The Online Racing Association: 2012 Season

[nickyf1]

Hey guys! Just want to inform the good people of 10-Tenths about TORA's 2012 season!

So, 2011 is over, we've had many new faces take to the podium, and had a few new names as champion too (myself included, which i'm pretty chuffed about). 2011 was all about winding down with Forza 3 and getting used to Forza 4, as well as attempting to expand to other titles too. In 2011 we have run series on Shift 2, RACE Pro, F1 2010 and F1 2011, as well as the usual Forza staple.

For 2012, TORA enters it fifth year of existence, which would not have been possible without our fantastic and enthusiastic members. Forza 4 on the Xbox 360 is our main focus yet again, and once again this year we have our three main championships (All of which have had their calendars approved by the MSA, and as such, appear on the MSA's website!):

TORA MSA GT Championship: TORA's main championship for production based grand tourers. This championship is the direct descendant of the original British GT series which ran in 2008, and has been running in it's current guise since 2009. It's TORA's oldest trophy. It runs with a series of fortnightly double-headers across a wide range of tracks, complete with an already proved and tested performance balanced car-list.

TORA MSA Intercontinental Sportscar Challenge: Endurance is the key word here. Three different classes racing on the same track: LMP, for high performance Le Mans Prototypes, LMPC, for LMP's single make cousin and GT, for pure race-bred Grand Tourers. Fortnightly endurance races of 90 minutes in length, ending with the Le Mans 2.4 Hours, one of TORA's longest single day events, after the annual 24 Runden at the Nurburgring. The ISCC is still seen as a ''new'' championship, being introduced in 2009, but it's grown to become part of TORA's main staple of series, where many others failed

TORA MSA Touring Car Championship: Almost as old as the GT's, but younger by half a year, the Touring Car Championship has been a staple of TORA's offering since 2008, and for many, it's their main championship that they look forward to every year. It's TORA's main call for production based hatchbacks, coupe's and saloons. It's known for good, hard, clean sprint racing. It's grown a cult following over the years as an alternative to the high powered GT and Sportscar racing provided by the other two main series, and has had many champions over the years.

And, one thing which may or may not happen over the course of the year is the TORA World Endurance Championship, which will run side by side with real endurance events, such as:

12 Hours of Sebring
24 Hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of the Nurburgring
24 Hours of Silverstone
Petit Le Mans

Teams will comprise of three or more drivers with each race broken up into three hour stints. It's definitely for the more 'hard-core' contingent of Endurance racers!

So, that's TORA 2012. We've had some success from 10-Tenths members this year. I raced with eizoxian and Silentalarm quite a bit, and Silentalarm captured his first victory in a Touring Car race as my team mate.

So yeah, check out the website, watch a few of our fantastic races with commentary from 2011, and keep checking up on us!

www.theonlineracingassociation.com

[nickyf1]

GT entries have been open for a few days now. ISCC entries open on the evening of the first of January. We are looking to add the recently announced Lola B11/80 (In addition to the B09/80 currently on the list) and the Lamborghini Gallardo GT2 car which ran at Sebring in r/l this year. This new season sees the addition of some new cars to the mix, including the Audi R15++ and the Oreca FLM in LMP. GT sees the addition of the Audi R8 LMS, Ferrari's new 458GT and the BMW Z4 GT3.

The current car list is very large, very even, and has something for everyone:

LMP (For stock LMP1 cars, upgraded LMP2 cars and upgraded LMPC cars):
Acura ARX-01B
Acura ARX-02
Audi R10 TDI
Audi R15 TDI
Audi R15++
Lola-Aston Martin B09/60
Lola B09/80 Mazda
Oreca FLM09
Peugeot 908 HDI FAP
Lola B11/80 HPD*

LMPC (Stock Oreca FLM09):
Oreca FLM09

GT (GT2 cars and upgraded GT3 cars):
Audi R8 LMS
BMW M3 GT2
BMW Z4 GT3
Dodge Viper Competition Coupe
Ferrari F430GT
Ferrari 458GT
Ford GT MK7
Jaguar RSR XKR
Panoz Esperante GTLM
Lamborghini Gallardo GT2*

* - under consideration, addition pending testing and balancing.

Full carlist (with required PI and upgrades): http://forums.theonlineracingassocia...son-3-car-list

[Aysedasi]

No Delta Wing then......?

[nickyf1]

Not on my watch!

[Matt Hunter]

TORA are record breakers! The Guinness Book of Records has included TORA in the latest 'Gamers Edition' as "First sim racing group to be recognized by a motorsport governing body".
For those of you interested, it's on page 72!

[nickyf1]

Time for a TORA update, and and indication as to what's actually running over there.

With the use of Forza 4, TORA's member base as swelled considerably, and we are beginning to get record entries for our more popular series (currently Touring Cars as the GT's have finished)

We also have some smaller more fun series coming up, like TASCAR, the GT1 Mini-series and a Clio Cup, among other things.

And, as always, check out the main website for race highlights (with commentary), reports and features!

http://www.theonlineracingassociation.com/

[The Original Instag8or]

Definitely giving the site a look, and possibly going racing with you guys. Who knows, chances are I have already raced with some of you, as I have been working odd hours, which has my FM4 race times at odd hours.

[The Original Instag8or]

I raced my first race meeting with TORA today in the Clio Cup, and that is what online sim racing is supposed to be. These guys are goooood

[nickyf1]

Glad you had some fun!

[nickyf1]

Nice little update to the forums today. http://forums.theonlineracingassociation.com/

A run down on what is currently running and at what times. We have a trial run of a North American based series running in the evening (rather than the afternoon with the UK centric series) which could lead to more US time zone racing.

*- coming soon.

TORA GT - Sundays 8pm BST (3/2c) - GT Racing
ISCC - Sundays 8pm BST (3/2c) - Le Mans style racing
TCC - Tuesdays 8pm BST (3/2c) - Touring Cars
NATCC - Tuesdays 9/8c (2am BST) - Touring Cars
TASCAR* - Saturdays 9pm BST (4/3c) - Stock Cars
Clio Cup - Fridays 9pm BST (4/3c) - Clios!
GT Mini Series - Saturdays 9pm BST (4/3c) - GT race cars
Super GT* - TBC

[The Original Instag8or]

A couple shots from last week's North American Touring Car Championship event at Road Atlanta...

[nickyf1]

I'm loving that Hard Rock Cafe car! I wish I could race with you NA guys, seems like a nice relaxed championship in comparison to the ultra competitive main TCC.

Hows about a little update then?

The Euro leg of the ISCC ended with the 2.4 Hours of Le Mans. All the titles were wrapped up, and the focus now moves to the next leg, the American leg. The American leg will see the return of LMP2 (and the mighty Porsche RS Spyder thanks to the Porsche expansion) to the ISCC and the addition of the GTC class (for Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars). In the GTE class, Porsche also returns with an updated Porsche 997 GT3-RSR being added to the line up, and alongside it, finally, the Corvette C6.R GTE car!

Testing for the next season of TORA GT racing is well underway. In the biggest shake up in years, the series is moving to lower powered, higher downforce GTE and GT3 cars instead of the traditional tuned production cars we've been using since 2008. GTE cars are power restricted, so will run slower laptimes than their counterparts in ISCC. It's all in an effort to replicate real world series and bring the field closer together. The number of drivers allowed on a team has been increased to 4.

TASCAR is set to start soon, and we've also been running a fun ''Clubman Cup'' championship on the side. Make sure to check out the forums, and if you are interested in joining, please do!

[The Original Instag8or]

Yeah, had a blast in Clubman Cup Nicky. Actually got to battle you and Duncan in that one

[nickyf1]

Man, I just went backwards in that Mitsubishi!

I'll be using something else next time

[The Original Instag8or]

As Touring Car Championships draw to a close, new weekly series are coming soon, inc. Porsche GT3 Cup, as well as the Britcar 24 Hours of Silverstone in August.

[The Original Instag8or]

Originally Posted by The Original Instag8or

As Touring Car Championships draw to a close, new weekly series are coming soon, inc. Porsche GT3 Cup, as well as the Britcar 24 Hours of Silverstone in August.

My mistake... TORA's Britcar 24 is September 15/16.

For those wishing to test their FM4 racing skills on a global level, this is the real deal.

Here's the jest of it:

http://forums.theonlineracingassocia...of-silverstone