FM5 VM Super Taikyu Series 1

Sounds interesting. Might be my first vm race

I've only tested four cars at Long Beach so far.  The Subaru 22b, 97 RX7, BMW Z4, and the Supra.  At Long Beach, the Supra was by far the fastest, and it wasn't even close.  Other cars I think would make good candidates would be the GT86, because it has the highest handling rating of the cars with 7.7 acc, and the BMW M Coupe, because it can match the Supra in almost every category with more HP (but weighs 300lbs more).

I should also mention that since this is a weekend series, we're going to have more Euro drivers in this group.  Some of those guys are stupid fast, so I have a feeling most MSM members will get shuffled down into lobby 2.

If I had my choice of car I'd go either Supra or 1M as well, but honestly I'm open to drive anything. Just let me know, maybe Ret and myself can work out a paint scheme?

I just checked my emails and saw this. Sounds like great fun, with a very varied range of cars. I think the first car I would try is the 22b , because its a long standing favourite, closely followed by the 2003 Toyota Celica, or the RX7. I still prefer 4wd, but I know what I gain in launch and stability, I lose in acceleration and cornering speed. Swings and roundabouts...

I'll go through this over Thursday and Friday, see what I can hash together.

As a last note, as it stands I won't be racing on the 1st or 6th races because I'll be going to see the BTCC races at the relevant circuits...

We're still testing out cars, but I'm digging the Toyota Supra.  I decided to throw together a livery on the car.  Still a few others to test before I get overcommited:

Spoiler:

Initial testing from last night, which we only did a handful of cars, has the Honda S2000 and the Toyota Supra as the favorites of Dom and mine, both cars are relatively quick on the handling tracks. I believe the S2000 is a little bit more stable and I believe Dom is having problems with braking the S2000 for the corner. If anyone else wants to chime in and help us with this series let us know so we can sort out teams and what car to drive. We would like to only drive 1 car because then we can bounce ideas off one another for a tune but if we need to have 2 teams with 2 different cars then so be it

Besides the other cars I've tested ( Subaru 22b, 97 RX7, BMW Z4, and the Supra) Bobbo and I also tried the 97 Civic and the S2000 (as he mentioned above).  The Civic was simply too slow down the straights to be an option.  The S2000 was a tad slower in my hands at LB vs. the Supra, but was faster for Bobbo between the two cars.  I also took them both to Bugatti and found the S2000 was just a hair quicker than the Supra.  

My problem with the S2000 is the braking.  I think because the front end is so much lower than the back, its getting a bad stopping distance.  If tuning can sort that out, this may in fact be the quicker car overall.  I'd still like to take them to another speed track, like Road America and Sebring.

Bobbo promised me certain things, so if he can keep up his end of the deal, and I can make time for this, I would like to run with you guys in this. I will be posting on VM after i affirm i can make most if not all of the races.

Working on a preliminary design for this too, sponsors to be decided later, but you should get the gist of it.
VM logos to be added too...

Spoiler:

Lookin good consult. Supra drives nice to

It should be noted that if we have people that race as a team on VM (similar to what me, Clark, and Skismo have done in the past) then the liveries must be the similar.  The paint jobs don't have to be identical, but they would need to be similar designs.  If you choose to run as a privateer, then you can use whatever car and livery you wish.

I tested out the Nissan and Supra at Road America.  There was no comparison.  The Supra was nearly a full second faster for me there.  I suspect it's because the Supra was a little more sure footed through second gear.  The Silvia always felt a bit nervous as I was trying to bring the speed down and enter the turns.  I'm not sure how to account for the quicker times I set at Bugatti, except perhaps I happened to hit the chicanes just right during the test run.  The BMW 1M was garbage at Road America.

I struggled to beat ur supra time at bugatti in our gt86 series car and that has 30 more pi!

So the roster as of right now for Team MSMNation over at VM.

Dominic Mako
CallMehDarkside
RetPetty
x DeadTaco x
Consult

Dom and myself both agree we'd like to have 3 full car teams going in, but at the same time we wouldn't mind having a 2 teams of 2 with someone who is gonna miss a race or 2 tag along behind. So if you are interested let us know.

Right now the car of choice seems to be the Supra

Two teams of three is ideal.  That way if one driver misses a race, the other two will still score points.  Teams of two means when one driver misses, the team is essentially eliminated from contending, because only one driver scores points.

I'll race as a back up driver for a team, not sure yet what will be happening with work, etc. Might have to miss 4 races...

I'm interested, someone let me know what to do.

Information incoming.

-we are still open for adding more drivers to this series, so if you're interested, please let me know-

That would give us at least 6 drivers, which is the magic number.  Based on the previous GT86 races (coincidentally, also in B class) the general order of performance has been Becoll, Dominic, Retpetty, Bobbo, and Consult.  Taco did not participate.  To keep the team equal, it would be better for me and Becoll to be in separate groups.  I'll take Bobbo (since he's asked for it already) and Ret can pair up with Becoll.  In all likelihood, those two pairs will make most if not all of the races, so the other two driver can slot in as "back-ups' and participate in whatever races they're available for.  Taco and Bobbo are friends, so Taco can join our pair as a back-up driver and Consult can pair up with Becoll and Retpetty as back-up.

The drivers on each team are NOT required to all be in the same car.  I would only recommend it because it would help with sharing tuning and painting.  The VM rules state teammates must be in same/similar liveries, so having the same car would make that easier.  Bobbo seemed okay with the Motegi livery I posted on the Supra, so we'll probably go with that.  I'll leave it up to Becoll, Ret, and Consul to come up with something agreeable on their choice of car.

When you're ready to register on the VM website (http://www.virtual-motorsports.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=405&t=5898) it will ask your Car Club or Team, which of course is MSM.  Then there will be a separate field for Team Entry, which would be the name of your three man group.  Becoll/Ret/Consult can use whatever you decide.  Following in tradition, Dom/Bobbo/Taco will just be MSM Motegi Racing.

Good luck, and godspeed.

The teams seem good, don't know if my times will count towards the finals, but you never know. It's also worth mentioning if more people want to race there could be a third team.

So the paint job is coming along nicely, let me know what you want to do Ret and Becoll. I'll post some pictures when I can.

The design so far...

Spoiler:

Any ideas, this is pretty much the finished car.

Spoiler:

I talked to Becoll last night and after seeing the Supra accelerate past the Z4 on the straight at Long Beach he's going to give the Toyota another shot.  

When you get a livery settled, you'll need to save each side of the car as a separate vinyl and share them (front, rear, left, right, top).  Then the other team members can add your shared vinyl to the car and stitch them together so they line up.  After that, search for the VM number board to add it on top of the stitched together livery.

I ran a handful of test laps at LB with the Supra with reduced aero and it didn't seem to improve my times at all.  I believe a stiffer setting was a tad better than running soft, so I don't think I'll deviate far from stock settings in the springs and dampening.  I'll post my complete tune here once I've got it confirmed.  My best has been 1:30.3xx.  Still some weeks to go before the first event.

As far as designs go, I can't design for a damn so whatever you make is fine with me. I'm also fine with the team setup, gotta go to VM and fill the sign up out. I'm still investigating other cars but for now, supra is the best bet. Also, whats our 3 man team gonna be called and who the flying F&$k do I friend request from VM?

Im entering this but as a privateer coz I suck, lol.

Im going with nissan v spec 1997 version as its grip is insane, ill try to stay out of your ways, lol

The design will transfer between cars with some minor modification, so thats easy enough. Not sure on race name, normally it would be based on the main sponsor.

Friend request VMotorsport and RSR Hellbringer, that should get you started (I only have one other person from there, and that was because I missed quali and started in the bottom group).

You working on our team design consult?