Finally a dedicated racing/flying seat

[MarkF]

So here it is in around about 2001/2 I realised what I would like to do with GPL.



I have been looking around for ages and when I finally decided what I wanted to buy last November it was all out of stock, and I mean all, until the end of January. But that was to be my good fortune, 90% of what I wanted was being sold on Iracing forum by a very nice chap an hour and a half down the road from me who was giving up sim racing as he needed a life back, did a deal for clearing the lot. It is all less than a year old, I am well chuffed especially to be back racing again. This setup is in exactly the same place as the old one those many years ago.






.and finally Iracing in all its glory, Lotus 79 at the Zolder kart track, I mean GP track.

[Paul Langford]

Nice mate.....what pedals and wheel do you have?

[Ray Walton]

Great stuff Mark. I assume that did not include the PC itself just the seat, wheel and desk set up?

Nice to see you are enjoying your retirement

Still taking many photographs and if so how is that hobby going ??

[MarkF]

Paul, they are some custom pedals made in the US by Emery Edmond, I had never heard of them, they were a real bonus http://www.thewayiplay.com/mainforum/in ... pic=2555.0 the wheel is the Fanatec Club Sport, I looked at the T500 but the fact the paddles are attached to the base put me off.

Ray, I already had the computer not so many photographs lately, been very busy and the weather this winter has been so wet, took these though without a flash handheld mind you having said that I have a couple of hundred to sort out from our Italian trip, was going to do that when I couldn't get out in the winter, but too much to do and not enough time as normal.

[Rouke]

Holy crap, talk about a major makeover!
Looks very good Mark, i'm a bit jealous so.....

I had no idea you lived in Russia first


But how's you back going to hold up?

[MarkF]

Holy crap, talk about a major makeover!
Looks very good Mark, i'm a bit jealous so.....

I had no idea you lived in Russia first


But how's you back going to hold up?

The back is getting stronger and stronger, I recently decided to change my life style and go to the Gym three times a week which is helping my back immensely, also it means I don't have to totally give up beer to lose some weight I managed to lift this lot into place

Trouble is I keep going to tighten up my harness as I leave the pits, yep, its quite immersive, next step is an amp and shakers.

[Eric Fulghum]

Mark-
What is the control box on the left?
Is that a real tach?
How did you hook up the tach?
How much were the pedals?
What size monitors are those?

Thanks!

[MarkF]

Eric,

The control box is attached to my CSW base

http://www.derekspearedesigns.com/csw-p ... ndard.html



Yes it is a real Tach

http://simracinghardware.com/product/tach-stand/

You know I bought all this second hand? So I never paid full price but back in Aug 2013 they cost 1200 USD plus shipping from the US.

The monitors are Dell 23 inch IPS

[Eric Fulghum]

Cool
Thanks Mark for the info!

[Frank Oreskov]

Wow, what a fantastic setup, same wheel as me too (are you using gloves? The alcantara on mine has already been worn).

I wish I had those pedals, I'll probably have to make do with converting some streetcar pedals (the G25's are killing me in ergonmics).

[MarkF]

No Problem Eric

Frank, I started using gloves, some leather flying gloves I had never used at work, very thin and good feel, but the sweating just got to me as well as having to put them on and off. The guy I bought this stuff from used gloves, I have made a decision not to, I have since bought the F1 wheel and not used the gloves with it, I rarely sell my stuff, normally I wear it out or it goes out of fashion so am not worried about resale value. Unless of course I die and the wife sells it for what I told her I paid for it all

So, wearing it out means you get your moneys worth, apparently its not expensive to get it recovered treat the leather as a consumable, that is what I am going to do.

Pedals, lots of high end pedals out there now, just take a look

http://www.h-engineering.net/products/hardware/

I hope you have a load cell or some sort of mod on those pedals for the brake? Pedals IMO are more important than the wheel for consistency, braking is the biggest loser of time if you are not doing it properly. I know Baz uses the Fanatec V2 pedals, I have a set too as back up which came with my bulk purchase, never tried them so cannot comment, but if you are CSW with G25 pedals I think you are missing a trick

[Frank Oreskov]

No Problem Eric

Frank, I started using gloves, some leather flying gloves I had never used at work, very thin and good feel, but the sweating just got to me as well as having to put them on and off. The guy I bought this stuff from used gloves, I have made a decision not to, I have since bought the F1 wheel and not used the gloves with it, I rarely sell my stuff, normally I wear it out or it goes out of fashion so am not worried about resale value. Unless of course I die and the wife sells it for what I told her I paid for it all

So, wearing it out means you get your moneys worth, apparently its not expensive to get it recovered treat the leather as a consumable, that is what I am going to do.

Resale value is also not of importance for me, but the alcantara feels bad after my sweaty palms have raced some hours with it, the leather on my 5-6 year old G25 however still feels good, as does the Momo leatherwheel in my now 7 year old Lancer (it's not an Evo, but the wheel is, factory-made danish campaignmodels including climate control, airdams etc.). They do say this wonderous non-woven fabric is long lasting and I doubt Fanatec would've used the copyrighted name if it wasn't the real deal, it's just a bit harder to hold now it's flat.

Pedals, lots of high end pedals out there now, just take a look

http://www.h-engineering.net/products/hardware/

I hope you have a load cell or some sort of mod on those pedals for the brake? Pedals IMO are more important than the wheel for consistency, braking is the biggest loser of time if you are not doing it properly. I know Baz uses the Fanatec V2 pedals, I have a set too as back up which came with my bulk purchase, never tried them so cannot comment, but if you are CSW with G25 pedals I think you are missing a trick

I actually bought a set of CSP V2's when the G25's started showing problems last year I think, but returned them since they honestly weren't any good for me. The throttle-pedal felt like the joints/axle wasn't moving smothly which disturbed me every time I used it. Worst of all though was the brakepedal which felt like stepping on a wall (but with creaking-noises like it was about to break). I tried several settings and sims but couldn't come to grips with modulate the brakepressure at all. I've only driven few cars but apart from a Hyundai i40 (which pedal was still easy-going) then no car's brakes were as stiff and with such short travel as the CSP pedals and I simply couldn't drive with them. I had a T500 RS for almost a year (before the shifter failed and the purchase was annulled since they couldn't repair it). Those pedals were pretty good, not too shabby ergonomics or feel/quality, but you can't buy those seperately. Pedals costing the same as a new CSW is sadly more than my budget can handle, even though those tilton pedals look amazing, really GT-like

[MarkF]

I am sure I read a few things on renovating/cleaning the alcantara, there are a few road cars out there with it fitted and wearing thin is one issue, but cleaning has got it back looking and feeling good.

I have used a pressure sensor mod in my G25 pedals for many years so have got used to minimal movement on a brake pedal, I understand this is realistic for race cars too where the foot pedal has minimal travel, even my pedals brake only moves about 1.5 cms maybe less, but that is the feel for me, if I had to use a pedal with hardly any resistance and a lot of travel I would be disappointed, I can brake very consistently.

[Frank Oreskov]

Hmm, after focusing more on driving my Lancer's brakes probably doesn't move much more than 1.5cm although there is a little freeplay before resistance builds (unlike the Hyundai i40). The brakes do however already make contact as soon as I touch the pedal, I've heard that for weeks due to screeching brakes, so I guess it's a brake-pressure-ratio/linearity difference. My issue with the CSP might also have been the creaking of the frame-joints and maybe that I didn't try the different mounting points for the pressure-system on the pedal-arm, I think they say that adjusts the movement/strength, also on the clutch and throttle. I will however try to get some real car pedals, I just need to figure out if it'll be some racecar pedals or something from a 206 or Mondeo.

It could be cool to have some sort of way of seeing when the pedal was at full brakeforce in-game. If I had the means then a small LED on the dash at full strength could be something. I've also seen some racecars have adjusters that said something with the brakes that didn't sound like the balance, maybe there's adjustable power-assisting, something like that on a sim-dash could be to set the maximum pressure for maximum brake output (which I think is present on the CSP base but that's tough to reach while racing ). With the CSP then it could be cool with a direct adjustment for power-assisting (aka FFB) and LED dimmer/on/off on a button box, but that would require re-wiring/rebuilding the wheel.

I'll try to take a look at alcantara-cleaning tips in car forums, thanks for the tip

[Bret Metcalf]

Awesome stuff there Mr Fisher