rec.autos.simulators

11-13 may I'm going to the Ring with a couple of friends, with 3 Alfa
GTV's and an Alfa 147, doing some serious racing there :)
A friend of mine will buy a handcam to tape our sub-8 laps, but we
were wondering what the best way to fasten a handcam in a car is,
without damaging the car ofcourse :)

Andre

Here's what I did...

I put the (rented) camera on a tripod. I positioned the tripod with two legs
in the rear footwells and the 3rd on the back seat, so it straddled the
central column and the camera looked out the windshield in between the
driver and the passenger seat.

To secure it I put the rear central lap belt through the leg which was on
the seat and secured the two front legs by wrapping a bungee around them and
securing those around the front head rests. I'm still looking for an
opportunity to capture the footage I got, so I can't give you an example of
the results (which were pretty damn good, IMO, considering I'm both an
amateur camerman and driver ;-)), unless you mail me your street address so
I can send you a copy of the tape.

Good luck with opening times, getting there and doing the laps (14m30s to
beat, remember ;-)). Don't become one of those who get towed out of the
circuit and foremost: don't hurt yourself.

Jan.
=---

About 12:15 here, with passenger and luggage. (Only got three laps
before it closed. It was closed most of the day due to some club renting
it.)
--
  -asbjxrn                   Consultant, n.:
                                    An ordinary man a long way from home.

On Tue, 24 Apr 2001 11:36:59 +0200, "Jan Verschueren"

<snip>

Thanks, seems like a good solution to me. Much better than our
Lots-a-Ducttape(Tm) solution anyway!

No, we allready agreed to stay alive and not push the car to it's
limits in real life. That friend of mine got a heavy accident on the
highway a month ago, he wasn't hurt but his car was damaged bigtime,
just a week after his girlfriend wrecked her car, an Alfa Spider '91
:(
Too bad real life doesn't have shift-R, long live sim racing..

PS According to the official site the Ring is open at 11-13 may, so I
can assume safely that the gates won't be closed like they were the
last time I visited the Ring? Or should we bring some tools with us to
break that gate open just in case?

Andre

If you are going to time, most people time bridge (just after you join the
track) to gantry (just after you rejoin the straight at dottinger hohe) Sub
10mins bridge to gantry in a Honda CRX to beat here ;)

But seriously I wouldn't push too hard, just check out the pics here!

http://www.lovejoy.demon.co.uk/nuerburgring/whoops.html

This is what the official site says at the mo, doesn't look open till the
sat evening.

May time
10 th 17.45 - 19.30
11 fr --
12 sa 17.00 - 19.30
13 su 8.00 - 19.30
14 mo 12.15 - 19.30
15 tu 17.45 - 19.30

To make sure the track will be open call the hut at the start/finish on
02691 302 215 or 02691 302 144 or 02691 302 600

Even if the calendar says its open it may not be (eg. when I went at easter
it snowed on sat eve, so the track was shut on sunday)

As regards attaching cameras etc you could try asking Joerund at
http://www.motorcycle-dk.com/default.htm
Or join the ringers list http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/ringers and search
the archived posts for camera mount, its been discussed there before.

Have fun, and hope its open (if not you can spend your time drinking
weissbier, and stuffing your face at Pistenklause in Nrburg)

--
Cheers,

Robin Lord - Trance DJ & Sim Racer.

http://www.oppositelock.co.uk

Nrburgring and Grand Prix Legends

| On Tue, 24 Apr 2001 11:36:59 +0200, "Jan Verschueren"
|
| >Here's what I did...
| <snip>
|
| Thanks, seems like a good solution to me. Much better than our
| Lots-a-Ducttape(Tm) solution anyway!
|
| >Good luck with opening times, getting there and doing the laps (14m30s to
| >beat, remember ;-)). Don't become one of those who get towed out of the
| >circuit and foremost: don't hurt yourself.
|
| No, we allready agreed to stay alive and not push the car to it's
| limits in real life. That friend of mine got a heavy accident on the
| highway a month ago, he wasn't hurt but his car was damaged bigtime,
| just a week after his girlfriend wrecked her car, an Alfa Spider '91
| :(
| Too bad real life doesn't have shift-R, long live sim racing..
|
| PS According to the official site the Ring is open at 11-13 may, so I
| can assume safely that the gates won't be closed like they were the
| last time I visited the Ring? Or should we bring some tools with us to
| break that gate open just in case?
|
| Andre
|
| >Jan.
| >=---
| >> 11-13 may I'm going to the Ring with a couple of friends,
| >> <snip>
| >
| >
|

Hi Andre - I don't know what the seat backs look like in the Alfa's, but if
they have adjustable height headrests you might try what a friend of mine
did. Since his headrests were on two metal tubes that slid into the
seatback, he just had a piece of wood with holes in it that slipped between
headrest and seatback. The steel tubes from the headrest went through the
wood into the seatback, "clamping" it in place. The piece of wood bridged
from the driver's seatback to the passenger's and he drilled a hole at
midpoint to mount the camera. Easy to take out and re-install. I thought
this arrangement would allow a lot of back-and-forth movement, what with the
weight of the camera perched on top of a pretty narrow piece of wood, but it
seemed to work OK. YMMV, of course...

        ...Klinn

Good time... which car/bike?

Jan.
=---

Porsche 944.
--
  -asbjxrn                   Consultant, n.:
                                    An ordinary man a long way from home.

Here is a good description on how to make a handycam mount yourself.
Have not done it myself yet, but expect to do in the future.

Ivar

Natch.

Jan.
=---

to take some paper towels and window cleaner with you. You won't believe the
amount of ***that accumulates on your windshield in just a couple of laps.

Jan.
=---

On Wed, 25 Apr 2001 10:35:19 +0200, "Ivar Sandstad"

Err.. where is the description? :))

Andre

On Tue, 24 Apr 2001 20:53:11 +0100, "Robin Lord"

<snip>

Thanks for the help guys! Unfortunately our weekend has been postponed
with 3-4 weeks, that friend of mine wrecked his alfa a couple of weeks
ago. The garage called him yesterday, they can't fix the alfa
completely before our Ring-weekend. So now the plan is to go in
August..

Andre

If you are going to be there over a weekend I would actually advice
you to look at the calendar and find a date where the track isn't open
to the public the whole weekend. If you can find a day where there
are some interesting activities it may be a better day to visit
depending on your interests of course.

The day I was there the track was closed most of the day, I think it
was rented by some sort of Britich racing club or something.  The good
part was that you could walk around in the pit area and look and
(carfully) touch a lot of amazing machinery. There was a Alfa Romeo
from the 20s, a lot of caterhams of course, lolas, some old ferraris a
1999 (I think, this was in 2000) 911 GT1 etc. etc. I was drooling so
much I got dehydrated.  I also missed a HUGE photo opportunity because
I was too slow.  In the road past the track I observed the 911 GT1
overtake a sligtly old and dirty lorry. Would have been a great racing
shot :-)

The downside is of course that you can't spend as much time on the
track.  But from my day at the ring, it's the drooling part I
remember the most.
--
  -asbjxrn                   Consultant, n.:
                                    An ordinary man a long way from home.

On Thu, 26 Apr 2001 00:48:33 +0200, "Jan Verschueren"

Good tip, thanks :)

Andre