This is a very fun concept. You can sit back, have a bite to eat, and watch your AI wreck each other.

Quote from Gener_AL (UK) :

Only problem with that theory is that the UF1 is slow and slow out

Get sideways in a turn and that piece will stop dead in its tracks. I used to love those STCC races last year. Sometimes you just wanted to jump out of the car and run to the finish line.

Try starting out in the same way that real life instructors teach performance driving. Separate your inputs. Brake in a straight line, turn wheel smoothly, feed in throttle, wide open at apex, unwind wheel as you approach apex.

Being smooth with your inputs is very important. As you get comfortable, you can start merging your inputs. You will even begin the concept of trail braking without conciously doing it.

Ultimately, your speed is governed by the way that you exit corners. If you dive into a hairpin turn and blow the entrance, your exit will suffer, and thus your straightaway speed falls. Enter slow, exit fast.

Just for kicks, try the UF1 at Aston Historic. That will teach you how to be smooth and the idea of slow in/fast out.

For what it's worth, I have an Alan Kulwicki skin for a couple cars saved in LFSworld. I'm not sure how to make them publicly available, and they're not on my HD any more. I also have A-Team skins for the hatch-backs.

If anyone knows how to do it, feel free to use them if you wish.

I'm not too sure about the changes. The hard drive swap and Windows install went smooth as silk. I'm still trying to clear out all the Vista "features" and get this thing to look like the Win 95 that I'm used to. As long as I can get there I think Vista will be fine.

As far as LFS performance, I'm getting upwards of 90 FPS running solo. One issue is that every few minutes, it will dip into single digits for a few seconds. Just enough time to run a few cars off the track. In multiplayer, starting a race is useless. Frame rate is usually between 30-50 running alone and about 20 with a car or two around.

If anyone knows any tips or tricks to get LFS, Windows, or the computer as a whole to run quicker, I'd really appreciate it. How does my Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics card match up against the current gaming laptop cards? I'm thinking that may be a bottleneck, but I seem to recall that it was pretty top notch back in the day.

I'll have to figure something out with the memory I bought. I must have picked up the wrong kind. Whatever. I'll try again next time.

Thanks again Dragon Commando!

Alright. Here it goes. I just got back from Best Buy with a nice little goody bag. One Western Digital 120GB hard drive. Two 512MB memory cards. One copy of Microsoft Windows Vista, home premium edition.

Well, see you guys on the other side.

Thank for the reply. I guess I'll be picking up a new HD and OS. I have an 80 Gig USB hard drive that I can use to transfer the crap off of my old HD. Is there a good reason to get a copy of XP pro, or can I step down to home edition. All I really do is LFS, surf, office applications, automotive tuning.

I could probably be sweet talked into a bit more memory as well. Maybe a bump from 512 to 1024. That way I can LFS and Napster at the same time with a good safety net.

Go here--> C:\Program Files\LFS\data\settings
Copy and paste the files to a folder on your desktop.

Reinstall the game.
Put the files back into the same folder.

Alrighty. I've been having a great time with LFS for a year now. For the first few months, everything was great. I was able to go multiplayer and never had an issue with glitching or frame rate.

Lately (since last April or so) I have had issues with multiple cars. In single player mode, 3 or four cars is usually no problem. In multiplayer, even having one car in the area can cause frame rates to dip under 20. Race starts area joke and usually involve me trying like mad to get to the shoulder of the road before I get run over (in this case, my fps is in the low single digits at best).

Here's what I know about my system:
It's a Dell Inspiron 8500 circa 2003

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name MIKE
System Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation
System Model Inspiron 8500
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~1196 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Dell Computer Corporation A08, 6/30/2005
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name MIKE\Michael
Time Zone Eastern Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 275.95 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.22 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

One cue that I can see is that every few months, the computer will stumble across a damaged portion of hard drive. Sometimes I will get a message saying that such-and-such hard drive location is bad. Other times, the computer will fail outright. This requires me to boot from the CD-rom, and run through diagnostics. Hopefully this won't happen again, since the disk broke last time I went throught the process (don't ask, I was stupid).

In short, I have done all kinds of things to try to remidy the issue. Re-installation of LFS. Removing EVEEERYTHING and starting over by reinstalling Windows (can no longer do because of my two-piece CD).

So, any suggestions? Keep in mind that I'm a cheap bastard. This game helped me get in the racing mindset this summer before I took my car up to Watkins Glen for the first time. It has helped me create a rythm, and stay smooth. Anyway, thanks for reading about me heartaches.

Mike

I have a couple Alan Kulwicki skins somewhere. The old #7 Hooters car. Both for the xfg and xrg cars.

I buddy of mine was working on a Davey Allison car a few months ago. I'll see if I can dig them up tommorow.

Quote from mrodgers :

And just for the record, I was pulling for Martin to lose, LOL. I was pulling for him for a championship 2 years ago when he called that his last season, now he just needs to retire and give it up. He's only racing in hopes to win a champ, not because he wants to race like my favorite, Ken Shrader .

And where at in PA are you? I'm up on I-80 above Pittsburgh (or below Erie, if you'd like ).

Kenny's a good man

I'm down in Harrisburg right now for school. Home is just outside of Philly, in Chester County.

Y'all ought to see the fox hunt club around here. They actually raise foxes in kennels and let a few loose before running them down. I can remember being on my uncles farm when those damn fox hounds decided to to chase my uncles dog. Mind you, the thing was old and half dead at the time.

It was a good race this year. Actually, I thought JP was using a pretty good strategy for the first part of the race (when he was towards the back of the field). If your car is not quite capable of safely running in the front group, it is wise to hang out back until the wrecks start to thin the pack out. Another thing is that he may not have had the trust of the other drivers. It can be hard to move to the front if nobody is willing to push you there.

Just for the record. I was pulling for Mark Martin to win.

I am looking forward to an exciting year of racing.

The main purpose of the sprung links (coil springs, leaf springs, sway bars) of a car is to keep the chassis from bottoming out. The ideal would be to set the car up with coil springs just stiff enough to prevent bottoming out under the heaviest of braking maneuvers, and acceleration. The ARBs (we call them sway bars in American slang, perhaps elsewhere too) should be just stiff enough to keep the car from bottoming outin turns. Excessively large sway bars can actually lift the inside tire off the ground. There are very few instances where this is desireable. Obviously the coils will help in turning as well. Also, you must consider braking/accelerating when turning.

Playing around with different ride heights and spring rates takes a while but will help in the long run. On the whole, whichever end of the car sits lower, will have the most grip, and a lower car will have a better center of gravity. The softest combination of springs and ARBs will offer the best overall grip.

It should also be said that the tires also act as springs. Higher pressures simulate stiffer springs, and also reduce grip. The best pressuer setup will see temperatures progress evenly from the inner edge to outer. Camber angles will cause the inner edge to run hotter, but not by more than a few degrees. Camber angles should only be used to even out temperatures by putting the tires contact patch parallel with the road under typical cornering. In LFS, we can see forces on the tire. I like to see even forces during cornering.

For the most part on production cars, Larger sway bars are added to limit body roll since the suspension geometry causes radical camber changes as the car rolls (I believe Macphereson strut setups cause this). It's not ideal, but it must be done if you are blessed with one of these cheaper to produce suspension designs. Racing oriented designs correct this and allow the car to roll up to the point that the chassis comes within milimeters of the ground (double wishbone setups help by having adjustable chassis pivot points). I will only say a word or two on dampers, and that is that as novice tuners, we should keep stocklike values unless we have radically raised or lowered spring rates. Adjustments to dampers should be proportionate to spring changes.

Spending time in the pursuit of increasing your tire's contact patch will increase overall grip. This is done with camber changes to even out temps from inside to outside and pressure changes for middle to outer. Once the tires are cornering flat and operating within an acceptable temp range, small spring, ARB changes will have a large effect on handling.

A chassis tuner that uses adjustments to lessen grip is not doing there job correctly. The right way is to try to add grip to the opposite end.

Another option is to get right behind the guy, the bumpdraft GENTLY down the straight. back off before the braking zone begins. This way, the driver, if not as skilled, will run wide due to the excess speed. If the leading car is more skilled, they won't be blocking in the first place and the situation wouldn't start to begin with.

In short, the more skills you have, the more options you have to get past other drivers.

I wouldn't expect much better from Portland. I have a sinking feeling that the place is for people too crazy for California. I'm not sure about Portland's winter weather, but I'm not sure if they see much of the frozen stuff.

But yeah. The only sensible thing to do would be to avoid icy hills.

A major issue with sealed engines as a way to lower costs and integrate more modern designs is the fact that teams will be forced to spend more money to investigate ways to go faster. Putting seals on engines just forces someone to come up with ways to make a butchered engine look like the real thing. This sort of thing has been tried at many levels of motorsport. My uncle used to run dirt late models that had sealed inline 6 cylinder engines. The local engine builder could make his own seals to make his 'special engines' appear to be legal. It's a sad fact that there will always be a pursuit for increases in performance. You can change the direction of the flow of money, but you can't limit the amount spent.

The whole COT idea is nothing new. The aero cars that began the most recent era (1990-ish) were a radical departure from the previous design and caused a similar uproar. In the 1980s, the cars still had some actual stock parts. Other changes increase speed, this change is more for safety. Personally, I think they have about reached the speed limit for the current racetrack design.

I would love to see Lowes Motor Speedway in LFS. A dirt track might be fun as well. Stock Cars on a road course are fun as well. There's a lot more room to have fun when you are hustling a 3400lb, 800hp car through the twisties.

Thick as a Brick

I would love to run the Tail of the Dragon. It is about 12 hours or so from Philly, so it is possible. I don't have a bike, but my car does have a Yamaha engine.

I like to take people for runs on the old Watkins Glen layout. That is a good experience as well. I love the long downhill that runs into town. Picture a 3/4 mile long downhill curve, run wide open, that terminates at a sharp left then right onto the town's main street. As you run down the hill, there is a great view of the lake. The old course travels aroung the Glen which means a verticle climb of more than 300 feet. I would make sure to travel the old track, and visit the gorge next time you find yourself at an event at the track.
http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/tracks/wat.html
http://www.gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/watkins.shtml

Quote from mikey_G :

What also helps heel and toe is having the thottle pedal further away, and the brake pedal closer (towards you), so when you look from the side you can see a difference of at least 1 cm between the pedals. I modded my g25 pedals like this and I'm only 2 tenths slower then my pb (which I did with the sequential setup).
The only problem I have is the speed of my downshifts, so most of the time I'm downshifting more then 1 gear (like going from 6th to 4th). Threshold breaking is also a big problem

You are exactly correct. The idea is that when you have pressed the brake, the go and stop pedal will be on the same plane. That is the ideal. In reality, the gas should be slightly lower, just to make sure that you can slide your foot over if you have worn the brake pads or otherwise caused the brake pedal to overtravel.

Quote from Sidewayzmaster :

I thought they tapped the brakes to make sure they still worked, which would especially make sense for the 24 hour races... But on the whole heel toe thing I have heard of either bending the brake closer to the throttle or to like install metal petals with slightly wider surfaces...notice I have only heard of this for regular cars not sure how it would work with the G25

I also do the brake check. I should get over it because by the time I realize that I have no brakes, the car will be quickly approaching my usual braking point. Just enough time to wave goodbye to the corner workers as I flash past.

Adding pedal pads should be fine on a G25 as long as there is enough support in the pedal hinge to take the offset load. I say this having not seen the setup in person. Anyway, the same issue is true for adding pads to a street car. You could always add a button to the shifter to provide a throttle blip. People have adapted this to actual racecars, so I would allow it.

It is important to analyze your mistakes. That is how you, a) name the mistake, and b) find a solution.

That turn is actually a lot faster than you would think. All you really need is a little brake just to settle the car, then back into throttle. There is a good deal more exit room than you would think because it is somewhat blind. I would say that he was right on the edge of traction, then back off the throttle a hair.

Someone spins there at every track day that I have been to. The one thing I don't see, though is an instructor. I'm not sure if this guy is ready yet to go solo.

VIR is an awesome track. Lots of elevation change, two long straights, big turns, small turns. The portion of track that this fellow started his vid from is known as the climbing esses. Takes lots of rythem and balls of steel to drive near wide open throttle.

VIR should be in S3!

The Handbook is actually being used as a textbook for a class I am taking. I use that thing on a daily basis at work, too.

It will also depend on whether you are cutting your own threads versus buying a threaded rod that has rolled threads. As has been mentioned, the threads themselves cause stress risers at every corner that is formed. A rolled thread reduces this as they will be radiused and work hardened.

For your situation, the rod will stretch to some extend. If the stretch is too great, the pitch of the thread will be too great for the nut. This would cause the nut to bind on the rod. If you plan on putting a tensile load on a thread, check out the ACME thread form.

It sounds like you don't have a copy of "Machinery's Handbook". In America, it is considered the engineers Bible. It is currently in its 27th or 28th printing.

Quote from jayhawk :

I am wheel to wheel licenced in the Midwest Sports Car Council, which is an affiliate of the SCCA. I have raced at Blackhawk Farms in Rockton Illinois and Gingerman which is in Michigan, plus autocrossing at various kart tracks parking lots. Havent raced for 5 years now, used to race a 1984 Fiero.

I ran Blackhawk Farms back in 2002. That was my first on track experience since racing quarter midgets when I was a kid.