Real Life Racers

[shelbyz4u2nv]

I autocross, and legal road race, all my current rides, and have been doing so for years. Im very lucky to have a police and EMT training road course 2 miles from my house. I go 1 to 2 times a month and usually rotate cars.

Current rides:
1995 BMW 540 6 spd
Best 1/4 mile time of 14.1 @99 mph, alot of suspension work

1990 BMW 325is 5 spd
alot of suspension work, chip and larger injectors, Kumho v710 slicks

1991 Honda CRX Si 5 spd
Alot of suspension work, this car will kick the rear end for some off throttle oversteer heaven too much fun

And my GT5 man cave

I must say, that no Sim type racing could ever get the true feel of g-forces and the true beating your body can take during real life racing, but on the off season, and many nights after work while the lady is working night shifts...It will 100% satisfy my need to race. To put in into perspective, i love gt5 and other simracing games as much as i love racing IRL...

 

[ZohsixGT5]

I've AutoX'd my car a few times. This winter I'm getting a respray and full exhaust. Will be paid off in Febuary so I hope to do some tracking next year. I'm thinking about getting a 1998-2002 Viper to replace this as my toy/fun street car, then turn the Z into a track car.



A few bolt on's here and there, nothing too fancy.

Oh and I've driven these several times:

 

[mike_gt3]

Pics of my Cobalt SS/TC with the drag radial in front the day i did 12.5@113.7mph

The run was vs an E60 M5 (507hp) he did mid 13s he had a bad launch.

 

[RETROCRX]

I'm a former crew member in

ALMS LMP cars
Grand Am Daytona Prototypes
Grand Am Koni Challenge GS
SCCA GT Lite and H Prod
CASC FF1600

and I have my own track day car. A 1987 Honda CRX Si (Hence my screen name).
http://www.crxontario.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=4305
Scroll down on link for finished car pics

Cheers

Rob

 

[tfed]

I race in the SCCA Solo II autocross for the Northern New Jersey Region (NNJR) at MetLife Stadium (NY Giants/Jets home).

Go G-men! Do you guys race in the parking lot or something?
I would love to race and unfortunatley life gets in the way and all my money goes to stoopid bills and such. If i could just win the lotto.
Oh yeah i believe its called Giants stadium ha. Pittsburgh has a really cool grassroots racing series they do every summer. The course is in a park,and its free to specate,and its awesome. Tons of lotus,abarths,old porsches.

 

[Bottoz]

Blech... AutoX. 8 hours of a day with 5 mins of driving. It may be dick-ish of me... but I don't consider AutoX Racing. /Flame Suit On! Toes may be stepped on... feathers might get ruffled... but I'd rather be on a road course than AutoX or Drag.

http://nsxfiles.com/Pyramid_of_speed.htm

Enjoy!

 

[ZohsixGT5]

Blech... AutoX. 8 hours of a day with 5 mins of driving. It may be dick-ish of me... but I don't consider AutoX Racing. /Flame Suit On!

http://nsxfiles.com/Pyramid_of_speed.htm

Enjoy!

I'll take 3rd spot on that list any day lol, as long as it's not any lower.

AutoX is not racing, true. But it does require skill to be competitive and it's fun. I would club race but that would mean starting with a beater that would have to be expendable, buying a trailer, tires, tons of unforeseen costs, & TIME. I am not ready to take my car out there only to have someone make a mistake and total it. I've seen it happen first hand. Maybe I'll wait another 100k miles or so.

 

[Bottoz]

Agreed, AutoX does take skill and it is competitive. But when someone says they raced in a parking lot, I cringe a little.

 

[SpyHunter]

Auto-X, and HPDE/Instructor. Have placed as high as 2nd at Nationals in Auto-x. Have ran in SM2, CS, STS, STS2(old name), and will be in CSP this year running this:

I don't call Auto-xing racing, either. However, we only get 3 runs to get it right. You get multiple laps in a row. I would LOVE to race wheel to wheel. Can't afford it.

I have just this last month been given the duty of bringing Time Trails to our region. Something I have wanted for quite some time. Should be a fun, and interesting experience. 👍

 

[Spiderman_Geek]

Closest to competitive racing I have done is a few Track days at the drag strip and 3 Demolition derbies. lol.

Can't say I've ever really raced professionally or even semi-professionally though.

 

[GTP_ken_b]

I've taken my '05 Subaru STI to some open track events, mostly at Willow Springs here in Los Angeles. I also had the opportunity to drive my cousin's Datsun 510 race car on Laguna Seca when he first acquired the car. Great fun....GT5 sure saves me money on break pads, new tires and the expense of a track weekend! :-)

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

I have been road track racing for many years. I have also autocrossed a long time ago. I find drag racing very boring and quit doing that about 10 years ago. I mainly use my 69 Camaro but I am in the process of building a road track 67 Fastback Mustang. Both these cars have their own dedicated threads too full of pics and specs.

69 Camaro Pro Touring

67 Fastback Mustang

Here are the 2 tracks I attend the most. Grattan is my favorite.

Grattan Raceway

Gingerman

 

[urunatural]

nice pictures

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Blech... AutoX. 8 hours of a day with 5 mins of driving. It may be dick-ish of me... but I don't consider AutoX Racing. /Flame Suit On! Toes may be stepped on... feathers might get ruffled... but I'd rather be on a road course than AutoX or Drag.

http://nsxfiles.com/Pyramid_of_speed.htm

Enjoy!

I agree with you. I quit doing autocross and drag racing many years ago. Got too boring to me. So much waiting for only a few seconds of gratification. Full road track events are where it is at. An entire day with lap after lap after lap of full track racing with elevation changes, multiple turns, and sometimes even jumps. Doesnt get any better than that. 👍

 

[Mac K]

I agree with you. I quit doing autocross and drag racing many years ago. Got too boring to me. So much waiting for only a few seconds of gratification. Full road track events are where it is at. An entire day with lap after lap after lap of full track racing with elevation changes, multiple turns, and sometimes even jumps. Doesnt get any better than that. 👍

It must be cool seeing the reaction on people's faces when your Camaro tackles the road course. Nice to see more replies in here, unfortunately I don't race cars myself( I used to race snowmobiles a couple times) but I'm hoping to start sometime in the near future.

 

[Tommy_861]

still no licensed wheel to wheel racers.

Well I WAS a licensed racer.

Started with Autocross when I was 18 then went to Skip Barber at 22 and got my competition license. Went on to test and run with them, and try out to move up. Ended up with an IMSA license, as well as Star Mazda, while I was attempting to run Pro Formula Mazda. Ran on Limerock, Daytona, and Pocono with Skippy. I had a sponsor hunter, the whole 9 yards.

Took some time off after that when I realized becoming a pro race driver wasn't in the cards for me. Did a lot of AutoX and Karting.... Then in 2009 I built a Lemons car and I have been running a mildly successful 24 Hours of Lemons team ever since.

"Like" us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/farfrumwinnin/

 

[Bottoz]

Cool Tommy_861!

 

[DJones]

Well I WAS a licensed racer.

Started with Autocross when I was 18 then went to Skip Barber at 22 and got my competition license. Went on to test and run with them, and try out to move up. Ended up with an IMSA license, as well as Star Mazda, while I was attempting to run Pro Formula Mazda. Ran on Limerock, Daytona, and Pocono with Skippy. I had a sponsor hunter, the whole 9 yards.

Took some time off after that when I realized becoming a pro race driver wasn't in the cards for me. Did a lot of AutoX and Karting.... Then in 2009 I built a Lemons car and I have been running a mildly successful 24 Hours of Lemons team ever since.

"Like" us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/farfrumwinnin/

So what events are you attending next year? Maybe of there is an event somewhere between us we can check out how my lincoln matches up with your *insert car name I already forgot*
Edit: Is that team escort service providers I saw at the beginning of your newest video? Holy crap they're everywhere!

 

[Mac K]

Tommy is that an Audi? Thats really cool.

 

[MagpieRacer]

69 Camaro Pro Touring

Have I ever told you how much I love your Camaro?

And that pic is just too cool.

 

[urunatural]

keep it up guys, nice to see those great looking cars in their
natural habitat

 

[TheCracker]

Been doing it for the past 15 or so years. See links in my sig below.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

It must be cool seeing the reaction on people's faces when your Camaro tackles the road course. Nice to see more replies in here, unfortunately I don't race cars myself( I used to race snowmobiles a couple times) but I'm hoping to start sometime in the near future.

Yes it is. I have had some great battles with BMW's, Porsche, WRX STI's, C4's, C5's, Mustangs and and a wide variety of modern cars. Its truly amazing how well my old 69 Camaro does on a road track compared to these new cars. Especially when you consider I still have rear drum brakes and pretty much stock suspension.
With some suspension upgrades, rear disks, and a few other upgrades, my Camaro would be really killer on road tracks.

Have I ever told you how much I love your Camaro?

69 Camaro Pro Touring

And that pic is just too cool.

Yes I believe you have but its still appreciated. Thats one of my favorite pics of my car from Grattan a couple years ago. I beat the heck out of the car that day. Got air on the "Jump Hump" at least 20-30 times that day. Even broke an exhaust bracket but sure had a good time.

 

[Tommy_861]

So what events are you attending next year? Maybe of there is an event somewhere between us we can check out how my lincoln matches up with your *insert car name I already forgot*
Edit: Is that team escort service providers I saw at the beginning of your newest video? Holy crap they're everywhere!

Only Lemons events, we will be at NJMP in April, Loudon, NH in May, Summit Point WV in June, and back to Loudon in October.

Not sure if thats them, but yeah there are some teams that go to like all of these things, they are crazy!

Tommy is that an Audi? Thats really cool.

Its actually a 1993 VW Fox with all of 90 raging horsepower. But its only 2000 lbs, so it gets going pretty well.

 

[Bottoz]

Nice. Lightweight & Low HP is fun. My 944 SPEC car is 2600 lbs with me in it & around 130hp 130tq.

 

[88GTA]

Thanks for the replies guys. Sorry if I put this in the wrong section, but for all you real life racers, how does your racing experience compare to GT5? For me, I'd say that many theories have been well utilized in the game and the series as a whole. The fundamentals like driving lines and corner entry/exit are completely correct, but I'm not sure there is a game that can get all the physics and details correct. Things like tire pressure, brake materials and all the math computation involved with fuel curves and air/fuel are left out. This can be a good thing though, because trial and error with fuel curve testing is a PITA anyway.


A lot of cool cars on here and if I had the money, I would definitely be running HDPE with my GTA. For now I'm doing auto-x to get some seat time and learn to drive... and because it's cheap.

~Matt

 

[RETROCRX]

Nice. Lightweight & Low HP is fun. My 944 SPEC car is 2600 lbs with me in it & around 130hp 130tq.

How about this one then.

2000lbs, 145hp.......

Light is FUUUUNNNNN!!

Anyway as far as comparison to the real world.

First of all, I find the real thing easier to get up to speed because I am more in tuen with all of the sensory inputs you get, be it physical, audio or visual. In GT you eliminate 1/3 of thos inputs as there is no FEELING the car. With that said you need to tune into different cues for what is actually happening with the car.

What I do find with GT5 is it allows the driver to do things that would not be possible in a real car. The most obvious example I can think of off the top of my head is something I see VERY often when racing others online: a momentary over-rev on downshifts. In the real world this would both upset the platform stability of the car (Like pulling the e-brake) but would also damage the engine if done often. GT also allows certain driving techniques that would damage a real car, hammering kerbs for example or running across the grass often does not give enough penalty.

The physics in general are close, but the feel of them is heavily influenced by the in game settings you use. For example, I managed to find anout half a second a lap by changing the controller sensitivity from 0 to 7 (using a DFGT wheel).

The setup menus are what disappoint me the most. The settings in some cases do not do what they should, others do the opposite of what they should and sometimes going from full scale neg to full scale positive makes a minimal difference where they same changes in a real car would render the car undrivable. I once played with the Ferrari 360 for an online series, I changed the front damping and springs to min and the rears to max, then ran some laps, then changed everything to the opposite, as big a change as you can make and it hardly changed the feel and the laptime difference was about 0.5sec.

But as a pure basic driving tool on a budget, GT5 is adequate to teach you the basics......smooth is fast, brake in a straight line (for the most part), racing line etc.

That's my take anyway.

Rob

 

[lbsf1]

I race go karts at tracks across the South of england.

Visit the Karting thread in this section for more info on that.

 

[RETROCRX]

I race go karts at tracks across the South of england.

Visit the Karting thread in this section for more info on that.

For the record, my brother Races DD2 here in Canada was nationally ranked in the top 10 for a few years but has done less racing and more tuning lately. To put that into perspective, Canadian Pierre Luc Oulette just won the 2011 Rotax World finals in DD2 for the second time so we have a really strong field here.

 

[lbsf1]

For the record, my brother Races DD2 here in Canada was nationally ranked in the top 10 for a few years but has done less racing and more tuning lately. To put that into perspective, Canadian Pierre Luc Oulette just won the 2011 Rotax World finals in DD2 for the second time so we have a really strong field here.

Nice, very nice. Top 10, thats pretty amazing. DD2 was strong here for a couple of years but has died off now .