Single seater FF1600 Journey

[Manners79]

The outfit he works (?) for...do they take on external work? I've just acquired a very nice 1973 Merlyn Mk24 and I'm pretty handy but always keen to build a network of people / organisations who can assist when I (undoubtedly) run out of talent!

Hopefully see you trackside sometime!

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

Yes they do, The firm is Shaws Motorsport, contact details are on facebook

Look forward to seeing you out

[61GT]

Alwayzsidewayz2 said:

Great to meet you at the show. Looking forward to seeing you out in you Royale

Quick update on our progress

The engine went of for a refresh, top end and carb, Not the strongest but good all over

I got a great deal on 8 wheels and tyres barely used which helps type logistics

New seat going in Tomorrow I hope

Car should make its debut mid month at Mallory for a shakedown and then we test At silverstone before going to our first race at Brands on the 12th April

Few Pics


New screen fitted



Engine In



Ready for the seat



Final shot from Race Retro where my lad was on stage talking about the newt generation of racers. His first experience of public speaking, he found it tough, but by Sunday was approaching it like a race and was very confident.

It was good to meet you at Race Retro too, thanks for taking the time to talk about the BRSCC Super Classic series.

Progress on the Reynard is looking good.

Will be in touch again as we progress with the RP26 re-build.

George

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

Car almost ready for its shakedown at Mallory

Looking fine stripped of its body work



The drivers office, just waiting on his data logger, we will be running a Solo 2.


Numbers going on


Race Debut will be the 12th April at Brands Hatch
The Championship looks like it has an almost full grid for the season opener
https://brscc.co.uk/formulae/geoff-page-engineerin...

[Inlineonline]

I’ve spent way too many hours on these in iRacing, I can’t imagine how much fun they are irl!

I look forward to the next chapter - good luck

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

Thank you, Yes my lad does a lot on line too. But very different experiences as the grip is so hard for SIMs to replicate. Not that I drive them, But My lad loves both however the real world 4 wheel drift you have in the FF1600, he just cannot get enough off. They are so much fun

[Inlineonline]

It would be interesting to hear his take on the differences.

Loads of race drivers rate even consumer SIMs for training and I’ve noticed my track driving improve a lot since I got a SIM, and not just by learning the tracks better

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

He has written about it here

He has a decent rig, but no motion capability sadly as we don't have that budget

https://www.harrisonmorrow.co.uk/post/mechanical-g...

grip and driving experiences are a key part for him, he recently got his rally Licence for example, so hopes to gain more experience with that to compare the 4 genres he races. He still Karts, plus does a lot of SIM work, and of course F1600 and hopefully some FWd and RWD rally work too

He is still very much learning and documents what he finds, as he is only 16

Edited by Alwayzsidewayz2 on Tuesday 17th March 18:22

Edited by Alwayzsidewayz2 on Tuesday 17th March 18:23

[Inlineonline]

Alwayzsidewayz2 said:

He has written about it here

He has a decent rig, but no motion capability sadly as we don't have that budget

https://www.harrisonmorrow.co.uk/post/mechanical-g...

grip and driving experiences are a key part for him, he recently got his rally Licence for example, so hopes to gain more experience with that to compare the 4 genres he races. He still Karts, plus does a lot of SIM work, and of course F1600 and hopefully some FWd and RWD rally work too

He is still very much learning and documents what he finds, as he is only 16

Edited by Alwayzsidewayz2 on Tuesday 17th March 18:22

Edited by Alwayzsidewayz2 on Tuesday 17th March 18:23

Thanks that’s really interesting and mirrors my views comparing a 991 GT3 in both settings!

I do have motion (Quebic QS-210) which is amazing fun but I’m not sure it adds much if anything to the learning experience.

Belt tensioners are much cheaper and many people say they actually add more than a full motion kit as you can generate a real sustained g force (braking only really) unlike a motion kit which just jiggles you about.

The feedback you get through the a decent wheelbase (eg a Simucube) alone is about as good as you’re going to get in a SIM, the motion kit adds more immersion I’d say, particularly with kerbs and bumps but not much slip feel. Maybe I haven’t got it set up optimally though possibly turning down all the other effects would help.

I find when I get in the real car it’s actually easier to hold on the limit as you have more feedback than in the SIM with g forces although I totally agree that this is tempered by your awareness that a spin or a crash has real consequences.

Thanks for sharing your story.

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

Thank you too

I will pass this all on to my Lad.

He loves talking about grip and car dynamics, I think as he learns more practically and can the test and adjust and feel the results in the SIM it really benefits him.

I will Look at the seatbelts, thank you, as H has said another big difference in how much more strapped in you feel in the FF1600.

Really interesting to compare notes, even if its a bit third hand by me as I am not a SIM or racing driver really.

One thing he does say is that without a SIM rig he would not heel and Toe as well

[Inlineonline]

Thanks

A few more thoughts on SIMs

The feedback you get from driving a car involves

Sound
Vision
G forces in 3 axis both transient and sustained affecting your middle ear and internal organs plus pressure on your body
Steering feel
Pedal feel

A SIM can generate most of those, the exception is G forces, especially sustained ones. For example to generate 1 g of sustained acceleration there would have to tilt through 90 degrees and you would be very aware that you were actually being rotated not accelerated. So apart from very small transient g forces motion systems struggle.

3 degrees of freedom motion can definitely generate ‘heave’ (up and down) but it can’t generate lateral g force. You ca simulate that by the rig tilting, but only briefly and it rids feeling odd as your body is quite good at distinguishing rotation from lateral G force.

Belt tensioners CAN generate sustains braking g forces (and by releasing can at least initially simulate acceleration) albeit without the middle ear effect (you can add this by the rig very briefly tilting forward at the beginning of braking)

Slip is the important one as it is so important in cornering. The only true way of doing this is with a slip platform and these are large, heavy and very expensive.

Pressure on your body can be generated by a g suit or haptics in the seat (pressure ones NOT the consumer ones that just vibrate) but aside from a couple of abandoned kickstarter projects, these are firmly in the commercial realm.

You also have to distinguish inputs that make a SIM more immersive (ie realistic) from those that make it easier to drive faster in the SIM.

You can add artificial feedback that helps you judge how to drive such as tyre slip noise or a rumble on the steering wheel to indicate loss of lateral grip, but these won’t make you a faster driver in real life and might actually make you slower!l as you might learn to expect them in the real car!

So I would say to learn how to handle a real car I would stick to a decent force feedback wheel, pedal haptics or active pedals and maybe belt tensioners, and only add motion for immersion not speed. 90% of the learning is the lines plus the relationship between braking and cornering and a non motion system does this pretty well.

Add a slip platform if budget permits (and your almost certainly have a 3dof system as well) but I don’t think a 3dof motion system adds much to the usefulness of a SIM for training on its own.

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

Thank you re the above, I think it does a really important job, and My lad is looking to build his actual car in AC so he can get more laps and testing it, so the worth is very clear.

We had a good test day last Thursday, few pics from Mallory







We got some good running in, but had a few new car niggles to be expected.

Timing from last session. Pole last year was 49.1





Next up is another test day this Saturday at the Silverstone National track. Before returning on Easter Saturday for Race debut for 2026

Edited by Alwayzsidewayz2 on Wednesday 1st April 12:28

[WombleCate]

Good race number!

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

Indeed, My lad has used both 75 and 72.
Prep work ongoing for this weekend, team are off to Donington Tomorrow and then Saturday.

Hoping that we can make more solid progress with my Lad and the car. Weather looking mixed, which is not a bad thing, be could to get some wet running in too

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

Test day at Silverstone National track on saturday 28th

Cold clearish day but windy

Busy track but actually not that many red flags

Car was ace, The team had a dedicated set guru working with H all day to refine the car. Never had that before, what a treat!

Lots of progress made, both in car and actually in the driver too

The team were brilliant, they had 7 cars out and sorted any issues out

The way the Team build and prepare the cars also shows the care they apply when choosing parts and suppliers to work with.

I think we are set for our first race.

I am both nervous and excited!

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

Great day at Silverstone on the 4th.
Tq 13, in own air really pleased with the time.
3 in the heritage class
Race 1, 14th, average start, then race long battle with the the 2nd place Heritage car. Just getting beat on last lap so 3rd in class.
Race 2, few tweaks,the cold and headwind were something else.
Better start, got to 2nd in class and had a huge battle with a number of new class cars. Battle was with two young drivers from the USA, so it was suitably fierce and intense. Finished 13th
Anyway the class leader suffered a technical issue and we grabbed the class win.
We now lead the class overall.
Great debut for the Reynard, not a bad showing for a 34 year old car.

Few pics.




Thanks to Wayne and Jakob for the pics

Next stop is Brands Hatch, so strip and nut n bolt check the car and my lad should also be helping pre 2 other cars for next weeked for the Super classic event. Testing on Friday, racing Sunday.

[andrewcliffe]

I was at the International circuit whilst you were at the national, not that easy to get to the other side. He did great.

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

Thank you, How cold was it! My goodness the wind, it was Bitter.

We could hear you guys, but as you say very had to cross over.

We ran super early too, which was nice. I watched from Copse and the 2 and 3 abreast racing had me shutting my eyes!

[Manners79]

Both the car and the lad are looking well bedded in now. Are all your races this year in UK or are you bale to get into the rest of Europe at all?

How much are you varying the suspension set up track by track?

[Alwayzsidewayz2]

Thank you. Yes we are planing on racing in Holland and in France. Due to costs it will be arrive and drive packages, as cost to take everything over is so much.