Corny 391

Thanks for running the meeting Kev, and well done Murf for winning the Final and amassing another healthy points haul - stretching that gap at the top of the chart! My first meeting at Sexbierum and can't say I'd really tried it prior to pre-meeting practice, I like most shale tracks and all things considered find this one decent to race on too. If only there were a few bumps in the mix to add to the challenge - I'm sure none of the Dutch field tracks are really that smooth? Seemed destined for an awful night if my first two Heats were anything to go by....dead cars, spins (including a hit I went for to push wide Tosh which just went all wrong and delayed us both in Heat 2, I'm not one to go deliberately spinning people out or trying to wreck their race etc), still two points finishes but generally underwhelming. Heat 4 much better, then more points finishes in the Final and GN so not too bad overall I suppose. Thx, Corny

Booking please Kev Thx, Corny

It was a strange one that - I'd had a bit of a misfortunate race and after my second infield excursion/spin, I was lapped by FastTrack who was leading. I wanted to be back past him fairly sharpish but bearing in mind we were nearing the end of the race, I didn't want to touch him incase it went wrong and took him out've the lead or something - so just sat behind him and made my presence felt. He let me past on what (turned out to be) his last bend but when I saw the 'One Lap To Go' signal, as stupid as it may sound I didn't know if it was meant for him or me! Hence when I caught yourself and others up I was still treating it as though we might be on the last lap. Not a situation I'd had before in rFactor but at least I know now the last lap signal is for the individual regardless of where the leader is.

Coventry is one of my favourite tracks to race online with these rF F1's, though I'd stop short of saying it's my out and out favourite as there are tracks I feel give better racing (much the same as real F1). Can't be too downbeat about my Heat results with a 3rd and 1st, but Final and GN I am very disappointed about as nothing went right - hitting half spun cars, being spun, going for hits and half spinning, just two races I'd rather forget! Looking forward to starting from red in a way because the way yellow grade has been this period, especially in Finals, it's been packed to the brim compared to other grades, so I eagerly await finding out what it will be like next week with all the changes that are taking place. Thanks Johno and Kev and well done to Lee on your 2nd Final win of the season

Having looked over the contenders I'm giving my Driver of the Grading Period to Murf (561), as I think to be top of the points from blue after six meetings isn't bad going. One advantage he has maybe had is that blue grade has been sparsely populated, especially compared to yellow, which has been positively heaving come final time - none the less a little more ground to cover so not to take anything away from his efforts, and being top points scorer thus far. Best meeting of the period I feel was Sheffield - it was certainly great to have a turnout of 40 for Birmingham, but there was just something about the Sheffield meeting, maybe the fact that we were plunged into relative darkness for the racing which created an 'atmosphere', also from my experience it was really good quality racing so that night gets my vote. Good idea to have this, so would hope to see some more votes being cast and a regular thing being made out've it.

Corny #391 please (Yellow)

I feel that we are running on an excellent (F1) mod here but even so, as a result of the base mod (rFactor) we have few variables compared to real racing. For example we do not have a true loose surface track where grip moves to the outside and the inside becomes slick over the course of a race/meeting, with the track drying out over the same duration...we also do not have yellow flags nor do we have rain affecting the track, and all of the aforementioned play a big part in real racing. To have some meetings run in dark conditions is, to me, refreshing in that it does at least offer a variable and a challenge, as people are not used to racing in those conditions. How much practice do real StockCar drivers get on a real shale track, daylight or darkness? None at all apart from their last meeting or 5 laps for a novice. I found it as difficult as the next man to adjust to the dark conditions at Sheffield, but we need these variables in order to make the racing exciting - if it were all run in 100% predictable conditions with everyone having practiced to the n'th degree in those conditions, I can see things could get pretty boring.

Bitter-sweet for me tonight really, I was happy with my results in the Heats - ran out've laps in pursuit of 527 and 399 in Heat 1, then in Heat 3 possibly the best 'duel' I've had so far in rF in terms of it being an established red top in Johno, for the majority of the race and coming out on top out've the last bend. In the Final with there being 10 of us yellows the opening laps were inevitably going to be frenetic to a degree - I managed to keep it together but then before half distance when in a solid 4th place, nudged TomD into a bend who then cannoned into Murf and as a result I was skewed toward the rumble strips, onto the dreaded banking which I could not get off so that was race over. Hindsight is wonderful yet annoying and I'd much rather have settled for a 4th or 5th place as that would've been more than achievable from where I was, so that's my first major error for the season as I feel I've thrown a dozen or more points away in that race. GN was alright until I got spun outwards towards the fence when negotiating a wayward car - just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time probably. Buxton to me is still head and shoulders above many of the tarmac tracks for StockCar racing, as it is a greater test of skill than most, but things can go very wrong in a very short space of time here especially when the inner banking is taken into consideration - none the less managed to notch up another race win which is a 'milestone' so I can't be too downbeat about it. Cheers Spike and Kev, Corny

Sorry Spike just missed the deadline on UK-Dirt by all of 30 seconds - could I have a booking please? Thanks, Corny

This was my first meeting around rFactor Sheffield and I enjoyed it - certainly very different racing in the darkness during the meeting itself compared to daylight practice beforehand. The dark does add to the challenge although a little more light here and there wouldn't go amiss! Racing from where I was sat was firm but fair, I don't have any real gripes with anyone I was up against, had some really good battles and chases with people and managed to string 4 good races together. Well done to FastTrack on his 2nd Final win in 3 meetings and Lee for top scoring. Cheers, Corny

You fella's think 2 servers is bad to remember, thinking back to the distant days of 2001 in our first F1 season with the DTRSC mod, as the likes of Trav and Big Al will no doubt testify as they were fortunate enough to be on broadband/cable at the time, we used to use theirs and others' personal servers and would be using up to 4 different servers per meeting! The IP addresses weren't only different in the last two digits either, the whole thing was totally different with most people being on different ISP's in different areas, so it was a case of having to write all of them down on paper to avoid any confusion. I could go on the reminisce about the state of the art Yahoo! Groups email group we used to use that year but maybe that is best saved for if we have any kind of 10-year memories interviews later in the year.

Please include my skins from the end of last season Mike. Cheers, Corny

Any chance of a late booking please Mike? Thx, Corny

I'm in there now too, blowing off the cobwebs...!

Just to alert people that should you want to join server .91 (password on UK-Dirt site) a practice session is underway, Skegness with F1 StockCars V1.3, Johno Dave and myself are in at the minute giving the tyres a good pounding on 2x wear, Thx, Corny

Can I use the 107 Lee Robinson cars for both tarmac & shale please? Thanks, Corny

Booking please, car 591p if still available

Cheers Reb!

Super pictures Tosh, great viewing - captured 523's potshot of 39 into myself, which then sent me into a half-spin, quite nicely there! Thought I might have had a dream start to the race before that, for all of 4 seconds!

Thanks, as ever, to Kev for running and stewarding the meeting - much appreciated. Well done Tosh on winning the meeting Final, hectic one that at least from my perspective, and TomD for winning the silver - I certainly enjoyed the meeting and got rare opportunities to mix it with the higher graded drivers from my relatively low current grade. The track, I feel is one of the best as it demands a lot from the driver, one of my favourites to watch at in real life and a pleasure to race online. Pleased to notch up another couple of wins and looking forward to 2010 I've done just over half of the rF F1 meetings this season, I'd say I've enjoyed the last month or so more than any other so far in the mod - thanks to all involved in running the meetings and all the best to everyone over the Christmas period. Thx, Corny

Corny 391 (yellow) booking in please

Late booking please if possible, Thx, Corny

Thanks but it's still not working, getting a .MAS file error now

Hello, Not sure what on earth is going on but I cannot join the server for Birmingham - it is giving me a mismatch of some kind and losing connection. I have tried downloading and installing the track again from both rfactorcentral.com and www.ukdirt.co.uk however this has made no difference. Any ideas please? Thx, Corny

Is it possible for me to get a late booking for this meeting please? Just got in the house, Thx, Corny