Sharkjumpers

Just signed up for TT Liga Race F1 2014. 10 races in 10 weeks starting this January. 15 laps per race, 4x Tire wear, 2x Fuel, TC and ABS allowed. F1RFT2010 (a mod I have run before) and no KERS/DRS crap.  Should be a good warm-up for the coming season.

What coming season? Looks like the leagues are switching to rFactor2 next year. Haven't tried it, but I think my car doesn't make the tech reqs. I'm hoping FiHS will hold on to rFactor for one more year (and use an off the shelf mod), then maybe by 2015 I can afford new hardware.

Otherwise, I might have to look for another league for a full season of F1 racing. Been racing online since 2007, and been doing full season F1 since 2009. The older we get, the faster we were. Time sure flies and I'd hate to break the streak. 

Waiting Room

Sundown Menophra

 

 

there will be mud

I've been running some races with TPG Racing League during the summer break. The next event is a 25 minute sprint at Road Atlanta in the Enduracers 997s. It takes me back to almost three years ago, when I was participating in the USF1 League LMS Championship. Same car, same track (though this is a more detailed version with more trackside objects), so there will be no trouble getting up to my speed.

Wow, has it really been that long? It was 2007 when I first ran some F1 exhibition races with (the now defunct) Sofa King Racing League. Six years later and I'm still a backmarker and grid-filler, nowhere near the pace of the leaders. I should be a series champion by now with all my experience. On public servers against noobs and dabblers it can be easy to win. But against veteran drivers and serious competitors I have little chance.

And yet I wouldn't give up any of it, even though now I have fallen behind in the outside world as well. I'm approaching forty years old and I still have no job, no place in society, no future. I traded away everything I was taught, everything I was expected to be, for the wild frontier that is online simulation racing. Sure, my contemporaries are better off, with their careers and their families and all that. But at least I can say that I was able to realize my own dream.

Enough of this nonsense. It's a few hours before the event and I have a good feeling for this race. Time to do some practice laps and get my car set up.

really bad eggs

The years of plotting my escape has failed. I find myself in my customary last place even in the outside world. More than halfway past 2013 and still no real job. I have been sending my resume to some online ads but I get no reply. It's not looking good this way and I might just be opening myself up to identity theft. Anyway maybe nobody is looking to hire a nearly 40 year old hack with a dubious resume.

When I ask people if they could help me find work, two questions always come up: What can you do? and What do you want? 
And I always answer I don't know and I don't have any skills

Indeed it is not very encouraging to hear this and immediately puts a damper on my job quest. But it's the truth and I really can't think of saying anything else. Sometimes I talk about my online racing, only to end up belittling my experiences as a simulation driver. I must remain positive. There must be some sort of job I can do well.

This is Unicorn

Sim Racing Alliance - World Endurance Championship - Round 4: Fuji

Thank you Racing Gods for the GT class victory at Fuji, 7th of 14 overall after starting last, and yes I am feeling good right now. With some guys switching to LMP class mid-season, only 5 drivers started in GT class this race and 3 of them retired early on. So, it became a duel between me in the Lambo and JIM in the Vette as the Prototypes flew around us.

JIM was ahead some 15+ seconds which ballooned to more than 1 minute after I made my pit stop. I guess his pit stop took a lot longer than mine because I found myself 5+ seconds ahead as he rejoined the race. I was able to maintain a good pace despite losing time to blue flags and gradually built up a lead that was some 20+ seconds towards the end of the race.

The class win should vault me up the GT points standings, maybe up to 3rd place, with the GT Championship still a mathematical possibility. Great to bounce back after two consecutive DNFs in the previous rounds (car failure at Le Mans and driver failure at Spa). I am excited for the next round at the new Circuit of Americas in Texas, a track I haven't raced before.

Remans 2013 Race Briefing

copypasted from USF1 forum

90th Anniv. LeMans 24: Special Event #3 of 2013

June 23rd, 2013

Race = 8:30pm Eastern (2 Hours 24 Minutes) (Day Night Day Conditions)

Round 2 of the SimRaceAlliance WEC series heads to Le Mans. This will be special event #3 of the year also. All entries already in the WEC, do not have to sign up here. You are automatically entered. So there are 21 openings left for this special event. Someone from the admin team will pm each entry with the password specifically for this event. Under no circumstances, should you share the password with someone who is not in the event. There are no driver swaps for this event. One Driver, 2 hours 24 minutes...HOW LONG CAN YOU LAST? All finishers are winners in my book. Good Luck Everyone.

Administration has looked at last years event, and its mishaps, and have instituted some changes for 2013. Because the championship is only using 2 classes, those same 2 classes will only be allowed for this event. We apologize Porsche/Ferrari fans. It's just simpler if we keep this race the same as the series championship. The Base Endurance Series mod, along with the track supplied by administration will be the only materials needed for this years event.

Qualifying Setup

Qualifying is LIVE as soon as the server is online June 7th. All laps posted on server will go towards starting position. Starting order is finalized June 21st at 11:59pm EST. Entries are still allowed after this, but you will just start from the end of your respective class. The Starting Order will be Posted Saturday Morning, June 22nd.

Race start

We will use a Standing start followed by a manual single file formation lap at 60mph until the beginning of the Moulsanne Straight (Just after Tertre Rouge)....The Green Zone is where you are allowed to accelerate, and the race begin. Until then, Everyone is to stay single file at 60mph, in the order you qualified Until the Acceleration Zone. Look to the Picture below for an indication of where the green Acceleration zone is:

With a supposed large grid expected for this race, I would ask that all participants disable ALL rfactor addons. no rfdynhud, no tvstyle....no program other than the mod running. So that there will be little to no lag for yourself. I would also ask that, entries put there visible vehicles option in settings on no more than 5!

Other Tips

Tweaks for night racing

rFACTOR LIGHTNING PARAMETERS FOR NIGHT RACES OPTIMAL PERFORMANCES
In your PLR (find it in UserData\MyProfile\MyProfile.plr) change the following lines to get the best, render on/in car with a maximum of FPS and realism.
* Max Headlights="3" // Max headlights visible relative to your car.
* Headlights On Cars="1" // Headlights illuminate other cars.
* Keep rFactor Car Tracker Bar On. (dots with positions on them). This is essential for the GT cars, as when you are lapped, you lose your timing on how far behind or ahead you are of your class competition. So the tracker bar at least keeps you with a visual.
*Tires are on 2x. This is a long event. So those 1minute pitstops will come in handy : ). Have the Gatorade and a snack bar next to the gaming rig.
* Traction Control; Auto Clutch Allowed

*** Each Class Winner Receive a 2012 Le Mans Review/Highlight Blu-Ray Disc***

Doomsday Fanatics

[TT] F1 Liga heads to Japan this week for Round 14 at Suzuka. Thanks to a generous points system, I'm in 6th place in the Drivers Championship with a mathematical chance to win it all despite being a backmarker all season. Of course, the top 5 guys ahead of me in the standings are all faster and regular attendees so really I have no chance to improve my position. These guys are quick and much more aggressive because of the sprint format (only 20 laps per race) and on top of that I don't have the KERS/DRS plugin. The enthusiasm and optimism I had when I first signed up for this league and this series are all but gone.

Meanwhile, over at FiHS, the run of flyaway races to open the season ends and the European leg begins. I've had a string of good finishes, running in the midfield, and being very comfortable with the car. We ran the same mod last year, so I guess all that experience with the car is paying off. I think I'm about a second per lap faster compared to last season (a huge improvement) and I feel confident coming into each event.

It's all quite weird overall, to feel so negative about one series and so positive about the other. That's online racing for you; every league, every grid, every mod, can be very different from each other, particularly for a driver like me. What I mean is, I am certain that if I were a fast guy or a so-called alien, I would been in it with a chance to win any race against any grid. This prevailing ambivalence proves I am just a hack.

Fatal Recall

Alaster Constantine, mediocre racing driver...
he experiments with the dirty matter and fails miserably.
His redeemable essence now ensnared by Hell's malevolent gravity;
all that remains is the avatar that even the Devil must reject.

And so he soldiers on, lost and lonely, daft and demented,
compelled only by the high and mighty farce of Chronophylacter.

Lately I have had the strangest feeling

2013 FiHS F1 World Championship

2013 season is here and the roster has been changed up a bit. 2012 FiHS Driver Champion Stuff moves to Ferrari to defend his title with Juice as his teammate. 2012 FiHS Team Champions Sean Higgins and Captain Slow switch to the Red Bulls. Toro Rosso retain their drivers, JeffO and JKim. Same goes for Tim and Tom of Lotus team. Williams will field Ruben Miranda and newcomer Glyn Cooper. Josh has chosen Marussia and Seb Scott will run in a Mercedes. And I will join Josf in the Sauber team. Plenty of seats still available including the Mclarens. Maybe more drivers join / return as the season progresses.

Lifespam

My Mazda RX-7 in NFS World, where I have a record of 74 wins versus 100 losses and an average finishing position of 2.10. Most of those wins came in this car, but I started out with a Mazda 3. It has been awhile since I did any arcade racing.


[TT] Liga F1 2013 - Race Reports

Round 1 : Melbourne
Round 2: Sepang

Two races, two tenth places, good enough for ninth in the points standings. There has been talk of switching mods as a lot of drivers experienced game crash when there were more than a dozen cars on track. In the poll, I voted for the old but stable 2010 mod (because I might close the gap to the leaders with the removal of DRS / KERS).

51st Rolex 24 @ Daytona hosted by SimRaceAlliance

Pre- Race : 8:30pm Eastern

Race : 9:30pm Eastern (100 Minutes)

For This Event Qualifying Will be The Entire weekend before the event (Jan25-27) . An Announcement will be made as to when Qualifying Will be Open. Hotlaps Link will be posted as well, so that you will be able to follow progress. Until Qualifying Begins, the server will be unlocked. The Race will be 100 min long, with Day Night Day conditions. Drivers will be open to use whatever view they like to race from. Traction Control will also be available.

Other Race Info

Fuel burn: 2x

Tires: 1x

Damage: 60%

Mech Failures: TBA

About the track, The Daytona Road Course is a pretty easy layout to remember, and we believe with a big grid, the drivers in each class shouldn't be separated by no more than 2seconds at most. The mod contains both the NAGT GT cars, and the Grand Slam Daytona prototypes. Drive whichever car you like. We will ask people to commit to a car for the race so we can make sure we have some racers in both classes. The NAGT cars are very powerful, but heavy. They run a street tire that is very easy to burn-off. There are many cars to choose from, and they all drive VERY differently. They are GT Spec though. Drive what you will feel comfortable doing so for upwards of 2 hours. During car selection, you will find both NAGT and SWC-GT. The cars are the same, but they are just different paint schemes.

The Daytona Prototypes are a much closer controlled spec. There are several different chassis and engine types, and where there is some difference between them its much less that between the NAGT cars. I find the DPs easy to drive up to 8/10s, and pretty easy to catch in a spin, but getting a top time in one is very challenging. If you run a DP, be aware that there is a sprint package brake option under upgrades that you may want to run.

STARTING PROCEDURES

We Will use a standing Start for the event.

This Race OFFICIALLY Kicks off 2013 Racing! : ) 

(text and image from USF1 Racing)

Gonna run this Skyline GT-R against them Daytona Protoypes. Plenty of different cars available  in the mod with drivers from at least four different leagues are signing up to join means it will be quite a mixed grid. The track itself can be a bit boring, but at least the event will be on time slip so there will be day to night to day conditions. I have good memories of this place from a Redline GTP Endurance race with Historic Simracing Organisation.

Now everything's ruined

[TT] Servers F1 Liga 2013 GP of Australia - Post Race 

Punted off twice in a 20 lap sprint? Seems like these hotlappers aren't used to running with other people on the track. The result; only 10th out of 14 and a lap down. Ran as high as 8th but my lap times were just too slow. Maybe I should try to make that KERS / DRS plugin work. Otherwise it's gonna be another season at the back of the grid.

[TT] Servers - F1 Liga 2013

I know, I know, I said no more racing...

I found this interesting league while checking out the public servers running RFT2012 mod. I think Tripp the admin is from Sweden and the grid is composed of European drivers. The series features 20 lap sprints that start on 2am on Sunday here (if my time conversion is right), and the 20 race season will be over by June. The website carries several motorsport tv feeds, but it was the 80's music broadcast hiding in the corner that convinced me to sign-up and run the HRT.

Anyway, if I do find a regular job it shouldn't interfere with the Saturday night / Sunday morning schedule. It reminds me of those HSO endurance races I contested some years ago that also started past midnight. I dunno yet how fast the grid is, and I'm sure my lap times will be slower as I don't run the KERS/DRS plug-in, but I think I will do well in this series. Maybe even win some races. Wow, a bit of confidence? Really? It's a good feeling and I will savor it until it goes away. 

Meanwhile, it seems there is no activity at Hammerdown Racing League. The Thursday night series over there had died and it seems everyone has taken an extended holiday break. At FiHS, there is plenty of talk about switching to rFactor 2, the new engine that I haven't tried. I'm not sure my vintage car can even run it properly. So it looks like Tripp Team is the trick for 2013. 

Kysse Love

You know how they sent dogs up into space before humans? Well here I am, the consummate canine cosmonaut. I mean, let's face it, the first manned missions to Mars are probably gonna fail. And even if somebody does make it to the Red Planet, it'll be a one-way trip because it would just cost too much to even try and bring him back to Earth. It would be much better to send out a worthless person like me to test and iron out the vehicle and the systems, before letting the really important people fly.

Consider how I got no job, no wife or kids, no community, no scene; nobody will miss me when I'm gone. I spend all my time cooped up in my room playing video games, making me a veteran of cabin fever and man-machine relations. I'm still young and strong enough to survive the rigors of space travel, but old and dumb enough to not have wasted my time. I already know the most important thing to bring on this trip will be my coffin.

So, let me be the one to carry all those corporate logos and national flags into another world. You cannot deny that I am noticeably competent for the mission to succeed and perfectly inconsequential should the mission fail.

Outer space is where we get together, in this place we are meant to be. Stars are dancing and the time is fading. Dead forever, you and me...