RBR SAIRC - Round 3 - Sasol Rally

[Bruce D]

Sasol Rally Event Info
-----------------------------
28-29 May 2010
South African Internet Rally Championship - Round 3

Rules
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Open to S2000, N4-N1 and A7-A5 cars only (No WRC cars!)
Tyre choice is free for all stages
Pacenotes - Audio only, not visual
One SuperRally per leg, 3min penalty for each SuperRally used.

Stages
------
Day 1
SS1 - Mineshaft II (Australia) - Mod: Normal - Weather: Thick Fog - 8.2km
SS2 - Falstone (England) - Mod: Normal - Weather: Thick Fog - 6.6km
SS3 - RSI - Slalom PLP or RSI 1 (SuperSpecial) - Mod: Normal - Weather: clear -

NIGHT MOD - 1.5km

Day 2
SS4 - Lyon-Gerland (SuperSpecial) - Mod: Normal - Weather: Clear - 0.7km
SS5 - Pribram 1 (SuperSpecial) - Mod: Normal - Weather: Clear - 1.9km
SS6 - Harwood Forest II (England) - Mod: Normal - Weather: Cloudy Damp - 5.9km
SS7 - Falstone II (England) - Mod: Normal - Weather: Cloudy Damp - 6.6km

Total Distance - 31.4km

Entries
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Send your entries to BruceD by PM or by email to [email:nqkil7uy]rbrmfcup@gmail.com[/email:nqkil7uy] Entry info as follows: Name, Country, Team, Car.

Submitting times
----------------
Start each stage using the "RSRBR2009" button under the "play alone" section, do your stage. The time will be recorded in the window at the bottom of RsCenter.

If its not recorded, you did something wrong. Use "public sessions" tab and "Go" button for BTB stages.

Once you have completed the stages you wish to do, select the File menu and click on "Save times" The times are saved to your RBR directory under the folder "MyTimes". Once you have done all the stages, send all your html files to [email:nqkil7uy]rbrmfcup@gmail.com[/email:nqkil7uy] to be scored. Please note that more than 1 html file can be submitted so you don't have to do all the stages at one time.

Entries open immediately. Rally and entries close at midnight Tuesday 1st June 2010

[Bruce D]

Sorry about no image but due to our brilliantly useless IT company and their stupid restriction program it now blocks the url links I got from Tiny Pics in order to upload pics.

Please note the night stage, a tradition on this event.

I'll have a rally preview up on the website soon.

[Bruce D]

Also note the RSI slalom stage - I've given both the RSRBR2009 and RSRBR2010 names for the stage, it's just graphical updates on the 2010 version but otherwise identical stage but they changed the name between versions.

[lcd]

Itinerary for this one looks nice!

[NeverKnow]

Very interesting choice of stages. I'll compete with a n. group Subaru again.
I've never driven Mineshaft II before, I wonder how does the car handle the big climb that in reverse is the Mineshaft jump or it does not handle it at all and crawls to a halt midway up the hill. :D

[Bruce D]

It'll be like one of those Iceland hillclimb things, if you get to the top, full points! No rolling backwards though...

[tannat]

Hope the laptop gets repaired in time for this one.... :(

[52Paddy]

This does look like a fun little event. Quite a contrast to the long, tough rallies we've had recently. I haven't driven many of them superspecials so I've got to do some practice. I also must see how the Skoda handles that Mineshaft hill. If the engine doesn't have the power, I might switch car. For the moment, I'll enter in the usual car.

[CaptainRaiden]

I haven't checked, but it's mostly gravel right? I'll send the entry as soon as I decide on the car.

[Bruce D]

The superspecials are tar, the rest is gravel.

[52Paddy]

I tried out the stages yesterday and all were working fine. However, now I get this prompt on the loading screen for the RSI Slalom stage.

Note: This screenshot is from the loading screen of another RSI stage (not the one in the roadbook), but the same window comes up for the slalom. Anybody know what to do?

[52Paddy]

Sorry about the quality. It was automatically resized. If someone would like me to email them a screenshot (full size), let me know.

[tannat]

<SIGH> laptop has crashed yet again, with IT telling me it may need a new hard drive.

May miss this round-do we have drop scores in this league?

[Macd]

dont know if i'll be entering this one. I'm off to the JCMR this weekend :D

[CaptainRaiden]

I tried out the stages yesterday and all were working fine. However, now I get this prompt on the loading screen for the RSI Slalom stage.

Note: This screenshot is from the loading screen of another RSI stage (not the one in the roadbook), but the same window comes up for the slalom. Anybody know what to do?

I'm getting the exact same error message when loading the RSI Slalom stage, and not only that, but also when loading the Lyon-Gerland stage. The rest of them are working fine.

Maybe it's because of update 04 or could be some other incompatibility issue? I'm running Windows 7 64 bit. What about you, Paddy?

[NeverKnow]

I just tried those stage and they ran ok. Did you guys had this problem before or it appeared after installing update 04?
Edit: It might be worth trying to install the latest Visual C++ runtime from the Microsoft website.

[Bruce D]

Yeah I couldn't run it last night either, and then it stopped all my stages until I restarted, so I think we must cancel this stage. I didn't try the RSI 1 version afterwards though. And Tannat, yes there are drop scores in this championship.

Anyway, finished my runs last night, but had a disappointing ending. Mineshaft went well, although I was surprised at the limited amount of visibilty. Falstone went very well but I spun near the end and lost maybe 10sec getting going again. Lyon went ok, no problems, but I hit a barrell in Pribram which again cost me about 10sec. Harwood was slippery but I spun once and got away with it so that was alright. The disaster was the last stage though, Falstone II, going well, had calmed down from some earlier minor offs and was settled nicely - then in a dead straight piece of road a bump launched me off line and that made me go into the ditch on the side, which sucked me straight into the trees. Somehow I managed to keep the car going but was now stuck in 4th gear. Managed to keep going for a while but couldn't slow down enough for a 2 left (K I think) and stalled it against those bloody timber barriers. Game over...

[lcd]

Same problem here with RSI Slalom stage and Lyon-Gerland too. Both on win xp or win7...
Trying NeverKnow's Idea to see If It gets solved...

http://yfrog.com/0cdscf2962zj

[CaptainRaiden]

Yep, both of them are working now after installing this package from the Microsoft website: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9b2da534-3e03-4391-8a4d-074b9f2bc1bf&displaylang=en

Thanks Neverknow! :up:

[lcd]

Strange thing happened... :confused: Both tracks loaded after Installed the update,
but when followed the schedule, after MineshaftII and Falstone, they didn't...

[ctbr]

Strange thing happened... :confused: Both tracks loaded after Installed the update,
but when followed the schedule, after MineshaftII and Falstone, they didn't...

I had The same problem, but now my times are in.

We will see how it goes, I hade at least one misstake on each of the long SS and Pribram also. The short super specials went OK, but you don't win a rally on super specials...

[lcd]

...The short super specials went OK, but you don't win a rally on super specials...

You're right! Just like the real stuff, the long stages make the difference... ;)

[NeverKnow]

I also had the error problem during the recce when I ran Mineshaft and Falstone before SS3 on my desktop computer. During the event I restarted RSRBR before running SS3 and I didn't get the error message. Also during testing I ran damp road conditions on a separate stage but when I ran Pribram S1 with good conditions after it, there wasn't no grip at all. I double checked that I had good weather and proper tires, which I had, then I restarted RSRBR and I got right traction again on Pribram S1. Maybe those two problems might be related.

Anyway this is report on my rally. Mostly I didn't had major crashes but I had issues with pacenotes on the new stages like Mineshaft II and Falstone II.
On SS1 it was like driving in snow storm, entire screen was basicly white for me. I tried to push as hard I could. I also clipped twice the rock face with rear left side of the car. Notes said 5R but it was 3R and at the second time it was more like 2R than 3R. The car didn't suffer much damage because of it and I finished the stage.
The rest of the first day stages went quite well.
Second day started well, didn't had problems on SS4 and had a little issue with the hairpin on SS5.
On SS6 I had a halfspin and a slight off but on SS7 I had quite a few moments. There were many occasions, when I had entered too fast into the corner and went offroading again. I didn't had any crashes, though I did drive on two wheels for a while when the car got caught in the ditch.
I don't know what expect from the event because I don't know how fast the S2000 cars can go on these stages. Will wait for the results.

Here's some pictures (http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj267/t6nns/Sasol%20Rally/) from the event and onboard video from SS4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oenfhebnCrM) and SS6 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6DkNoJrHp8).

[lcd]

This was a 'speed Isn't everything' kind of event!
A high level difficulty rally! Nice work with the weather conditions Bruce!
I finally managed to load ss3/ss4-Stages loaded only after Installing the Microsoft update and restart RSRBR10...

Suprisignly, had no problems In MineshaftII and Falstone and despite the fog I think I did pretty well.
The superspecials went O.K too, except Pribram S1, where the usuall stuff happened! :D (fall Into ditches, hit the barrels e.t.c.)
The final 2 stages of the rally were the most demanding;Covered dump surface required total concentration and technical driving,
though I think I did better In Harwood Forest II than In Falstone II,
where I had some extra slidding Issues there...!It may not had many long stages, but It was frustrating enough!

Here are some highlights:

http://yfrog.com/59richardburnsrallysse201j (http://img189.imageshack.us/i/richardburnsrallysse201.jpg/)
http://yfrog.com/3drichardburnsrallysse201jj
http://yfrog.com/1xrichardburnsrallysse201qj
http://yfrog.com/4rrichardburnsrallysse201tj
http://yfrog.com/2rrichardburnsrallysse201j
http://yfrog.com/83richardburnsrallysse201jj
http://yfrog.com/jorichardburnsrallysse201fj

[Bruce D]

Looking at the times I've got so far, I'm really happy with my pace on this event. Ok, yes, I've finished last due to the superrally, and I had a number of spins but the general pace was impressive. I was only off the winning times by as much as I thought I'd lost in my mistakes, and on Fraizer 1 I think you boys are lucky I hit the timber fence cos otherwise my last half of that stage must have been way faster than anyone else. Clearly the setup work is starting to pay off.

[52Paddy]

1/ Mineshaft II: Started off really well. The thick fog caused difficulties with visibility so I know I was too cautious in some corners but I was very satisfied with my pace. Unfortunately, 0.3km from the finish, I fell down a gorge and lost 30 seconds (approx) with the penalty for calling for help. This put me in a very annoyed mood for the rest of the stages.

2/ Falstone: The fog, this time, caused braking problems more than anything else. The stage was very slippy and, at the start, I fell off the bridge and lost over 30 seconds (closer to 1 minute in lost time actually). The car felt really nervous for the rest of the stage and my driving was, therefore, sloppy.

3/ RSI Slalom PLP: Stage did not load.

4/ Lyon-Gerland: Stage did not load.

5/ Pribram S1: A tricky little number despite its short length. I frequently touched the grass which lost me heaps of seconds, particularly down at the hairpin right (before the finishing stretch for the stage).

6/ Harwood Forest II: The only stage where I managed to keep everything under control. I was happy with my work here but it was far from an exhilarating drive.

7/ Falstone II: After the brake problems on SS2, I decide to put the bias more even (as opposed to 60/40 to the front). I put it to 52/48 and could definitely feel a difference, though I'm not sure how much of that was setup, and how much came from the slightly different weather conditions. Either way, the car felt a little weird in the braking zones but, had I practiced with this setup earlier, it most certainly would have been the way to go. Unfortunately two costly errors (one which was a roll, the other a "call for help moment) put paid to any chances of setting even an average stage time.

So, a bad rally overall for me. Aside from having difficulties on the 5 stages I managed, the loading problems with the game (I didn't have time to check the ideas posted here, sorry) meant 2 stages were not run. That's a super-rally for both days. If anything, I can take consolation out of the fact that I at least will finish with a result of some kind, given that the super-rallies were on different days. The only thing I'm looking forward to on this rally is to see how my first and second SS1 sectors match up and the overall stage time (minus half a minute for penalty) to give me some perspective of my pace. After that, I can just hope to pick up the leftover points and do the best for team which only fields one car this time round.

[CaptainRaiden]

Sent my times yesterday. This rally was pretty easy going for me, no real issues anywhere. Mineshaft II was fun, went full throttle on many blind corners, it was all about reflexes and pacenotes. I hit my left tyre on a blind fast right, it's a little crest on the left side of the road, where there's also a left turn.

The rest of them were pretty okay. Hated the RSI Slalom stage, the Skoda Fabia is just not as good with the handbrake as other cars, or I've not yet perfected the hairpin turns. :D

Pribram S1 went well, but nowhere near my best time of 1:53 with a Subaru Impreza WRC. Hopefully it's good enough though for an S2000 car. Here is the video of my run at Pribram S1:

0W7CJC0M1LU

Probably the best run was Falstone II, without any problems, but I wished I had not been that cautious. If I had pushed more, I could have easily shaved a lot more seconds. Was not happy with my time there. Oh well, next time.

I tried to upload my run from Falstone II as well, and so tried to compress the file size with the usual AVI compressor I have, but for some reason the video freezes mid-way.

[Bruce D]

Just waiting for Tannat's results now. He did ask to get until tomorrow due to his laptop getting fixed.

Interesting so far to see how the results are split up. One group of 4 guys at the front within a minute of each other, and another group of 3 behind who are also within a minute of each other but 4min off the first group!

[Bruce D]

All results are in. I'll be processing the results during my lunch break and hopefully either later this afternoon or tomorrow I'll have the results up.

[tannat]

Tuesday 3pm-received repaired laptop
3:45pm-RBR loaded, leave work to pick up kids
4:45 pm-home, begin download of RBRSR10, leave for son's baseball game
8:15pm-home, RBRSR10 download still in progress
10:45pm-RBRSRdownload complete, download updates and S2000 car packs
11:45 pm -all downloads complete
12:00am begin rally
~1:15am rally complete :D

As it looks as if a couple of drivers had a rough rally I did it at about 8/10ths, not really pushing at all.
I wanted to finish and get points :up:

Cheers,

Tannat

[Bruce D]

Results Up!

As I can't post anything here still due to our lovely service provider you will have to go to the website - http://www.rbrmfcup.sixserve.net

Please note all the graphical changes on the right-hand side. Let me know what you guys think. Also some new pages at the bottom of the menu.

[NeverKnow]

Paul sure did a thorough job on this one, winning 5 out of 6 competitive stages! Congrats to him for winning the rally! :up:
For me the result was actually better than I expected but I'm surprised how close the times actually are stage by stage, well not the first and last stage.

Bruce, the website looks great. :up:

[tannat]

Boy-total lack of grip hurt us on the final two stages, but we were in no position to threaten further up the board.

A quiet fifth, but hopefully this performance will enable me to drop my 8th place finish in round one :(

Bruce-this site looks great. I am very impressed..


Paddy-we are second in teams!!! :up:

[lcd]

Welldone Paul! Nice win! :cool:
Seems that Pribram S1 cost me far more than expected...Falstone II was a disaster too! Lost many seconds there...
I enjoyed those close battles with Paul, NeverKnow, X-ecutioner a lot!

[lcd]

Yes, the site gets better and better! I'm so glad It exists-thanks to Bruce! :up:

[52Paddy]

I was expecting to set some shocking times indeed. But, I still take pleasure in realising that without the 'call for help' penalties I suffered, I set a few midfield stage times. Man, I've got to concentrate more and not crashing :p :

Bruce, the website looks brilliant. Well done. If you still have the sector breakdown of the stages on offer, I'll take them :)

Tannat, it's great to have you on board for this round. I salute your loyalty to the team :up:

Congratulations to Paul Minaar on winning the rally and to LCD for taking a stage win :beer:

[Macd]

Good rally guys. Sorry about missing it. But I had a real rally to attend :D :D
I will be back + kicking ass :P in the MFCup next round. In possibly another new car :) The OMV garage is getting rather large .

[CaptainRaiden]

Phew! Finally a podium. :D I managed to find some free time and do some proper practice runs before this event, and it paid off. Nice little up and down battle with LCD there. I just wish I could have pushed a bit more at Falstone II to win it, but I guess it's better to finish than crash.

Congrats to Paul for the win. That was some very good driving! :up:

[lcd]

Bruce, Is the rbrmfcup site down at the moment..? :confused: http://www.rbrmfcup.sixserve.net/

[Bruce D]

Hmm, does appear that the whole thing is down right now. No idea why, it's not my doing...