VTCC Friday Night Spec - Season 3 The Alpine Adventure

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Rules & Regulations

A very challenging drive this one, for a car with just 203 HP, a slight whip of that tail and the rear engined, RWD car will let you know about it. As always on the VTCC, we try to keep it simple as possible, but we do have rules and they are strictly enforced. Although in the three months back, no issues so far and hopefully thats something we are looking to keep.

We are slightly different to the regular and bigger sites, we are looking for a fun night of enjoyable racing. If you main goal in racing is winning at all costs, this site may not be suited to yourself fully. We are also a NO RESTARTS sites, unless under very rare circumstances of a massive lagbomb destroying someones car before the start. Crashes happen in motorsport, in every form, its not nice when it happens, but your misfortune is another man’s advantage and with the repairing of the cars in the pits these days, its not a race ending issue. Of course all issues will be looked at and if found a driver deliberately being an arse on the start of races, there time at the VTCC will be a short one, accidents happen to everyone, we just make an apology and get on with it, as theres point to battle for further back and with our scoring, every point counts.

Qualifying

Qualifying will be starting at 20:10 UK Time, invites will be sent out from 20:00 so a quick response would be appreciated. Qualifying will be over just three laps, and as always, clean laps count above dirty laps, so no pressure then on the new configurations. The lobby will be set to 5 laps. Lap 1 will be your outlap, Laps 2, 3 and 4 your flying qualifying laps and after completion of Lap 4, if you could pull over at Turn One of Lap 5 so the lobby host can gather the times.

The Races

There will be two races per round, the first race will be set on the qualifying times and be a rolling start, the line up getting in position during this initial lap. The rolling lap speed will be 50mph and cars will be lined up in pairs in rolling formation. The Pole Position winner will name which side of the track he wants the green light from and he will also be in charge of the start.

In a similar way to the starts in NASCAR and the restarts in IndyCar, there will be two designated points in the race day thread, the man in pole position can start anywhere between these two points and DOES NOT have to announce to the rest of the field when to go, theres no Green Green Green, 321 Go, the start is solely on the man in pole position.

Race Two will be a full reverse grid, thus meaning the driver that finished last in race one will be in pole position for race two. If you lagout of race one, you will have to start at the back of the grid in Race Two.

The start for Race Two will also be a 50mph rolling start, the difference this time being single file, again the man in pole position is in charge of the start, he can go at any point between the designated point given in the race day thread. There is NO OVERTAKING before the start finish line, if the single file line stacks up from eager beavers you can pull out of line to avoid a collision, but must not pass before the start finish line.

Theres NO RESTARTS in any VTCC Events, unless in an extreme circumstance of a huge lagbomb. The restart rule on many sites have become a bit of a joke, the call is usually placed on a lobby host that may not see an incident, so we have a simple No Restart policy. In the real world of motorsports, accidents at the start of races, happen, its not nice if your the innocent victim, but it happens. With the cars being repairable in the pits and the points for places counting, every position may matter in a title challenge, so bite the bullet, get fixed up and aim to make a few position back up. Luck is a two way thing and your downfall may be a welcome positive for someone else, its swings and roundabouts as the saying goes.

We will however come down hard on any revenge tactics or bad sportsmanship, these events are aimed as some light hearted racing to enjoy for an evening, we dont mind banter during a race, endless conversations, no but a good rival exchange during a battle on the track, yes. If your mind set is i must win everything, this is probably not the right site for you. Points Dont Make Prizes Here!!

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I have always been one that tries to look for a story behind my paints in online racing, as and when time allows obviously and for the next VTCC Spec Season starting on Friday 8th January, the car of choice is the Alpine Renault A110, the rear engined RWD car that Renault eventually bought out in 1973, although it had been a very close working relationship for many years.

Back at the beginning of the 1970’s, there wasnt a World Rally Championship, that didnt arrive till 1973 in which Alpine took the works title, although the record in the previous few Monte Carlo rallies was pretty impressive, Ove Andersson leading home a 1-2-3 for the small french outfit in 1971.

Pat Moss was born into a motor racing family, her dad Alfred Moss had ran in the Indianapolis 500 and her older brother Stirling Moss, can still kick the arses of many a racing driver. Pat Moss though went down the rallying route, her husband was Erik Carlsson, known as Mr Saab, and along the way had grabbed afew victories in a range of cars, including a third place finish in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1965.

By this time though, the five times ladies champion was cutting back on the rallying to start a family, but she was tempted by the offer from Alpine in 1972 and raced this car in the Monte Carlo Rally, finishing tenth overall and winning the Ladies Cup.

Soon after she retired to be more with her family and the world of rallying was changing fast with the introduction of purpose built cars like the Lancia Stratos in 1974, a time to sit back and njoy life with her husband and daughter. The pink and red scheme would probably worry the artistic police, but for myself in Season Three of the VTCC Friday Night Spec, i shall be getting into character trying to drive in high heels which is the perfect reason why a) im slow and b) scaring the wife that i have hit the midlife crisis.

If you would like more details on the series, you can find them on the VTCC Forum and if you like your racing slow, why not give us a go, we dont go above A Class because we all wear tweed.

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After the long wait during the Christmas and New Year festivities, the VTCC Spec Series 3 finally got underway at Silverstone. Preparations as always with the VTCC runners had been ultra professional, the lobby host somehow losing as many drivers as were being invited and demonstrating his mathematical skills as counting from nine to one proved impossible for his head to cope. Agile Adam another suffering as the twelve or so laps preparations showed up as a character building session with the quirky Alpine A110.

For some though, the hours of practice had shown up in bucketloads, Schuey75 taking a well deserved and i belief a first ever pole position on the VTCC, just pipping Daytona Dreams by 0.06 seconds, just a shame that Daytona Dreams couldnt find the right gear when the green flag dropped, his first act at that vital point to over rev the engine giving himself 5% damage and the rest of the field a head start.

The wackysack and Schuey started to pull a small gap from ATP Fenboy who had a cunning ploy to get passed Moo, by writing French down the sides of the car, meaning Moo was concentrating more on that than the braking point he had just past. A mistake from Schuey eventually set up a duel to the death between Fenboy and The Wackysack with the latter taking victory by just a couple of tenths of a second and XB6 Broomske taking the final spot on the podium, a rich reward for the Aussie racing at 4am local time and like VTCC aussie regulars in the past Pro Man and ATP Redline, commitment for a race cant be faulted.

Race two, the reverse grid was very eventful for some, Daytona Dreams pirouetting out of control and landing in the pit lane on Lap Four. XB6 Broomske being the unlucky victim in a lagbomb, which thankfully saw a recovery possible. A few bumps and scrapes along the 24 laps , which ended with the same two drivers in positions 1 & 2 and a podium for ENS Cerberus who has certainly grabbed the handle on the Alpine.

If you would like more details on the series, you can find them on the VTCC Forum and if you like your racing slow, why not give us a go, we dont go above A Class because we all wear tweed.

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Round Two for the Alpine’s A110 and into the glorious sunshine of Barcelona and the magnificent Circuit de Catalunya for two races around the National Circuit. It soon became apparent that the tuning for Catalunya had to be very good, otherwise the rear engined beast would have you facing the wrong direction very quickly, in fact for Agile Adam he must have felt like being on a waltzer at times, the Lucky Strike Alpine not enjoying itself at all.

The other dilemma was the brakes, which at the end of the long home straight saw pretty much the entire field visiting at least once, at one stage had four cars in there and i personally was fast approaching the double digit count towards the end.

The rather grand news this week was the return of an old friend who was on the VTCC when it very first started as nbred5 was welcome backed with open arms, as was EXE Sesser who also has previous VTCC experience. ATP Ginge was also back this week, having been hob nobbing with the stars for week one, came back to winning ways with two dominant performances which saw him claim another maximum number night in the points haul

Strong performances this week from EXE Sesser and ENS Cornholio sees the mid pack closing right up on the league table and a big big test next week as Prague Short is the venue, a very unforgiving place which may well be keeping the pit crews busy.

If you would like more details on the series, you can find them on the VTCC Forum and if you like your racing to be varied in stuff that doesnt usually get seen in the mainstream race sites, well the VTCC may just be or ticket to start the weekend.

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Not the biggest report in the world this week for the VTCC round at Prague as real life is getting in the way, but Prague, surprisingly good racing but there was a few extra pit stop’s. Next up is Le Mans Bugatti. Heres the picks from Prague.

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The fourth round of the VTCC Spec Season Three saw just the eight drivers in attendance, although passes had been granted, XB6 Broomzke overslept, but being 4am local time for him, thats fine. ENS Cerebrus, the three headed ninja squirrel had the family around so had escaped the house to gather nuts for the cold winter and another active member went to watch the wrestling, i wont say who just yet, i think a small game of blackmail can be played first on that score.

But for those of us in attendance, Le Mans Bugatti Circuit, the one where hitting a kerb causes things to vibrate dramatically or in the case of myself at the beginning of race two, finding a surprise in the shape of an IED which turned the car a sharp left into the gravel once it landed.

ATP Ginge had been pretty dominant in the series so far, and again secured a double podium effort, this time around though, just a couple of third place finishes, losing out to OcR Ceasar and AgileAdam who will readily admit, hates the car, but he was quick in France.

The battle for the wooden spoon raged all night long, NBRed5, Daytona Dreams and ENS Cornholio all on a very similar pace, with the last placed on the road being swapped and defended in what was a superb battle. To be honest, apart from ATP Fenboy who was trapped in a gap in fifth place, the opening race was a scrap all the way through the field.

The second race of the night saw fuel playing a big part in the will it, wont it make the distance, ATP Fenboy took an early pitstop looking to take advantage of the clean air, Daytona Dreams also taking a pit stop around the half way point, although it took two attempts to get around the tight right (yes ok, i hit the tyres, completely missing the gap)

While the drivers at the front of the pack danced with the fuel devil, all making home on fumes, NBRed5 wasnt as lucky as his #50 car ran out of fumes, thankfully a sporting push around to the start finish line saw everyone making it back, to finish off two cracking races for the evening.

Next up, Brands Hatch GP next Friday 5th February and theres still time to fine yourself on the grid, check out the VTCC Forum which has everything you need to know about our Friday night’s.

One last thing, the stewards are looking into the #68 car, wondering if he wasnt using the traditional gasoline, but pretty blue and pink flowers instead. I think the picture above tell me everything and if you could me a dozen red roses for a few weeks time, it would be much appreciated!!

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Week Five and the penultimate week for the Alpine Renault’s and it was a trip to the UK and the Brands Hatch full Grand Prix Circuit, the practice had been long and hard this week for the teams on the first visit to the Kent track for many of the drivers, rumour has it ATP Ginge spent at least twenty minutes practice this week and AgileAdam was busy concentrating on painting his Ferrari F40 for the start of season four in a fortnight’s time.

ATP Fenboy and OcR Ceasar were close in the qualifying session, but the current champion saw ATP Ginge taking pole position again.

Race One was an absolute humdinger of a battle between the fastest three in qualifying, the lead swapping on many occasions as the slightest of mistakes and the sandtraps were awaiting for their next victim. It was OcR Ceasar who came out on top of the nine lap flyer, with ATP Ginge and ATP Fenboy filling the rest of the podium, just two seconds seperating the three.

AgileAdam was again flying this week, unfortunately the kerbs just biting back on a couple of occasions, including this effort on the opening lap where somehow everyone missed him spinning across the track.

Further back and ENS Cerberus and XB6 Broomske were matching lap after lap, both grabbing top five finishes, with a recovered and flying AgileAdam in sixth, NBRed5, seventh, with Daytona Dreams and ENS Cornholio having a great battle, seeing who could drive into the sandtraps the most.

The feature race, the reverse grid and Daytona Dreams nearly made it a half lap before falling into a sand trap and allowing the field passed him with ease. Both ATP Fenboy and AgileAdam collecting damage forcing an earlier than planned pit stop.

The race for the second week in a row was right on the limitations of the fuel, ATP Ginge, OcR Ceaser and Daytona Dreams all running in fuel saving mode and all three just making it home, with ATP Ginge taking the chequered flag.

XB6 Broomzke had his 4am start ruined lagging out of the race lobby, but remaining in party chat which was a bit of a strange one for the Aussie Allied Forces man. ENS Cornholio was having a nightmare race, Daytona Dreams finding that fuel saving actually kept him on the black surface more than he had for the rest of the night, with NBRed 5 taking no chances having run out last week at Le Mans having a solid evening with a couple of seventh place finishes.

After last week’s Flower Power scandal, the stewards are yet again looking at the #68 car, this week attempting to save wear on his tyres by riding around on two wheels, yet again the evidence is looking against him even if the result of two wheels is usually waking up in the sand trap all confused and bewildered at Turn One.

The stewards have also awarded the #16 car a special prize for the best sandcastle during the racing, mind with the amount of time spent in the kitty litter this week, he had plenty of time to build enough!!

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Unfortunately this weeks report doesnt contain many words due to a hectic weekend with pretty much zero free time to enjoy it, some may call it a lack of commitment, i personally call it being busy.

The 24 laps of SpaFrancorchamps, it went rather well, the wee Alpine Renault was very much at home on the straight flat bits, although flying through Eau Rouge it felt like death was waiting to strike. ATP Ginge popped another trophy in the cabinet with a dominant win, third title in a row, will he make number four in the ferrari F40, i guess that depends on how quickly he discovers his F40 is actually a Toyota MR2 with an F40 kit on it.