Step 1: Download absolutely all necissary add-ons (1.2.0.1 patch, BW Patch, etc.)
Step 2: Download GEM+2
http://55and65.speedgeezers.com/gpl65/downloads.html
Step 3: Install GEM+2 Update
http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=200429
Step 4: Download and install TC mod
http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=200457
Step 5: Enjoy!
28 September, 2005
Watkins Glen GTP - Onboard!
Track Map
Now, for the first time in your life (unless you already own a copy of N2003 and the GTP mod), can see a full onboard lap of the Watkins Glen circuit. This lap is my PB in clear weather conditions, and was done online together with Gav and Rich as practise for the WOSEC race later in the month. So without further adiéu, here it is!
Right click, Save As (18,3 MB)
Now, for the first time in your life (unless you already own a copy of N2003 and the GTP mod), can see a full onboard lap of the Watkins Glen circuit. This lap is my PB in clear weather conditions, and was done online together with Gav and Rich as practise for the WOSEC race later in the month. So without further adiéu, here it is!
Right click, Save As (18,3 MB)
27 September, 2005
WOSEC - Watkins Glen GTP
[Saturday - 24th of September]
Track Map
As always, practise for this race started in the week after the previous one (Tunlanta for those who can't remember). I quickly crafted a setup (basically the gear ratios) for clear conditions, and soon modified it for ultra-long lasting. My pace in the first week suprised the top drivers in mye team (Gav and Rich), as I was never more than a few tenths off them in our online practise sessions (Look to the next post for an onboard lap ^). Heck, I was even leading one of them at one point! Unfortunately this is about the time my PC started acting up. Fortunately I got it up and running the Tuesday before the race, and managed to get back into the groove after my (rather miserable) NGPLS race.
By now the rest of the team had pulled away in terms of laptime, but I was still within about a second of the quickest times, and I was consistent! The time sheets in practise showed mainly 1:34s in clear weather and 1:32s in cloudy. All in race trim of course, so I (as well as the rest of the team, were) was more than ready to take on the 6 hours ahead. But I was also due for another team event, on pretty much exactly the same time as the race itself. Namely a floorball match, in wich I had to take part due to our team being rather down on numbers. So I qualified and did the first stint before dashing off to the game, but here's the qualifying, plus the first stint, in a bit more detail:
I put the car in 8th on the 19-car (or so) grid. Quite impressive if I do say so myself. Got away well without losing any positions and settled nicely into a good rythm, with a 2 second buffer down to- and up to the next cars. I passed a handful of spun off cars littered by the roadside every now and then, and could have found myself in 5th had I not hit one of them. That accident resulted in me being thrown up onto the barrier with nothing to do but call the tow truck, and wait the minute it took to bring my car back to the pits. I Re-entered the track, and I was down to 18th and a lap down. Within half an hour I had clambered my way up to 13th before handing the car over to my teammate "Koop", and rushing off to my match.
Well home a few hours later, and we were in 5th, the VTR2 car was in 2nd and the VTR1 car had lost a gear and crashed because of that. Gav, who was originally going to drive in the VTR1 car, had taken over for Koop and thus saved Koop the agony of a huge stint (or the car just sitting in the pits). After 20 or so laps, I re-took the wheel of our black Jaguar XJ9 and set off for what was going to be my best stint ever. I started off pretty slowly, mainly with 1:35s plus a 1:34 here and there, but gradually made myself feel at home in the 1:34s. Because of Gav taking over, we had reached the minimum amount of required driver changeovers. And since a changeover loses us a lap, I wasn't too keen on doing so as the two cars behind (SFH VROC and Hillcrest Racing) were barely two laps down on me. We all knew they were catching slowly, so I stayed in the car until the end. When driving I never felt particularly nervous, although I can't imagine how Koop and Gav felt, only hearing the occasional update from me via radio.
Hillcrest did a driver change, VROC did a driver change, Hillcrest spun. Hillcrest was now 3 laps down on me, and VROC down 2 due to the fact that they needed more pitstops to do. In the end I trundled home to a very respectable third, in formation with the VTR2 car (white) who came home second. A very impressive drive by everyone in the team, and I'm proud to have been a part of it. Good job guys!
Track Map
As always, practise for this race started in the week after the previous one (Tunlanta for those who can't remember). I quickly crafted a setup (basically the gear ratios) for clear conditions, and soon modified it for ultra-long lasting. My pace in the first week suprised the top drivers in mye team (Gav and Rich), as I was never more than a few tenths off them in our online practise sessions (Look to the next post for an onboard lap ^). Heck, I was even leading one of them at one point! Unfortunately this is about the time my PC started acting up. Fortunately I got it up and running the Tuesday before the race, and managed to get back into the groove after my (rather miserable) NGPLS race.
By now the rest of the team had pulled away in terms of laptime, but I was still within about a second of the quickest times, and I was consistent! The time sheets in practise showed mainly 1:34s in clear weather and 1:32s in cloudy. All in race trim of course, so I (as well as the rest of the team, were) was more than ready to take on the 6 hours ahead. But I was also due for another team event, on pretty much exactly the same time as the race itself. Namely a floorball match, in wich I had to take part due to our team being rather down on numbers. So I qualified and did the first stint before dashing off to the game, but here's the qualifying, plus the first stint, in a bit more detail:
I put the car in 8th on the 19-car (or so) grid. Quite impressive if I do say so myself. Got away well without losing any positions and settled nicely into a good rythm, with a 2 second buffer down to- and up to the next cars. I passed a handful of spun off cars littered by the roadside every now and then, and could have found myself in 5th had I not hit one of them. That accident resulted in me being thrown up onto the barrier with nothing to do but call the tow truck, and wait the minute it took to bring my car back to the pits. I Re-entered the track, and I was down to 18th and a lap down. Within half an hour I had clambered my way up to 13th before handing the car over to my teammate "Koop", and rushing off to my match.
Well home a few hours later, and we were in 5th, the VTR2 car was in 2nd and the VTR1 car had lost a gear and crashed because of that. Gav, who was originally going to drive in the VTR1 car, had taken over for Koop and thus saved Koop the agony of a huge stint (or the car just sitting in the pits). After 20 or so laps, I re-took the wheel of our black Jaguar XJ9 and set off for what was going to be my best stint ever. I started off pretty slowly, mainly with 1:35s plus a 1:34 here and there, but gradually made myself feel at home in the 1:34s. Because of Gav taking over, we had reached the minimum amount of required driver changeovers. And since a changeover loses us a lap, I wasn't too keen on doing so as the two cars behind (SFH VROC and Hillcrest Racing) were barely two laps down on me. We all knew they were catching slowly, so I stayed in the car until the end. When driving I never felt particularly nervous, although I can't imagine how Koop and Gav felt, only hearing the occasional update from me via radio.
Hillcrest did a driver change, VROC did a driver change, Hillcrest spun. Hillcrest was now 3 laps down on me, and VROC down 2 due to the fact that they needed more pitstops to do. In the end I trundled home to a very respectable third, in formation with the VTR2 car (white) who came home second. A very impressive drive by everyone in the team, and I'm proud to have been a part of it. Good job guys!
26 September, 2005
NGPLS - Nürburgring
[Tuesday- 20th of September]
Track Map
It's the mother of all racing circuits, Nürburgring übes alle!
...and I haven't practised one bit. My copy of WinXP was, um, let's just say it was acting up. Managed to reformat on the day before the race, and got about three laps of practise in. I was experiencing a wierd swerve just before Quiddelbacher Höhe, so I wasn't able to drive 100% as I normally do here. Because of this, no laptimes were logged and I had no idea what to expect for the race, on the very next day. Good thing I know my way around here already...
I entered the server, did the usual outlap and first hotlap. But something was wrong, no laptimes were being logged on my pitboard. I did another lap, but the same problem happened: No laptime! Great. Here I am, at my favorite track, and the server is acting up by not registering my times! I feared the worst for the race, and sat around waiting for the qualifying session to end...
On the grid, second-to-last, and all the other cars disappear within 5 seconds of me arriving. This can't be good. I start off really slowly, well aware of the fact that cars might suddenly appear right in front of me. And that's exactly what happens, in the Südkehre. After picking the bits of debris from my teeth I set off again, slightly demotivated. The rest of the race can be summed up with: Cars disappearing, no laps regisered and severely demotivating. It turns out I ended up in 3rd, so theoretically I could have won the bastard! As I had several unnecissary spins and accidents (the latter beng due to the laggy stuff problems). All I've got to say is: Nice time to pick to be a crappy server!
Track Map
It's the mother of all racing circuits, Nürburgring übes alle!
...and I haven't practised one bit. My copy of WinXP was, um, let's just say it was acting up. Managed to reformat on the day before the race, and got about three laps of practise in. I was experiencing a wierd swerve just before Quiddelbacher Höhe, so I wasn't able to drive 100% as I normally do here. Because of this, no laptimes were logged and I had no idea what to expect for the race, on the very next day. Good thing I know my way around here already...
I entered the server, did the usual outlap and first hotlap. But something was wrong, no laptimes were being logged on my pitboard. I did another lap, but the same problem happened: No laptime! Great. Here I am, at my favorite track, and the server is acting up by not registering my times! I feared the worst for the race, and sat around waiting for the qualifying session to end...
On the grid, second-to-last, and all the other cars disappear within 5 seconds of me arriving. This can't be good. I start off really slowly, well aware of the fact that cars might suddenly appear right in front of me. And that's exactly what happens, in the Südkehre. After picking the bits of debris from my teeth I set off again, slightly demotivated. The rest of the race can be summed up with: Cars disappearing, no laps regisered and severely demotivating. It turns out I ended up in 3rd, so theoretically I could have won the bastard! As I had several unnecissary spins and accidents (the latter beng due to the laggy stuff problems). All I've got to say is: Nice time to pick to be a crappy server!
18 September, 2005
RIP Michael Park
Markko Märtin's co-driver, Michael Park, died today in a crash during the Rally of Great Britain. May he rest in peace...
More info
11 September, 2005
NGPLS - Snetterton
[Tuesday- 30th of August]
Track Map
This was to be my first NGPLS race in the BRM, and I put in quite a lot of practise beforehand. I set a 1:27.67 quite early in pre-qualifying, and quickly improved to 1:26.1. Was doing consistent 1:27s and set a new PB (1:26.01) on the day before the race, gunning for a 1:25... I didn't get much qualifying done unfortunately, as my pc was acting up and generally just being a nuisance. So I only got 15 minutes to qualify, where I ended up in 10th with a 1:27.5.
This was actually one of my better starts. Probably due to the fact that my BRM is a hell of a lot louder than the other cars, and I could much more easily hear my revs as I dumped the clutch. Because of this I actually managed to ease away from the guy to the left of me, and get alongside the guy ahead by moving across the track. Not wanting to go off in T1, I braked early and I settled into 9th. Unfortunately I ran wide in T1 5 laps later, and lost a load of places. From here until 10 laps from the finish I was on my own, doing 1:28s and 1:27s with the occasional 1:26 blasted in for good measure.
I passed two wrecks, two laps in a row, in T2. As an obvious result of this I gained a crapload of positions, and actually found myself looking at a potential 5th, and very likely 6th. Unfortunately I stuffed it up in the hairpin a few laps later, and dropped down to 8th. I then passed a spun off Ferrari, and could see that I was catching another Ferrari on my pitboard. But with 3 laps to go, he'd had a spin in The Bombhole. I went for the gap on the inside, but he didn't see me, and as a result of that pitched me up on two wheels, and then onto my head... Down to 8th and filled with anger I pushed like the madman I am, and eventually passed a spun off Ferrari in T1. Looking at the gap up to 6th I settled for my current position, and cruised in to finish a highly respectable 7th out of 14 starters.
Track Map
This was to be my first NGPLS race in the BRM, and I put in quite a lot of practise beforehand. I set a 1:27.67 quite early in pre-qualifying, and quickly improved to 1:26.1. Was doing consistent 1:27s and set a new PB (1:26.01) on the day before the race, gunning for a 1:25... I didn't get much qualifying done unfortunately, as my pc was acting up and generally just being a nuisance. So I only got 15 minutes to qualify, where I ended up in 10th with a 1:27.5.
This was actually one of my better starts. Probably due to the fact that my BRM is a hell of a lot louder than the other cars, and I could much more easily hear my revs as I dumped the clutch. Because of this I actually managed to ease away from the guy to the left of me, and get alongside the guy ahead by moving across the track. Not wanting to go off in T1, I braked early and I settled into 9th. Unfortunately I ran wide in T1 5 laps later, and lost a load of places. From here until 10 laps from the finish I was on my own, doing 1:28s and 1:27s with the occasional 1:26 blasted in for good measure.
I passed two wrecks, two laps in a row, in T2. As an obvious result of this I gained a crapload of positions, and actually found myself looking at a potential 5th, and very likely 6th. Unfortunately I stuffed it up in the hairpin a few laps later, and dropped down to 8th. I then passed a spun off Ferrari, and could see that I was catching another Ferrari on my pitboard. But with 3 laps to go, he'd had a spin in The Bombhole. I went for the gap on the inside, but he didn't see me, and as a result of that pitched me up on two wheels, and then onto my head... Down to 8th and filled with anger I pushed like the madman I am, and eventually passed a spun off Ferrari in T1. Looking at the gap up to 6th I settled for my current position, and cruised in to finish a highly respectable 7th out of 14 starters.
08 September, 2005
WOSEC - 6 Hours at Tunlanta
[Saturday - 27th of August]
Track Map
This was my best ever WOSEC race ever, despite me not having done a single lap before raceday. I was very consistent, rarely lapping outside the 1:17-1:18 range with the occasional 1:16 hammered in for good measure. 3 laps in the middle of my stint, however, were quite the mess due to a lapper not catching my hints about where to pass me. Causing me to go off in T1, and then go off several more times trying to make up the lost time.
Because of my very little practise, I only did one stint in this race. When I wasn't driving, our car had managed to get a stop&go penalty, get flipped on it's roof and have to cope with a fair amount of backmarkers! Despite all this, we managed to clamber our way up to 3rd place overall, a well deserved result if you ask me.
Track Map
This was my best ever WOSEC race ever, despite me not having done a single lap before raceday. I was very consistent, rarely lapping outside the 1:17-1:18 range with the occasional 1:16 hammered in for good measure. 3 laps in the middle of my stint, however, were quite the mess due to a lapper not catching my hints about where to pass me. Causing me to go off in T1, and then go off several more times trying to make up the lost time.
Because of my very little practise, I only did one stint in this race. When I wasn't driving, our car had managed to get a stop&go penalty, get flipped on it's roof and have to cope with a fair amount of backmarkers! Despite all this, we managed to clamber our way up to 3rd place overall, a well deserved result if you ask me.
Back on track
Sorry about the massive break. My PC had gone tits-up, and my simracing carreer kind of ground to a halt as a result of that. I've gotten a new HD (120GB, whee) and a clean install of XP installed a few weeks ago, so everything should be running much more smoothly now.
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