Went telly shopping this evening and got a bit carried away, came back with a 42" LG 42LN5400. Didn't anticipate quite how big it would be! It's replacing my trusty old 20" Dell monitor and a cheap 22" supermarket telly (used 2 screens in iRacing).

Running the correct FOV setting on a big screen makes for a massive upgrade in depth perception and corner visibility. AC is just so rewarding to drive, can't wait to get online racing with it now.

Without a doubt I think this is the best sim driving experience I've ever had, it just feels so natural.

I had a day of driver coaching/ARDS test on Silverstone International on Saturday in a Megane. Having now tried the same circuit in AC I was blown away by how similar it is, right down to a particular bump off line on the link section with the Hanger straight that the instructor pointed out. The marker boards and kerbing is all in the right place, jumping in the 500 I was able to go straight out and use exactly the same markers and lines I'd been using on track and it just felt like driving a real front drive road car round Silverstone. I'm not convinced laser scanned tracks are of much use for learning a track in reality (at least not without some serious immersion/wide FOV setup), but it is pretty cool to jump from the real thing and see how close it is.

Getting a series of corners right in AC feels amazing and it seems to really reward proper track driving. I've never focused this hard on hotlaps before, did 75 laps tonight in the KTM at Silverstone International and didn't even look at the setup all night, just kept trying to improve my driving. In particular I'm struggling to get feel for braking, I turned the ABS on in the end so I could focus on trying to improve everything else.

The RSR timing app is great (although it doesn't seem to record whether ABS is used or not correctly) and well worth getting. Moose you seem to be a bit of a master of the KTM, could you share a replay of it round Silverstone International? I know I can go about half a second quicker in each sector, but always mess up the other sector, but there's still the best part of another second for me to find in each sector!

I just hope the netcode doesn't let it down and there is some decent casual racing, I don't know of any online racing that is anywhere near as good, clean or as fun as LFS was in the old days. I think it can't hurt that with the early offline only release anybody serious should have plenty of practice before entering their first online races.

With the quality and quantity of the standard content I'm not really sure modding will be good thing for AC, rFactor turned into a pile of poo mainly because of the enormous quantity of crap mods. This led to the engine and few a gems of cars/tracks unfairly tarnished as a result and the chance of having the right combinations installed for some casual racing very low.

Quote from kars19 :

Holly shit that FOV:cookiemon

http://www.assettocorsa.net/fo ... settings.3331/#post-33469

How expensive/difficult is to buy/build that rig? Immersion must be insane

This thing is just ridiculous! I'm seriously tempted to get a projector at the moment, though probably not quite as serious as this bit of kit. Currently using one 19" screen and struggling with the FOV, it's both too large so I'm losing perception, but far too small to be able to see through corners before turn in. I ran a two monitor setup for iRacing with correct FOV, made a huge difference, although I had to bias the position to give much better visibility into right handers. Has anyone tried running a two monitor combination on a modest computer with AC? I haven't bothered trying yet because I think AC on a single screen is already on the limit for my PC.

Quote from BlueFlame :

So how shit was this race then? I was too busy watching real moto3/moto2/motogp racing where the tyres are made to survive a race and the riders are pushing like hell to win instead of managing some bs cruising strategy.

Do you follow Moto GP? How many F1 drivers have been disqualified this season for doing too many laps on a set of tyres?

Quote from Chrisuu01 :

Are they indicated by a sign saying 50mph speed limit?
Or that speed camera sign?

There will always be a speed limit sign displayed to tell you what the limit is. The speed camera symbol just means there are speed cameras about, if you see the sign on a road without any other speed limit signs then the national speed limit (60mph single carriageway, 70mph dual carriageway) applies.

On some motorways we have variable speed limits, these are shown on overhead gantries and are strictly enforced with cameras on the gantries.

Note only numbers with a red ring around them are a legal speed limit (see picture, they can have black background white text on digital signs). You will also see orange displays with no ring on the motorway, which are advisory only and also sometimes you'll see signs warning of a bend with 'Max speed xxmph' in text underneath, again you don't have to follow those. Road works will normally have temporary signs and you should follow these.



To be honest speed limits in Britain are generally a bit faster than you'll find in the Netherlands and although we moan about them it is much harder to be caught by our speed cameras as they are mostly well signposted and painted fluorescent yellow. Just be careful if the speed limit feels too slow for the road it usually means it will have speed cameras on it!

Things to really avoid in the UK are using your mobile phone and drink driving, our limit may be the highest in Europe but it is taken very seriously.

Quote from Intrepid :

No, it's an example of a driver with enough spacial awareness to understand what racing is all about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW0t4Ug11v8

I'd call that a world champion who knows when it is best to avoid contact with a cheating bastard making a dive bomb rather than a legitimate pass. We all know what Schumacher would do and did put in the position of the outside car...

Quote from The Very End :

Superb, thanks!
Are there many people driving the fixed Indy serie(s), and are they all god damn pro's or are there some people around...well let's face it, level 0 as me?

Fixed oval usually splits and has a range of drivers from very good to very bad! The fixed road and open series rarely get a race.

Is the Nationwide race happening now? All the streams I can find are showing the Continental Challenge at Circuit of the Americas and the live leaderboard just says 'Warm up'?

Quote from J@tko :

Poor Jack

Anyway, want moar content.

The class C GT series is racing at Silverstone next week, which is my still my favourite track for the endurance cars.

If you don't mind racing weekend mornings consider the V8 Supercar, it is awesome fun to drive. I raced it for the first time last week at Zandvort and it was great close but fair racing.

Personally I've never really warmed to the SM or Suzuka, although it is the popular class C car if you don't want to do endurance cars.

The Indycar is multi-use, fixed ovals run every two hours and normally split. Road course races have to be planned a bit more.

Quote from hrtburnout :

That's a different type of oil. A 2-stroke engine has engine oil like any engine, and it also has 2-stroke oil which you mix with the fuel.

:doh:

Heal WE1
Hurt KY1

Quote from sermilan :

Just to make clear: I also don't believe in police with no weapons, that's just too silly. Any armed lunatic could make massacre then easily.
I believe that majority of policeman ARE decent people, but I have also seen this kind of brutality well enough to know that, simply put - these are just plain bustards hiding behind the uniforms.

I don't believe ordinary police (or citizens) need to have lethal force at their disposal. I don't think guns are an effective self-defence tool anyway. In the UK most police do not carry guns or tasers and unlike in the US police are hardly routinely shot at, gun crime is still pretty much non-existent over here.

I think police are far safer if they are unarmed against armed criminals, the natural reaction over here is to run a mile, contain the situation/ensure public safety and provide a co-ordinated armed response that is far less likely to result in anybody getting hurt. When shots are fired by the police in the UK there will automatically be an investigation by the IPCC (an independent body to the police).

The video of the motorcyclist being stopped at gun point by a man who did not initially identify himself as an undercover cop is the most disturbing. How on earth can the use of firearms be justified to stop someone who has committed a simple motoring offence, even if he decided to ride off from properly marked police how could the threat let alone use of a firearm be justified?

Nice to see a constructive discussion of vehicle dynamics for a change!

I'm really not sure what to make of the latest changes to iRacing, at first I really struggled to get to grips and subsequently managed to dip my SR below 1.0 and have now been demoted to a C license. After finally deciding to treat the cars as being completely new and different (and stopping entering races on untested combos and finding it surprising that I'm spinning off all over the place) I've found the new cars are actually quite driveable so long as you keep corrections to a minimum. I find you've got to be fairly aggressive with the cars on the NTM to actually make them understeer.

I really can't get on with the MX5 Roadster or the SRF on the new tyre physics. I never realised the MX5 Cup was actually different to the Roadster. The Cup now feels much better than the Roadster, which I think is at least in part down to the different fixed sets.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

If you set fire to a diesel engine it will burn but it won't combust, if that makes sense.

Could you please define your definitions of burning and combustion? Is it not the same thing? I always thought that diesel fuel was used in internal combustion engines?

The belief that diesel cannot burn is ludicrous and far too commonly held, once a diesel fire starts it will be pretty much the same as a petrol (or any other kind of oil) fire. The flash point of diesel is circa 55-60°c, the flame point (the temperature at which it will continue to burn after ignition) isn't widely published but according to Wikipedia is about 10°c hotter.

In practice a source of ignition can pretty quickly heat diesel fuel to its flame point. I'm working on a spark ignition diesel engine, it has no problems producing combustion just like a petrol engine.

Quote from Homeless_Drunk :

I don't know a single car company that would honor after-warranty clams and give a discount on labor/parts...that's because no car company/dealership/repair shop is in the market to lose money...

What are you talking about?

Warranty Ends = End Of Warranty...it doesn't mean, "we feel bad because things broke so here's a discount because you beat the shit out of your car."

Very common over here. BMW recalled a large number of engines when they used a cylinder liner that didn't like our (then) high sulpher UK fuel. My folks had a second hand, out of warranty, without main dealer service history, E36 that was given a new short engine no questions asked by BMW.

Italian cars all but disappeared from the UK after they started failing their first MOTs on rust. Manufacturers know how important it is to sort these kind of problems out with the minimal fuss in the UK.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

The only problem with your theory is that clutches are rated to BHP where in actual fact they are rated to a torque loading. BHP does not kill clutches, it's the torque that causes them to slip. With a custom map and a hybrid turbo, if he is running say 210bhp and 350lb ft torque, which is about right, the clutch will not be able to take it for very long. I very very very much doubt BMW provide a clutch capable of running 50% more torque than standard, that would be a massive over kill. Automatics are better for tuning anyway, in the case of my VW scene the DSG gearboxes are the ones to pick if you want big powa.

Quote from ACCAkut :

1. Ultima GTR with N/A ITB'ed VW/Audi CEPA Inline-5 and DSG

This!. Few things beat a N/A 5 cylinder sound!

Quote from roadrash17 :

But a healthy-running engine doesn't put out carbon monoxide, it puts out carbon dioxide, which isn't lethal, but it's not the best, it's what we exhale. it's when the engine begin to run out of oxygen to burn that it begins to produce Carbon monoxide, such as in an enclosed area i.e. a garage. So, when the fuel/air mixture isn't right, yes, it's dangerous, but when you have plenty of oxygen to burn and a good mixture, you should be fine...at least that's what I remember from school.

Well go and breathe it in and see what happens. If you can find a way of producing vast quantities of pure C8H18 and can get it to burn completely with a supply of O2 do let us know. In the mean time I won't throw away the 7 books that I've got sat on my desk that touch slightly on the subject of internal combustion.

It is true that CO emissions should be lower from a modern engine, that doesn't mean they're suddenly safe to inhale. That is of course ignoring the fact that filling your car up with CO2 isn't exactly a smart thing to do. Maybe ask your GP whether they would advise inhaling a lovely clean exhaust to Euro 4 standard?

Carbon monoxide poisoning is well documented medical science, not some wacky theory. Breathing car exhaust fumes is a classic suicide method!

There's a serious danger associated with breathing exhaust fumes and by the time you become aware it is time to act, not wilfully ignore it. What's next investigate the myth that air crashes are dangerous because not everybody gets killed in them?

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

you'd need to stick more than a bit of 2 stroke oil (which is not a corrosive, you should now that) however my golf exhausts seems fine. i'll only find out when the exhaust company have it in to develop the new one on and say "yeah you've got loads of holes".

...and the products of partially combusted 2 stroke oil are?

Fuel isn't meant to be corrosive but its products still do a jolly good job of making a mess of mild steel...

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

now the most important part in exhaust design for performance is not material but flow and you can achieve the same flow with a mild steel, stainless steel or titanium exhaust. the only difference is weight which is where the titanium comes in handy as it's light.

True in essence, although heat transfer characteristics, mass and tolerance to vibration are all pretty critical and bother a car manufacturer far more than the tuning crowd.

Quote :

now i'm not doubting your knowledge here but when miltek, piper, venom, akropovic, arrow, mtc, beowulf, hks, scorpion, etc, all are using stainless steel as a minimum rather than mild steel, certainly says something.

Those companies produce exhausts that produce noise and look shiny, performance is not a requirement, merely convincing the customer there is a performance improvement is enough.

It is true that exhausts for idiots (kindly listed above) or exhausts for a specialist application where the cost of mild steel replacements isn't viable can be made of stainless steel. They won't be as good as a mild steel exhaust, but I acknowledge it takes a far deal of commitment (be it financial or time) to go for the better material that is only slightly cheaper but has to be replaced routinely. There's good reason though that there are still a lot of high value cars that 'need' an upgrade to stainless steel, why aren't manufacturers fitting it as standard? As you point out it's not just due to cost...

Quote from Shotglass :

usually as long as you keep the car moving theres enough airflow to pull the exhaust fumes away from the cars ventilation intakes (friend of mine drove around with a golf that had completely disintegrated its flex tube right behind the exhaust manifold for a couple of weeks... usually flooring it cause quite frankly it did sound awesome)
also while certainly dangerous its not like youll instantly die if you inhale a bit of exhaust gasses

I've seen someone loose consciousness of a tin top race car within 20 minutes of trying to put up with a leaking exhaust. Even on a race track he was damn lucky to end up coasting to a stop without hitting anything surrounded by the best help possible.

Admittedly a race car will be putting out far more emissions and generally has less sealing between the underbody and cockpit, but they also don't normally have shut windows and a nice cosy engine bay fed heater for hours on end down the motorway...

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

Yeah unfortunately most people can't afford titanium or anything fancy such as that so stainless steel works fine. had stainless steel exhaust systems before on my motorcycles and all been fine. if it's ok on a bike revving to 14000rpm it's ok on my car revving to 5. it's fine miltek, piper, scorpion, akropovic, etc, it's fine for you and me and bob up the road.
hopefully should be getting my free exhaust system soon..

Good old mild steel (any random grade) is a far better material for an exhaust than stainless steel (except possibly unobtanium type grades). If you're consuming mild steel exhausts at a rate that isn't financially viable then you're either driving a boat (a lot of which do not use stainless steel exhausts) or have some very strange exhaust products (sticking stuff in your fuel again?). An exhaust should rust from the inside out, especially if it has got a decent protective coating on the outside of it.

Stainless steel exhausts are typically sold to three types of people:
1. Classic car enthusiasts who want an exhaust that'll last forever.
2. People who like shiny things.
3. Idiots who believe marketing material.

It'll probably surprise you to learn that the order of preference for race car/very high performance exhausts is titanium/Inconel/other unobtanium > high strength steel > mild steel

Mild steel exhausts with 4 figure price tags are common place in lower level motorsport competition and where exotic materials are banned.

A stainless steel exhaust could be made lighter and last longer (in an extreme environment) if it was made from just about anything else.

If you're really obsessed about rust then use a water called aluminium exhaust.

Quote from Rappa Z :

So I've got a question guys.

Yesterday my exhaust pipe cracked and, as you can imagine, it sounds wonderful to have what is essentially a straight pipe. This is the third exhaust this car has gone through, but I don't plan on having it anymore.

When you say it has cracked do you mean it has rusted through or that good metal has failed due to fatigue (most commonly around a weld)? If it's good metal that has failed it is probably due to a combination of poor mounting (missing support stays/worn out rubbers, or over stiff replacements) or a poor quality replacement part. If you don't intend to keep it long and the metal around the point of failure is good you can just get it welded up, mind it will fail again after a while if you don't fix the source of the problem.

As to what will happen when the exhaust pipe is removed, who knows? Random people on a forum certainly can't advise you, the chances are it'll run much the same. A moron would tell you that it produces more power because it sounds louder. What is happening to the flow through the exhaust ports is a complex thermo-fluid dynamics problem, maybe contact the engine designer and wait a few months.

The chances are you're not going to damage anything, most industrial engines work on the principal that the customer can do pretty much whatever they like with the exhaust after the manifold and the engine won't be affected too badly.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

can affect performance and mpg negatively. won't necessarily damage the engine but won't do it much good. about time you upgrade to a stainless steel it sounds like?

Stainless steel is a terrible choice of material for an exhaust and whilst people have traditionally got away with using it on low performance engines it is still a stupid choice. It will make fatigue from both vibrations and especially thermal cycles far worse. Welding stainless steel is not always straight forward and bear in mind the number of mild steel exhausts that fall apart due to dodgy welding...

EDIT - What KiRmelius said is very important to remember, make sure the exhaust is vented away from the underbody of your car. A typical exhaust mounted under a central tunnel down the car will find its way into the cockpit, even a small leak is very dangerous, if you have to drive a car with a leaking exhaust open all the windows and stop if you can smell/feel the effects of exhaust fumes. They're really not fun.

Last edited by ajp71, Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:45.

I love the people who still post to say they've fallen for it without looking at the replies