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Hey, I know that guy! I've seen several Youtube videos of him, but didn't know it was him you were mentioning @Yorkie_065 !
Project CARS 2 RL Event: Sim Racing Expo 2017 - We did it! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter m4nu
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For those not on WMD2 and who didn't attend, I thought I'd post my little diary of the weekend (from what I can remember - I've already been reminded of 2 or 3 things, which are in this version).
It's a lot of reading so, if you want the TL;DR version, skip to the end for the summary!
Thursday
Pack my stuff or play Dishonored 2. Hmmmm, decisions decisions. On the one hand, I will have less to do in the morning whilst, on the other, I get to play a brilliant game all evening. This is going to be a toughie, I best have a drink to think it over.
*glug* *glug* *glug*
Ah, most refreshing. OK, pack my shit wins. Sadly, it just meant I was even more keen to continue my progress in the game so, I fired it up for a quick session. Yeah, er, hello 11pm, so much for getting to bed early.
Friday
My alarm was set for 3.15am, with a plan to be out of the house by 4am. I never realised that such a time existed until now but, exist it does. Carefully avoiding loud noises at this hour, I left my house and onwards to my first stop, "Bas Vegas", to pick up @Gxbbs . I parked up and sent a message "Are you there Gxbbs?". No reply. "Hello?". No reply. "Gxbbs, move your f***ing arse". No reply. "You awake?". No reply. "You have 8 minutes, then I'm leaving". No reply. I call his phone, it goes to answerphone. Snotty message left. "5 minute warning". My phone rings, Gxbbs is on his way. I'm not the most patient of people at the best of times, let alone at an ungodly hour AND with a complete lack of caffeine in my system. With a minute to spare, my passenger was on-board! Gxbbs wasn't ready early, he wasn't ready 'on-time' and he definitely wasn't ready 'exactly on-time', he was LATE!
Copious apologies issued forth but, never mind, we were on our way and heading to my parking spot for the weekend and to jump into the next car, for the journey proper. Our chauffeur for the journey? The legend that is @Yorkie_065! We chucked our bags into his car and set off for the tunnel, Germany and a weekend of reverie!
We met up with a few of the guys (the first group of which I dubbed Foreigner #1, Foreigner #2 and Foreigner #3
- sorry guys, I completely missed your names at the introductions
), joined shortly afterwards by @Elmo and @MelBonkers, to hit the shops for supplies for the BBQ. With our cars loaded with goodies, we headed to The Mansion and what a place the guys had sorted for us all - you've seen the pictures, it was truly brilliant. Plenty of room for everybody and a lovely quiet village to retreat to each evening. The rest of the guys arrived, everybody introduced themselves and rooms/roommates got picked. I got @Invincible , lucky me 
. Now it was time to hit the 'ring for some laps.
Having been out with Ben before, I sat it out until almost everybody else had had a lap. With @falcon2081 arriving fairly late, he was late picking up the rental car with @ramiboo for their laps - their car was a BMW 1-series, stripped of interior and wearing track-day tyres. @ramiboo took the reins and they set off. With one lap done, they swapped seats, just in time for the track to be closed and, given the lateness, the track wasn't to re-open. I have to say, I really felt for @falcon2081, having flown from the USA, only to find that his first chance to drive the 'ring was rapidly disappearing
. Fortunately, the rental company were happy to roll their time over to the next day so, all was right with the world again. But, let me tell you, @Elmo knows the 'ring, he really knows it - you can put your absolute trust in him on a passenger ride. He was more than happy to take 3 guys out again and again, to give as many people a flavour of the real thing. For my passenger ride, I discovered a rather unique talent, due in no small part to the lack of 'jesus handle' in the car. Every time Ben took a left-hand turn at a decent speed, I was thrown to the right of the seat and my elbow would hit the electric window button, causing the passenger window to open. Once would have been fine and I could have got away with it. It's a little harder to keep it secret when you do it a second, third, fourth and fifth time though
.
The 'ring done, smiles all round (none bigger than Mo's!), it was time for everybody to relax back at the Mansion. Beers cracked open (thanks again to @Invincible for the Becks
) and an entire farm of animals chucked onto the BBQ, it was a great evening. Many strange customs - from various countries - were learned, usually with much vocal "WHY? Why would you do that, that makes no sense!" and then, at 2am, it was time for this old man to get some sleep. The last 23 hours had flown by but, I couldn't have asked for a better first day of the holiday.
Saturday
7.30am. Come on, this isn't funny. With a head still slightly groggy and a belly still full of Germany's finest meats (ahem), I headed to the kitchen for the one thing I can do. Coffee. I had brought over 4 bags of freshly ground coffee, with all of the coffees roasted just a few weeks prior to the trip. With the number of people present, I wasn't to leave the kitchen for at least an hour but, it's always a pleasure to brew up some decent coffee on these trips.
@Elmo had presented us all with a special pCARS2 t-shirt - one that isn't handed out to the general public - for the day, a most welcome and unexpected gift. I normally run a mile if I'm stood next to somebody wearing the same t-shirt (the shame of it) but, this was an exception, this was a moment to be proud of it.
Off to the circuit and our first stop. Karting! On arriving at the front door of the kart track we found somebody waiting, who turned out to be Jan Frischkorn from SMS. We introduced ourselves and, I dunno, I guess Jan didn't hear my name (I have a habit of talking quietly at times
) because I was surprised he didn't really react - that's not an ego thing, it's simply that he had sent me a t-shirt and cap just a week or two ago, so I thought he might know who I was! After quite a while, of knocking on the door and trying to call the kart owners, we were finally let in. Forms signed, we made our way in. 16 drivers, 2 splits. 1 winner.
I must admit, I had no idea what I was doing. I've never driven an electric kart before so, it took a little getting used to, realising that you don't get that usual delay for the power to kick in. I've also never driven a kart with a seatbelt. Or brake lights. Honestly, it was like a Tomy "My First Kart Experience"
. A huge amount of fun, even if I did only come 7th in our split. Which reminds me. I set the 7th fastest laptime (in our split) on my 7th lap .... in kart number 7. As we joked later, I was so close to unleashing hell upon this earth! @ramiboo, unsurprisingly, qualified with the fastest time but, more surprisingly, @Falcon_2081 was relegated to 2nd place in the 2nd split, with me sat over his right-shoulder in 3rd place. @Elmo was in pole. From the start, 3rd place looked assured until JanF seized an opportunity and that was it, demoted to 4th, my chance of glory gone, 1st of the proper losers
. 20 laps with a massive smile on my face, a huge amount of fun and an improvement on my laptime from quali, as I started to get to grips with how to drive an electric kart, too late sadly! The top split ran their race, the top-3 took their place on the podium, we all posed for a group photo (my apologies for my arm positions but, when a German says "put your hands up", well, you can't blame me
) and left, buzzing like crazy at the awesome fun we'd all just had.
Now it was time to hit the expo, with the first obvious stop, the Fanatec/pCARS2 stand. With the queues for the Fanatec direct drive wheels massive, we decided to leave it until Sunday to have a play. It was nice to meet Joe Barron and Rod Chong again, who I'd met at the London Rallycross launch event and hearing all the positive stories from the event - lots of people were having to swallow their pride and admit that pCARS2 was actually "pretty damn good". We then headed trackside for some proper car racing action, arriving to see the last few minutes of the GT4 quali/race. What struck me first was how well the devs had nailed the distinctive sound of the KTM GT4 - I had thought the car sounded a bit crap in-game but, it turns out, it sounds just like that in real-life. It was a slightly eerie reminder of how close we are getting to mimicking reality in modern games. Up next were the Super Toffees, which surprised me with how un-Lamborghini-like they sounded, to my ears. Again, the game has nailed their character perfectly but, the old wail of a screaming engine was gone, replaced by a much-more muted affair. It's a slightly sad direction that most motorsport is taking, robbing us spectators of one of the thrills of motor racing, that assault on our ears, that sound that gives us goosebumps. Finally, it was the turn of the quali session for the Blancpain main event. I had no idea what was going on, to be honest but, it turns out they run a pseudo 'race' as a quali session, which settles their starting positions for the race proper, on Sunday. There were some pretty hairy moments, none more so than when one of the cars tried to squeeze a Bentley into the pit-wall
.
I need to mention here, one absolutely priceless moment. I joined @Invincible in the queue for some food and was busy practising my finest German (no, not "ist ihre tochter achtzehn bitte?"
) but "eine kraków mit pommes bitte" (prounce the 2nd word 'Crack Whore' and you'll be close enough!). Over and over, I checked I was saying it correctly. I arrived at the counter and proudly asked for "eine kraków mit pommes bitte". It was all going so well until, just as had happened 2 years previously, in much the same spot, back came a question. F***. PATRICK! HELP! "Er, Cluck, you don't understand 'Ketchup or Mayo'?". Oh. Pants. "Ja, ketchup bitte". At least I understood when she asked if I wanted a drink to go with it. OK, so she pointed at the drinks and repeated her question in English but, goddamn it, I understood her .
Another trip to the 'ring and some more passenger rides beckoned. Ramiboo and The Alien got to do their laps and big smiles again from everybody.
Another BBQ. Another load of beer. Some strange 'party shooters' and some laughs in front of the telly. Fatigue was clearly kicking in for a lot of folk though and it was to be an earlier night for all of us.
Sunday
Up at 7.30 again (well, the alarm was set for that time, I think I crawled out of bed at 8am). Coffee duties completed, breakfast taken, it was time to hit the Fanatec stand and get in nice and early to try the direct-drive wheel(s). The smoothness is what strikes you the most, the effortless way you can turn the wheel (even if it was massively heavy), it's about as close as you'll get to the feel of a real car wheel. The rest of the morning and early afternoon consisted of wandering around the expo, trying various rigs out and generally just having a bit of fun chatting to each other.
Today was my day of food stall revenge though. Before making our way up to the Mercedes Tribune, for the BlancPain race, I went to the stall there and ordered some drinks and a snack. @Invincible was by my side and I asked if he wanted a drink. Bizarrely, he asked for his coffee in English. The chap behind the counter then proceeded to talk to @Invincible in English and myself in German. Oh how I laughed
.
A few farewells had to be made during the headline Blancpain race, as people headed off home, with a few more leaving as the race finished. Returning to the mansion, we bade farewell to a few more, leaving less than 10 of us for the Sunday night, the last night of the trip. With long journeys ahead of all of us, most of us took an early night, to try and be as refreshed as possible for Monday.
Monday
With a reduced coffee duty this morning and a light breakfast, it was time to pack up and say our farewells and wish each other safe journeys. The car was packed and we set off, for the return journey. Mid-way through the return home, the reviews started to appear, all of which were looking positive. To say that Yorkie was slightly relieved would be an understatement. It must have been a very stressful time for all the SMS guys but, that hard work was appearing to have been paid off nicely.
A brief stop at my Aunt's home, to pick up my car and it was time to say goodbye to Yorkie and then drop @Gxbbs off at his home. I arrived at my own doorstep sometime around 8pm (it definitely wasn't 'exactly' 8pm
) and fired up my PC, out of habit more than anything. My head was still buzzing from the weekend.
I cannot really put into words what the weekend meant for me. Of course, it's great to meet up with some old faces from previous trips (@Elmo, @t0daY, @Yorkie_065 and @MelBonkers) but, it was also great to meet some of those guys that I regularly race with and our very own WMD1 polo-shirt designer, @TheDoctor46 (I couldn't help but sport my polo shirt that weekend
). It was simply a bloody fantastic weekend of racing, sim-racing, chatting, drinking, eating and laughing. It is those laughs that you can't buy, that will stick with you for months to come.
Thanks guys and see you again at the next one, for there will definitely be a next one
It's a lot of reading so, if you want the TL;DR version, skip to the end for the summary!
Thursday
Pack my stuff or play Dishonored 2. Hmmmm, decisions decisions. On the one hand, I will have less to do in the morning whilst, on the other, I get to play a brilliant game all evening. This is going to be a toughie, I best have a drink to think it over.
*glug* *glug* *glug*
Ah, most refreshing. OK, pack my shit wins. Sadly, it just meant I was even more keen to continue my progress in the game so, I fired it up for a quick session. Yeah, er, hello 11pm, so much for getting to bed early.
Friday
My alarm was set for 3.15am, with a plan to be out of the house by 4am. I never realised that such a time existed until now but, exist it does. Carefully avoiding loud noises at this hour, I left my house and onwards to my first stop, "Bas Vegas", to pick up @Gxbbs . I parked up and sent a message "Are you there Gxbbs?". No reply. "Hello?". No reply. "Gxbbs, move your f***ing arse". No reply. "You awake?". No reply. "You have 8 minutes, then I'm leaving". No reply. I call his phone, it goes to answerphone. Snotty message left. "5 minute warning". My phone rings, Gxbbs is on his way. I'm not the most patient of people at the best of times, let alone at an ungodly hour AND with a complete lack of caffeine in my system. With a minute to spare, my passenger was on-board! Gxbbs wasn't ready early, he wasn't ready 'on-time' and he definitely wasn't ready 'exactly on-time', he was LATE!
Copious apologies issued forth but, never mind, we were on our way and heading to my parking spot for the weekend and to jump into the next car, for the journey proper. Our chauffeur for the journey? The legend that is @Yorkie_065! We chucked our bags into his car and set off for the tunnel, Germany and a weekend of reverie!
We met up with a few of the guys (the first group of which I dubbed Foreigner #1, Foreigner #2 and Foreigner #3
. Now it was time to hit the 'ring for some laps.Having been out with Ben before, I sat it out until almost everybody else had had a lap. With @falcon2081 arriving fairly late, he was late picking up the rental car with @ramiboo for their laps - their car was a BMW 1-series, stripped of interior and wearing track-day tyres. @ramiboo took the reins and they set off. With one lap done, they swapped seats, just in time for the track to be closed and, given the lateness, the track wasn't to re-open. I have to say, I really felt for @falcon2081, having flown from the USA, only to find that his first chance to drive the 'ring was rapidly disappearing
The 'ring done, smiles all round (none bigger than Mo's!), it was time for everybody to relax back at the Mansion. Beers cracked open (thanks again to @Invincible for the Becks
Saturday
7.30am. Come on, this isn't funny. With a head still slightly groggy and a belly still full of Germany's finest meats (ahem), I headed to the kitchen for the one thing I can do. Coffee. I had brought over 4 bags of freshly ground coffee, with all of the coffees roasted just a few weeks prior to the trip. With the number of people present, I wasn't to leave the kitchen for at least an hour but, it's always a pleasure to brew up some decent coffee on these trips.
@Elmo had presented us all with a special pCARS2 t-shirt - one that isn't handed out to the general public - for the day, a most welcome and unexpected gift. I normally run a mile if I'm stood next to somebody wearing the same t-shirt (the shame of it
) but, this was an exception, this was a moment to be proud of it.Off to the circuit and our first stop. Karting! On arriving at the front door of the kart track we found somebody waiting, who turned out to be Jan Frischkorn from SMS. We introduced ourselves and, I dunno, I guess Jan didn't hear my name (I have a habit of talking quietly at times
I must admit, I had no idea what I was doing. I've never driven an electric kart before so, it took a little getting used to, realising that you don't get that usual delay for the power to kick in. I've also never driven a kart with a seatbelt. Or brake lights. Honestly, it was like a Tomy "My First Kart Experience"
Now it was time to hit the expo, with the first obvious stop, the Fanatec/pCARS2 stand. With the queues for the Fanatec direct drive wheels massive, we decided to leave it until Sunday to have a play. It was nice to meet Joe Barron and Rod Chong again, who I'd met at the London Rallycross launch event and hearing all the positive stories from the event - lots of people were having to swallow their pride and admit that pCARS2 was actually "pretty damn good"
. We then headed trackside for some proper car racing action, arriving to see the last few minutes of the GT4 quali/race. What struck me first was how well the devs had nailed the distinctive sound of the KTM GT4 - I had thought the car sounded a bit crap in-game but, it turns out, it sounds just like that in real-life. It was a slightly eerie reminder of how close we are getting to mimicking reality in modern games. Up next were the Super Toffees, which surprised me with how un-Lamborghini-like they sounded, to my ears. Again, the game has nailed their character perfectly but, the old wail of a screaming engine was gone, replaced by a much-more muted affair. It's a slightly sad direction that most motorsport is taking, robbing us spectators of one of the thrills of motor racing, that assault on our ears, that sound that gives us goosebumps. Finally, it was the turn of the quali session for the Blancpain main event. I had no idea what was going on, to be honest but, it turns out they run a pseudo 'race' as a quali session, which settles their starting positions for the race proper, on Sunday. There were some pretty hairy moments, none more so than when one of the cars tried to squeeze a Bentley into the pit-wall
I need to mention here, one absolutely priceless moment. I joined @Invincible in the queue for some food and was busy practising my finest German (no, not "ist ihre tochter achtzehn bitte?"
.Another trip to the 'ring and some more passenger rides beckoned. Ramiboo and The Alien got to do their laps and big smiles again from everybody.
Another BBQ. Another load of beer. Some strange 'party shooters' and some laughs in front of the telly. Fatigue was clearly kicking in for a lot of folk though and it was to be an earlier night for all of us.
Sunday
Up at 7.30 again (well, the alarm was set for that time, I think I crawled out of bed at 8am). Coffee duties completed, breakfast taken, it was time to hit the Fanatec stand and get in nice and early to try the direct-drive wheel(s). The smoothness is what strikes you the most, the effortless way you can turn the wheel (even if it was massively heavy), it's about as close as you'll get to the feel of a real car wheel. The rest of the morning and early afternoon consisted of wandering around the expo, trying various rigs out and generally just having a bit of fun chatting to each other.
Today was my day of food stall revenge though. Before making our way up to the Mercedes Tribune, for the BlancPain race, I went to the stall there and ordered some drinks and a snack. @Invincible was by my side and I asked if he wanted a drink. Bizarrely, he asked for his coffee in English. The chap behind the counter then proceeded to talk to @Invincible in English and myself in German. Oh how I laughed
A few farewells had to be made during the headline Blancpain race, as people headed off home, with a few more leaving as the race finished. Returning to the mansion, we bade farewell to a few more, leaving less than 10 of us for the Sunday night, the last night of the trip. With long journeys ahead of all of us, most of us took an early night, to try and be as refreshed as possible for Monday.
Monday
With a reduced coffee duty this morning and a light breakfast, it was time to pack up and say our farewells and wish each other safe journeys. The car was packed and we set off, for the return journey. Mid-way through the return home, the reviews started to appear, all of which were looking positive. To say that Yorkie was slightly relieved would be an understatement. It must have been a very stressful time for all the SMS guys but, that hard work was appearing to have been paid off nicely.
A brief stop at my Aunt's home, to pick up my car and it was time to say goodbye to Yorkie and then drop @Gxbbs off at his home. I arrived at my own doorstep sometime around 8pm (it definitely wasn't 'exactly' 8pm
I cannot really put into words what the weekend meant for me. Of course, it's great to meet up with some old faces from previous trips (@Elmo, @t0daY, @Yorkie_065 and @MelBonkers) but, it was also great to meet some of those guys that I regularly race with and our very own WMD1 polo-shirt designer, @TheDoctor46 (I couldn't help but sport my polo shirt that weekend
Thanks guys and see you again at the next one, for there will definitely be a next one
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2017
- Messages
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- 115
Oh man, I wish I learned about RSR earlier. Hope there will be another event soon!
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2016
- Messages
- 75
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- 76
Here's a little selection and more in here
Sorry I couldnt deliver more kart shots, really struggled with the lighting w/o a non 4 digit lens
Sorry I couldnt deliver more kart shots, really struggled with the lighting w/o a non 4 digit lens
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2018
- Messages
- 101
- Reaction score
- 48
My face hurts from all of the smiling. Excellent post! Maybe one day, I'll be able to join.
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2018
- Messages
- 136
- Reaction score
- 141
Anything planned for this year? And can I join you guys if you are going?
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2016
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- 648
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- 252
Sadly, there isn't anything planned this year. I will probably hop over on Saturday with my wife. Would have loved to go woth you guys over the full weekend.
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2017
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- 443
Unfortunately I have some other plans for this years SimExpo