Rllmuk Classic Roadsports: Round 1:

The Rllumk Classic Roadsports series is a pretty relaxed and friendly competition, with C425 class cars from 1973 to 1993. That gives a huge range of vehicles to choose from, and getting the base car right is important as you’re not allowed any aerodynamic modifications, or drivetrain conversions.

So with fellow ORDC members Bladerunner and Pjeedai competing, post-Christmas was a time for testing a number of cars, including the Saab 99 Turbo, Chevy Camaro, ’84 Toyota Supra, and BMW 2002t. Things were looking pretty reasonable as Pjeedi and I had settled on the Pontiac Fiero as our eventual choice – it doesn’t stand out in any particular way, but aside from some gearing issues, would performa pretty well.

Racing on Monday nights from 8.30pm, I didn’t get any practice in on the final weekend before the season began, and I’d left tuning in the hands of the far more qualified Pjeedai – I just drive what I’m given. So it was a bit of a challenge to find out that he’d switched to the 1984 VW Golf on Sunday, meaning I’d only get a chance to drive the car before qualifying if I was able to leave work exactly on time.

As it turned out, my first drive in the car was qualifying for the double header on the Catalunya Medium circuit. So I was amazed to qualify on pole – a testament to Pjeedai’s tuning skills, and putting me just ahead of ORDC’s Bladerunner on the grid, with Pjeedai mid-pack.

Unfortunately I did fluff the start a bit – recoving in about 5th and working my way back up the field until I found myself behind the Ford RS1800 of SharkyOB. I was struggling to find a way past, as although it was looking a bit lairy in the corners, it was a rocket ship in a straight line, and the Golf struggled to match the pace of the faster cars in the series – our strength is definitely in the corners.

So after a couple of laps trying to figure a way round, and with the short 8 laps almost up, Sharky ran slightly wide into the 180 degree first turn and I was suckered by the half chance, diving in from way too far back when there was no real hope, collecting Sharky and sending myself off as well. Sharkey managed to get going to recover 5th, and I sheepishly ended up 7th at the flag.

I was determined to make up for it in Race 2, and got a much better start. Flying towards the first corner, I checked to my left to see Sharky trying to get around the outside, and looked back just in time to see Beezerly brake incredibly early for the first corner. Trying to brake, everything locked up, I rear-ended him and heavily damaged the VW’s engine. Totally my fault for getting distracted and not getting a chance to become quite accustomed to the braking of the Golf – plus the little VW can brake later and corner faster than pretty much anything else, so I was looking to get a good run on the field…

So Rllmuk Classic Roadsports Round 1 = 7th and 9th. On the plus side, ORDC’s Bladerunner took both wins, with Pjeedai showing the Golf can definitely run up front with two third place podiums.

Virtual Motorsports Classic Series Race 1:

Virtual Motorsports runs some slightly more serious racing series, and when I discovered the Classic series I was quick to sign up. Around 100 cars are allowed, with each spec’d out to provide pretty even racing in A class, with a list of permitted parts to be fitted. Having raced a ’66 Chevy Nova in a previous Rllmuk C Class series, I immediately picked it again for this event, with it being allowed an A547 rating.

Again, work and family meant practice was limited, getting my livery finished with about 5 minutes before the Saturday 8pm start of qualifying, but I made it. 20 minutes of Silverstone later, I’d managed a mid 1:02 lap, and with a slight gap between qualifying and racing, managed to iron out a couple of issues, including tailoring the gearing slightly more to the Silverstone National venue.

It turned out I’d qualified in pole in Lobby 4 (The faster drivers were around the 1 minute mark), and led the field for a rolling start with EMW Violation in second in another ’66 Nova. Having led for the first few laps, I had one braking moment which let Violation through, but I’d recovered and kept within 100ft of him for the first 20+ laps. As he eventually pitted, I put my foot down, and managed to record a couple of decent laps before heading into the pits and coming out with about 70ft to spare to regain the lead. Perfect!

At least for a couple of laps – our times were close, so I knew I just had to make sure I kept it smooth and not make a mistake for the final 12 laps. Which would have been fine, until I came out of the 3rd turn onto the main straight.

At which point my TV changed channels. Someone had scheduled a programme!

Given that I was the only person awake and in the house, I hadn’t considered someone sabotaging me like that! By the time I’d switched the channels back to the Xbox, my Nova was buried in a wall with a heavily damaged engine and in 8th place with 9th closing. After limping up the straight, I had to head into the pits for a second time, and by the time I’d come back on track I was 22 seconds down on 8th, with about 10 laps left.

So I concentrated just on going as fast as I could, and managed to take a couple of seconds back by the flag, but with aero damage I was 0.5 to 1 second down on my best lap, which annoyingly turned out to be the fastest of the race at 1.02.498. At the flag I ended up taking 7th, as two other racers suffered a disaster when they both lagged out of the room on lap 37 of 38.Violation ended up taking the deserved win – in 27 laps of battling I don’t think I’d seen him more than an inch or two off his line.

So not a great week really – the VW shows a lot of promise, but it’s going to be a challenge getting past the faster cars and getting in clean air. Meanwhile the Nova is OK, and it’s nice and predictable, but it very much depends on which lobby I qualify in – I doubt I’ll be making it into the top lobby this season, but if I can stay around lobbies 3 and 4 I’ll be happy.

Results:

Rllmuks Classic Roadsports: Catalunya Medium: (2×8 laps)

• Race 1: 7th of 11
• Race 2: 9th of 11

Virtual Motorsports Classic Series: Silverstone National (1 x 38 laps)

• Race 1: 7th of 9

Still, there’s one hope left to actually start a series in decent fashion – the Rllmuk Classic Touring Cars series kicks off on Monday for A Class tourers from the 1980s and early 1990s. And the OnlineRaceDriver.com team of myself and Pjeedai made an early decision to go with the Mercedes 190E and we’re stuck to it, which means for once I’ve had a bit of time in the car I’ll be racing.

It’ll be interesting as teams are permitted, and we’ll be up against at least one other Mercedes team, a decent pair of drivers running a Buick, and the dark horse of two drivers running the BMW M5. Monday night will see us all at Mugello Long for two 8 lap races, so it’s all about qualifying (Which I seem to do OK), and getting a good start. Here’s hoping!

The Dukes of Hazzard’The General Lee’ 1969 Dodge Charger1969 Dodge Charger R/T 64,000 creditsThe Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift1997 Mazda RX-7 with Veilside Fortune bodykit1997 Mazda RX-7 18,000 credits

Racing Game of the Year went to Forza Motorsport 4, which was up against Mario Kart 7 and Real Racing 2 HD

The only other racing game up for an award was Need for Speed: The Run, which was included in the award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, losing out to Battlefield 3.

The big winner was Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim which took five awards on the night

Hello everyone, from the sometime ORD contributor and resident of the Upper Midwest in the good ole USA, it is I, GTDon. ORD is steeped in motorcycle experts truth be told, and is the first love of many a car enthusiast such as yours truly as well. No better time than now to share with you the most recent motorcycle related event in my home state of Minnesota, “The Minneapolis Motorcycle Show” or more formally, the “Progressive International Motorcycle Show.” Considered the largest show of its kind in North America, traveling to all the largest cities in the spring every year.

In years past this annual event has ebbed and flowed in scope and size depending on the economics of the times, but this year was no indication that times were tough as every major manufacturer was on hand, along with venders, exhibits, and new manufacturers . It was a packed house at the Minneapolis Auditorium this weekend with an estimated 30,000 attendee’s.

Absolutely one of the best shows seen in some time was the opinion of most. Although there were no ground breaking designs or technical leaps of fancy, the impression of the industry via this show was vibrant, and self-confident. This isn’t to say there wasn’t anything to get really excited about mind you. The new Kawasaki Ninja ZX14R probably took the lion’s share of attention, as the most powerful and quickest production bike on planet earth, again. The “ZERO” electric motorcycle brand also garnered its fair share of attention as a zero emissions vehicle capable of 125miles on one charge in a relatively light weight, fun, super motard-like package.

But rather than go on and on, with blah blah blah, about how great it was, how much you missed, how refreshing it was, and how many choices of fine machinery there was, just look at the pics.

In the mean time and until next time, enjoy the ride, and I promise to write more soon.

Full throttle,

GTDon

February Rivals Mode Preview:

Turn 10 has given details of four of the new rivals mode events, so you can prepare your cars and liveries to get started as soon as they go live. They are:

• 28 Days of Sebring: In celebration of the 60th Annual 12 Hours of Sebring, this Track Day event will put you in the 2011 Audi #2 Audi Sport North America R18 TDI with the challenge of passing GT3 cars.
• Compact Combo: Drag Racing at Infineon with 300HP front-wheel drive cars. Tuning setups are allowed within restrictions.
• Snow Drift: Drift race your way around the Bernese Alps in a high-powered production car, with tuning setups allowed within restrictions.
• Union Jack Time Attack: Silverstone is the venue for an A-Class Time Attack featuring the best of British time attack cars. Tuning setups allowed within restrictions.

February King of the Track Rivals Mode:

It’s the second chance to take on a celebrity Forza Driver, with all participants receiving an in-game car for participating, and if you can beat the celebrity driver you’ll win a rare unicorn car.

But either way, it’s a worthy challenge to take on, as you’ll need to beat mixed martial artist, former UFC champion and film star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. In addition to beating the heck out of people in the rin, Rampage is a fan of both Forza and collecting cars, hence why the February Car Pack features a replice of his own 2011 Dodge Quinton “Rampage” Jackson Challenger SRT8 with a black and red paintscheme and awesome rims.

Everyone taking part will receive a 2011 #2 Audi Sport North America R18 TDI (Which required the Le Man pack to redeem it), and if you beat his posted time, you’ll walk away with a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS Coupe unicron car with Rampage-themed livery.

The best time posted when the competition end at midnight on February 29, 2012 will also win a pair of official UFC fight gloves signed by Rampage himself (This prize is only available to U.S residents).

Tips for a good time:

To take part you’ll be racing a standard Dodge Challenger SRT8 around the full Laguna Seca track in Monterey, California. It’s the home of the infamous Corkscrew corner, but unlike real racers, you won’t have to battle the huge G forces pounding your body as you barrel through it.

The track suits muscle cars, and it’s all about being smooth, and getting good entries and exits from each corner to let you really get the power down. But there are 3 key places to make sure you get right.

The first is Turn 4. Although the first corner, the Andretti Hairpin can seem tricky, a slightly late apex and patience before nailing the throttle should sort it – but Turn 4 not only gives you a lot of speed advantage before the uphill lefthand Turn 5, it also sets you up for a good run all the way up the hill.

The second actually follows the Corkscrew. Turn 9, Rainey Curve, named after bike champ Wayne Rainey, is easy to get wrong, particularly if you’re relaxing after the Corkscrew. You need to get back over to the right-hand side of the track asap at the bottom of the hill to nail the apex, and to avoid sliding off into the gravel due to the camber of the track lifting you up and over the Tarmac. Get it right and it can make a huge improvement to your time for such a short corner and straight combo.

And finally, the all important Turn 11. This is what sets you up for the run over the Start/Finish straight, and can deliver you a huge advantage when you get it right. It’s all abut braking early for the extremely slow speed lefthander, and getting on the power early and smoothly to really pull the most out of the gears. Get it wrong, and you’re helpless as ghost cars (or other drivers in a race) simply power right by.

• 400PP Circuito de Madrid Mini. 5 Laps, Credits 117,500
• 500PP Fuji Speedway F. 5 laps. Credits 200,000.
• 650PP Nurburgring 24H. 2 Laps. Credits 420,000

And in addition there is a new selection of vehicles in the GT5 Online Car Dealership. The list is:

• Toyota CELICA TRD Sports M (ZZT231) ’00 – 22,500 Cr
• Toyota Tacoma X-Runner ’04 – 24,520 Cr
• Mitsubishi GTO Twin Turbo ’95 – 43,150 Cr
• Nismo 270R ’94 – 45,000 Cr
• TOM’S X540 CHASER ’00 – 50,000 Cr
• Mugen MUGEN S2000 ’00 – 50,000 Cr
• Alfa Romeo Spider 3.0i V6 24V ’01 – 51,190 Cr
• TVR Griffith 500 ’94 – 58,730 Cr
• Opera Performance 350Z ’04 – 75,000 Cr
• Spoon S2000 ’00 – 85,000 Cr
• Nismo Skyline GT-R S-tune (R32) ’00 – 90,000 Cr
• Nismo 400R ’96 – 120,000 Cr
• Nismo Skyline GT-R R-tune (R34) ’99 – 125,000 Cr
• Trial CELICA SS-II (ZZT231) ’03 – 125,000 Cr
• Nismo Fairlady Z Z-tune (Z33) ’03 – 150,000 Cr
• Callaway C12 ’03 – 175,880 Cr
• Nissan OPTION Stream Z ’04 – 200,000 Cr
• Amuse Carbon R (R34) ’04 – 250,000 Cr
• Pagani Zonda LM Race Car – 1,000,000 Cr
• Nissan Fairlady Z Concept LM Race Car – 1,000,000 Cr
• Vauxhall Calibra Super Touring Car ’94 – 1,500,000 Cr
• Gran Turismo Formula Gran Turismo -5,000,000 Cr

Don’t forget, there’s also a maintenance outage on Tuesday, February 7th, followed by an update release for patch 2.04.

There’s no confirmation on exactly what is included in the patch, which should be version 2.04, besides one minor bug with drift trial replays will be solved.