Johno3

Johno #3 Booking in

Thanks very much to Mike for running the meeting, and well done to TomD for taking the final and finishing the top scorer on the night. I was fortunate or unfortunate, depending on your view, to be able to watch the final, and it was an epic race between Tom, Dazza and Matthew!! There were a few epic races last night - I was in one of the heats where 6 drivers had a chance of winning the race, and JK, who was in 6th came out on top - fantastic stuff. The other really exciting thing was how many drivers were on the pace. Big Al, Spike and Daveyboy drove some superb races. SikeJnr improved race on race. All this should make for a very exciting 2010 season!! Next week we race indoor, and we might change the format slightly to give you some more races. Last year, it was probably the best meeting of the Winter Series, so be sure not to miss it. Cheers Johno

Hello Everyone, May Ijust remind you that the Winter Series is run to the UK Dirt F1 Rules. Whilst I agree that this is a more relaxed series than the real life season (and why some of you have not been issued with a F1 ban), we should still be racing to the rules. That means that followins are not allowed, and just beaware when a leader is coming to pass you. Enjoy the evening by all means, perhaps lay one of two bigger than perhaps normal shots on people, but be sensible with it, as you can often spoil other peoples races if you not and it tends to be innocent people who get affected. Let's make it a fun series and have fun, but lets look for some really good racing, as the season is closer than you think!! God I feel like I have been laying down the law all day what with my warning above and the rants at kids at school!!! Cheers Johno

Johno #3 Red

Johno #3 booking in please - red

Thank you very much to all those people that have given us feedback based on meetings or the practice session from Sunday. The Admin Team have started discussing the situation and will let you know in the near future. I would encourage as many drivers as possible to attend the upcoming meeting so we ca get our final piece of feedback before making the final decision. Cheers Johno

So what do we think tonight then? We have had a tour around the tracks, so if possible, I would like some of your thoughts. I think it does exactly as it should do - it allows people to drive with the backend out and be quick early on in a race, but then it makes it harder for them. It works opposite for those drivers that drive straight. I would also be curious to know if people changed their set ups? I think that if this was confirmed, this is what people would need to do. So thoughts welcomed... Cheers Johno

I am going to the server now

I must confess I have never tried a shale car on tarmac or visa versa. My immediate issue with this is that you lose some of the realism by racing one car all of the time, and like you said above, it is still possible to be fast by having the back end out. Just to refer to the physics for a minute. I don’t think that they were wrong when they first came out. I think that they were very good at the time of release, however as things have developed and people have got quicker, the style of driving has changed and thus people are carrying the backend out on entry to the corner and through the middle of the corner. I think the exit of the corner is perfect, as if you give it too much gas then you spin around. So basically, what can we do with what we have on tarmac? Now this is where I perhaps need to be a little clearer on my thought process. I don’t think we can stop people driving with the backend out. It is the quickest way and we can’t stop that based on what we have. What we can do however is punish them for doing this, just as they would be if they drove like this in real life. I then think that if people can see that this is a disadvantage, then they will then start to think, hold on a minute, this style of driving, whilst quick for the first few laps of a race, is poor later on in the race, so I need to change my style, which will mean driving the car in a neater fashion, which in turn will make contact better, which in turn should then improve the racing. I think part of the problem with Thursday was that no one changed their set up, and continued with the set up that they used last year. If the tyre wear was to be changed, then people would think about changing their set ups. Because we are only in the trial stage, people are not changing their setups and stating that it doesn’t work. Well if you drive with the backend out, then you will be punished come the second half of the race. That said, I can see what Dazza is suggesting above with the way people use other drivers as a brake rather than racing with each other to get up the field quicker. The important thing is to try and test as much as we can, but at the same token we as an Admin Team don’t want to change it at the last minute, and thus leave you guys with no chance to experiment. We have not made a decision yet at all, and it could well be a case of nothing changes and we go on as we are. Once we have done all the testing, we will then discuss it and announce it very early in the new year. I am going to bump the practice thread now in the hope of catching a few people tonight for a bit more testing.

Hello Guys, I am hoping tomorrow to get a few drivers together and continuing with the ongoing tyre testing. Starting at 8:30pm, I am hoping to do a tarmac track tour, with a little time for practice and then a perhaps a race. Admin have not decided what to do so far. As I said in the otehr thread, Hednesford was positive, Skegness was mixed, and we will run the same at Birmingham on Thursday. I would like to try out some more tracks tomorrow night. We are trying to maintain a balance here. Do as much testing to make an informed decision, but at the same time, give you enough time to practice if we do decide to change things. Therefore what we need is a little help. Thanks to all those drivers that have left feedback for us so far. It is very much apptraciated. Cheers Johno

Very interesting points of view so far, and thanks very much to Drumbstick / Grasser for their posts from the UKSOM perspective. I think everyone has covered the reasons for trying the new tyre wear. Drivers, especially this year, have started to drive the car with the back end out, as this appears to be the fastest way around the track. The problem is, everyone knows that this is not how tarmac is driven in real life, and is not how tarmac was driven early on. So what has happened now people start driving with the back end out? Well right from the start, people start battering each other, and ineveitably, people spin out, when they are hit on the corner. Now as we know from the early years, you can drive tarmac 'properly' but you are at a disadvantage, as this is not the quickest way around a track. So how can we solve this? Well what I thought would work, and suggested to the Admin Team, is if we increased the tyre wear. This means that if you want to drive with the backend out, which is the quickest way, then you can. However, about halfway through a race, you will be punished for driving like this, due to your tyres being totally warn out. I personally think this is a fair reward. You have to choose one of 2 ways: (1) Be quick early on in the race, tyres wrecked, then you have to fight the car for the rest of the race. (2) Race with the car sqaure on, especially into the braking zone and through the middle of the corner (every car will slide out on the exit of the corner, just look at real life), and your tyres will last longer. Your slightly slow early on, but you pick up late on in the race. Just coming back to the spinning element, people regularly moaned about people spinning them out. Spinning is a little more accepted by drivers on shale, because you do get the back end out and inevitably, you are going to get spun from time to time. But because people think that on tarmac you shouldnt get the back end out, they moan when they get spun, but actually it is their fault for driving with the back end out, and thus only leaving the person behind with the inside back rear wheel to hit. This then in turn leads to drivers going for revenge hits. With the tyre wear on x2, I am hoping that people start to race with the car straighter into the corners, which will in turn bring more sqaure on the bumper hits. These are then a little easier to control (although you do sometimes spin out) and thus people calm down a little. If you look at last season, the worst meetings, or should I say the meetings with the most complaints were tarmac ones, and therefore for me it was a case of trying to find something that would [erhaps help to improve tarmac. Whether it will work or not, we will have to see. So far, Hednesford was very positive, Skegness has recieved mixed reactions (the reactions in after meeting chat was positive). Onto last night, I elluded to the fact that a couple of drivers were pushing their luck a little in regards disciplinary. I do try and relax a little more over the Winter Series, but one of the main elements of our Admin Meeting was that it was time we got a little tougher. So some people need to reign back a little with the exccessive hits, or they will find they will be having a spell on the side lines. One other point, and this actually contradicts what I initially said. Whilst I do think in some respects it levels the playing field, and makes it harder for every driver, I dont think the reds and the superstars struggled at all last night. Sure, two yellow tops dominated early on, but that pretty much happened at every tarmac meeting last season. However, the Superstars / Reds make up the bulk of the final places, except first place. They also have a good few at the top of the meeting points. This means, whilst I cant deny it feels a little harder, we have to work for the points, and that is no bad thing, as it should not be easy for any driver on the grid. One other thing I would be curious to know is this.... did anyone actually change their set up last night to try and get the car to drive straighter, or did they just stick with the set ups they had from last year? A lot of people in practice only do 5/6 laps, go back to the garage and change something, and thus think that the car is quick. The key with this new tyre wear is to run for 16-20 laps, and see how the car reacts. You have to think about the whole race rather than just will your car set the fastest lap. Anyway, very good thread so far with the comments being very fair and carefully constructed.... keep the comments coming, and we will see what Birmingham brings next week. Cheers Johno

Thanks very much for the meeting Mike. Congratulations to Mav on taking the meeting final. What did we think to the meeting then, or more specifically the tyre settings? My gut feeling was that the tyre settings worked, its just that people were a little agressive with the bumpers tonight, to the point where people would be pushing their luck under the disciplinary procedures. I really think it levels the playing field a little bit more, and requires you to drive straight. I feel it rewards those drivers that drive tarmac like it should be driven. Anyway, next week, we will trial it once again, and then we will discuss it as an admin team. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Johno

Hello All, Here are the grade changes, which are to be taken into effect tomorrow night at Skegness. With it being the end of the season, we have taken the chance to tweak a few drivers that may need a grade change. Congratulations to all those drivers that have been upgraded. Comisserations to all those drivers that have been downgraded. GOLD – 1/290 SILVER - 112 RED - 331 Up to Superstar 315 Up to Red 8, 216 Down to Red 3, 136, 137, 363, 87 Up to Blue 259, 61, 500 Down to Blue 531, 233, 561, 323, 256 Up to Yellow 445, 516, 17 Down to Yellow 488 Down to White None NEW DRIVERS Skeet – Yellow Pedz – Yellow If you are a new driver, and have had F1 experience in UK Dirt or another league before, then please get in touch with me so that we can sort out your grade. Cheers Johno

Hello Skeet, We will start you off at yellow sir Johno #3 booking in - red roof. Cheers Johno

Hello guys, After an inital trial last season at Hednesford, the UK Dirt F1 Admin Team will once again be experimenting with the tyre wear rate. We wil be using both the Skegness and Birmingham meetings of the Winter Series to trial this. From there, with your feedback after the meetings, we wil then make a decision on what we will do next season. I am going to set up the server now, with the tyre wear rate at x2, which was the same rate we ran at Hednesford. As I have said, we will look for your feedback at the end of the meeting, as this will have a mojor say on how we run tarmac meetings in 2010. The final Winter Series Meeting at Wimbledon will be run under what ever conditions we decide to use for the 2010 season. Cheers Johno

Mick Harris for both please. Cheers Johno

First of all, very well done for collecting all of the information Mike. Once again you have done a top job with the awards. And a big well done to JK. I had no idea you were helping Mike out, so thanks very much for doing that sir. I am afraid I have a small confession. With me being busy at school this week, and no very well (actually had some time off this week), I actually forgot to hand in my votes. My comment at the end of the awards is from 2 years ago I think. Here was my favourite moment: Thanks to everyone who voted for myself personally, and to everyone that voted on the awards. It really is a great tradition, and once again it has brought up some cracking comments. one last thing: If anyone wants to buy me a decent keyboard to improve my typing, then please feel free Cheers Johno

Awesome stuff again. Well done to all the guys from UKSOM. Cheers Johno

First of all, big well done to Kev on this production. Kev first let us know about this 2 weeks ago, and we could not believe how long it was then. A few people chipped in a few reports and before you know it, it was approaching 100 pages. This really is a phenominal achievement. Very well done Kev, and the rest of the team who chipped in. Cheers Johno

The F1 admin team are still discussing the full fixture list for the 2010 F1 league and are awaiting the real-life fixture list to be released before deciding where to hold some of the minor championships. We have however, comfirmed the dates for the major titles and wish to release them here. UK Open Championship Skegness Wednesday 12th & Thursday 13th May World Semi-Finals Sheffield Thursday 15th July Buxton Thursday 29th July European Championship Arena Essex Wednesday 21st July Northampton Thursday 22nd July World Championship Two Day Event COVENTRY Wednesday 8th September - Consolation Semi Final / Pre World Final Face Off Thursday 9th September - 2010 UK DIRT F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP British Championship Venue: TBC Thursday 23rd September Obviously a full fixture list will be released as soon as possible in the new year. Hope this helps some of you plan your holidays etc. lol Cheers Johno

Thanks to everyone that made a comment. We had a very productive admin meeting, and we just have one or two things that we need to discuss before we release any more details. I will very quickly answer the questions that I put to you. Season length It will be a few meetings less than last season. Double headers There will be no double headers next year (two meetings in one night). Wednesday meetings In order to keep the season about the same length, we will need to run some Wednesday meetings. Obviously, the bulk of the main meetings are on a Thursday, as this is the main F1 day. National Series This will remain the same as this year, with the only difference being no jokers are to be played. We feel that with the secrecy it is a waste of time, but we also feel that if we made them public, then it could cause more trouble on track. Therefore, we will keep it simple, and say no jokers. World Championship Qualifying Rounds at the end of the season As it stands, we dont intend on running these at the minute. We will look at how the semi finals go this year, and judge from there. Disciplinary This has been discussed and there will be some tweaks. I will announce these once we have confirmed them as a team. Cheers Johno

Thanks very much to everyone that has commented so far. Can I just bump this up, and let people know that this thread will be closed on Thursday night at 6pm. The reason for this is to give me time to get your suggestions in order ready for our Admin Meeting. Cheers Johno

Good to hear from you Rebel. Corny was fantastic on that race, probably the quickest on track out of anyone, and he informs us, it is with his rusty old joystick!! For just £5 you could be challenging Corny on the Rfactor tracks next year - be great to see you out on track again, and I think we you have tried rfactor before haven't you? Johno

Well done TomD