RF2 Mid Ohio results posted.

John P and I on the top step last night.

There was a big weather change from Race 1 to race 2 last night. Race 1 was cool enough that had to really tread lightly for the first lap until the tires warmed up. The setup I'd been using must have been suited for such weather as once the tires warmed up it was great. Made for a boring race though as the gap steadily grew to Art in P2. Race 2 and it was bright and sunny and could push right from the start, but the car also had some push. Tried a bit more front wing but that made the back a little loose in places and didn't get it sorted during practice/qual. Starting in 4th made the race a lot more entertaining though. Jay got by Art at the start so had to work my way past Art and then Jay. Tried to catch John P who was a few seconds up the road, but couldn't bring the gap down much and then ran wide near pit in so decided to back off a touch. Ironically I set my fastest lap while not pushing as hard. Great run John.

Will be interesting to see how the different IMSA cars take to Mid Ohio next week.

BTW during second practice could hear this flapping noise (seatbelt hanging out the car door kind of noise). Though maybe the sound card had a glitch so stopped. Looked at the replay and there was a cone stuck in the front wing (I had scattered a few on my out lap) . Pit crew removed it instantly once the car popped back in the pits, and no more flapping noise.

During practice, I thought I had pretty good pace for a while. Art and I were trading fastest laps. Then Ken got a lap together and that was it.

Race 1. Cloudy conditions...took 3 laps for the tires to get to a good point. I think I qualified 3rd. Got by Art and sat in second for a while, chasing Ken. I think Art got by me at some point. At the third last turn (the fast 5th to 4th), I lost the back end and slid sideways forever. John came along and had nowhere to go. I gathered it up and held on to third place.

Race 2. As Ken mentioned, the difference in weather conditions caught some of us off with our setup. I already had a set up that turned in well, but was a bit loose (31/17). These conditions seem to make this worse, so I always seemed to be catching the rear end after turn-in! John started from the pole and never looked back. I worked at catching Art, but he was always a tenth quicker until the last few laps. I'd catch him in the corners, but lose him on the 'straights'.

Fun.

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Jay Barthelotte

IMSA Mid Ohio results posted.

Congrats to Trevor on the wins and an incident free night.

Seems most elected to run the C7 last night, Tom and I being the exceptions in the Radical. The radical seemed to hold its own in the twisty bits but lost out on the straights. Race 1 start I had to resist bump drafting Art who was slow enough off the line that Randy went by him. Randy then had an off course that collected Art , and I spun trying to fit between them. Net gain was 0 for me as the spot I gained from Randy was lost to Tom. Spent the next few laps chasing down Tom. Thought he'd give chase after I got by but he ended up spinning and it was lonely run after that.

Race 2 was more orderly. Tried to keep pressure on Randy, which seemed to be working at times, but he never made a big enough mistake for me to get by so finished a few seconds behind him.

WG up next.

RF2 WG results posted.

Congrats to Scott on the wins.

Unfortunately nothing too exciting to report. I was expecting good drafting battles but the top 4 were lapping about a second apart. So once the run through the bus stop on the first lap was done it was mostly just putting laps in watching the gap to Scott increase. Same seemed to be happening to Art and Randy behind me. Expect it to be a little more entertaining in the IMSA cars next week.

IMSA Watkins Glen results posted

Dave J and I collected the wins last night.

Started off with one of the messiest starts we've had in a while. Randy was on the inside as we turned into T1 but then there suddenly was a bunch of other cars trying to take up the same space. I went way out on the run off to get around them but then Tom and I came together when I rejoined the track. Wasn't sure who it was at the time, but I slowed down on the run up the hill and saw Tom was going slowly. Set off after the rest of the field, which wasn't that far away as there was more drama at the bus stop. Once things settled down I was chasing Randy for the lead. Took a few laps but got a good run at him into the bus stop. Watched the F3 screen as Dave closed in on Randy and then he started to close the gap to me. Fortunately for me there weren't enough laps left for him to catch me.

Second race Randy once again made a blinding start (will have to watch how he does that) and was into the lead coming out of T1. This time got through the first lap without incident. A couple laps in I passed Randy going into T1 but he and Dave got a run at me into the bus stop. I looked right at turn in and saw nothing but cars so elected to go down the escape road instead of attempting to go 3 wide. The slow down penalty seemed a bit harsh as Randy and Dave were about 2s up the road by the time it disappeared. However what took me out of the fight was hitting the curbs too hard in the bus stop a couple laps later resulting in a spin. Powered by Art and then Jay without issue, but couldn't make any meaningful headway trying to catch Randy.

Road Atlanta up next. Will add the IMSA $ balances when they become available.

Balances as follows:

Thomas Tucker $ 30
Randy Balaberda $ 23
John Parsons $ 22
John Morgan2 $ 21
Art McEwen $ 14
Shawn Gayton $ 13
Paul Machan $ 12
Jay Barthelotte $ 11
David Kelly $ 9
Dave Janes $ 8
Ken MacKay $ 7
Trevor Mack $ 7
Keith Lammers $ 7

FR2 Road Atlanta Results posted.

Art and I grabbed the wins last night.

Was expecting a good race after Art, John P and I qualified within a few tenths of each other. John drafted by me on the back straight on the first lap. Was hoping he'd give Art something to think about but unfortunately he had a spin the next lap. Closed down the gap to Art by about mid distance and got by on the back straight (have to be within about 0.6s to catch a tow BTW). He didn't give up though and we ended up going through T1 side by side and then he tried to outbrake me on the outside at the end of the back straight, but he ran out of track. Thought I'd have a bit of a breather but Art was still pushing hard, probably since John had closed to within 3s of the lead. At the flag we were covered just over 2s.

John's turn on pole for race 2. Weather was overcast and cooler so took a few laps to get heat into the tires. Was expecting another good scrap up front but John spun on cold tires the first lap. I got to within 1s of Art when I tried taking the turn on to the back straight in a higher gear and ran wide on exit. Tried to close the gap but made a few more mistakes that just widened it. At that point had to keep an eye on Tom who was just a couple seconds back. Tried to put in consistent laps after that and crossed the line just a second ahead of Tom. Based on radio chatter there had been good 3 way fight for 4th.

IMSA cars at Road Atlanta up next.

Heh...I had prepped for Road America.

The first event was more of a practice session...but I finished 4th.

The second event was a little more fun. Trying to find more speed at the top of the hill and through the blind chicane, I ended up having a poor quali...but I started last, but had a good start. Randy, Keith and I had similar pace, and I could just see the lead pack having fun. Randy and Keith were very close to each other, so I imagined that they had some fun. I managed to maintain a 1 - 2 second gap ahead and finished 4th.

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Jay Barthelotte

IMSA Road Atlanta results posted.

John P and I with the wins last night.

John warned us that he'd be slow off the start with the Nissan and he didn't disappoint. Think he went from pole back to 4th by T1. It gave him something to do as he regained P1 by patiently picking us off one by one over the next 3 laps. With John well on his way I watched Randy in the vette tease Art in the Radical by letting him get close in the twisty sections and then pull away on the straights. Randy must have tired of this after a while because he pulled away from Art and was starting to close the gap to me. It was down to around 3 seconds when he must have had an issue as he dropped back behind Art. Art was looking good for 3rd but then saw that he stopped on the last lap. Won't give it away but it reminded me of the 85 San Marino Grand Prix :


It was Randy and I on the front row for race 2. By T1 I was reminding myself to watch how Randy starts because he was off the line in a shot. Art tried to get around in T1 but got beached on the outside curbs. Spent about 3 laps trying to find away around Randy but then the fun came to an end when he spun in T1. Thought he might catch back up to have another go but he spent some time pestering Art again so it was just putting in careful laps until the end.

Montreal up next.

IMSA balances:
Ken MacKay $0
Trevor Mack $7
Art McEwen $20
Jay Barthelotte $17
John Parsons $16
Keith Lammers $7
Randy Balaberda $18
Dave Janes $18
Thomas Tucker $30
David Kelly $9
Paul Machan $12
John Morgan2 $21
Shawn Gayton $13

During Race 2, Art and I had a good battle for a while, but then he started to slowly pull ahead chasing Randy. He must have made a mistake at one point and I ended up ahead of him in 3rd. At the end of the straight before the chicane, I started to run out of fuel and ended up coasting across the finish line. Art almost had me!

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Jay Barthelotte

Montreal RF2 results posted.

Randy and I with the wins last night.

Small grid last night but good racing. Randy and Art fought over P2 for the first half of the race with John P in attendance. When the "big one" came all 3 headed to the pits. Art was the first to leave but Randy and John left together and kept the fight going right down to the last lap. I did a "cool down" lap just to watch how it turned out.

Second race it was just Randy , Art and I. Art spun in the 2nd chicane, leaving Randy to keep me honest. With about 2 to go I got on the throttle too hard in the hairpin and looped it letting Randy through. Tried to catch him before the end but was still half a second behind at the finish.

Will be interesting to see how the wall of champions treats the IMSA cars next week.

Another small group last night (4 and 3), and that's with Scott making an appearance. Think we are going to call that a wrap for the season.
Thanks to everyone that could make it out to race this season. Enjoy the summer and we'll get back to racing again in the Fall. In the mean
time if anyone wants to try a one-off race over the summer (dirt, enduro, etc), please let us know.

Sorry i havnt been racing much. Life got busy. Hopefully things will level off a bit batter in the fall.

Just for those wondering, the Regulars will be starting up again mid October after we're done with real racing. Probably looking at a single series with race every week for Oct-Dec. If you have any preferences for what car(s) you'd like to run please shout out.

I really enjoyed the FR2.0 last year.

It might be interesting to try the 911 GT3 or one of the 458s.

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Jay Barthelotte

I think the 911 would be fun. Apparently there isn't a lot of setup work on it. Most people on my team have been using a baseline setup with minor tweaks to rear wing and fuel to adapt to a track.

Definitely a good suggestion. The 488s would generally be a lot more complex in setup, so may not be ideal for the arrive and drive system we do.

We are happy to announce the Regulars Porsche Cup series which will use the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (991). This 8 week series will run on Wednesdays nights at the usual times (the same 2 race per night format as used the last few season*), starting on Oct 25 and running until Dec 13 (schedule below). We are having a fun run (non points event) at the Charlotte Road Course next Wednesday Oct 18th, to give everyone a chance to try out the car (and for a few of us to shake off the cobwebs).

Looking forward to racing with you again.

Fun run 2017-10-18 Charlotte Road Afternoon
1 2017-10-25 Spa GP Pits Late Afternoon
2 2017-11-01 Watkins Glen Boot Morning
3 2017-11-08 Interlagos GP Morning
4 2017-11-15 Monza GP Morning
5 2017-11-22 Suzuka GP Late Afternoon
6 2017-11-29 Okayama Full Late Afternoon
7 2017-12-06 Road Atlanta Full Afternoon
8 2017-12-13 Nurburgring Industriefahrten Afternoon

*Edit: The first session will have 30 minutes of practice starting at 8:00, 10 min Qualifying at 8:30, with 20 minute race starts at ~ 8:40 . Second Practice at 8:45, second qualifying at 9:15, race 2 start ~9:25.

Fantastic.

I'll miss the first couple of races...join you in Nov.

Cheers,

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Jay Barthelotte

Was good to get behind the wheel again. Nice to see Steve and Mark on track again.

Did they fix the tire temperatures in the setup screen? The right side tires had a good temperature profile. The lefts were cold on the outside, but thought this might be because of the track (mostly left handers).

A few notes:
-practice starts. These cars can generate a lot of wheel spin.
-manage tires, especially the rears. Backing off for a bit seems to bring the grip back if they start to overheat.
-fuel tank must be in the front, might have to add a little front spring perch when adding fuel.
-7.9 gal was enough to get through 20 minutes at Charlotte. 7.2 wasn't.
-brake bias at 47% was ok, 45% would start to get twitchy.

Should be fun running these cars around Spa.

So I've always felt that braking was the weakest part of my sim racing game. I have the Logitech G27 with the pot style brake pedal. I found a load cell mod and I'm hoping that it will help improve my braking instead of dropping a ton of money on a fanatec setup or similar.

Not sure if I will have this done for Tuesday so if you are passing or lapping me be aware I usually brake too early lol

Biggest thing you will need with getting a load cell is some way to anchor down your pedals. I had a load cell and switched back out because my pedals kept sliding all over the place. That's expected, I just didn't account for it.

If you have the means to do that, then you're golden.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

I will most definitely bring my drill and some screws home with me lol. They won't go anywhere!

Note that the Logitech G27 pedal base has provisions for hard mounting. You just need some M6x1 bolts to screw into the bottom of the base.

http://aws13-customer-care-assets.s3.am ... Pedals.jpg

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Thanks!

Spa results posted.

Series scoring at: http://danlisa.com/scoring/season_stand ... on_id=7116

Fun car and track combo. Dave McF showed up to show us how to get around it. Once Randy and I got the first few corners figured out was left with Mark chasing me. After a couple laps Mark dropped back about 4s (course cut at Eau Rouge?) but then slowly closed the gap so that with 2 laps to go he was on my tail again. He had a better run out of Eau Rouge next time through and made the pass, and finished 1.5s ahead. With Dave's stop in the pits for repairs that gave Mark the win.

Second race was a bit lonely for me. Passed Randy (who again made a great start) going into the bus stop and when looked behind cars were going in every direction. Puttered around (Dave had checked out up front) until Randy and Mark were only a couple seconds back but they must have had some drama as they both dropped well back. Caught Steve who still seemed to be adjusting to the new brake pedal.

WG next week should be another fun combo.

WG results posted

Mark and I with wins last night.

Thought this was supposed to be the layout with the boot but that's not what the server was running. Still good fun. Ran out front in the first race once Art decided it wasn't a good idea to go 2-wide up the hill at the start. Thought he and Mark might have a good scrap but Mark dropped back just as he caught Art. Steve is writing a nasty letter to Bill Gates for scheduling windows updates in the middle of T1.

Race 2 saw Mark leading with me giving chase. He had about a 1.5s lead at the end of lap 1 and that's where it stayed for the rest of the race.

Would be nice to get a few more drivers out. Even Art claimed the car wasn't bad, and he's not a big "VW" fan.

I'm going to try and run some more races with you guys this season. Was taking a break from my normal group and then I seen you guys were gonna run this car, I bought it. I really like it, but my other favourite cars are the R8 and RUF so maybe I'm biased a bit. I like the fact that building a set is almost as easy as tuning the skip or mx5, it's mostly driver preference. Also like that there are no aids like T/C and ABS, demands smooth inputs...Good Practice. Track lineup you guys have this season. Some of my favs, I was going to run last night but was worn out after a long day hunting and Watkins has never been kind to me. I usually cook the rear tires and slam it into a wall with whatever I'm driving. Boot config does make it more fun, but the cup layout is fun for tight battles and drafting.

Big fan of Interlagos, so I'll probably run next week. anybody that wants a set or would like to run a practice session sometime, let me know. I enjoy building sets, running practice laps, helping out etc. I would have shared my set for Spa, but it wasn't very stable...I spun out both races, luckily I caught the second spin, got no damage and was able to grab a win for the second race.

Dave/Andy

I should be around next week.

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Jay Barthelotte

Will be great to have you guys back racing again.

Dave, will gladly try any setup you want to share. I've been using random ones downloaded through setup sync so far.

Setup Sync is hit or miss. I question why some people upload their setups when they're complete rubbish.

VRS generally have very good setups. But you'd have to do some digging through various datapacks to find a matching car / track combo.

Sorry I haven't been joining this season. Been very busy lately. I'm currently working towards a Pro/WC licence.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR