That’s important because it concerns the BAC Mono. The Stig’s Car of the Year Winner  for 2011, the BAC Mono is a lightweight, ultra-high performance and road-legal vehicle. This is a car that forms itself around the driver, starting with a central driving position and surrounding the pilot with a combination of carbon-fibre composite and steel – brought to you in virtual form by Project CARS!

A mere three weeks after the Mono’s introduction in ‘place-holder’ form and its interim changes for those at the Project CARS Manager+ level, participants at the Team Member level or above could now sample the sports car from the British manufacturer in a revised form. The modifications ranged from fine-detail modelling to movement of the weight bias, grip and chassis adaptations appropriate to the new settings.

Intriguingly and notably, the release notes for Build 197 included a reference to the provision of physics data by BAC – with some very fine cockpit and bodywork changes having also been made following BAC’s advice, moving ever-closer to getting it all just right.

As always, the new ‘Weekly’ build is available on the WMD Portal Downloads page.

Becoming a member of Project Cars:

Do you want to take part in the Project CARS development process? New members can join at this pre-alpha stage through the registration page. Membership starts at a one-time fee of 10 Euros for a Junior access Tool Pack, allowing downloading of monthly Project CARS releases and further participation via the WMD Portal forum, where notes of meetings can be read, game features discussed and progress followed for everything from game menus to force feedback, audio and the correct implementation of in-car LED displays!

Weekly build access is available for members on the Team Member tier and above, with upgrades from lower tiers currently possible. Junior and Team Members will receive a discount equivalent to the membership cost on the released game, with participants at the Full Member level or above receiving a free copy of the completed title. For terms and conditions, prices and descriptions of the tiers and their associated benefits, visit the Tool Packs page.

“With Johnny O’Connell’s win in the opening round of the Pirelli World Challenge GT Series in St Petersburg and Andy Pilgrim’s win in Long Beach, the Cadillac CTS-V has already proven to be very a competitive proposition on the real race tracks of North America,” says Cadillac V-Series and Racing Marketing Manager John Kraemer.  “Thanks to our partnership with iRacing.com, Cadillac is delighted to enable sim-racers around the world to enjoy the same incredible performance that Johnny and Andy experience every time they buckle in to their CTS-Vs on the race track.”

As the Cadillac is joining the iRacing base package of cars and tracks it will be part of the experience for all 30,000+ iRacing members, and will form the basis of the Cadillac Cup, which is a series of races at the iRacing version of many of the tracks which also feature in the 2012 Pirelli World Challenge GT Series. Circuits will include Infineon Raceway, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Mosport International Raceway, with a variety of iRacing and Cadillac branded prizes up for grabs.

“We’re excited to be able to make one of the world’s most advanced racing sedans available to our members,” says iRacing.com President Tony Gardner. “We’re proud to partner with Cadillac, not only in creating the virtual CTS-V but through the Cadillac Cup.  iRacing and Cadillac have some exciting programs in the making, and we’re all looking forward to making the most of our dynamic partnership for Cadillac, iRacing and iRacers.”

What’s iRacing?

iRacing is the online sim-racing creation of Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. It was founded in 2004 and includes the options to race cars from NASCAR, IndyCar, sports cars and even classic Grand Prix racers against drivers all over the world, with various championships officially sanctioned by the motorsports organising bodies.

They also have official agreements with a range of tracks. It operates on a subscription basis with prices starting from $7.46 per month. 7 cars are included in the base package, along with 10 tracks. You can then add additional cars and tracks as needed.

The format was fairly simple. As a multiclass event you had the choice of racing an LMPC Chevrolet, or one of two German DTM cars, all fitted with drag tyres to force drivers to pit regularly. Having already raced the Mercedes in other events, I went for the Audi, which was potentially the wrong choice. Although the VM organisers worked hard to ensure both cars were very evenly matched, the Audi was definitely slightly more challenging to get the best times from, and that proved the case in qualifying.

The qualifying sessions took place on the two Saturday evenings preceding the event, with 60 minutes to record the fastest possible time. Knowing that family commitments meant I could only take part in the first qualifying session put the pressure on, and I paid the price. Just three laps in and I caught a kerb, span, and ended up damaging my bodywork – as Forza only repairs mechanical problems in the pits it meant I had to finish qualifying with 30+% damage all round, which didn’t help as I recorded a time over 1 minute, 57 seconds, compared to some of the fastest guys going 3 or 4 seconds faster per lap.

Race Day for the Nurburgring 2.4 Hours:

When race day arrived, I was pretty happy. Somehow I’d ended up on pole position of the DTM cars in my lobby, and as the results would be calculated purely on distance covered, it didn’t matter that it wasn’t one of the top groups. I’d also managed to cut  a bit from my lap times, and importantly, found I could nurse my tyres a little longer before pit stops than I’d originally thought. Given that it’s a fairly long pit at Nurburgring GP, one less stop would definitely help my performance.

As the 3 LMPC cars in the lobby led round the 9 DTM competitors, I was anxious to get going, and couldn’t wait for the leader to announce 3,2,1,Go! My aim for the first few laps was to stay safe and consistent, so I took a fairly conservative line into the first tight hairpin, not expecting the second-place qualifier to launch himself across the grass and into my side as I started to accelerate for Turn 2.

So with 2 hours and 27 minutes to go, I had a reasonable amount of bodywork damage, and slipped back a couple of places into the bargain. One day I’ll actually manage to compete in that Audi with all the aerodynamics intact!

The race itself settled into a rhythm fairly quickly – two of the faster guys had shot off into the distance with consistently quick lap times, obviously having had similar issues in qualifying to me, but unfortunately solving them a little better for race day. Every so often I’d see an LMPC car suddenly appear beside me, often with a warning over my headset, but occasionally the drivers were so much quicker they didn’t need it – with multiclass the important thing is for the slower drivers to stick to their line and not do anything unpredictable.

After the first few stops I was feeling pretty good – a fairly consistent fourth with a reasonable handle on how the drag tyres were handling as they degraded over the course of laps 10-14 when they really started to lose performance. There was the odd moment, but no major off track excursions which had happened to some of the other drivers judging by the occasional cursing – and I’d also managed a fairly decent job of avoiding tangles with the LMPC boys. I think they did have a couple of moments with some of the other cars, especially later in the race when everyone started to feel the effects of concentrating for that long.

Coming up to the final 30 minutes, I’d realised that there was the potential for third – the final podium spot was held by a driver who was running a slightly faster pace on average, but wasn’t getting away. More importantly, I knew he’d just pitted, and didn’t think anyone could make it to the end without a pit stop, so I desperately tried to keep the pace up on my totally worn tyres for a couple of extra laps, watching the distance to third grow, but gambling on strategy.

Coming out of the pits thousands of feet behind, I knew all I could do was hit every braking marker, and hope. When he pitted with about 15 minutes left, I could have stopped and thanks him, but then the battle really began. Again my tyres were way past the end of their effective life, and he was a lot quicker on fresh rubber, so the gap started to drop after he’d got some temperature in them – coming into the final 10 minutes the gap was about 3000ft, then 2,500ft, then 2000. By the time the last lap came around, he was only about 600ft behind and closing fast, so I had to take a deep breath and rely on the fact that even if he caught me, I still had the hope of hugging the inside of the corners and blocking him.

As it happens, I managed a better time than I’d predicted on the final lap as I watched the counter mercifully tick down to the finishing time – at the end I took third in the DTM lobby in my class by just 200ft, and I don’t think I’d have lasted another 30 seconds! A pretty close finished after 160 minutes of racing.

Endurance Racing Tips:

Although I wasn’t the quickest racer to compete, I did pick up quite a few tips for future races:

• Preparation: It’s obvious that more practice leads to faster lap times, but make sure you run laps with new tyres, worn tyres etc, and work out how far you can really push if you need it. Also practice running offline, as it’s bound to happen during the race (The Track Day Rivals events are handy for this as they force you to consider different lines for overtaking, even if it’s in a different car).
• Environment: It might not be as physical as real racing, but there’s still a lot of concentration involved. Make sure you’ve got comfortable seating, you’ve got adequate lighting throughout the whole race, and you’re able to stand up etc during pit stops as required.
• You: Make sure you get a good night’s sleep before the race, avoid hangovers, and have a drink handy – but don’t overdo it before the race unless you know you can make a toilet break during the pit stops. Some drivers actually rigged up a camel pack to drink during the racing just as real drivers do. If you’re a smoker, it’s also worth having a nicotine lozenge or two nearby if you don’t think you can finish the race without a fix.
• Car: Everyone wants to get the fastest possible car, but when it comes to endurance racing, you’re better off with something that’s consistent at 95% of the speed, and easier on the tyres. Having the fastest lap isn’t as important if you’re in the gravel every other lap.
• Calm: It’s important to stay calm and relaxed – tensing up will make you slower, and if I’d got annoyed at the first corner incident, I’d have just made more mistakes. You need to be able to think clearly, monitor tyre wear, and plan pit strategy all while heading down the straights at 150-200mph, so cool, calm and collected is the way to race.

So having had a few practice laps in the car, I’d adjusted to a front-wheel drive racer despite my preference for RWD or AWD machines. As it’s specified, it’s handles pretty nicely although any car can struggle with understeer when there’s that much power trying to get through the front wheels. As a result my practice laps were hovering between 1.29.500 and 1.30.500, which seemed respectable if not blisteringly fast.

Qualifying is a quick 5 lap affair, and it couldn’t have gone worse. Having completed a clean out lap, I then managed to screw up the following four flying laps for various reasons, leaving me last of the 69 drivers competing in the 10-14 car lobbies.

First race of the season and I'm dead last with work to do!

So the only upside was that things had to improve, and they certainly did in the first race – despite a couple of worrying moments during the first lap on cold tyres, I slowly started to move my way up through the field from 12th on the grid.With so many similar cars, the qualifying times had been relatively close even down to the final lobby, so it was pretty tough against some talented but very gentlemanly drivers.

Starting to catch the midfield

Over the course of 12 laps, I eventually managed to take 5th place which was a fantastic result, although it was frustrating that my lap times were comparable to the podium places – by the time I’d managed to get into 5th, the top four drivers were long gone and there was no way to pull back the deficit. But on the way through I’d enjoyed a titanic battle with F4H Castrol who pulled off some impressive overtakes, including heading into the tight final chicane three abreast as I attempted to pass another driver.

3 into 1 chicane?

And if you want to know how this particular corner played out, here’s a quick clip showing me taking some evasive action in the orange Seat as I was surprised by Castrol’s blue hatchback suddenly appearing out of nowhere:

Race 2 should have been easier – in the GP2 series, the second race is an 18 lap event with a mandatory pit-stop, and most importantly the first 8 finishing positions are reversed, which meant I was starting from third place.

But on a night when nothing seemed to go right and the lobby had suffered immensely with connection issues, I managed to fluff the start and the opening lap, meaning that I’d dropped from 3rd to 6th. As the pits opened on lap 3, a couple of drivers took the chance for an early break, and I followed shortly afterwards to try and clear my head and re-focus. Luckily I was able to put in some consistently quick laps at the start of the stint and made up a couple of places as the pitstops resolved themselves to put me back up to 4th – despite occasionally catching the leaders earlier in the race, I just couldn’t be quite consistent enough to close enough to put in a challenge for the lead, so in the end settled for 4th – again, not a terrible result given my start to the evening.

So overall I’m disappointed that I qualified so badly, but happy that we eventually got to enjoy two great races with some good drivers and I salvaged two respectable results. Given the level of driving in all the VM series, it’s as tough to make up places in the last lobby as the times I’ve qualified in the top two, and the fastest times in our races would have been competitive up even in the 3rd lobby. Plus I’ve got more races to get to know the Seat and iron out the tendency for it to try and swap ends under braking – tracks with less camber on the corners will definitely be a little easier.

Race Organisers: Virtual Motorsports

Race Series: GP2 Season 2

Race Meeting: Round 1, Road Atlanta

Positions: Race 1: 5/12, Race 2 4/11.

Now it’s all about the special Nurburgring 2.4 hour event on Saturday, followed by the toughest series challenge yet – the VM Super GT series, which features Japanese high performance touring cars with no assists, no guiding lines, and some of the toughest drivers in Forza. I’m one of a minority of drivers currently running the 2008 Nissan GT-R so it’ll be interesting to see how it pans out, especially following on from 160 minutes of racing the R2 DTM Audi the night before…

A quick clip of the action in the first race of the Virtual Motorsports GP2 Season 2 meeting at Road Atlanta, which proves that 3 into the final chicane can sort of work. ORDC driver Badger Gravling was racing in the orange Seat Leon Supercup, and having started in last due to mistakes in qualifying, he managed to climb back up to eventually take 5th place, despite a hard fought battle with the blue Seat of F4H Castrol, who pulled off this audacious overtake on 2 cars into the chicane and lived to tell the tale!

Importantly, the May TopGear Pack is not part of any deals, so it’ll cost you 560 MS Points.

Again there’s a decent amount of variety in the cars selected, so here’s a rundown:

The May TopGear Pack for Forza Motorsport 4:

2012 Hennessey Venom GT: It makes perfect sense to base a car around the Lotus Elise, but then give it over 1,000 horsepower and lighten it a bit, which is probably why only 5 real cars will be built in 2012, because there are probably few people who fancy a 1,200 twin turbo 6.2 litre V8 in a carbone-fibre car weighing only 2,685 pounds. That means 0-200mph in 15.3 seconds which is almost 10 seconds quicker than a Bugatti Veyron can manage.

1977 AMC Pacer X: One of the icons of ’70s car design as made famous in Wayne’s World. By comparison with the Hennessey, the Pacer X has 100 horsepower in a 3,000 pound car.

2011 Ford Transit SuperSportVan: Ford starting making hot examples of the humble transit back in 1971 with possibly the most famous being the Cosworth-engined Supervan 2. This slightly more sensible version has a 3.2 litre 198 hp engine from the Transit Jumbo to add some fun.

2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon: Featuring the new Pentastar V6 engine with 280 hp and 260 ft lbs of torque, we’ll wait and see what it’s like on the track.

1966 Lotus Cortina: Our most eagerly awaited car for Forza – the legendary rally and touring car winner which was made famous by the likes of Jim Clark. You get 115 horsepower with 2,060 pounds of weight, and the joys of hearing the dual-Weber carbs.

1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4: One of two classic Japanese saloons in the pack, this is a turbo-cahrged, four-cylinder, four-wheel drive sedan, with 237 horsepower and front-wheel steering to help you turn.

2012 Smart ForTwo: The first micro car to be released to the American market, the Smart ForTwo is just 106 inches long, with 70 horsepower from the three-cylinder engine. We’re not sure it’ll topple our current comedy car favourite – our S Class Toyota Aygo, but we’ll give it a try.

1990 Subaru Legacy RS: Before the Impreza came the Legacy which started the firm’s off-road success with 200+ horsepower from the EJ20G engine and all-wheel drive.

2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8: Built like a brick outhouse, the bungalow-sized SRT8 has a 450hp Hemi motor producing 465 lbs ft torque with 0-60mph in under 5 seconds assuming you can afford new tyres.

1965 Austin-Healey 3000 MkIII: Up there with the Lotus Cortina for European car fans, the Austin Healey was Jensen built with a 147 horsepower 2,912 cc six-cylinder engine. Perfect for classic racing.

Starting on May 1, 2013, the series will run on Tuesdays at 13:00 CST / 19:00 GMT / 05:00 AEST, and will feature a two-race format with partially reversed grids. Tracks on the schedule include Road Atlanta, Iberian International and Tsukuba, followed by Maple Valley Raceway, Infineon Raceway, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and the Nurburging Grand Prix Circuit before finishing up at Sunset Peninsula Raceway on June 19th, 2013

You’ll also be able to compete in four championships, with a Drivers Championship, Teams and Privateers Championships, and for all drivers new to the event, a Rookies Championship. The series is sponsored by Turn 10, so those finishing at the top of each championship receive unicorn cars and in-game credits, or credits only for the Team Champions.

You can sign up via the Virtual Motorsports Forum GP2 Series 2 Forum.

Want to take part with OnlineRaceDriver?

If you’re interested in taking part, and fancy being part of a friendly team who hope to do well, why not join up with ORD driver Badger Gravling (That’s me!) to be part of a team entry? If you’re interested, let us know in the comments, or look me and the ORD Forza Motorsport 4 club (ORDC) up in the game and send us a message/application to join.