Actually that's a great idea. We're losing a race through the longer event so this would make sense and definitely make things more interesting!

Qualy

After a bit of a meh weekend at Norisring, I was really pleased with the way things went at Hockenheim. Did a 54.3 in qualli which is pretty quick for the Lancia. I had a couple of laps where i thought i might break the 53's but couldn't quite hold it together in the final sector. I thought i'd just managed to finish ahead of Arthur in the other Lancia but he nailed the final lap with a 53.7. Awesome lap just when it counted most. Grats Arthur!

Race 1

Definately the highlight of the event for me. I was totally powerless to fight against the Porsche and Capri's but the conering ability of the Lancia meant a great cat and mouse battle with Arthur, Birdski and Henny. Occasionally i'd get past through the corners only to be nailed on the straights and have to start over. Awesome fun but pretty intense for almost the whole race. The only break came near the end when we found a backmarker coming into the stadium section. We were already three wide and ended up tripping over each other sending cars skittling across the track. I recovered quite quickly and spent the next few laps trying to hold the gap. Coming into the last lap i was quite pleased with my third place and told myself to slow down a little and just hold position. Of course the inveitable happened and i completely overshot the first RHer into the stadium

I could only watch from the grass as Bird and Henny flew past. Limping home with my tail between my legs, i couldn't help feeling slightly vindicated when i saw Bird stuck in the barrier at the very last corner. That made me feel somewhat better and gave me a 4th place finish. Thanks Bird!

Race 2

The start was messy but i somehow made it through in good shape. I tried to hold off the flood of Porsches as long as possible but eventually the inevitable happened and i didn't put up too much of a fight. After that i just concentrated of keeping smooth and clean and inherited a few positions as others weren't quite so lucky. I eventually found myself in third place being hunted down by an angry warthog. The last two thirds of the race i just concentrated of nailing the twisty sections as that was the only place i seemed to have an advantage. I had a string of very quick and consistent laps in an attempt to hold off the inevitable as long as possible. Luckily Pumbaa made a couple of small errors so i was able to hold on until the very last lap when he was almost on my bumper. Somehow i managed to fight him off until the final straight into the stadium. I knew that final braking zone would be his last chance so i tried to brake as late as possible as he took a lunge up the outside. Sadly for Pumbaa he ran out of road giving me the space to hang on and take third place.

Race 3

Once again it was pretty tricky at the start but i had another dose of luck and came out pretty unscathed. Not much you can do in 6 laps so it was just a case of holding on and seeing what came out the end. Again, i was pleased to put in a string of clean and fast laps. No real drama's or excitement until the final lap when i noticed Pumbaa was slowing - it wasn't until i got past him and nearly crossed the line that he said he'd run out of fuel. Pumbaa - if i'd known earlier i would have given you a push. Hard luck.

Two fourth places and a third was about all that was possible today so i was very pleased with the outcome. I was also surprised just how hard i could push the Lancia through the corners. Turned out to be much more competitive than i expected here. No idea what will happen at LM though.

Grats to Ahmad, Rob and Pumbaa for some amazing driving. Thanks to Birdski for some awesome racing - and Arthur for showing me just how fast the Lancia could go in qualy A really fun event. Can't wait for LM.

The engine will be fine as long as you lift off the throttle over the jumps, and of course shift at the right times throughout the rest of the course (you seem to be having engine problems every race!).


3:56?? Surely you mean 3:36? I'm averaging 3:30s at the moment.

Ah I miss this track, not least of all because VLM designed it.

Full disclosure: I'm hitting 339kmph down the Mulsanne straight (that's with no damage to the car ), what about everyone else?

Topping out at 303kph in the Lancia. Might hit 305 with a tailwind!

No idea of laptimes yet as i haven't really done a proper run. Feels epic through the corners but suspect nowhere near enough to overcome the hack of horses.

I too forgot how amazing the VLM version of this track is. Awesome!

Haha

Well the Porsche isn't too bad in first few corners, but in the last sector it just doesn't want to turn! So it will be quite interesting come race weekend, especially with the Fords.

Ahmad, a lot of my engine troubles come from spinning and not lifting...lol. Trying to keep the car moving to straighten it up adds a lot of wear and tear.

The second 30 minute race yesterday I rolled the car, and once I was stopped (still okay) I had to drop it to Neutral then 1st to get going and no sooner touched the thottle when I blew up.

I really need to get a wheel with a shifter and clutch.

One thing about LeMans I'll be curious to see...going over the big jump with nose damage! I almost need a drag chute now to keep from doing a back flip.

I have done 2 test laps this weekend and the highest I have seen at the end just before the kink was 342 km/h

Do you have the XD plugin installed? If not, you should try it. It has an engine wear indicator that has been very helpful for me.
That way you know how your engine is doing and if you have to take it easy to make it to the finish. Even if you only use it for practice it will show you if your setup and your way of driving it will be a problem to see the finish.

http://www.vitumo.de/

Oh, I almost forget, I had some noticeable slowdowns during start.
Which are the most demanding graph feats? Any tweaks around?

(I have a radeon 6850, I thought this is good enough for the game:) )

I run on a basic laptop, dx9 + med graphics, 50m in the mirrors, editing .scn file on most demanding parts and 8 cars to show. DRM cars are VERY light on fps, with SCES it was dx7, everything at lowest and 40fps max, so I guess a basic PC config should easily do the trick.