel-slip early on, but I almost went 25 minutes on a tank. 👍

It's a pity about the lighting issues at Willow -- I ran with really fast time change, and the setting is gorgeous at night. Alas, the last sector is nearly blind, and running at full speed through the long last sweeper is quite terrifying really. :scared:

Oh, and there's an idea for the future -- banning abs for cars that wouldn't have had it. :cheers:
 
I refuse to race willow springs at night. I can't see 🤬 at night there. I'm assuming the lighting issue is because there is nothing for the headlights to reflect off of because its just an open desert with no walls for the light to bounce off of and therefore there is little light that returns to our eyes. It'd be cool if we got night vision goggles to race there at night :lol:
 
Okay, I move that we use the new '80s versions of Monza and Brands Hatch very soon. Monza in particular is such a better track -- Curva Grande and Lesmos in particular are so much more enjoyable, and the old chicanes are rather better than the new stuff. Indeed, I may never drive the modern version again.
 
amarynceos
Took the Shelby out for a spin last night. Handles well on CS with no abs (which it wouldn't have had anyway, I think? Mustangs are not something I know much about). Really chews through the rubber and fuel. I'm strongly hoping we can do a 50 minute endurance, because the strategy could be quite interesting -- a driver with a careful right foot could probably make it on one stop, but two stops would be more likely. I didn't get a perfect read on fuel burn because of some early spins and lots of wheel-slip early on, but I almost went 25 minutes on a tank. 👍

It's a pity about the lighting issues at Willow -- I ran with really fast time change, and the setting is gorgeous at night. Alas, the last sector is nearly blind, and running at full speed through the long last sweeper is quite terrifying really. :scared:

Oh, and there's an idea for the future -- banning abs for cars that wouldn't have had it. :cheers:
Click to expand...


I hear your pleas for longer races. I wouldn't hold my breath for this weekend though as I don't expect we'll have more than 5 or 6 of us and to be quite frank, I find a 50 minute enduro with only a few people to be quite miserable. Without a large crowd, an enduro inevitably turns into glorified hot-lapping with most people driving around by themselves on an empty track for 20 or 30 or 40 minutes. IMO, that's not fun, especially for guys at the back, and in the past I've had people point blank tell me they won't be back because they don't enjoy that (not with this group) so I try to keep that in mind. I already spend enough time driving around on empty race tracks in this game, when I get other people on track I actually want to race them and battle with them. When there's a crowd of 10 or more then there's usually someone nearby to battle with and then the enduro format can be quite fun, but usually half the field will still be all alone driving around on an empty track. So, TLDR, if we only have a few people I can't bring myself to stomach 50 minutes of solo driving on an empty track.

Also, I believe the Shelby comes on SH stock, and that's what I was driving it on. I tried it on CS and didn't care for it much. And about the ABS thing, I've thought about banning it on older cars but after discussing it several times with others (in previous groups) I've come to the conclusion that there's no benefit to forcing everyone to turn off ABS. While ABS 0 is light years better in 6 than it was in 5, some people still have a hard time with it and forcing them to do that isn't going to increase their enjoyment. There's no major benefit to running with or without ABS so it's best to just let people choose what they want. If you want to run without, then feel free and enjoy the car how you want to enjoy it. But if the guy next to you has ABS on it won't effect your enjoyment of the car or put you at any disadvantage so there's no positive side to forcing him/her to run without ABS. 👍

(reading through this, it may come across like I'm being contrary or confrontational, I certainly don't mean it as such. I just happen to have experienced opinions on both of those topics, and I had to type this in bits in pieces when the boss wasn't looking. :dunce:)

EDIT: RE: the Senna cars, stay tuned. I'm thinking about doing a special series with all three of the cars. I plan on spending a lot of time with them this weekend and getting some ideas together. If anyone will be around to do some testing with them, let's work out a time to meet up and give them all a go (so I can save some replays to get photos from, at the very least). 👍
 
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No worries, that all makes perfect sense to me. 👍

I personally have no problems running by myself for long periods of time -- in fact, two of my favourite experiences in VCRC were just that, me running in a lonely third place a handful of seconds behind the leaders and striving to find that little bit of pace I needed to try and close the gap. I appreciate that that sort of thing isn't everyone's cup of tea; lots of people prefer close action all race long. Put it this way -- I'm much more of a WEC person than a BTCC person. :lol:

With ABS, I prefer it off most of the time but it usually costs me time and puts me at a disadvantage in braking zones. So I end up turning it back on because everybody else has it. Some cars it makes little difference, true, but I can't quite agree that there's no advantage in running it.
 
I also like the longer races , but I absolutely understand and support your previous post 👍
count me in for the future senna events , I fell in love with the sounds :D
I'm of course joining any practise , as long as fits in my timezone :banghead:
maybe after vcrc or the ferrari festival :sly:
 
Don't get me wrong, when there's a dozen cars on track and I'm holding onto third place all alone on the track I do very much enjoy the challenge of minimizing my mistakes, maintaining pace and keeping those 9 other cars behind me. But when that same situation sees only two cars behind me and they're dozen of seconds adrift.......not so much. Also, my rickety old body sometimes has a hard time racing that long without developing pains and my left knee is somewhat messed up from a motorcycle accident a couple years ago and it can also really start to hurt if I do more than 30-40 minutes of racing. With 10+ cars on the track it's worth racing through the pain, when there's only 4 or 5 of us......not so much.

RE: ABS, I find the opposite to be true. I'm faster and have better control without ABS and IMO people running with ABS on are the ones at a disadvantage. You wouldn't think so, but ABS effects the handling of the car, some people believe there is some kind of "ghost traction control" at play and I can certainly notice that the car feels more free and rotates better with ABS off. There's been some cars where I was consistently a half second faster with ABS 0. Yes, my braking zones are slightly different than someone running with ABS on, but again I feel that can be to my advantage in a lot of situations (for reasons I'm not quite willing to disclose. :sly: ) It can depend on the car though, I still can't do racing brakes or MR Ferrari's without ABS at 1.


I'll probably be hooning about in the Senna's this evening after Japan Cup stuff, and tomorrow mid-day EDT time/early evening GMT time (a few hours before Ferrari Fest).
 
ABS absolutely has some kind of 'ghost traction control' (like that phrase). There's a global change in handling with it on. I think the main difference I'm usually slower with it off is that my braking is still unrefined, and even with a modded pedal the G27 pedal set is kinda janky and has very poor feel. :P

I know in the Zero cup this week with the BMW VGT on SS, I was a good half second faster without ABS than with it. With the SP-1 at Spa, on the other hand, I was a good second slower without it.

Good point about the physical aspect; for me the combination of always drinking tea before races and a not-quite-as-young-as-it-once-was bladder can lead to a slightly uncomfortable finish in a longer race. :scared:

Will definitely join in some practice today; tomorrow I'll probably be more interested in some final Ferrari practice to avoid the kind of humiliation I suffered on Tuesday. :mad: :( *sniff* :lol:
 
Another problem I run into, and had this happen in full force Tuesday, is heat. Now that it's Spring and the temps are hitting 75-80F every day, I tend to get rather hot while racing and start sweating. 3 tv's, 3 PS3's and a FFB wheel put off some heat and when I'm at a track like Spa that requires lots and lots of arm/leg movements, well it didn't take long before I was rather uncomfortable (I don't function well in the heat). I turned the a/c down a couple degrees for the second race but was even hotter and sweatier by the end of that race, to the point I had a hard time focusing (as was obvious by my performance). This situation can be remedied, but it's tricky. I already have 2 fans blowing on me while racing, I hate blasting the a/c but I usually have to do so when racing during warm months just to keep myself comfortable. Of course, as soon as I'm done racing and leave the wheel-room the rest of the house feels like an ice-box! :dunce:
 
I can race today:D

ABS I always have off, on a car that doesn't have it:) Even if I'm at a disadvantage, because of my Clubman racing form:dopey:

Oh to drive the Senna cars, at their full potential, just like KKg and all the other aliens, what a joy that would be:tup:
 

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