Amateur Racing series ;)

After an overwhelming response I have decided that this series needs to happen and will hopefully be a positive experience for those involved, I would first like to state not only is this a chance for drivers relatively new to online racing to get a chance to race with others of their experience level but also a first experience for me as a race official, so there may be some bumps in the road and some ideas may be total fails but the main idea here is to have FUN racing, we'll iron out the wrinkles as they come.

WHEN:

we will start with a couple exhibition race week ends the 17-18 and 24-25 of September between the hours of 2:00-4:00 PM est and 7:00 - 9:00 PM est we will be hosting lobbies for those who want to come and try out their cars and the tracks and get to know some of the others who will be participating. For those in Europe i hope the 2:00-4:00 pm times will work out, you don't need to be on all the time this is simply to see what time and day work best for the most people possible. It's possible we may just run races for fun for a while longer and maybe have a race during the last 15-20 mins of the sessions we'll see as we go.

CAR CLASS:
We will be starting with not too slow and not too fast cars and see how it goes everyone try to have at least:
1 D and 1 C class front or rear wheel drive car ( which ever you are more comfortable with) more if you want to try them out.

TRACKS:
we will run some of these tracks each session to see which people like more and which give closer races:
Iberian full reverse
Twin Ring west
Road Atlanta club
Mugello club
New York old
Sebring short
Sebring club
Sazuka east
Sazuka west
Silverstone National

Rules:
during race try to keep chat respectful and to a minimum so people racing for position can communicate
those found to be disruptive in chat or on track may be booted from the lobby and possibly from future events
intentional contact meant to "take out" another driver or things such as stopping or blocking the track to disrupt the race ... gets you the BOOT
have fun

so you can get on and race add me AndusMaximus76 and Jeremy1986 he will run the 2nd lobby if needed
hope to see you all soon
Andy

LOOKing Forward to this Series! I will also help you as best i can Andy! and Like Andy Said anyone can contact Andy or me and will we surely have a great time see you all soon!

btw that avatar is Jeremy's actual drivers permit photo lmao

2 questions: what tune will we be using showroom stock or tuned up and what damage model will be used?

I have to put the kids to bed at around 7:30, so I'm hoping that I can get out there by 8. In the meantime, I'll have to spend some time getting to know these tracks!

stock only tunes

Ive been talking to Andus about this at work and for the 1st few races the Tune will be Stock only Correct me if im wrong Andy! i look forward to meeting you all this weekend.

I think it makes sense to keep it to stock tunes for the first few races since the aim here is for amateur racing. Although this could become a good place to introduce people to the art of tuning.
(this is aimed at me as much as anyone else. I haven't played with tuning enough to make any decisions on what works and what doesn't.)

I THINK FOR NOW WE WILL BE RUNNING STOCK...BASICALY YOU RUN IT THE WAY YOU BOUGHT IT TYPE THING AND THEN AS THE SERIES GOES ON I THINK WE WILL SLOWLY BE ADDING TUNES AND STUFF WHICH WILL DEFINTLY HELP ME AS WELL CAUSE IM NOT GOOD AT TUNING EITHER! WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGTHER KEEP YOUR STICK ON THE ICE! lol

ya we'll run no damage or tunes for the 1st week end and then we'll see how that goes, but for sure the idea is to get better and learn so tuning will brought in and damage as well but not sure at what point yet

after thinking about it for a few minutes i think running anti sway bars and adjustable differentials maybe a good way to start learning about the basics of tuning a loose/tight car and of course TP ... no not toilet paper tire pressure

Are you suggesting that we take some time during the evening for people to go out tuning the cars? That might leave us in a lobby for quite some time as some people are trying to figure out to use the tuning interface from the game....
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea for us to learn in a common environment. But perhaps we could have events for racing and then events specifically for playing with tunes. At least this way, people will know what to expect. Specifically if someone wants to come out to see what the racing is like and finds us all in a xbox party chatting about how we are changing the tuning on the cars.

I'm not exactly a noob but would be glad to jump in and help out. Ride alongs are an invaluable way to learn physics of tuning and how a car is reacting we could possibly get some tuners in same lobby as the people who don't know how to tune to do the ride alongs and explain what is happening and how to tune for it. DBF and I used to do this all the time but now we know what each other likes so its not so important in tuning.

if this is for amateur/beginner racers, there MUST be some type of handicap system if you expect the racing to be close. a large majority of the guys on here are fast.. like.... very fast. i started this game in january, and didn't step up to a wheel and trying to get quicker until maybe 3-4 months ago, and i'm finally able to say that i'm not guaranteed to come in last in some of the races. as it is, i don't have a snowball's chance in hades of coming in anywhere near the top 1/2 of any grid.


you should do stock tunes, with maybe race brakes so people can adjust the braking pressure. don't underestimate the gargantuan difference a high quality will make on a car. it's not just the tune, but tuning to a driver's specific way of getting round the track that can make all the difference.

That's why it's for newbies only.

if i am on throw me an invite, but as mentioned before by a few other members, I am not a noob either - not the top half either, but I would be happy to be along for the fun of it

the idea behind this series and especially the 1st 2 weeks is for people to improve, learn to run better lines, tune their car and where to start when upgrading a car

i planned on running 7-8 lap "races" so they will last about 10 minutes on most tracks and we can run 4 or 5 races on the same track so people can get used to the track and see how the tunes are working, usually when i tune i make a change and run at least 5 laps (sometimes more) to get a chance to see how it changed my car.

i have gotten over 20 responses in the last 2 days from people interested so we will most likely need to run 2 lobbies most of the time so if people who get some advice about tuning want to try it out, they should have no probs doing so, we usually wait a few minutes anyways while people get a drink or go to the washroom, leaving time to go make a quick adjustment and come back

what Turtle suggested is something that Mako has done with Jeremy and I and it helps a lot, we could maybe have a lobby just for that, any more experienced guys who want to make an appearance are welcome

i also like bloozmahn's suggestion about the brakes

so these 1st 2 week ends lets not worry so much about racing, but more about learning and when we see where the different drivers are at as far as skill level we can start thinking more about how to race, if we have enough people we could make different classes, or we can run like they do on the dirt tracks around here, heats and semi finals to get into A or B finals ...
lets just get some track time in before we start to get too far ahead of ourselves

find a couple cars you want to race and let the rest fall into place

AndusMaximus76 wrote:

what Turtle suggested is something that Mako has done with Jeremy and I and it helps a lot, we could maybe have a lobby just for that, any more experienced guys who want to make an appearance are welcome

I Totally agree Mako669 was very helpful he drove behind me while i tryed to improve on my lap times and he was very helpful at giving me pointers. That is until he kinda slammed into the back of my car. But only because he wasnt expecting me to brake that hard! LOL Right Mako!

I'm definitely keen to run on the sunday night session!

Well the ride alongs avoid the unintentional hit because one of you would be spectating the other driver.

Jeremy1986 wrote:

AndusMaximus76 wrote:

what Turtle suggested is something that Mako has done with Jeremy and I and it helps a lot, we could maybe have a lobby just for that, any more experienced guys who want to make an appearance are welcome

I Totally agree Mako669 was very helpful he drove behind me while i tryed to improve on my lap times and he was very helpful at giving me pointers. That is until he kinda slammed into the back of my car. But only because he wasnt expecting me to brake that hard! LOL Right Mako!

Recovering from a collision is also an important skill that should be learned as soon as possible.

Especially with bobbo an the prowl.....OHHHHHHHH BOBBO JOKE!!!!!!!!

LOL

Well no wonder you have trouble getting around the track, LOL!!!! I couldn't drive straight with that on my hood either.

LOL i figure if shes on my hood people will slow down and let me pass them lol ..... Good Ol Danica Patrick!