RaceDepartment Rookies Race - 15th March

[Paul Jeffrey]

EDIT: Track updated to Silverstone National. RaceDepartment are excited to announce our first of many upcoming races designed with the rookie in mind, using Assetto Corsa and the incredible Abarth 500 at Silverstone!

This Wednesday 15th March we will be hosting a special club race in Assetto Corsa, designed for drivers who are new to sim racing online (or just want a good race) and looking to build their experience and confidence racing closely with other community members.

The car of choice will be the incredibly enjoyable Abarth 500 in Assetto Corsa, and we will be pounding round the short and frantic Silverstone circuit for a 30 minute race, preceded by a 60 minute practice and 20 minute qualifying session. Oh and it's going to have it's own live stream on Twitch too

Although the race will be open to all skill and experience levels we would particularly like to see some new faces in the event. This race is designed to serve as an ideal setting to get you more involved in the world of online racing here at RD, a place where you can learn the ropes and gain experience whilst taking advantage of the opportunity to learn and gather knowledge from your fellow drivers and staff. Oh and being as it's the Abarth 500's then the racing is pretty much guaranteed to be of the closet nature you'll find in Assetto Corsa too!

To help with the learning process (and because banter in club racing is usually pretty cool too) we will be mandating drivers to log in to TeamSpeak for this event (you can find out how to do that here). Don't worry, no one bites and the laughs you can have with your fellow simmers is sometimes more fun than the actually racing itself!

All you need is a copy of Assetto Corsa, Premium membership, keyboard, console controller, or steering wheel and you are all set to go! For the event we are going to focus on getting you on the online track (for the first time) and giving you a great experience and making you a better driver.

Make sure to sign up HERE by making a post and on race day you can book yourself in the game between 17 and 1900 GMT. Booking is used so you can still rejoin the event even when you loose connection from the server

Sim racing is awesome, and racing online against real people is even better! You can find out about the event HERE and sign yourself up for some great online action.

The race will take place at the following times and will be the first of many such events we plan to hold in the coming weeks:

Server Name: RACEDEPARTMENT.COM EU 500
Cars: Abarth 500 Assetto Corse (the upgrade with the nice grippy racing slick tires with fixed setup)
Track: Silverstone National

Booking: Booking is open from 17:00 to 19:00 GMT
Practice: 19:00 GMT (60 minutes)
Qualifying: 20:00 GMT> (20 minutes)
Race: 20:20 GMT (30 minutes)

Remember, this event isn't just for rookies although that is the main aim of the session. If you are an experienced driver you are still welcome to take part in the action, after all a low powered car with slicks and fixed setups on a small track is great, what's not to like?

Have fun on track!

You can find more Assetto Corsa racing events in our excellent Assetto Corsa League and Club Racing sub forum. We have a dedicated space on the internet who's sole purpose is to host enjoyable, clean and fun racing events for you to enjoy! Check out the forum and have a look to see what you've been missing!

 

[Celestiale]

Great idea. Would have been the perfect opportunity for me to join club races, now that i have finally "playable" internet again.
Shame that on this day and time i've always football training..
Hoping to see those rookie races on other days as well, so i might be able to join them

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

It would be great to see you out on track with us @Celestiale I'm sure we can run future events on different days so you'll get your chance to come race with us, don't worry!

Be warned however, once you get bitten by the online bug it gets addictive really really quickly!

Although this is a rookie event, all our club races across all the different games are friendly places to go enjoy the racing. Don't hesitate to get yourself signed up to something, more often than not people are always wiling to help you out. All we ask is if you make a mistake and crash with someone (we've all done that) just remember to say sorry, wait up and let them retake the position and it's all fine

Have fun on the football training btw

 

[Benutzername]

**** it.

I havent played a racing game for nearly a year. I just lost interest because my wheel is so horrible and it takes away the fun. Realised how bad it is after i had some on track action. Felt so empty.

Still not in a place where i could afford a better one, but hey, Rookie Race and it was fun in the past aswell so...

1y premium and let's go again.

 

[Celestiale]

It would be great to see you out on track with us @Celestiale I'm sure we can run future events on different days so you'll get your chance to come race with us, don't worry!

Be warned however, once you get bitten by the online bug it gets addictive really really quickly!

Although this is a rookie event, all our club races across all the different games are friendly places to go enjoy the racing. Don't hesitate to get yourself signed up to something, more often than not people are always wiling to help you out. All we ask is if you make a mistake and crash with someone (we've all done that) just remember to say sorry, wait up and let them retake the position and it's all fine

Have fun on the football training btw

Thanks, yeah i hope so, i haven't too many free spots in my weekly schedule unfortunately. I'd like to, already glanced into the schedule for AC and R3E, but there are mostly "real" race cars like DTM i have no idea how to setup properly, and that is holding me back a little. Hopefully your petition about uploading setups helps a little in this matter
That's why i'd really relish those rookie races with fixed setup etc..i mean i can adjust the gearing, brake bias and downforce setups, but that's pretty much it..
Race etiquette is a given for me, no worries. A while ago i took part in league racing, and while i am definitely on the slow side of things, i am also on the fair side of things. Spotty/helicorsa are a must, i also use them against AI better being able to be "fair to them".
Thanks

 

[FeltHat]

i have to setup my ac, tweak ffb, get premium and here we go :3 maybe not for this one but overall those rookie races sound interesting

 

[Brandon Wright]

but there are mostly "real" race cars like DTM i have no idea how to setup properly, and that is holding me back a little.

For what it's worth I pretty much always run the default setup (I'm useless at tuning) and I'm usually at the front of the mid-pack. On occasion I'll use a tune that was given to me and I'm still stuck at the front of the mid-pack so the setup doesn't make much difference (for me). I find most of the default setups in AC to be fairly driveable, so don't let that hold you back from joining us!

 

[Glaurung]

Thanks, yeah i hope so, i haven't too many free spots in my weekly schedule unfortunately. I'd like to, already glanced into the schedule for AC and R3E, but there are mostly "real" race cars like DTM i have no idea how to setup properly, and that is holding me back a little. Hopefully your petition about uploading setups helps a little in this matter
That's why i'd really relish those rookie races with fixed setup etc..i mean i can adjust the gearing, brake bias and downforce setups, but that's pretty much it..
Race etiquette is a given for me, no worries. A while ago i took part in league racing, and while i am definitely on the slow side of things, i am also on the fair side of things. Spotty/helicorsa are a must, i also use them against AI better being able to be "fair to them".
Thanks

On Teamspeak, during our Club races we usually give driving and setup tips.
On tuesday we run a DTM event in the AC Racing Club.
For the DTM cars of the 90s, the setup is important but not essential, they start with a pretty good default one.
Also, here at RD there's a huge database of setups.

 

[Piotr Dul]

So the bookings window will be open only on the race day 5pm-7pm?

 

[Joseph Wright]

So the bookings window will be open only on the race day 5pm-7pm?

You can sign up by heading over to the sign up page http://www.racedepartment.com/threa...e-live-stream-wednesday-march-15-2017.132985/
You need to enter the server between 5 and 7pm on wednesday

 

[UMC 22]

Don't get hung up on setups, new guys. More often than not the only setting I change on my car is how much fuel there is in the tank, and I do fine. A win, a couple of podiums, and mostly in the upper mid-pack, and I'm not even a particularly good driver. Learn to race with real people first, worry about setups later when it actually matters.

 

[Joseph Wright]

Don't get hung up on setups, new guys. More often than not the only setting I change on my car is how much fuel there is in the tank, and I do fine. A win, a couple of podiums, and mostly in the upper mid-pack, and I'm not even a particularly good driver. Learn to race with real people first, worry about setups later when it actually matters.

I agree. I can get top half on the field easily without a setup. Thats just an added bonus once you come to learn it.

 

[Celestiale]

Ok guys. Didn't know how serious it's taken in those club races, how much people spend in training, tweaking setups, etc.
But it seems to have exactly the right level of seriousness overall that matches the time i can spend with the game.
Looking forward to see you in races soon

 

[Brandon Wright]

Ok guys. Didn't know how serious it's taken in those club races, how much people spend in training, tweaking setups, etc.
But it seems to have exactly the right level of seriousness overall that matches the time i can spend with the game.
Looking forward to see you in races soon

I should spend some time practicing but usually don't. I show up for the pre-race practice and get about 30 minutes of practice in, take a quick break to intake some fluids and dispose of old fluids, then jump into qualifying followed by the race. The goal of the club races is just to have fun in a relaxed atmosphere, there is no prize for winning, the battles you have are the prize no matter where they happen on the grid.

 

[Joseph Wright]

I should spend some time practicing but usually don't. I show up for the pre-race practice and get about 30 minutes of practice in, take a quick break to intake some fluids and dispose of old fluids, then jump into qualifying followed by the race. The goal of the club races is just to have fun in a relaxed atmosphere, there is no prize for winning, the battles you have are the prize no matter where they happen on the grid.

You are quite right, brandon. Its about having fun, and believe me when you are on TS, thats the most fun you can have all evening.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Agree fully with the comments from the guys above..

Setups are nice, but 99% of the time the performance comes from within. I personally pretty much always use default and just adjust fuel accordingly. That's usually good enough to run top six without much practice. To be perfectly honest I'm pretty certain if you really insist on running a setup then someone will give you one over TS during the event anyway...

Also regarding the "seriousness" of the clubs - again as stated above it's not about doing 10000 laps practice and nailing the field, it's about having a place to go and do some clean racing and having fun. Some people are rapid as hell and if you put in loads of practice that can help you run with those guys, some people are moderately fast and some are lower down the field. From my experience I find regardless of if I practice or not I'm usually racing alongside someone, somewhere in the field. To be fair having a young family and doing the news write-ups for RD I never get time to practice so usually turn up just before quali and do my first laps

Have fun and try to stay clean. That's about it

 

[Brandon Wright]

From my experience I find regardless of if I practice or not I'm usually racing alongside someone, somewhere in the field.

Exactly. And I normally find that once I get locked in a battle with someone I completely forget about what position it's for because all of my being is suddenly focused on staying ahead of or overtaking that person.

 

[Benutzername]

Agree fully with the comments from the guys above..

Setups are nice, but 99% of the time the performance comes from within. I personally pretty much always use default and just adjust fuel accordingly. That's usually good enough to run top six without much practice. To be perfectly honest I'm pretty certain if you really insist on running a setup then someone will give you one over TS during the event anyway...

Also regarding the "seriousness" of the clubs - again as stated above it's not about doing 10000 laps practice and nailing the field, it's about having a place to go and do some clean racing and having fun. Some people are rapid as hell and if you put in loads of practice that can help you run with those guys, some people are moderately fast and some are lower down the field. From my experience I find regardless of if I practice or not I'm usually racing alongside someone, somewhere in the field. To be fair having a young family and doing the news write-ups for RD I never get time to practice so usually turn up just before quali and do my first laps

Have fun and try to stay clean. That's about it

Exactly. At the end of the day a nice, close and fair fight for the 21st position is more enjoyable than leading a race comfortably to the win.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Couldn't agree more. That's precisely why I've never gotten any faster over the last 10 years... just happy to fight at the back

 

[KingScania]

This sounds interesting. Where do i get the car? Either i am to blind or to stupid to find it in AC.