Tuesday 11 February 2020

'Sim'thing a little different..

Last weekend, following on from a brief session at ‘Simply Race’ in Milton Keynes, pre-BRKC (more on that soon!) I had my first proper go in a race car simulator, up at Vision Motorsport Engineering Products (or VMEP) in Worcestershire.

Having played racing video games since a young age I was really keen to find out how a simulator would compare given the explosion in popularity of sim-racing over the last few years, and I wasn’t disappointed!
Using a bespoke simulator (comprising of a carbon F3 chassis, projector screen, force feedback wheel and a hydraulic braking system) running R Factor software I was able to experience Donington Park national circuit from the relative warmth of VMEP’s impressive facility. 

This followed on from a couple of karting sessions at my local Teamsport circuit whereby my lap chart was analysed alongside my simulator session by VMEP founder Alex Champkin, in return for some constructive feedback.

VMEP run cars in the Clubman Sports Prototype series and therefore know a thing or two about how to pedal a car quickly around a lap, and despite my initial crap-ness (which I’ll put down to a games console mentality) I was soon lapping relatively consistently around a circuit I must admit to not being that familiar with, virtually or otherwise - Thanks to Alex’s input. Following an hour or so of practice in an F3 car I was pleased to be able to string together a run of 10 laps whilst being evaluated, whilst not succumbing to any kind of motion sickness or similar ailment which apparently does affect a percentage of ‘sim’ users..

I have another slot booked in at VMEP in a couple of weeks time, this time around driving a different car around a different circuit, with further evaluation to follow-
I can’t wait!! I’ll be sure to post an update once the session has been completed

See you down the road
Ben

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