There are several tracks around the world where fast cars get light or even airborne for a second over drastic elevation changes. I think it might be really cool if this were to be incorporated into the fast back section of Aston. I could imagine seeing road cars almost leaving the ground, with the fastest barely catching air. GTR's putting a few inches under the tires. I am guessing that the open wheel cars would have enough downforce to stay planted.

something like this:
http://www.starmazda.com/resul ... allery/Images/lrp-416.jpg

The reason why is is not recommended to run at slow speeds in higher gears is due to oil pressure. An engine builds oil pressure by either running off a gear connected to the distributer, or via a crankshaft mounted pump. Sufficient oil pressure is needed to protect rod and main bearings from wear. It is not smart to run at excessively low RPMs.

The clutch is not going to care about low rpm operation. Go too high and the fingers will flatten out causing lost pressure on the friction material.

Quote from Lateralus :

Change to a wet setup.

Does NASCAR have a parc fermé-type system before the race?



Downforce or not, why can't they just slow down?

It's also for the fans who pay good money to see a good race. I wouldn't want to sit in the rain and watch cars running at 60% of their capacity. When it does rain, they try there best to dry the track and run the same day, or wait until monday.

As for the parc ferme, I think what comes close is the impound proceedure. Often the garage area is locked over night so that nobody can get to the cars. This also applies to the race teams themselves. They cannot make changes to the cars typically after 5pm the night before the race, and cannot change the car in any way before the start of the race. They can put air in the tires and inspect the car to see if anything happend over night. Altering the car or changing parts causes a driver to have to start from the back of the pack. In fact, changing major drive components after qualifying also results in having to start from the rear. Remember, 43 cars start the race. You might end up next to Robby Gordon or some other hooligan.

Quote from MR_B :

If a formula one chassis was to have a crash on these American oval circuits, how would the vehicle fair? Is it fair to say they would have a higher survival rate than nascar?

You'll have to ask Ralf about that one..

Also consider that most of the lists posted concerning deaths in stock car racing include more than just Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup. I also see trucks, grand national, and unrelated incidents. Also note that the nascar season has twice the races, twice the number of cars on track, and lasts an hour or two longer. In reality, amateur racing kills many more participants per year than in the pro ranks.

That being said, I would feel much safer in a stock car than an F1. Not that I have any first hand basis for my comment, I'm merely thinking about the distance between my squishy bits and danger.

Give it a shot, David. There's a reason that there's a net influx of drivers to this style of racing rather than outflux.

Quote from jayhawk :

Does VIR still have that tree near one of the corners?

The track wouldn't be the same without it.

Quote from XCNuse :

VIR(ginia international raceway) would be my pick, but as far as ovals go, something like bristol would be the best because it's such a short oval and has such high banked turns, and that's something LFS really needs, cause the KY oval is just more like a high speed track than anything else.

Acctually, it's V.I.R. Virginia International Raceway, and a thousand times yes to it being in LFS. Full, North, South, East Grand, West Grand, Patriot, Plantation Valley Kart track (for the MRT).

It's not an official track in any other sim that I am aware of, and it's an awesome drive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DkJsrlg-08
www.virclub.com

Have you tried one of the High Mileage fluids? Castrol makes one that I used before switching to Synthetic. It has additives that cause rubber to swell. The theory is that this will refresh worn seals.

By the way, the Amsoil fluid that I sell don't leak from the bottle. www.screaminSHO.com

I think I'm their intended market...
Their track list has all the better road couses within a days drive of home.

The price will have to come down a bit before I'll bite. I see half a dozen tracks and a couple cars I'm interested in.

As I recall, PAPY is only supporting 2003.

Quote from h3adbang3r :

No. Vista 32 should actually address up to 3.5. Try this-
Open the Command Prompt, then type "BCDEdit /set PAE forceenable" then hit enter. It should then be able to address more than 4 GB. I'm not sure if it actually works, because I got this info from a friend. Wouldn't hurt to give it a shot though.

Still shows 2815Mb. Computer still functions, though.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906211.aspx


To the OP, how much memory do you have available to run LFS? What ram hogging processes are you trying to use?

Quote from Stang70Fastback :

?

Would be three, but with Vista 32bit, the OS uses some of the ram. Up to 2gig, Vista allos all to be used as ram, but beyond that, some will be devoted to system processes. Mine shows 2812MB ram.

I get solid 60 fps (pegging my set limit) with a full grid of AI. My specs aren't that much better than yours. 3.00 ghz dual core, 8600gt, 2.8 gigs of ram, etc. I wonder if it might just be time to clean out the case and try to get your current stuff running cooler. Is your power supply enough to support your components?

Just for kicks, set the max fps down to 40 or so. It will still appear smooth, but the difference between 20 and 40 will help you keep your rythem.

Most of the time, the 'neutral safety switch' is mounted on the clutch pedal. For instance, mine was a plunger and contact switch at the top of the pedal under the dash. After 15 years, it finally gave out and wouldn't let me start the car. Honestly, it's a good feature, even for people outside of the US.

Pulling the wires out of the plug and connecting them will disable the feature (consult your wiring diagrams to make sure that the switch is not hot and causing a drain on the battery). By the way, I feel victim to starting in gear in the pits at Watkins Glen. I felt like an idiot amongst a bunch of Bimmer drivers.

Quote from MINIz guy :

Traxxas Rustler (MSC is dead and I haven't had funds for a new ESC)

The Rustler was my first R/C. At one point, I had a 13T Trinity motor in it. Those were the days of 1700mAh, NiCd batteries. Loads of fun for a tick over five minutes. That was a fun little truck. The best part was that nobody made hipo parts for it. I always had to get creative piecing together mods.

I moved on to racing touring cars. I ran TC3s in stock class at the local track for almost two years. Started with a racer model, then moved to the factory team. I don't think I ran the FT long enough to properly break it in. The older car really seemed faster. Asphalt in the summer, carpet in the winter. I wish I never sold my equipment. I dumped it all on Ebay in the fall of 2004.

I could have done better in a lot of ways.
But...
I've been running with every option maxxed out. Not sure why I'd need a better vid card. I did have a memory card crap out on me yesterday. Fortunately, the store had Kingston 1gig value cards for $35. Picked up two of them and am working on getting the bad one replaced.

Quote from amp88 :

A question I thought of a long time ago and haven't satisfied myself with an answer. Does a 20 tonne lorry have more grip than an F1 car? The grip comes from the weight of the vehicle (static mass + whatever lift/downforce is created) in combination with the properties of the tyres and the suspension. Current F1 cars will produce a maximum of around 2 tonnes of downforce at 220mph, so their total weight will be about 2.5 tonnes, give or take a hundred kilos. The 20 tonne lorry won't have nearly as good tyres (obviously), but it does have a lot more weight pushing them into the ground. Now...obviously I'm not suggesting that a truck is quicker than the F1 car, but does it have more grip?

Depends on what you want 'grip' to mean. if you want to define it as the maximum lateral g-forces that the vehicle can produce around a race track. F1 wins. This is considering the idea that grip involves the geometry and physical size of the vehicles. If you calculate the max frictional force in a stationary position, the truck wins. Consider that at rest, the frictional force required to begin movement will be the weight of the vehicle times the coefficient of friction for the tires.

I think that you are actually thinking about the scientific definition of traction/grip/friction, and that is good. The answer is a matter symantics.

I just picked up a new HD monitor to go with my new computer. The funny thing is that the monitor is larger than my television. I think you my know where I'm going with this. I interested in suggestions and recommendations for a TV tuner. I am leaning at the moment on Samsung's HD TV tuner. What I have is coax coming from the wall, but the monitor does not have an on board tuner. It does have an HDMI input which I would like to take advantage of.

This is what I'm looking at getting:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol ... 61734592183#productdetail

Quote from h3adbang3r :

NASCAR commentators do it quite often on the formation laps, then the drivers are left alone for the race.

They do it under cautions, too. They do it in almost every race. Some of the drivers can be entertaining. Others forget how to speak english and stumble through a simple update on strategy or handling. They talk to crew chiefs as well, and not just under caution.

All in the name of entertainment. Fine with me as long as it doesn't negatively affect any of my drivers.

Live...From New York... It's Saturday Night!

It's Liv for me too. I just wanted to be Chevy Chase for a moment.

I picked up the computer from the UPS depot last night. So far so good. The hardware look to have been installed with care (looking through the plexi window and blue neon). It runs quiet. Slight fan noise, but this thing had 6 fans at last count. Temp display and controller. Not one software issue either. All I had to do was hook up the wires and have fun.

I have also quickly fallen in love with 37" inches of 1080p glory. LFS actually made me a little dizzy for the first couple laps. Once I find a good TV tuner, I'll be all set.

Edit: This post is on two and a half line on my screen

Awesome. You guys actually made dynamics and fluid dynamics more confusing than my professors did.

Good job!!


Alls I know is that to make a street car work better in the wind, you need to restrict its flow under the car, as well as provide an efficient way to evacuate what does manage to get under there. If you can reduce the pressure under the car, you reduce lift.

As far as power and torque, just get a bigger cam. If you aren't blessed with cubic inches, low end torque is going to be hard to come by. Your only hope it to try to maintain manifold pressure as rpms increase. With enough air, you can keep torque from falling off too fast. At some point though, you still need to shift.

More food for thought: http://g-speed.com/pbh/torque-and-hp.html

Yup. The monitor arrived yesterday. It's sitting in my bedroom because there's no room for it and my laptop on my desk. This thing is HUUUUUGE! I can't wait to get it fired up.

The computer is in Philly after spending yesterday on a plane from Los Angeles. Might get here today if I'm home to sign for it.

What's on your mind, H3adbang3r?

Quote from JO53PHS :

1,300 GB hard drive

OMG THATS LIKE 1.3 TERABYTES - who would use so much storage?

I need to lie down

Sometimes you need to keep a backup of the internet...

mrfell- You're in about the same situation as I was a month ago. I had no idea what the state of the industry was like. I was shocked to find out how cheap computers have gotten. For instance, a stock Dell xps 420 will run LFS just fine. Consider that when you look at specs. As I understand it, LFS does not use multiple "cores" in the processor. There's no real gain in a quad core system.

Here's a typical example:
Dual core 2.33 GHz
2 Gigs memory
512mb graphics card

These are keywords to look for. Obviosly more is better, but I wouldn't worry about it unless you find a good deal.

Try moving things around. Monitor, Keyboard, chair settings. While the problem may be the chair, moving something else may put you in a different position.

I get headaches sometimes after being in front of a computer screen for a long time. My solution is to change the distance between the screen and my eyes every once in a while. Maybe a similar solution exists for you.

Quote from Rtsbasic :

Wanting to hook the PC up to the 42" 1080p telly in the living room, not sure if my video cards powerful enough to run that sort of resolution at a decent frame rate though (7600GT).

Give it a try. I was the goofball at the Best Buy standing in front of a 37" giggling and pretending to drive two feet from the screen. This thing will be awesome coming from a 15" laptop. TBH, the 720p screens didn't look too bad in the store. It would as good as any console system.