Série Internationale Du Mans

ILMS Read Me and Instruction Manual

Introduction

Welcome!

Carpe Noctem Design Group is pleased to present the Série Internationale Du Mans mod for rFactor!

This ReadMe document is intended for users of public version of the Série Internationale Du Mans (ILMS) mod. This document is basically a comprehensive instruction manual and has been created to help give you a deeper understanding of the mod itself as well as the philosophy behind the design and development of the mod. This document will also provide you with an introduction to the four competition classes and fourteen cars contained within the full version of the mod as well as the technical specifications for each of the four classes and all of the cars. Nevertheless it's also important to keep in mind that the LMP-only version of the mod does not have all of the features and options discussed in this guide. For example the GT cars are only available in the full version of the mod. We've also provided some links to a couple of additional documents that you will find useful.

The first is the ILMS painting guide. This guide is quite extensive and it contains links for all of the car templates in addition to a customized viewer created just for the ILMS mod. This guide also includes tips for understanding how to paint the cars, including the use and application of alpha channels as they specifically pertain to this mod. And finally the painting guide also includes a complete set of instructions for how to create your own individualized cars and/or teams.

In addition to the painting guide we've also created a very compendious setup guide that should not only be useful for the ILMS mod, but for just about any mod and or simulation. Although we obviously cannot account for the accuracy of the physics in other mods or simulations, the ILMS setup guide was developed with the assistance and guidance of a real race engineer and is an essential component, and for all practical purposes a compulsory element for getting the best out of the ILMS cars.

The setup guide will help you understand the physics behind the mod and understand the how and why of the various setup options you'll find in the garage menu. The guide also includes original illustrations and is a compilation of information that has been researched, correlated and verified over the past couple of years. When you consider the fact that our setup guide is based on such exacting, real-world standards you begin to get an idea of the complexity and exacting nature of the mod itself. So even if you think you know a lot about setting up a car, the setup guide is well worth the time spent.

The final part of the documentation is a brief history of endurance racing. This historic look at endurance racing is presented for your entertainment and to help further your understanding of the basic design intent of the Série Internationale Du Mans mod. You see, from our point of view anything less than two-hours is basically a sprint race. The leagues that have been authorized to use this mod have already successfully run several 4-hour and 6-hour endurance races, furthermore 8 and 12-hour races are quite possible too, though the most has also been specifically designed to handle a full 24-hour race should the need arise.

Now we fully understand that few people ever really enjoy reading the "instruction manual." It may be that they simply feel that they already know everything they need to start racing with a mod, or it may be that faced with such a large volume of information they feel overwhelmed by the prospect of reading that much content. But whatever the reason the primary reason why we put so much effort into this documentation is our experience with the early versions of this mod.

Basically the complexity of what is essentially the first true purpose-built, multi-class rFactor mod and the realistic nature of the cars inundated us with questions. So we thought, why not take all of the questions and answers we provided over the past few years and put them all into one 'How-To' document? Consequently even though you may not want to read all of the documentation, you can at least take comfort in knowing that when a question does pop up, and it will, you will find the answer in these pages.

How this all started

Before we go any further forward, let's start by taking a brief quick look at where we came from and go way back to 2006, back when you could buy gas for under $2.00 a gallon, and ‘Wii' was something you said out loud when you were a kid having fun on the playground...

From it's early days, as far back as early 2001, there had always been a desire to run a true, multi-class sports car simulation at VOR, complete with prototype cars and GT cars.

Although there had been a few attempts made based on the NR2003 simulation, these early multi-class mods lacked prototype cars. When rFactor was first released in 2005 one intrepid visionary, Kevin Cinnamon, figured out how to combine different mods to create a customized, multi-class rFactor series. Following up on this very early attempt Kevin then took the initiative and along with James Bourroughs and Ben Harbur assembled the original set of LMP and GT1 cars using models from different sources.

For reasons unknown James and Ben gradually left the project and essentially left Kevin to do most of the work by himself. This work went on behind the scenes until the day that Kevin (and the rest of the Cinnamon family) came home to find their house ablaze. Obviously, this was a point at which Kevin and the rest of the Cinnamon family had to begin the process of re-building their lives and their home, and time was of the essence.

Just prior to this unfortunate event however, Tim Collier, one of the founders of Champion Motorsports, had offered to help Kevin out, and for nothing more than help prevent Kevin's project from meeting an untimely end, took over working on the car models as well as the suspension and aero packages and then releasing the updates to VOR whenever possible to obtain feedback. Fortunately, after watching Tim taken on the burden for developing the mod single-handedly, Mike Tyler and John Basara came onboard and the mod took on a whole new life. With John's knowledge of modeling, and Mike's knowledge of textures and, well, pretty much everything to do with racing, everything started coming together quickly and each update would bring about greater and grander aspirations on what to include in the mod.

Eventually, version 1.0 was released to VOR's Sports Car series to use in agreement that it not be distributed beyond the league. Over the next few months, updates would be released in response to requests or issues discovered during the race season. Eventually, the league came to use v1.6 as the final working version of the mod and had a very successful season with 7 cars in 3 classes which provided plenty of racing opportunities week after week.

.... But of course, in the background Mike and Tim talked about v2.0…

The first step was to create a checklist with observations about what was missing or just didn't work well in version 1.6 along with a few new ideas about things we wanted to add to the mod, to improve the cars and enhance the user experience. And finally a list of the cars that we felt would be nice to have added to the package including the inclusion of a fourth class of cars, the LM-GT2 class.

Even before the inaugural season of racing had finished at VOR, Mike was hard at work exploring the details of the car models and learning the ins and outs of 3ds Max from John. Mike first started by cleaning up the car models, then re-working textures, creating multiple wheel options as upgrades, then he went a step further and actually modified parts of the Porsche to more closely resemble the real-world GT3 model, and before long every model had an entirely new look, with a depth of detail that is hard to find in any other rFactor mod.

While Mike was hard at work on the models and textures Tim was busy developing a brand new set of down force and aerodynamic packages as well as developing a heretofore previously unknown methodology for calculating the center-of-gravity and inertia values for all of the cars. Once he finished with the models and textures Mike then went to work on improving the tire grip levels, retuning the engine power and compression values, and with the help and guidance of an actual Rolex series race engineer, new suspension values were put into place. It was at this point that we felt we had pulled together something really special. Suddenly, the inertia values had a larger impact on the handling of the car, and the cars balance and throttle control were now predictable and a controllable part of the racing as opposed to having to cope with the occasional ‘snap-reaction' found in previous versions. With this new foundation in place was it was clear that we needed test drivers to take on the cars to help us further develop and refine the cars.

There's no doubt in our minds that without the help of our test drivers, who took on the responsibilities of turning an endless number of laps in each car, the mod would have not been anywhere near what it is now, and most likely would still be months away from completion. The success of the mod is probably more due to their efforts than it was ours in taking their feedback and then working to make further improvements in the cars.

After several months of development the GT2 cars were eventually released to both the VOR and the Champion Motorsports leagues for test races. The GT1 cars took longer to flesh out due to their increased mass and horsepower, but they too eventually stepped into the limelight for pre-season testing and found nearly immediate success thanks in no small part to the feedback and work that was done creating and preparing the GT2 cars. The LMP cars seemed to be almost perfect on our first try, and with some minor inertia and aero tweaking, they too became favorites of the beta test drivers and the development team, which had now adopted the appropriate nom de plum, Carpe Noctem Design Group, couldn't wait for everyone to try them out.

So, here we are, finally! Don't get us wrong, we have absolutely loved working out the hundreds of minute problems that once tweaked properly transform a billion bits into true-physics based racing cars. However at this point, the mod team is ready to do one thing, and only one thing…..race. However, we can't help but take one final look, and then another, and perhaps just one more, before unleashing this piece of work into the hands of a hundred sim racers ready to take them all for a spin.

Yet before we just handed out the mod, we decided that we needed to gather all the information we have about the mod into one place for everyone to use as reference material. Therefore the task of and purpose for producing this Instruction Manual began and boy, has it grown over the time since we first started working on it.

With nearly two years and literally thousands of man-hours spent on the development and testing of the Série Internationale Du Mans mod, the Carpe Noctem Design Group has tried as hard as anyone can to make sure that is one of the premiere rFactor mods available today. Not only have we provided great eye-candy and expert physics, but we've also created this mod with a deeper and thorough understating of all of the intricacies of online league racing.

Once you take to the track, you'll find cars that fit the newbies as well as cars that will challenge even the most experienced online racers. Each competition class has a unique set of fundamental characteristics, nevertheless each individual car is also quite unique and comes with it's own distinct personality. The fact is every car in the mod has an equal capability to compete for the win, however the key to success lies in getting to know your car well enough that you can take advantage of it's full potential.

We've worked extra hard to provide each car with a stable and reliable default setup. However while some cars may feel easier to drive right out of the showroom, do not assume that these cars are the fastest cars in class. In truth the car may only be the easiest to drive while the 'fastest car' may require a bit more time, effort and skill to master or it may only be a simple matter of tuning car to better fit your driving style.

Along with a broad variety of cars and physics you'll also find a variety of options in the showroom to help you customize the look of your car as well as select a specially tuned race package specifically tailored for the type of race that you're preparing to compete in.

Vehicle Classifications and Specifications

There are many kinds of sports cars that race but they can be broadly broken down into two main categories: Sports-prototype (P) and Grand Touring (GT). These two categories are often mixed together in a single race, and while their first goal is to win their particular vehicle class, but it's not unheard of for an overall win by a car in any class. As recently as 2002, the overall win was taken not by a Prototype class car, or even an upper class GT entry, but a GT2 class car took the top spot at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, beating out cars that were significantly faster.

Let's take a look at the each class and the specifications of the cars you will be able to drive in the ILMS Mod.

• Please note that cars displayed with grayed out text are only available as part of the full, private version of the mod.

The full version of the mod is only available to active members in good standing of the following leagues;

• Champion Motorsports: http://www.cmsracing.com

• Virtual Online Racers: http://gplvor.speedgeezers.net

• ILMS Endurance Racing League: http://www.ilms-erl.com/

• LBN (NASCAR Brazil): http://www.nascarbrasil.com

• Australian Online Gamers: http://www.australianonlinegamers.com

 

Sports-Prototype Class (LM-P)

Sports-Prototype is the name given to the cars that are purpose-built racing cars with enclosed wheels, and either open or closed cockpits. Sports-prototypes may be (and often are) one-of-a-kind machines, and need bear no relation to any road-going vehicle. Although not widely known, sports-prototypes (along with Formula 1 cars) are responsible for introducing most of the new technologies and ideas to motorsport, including rear-wings, ground effect 'venturi' tunnels, fan-assisted aerodynamics and dual-shift gearboxes. Some of these technologies eventually filter down to road cars.

In the ACO regulations, two categories of sports-prototypes are now recognized: LM-P1 and LM-P2. Cars competing in the P1 category must weigh no less than 900kg (without driver and fuel) and are limited to 4000cc turbo charged engines. Typically the cars in this class are fighting not only for the class win, but also for the overall race win. With superior straightaway speed and turbo-charged engines, it's not uncommon to see speeds of 200mph (322kph) on long straights and acceleration that cannot be matched by any other class.

The P2 class cars weigh less than the P1 cars and have a minimum weight requirement of 750 kg, but they are restricted to 3400cc V6 or V8 normally-aspirated engines. In recent years, the LM-P2 class has surged in performance and factory-backing that has led them to become contenders for the overall win each and every race. While these cars have less power than their P1 cousins, they also have less weight which translates into higher cornering speeds. Given an opportunity to carry that additional speed onto a straightaway, a P2 class car can hold its own, especially on circuits with tight turns and short straights.

Let's take a look at each of the cars in the Série Internationale Du Mans mod in detail starting with the LM-P1 Class and the mighty Audi R10.

Dome S101 Mugen

MG-Lola EX264

Pescarolo C60

Audi R10 TDI

Peugeot 908 HDi FAP

Dome S101 Judd

MG-Lola EX257

Porsche RS Spyder

Grand Touring (LM-GT)

Grand Touring racing is the most common form of sports car racing. This class features cars that closely resemble production vehicles, and are placed in different classes with weight and drivetrain restrictions.

The GT1 class cars must weigh at least 1150kg and use normally aspirated engines without turbo-chargers. The engine sizes are not restricted in this class, and for this reason are the most powerful cars in the series, but also use the most fuel of any class. The GT2 class cars are restricted to minimum weight of 1050 kg, with engines restricted to no larger than 4000cc naturally aspirated. The cars in these classes will certainly test even the best driver's abilities with their heavy mass and immense levels or horsepower and torque. Let's take a look through the LM-GT1 and LM-GT2 classes.

LM-GT1 Specifications

Aston Martin DBR9

Chevrolet Corvette C6-R

Ford GT1 (Fantasy)

Saleen S7R

Dodge Viper SRT-10 Competition Coupe

Ferrari F430GT

Porsche 997 GT3 RSR

BMW E46 M3 GTR

Ferrari 360 GTC

Ford GT

Porsche 996 GT3 RSR

Fuel Mileage

"Why doesn't my measured fuel mileage match the projected fuel mileage in the garage menu?"

The answer, "because rFactor sucks at being able to accurately predict mileage" is a cop out. The fact is rFactor is quite good at dealing with fuel mileage. The real problem is that most drivers tend to forget just how much of an impact their driving has on fuel mileage.

When and where you shift, what sort of gear ratios you choose, how much engine braking you use, tire pressures, increased or decreased aerodynamic drag and in the case of the LM-P1 cars, how much boost you use, all conspire to determine how far you can go on a liter or gallon of fuel.

Consequently all we can do is give you a very rough estimate based on the default setting and an average length track. Your best option will always be to run a mileage check using the Motec telemetry software addon or just do the math yourself.

Endurance Options

During the initial development of this mod, the scheduled race lengths were 60 to 90 minutes. Therefore, the life span of the engine and brake systems were designed to fit that time frame. However, it became apparent later in the design process that we would need to provide engine and brake options for longer races, all the way up to a full 24-hour endurance race length!

To accomplish this, five separate endurance race packages were created as upgrade options that you can select and install onto your car from within the showroom, just as you might select a different set of rims or any other visual upgrade. The five endurance race packages are based upon the potential length of the event and are named as such:

•  Standard Sprint Race Package (90-minutes to 2-hours)

•  4-Hour Endurance Race Package

•  8-Hour Endurance Race Package

• 12-Hour Endurance Race Package

• 24-Hour Endurance Race Package

The differences in these packages are more than just increased engine and brake life spans. Each package also includes a slightly de-tuned engine to help improve the potential of the engine lasting for the entire length of the race. The de-tuned horsepower ratings are listed above in the general specifications for each car.

What should be understood however is that, just as in real racing, there are no guarantees!

Basically you should always think of this mod in ‘real world' terms. All of the engine life-spans, regardless of the package have a variable built in that is based on the designed length of the endurance package. This variable may add or subtract from the engine's life span depending on how hard you drive the car. So theoretically you could compete in a 6-hour race and still lose an engine after five and a half hours. Or you can re-tune your engine by increasing the limiter to the max, then close down the radiator and end up losing in the engine in the first lap, assuming of course that you actually managed to make it through the formation lap.

One of the more common tactical mistakes, when it comes to choosing an endurance package is the assumption that horsepower rules the day. While this can be true in some cases, when it comes to endurance racing you should also keep in mind that having all that horsepower also means that soon or later you have to slow it down. This is road racing after all, right?

We've seen it happen all too frequently where a team will select a faster package and forget about the fact that the brakes included in the faster package are not rated for the longer race length. Sure, you can detune the engine and perhaps get a faster rated engine to last longer, but the real question is whether or not you and your teammates can adjust your braking styles so that you can get the brakes to last as long as the engine?

Here are a couple more reminders; First, there are no brake repairs available during a pit stop. Once you loose your brakes your SOL. Second, you have lots of brake systems options available to you in the garage. So consider your options carefully and choose wisely. Also, as of the release of version 2.65 we have provided you with an additional display under the advanced tab that shows you just how much of your brake rotors you've worn away during your last run. So be sure to take advantage of this display to gauge how well you're conserving your brakes.

As we said before, you should always think of this mod in 'real world' terms. You can't go out and buy a new Ferrari and re-tune the engine so that you can go over the recommended redline by a few hundred RPM and expect the engine to last. Of course you could, but the risks you assume are of your own making.

The Série Internationale Du Mans mod gives everyone lots of freedom and flexibility to make customized cosmetic changes, setup adjustments and engine tuning adjustments. But when it comes to the on-track performance of your car, no choice you make will ever be free. Every choice has a consequence and every advantage you might gain will cost you something and will increase your risk. The trick is in knowing when and where to take those chances.

The only way to win a race is to think ahead, consider your options and make the wisest choices, both in the garage and on the track, that you can and then drive with a slightly conservative race pace. This this mod has been designed from the ground up as a long-format, endurance racing mod and treating the cars with a down and dirty pick-up-race-like mentality is probably the worst choice you can make.

A Few Final Thoughts from the Mod Team

This mod was created to fulfill the wishes of many online drivers to compete in endurance races of differing lengths with cars that are based on the ones you see in the American Le Mans Series and in the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans race. While the mod team has dedicated an unknown number of hours to this mod (and believe me, we don't want to know!) the truth is that there are always things that we wish we could put in, but either didn't have the knowledge, the time, or the gMotor engine just can't handle it….yet.

Let's start with what we believe are the reasons why this mod is better, in our opinion, than most of the other ones we've raced before.

Multi-Class Racing and Setup Options

The idea for this mod started with the thought that creating multiple classes of cars competing in endurance racing would be far more interesting than a race with a single chassis and single class. We wanted a mod that supported the concept of having racers of different skill levels and abilities being able to compete together in a single event. With multiple classes competing at the same time you have multiple winners and podium finishers. The other advantage, from an administrative point of view anyway, is that you can even go so far as to suggest or assign a driver within a competition class that is better suited for the driver's skill and experience.

We also took the concept of different experience levels within a league to the next step, which was to make each class not only truly distinct, but to also introduce an increasing number of setup options, which are implemented with each successive competition class. The GT2 cars are relatively easy to drive, but they also have the fewest number of setup options. On the other hand the LM-P1 cars are the fastest cars in the mod and come with the most number of setup options of any of the other three classes. And despite some fairly stable and easy to drive default setups the LM-P1 cars still require the most skill and experience to get the best out of them. And a significant part of that skill and experience includes having the knowledge and experience to properly setup a car.

Another aspect of league racing is the desire of drivers to be able to customize their cars. We realize that there are a lot of folks who do not have the ability to paint their own car(s). Therefore to help alleviate this burden we've provided a good number of pre-painted fantasy teams and cars that can be used by any driver who can't paint up their own car. However these fantasy skins can also be renumbered if a driver would like to use a specific number, but doesn't have the time to paint a full skin.

We've also provided a number showroom options for each car. These options include different wheel rim colors and styles, different color brake calipers different steering wheel tape options for the GT cars and even different LED shift light options for the LMP cars. So once you decide on a car be sure to spend a few minutes in the showroom and check out some of the options. You may find that a different set of wheel rims might be just the thing to give your car the extra sense of personal style that you're looking for.

The LM-GT2 Cars

Representing the 'entry-level' of the four competition classes, the LM-GT2 cars are specifically designed for newbies. These cars are generally the easiest to drive and have the least number of setup options available in the garage. Despite their relative simplicity however these cars can still be very challenging and very fun to drive. In fact many of our most experience beta testers have had a lot of fun racing with and competing with these cars.

As with all of the Série Internationale Du Mans mod cars the LM-GT2 cars come with a very stable and easy to use default setup. This means that you won't have to spend hours and hours working on a new setup each and every week and instead can focus on becoming more familiar with the car as well as learning new tracks throughout a season. This is perfect for someone who either doesn't have much experience in online racing and creating setups, or perhaps simply does not have the time to practice and needs to be able to spend what little time they have on the track and not in the garage. Yet aAs good as the default setups are they aren't necessarily the "fastest" setups.

The fastest setup, as we'll talk about in detail later in the setup guide, is only the setup that makes you faster and not one that somehow magically makes everyone faster. The fact is there's still plenty of room for tweaking for those who have the understanding and desire to wring a bit more speed out of their car.

The LM-GT1 Cars

The LM-GT1 cars are not for the feint-hearted. In keeping with the ACO standard for the class these cars have more raw torque than any of the other cars in the mod and only slightly less horsepower than the ‘top dogs,' the LM-P1 cars. However along with all of this horsepower and torque comes weight because these cars also carry the most weight of any of the cars. Ultimately what this means is that these cars can often be a handful to manage and control and with all that torque at your disposal it also requires a bit more judicious use of the throttle. Sure, you can mash away all you want, but with over 600 ft-lbs of torque you'll be going nowhere fast and you'll probably end up burning up a new set of tires in the process.

The LM-GT1 cars also include more garage setup options than the LM-GT2 cars. These additional options are needed to help control the raw power and extra mass of these cars. Given this extra weight you'll need to keep the optional set of brake rotors in mind when it comes to managing your brake wear, because stopping a 200 mph, 640 HP, 3000 lb car requires a lot of energy.

The LM-P2 Cars

When you step into the cockpit of an LMP car you are stepping into the future. Traditionally the Le Mans Prototype cars have, along with Formula 1, been at the leading edge of automotive technology. In fact, as of 2009 there are now hybrid LMP cars, capable of running on fuel or electricity competing in the Le Mans and ALMS series.

Irrespective of the fact that LMP cars often use wings with relatively small surface areas, the LMP cars are capable of generating far more down force than the car itself weighs. Weighing in at a mere 750 kg the LM-P2 cars have the potential to kick ass and take the overall win at nearly any track except for those with longer straights and even there, there is still a distinct possibility for an overall win.

With less horsepower than the LM-GT1 cars and less horsepower and mass that their LM-P1 cousins the LM-P2 cars have the singularly unique characteristic of being able to hug the corners better than any car on the track. More often than not you will find the P2 cars dogging the P1 cars in the corners and through the tighter sections of a track. And it's only due to the P1's superior horsepower and torque that a P2 car doesn't win every race.

The technology of the P2 cars is represented in the garage with still more options available to choose from. Even though the P2 cars can be relatively easy to drive, getting the absolute best out of a P2 car requires focus, concentration and a full understanding of the aerodynamics and engine management systems of your car.

The LM-P1 Cars

As we stated before, the LM-P1 are the top dogs of the mod. Weighing more than the LM-P2 cars and much less than the LM-GT1 cars the LM-P1 cars not only have more raw horsepower than the LM-GT1 class, but also come complete with turbos. Again, the default setups that come with each car should allow someone to jump in and spend time learning the car and track right off the bat. However getting the best out of a P1 car… Well, let's just say that these cars have been specifically designed for the most experienced sim racers.

With third front and rear spring and shock options, three brake rotor options, boost options and finer front and rear wing settings the only way to truly get the best out of an LM-P1 car is to spend lots of time on the track testing and practicing. If your time is limited then this is definitely not the class for you because optimizing your setup will require several hours in practice and testing, if for nothing else than to simply calculate your fuel mileage with the boost option you've chosen.

Deciding Which Car to Drive

So, this is the point where you have to decide not only which car and which class of cars you would like to race with, but as you make your selection you also need to be honest enough with yourself to realistically understand and accept what your limitations are as well as understand exactly what expectations you have before you go racing.

Will you have the time, understanding and patience to be as competitive as you'd like to be, especially in the car and class that you are considering? How passionate are you about winning? Are you one of those racers that has a bad day if you happen to loose a race the night before? Do you have the time to practice, test and tune your car to it's maximum potential? Do you have the patience and skills required for multi-class racing? Or are you just looking for a little fun? These are just a few of the important questions that you have to ask yourself before you strap on your virtual helmet and gloves and log onto the server.

Within each class, the cars have been equalized by the mod team as much as possible without removing any of the distinct characteristics that make each car unique. Nevertheless, keep in mind that some circuits may be more advantageous to a particular car or class than others. This is just the nature of racing and more specifically, the nature of multi-class racing.

Every car in each of the four class is just as capable of winning a race as any other car in class. And while some cars may at first appear easier to drive than the others the reality is that you may wind up selecting a car that simply ended up being default-tuned to 90% of its full potential while the car you've overlooked or perhaps considered to be too difficult to drive may only be default-tuned to 75% of it's full potential. With the possibility of exploiting an additional 25% more untapped resources the car you pass over now may wind up being the car that passes you later driven by a driver who was willing to spend the time needed to explore and exploit the car's full potential.

Ultimately no matter what car you choose you will only get out of the car what you put into it, and putting your butt into the seat is the best and most important way to get faster and be more competitive.

Racing in the Dark

One of the most unique things about endurance racing involves races where the drivers will start the race during the day and race into the evening after the sun sets and occasionally deal with the sun rising again the following morning!!! Therefore, a very important feature of this mod lies in the creation of lighting systems for the cars that not only allow the driver to see the track, but also spot any racers nearby.

Several lighting values were tested until a level of illumination that was comparable to the levels used in real world racing with regards to distance and spread. One thing you will notice right away is that the light colors for the Prototypes are different than those of the GT cars. This is to help drivers recognize which basic class, GT or LMP, the cars either behind and/or ahead of you on the track belong to.

At the rear of the car, the tail lights and brake lights are lit more to resemble the usage of LED's now used in almost every car nowadays. Just as you'll find in the ALMS and European Le Mans series, the GT cars all have headlights which have a yellow tint to them, while the headlights for the prototypes are white. This will be more evident to you once you're racing in the dark and a car comes up behind you and begins to illuminate the interior of your cockpit. These lights are bright and hard to not notice and you can see them just as easily during the day as you can at night.

The mod team could have stopped there, but we just couldn't help but add little details to the cars that haven't been seen in any other rFactor mod to date – the addition of leader lights on the sides of every car, which are also lit in the appropriate color for that class. Unfortunately there is currently no way for them to display the running position with no lights, one, two or three lights turned on to signify the car's current running position in class. We contacted ISI in the hopes of finding a solution, but the folks there did not know of a way to accomplish this. Nevertheless just seeing the leader lights on the cars during a night race adds to the immersive nature of this mod.

But even with realistic headlights and brake lights, vision is still limited based upon the circuit lighting that you have around you. Our suggestion would be that anytime you find yourself racing during dark conditions, consider lowering the light levels in the room where you race in to better adapt your eyes to the lower light levels and before the race start adjust your monitor slightly by making it brighter or adjusting the gamma setting.

The Damage Model

As mentioned several times already, one of the biggest points we were trying to get across to everyone is that you need to take care of your car to see the finish line. Whether that means reigning in the horsepower to save the engine, or simply taking care to keep the fenders on your ride.

In the simplest terms possible, there are no consequences in online sim racing to match those in real world racing as far as bodily harm goes, therefore there's nothing life-threatening to keep you from attempting a risky maneuver that may fail and put you and/or someone else into the guardrail and out of the race.

Without any serious consequences its unlikely that every driver on the circuit would adhere to the same standard of conduct when it comes to making a choice between trying a risky move or allowing discretion to be the better part of valor. So it was up to the mod team to build a set of rules into the mod that would provide a standardized set of consequences. The levels that were used for the damage model thresholds were set purposely for leagues to apply a setting of 100% damage setting for their races. Don't let the big number fool you though, as these levels were set with the desire of keeping everything fun, while also keeping it real. For official league races of any length we feel that a 100% damage setting is the only way to go with the Série Internationale Du Mans mod.

Starting with the most important parts of your race car, the engine and drive train, this was an area where boundaries are made to be pressed or withdrawn, and each person's individual driving style will have more of an impact on how you set up your engine's life span for each race. Throw caution to the wind and crank of the rev limiter in the hopes that it will hold together, or you can short-shift and open up the radiator, or keep the limiter set to the factory standard or lower and go with the premise of, better safe than sorry! This is explained in greater detail in the setup guide, and is a must read for anyone who plans on seeing the finish line.

Moving to the car body, there were three main goals we were attempting to achieve with the damage model on all of the cars:

•  Small impacts will make small changes to the way the car drives

•  Large impacts will remove body pieces

•  Both small and large impacts to the front of the car will affect it's top speed

On the GT cars, small impacts will not have as much of an affect on the car's top speed as larger impacts due to the already relatively higher body aero drag values, but that doesn't mean it won't make a difference. One thing you will notice right away after a small impact with your car is that the suspension may be affected, with the car pulling to one side of the other.

The frame will flex, and suspension points will move. Tires will heat up due to an incorrect rolling direction from a misaligned front or rear end. The balance and braking may also be affected because of the car's non-uniform distance in track and wheelbase dimensions. Fortunately these minor impacts can be completely corrected when pitting, and depending on the amount of damage you could end up spending a couple of minutes in the pits making repairs, but the time spent will be worth it once you get back on the track at close to full speed again.

Large impacts on all car classes will result in losing larger parts of the car, including the rear wing which will directly impact your car's down force significantly. If you loose the front splitter your car will not only slow down, but you will also loose a significant amount of front down force, which will make you car push like a dump truck on ice. So if you lose that splitter you're in for a long, slow crawl back to the pits for repair, so don't go shoving that nose in where it doesn't belong… because the consequence for doing so will be costly!

If you loose a rear wing...DO NOT try to race back to the pits! You will only wind up loosing control of your car and doing further damage. At 30-40 mph (50-80 kph) the car may still be controllable, depending on the total amount of damage to the car. But if you try to drive faster than that without a rear wing you will loose control of the car and make matters much worse. So check your damage indicator and make sure that you still have a rear wing after a big impact and before you try to make your way back to the pits.

Keep in mind that impacts can be much deeper than body, suspension and aerodynamic damage. Your engine and cooling system can also be directly affected by impacts, especially to the front of a GT car. Hit someone or something hard enough, it might just kill your engine and end your race. Bounce the front of your car off someone's rear bumper going into Turn 1 at the start? You might end up with cooling issues from the radiator and front brake openings being damaged.

There's so much that can go wrong from being overly-aggressive and when you weigh the pros and cons, it's easy to see that once you get through the first few laps of an endurance race with a car completely unscathed, you'll be rewarded in the end. Remember, endurance racing isn't about winning the first lap, or even the first hour, it's about winning the last lap.

Known Issues

In any mod there are bound to be a few hopefully minor issues that just can't be solved or in some cases simply don't matter enough to worry about. However before you go running back to the forums like Chicken Little to report something you saw or experienced as a potentially strange anomaly make sure you review this list first.

• The front tires of some of the LMP cars may poke through the inside of the fender when the steering wheel is turned from full-lock to full-lock. We could have made the fenders wider, but then the cars would look dumb. ;) Frequently the range of motion governing the pivoting of the tires within rFactor exceeds the realistic range of motion for the car. Since it's very unlikely that you'll ever find yourself on a track where you'll need to turn your steering wheel to full lock in either direction we wouldn't worry about it. It's only a minor cosmetic issue that doesn't affect the performance of the car in any way.

• It's been reported by some of our beta testers that the headlights flick on and off quickly when passing under a light on certain tracks... Hey, who the hell knows what's going on with that one? :D Seriously though, we've tested the lights and examined all of the files and light projection data and there's nothing that we've been able to find that would account for this. However we've also had some of our beta testers tell us that they were in and out of the server with every car in the mod and they never experienced any problems. So it could be a matter of individual computer configurations.

• "The projected fuel mileage in the garage isn't always accurate..."
Basically the fuel consumption model in rFactor is very accurate in that there are a lot of different factors that will affect your fuel mileage, including the total aerodynamic drag of your chassis and wing configurations, your RPM limiter setting, your gearing, the list goes on of course. However the projection data is only a rough estimate, a very rough estimate. This is all explained in detail in the setup guide under 'Fuel Loads,' where you'll also find a download link for an easy to use fuel mileage calculation chart.

• "The cars don't have realistic specs for their horsepower and torque ratings."
For this statement we have two basica responses. First, no real team, anywhere, ever publishes the actual horsepower and torque ratings of their car. You can easily find a dumbed-down, overly-simplified set of numbers which are designed for public consumption, but publishing the real data would be giving away a significant competitive advantage. So while we all love sites like UltimateCars.com don't bet your paycheck on the data you find on someone's web page. The second response to this statement is a reminder of what this mod is all about. This mod was designed for online league racing.

It doesn't take any great effort to program realisitc performance stats into every car, anyone can do that with just a few clicks of the keyboard. However the end result would be that one car would end up dominating the other cars in class. For example the Porsche RS Spyder could wind up easily defeating all of the other LM-P2 cars. When this happens however, everyone ends up wanting to drive the "best car" and what fun is it if there is only car car in four that is capable of winning a race? Remember GPL? Everyone wanted to drive the Lotus 49 and no one wanted to drive the BRM P83 as a result most GPL leagues basically wound up with Lotus 49 spec racing.

Audi R8 or Porsche RS Spyder spec racing is not what we wanted, nor is it what most sim racers really want. Most sim racers enjoy getting on track and seeing different cars and hearing different engine notes. Therefore the cars of the Série Internationale Du Mans mod have been specifically designed for performance balancing and to provide the variety of chassis and manufacturer options that most sim racers prefer to enjoy and see on the track. So don't let horsepower and torque alone determine your choice of cars, because a car with less horsepower may have more down force or carry less drag that the car with more horsepower.

That's about it. There are a couple of other minor issues, but unless you're starting a race in the middle of the night using a rolling start we won't bother. Just get out there and have fun, secure in the knowledge that there were at least 30 different beta testers and two separate leagues working with us on the mod over the past year or so, many of whom are among the most experienced sim racers we know.

Shhhh, it's a Secret… (sort of)

By now, everyone knows of course that the full version of the Série Internationale Du Mans mod is for private use only. However we wanted to clarify exactly why the full version of the mod is not intended for public release.

The one critical missing skill from the Carpe Noctem team is 3D modeling. While we've managed to pick up quite a lot over the past couple of years we're all still very much self-taught and so far our ability to create original car models from scratch is remains limited. Therefore in keeping with the "prima facie" standard for the public distribution of "unauthorized mods" we decided to restrict the full version of the Série Internationale Du Mans mod for private use only.

Nevertheless that's really about all we started with, the raw car models. Consequently we feel that it's important to explain just what it it is that we do with those raw models.

Starting with the raw car models, we import the models into 3dsMax and disassemble them into a number of individual components so that later we can give each element it's own shading value. We go through each model and removed any excess polygons and either blend or smooth out many of the surfaces to help reduce the FPS load on the cars. Next we apply our own shading and material values to each component. We also apply our own brake rotor and caliper models and for most cars we create new wheels and complete optional wheel sets for each car.

Each cockpit is also updated and we add our own mirror mapping to the cockpits and in some cases create alternate options for the cockpits and mirrors to allow for 3x4 and 16x9 displays. We also apply our own lights and lighting system and or steering wheels and multifunction displays. And since we're big on safety we also add flag warning status lights to each cockpit. Once we've finished cleaning up the models, we then go ahead and create three additional reduced polygon versions for low-resolutions displays. Then it's a matter of re-exporting the cars back out and adding them to the mod.

So as far as the models go, as you can see, basically all we really do start with is the raw shape of the car. In some cases we may retain a few of the original textures, however in most cases we try to create new textures. Basically it's sort of like a custom car shop. The customer rolls in with a stock chassis, which is completely disassembled and then gradually rebuilt from the frame up, frequently altering the frame in the process. However the car that is rolled out once the project is completed might still be a Ford or Chevy in name, but compared to the way the car originally rolled off the factory assembly line, its pretty much a Ford or Chevy in name only.

Beyond the chop, cut and rebuild of the model, everything else about the cars within the Série Internationale Du Mans mod has been originally created by the Carpe Noctem Design Group team. In some cases the sounds may have been sampled from other simulations, but they have each been scrubbed and re-mastered and more often than not re-digitized by Carpe Noctem. In fact in some cases, such as the Ferrari and Audi they sounds started out as sounds that Mike had original developed for GPL.

And of course the final and most crucial element, the physics, have been developed by Carpe Noctem with Tim Collier as the resident mastermind behind the fundamental reasons why these cars all drive so well. After months and months of research and testing Tim developed a brand new methodology for developing the proper physics of the cars and while there are lots of eye-candy mods out there, few mods if any respond to the track conditions, suspension tuning and aerodynamic tuning of the cars the way the cars of the Série Internationale Du Mans mod do.

The LMP model origins

As we've stated before, even though we have completely rebuilt each of the models from the raw polygon shapes up, the fact remains that the original sources for the raw car shapes were external to Carpe Noctem. And we feel it's important to disclose those origins to the best of our ability.

The Lola-MG model came from the Sports Car Challenge mod which was recently given a free pass for conversion and use by it's original creators, RSDG as long as they are mentioned in the credits, which we have done below.

The Audi, Dome S101 and the Pescarolo C60 models were originally created by Jpbs at Team Motorsport. And we would like to thank Jpbs very much for giving us his permission to include these three models in our mod. As with all of the models, there was a lot of work done to the models to prepare them for the Série Internationale Du Mans mod. Including new wheels, wheel options, brake rotors & calipers various cockpit updates and new LCD displays.

At this time we believe that the Audi R10 was originally created by Jpbs, despite the fact that the car came from a different source and and the time of the private release of version 1.65 we were still trying to sort that out.

The Porsche RS Spyder model was originally created for GTR2 by Kureeman Ibne Azaam, who goes by the name, ‘Ibne' in the forums. Again Mike took the original model, which was essentially still in a draft stage and did a whole lot of clean up work to get the model in decent shape. Once again he proceeded to create a brand new, original set of wheel rims, added new brake calipers, rotors and rotor-glow textures. Plus he even fixed an existing headlight issue by creating new lights, which included the Carpe Noctem designed leader lights. Meanwhile John helped sort out all of the texture mapping issues that existed with the original model and created a new Motec display for the cockpit. The Acura ARX was also created by Kureeman Ibne Azaam, with further enhancements added by the Carpe Noctem development team.

Finally, using a rough, low-resolution template that had been created by another gentleman going by the forum name of “Young Kim” as a guide for seam placement, Mike then proceeded to create an all original, full 2048x2048 high-resolution Penske/DHL skin and Photoshop template for the Spyder. And of course all of the physics for the model were developed by the Tim.

Nevertheless everything, including right down to the cleaned 3dsMax model, the converted rFactor car and physics as well as the high resolution template was offered to Ibne in exchange for his permission to post the car. (We had originally wanted to post the RS Spyder as a stand-alone mod) Ibne was contacted not once but twice, we also included pictures of the car on the track and even provided him with a link to the template and he didn't respond. Until recently... In late March, Ibne finally responded to Mike's initial inquiry and gave his permission for the conversion and release of the Porsche RS Spyder mod for rFactor. So we would like to thank Ibne for his permission.

The GT model origins

The majority of the GT1 and GT2 car models however were translated from GTR2, which makes SimBin the original model producers, and of course everyone already knows they won't “officially” support the redistribution of their models for rFactor.

The Aston Martin DBR9 was originally released as a mod for rFactor by EdOg. EdOg has given his permission to utilize his DBR9 3ds model so long as he is given proper credit for the original modeling work. While contacting EdOg directly has proven to be very difficult we were able to confirm this general release by contacting the EOAA group, who release a revised DBR9 mod based on the original.

The Porsche 997 and Ferrari F430GT models were originally created by Kureeman Ibne Azaam, the same person who created the original Porsche RS Spyder model. Kureeman has given us his full permission to include his models in this mod.

The Corvette C6-R car model was originally created by the modding team of Arnold Wong and Klaas van Houten, (Team RMT). A beta of the C6R had originally been posted at RSC as part of a preview for a mod that they were working on. Since we already had a working C5R but wanted a C6R Tim contacted Arnold to seek his permission to use his Corvette, and even offered to give him all of the improvements we'd made in exchange for his permission, but at the time the answer was that he was no longer using that model and that he might have a new one for us. Unfortunately we never heard back from him after this initial response.

Fortunately Mike received an email from Klaas after he saw a preview of the C6R as part of the collection of screen shots for the LMP-only version of the Série Internationale Du Mans mod. Once some of the confusion was sorted out Klass gave his permission to use the Corvette and even distribute it as part of the LMP-only version of the mod. But we decided to stick with the original plan of reserving all of the GT cars as part of the full download version of the mod. And as it turns out Klass and Arnold are still working on their "World Super GT mod" for GTR2, which looks to be one of the great GTR2 mods once it's released. Therefore we'd like to thank Klaas van Houten and Arnold Wong of Team RMT for their permission to use their C6R model.

In Summary

Considering all the time that Mike and John put into cleaning up the car models, producing new wheel and brake caliper options, working on sounds, and more importantly everything regarding the physics, for which Tim created and developed brand new methodologies for calculating the various values, essentially 97% of this mod is original work create by the Carpe Noctem Design Group. Unfortunately though without proper authorization for all of the car models, there's just no way the full version of this mod will ever see a public release along with proper credit being given to the Carpe Noctem Design Group for all the work that we've done. So the bottom line is that this last 3% is what keeps the full version of the Série Internationale Du Mans mod from being distributed publicly.

Yes, there are other mods floating around out there that are direct translations from other sims, but we respect the fact that this mod was made possible, in part, from models that we didn't specifically create and we respect the original authors of those materials therefore we will not distribute this mod for public use. It's just the right thing to do, and we sincerely hope that all of you will respect and honor our wishes and keep it that way.

Currently, only two leagues have been given permission to use this mod: Virtual Online Racers and Champion Motorsports as well as their joint venture the, Endurance Racing League. If you see this mod or any component of this mod, including the guides and templates are being used or hosted outside of the Carpe Noctem Design Group, Champion Motorsports or VOR, please contact the mod team at timcollier@collier-racing.com

Meanwhile, please accept the fact that the Série Internationale Du Mans mod contains a limited edition set of custom cars with Carpe Noctem developed physics that won't be found anywhere else. If you have any questions or comments about this mod, there are places to post them within your respective league, and preferably done through your league administrator who will relay that information to us directly.

Our Final Plea

Please understand that with this release the Carpe Noctem Design Group wishes to close the book on any further development of this mod for a while. This doesn't mean we plan to abandon any necessary fixes or updates should something arise during the season of racing, but all of us are now ready to move on to become competitors on the track right beside you.

As much as it pains us to say this, don't expect any unnecessary updates, patches or tweaks as we're putting our mod work on vacation and plan to enjoy the fruits of our labor now with a long season of endurance racing, and we hope you will be doing the same!!!

Thanks again to everyone for your patience, gratitude and contributions to this mod over the past year and a half. It started with one person, and grew into something quite special to all of us that worked on it. We certainly hope that each of you will enjoy the Série Internationale Du Mans mod as much as we've enjoyed created it.

Respectfully,

Carpe Noctem Design Group

Credits

Series Internationale Du Mans

by Carpe Noctem Design Group

ADMINISTRATORS

Tim Collier

Mike Tyler

CORE TEAM MEMBERS

John Basara

Henry Hudson

Rob Melchioni

BETA TEAM

David Anderson

Bob Ballenger

Mike Bennett

Jim Best

Tony Boynton

Philip Brown

Tom Cinnamon

Steven S Clark

Tom DiLibero

Bob Dunlop

Bob Eardley

Bruce Fisher

Don Fryman

Myrick Hearn

Henry Hudson

Richard Hylands

Dwayne Jans

Kimmo Kononen

Rob Lowe

Cyril Ma

Drew McLean

Claro Palma

Paul Rein

Mike Tribble

Greg Veres

FANTANSY TEAMS & CAR SKINS

Tom DiLibero

Claro Palma (Stelvio)

Mike Tyler

ILMS CAR VIEWER

Henry Hudson

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

BeOnEdge - For your extremely invaluable input...you know who you are, and we do too!

Kureeman Ibne Azaam, for giving us permission to convert his Porsche RS Spyder, Acura ARX, Ferrari F430 and Porsche 997 GT3 RSR models to rFactor.

Arnold Wong and Klaas van Houten, (Team RMT) for permission to use their Corvette C6R model.

EdOg, for his creation of the Aston Martin DBR9 and his blanket permission for using the car in other mods as well as Rich at EOAA for helping us clarify the release and usuage of EdOg's DBR9.

JPBS at Team Motorsport (http://team.motorsport.phpnet.org) for his permission to use his Audi R8, Dome S101 and Pescarolo C60 models.

Giovanni Scala, for his car sound upgrades.

ISI for their help, guidance and patience with our questions as well as the wonderful rFactor simulation.

SimBin for GTR2 and the "unofficial" use of some of their models in the private release of the Série Internationale Du Mans mod.

David Anderson & Philip Brown - For providing a place like Champion Motorsports for friends (and family) to gather and organize the fun that we have.

Kevin Cinnamon - The original dreamer and developer of this mod.

The members of Champion Motorsports and Virtual Online Racers – For taking the time to download each and every patch, no matter how big or small, and putting up with the small updates as well as the big ones.

RSDG

For allowing conversions of their original Sports Car Challenge add-on. The Sports Car Challenge add-on was originally developed by:

Stian Berg

David Chan

Ron Grzesik

Mika Hirvonen

Pieter Hofstra

Börje Johansson

Steven Karlsson

Frank Leitner

Steve Lowry

and

Steven Kilsdonk

Thank you for allowing the community to use your past work as both a benchmark and starting point!!

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION

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*Third-party brands and names are the property of their respective owners.