PERILS of Penelope Pitstop - No Va

[Frankenhealey]

Mar 22, 2016 10:12:27 GMT steveg said:

I'm really interested in what the simulators were like. For me the view on the screens are wrong. You don't need the steering wheel as you have a real one in front of you and it would be far better if it wasn't so bright in there.
I built my own setup but it's only ever been used with a Playstation. I am pretty hopeless at most games but because of the setup I have it's pretty good. I have the screen set so you either sit in the car but can't quite see the steering wheel or have it so you just see the track. It does have to be dark though and any distractions really put me off.

I used to work for the MOD and as an apprentice we got some time working in the department that looked after the flight simulators. One of them at the time was still using what looked like a huge model railway layout with a camera flying above it !

Steve, the simulators were OK, much better than 'fairground' types but obviously not professional. You're right about the light levels though as a lot of sims play in the dark to remove distractions (see later). The software on these was pretty realistic as they are using tracks that have been laser mapped at £75k cost so when you come off into a gravel trap you can feel the gravel and in race mode you start to build up damage to the car. One of the instructors said that if there was a mole hill when they mapped the track then if you come off at the right point you will hit it. Where it does not have the real physics model is that it cannot duplicate real world gee forces and inertia as I hit a tyre wall at about 120mph once and obviously walked away from it.

I've had some experience of the next level simulators as we do some work for BRD and these are really high-end machines. You can see the difference in the chassis dynamics from this picture.



This simulator definitely can give the sensation of real world gee forces and inertia as it is not limited to small movement angles of the floor based simulator. Being in the car body also helps and as you say racing in the dark.



Here we have one of the latest multi-projector units



But they have also have three screen offerings



The big problem for old-skool old farts like me is this



or this



I have but two computers in the Healey; the one between my ears that judges speed and distance and the one located in my rse that tells the computer between my ears about grip and slip angles. There is just, IMHO, too much technology today. I used to have imaginary competitions between modern FI drivers (overpaid primadonnas) and old-skool F1 drivers (hard-drinking party animals). I have a feeling that if you put Lewis Hamilton and a young Stirling Moss in a Mercedes-Benz W196 then Stirling would pee all over him (Lewis would still be looking for the 'Drink' button) but put Stirling in the latest Mercedes F1 and although I'm sure he could drive it, the technology would overwhelm him. I never got to push any of the buttons on the basic simulator's wheel as I had enough on my plate with the uncommunicative brakes and the flappy paddles. However would I go back: YES!

[georgeb]

Mar 22, 2016 12:58:40 GMT Frankenhealey said:

It's the mods you can't see that are so exciting! It's got a Dyane intake which gives it not one, not two but three whole BHP extra. That's a free-flow breathing-tastic 10%

I do hope the brakes have been uprated to cope!

[Frankenhealey]

Mar 22, 2016 22:01:57 GMT georgeb said:

Mar 22, 2016 12:58:40 GMT Frankenhealey said:

It's the mods you can't see that are so exciting! It's got a Dyane intake which gives it not one, not two but three whole BHP extra. That's a free-flow breathing-tastic 10%

I do hope the brakes have been uprated to cope!

I have ordered some extra cardboard for them

[scimjim]

Note to self - book Malta GP weekend again this year

This 2CV is awesome - Gutersloh registered, which suspiciously is where a certain well known ex REME tin basher of this very parish lives?

[Frankenhealey]

Mar 22, 2016 22:18:53 GMT scimjim said:

Note to self - book Malta GP weekend again this year

See you there. I'll get the Cisks in

[steveg]

Thanks for the info about the proper simulators, there is no substitute for the real thing but it's amazing what can be done now.

[Frankenhealey]

Mar 23, 2016 0:53:52 GMT steveg said:

Thanks for the info about the proper simulators, there is no substitute for the real thing but it's amazing what can be done now.

Soon the displays will go and it will all be VR headsets. Then it will be a lot more lifelike. Anyone for the holodeck?

[Phil H]

Mar 22, 2016 22:24:24 GMT Frankenhealey said:

Mar 22, 2016 22:18:53 GMT scimjim said:

Note to self - book Malta GP weekend again this year

See you there. I'll get the Cisks in

Ditto Here's hoping there's a few more details on the locations this time... Concours and hillclimb staying the same, I wonder? Wife says we can go as long as we go back to the restaurant in Mellieha we did last year. It is her birthday treat after all so it sounds like a fair request?

[Frankenhealey]

Mar 23, 2016 14:30:55 GMT Phil H said:

Mar 22, 2016 22:24:24 GMT Frankenhealey said:

See you there. I'll get the Cisks in

Ditto Here's hoping there's a few more details on the locations this time... Concours and hillclimb staying the same, I wonder? Wife says we can go as long as we go back to the restaurant in Mellieha we did last year. It is her birthday treat after all so it sounds like a fair request?

Give me a jog a week before the off and I'll send you a copy of the competitors information but as we know, it's Malta, so I may not have any

[Phil H]

Will do

[Frankenhealey]

Penelope has found this small commentary and, while she is currently withholding her full wrath, wishes me to point out that she was only 'just' 0.7 seconds per lap down on my times with a busted knuckle on the left hand making downshifts on the flappy paddles a bit problematical. Ouch!

[flyingphil]

Mar 22, 2016 8:05:18 GMT flyingphil said:

"The second half hour we all went into single seaters and did the Brands full circuit. This restored my faith in my abilities not to spin off every lap but I still hold the the unofficial record for most donuts in the pit lane and most pit crew run over."

So how did the lap times compare??? Will Penelope start to go faster than her mentor/Pater?.....

So Penelope was only 0.7s slower....... with only one proper hand!

[Frankenhealey]

Mar 29, 2016 14:01:13 GMT flyingphil said:

Mar 22, 2016 8:05:18 GMT flyingphil said:

"The second half hour we all went into single seaters and did the Brands full circuit. This restored my faith in my abilities not to spin off every lap but I still hold the the unofficial record for most donuts in the pit lane and most pit crew run over."

So how did the lap times compare??? Will Penelope start to go faster than her mentor/Pater?.....

So Penelope was only 0.7s slower....... with only one proper hand!

It's the reactions of youth and I've never flapped a paddle in my life before**

**(Shamelessly stolen from the Racer's Big Book of Excuses, Page 364, Paragraph 2, "On what to say if humbled by someone younger and of the opposite sex")

[Frankenhealey]

Well, that was a bit of a rollercoaster. I always thought that spending other people's money would be easy but when it's one of yours and they don't have much to start with it's bl00dy difficult. Originally 'La Vie en Bleu' was on Gumtree with no real interest for a few weeks. The seller didn't like EBay 'tyre kickers' from previous experiences so was content to wait a couple of weeks before Pete Sparrow and myself could get to East Sussex to look at it. So with a few days to go before the inspection visit I called the Seller to confirm and he blithely tells me it's been on Ebay for 3 days already with 17 bids Wasn't too happy as the bids were within spitting distance of the Gumtree price but I wasn't buying another 2CV without a marque specialist giving it the once over. The day dawned and I couldn't go so Pete drove from Hereford to Sussex and then back to me in Dorset. The prognosis was that it was another SOTD (Spawn of the Devil) build with a '61 body on top of upgraded everything and that many in the 2CV club would not like it, so that's a bonus then and so like the Frankenhealey and the Healey clubs. I have the sort of shoulders that the disapproval, tut-tutting and abuse just rolls off whilst defiantly returning the compliments with an extended middle digit. Pete's opinion was that it was worth a bit more than the last Ebay bid so I rang the seller and made him an offer to close the auction early. That was a no-go as he opined that so many watchers and bidders would mean that it would easily beat my 'low ball' offer. I told him that I wouldn't go any higher and I'd play the Ebay game, he was a bit crestfallen that I'd spent a few quid to get Pete to look at it and obviously knew the value blah, blah blah. Not wanting to get into a Dutch auction I fired up Auctionsniper and put in my offer plus an extra 5% because I didn't want to lose it for that little. Now came a tense 5 days with only one extra bid, did this mean that the bidding had topped out or there were last second lurkers like me hanging about? In the end I was out down the pub with the Far Corfe Massive and my phone pinged to say I won it for £300 less than my direct offer. Hello Schadenfreude my old friend

Assuming there is no reneging may I present officially 'La Vie en Bleu' which I pick up on Friday on a road trip that will be near faithfully reported in the annals of (drumroll) The PERILS of Penelope Pitstop - Car Acquired!















Slight damage to drivers door and front wing



Pete will take Dolly off my hands in barter for some competition prep or is there anyone here that would like a 2CV with a chequered history and Q plate in its future for summer motoring. georgeb - Would be great in downtown Tondo

[Phil H]

Well bought

[optimusprime]

So is now a good time to mention jet propulsion ....... Or do we wait a while ?? ......

[gazz81]

I love these, there's an old one in village near where I live, never seems to move though.

[Frankenhealey]

Apr 5, 2016 12:53:01 GMT Phil H said:

Well bought

Bl00dy lucky more like it!

optimusprime

Pete Sparrow mentioned my delusions of putting a pumpset Rover in it to the 2CVGB racing set. They all thought it would be a hoot to showcase it at the VSCC 'La Vie en Bleu' event at Prescott. Not going to happen this year as too much going on and would need 'preferably' a C-Matic gearbox out of a Visa to bolt the turbine to. Should you have one then please PM me.

[optimusprime]

I've had a look down the back of the sofa,but nope, sorry can't find one.


So now 'Penelope' has found this thread .... How much 'tinkering' are you going to be allowed to get away with ......?

[Frankenhealey]

Apr 5, 2016 13:13:53 GMT optimusprime said:

So now 'Penelope' has found this thread .... How much 'tinkering' are you going to be allowed to get away with ......?

I prophesy it will go one of three ways.

(1) She'll go to Malta, have a good time but won't get the bug so I'll end up storing it at the Volcano Lair and then over time sums of money will be borrowed against it until, piecemeal, I'll end up owning it. This is good 'cos they're pretty easy to do engine/box swaps so as long as a turbine/C-matic combo is a reasonable fit I can keep SWMBO happy (very, very important) by taking her out for the occasional picnic with only a couple of hours of engine swappery.

or

(2) She'll go to Malta, have a good time, get the bug and want something faster. Then I'll have a problem on the cash front as the other projects are sucking cash big time so we'll have to see.

or

(3) She likes it as it is and is happy to do autotests, sprints and hillclimbs in the appropriate class and I'll just have to go out and buy a real dog that will hold together for one season with a turbine in it.

Cash suckery should reduce this year when the latest phase of Goddess modification is finished but then the SpridJET will step in big time hence the inevitable vagueness. Sadly there's only so much one can do solely on baler twine, old coat hangers and Tygaseal, of which I seem to have amazing quantities

PS. Shhhhhhhhhhhh she's reading this