The RaceDepartment Podcast Returns | S2, E1 Now Available

Paul Jeffrey · Feb 27, 2020

A new year, a new season! The RaceDepartment Podcast team are back in action for our first episode of 2020 - available to download and listen now!

Hosted once again by Paul Glover, the RaceDepartment Podcast team of Davide Nativo, Daniel Monteiro and Paul Jeffrey are taking the opportunity to pick through the latest and greatest news from the world's of real and virtual motorsport.

Despite still being very much in the early part of the year, plenty has been happening on the real and virtual tarmac for the team to discuss - from the latest Formula One news, excitement for the new Automobilista 2 simulation, Assetto Corsa Competizione improvements and that DLC, plus a whole loads more besides...

To help you access the various locations of this latest podcast, you can check out the useful list below of just some of the places you can listen to and download the new episode. Of course, if you missed the RD Podcast excitement last time out, you can still catch up with all our broadcasts too…

Podcast Links:

Please do feel free to leave us a review on your podcast service of choice - help spread the word!

Do you have any special requests for future episodes? Do you want to share your thoughts, comments and feedback on what direction the show could take going forward? Please do let us know in the comments section, and at the RD Podcast sub forum location.

As always, our thanks to @RasmusP for his audio editing goodness.

Heikki21 · Feb 27, 2020

Good to see/hear you back guys

looking forward to listen to it soon

thebaz · Feb 27, 2020

FINALLY you are back!!!

Daniel Monteiro · Feb 27, 2020

As mentioned here's my new pimping yellow rim ting, never thought 2cm less would improve things (who would... lol) so I'm really happy with it:

Michele Esposito · Feb 27, 2020

I really missed listening to you guys, glad you're back with the podcast!

Alex Townsend · Feb 28, 2020

Daniel Monteiro said:
As mentioned here's my new pimping yellow rim ting, never thought 2cm less would improve things (who would... lol) so I'm really happy with it:

View attachment 352395

Rim looks nice!

Also, interested in what's on the screen behind it too!
Enquiring minds wanna know

Johand · Feb 28, 2020

Daniel Monteiro said:
As mentioned here's my new pimping yellow rim ting, never thought 2cm less would improve things (who would... lol) so I'm really happy with it:

View attachment 352395

It's about the thickness

, and yellow makes you faster !

MarcG · Feb 28, 2020

Excellent nice to hear you back chaps, I'll fit you in between The Infinite Monkey Cage and Rusty's Garage!

thebaz · Feb 28, 2020

I think the big news of 2020 is that @Davide Nativo finally bought a wheel !!!!

Daniel Monteiro · Feb 29, 2020

thebaz said:
I think the big news of 2020 is that @Davide Nativo finally bought a wheel !!!!

Let's hope he doesn't get it refunded

Daniel Monteiro · Feb 29, 2020

ZeroRisk said:
Rim looks nice!

Also, interested in what's on the screen behind it too!
Enquiring minds wanna know

It's just a simple cheat sheet I found online, I have attached it on this post.

Which is funny because I know all of it, since it is the theory, but in reality for 99% of cases I just adjust tyre pressures, fuel load, rear wing angle (if applicable) and I go racing

Richard H · Mar 2, 2020

Love the podcast guys. Very entertaining listening on my daily drive.

I have one request for Mr Paul Glover. Please can you put the mo back in AutoMObilista? It has been bugging me for the last year

JasonMADCow · Mar 3, 2020

Hadn't realised there was a new "podcast". Kept on getting frustrated with the old subscription not working

Really really enjoy listening to your podcast. It's like hearing a few friends at the pub talking about racing. Shame I can't but it

Please keep up the good work! You can tell that you're enjoying yourselves!!!

Paul Glover · Mar 3, 2020

Richard H said:
Love the podcast guys. Very entertaining listening on my daily drive.

I have one request for Mr Paul Glover. Please can you put the mo back in AutoMObilista? It has been bugging me for the last year

I'll do my best!

Paul Glover · Mar 3, 2020

JasonMADCow said:
Hadn't realised there was a new "podcast". Kept on getting frustrated with the old subscription not working

Really really enjoy listening to your podcast. It's like hearing a few friends at the pub talking about racing. Shame I can't but it

Please keep up the good work! You can tell that you're enjoying yourselves!!!

Sorry, I broke the other feed.

Glad you're enjoying it!

Alex Harkett · Mar 18, 2020

Well... after waiting and waiting and waiting, I used my high IQ level to check the forum to see what had happened to S2 of the podcast... and the answers were all here. I've happily re-subbed to the new series and am really pleased to hear you guys back! Jokes aside I really don't have a lot of close friends (nearby anyway, I moved to a different part of the country) so it's nice to sit and listen to like minded people talk about one of my greatest interests.

Like one of those people you see on all talent shows now, I have a bit of a sob story when it comes to Sim racing. I've always been into motorsports. I have memories of my Dad watching Group C races on TV when I was little and I always used to enjoy watching the BTCC and Rally Reports whenever I happened to catch them on TV.

I my younger years when this stuff was on, you could never really say that friends shared a proper interest... I mean, we all had Scalextric etc and toy cars but no one could name the BTCC field or care that their dad had the same car that one of the racers had. (My Dad had a Cavalier, when Cavaliers were winning!!! how cool for a kid like me!) So it wasn't until I got older, and moved schools (I got bullied ... wahhhh) that I met my first proper friend who was into this stuff as much as I was.

By chance I heard this guy (James) talking about the weekend's BTCC action with another kid, and I immediately made a beeline for them, introduced myself and hey-presto, we were mates. I have great memories of spending hours with James talking about cars, drawing them, talking about racing in class, and going round each others houses playing games like TOCA, F1 97, and later when we discovered PC ... Nascar racing 2, 3 and 4 (we once raced a 200 lapper on NR2 at one circuit doing 2 x 50 laps stints at a time using a keyboard to steer, and crashed out on lap 198) and some of the PC F1 titles. James even managed to install Nascar 2 on one of the school library computers causing much hilarity.

It wasn't really until we went to Brands Hatch in (i think) 2007 for a round of the WTCC, where our love for what i'd call 'Proper Sim Racing' was really ignited. You see, SIM BIN were at Brands that year and they had a tent erected with several G25 wheels lined up, and running on the machines was RACE the official WTCC Game. With Rickard Rydell on the box iirc.

James's mum bought him the game and later that evening we tried running it on my PC at home... No dice. My PC was too long in the tooth... The next time i went round James's house, he had a new PC and his own G25 with the proper manual/sequential shifter, and THIS was where our sim racing really came to life. We spent hours on this game and later when the super touring mod became a thing, even recreated a load of the liveries for the 97 and 98 Bathurst 1000. Rather sadly we used to take turns racing and commentate on each others races. From here, things snowballed and we got into other sims. We both went through college and uni and later moved out and married our partners.

Tragically in 2014 James lost his life to an Auto Immune disorder which came completely out of the blue. He was 29 years old.

Which leads me on to why I still love sim racing at 35. And why i'm still as into it now as I was back in the late 2000s when it really kicked off for me and James.

For me this is an escape from the mundane day to day. I really don't tend to talk to people about enjoying Sim racing or why I do it because for me it's a very personal thing. (Until now, I mean, i've written a thesis here.... lol) It takes me back to the days playing Race and Race07 with my best mate, probably some of the happiest times of my younger life. I'm not fussed if i'm racing online or against the Ai, I just like being behind the wheel pushing as much as I can and hearing James in my head commentating, and knowing that he'd probably be putting in quicker laps

I've recently started using the hobby to try and be creative, and I get quite a lot of enjoyment now out of making short videos for youtube. Not many people watch them, and I don't really care! They're out there and I enjoy making them. I like to think of them as little snippets of my enjoyment of motorsport which we're so lucky to be able to experience in all the great sims we have available to us now!

Sorry for waffling on. But in closing. I'm good with not really sharing my hobby. It's a link to my past and i'm content doing it in my own world, and if people don't understand me or why i enjoy it, i couldn't give less of a crap :o)

Keep up the great podding guys!

Paul Jeffrey · Mar 18, 2020

Thanks for the post Alex, touching words mate and so glad you still have the racing bug after all these years!

On a side note, that Simbin tent was organised by RD! So if you looked, you would have seen Bram running around making things happen! On another note, I was at that race too, noticed the tent but the wait time was too long so I went off and got myself a beer!

Good times.

Best Wishes,

Paul

Alex Townsend · Mar 18, 2020

Alex Harkett said:
Well... after waiting and waiting and waiting, I used my high IQ level to check the forum to see what had happened to S2 of the podcast... and the answers were all here. I've happily re-subbed to the new series and am really pleased to hear you guys back! Jokes aside I really don't have a lot of close friends (nearby anyway, I moved to a different part of the country) so it's nice to sit and listen to like minded people talk about one of my greatest interests.

Like one of those people you see on all talent shows now, I have a bit of a sob story when it comes to Sim racing. I've always been into motorsports. I have memories of my Dad watching Group C races on TV when I was little and I always used to enjoy watching the BTCC and Rally Reports whenever I happened to catch them on TV.

I my younger years when this stuff was on, you could never really say that friends shared a proper interest... I mean, we all had Scalextric etc and toy cars but no one could name the BTCC field or care that their dad had the same car that one of the racers had. (My Dad had a Cavalier, when Cavaliers were winning!!! how cool for a kid like me!) So it wasn't until I got older, and moved schools (I got bullied ... wahhhh) that I met my first proper friend who was into this stuff as much as I was.

By chance I heard this guy (James) talking about the weekend's BTCC action with another kid, and I immediately made a beeline for them, introduced myself and hey-presto, we were mates. I have great memories of spending hours with James talking about cars, drawing them, talking about racing in class, and going round each others houses playing games like TOCA, F1 97, and later when we discovered PC ... Nascar racing 2, 3 and 4 (we once raced a 200 lapper on NR2 at one circuit doing 2 x 50 laps stints at a time using a keyboard to steer, and crashed out on lap 198) and some of the PC F1 titles. James even managed to install Nascar 2 on one of the school library computers causing much hilarity.

It wasn't really until we went to Brands Hatch in (i think) 2007 for a round of the WTCC, where our love for what i'd call 'Proper Sim Racing' was really ignited. You see, SIM BIN were at Brands that year and they had a tent erected with several G25 wheels lined up, and running on the machines was RACE the official WTCC Game. With Rickard Rydell on the box iirc.

James's mum bought him the game and later that evening we tried running it on my PC at home... No dice. My PC was too long in the tooth... The next time i went round James's house, he had a new PC and his own G25 with the proper manual/sequential shifter, and THIS was where our sim racing really came to life. We spent hours on this game and later when the super touring mod became a thing, even recreated a load of the liveries for the 97 and 98 Bathurst 1000. Rather sadly we used to take turns racing and commentate on each others races. From here, things snowballed and we got into other sims. We both went through college and uni and later moved out and married our partners.

Tragically in 2014 James lost his life to an Auto Immune disorder which came completely out of the blue. He was 29 years old.

Which leads me on to why I still love sim racing at 35. And why i'm still as into it now as I was back in the late 2000s when it really kicked off for me and James.

For me this is an escape from the mundane day to day. I really don't tend to talk to people about enjoying Sim racing or why I do it because for me it's a very personal thing. (Until now, I mean, i've written a thesis here.... lol) It takes me back to the days playing Race and Race07 with my best mate, probably some of the happiest times of my younger life. I'm not fussed if i'm racing online or against the Ai, I just like being behind the wheel pushing as much as I can and hearing James in my head commentating, and knowing that he'd probably be putting in quicker laps

I've recently started using the hobby to try and be creative, and I get quite a lot of enjoyment now out of making short videos for youtube. Not many people watch them, and I don't really care! They're out there and I enjoy making them. I like to think of them as little snippets of my enjoyment of motorsport which we're so lucky to be able to experience in all the great sims we have available to us now!

Sorry for waffling on. But in closing. I'm good with not really sharing my hobby. It's a link to my past and i'm content doing it in my own world, and if people don't understand me or why i enjoy it, i couldn't give less of a crap :o)

Keep up the great podding guys!

Love this. What an amazing story into how you became a sim racer. A story that many of us may share similar versions of I'm sure.
I remember I used to take days off work to go to Silverstone to watch the F1 testing. One year I invited my best mate and brother and they wanted to leave after about 15 minutes. Didn't get it. Although my brother did end up coming with me to the race weekends every year. Think he just liked the camping, bbqs and drinking though. He even fell asleep track side during the race at Monza due to having a skin full.
But yes, sim racing for me was and still is quite a solitary affair. My wife has allowed me to buy the kit, and recently buy enough profile to make a rig and recently gave the green light for triples.
I don't go out on the town womanising or gambling and am a family man at heart, so I think she sees it more as an investment in a safe and happy family life.
None of my mates enjoyed racing or even gaming really. Some had playstation or xbox but no one had a PC built for games where I grew up in London.
Now i live in Malaysia and don't have any real mates here. Apart from one guy I rarely see who plays Elite and some other space sim, and another bloke who only really likes Rugby.
So yes, I get where you're coming from and totally understand. It's the main reason I come here and love these podcasts too.

Keep up the awesome work RD you make at least a couple of lonely sim racers happy.

Herlev · Mar 20, 2020

@Alex Harkett
That was a truly amazing but also bit sad story.
It sucks losing your best friend, but good to hear that the passion for simracing lives on.

None of my friends share my passion for simming in general, so to me it is also really enjoyable to listen to the podcast.
I've tried to get a couple of them interested in it, but quickly realized that it would never happen. As said on the podcast, I think you need to be interested in simulations in general... For me it is flight sims and racing. Right now it's racing and then in a month or so I will need a break from it and turn to flight sims.... only to come back after a few weeks/months

Alex Townsend · Mar 21, 2020

To be honest I'm not sure I fully agree with needing to be interested in simulations to enjoy sim racing. For example I'd never play a farming simulation as it just doesn't interest me. Flying sim... not too much interest either, but a bit of Ace Combat is another story.
Golf sim, no interest
Football sim, no interest

Now racing, I love racing anyway. It's my favourite thing apart from my family and I watch as much real life racing and attend events as I can.
Simulating what I wish I could do as a real job is the closest I can get to it. Maybe that means I'm selective simulator fan?
Perhaps.