[TGC-DnD] The Gentlemen's Club - Drink 'n' Drive TGC Fridays

[ZiggyUK]

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This thread has been amended from [TGC-ADC] Autocross Driving Club to [TGC-DnD] Drink 'n' Drive Fridays.

We at TGC are in no way supporting or promoting drinking alcohol and getting into a real life car to drive.

However drinking real life alcohol and driving in a virtual car is a totally different matter.

In a time honoured manner of the TGC then Friday night is the night we see who falls asleep at the wheel first. Events can be nearly anything, as you will understand if you read through this thread, but as long as you are having fun and not taking it serious then you are doing it right.

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At times the following will still be arranged but not every week anymore

Autocross (also called "Gymkhana") is a form of motorsports that emphasizes safe competition and active participation. An autocross is a timed competition in which drivers navigate one at a time through a defined course on either a sealed or an unsealed surface. Autocross differs from road racing and oval racing in that generally there is only one car on the track, racing against the clock rather than other cars. As an entry-level motorsport it provides a stepping stone for drivers looking to move into other more competitive and possibly expensive forms of racing (such as rallying and circuit racing).

Autocross courses are typically one to two kilometres long and tend to place demands on car handling and driver skill rather than on engine power and outright speed. Courses may be temporary and marked by traffic cones or be permanent tracks with approval by a motorsport body.

This is not a championship but driven for fun and understanding of the vehicles.

Any rulings shall be taken from the UK's MSA rulebook. Please note European Autocross is significantly different from most other types in that cars race wheel to wheel.

[ZiggyUK]

Last night's little testing session was interesting :P Let me know guys if there's any interest in more autocross sessions, I'm thinking primarily road cars but if there's a track that allows it there could be a short course 1v1 race of champions style thing in something faster.

For those who weren't there last night, here's the kind of thing I mean. Red Mist recorded a bit so he might upload that at some point, and I'll be filming a run at some point too.

Autocross was fun, it would be good to do it in a Focus or Megane as a real test of handbrake skill, I could even set my shifter up to be the handbrake and use paddles for the gearing.

I would say that with a big group there would be a lot of waiting around, worked well with 4 or 5 though.

Are there any other tracks with appropriate road furniture to set up a course?

I've been thinking about the waiting thing, what if we formed up the cars into an old school le mans style parking system so that everyone can watch the competitors do their runs.

I'm all for using the hatchbacks, just make sure the handbrake works on those cars before doing anything drastic to your assignments

Other tracks shouldnt be a problem, if all else fails we can combine it with some rallycross

There were some handbrake changes in the patch, not tried it yet but fingers crossed!

I like the Le Mans parking idea, that will work well.

I vote one Sunday is designated as a rallycross/autocross/bunch of short fun race night.

I would say FRIDAY night would be better.

I'd like to join in some autocross...should help me understand better how to setup some of the cars.

@Alex: is there a way to set up some of the more unusual cars for autocross, e.g. maybe a GT4 car or say the McF1?

F1's a bit of a lost cause if you're talking about competitiveness, but the GT4's would be good. If there's enough interest in an autocross night then I'll propose it to ziggy, then we can get started with all the details

I reckon the G40s might be quite good for it as well.

I am up for it, wouldn't mind a Joker Lap evening too

Again I would say have the "Drink & Drive" Friday evening with the Joker lap

[Pamellaaa]

Again I would say have the "Drink & Drive" Friday evening with the Joker lap

Should we have another thread for Joker racing or should everything that isn't traditional racing go in here? ([TGC-D&D] perhaps, Autocross one week, jokers the next, drifting or silly races on another etc etc)

[ZiggyUK]

I would keep the Autocross, Joker Races, D&D in here for now.

[Alex Hobbs]

Well I guess this is a thing now Autocross will be held on fridays at 19:00 UTC, and they will be interspersed with rallycross events (which will have joker laps).

Here's how I intend to run things for the autocross events:

Each driver will follow the lead car (me) up to the staging area, and then we'll do a run of the course so that everyone knows what we'll be doing. After that we'll park up (there'll be a designated place for this that I'll show you on the night) and run through the order.

Every driver will run through the course individually and be timed, and points will be assigned based on the finishing order for that run. 1st place will get 10 points and this will scale down to 10th place getting 1 point and any DNF's getting 0. This process will repeat 3 times, and whoever has the most points by the end of this wins the event

Rules:

It will be common for us to work across track boundaries so our track rules need to be a little different. Current thinking is that one wheel needs to remain on whatever surface the course is supposed to run on at that point. Severe cutting will be penalised with point loss.

DNF's: If you run the course incorrectly then you have 2 more attempts. If you fail to complete the course after this then you are classified as DNF and will be assigned 0 points for that run. You can still compete in the run after that, and it won't affect your points beforehand.

Setups: Custom setups are recommended but not compulsory

You will not be shown the track before the event. This is common irl and places emphasis on driver perception, confidence and awareness.

I may have missed some things, so feel free to ask any questions

[ZiggyUK]

Not even a thank you for setting up the thread for you guys

[Westbeef]

Not even a thank you for setting up the thread for you guys

Cheers Zigster!

[Timmynator]

Thanks Ziggy!

Alex, since you're the king of watch-me-drift-my-BMW-backwards-around-pylons, how about some general setup tips for those of us who're completely green to autocross? Obviously it's about having a (very) well handling car as well as the skills to do so, but "low and stiff" only goes so far...

€dit: what are Joker Races / Joker laps? Is that something like taking a GT40 out to a kart track?

[Pamellaaa]

Also Thanks to Ziggy!

If I get some time tomorrow I will see about getting some maps drawn up for the current crop of Joker laps that we have.

For setting something up for Autosolo you want to be able to turn on a dime and accelerate quickly, with race cars (or anything without a handbrake) you want a rear brake balance to act as a handbrake and then a setup for traction out of turns, I would say though that its a lot more down to driver skill than setup.

[Alex Hobbs]

Not even a thank you for setting up the thread for you guys

Oh yeah, cheers

@Timmy the key to autocross is usually keeping it in a slight slip angle throughout corners, and having a car that allows you to do that. Midcorner isn't really a thing when you're talking about pylons and tyre stacks so your main objectives are to get it to dart under braking and kicking out just a little under acceleration. To do this make sure you've got your brake bias very rearward (I use about 30% for autocross but some use as little as 0, though consistency becomes an issue) and tune your diff to kick out a little (max preload, up/down on the accel diff depending on what the car naturally does) and quicken your steering ratio.

Also make sure your tyres aren't doing anything crazy on entry. For example, the 1M coupe on a default setup will lift the inside front under heavy cornering, which obviously isn't good enough. To cure this, soften your front sway bar all the way and stiffen your rear sway all the way. You can do this for FWD cars too, it'll kick the inside rear up and give you better turn in