I think you're on to something. If we can keep the parameters simple and consistent that makes it much easier for someone to grab a car and jump in the water, as it were.
An underlying goal in all our racing events back in Prologue was to create pack racing. Our wrules and wrinkles, car/track choices, and provided tunes were all aimed at getting cars and drivers running close lap times, and thus close races. Everything was a "suggestion" and most people followed them and we've had some great times. We found that a hard fought race for 6th place can be just as much fun and rewarding as shooting for a podium finish.
HSR lends itself to pack racing very well, and we've learned if you can get two different cars turning lap times within a second of each other they will race very well together. We used to set everything up to level the playing field as much as possible to force the issue, and even through in wrinkles to handicap the fast guys in an effort to keep them from running away from the field. Just ask hey. He was always my benchmark and I even went so far as to write in specific instructions aimed at him alone. Sometimes they worked but usually he just outdrove us anyway.
The point being, folks always enjoyed it when we opened things up and let them bring their own cars and setups.
That's been my goal from the beginning. Lots of good ideas and suggestions here. Some of the folks here may have missed some of the planning discussion on the PSN around this. So let me see if I can level set the group on what I was going for.
Just as you mention UCan, I've always enjoyed races with a low barrier to entry. Part of what creates a low barrier to entry is having cars already setup and ready to go for a particular race. I designed this set of weight, hp and PP requirements around a couple cars. I wanted to see S2000's vs. 350Z's vs. BMWs. That was my target. So the hp and PP are based off a mostly stock S2000. And the weight was raised to be able to include some of the heavier cars like the Z and the smaller BMWs. That gives us our target range for a touring class of car that any one of us could possibly purchase and drive in real life.
Then came the question of mods. There are lots of ways to skin this cat. And some are better than others. But I've found, no matter how you slice it, there's always going to be one or two cars that are just better for a given track, either because they have more torque or because they just naturally handle better. There's no getting around that. So rather than spending weeks trying to make it fair, I decided to embrace it. I took a couple of weeks and drove every single car I could get my hands on that fit the category. Then I posted my results for all to see. That way everyone knows which cars are fastest. And then I just threw it out there ... are you chicken? Can you handle driving a car that may not be the fastest on the track? And can you win anyways? Can you find a way to tune it so that it's competitive?
And what I've found is that simple challenge to people's manhood resulted in a LOT of variety on the track. It was really nice, actually. Sure, when you've lost the last three races, you may decide to show up in the fastest car. But you're basically saying ... I can't do it with my driving alone. And that's ok.
As Feldynn mentioned, this combination produces a lot of cars that are remarkably close in terms of performance. If we were to tweak the settings, I'd like to find another full class of cars and target them, like we did here. For example, I'm already thinking about a V8 touring class that would include some of the American muscle cars against the V8 BMWs, Audis, Mercedes, etc (
inspired by the some racing I watched over the weekend at the Virginia International Raceway.) I think that would give us a second really solid series with more HP and more weight that would include a whole new set of cars to try out.
If we want to try other combinations, that's fine too. But we've had good success building this around a set of cars that we want to race against one another. And there's a lot of testing that goes on to get it just right. That's all I wanted to mention.
Tires. When I initially suggested Racing Soft as the standard, several folks mentioned mentioned that they thought that made the race too easy. I think we've all seen that, while it does give you more grip, that just allows you to go faster. And the softer rubber keeps things predictable in the corners. So you've got higher speeds in the corner with predictable lines. And this results in really tight racing, side by side, three or four wide. And it's just crazy fun. I raced last night with another group of guys. Feld was there. And this isn't a criticism of their event, it's just an observation. We raced on HSRR in the same cars ... S2000s and 350Zs. But we were on Sports Soft tires. I got lapped by the winner. I spun the car ... 5 times? 6? Not sure. Part of it was just bad driving on my part. But the entire field was spread out. And instead of racing each other, we were all (I think) trying like hell just to keep the car going in the right direction. It was not nearly as fun as when I have traction and I'm jockeying for position with another couple of drivers. So yes, Racing rubber is for beginners. But I suggest we try different tires after the races stop being fun and we want to add an additional challenge and see how it goes.
Finally, I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves on the whole "example of Tuna racing" thing. I think that's a great goal for this long term. But it certainly sets very high expectations. And we're just getting started. Lets run some races, see how it goes, tweak some things, see how it goes. And I think in time, you'll have a series here to be proud of.
My $0.02,
Michael