Sockmonkey Saturdays <<Discussion Thread>>

[BarbecuePete]

Ok as the Sockmonkeys are a hoot to race online I thought I'd put this up to see if we can get a full room together... and maybe make this a regular community event??

I think im right in saying that you guys on the east coast are 5 hours behind us brits and west coast is about 8 hours?

(This is open to anyone, If anyone has an idea on other times please post)

Suggested start time....

Europe - 9pm
UK - 8pm
USA East coast - 3pm
USA West Coast - 12pm (lunchtime, I can never remember if its am or pm... lol)

So who's gonna be on the starting line??

p.s.
Fndr, there is an FR waiting for when you get back online and a place on the grid with your name on it ready and waiting...

pps

There are no prize cars, no champagne and no trophy's for the winners but I guess we can allow some bragging rights.. this is purely for fun racing and a few credits on a Saturday and a chance to meet some of the other members of M-inc, the main point is just to have FUN!! 

[fndrbndr]

Sweetness.  That'll be accepted as soon as I'm online again, rest assured.  I'm guessing either the 23rd or the 30th, depending on how things shake out, should be my first trip back to the world of online racing.  I'm looking forward to it.  And I have a sockmonkey time for Silverstone International for the current challenge, but I keep forgetting to post it. lol

[Spiny Anteater]

You can certainly put me down for this week. After that, it gets more a case of whether I have the internet back or not.

Oh, and noon is 12pm

What sort of race were you thinking of doing? Series? enduro? individual races?

[sk15kev]

Is a sockmonkey anything under 300hp and in B class?

{EDIT} I found the specs.

B Class
North American Region
FF
200-300 hp

Can we open it up to Euro's as well?

-Kev

[BarbecuePete]

@ Kev..

This is going to be open to all B class FWD 200-300bhp cars... as it is just for a bit of fun as a spin off from the current challange, a few of us have run in online tuning sessions with the challange cars already this is just sort of an extension of that idea...

It can be opened up to other cars too if anyone has suggestions... it just about some good close racing and having fun... We could throw in some stock racing, M-inc Muscle cars, maybe some R class, nothings fixed, if someones got a project car and wants to see how it runs against other cars, great... Or even put a post up and let people know what your building and what class its in and maybe we can get a one make race going... of course these are just ideas... its all open and up for discusion..

@ Spiny

Not sure on the format I was just going to throw it open to the room and see what people wanted to do, im not in charge of this, I just had an idea and am mearly a... facilitator... lol.

Im happy running endurance, series or individual races but I know some people may not have the time for a full series or enduro race...

[fndrbndr]

In my experience, if it's a public room, it turns into spec mugen pretty quickly.  If you have enough friends online, (4-6), go ahead and make it a private room.  If it's public, you'll want to limit to either the NA or Euro region to get rid of the Mugen Integra.  Otherwise, it's great fun.  On a similar note, you may get a lot of missile builds if you limit to pre-1975 US cars.

Long story short: private rooms are the way to go.  If it's public, though, spec races are great.  I've been having some fun with the old GT40 of late.

[Spiny Anteater]

Sorry to do this, but for this week I need to downgrade myself to a "maybe". I've got a work do Saturday afternoon so might be back in time but might not. As such, please don't hold a place open for me this week, but I'll be there if I can make it.

[Hoplee]

Pete, in my experience, it doesn't pay to sweat the details. Just open up a room with all but two slots reserved for friends and 'run whatcha brung'.

I'd only get serious about rules and restrictions after it gets going and develops into a regularly scheduled event that (hopefully!) enough people make time for and commit to.

The main thing is to just have fun out there!

[fndrbndr]

The one exception:

Bimmer and I were trading times at the MV enduro a while back, as I was developing my 2000GT. Snyder and a few others got into the act.  That weekend, we planned a B-class enduro at Maple Valley, and it was a blast.  It was, however, a wide-open B class race.  The only rule was no mugen integra.

[PureStankonia]

I'll set a reminder to be online then, these are always good fun, good racing and sometimes a good sammich.

[fndrbndr]

Memories of Maple  Valley.....lol

[BarbecuePete]

Pete, in my experience, it doesn't pay to sweat the details. Just open up a room with all but two slots reserved for friends and 'run whatcha brung'.

I'd only get serious about rules and restrictions after it gets going and develops into a regularly scheduled event that (hopefully!) enough people make time for and commit to.

The main thing is to just have fun out there!

Yeah thats right Hop... I think we'll probably start with the sockmonkeys just to get everyone warmed up as they don't mind a bit of bumping and we can get some close racing in and then move on up and down the classes and throw in a few odd restrictions here and there... it is just about having fun..

[BarbecuePete]

So the first of hopefully what will be many Sockmonkey Saturdays will be taking place tomorrow...

Saturday 2nd August @ 8pm (UK)

Look forward to seeing you all there....

[BarbecuePete]

So thanks to Dirt, Sockmonkey Saturdays now has its own parking space over here in the M-inc Car park.. keep an eye out for updates..

[BarbecuePete]

First run of the Sockmonkey Saturdays saw some good racing... big thanks to those that came along.. we ran a few races and then switched over from the Sockmonkeys to the M-inc Muscle cars and some open A-class...

I have a couple of ideas floating around for the Sockmonkey's as Dirt has given me free reign to devolp them...

Peugeot Cup - C class with up to 200hp for the Peugeot 206 & 207

Inclusion of Rear Wheel Drive, probably an A-class event with 400hp limit, would like to add a weight restriction to force full WR but cars seem to fall just either side of the 2500lbs able set online, hopefully the HP restriction should push toward this anyway though...

Some form of Specs Racing... basicly an idea for re-creating the kind of cheap, factory supplied cars used in entry level racing... this may well involve sending out 'Factory' supplied cars, sent out ready to race with basic setups and no extra tuning is allowed, again to promote close racing in identical cars, similar to forcing stock upgrades and tuning but with more of a race car feel... not really one for open use online but if enough people are interested in running some unusual Pi cars this should work well...

Any feedback appreciated...