Mav

I am still in shock now!!! As I only had 40 mins practice and was spinning more often than not, I went to chat to tell Spike I was cancelling. He said I should at least do the W&Y race, which I agreed. Then I asked MOR what could I do to stop the car spinning when I accellerated - he said "Don't accellerate!!" - not much help there then! But he did say that the default setup was ok for here. Thats what I used for the W&Y, hence why I was so tentative going round. But I survived and felt that I could keep up with the yellows ok. My real concern was allowing the blues and reds through without screwing up theirs and my race. Ht1 - a spin but recovered for 9th, Ht3 - a solid enough race with traffic and a brilliant 6th. Nervous about the final, got caught in traffic so backed off allowed them through and then set off after them. Had a good time trying to stay in front of Big Al, but by the flag I could only get to 11th - I hate 11th!!! GN was so surreal!! No-one was catching, I was driving well until the last two laps when panic and nerves and sweat hit!! Fortunately I held on and crossed the line so proud of myself that I couldn't even get the doughnuts right!!!! Thanks to Spike Jnr who drove a patient race with me, Thanks to Dazza for his words but for mostly not having a last bend lunge in the GN but most of all to Spike for having belief in me to do it, after I had convinced myself that its not a track I can do. Appreciate all the congrats after the race too First eight meetings last season I didn't score a point, so to score 20 in my first meeting this season - well I may just have to retire at that!!!! We both hope to have a go at Coventry, but again its a track I haven't been able to do in the past, but now - Who Knows!!

Mav #525 - Might be a big mistake but we'll give it a go!!

Mav #641 If only 10 book, then I think I can get some points! lol

I have had e-mails from webmania saying that they have had a serious outage and are working to get everything back up and running. I have websites on their servers and they are not working either. We would like to inform you of a network outage that affected our network on Friday 29th April. The outage affected all customers and was caused by a routing issue inside the Level3 network who we peer with. As soon as the outage occured, Level3 were notified of the error and there engineers were working to resolv it. The connection on their edge router which interfaces with our needed to be rebuilt and in the process altering the route path slightly. The Network is currently up. We apologies for the inconvenience caused. We would like to give you an update regarding an issue found on server 15 & 17. The Power Supply Unit in this server has failed, we sent a replacement PSU to the data centre which was installed, unfortunately although power was live on the server, the server itself would not respond. We believe the midplane on the server has suffered damage as a result of the PSU failure. We are now sending a replacement chasis for the server to the data centre. Which we hope will solve the issue. Apologies for the inconvenience.

Thanks Johno. I followed the link and they have granted me another licence. I have now used it to activate the game, so I am up and running!!

Very true Big Al - I sincerely hope he has learnt from it. In fact he was too embarressed to tell his mates what he did this morning, so I told them and even they were disgusted!!!

Congratulations on your 40th Birthday Bathy Hope you have a great day!

I wish I could be starting this reply with happiness due to Simon's brilliant 3rd place in the GN, but as the preceding races were such poor driving from Simon, I can only offer our apologies to the following drivers. Grasser : There was no need for Simon to go in on you after you past him cleanly, he did get shouted at and was quite expecting a big hit from you when you caught right back up again. It didn't come, compliments to you for that, but the following bend Simon again managed to take you out. Simon was trying to race you down the straight and he tagged you, but with Liams help the fencing seemed as if it was all Simon again, but he was genuinely trying to not fence you that time. Matthew : Once again, Simon had the mind set of hitting people who had passed him - Why, I don't understand myself as the aggro it causes just isn't worth it. Only redemption for Simon was the final was brutal and he did get bashed about an awful lot prior to you catching Matthew, but that is no excuse and I am sorry you left because of it. Mike : Simon was in bits by the end of the final especially after stopping you yards away from winning the final. He basically had no tyres left and was "messing" about with Spike not taking any notice of what was around him at that point. I exploded at Simon and we had quite a heated arguement! But his stupidity cost you the final. Sorry If there was anyone else Simon affected (like DanSkin) - Simon and I apologise - Things will change!! On the plus side, having had our exchange of words prior to the GN, Simon just wanted the night to be over as he had let himself down, let me down and mostly let UK Dirt down. As a consequent, Simon drove a very steady race and didn't retaliate against DanSkin or Dode when they passed him. I did praise Simon when he crossed the line and said thats how he should drive all the time, he did crack a smile but was still upset about the earlier races. I sincerely hope he has learnt from last night as there are far too many instances listed above and he will drive more conservatively in future. Once again our apologies to all affected drivers for such a poor showing last night. I just have to get rid of the "Free Trial" and I can be online also as the new installation worked on the laptop this morning.

Hi Guys, I have reformatted my laptop in an attempt to get rFactor working properly on it. ie I have taken off all the crap and just re-installed Vista + rFactor. I have loaded rFactor then downloaded F1's then copied as many files across from PC (which Simon uses to race) so that I can have the same confirguration and setups. My problem is, it won't let me run the game because of the licence. I have one, but due to the many re-installations I have done I have none left to use. Whats the easiest solution as I wish to race tonight?? I won't bother if I have to buy another licence as it all went wrong last time I tried that!! As the laptop is doing 106 windows updates, I cannot actually see if the game works yet anyway (once passed the trial screen). Any help would be appreciated.

Having felt confident to be on the pace, I felt that a top ten finish in each race was a possibility. Not to be! as I forgot to factor "Bad Luck" into the equation!!! Being back of the blues was difficult as you had 12 or so reds pushing from the first lap to get by, but I found it an enjoyable challenge. One spin or fencing however and that was virtually race over. I was surprised that not many people went out of the race, thus unable to pick up places by race end. Apologies to Drum and Grasser - I was used and abused by Tom to get Drum spun out and after you spun Grasser I couldn't avoid you, I think I broke your car Had the best ever race with Trav in heat two, still don't know how he caught me up, nor how I lost two places in the last two laps of that race!! but felt great to be side by side and no dirty stuff!! Well done Kendo top job. Good to be on the pace thanks to Drum & Tosh, thus so far I will be back next week although I have never raced at Sheffield in F2's so that will be fun!!

Mav #641 Please

Having watched the replays this morning, Simon was quoted as saying "I was awesome, even though I am slow"!! Being yellow didn't phase him at all, nor did racing on shale - he enjoyed it and no-one moaned at him and thats the main thing. Watching the races "Live" myself, they seemed good close stuff, but lower graders do come under attack from the red top train quite quickly. Appreciate this is due to numbers as per the other thread, but if the racing going forward is as good and fair on lower graders as last night, I see no reason why new people shouldn't give it a try. Hell, I might even give it a go again Well Done to Waqar - good points scored - but you really need to get a wheel, it does make a difference! Congrats to Tom (why oh why didn't you have a go DanSkin!! lol) Davey - Buxton lap for Simon is 15.8 best, 16.0 mostly. No true setup time yet, so hope to improve this in the week especially if Tom says he can do a 13.5 or something silly like that!!!

Is the updated version the one with all the planes and stuff flying in the sky??

Mav_Jnr #285 please

All my quotes reflect practicing online. My personal experience is that practicing offline is no use unless you have every setting the same on your pc as on the server. I have practiced offline only to find that my game aided me but this aid was switched off online. Also I found that I was at least 1 second slower online if I used a setup that I had practiced offline. Therefore I alway set my car up online in the server, and found the best time to do it was leading upto the meeting. Several things didn't help tho. Things like Harmen burying you every lap, or someone else squabbling in front of you, or you get wiped out on track by someone leaving the pits!! lol That way I was ready for the meeting. If I was able to practice between races to test other things I then confused myself as to which was better - and as I couldn't do 16 laps with the new tweak to see how it affected me, I just made do with what I had prior to the meeting - just like in real life

The thing that struck me, giving rise to me questioning this ie no racing during the 3 minutes etc was when I was Race Manager for the F2 British Championship last year. I felt that no-one was taking any notice of what I posted up with in race chat with regards to the meeting - calling grids etc. It was hard work, let alone racing too. People just raced round and waited until the server was set to race, then asked questions! New drivers need to see clear instructions and not be distracted by drivers screaming round the pits or out on track etc. They wouldn't know what they could or couldn't do. But if everyone is doing the same ie Nothing! then your attention then is on the Race Manager or Steward.

As I said to Drum, if its constructive then I don't mind at all - and what you have said is another point of view and like so many you either agree or disagree - some points you have said I am mulling over, and some I don't agree with but its all about opinions and turning them into ideas if they are worth doing so. One point I would like to make on what you have said is that about no practice in meetings. If you want a mod that is true to life then practice during a meeting is a definate NO. Practice should be before and after not during, you race with what you have else what was the point of practicing? Drivers goto Birmingham or Northampton during the week to setup cars as they cannot do it during the meeting - they race with what they have. Thus why I suggest a pre-meeting controlled practice session. I do not want to know what the superstars can do, I want to know what my grade and lower can do as thats who I am technically racing against. Getting superstar times will come in time but not when you start. My lad knows that if he is under one second slower than Tom, he has a chance of staying ahead, but whats the point of knowing that if he is half a second slower than the other whites or yellows?? Pre-meeting practice in my eyes isn't for obtaining setup advice, its for honing in on the track that you are about to race, hopefully getting drivers comfortable with what they have. Setup advice comes in free practice during the week or the hour or so prior to the meeting. Thats how I think anyway! Again its not a perfect solution, it maybe an idea, it maybe utter tripe. To me the meeting is a focal point of what UK Dirt do, and if people are whizzing about all over the place it just seems unstructured to me and not organised.

I don't think you are picking on me m8, If I thought that I wouldn't post!! If what I write raises reasonable questions, then it has served its purpose but whatever I post is from what I know and feel, but if I am uneducated about things then yes I need to be enlightened and shown an alternate way, how else do we learn?? Sounds very religious doesn't it! lol 2) The "Blues and Reds" series was started after Trav queried it, I believe. But in principle I do not like "Series" unless it involves everyone ie Thunder Series. Only exception is "Whites & Yellows" as it gives these drivers something to fight for, and it is possible for a red top to drop to yellow and partake, so it is in theory (not in practice) open to everyone. Unity not segregation. 3) To be very honest, I know nothing about the workings of "Team Speak", I just know it exists. I assumed wrongly then that it was just for a closed group and didn't know that it can be open to anyone to have. In that case my "Ban" request is probably over the top, but if it can be open to everyone, then it should be an addition offered openly on the website. 5) Be good to have it back then Drum - Get finding!!!

My comments earlier were about F1's, as I found F2's ok to drive, it was just the abuse from top drivers that got to me in these, similar to Kendo's experience. Admin do work hard behind the scenes and until you have been Admin, you cannot appreciate what does go on. They will not be sitting back letting it all happen, they will be working hard to try and make things run smoother EVERY day of the week, but if the drivers don't do their bit, what chance have the Admin's got?? Idea's 1) Practice servers should be set up ready the evening before the meeting ie Sunday for F2's and Wednesday for F1's. I often went to practice and the server wasn't up. Also how to change track whilst in the server, as sometimes its not set correctly. 2) Scrap the "Champions League" - it is not a good advertisement for the league - If it is to be run then run it pre-meeting (More details below), but keep it out of the leagues running as it just gives the impression that to be in this league you need to be a very good driver. As Trav suggested when it came about, what about the other drivers lower than red?? Yes you have a "Whites & Yellows" Championship, but in reality thats the only Championship they can go for, plus the fact that if they are too good for those grades and get to blue, then they are out of that Championship and into what - the forgotten grade - Blue. With running the "Champions League" it shows the league to be more concerned with the top end of drivers. 3) Teamspeak - This should be banned too, but I guess that is very hard to ban as its outside of the leagues control. Reason for this is that it can be used to "Fix" races. I am NOT saying that this happens as I have no proof that it does (although I am convinced that it was used to remove me from a race last year), but communication between drivers and spectators whilst the race is in progress is not fair for those who don't have it and can have a bearing of the outcome of the race. It also creates groups of people within UK Dirt, promoting "Team Racing", rather than a full community of individuals, all UK Dirt together. 4)Pre-Meeting Structure - Two Servers to be used - One accommodating Whites, Yellows and low Blues, the other top Blues, Reds and Superstars. At 8:15pm, each Server hosts a 5 minute practice session, followed by one race in graded order, followed by another 5 minute practice session. This way lower graders can use their setups they have achieved earlier in the day in open track (ie no bully reds ) then have a test race to see how it handles in race conditions followed by a free for all 5 minute session before the meeting actually starts. The reds etc could have their Champions League race at this point, rather than practice as in essence they really dont need to practice. All to Mirc chat at 8:30pm. 5) Jonnyboy did a breakdown of what each component did on a "Heat" car, although not detailed it did help you gain an idea of what each part affected with possible solutions. Adding an "Rfactor Setup" guide on UK Dirts Website for reference would help new drivers or struggling drivers to tweak and play with setups. I could spend hours testing a car but although I changed bits, it still drove the same to me. Now if I was advised "Lowering your brake bias allows your car to go loose entering a bend" I would know what to look out for and adjust accordingly. 6) New Drivers : They should be allowed to have two weeks free access to the server, which entitles them to practice sessions plus pre-meeting races (As stated above) - They will not be allowed to take part in the race meeting until they have paid, although they can spectate. This would allow them the freedom to try out UK Dirt, without the pressure of gridding, rolling and generally getting in the way from the word GO. They can see how a race works in the pre meeting race, also practice with people of their standard then watch how a meeting works before being unleashed to the red lions. If everyone welcomed them, guided them then they are more likely to feel wanted and part of the group immediately rather than "your warping, sod off and sort it" or "Your crap go to learn to drive before you come back". If they have got a wheel, bought rFactor, and generally been welcomed by giving them a chance at their level, then after two weeks they are more likely to pay up and race than walk away from it. First impressions and all that. 7) Driver Etiquet- If the above happens and new drivers watch for two weeks/meetings then current drivers have to clean up their act and stop abusing other drivers. As Big Al has said drivers who are seen to be abusing other drivers should face a disciplinary - even if they don't swear. It not a good impression if new drivers see a racing incident in a race then have to endure the verbal abuse afterwards on their screen. I wasn't happy to see swear words used when Simon was present. Yes he knows the words, but he doesn't need to see them or read them. Most often if drivers just let it go for the meeting, and watch the replay afterwards, things are not what they first seemed. Occassionally it is driver stupidity that caused it, but not all the time - so check before you shout!! Note to Editor - Heed your own words!!! 8) Race Meetings Structure - In order to get away from the "loneliness" of the way rFactor runs, I would like to propose that a rigid structure be imposed to create discipline and minimise truancy!! Everybody assembles in Mirc Chat. First race is called with a designated Steward (who maybe racing that heat too). Once people arrive in the server NO-ONE is permitted to start up their cars and go to the track to practice or race around the pits. This should have been all done pre-meeting. Once the steward arrives he sets the server to a 3 minute warmup. Drivers can chat but NO-ONE strikes up their cars. If they do they are disqualified. It also gives them time to get a drink, go pee etc. Once the warm-up finishes, I believe the server goes automatically to the race. If drivers are not present at that point they miss the race. Once on track the race continues as normal. If it is an all in meeting, then no cars to be struck up during each race turn around. This allows chat to be had and hopefully good banter to be observed by one and all, plus allows the Race Manager to catch breath without it all kicking off in the background. Somebody said that rFactor was a race sim game meaning it was to feel like real life - If that is so, then what happens in real life should be possible in rFactor. For example - Lower graders spinning causing pile-ups, reds spinning other reds by taking their back ends, drivers flying off the infield collecting a car on track, deliberate fencings (Punished by the steward and racing board mind!), whites driving the race of their lives to finish in top three, reds/superstars getting it wrong and having to work very hard to get back into the race etc etc etc - Are all those things what we go to spectate for, and what makes Stock Car Racing what it is??? So if it happens in real life, why is it cursed so much in rfactor ??? I started to accept incidents on track that lost me time and places, I cursed to myself or mentioned it at real meetings but didn't abuse people on screen there and then. Take this abuse away then I think more drivers will turn up and race. No one is immune from it, even in real life. Be all and end all is "If you have a problem with it - Talk to Admin". Hopefully you will have read this as constructive rather than critisism, and its purely my opinion & ideas as a lower grade driver (I cant comment as a top driver), of which I am sure some of you will not agree with, and I do accept that. If we all agreed on everything we wouldn't be having these discussions would we!!!!

Kendo's F2 Reply, I'm FILTERED off with all of the moaning wankers going on this FILTERED mod recently......... If you've got a complaint about standards then FILTERED complain as per the rules or get your revenge back on the FILTERED track like everyone else does and how it's been since ukdirt started in 2000. The amount of whining is rediculous. Tonight i've been accused of being a stupid driver, following someone in (twice), lap downing and rejoining in front of others. Watch the FILTERED replays before you moan Stupid driving.....battling with the leader in the final?????? Are you having a laugh - what the FILTERED are we all racing for? Following someone in......watch the replay and you'll see i was braking. Rejoining in front of others.......I half spun while in about 3rd place then built up speed again on the inside on the track so as not to get stuck on the outside of the track with about 4/5 drivers overtaking me on the inside......you want my place then your going to have to work for it cause you ain't FILTERED having it!!!! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Have to agree with Kendo 100% as a fellow lower grader and for reasons below. Last year I was all for giving it a good go, as I hadn't really taken to rFactor as much as heat for several reasons. I purchased a £1000 computer, bought another wheel and practiced more than ever before. I even introduced Simon to racing and thought that the extra challenge between us would spice it up for us. I know that I am a target for winding up and having a go at me on track, but I factor that in when competing. But what I found being a lower grader was: 1) No tolerance for lower graders, they are abused and easy targets to blame for others mistakes. 2) No real practice sessions where other drivers would help - Heat days the practice after the meeting would set you up for the next meeting and give you a "Can't wait" for next week feeling. This session would go well past midnight. 3) Rfactor meeting is completely void of making you feel part of a community, least with heat you all met in chat and had a laugh and you got to know new drivers, plenty of banter etc. When the race was called again you went to the server and had a chat prior to clicking "GO" - then the serious bit kicked in and enjoyment was had by most. After the race all back to chat (either race chat or mirc chat). Everybody did things as a unit/community. RFactor is the complete opposite - you are alone - you practice alone, you turn up in the server alone, you cannot have a private conversation, conversations go on whilst you are on track and its off putting. You are judged by what you do on track, not by what you say in chat - for example in Heat, Travel was liked by all for his outgoingness in chat dispite being the most feared on track, but in contrast everyone dislikes Harmen because of what he does on track, yet no-one has got to know him via chat. He could be a very likeable guy?? 4) Practice prior to the meeting : Drivers mess about in pits, then muck about on track - this may seem trivial but when you are trying to learn what the car is doing as a lower grader, the practice time is important. If we cannot get an acceptable drive in practice, its no wonder we can't get it right in the meeting and why so many mistakes are made by us. How many new people will know how bad the tyres go off at the end of a race, How many will know how to stop this happening?? I didn't and still don't; I just drove the best I could till the end of the race; mostly on the edge but quite often going over the cliff (as they say in F1 GP) thus making errors, causing incidents. 5) I fully understand that the reds etc need to keep momentum going to create the perfect lap, but this isn't Hot-Rods, other drivers are allowed to get in the way, but the on track brutal dealings some drivers have with lower graders coupled with the "Verbal Abuse" afterwards is anything but a complete turn off. Simon had this with drivers at the end of last season, and he just didn't understand what he had done except try his best and maintain his position. He was gutted and lost interest. He now wants to give it a go again, but I fear for him. I stuck it out in heat - Just!! - dispite all the verbal abuse and fencings, but in rFactor the abuse seems more personal and direct, maybe thats because I don't know current rFactor drivers in real life or maybe they just don't want a driver like me racing. I never felt part of UK Dirt when I raced rFactor, like I did with Heat and I suppose with being able to make the comparison between the two times makes it harder for me to accept rFactor. The hassle of a new computer, a new wheel, setting it up for practice and meetings, taking it down again to work on computer, added to the "bullying" on track, "verbal abuse" of top drivers - just doesn't seem worth doing compared to Heat. Plenty of practice, getting to know drivers (I have met more heat drivers at real meetings and had a great laugh with them, but cannot remember meeting any non heat rFactor drivers at real meetings), racing on keys (no setting up) - Heat was really "Plug and Go" stuff. Much simpler for people to grasp. UK Dirt rFactor to me has become "Elitist". The drivers who can do it, are able to race side by side, lap after lap and get a real buzz from doing so - BUT get a lower grader in the way and blood vessels burst and they let rip. What I can see are out of the 20 drivers who currently race, at least 12 are really competitive, the remainder make up the numbers but still can get round with Waqar (How does he find the enthusiam to race when so many people are at him all the time??) bring up the rear. Problem is those 12 at the top don't want any more Waqar's joining because it takes away their own enjoyment of perfect laps and wheel to wheel racing. Those that do want more Waqar's to join are the lower graders, who then have a bit more competition for themselves and also means that they don't have to race the same 12 top drivers over and over again. How are they ever going to amass points when the same 12 drivers are taking up the first 10 places??? I fully inderstand that with only 20 drivers its difficult to mix it up, and whites & yellows races dont amount to much due to car numbers, but from my point of view I feel that I have no chance of doing anything in a meeting because the competition is far too strong; and if I feel I have no chance, then odds on I am not going to enjoy it. The best I could hope for is to maintain a yellow roof, and being yellow for years is not what I consider a challenge, I would want to be able to fight for a red roof but as I said before the competition is too strong. I wonder if this is why so many new drivers have turned to Sim-Stox rather than UK Dirt?? Nobody seems to want to race Heat anymore as I have had very little response from UK Dirt members, so rFactor is the only option and for those that have invested in it want to see a return on their investment. But those who can't invest or just does not like the idea of rFactor have simply gone away. All I know is that at Heats height of popularity we had 60 drivers racing at anyone time in any main mod - but now in rfactor you have 20 drivers after 3 or so years of running. rFactor just seems very technical to understand from the word go, for people completely new to it, its not a simple game to get into on your own, to me it has to spread by word of mouth and then helped by those spreading the word. Simon often comes home and starts playing a new game because his mates are playing it, but before that he never knew the game existed. On the flip side of that you don't want a load of 12 year olds joining!! I sincerely hope a solution can be found to attract more drivers to UK Dirt as its been a wonderful community over the years, but for now, for me, I will watch how Simon gets on - maybe it will give me hope that I can do it - or maybe it will confirm why I don't do it

PM sent

Only other mods that they race are Salloons and Bangers - no mention of Hot Rods - Sorry.

If anyone is still interested in racing "Heat" in a League, just like it was run in UK Dirt, then please send me a pm for the details. At present we have low numbers so we are looking for more drivers to make it more competitive and viable. Very small server fee on joining. Kendo, Bathyboy, Daveyboy and myself race the F1's and F2's with the Legends due to start next week. Other drivers include JackR, DJ and Pluko. Currently we race F1's from 8pm to 9pm with F2's from 9pm to 10pm on a Wednesday Evening. Legends are in discussions as to which night is best to race on. So if you are interested and can spare a couple of hours on a Wednesday evening, then give me or any of the above a pm and we will gladly pass on the details to join.

Mav_Jnr #285 - White

Mav_Jnr #285 - White Mav #189 - Yellow Thank you.