SimRacing.org.uk

Grid/server capacity: 22


Track: Crystal Palace Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54520#post_crystalpalace)

Cars allowed:

CLASS A (0-1000cc)

Mini Cooper 970S Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_mini_cooper_970_s) Note: Not included '69 Mini.
Hillman/Sunbeam Imp Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_hillman_imp)

CLASS B (1000-1300cc)

Mini Cooper 1275S Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_mini_cooper_1275s_1968)
Ford Escort 1300GT Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_escort_1300gt)


Drivers are limited to a maximum of FOUR drives per Class, with a limited number of drives per car. For more information please click HERE (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I7egPwfJnD3svMwKxFhsK633XLm8BLocdNuofsj2VKg/edit?usp=sharing)

RACE ONE (Race Two details HERE (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=14134.msg255068#msg255068))

Practice: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (10 mins)
Race 1: 20:30 (25 laps)

Time of Day Setting: 14:00
Start: STANDING
Tyre wear: Normal
Fuel consumption: Normal

Server: simracing.org.uk Monday
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Notes:
(1) It's best if all drivers can make sure they are connected before the Qualifying session as drivers on track during qualifying will not see cars that join after they are on track until they go back to the garage.
(2) Please make sure you are fully aware of the SimRacing.org.uk Rules.
(3) The AI control should be turned off so that you have control of the car at all times, including pitting. Your player file should therefore read
Autopit="0"
Force Autopit Off="1" // Forces autopit always off
No AI Control="1" // AI never has control over car
If you still finding pitting problematic, experience tells us that its less to do with positioning and more to do with approach speed. A slow approach to pit crew chief has proved most reliable.

Special Notes: Note earlier race start time than usual

IMPORTANT

Once qualification has started drivers may not leave to change class/make/car. They may leave to change skins.

Not this event but similar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cawBXWWgqCI&list=PLvcU7agKDZR6l_bg0MN0OhA-lK2Q2gcF_

Trying to get a Imp drivable and noticed their are 4 or 5 different horsepower/top speed ratings in the garage for this car.  Are they all available to us or are some not usable in this pack?  Just checking before I pick one for this event.  Thanks ahead of time.........

Bob M.

All available Bob. It will always be stated in the first post if there are any restrictions.

Are these two races open to both classes and is the second race also 25 laps?

Ahh. Does each race count to car use? so if I have only one drive left in one car I have to use another
for race 2? or is it the car for the night.

Please read my later response below

RACE ONE = CLASSES A & B ONLY (any one car from either of these classes)

RACE TWO = CLASSES C & D ONLY (any one car from either of these classes)

Perhaps if that was in the announcement it might be clearer   ::)
There are two pages. Not used to that  :wacko:

Thx for clarifying, Tony.

Will be giving Race 2 a miss, a 21.15 start is a bit late for me, particularly​ after 25 laps in Race !  :wheelchair: :rockon:

As laps times will be at the one minute mark we should finish Race 2 no later that 21.45 which is no later than one of our longer single events.

No practice due to playing and watching TV golf from USA last week.

Today too hot for golf (don’t say that very often) so hope to race this evening.

Had downloaded the track and had a drive round but expect to be slow.  I shall try to learn it just before the race. No idea what car to take. I think I’ll take a chance with the Imp and Escort.

I remember watching Motor Racing at this track, must have been early sixties.

Had to find a compromise between lack of practice, 33°C outside and the desire to watch "All is lost" featuring Robert Redford
with some friends on TV later tonight - so I'll skip race two hoping for a better than last place despite choosing the Imp for race one  ;D

Only 33° C ?

 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Results and replay now posted.

Having not expected to make this race I had only done about half a dozen laps, not really practice. I thought I would be slow. I took the Imp for the first race. The default set up felt wrong so I changed it for the race. It was just a guess but a wrong one. It felt worse and I just couldn’t get the hang of it.

I decided to do the second race as I felt I had learnt the track, but not how to go fast. I must have misunderstood the race rules and loaded the wrong car. I had to do a last minute change and go with the default set up which was geared totally wrong. Near the end of the race the car drifted wide a couple of times. The second occasion I clipped the wall span round stalling and facing the wrong way on a blind corner and blocking half the track. :oops: I restated the engine and decided to try to get out of the way onto the grass inside the track but chose the wrong moment just as a car came round the corner. I think it was jeep. Sorry I caused you to swerve and hit the wall.

I must do some practice before I try to race again. I’m not good enough to jump in a car and race with no practice.

Grats to winners and podiums. :clap:

What an evenings racing.

Being British and used to summertime temps being low 20's, to squeeze myself into an airless tiny room at the top of my house and sitting on a large vinyl covered office chair was just insane.
During practice I was removing items of clothing in a vain attempt to cool off lol!  Not a pretty sight!! for those of you who know Monty Python I guess it was like Terry Jones sitting at his organ in the nude.

 :eek:

I thought that a mini should be the right car for race 1, so I tried both the 970s and the 1275 options but that infernal front wheel drive was proving too much effort in the heat, so I looked for something with a proper drive train.
First option that I tried was the Escort simply because I had a setup somewhere........and I was amazed just how quick it was straight out of the box!! so I never even tried the Imps.
Matt was threatening in his 1275 Mini and he pipped me to pole. I totally fluffed the start and dropped to 4thbehind a flying Ziu and Geoffers. It took a while to get my act together and use my extra power to pass those imps and get after Matt. Matt made an error at T1 and all I had to do was get past those pesky Imps. Ziu put up a hell of a fight, but it was a little unequal and once I squeezed past I was able to get some clean laps and gradually extend my lead to around 3 seconds and I relaxed a little, knowing I had pace in hand if I needed it when Matt got back into 2nd place.
Then my whole world went crazy!!!!    
Lapping cars at Crystal Palace is part of the fun and I caught a car on the exit of the final turn. Not sure if they slowed/missed a gear/or I was just extremely quick through there ( unlikely but possible ). The result was that I had to take evasive action that propelled me straight at the end of the pit wall. To avoid the wall the only option was to take to the pitlane to avoid a mess, and of course I hit the pitlane at a speed that triggered a S&G penalty  :-\ . Then, just to make it all perfect, the phone rang and I had to drive one handed.....not good! Within one lap I had spun twice and bent the suspension. A final spin that threatened to cause a crashfest...so I quit.

Race 2 could only get better.......couldn't it????
Opted for the Camaro just because I did not know what else to drive, hoping that the power would be fun, amazed to find myself in a duel with Ziu for pole.
The first few laps were intense and Tony was very quick in his Escort and threatened to pounce if the 2 Camaros tangled. Gradually Ziu and myself eased away from Tony and it appeared that we had similar pace. It was a great battle and looked like it would be decided by a single mistake.
By this stage, I was so hot I was in danger of sliding off of my office chair in a river of sweat,,, a nice picture for you to conjure with  ;).  With a few laps to go I tried to apply some pressure and was looking for a chance to pass. Then for no reason at all, other than old age and stupidity I forgot to take my foot of the brakes at T1  :-\ With my setup and brake balance I have to release the brakes to allow the car to turn in. The result was that I ploughed straight into the Armco .....what a numpty. I was aware that I was right on the racing line so I hit the ESC again. Then I jumped into a cold shower!!!!

Grats to all the podium places in both races. Despite the way that both races ended for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the racing around a small but satisfying circuit ( when you get it right!! lol ).

 ;D - yes, you're right Ziu - from your point of view at Sardinia. But - frankly spoken - I really prefer the scandinavian climate and temperatures more and more
(hoping to go up there in September), sleeping in the cellar (a vault) at the moment  ;). Unfortunately my employer doesn't accept working from home office (in that case
I would try to emigrate from Germany)

Wasn't able to log on to the server with several versions of the Imp - after I already had severe problems updating Adobe Flash Player on my old XP machine
(which I only use once a week for online racing). No idea whether I used the NoGrip download or the one offered here. Will look into it.

Yesterday I found out that s possible get very funny moments with Hillman.
Qualy has been a bit complicated, first attempt not good, i did a mistake on North Tower and i got a spin, just on the last minute i found 1:00.7 and i m not much satisfacted my best was 1:00:5 on practice, ok 0,2 seconds is a little gap but on a short track is a important gap. Anyway i not could hope to have a better place on the grid with Division A.

The Race has been a battle ! On the start five cars, after some laps it opened a little gap so i had the first battle with Clive i tried to resist but Clive with his Escort GT 1300 was too fast on the start straight after while i was second i seen Matt with Mini 1275 on my mirror and here it s started a epic battle and very funny, Matt found a space on the start straight on external line, he was alreday ahead to me braking on North Tower i braked on internal line and i hit him (sorry Matt), at least we not lost podium, and on the last laps i had also John as client but with him i could control, it seems to me that John had some problem with traction on output of South Tower so i could save a good space until North Tower. The right position for me was third but Clive decided to give me a little gift so second place, very important.

Grats to Matt, Great Race ! Grats to John

After giving the longer races with other mods a miss for a few weeks, I really enjoyed getting to grips with Crystal Palace (I like short tracks, as well as shorter races) and the 1300GT Escort is a great car to drive, well balanced and revs like a good 'un. I had some good laps and a few scraps, and although still finishing in the back half of the places, a 4th in class at least grabbed a point or two. Sweaty old evening but I luckily have a window in my office/den/race room that opens wide letting a sea breeze in.   Race two I enjoyed even more, the Capri being a bit of a beast but fun to drive :)

My first try of the Imp. When I loaded it up for some practice on Sunday (yes I actually managed to do some practice this week!  ;D), the default setup suggested it was going to be a very tail-happy little beastie, like a little Porsche with lots of lift-off oversteer. However it turned out to be anything but & no matter what I tried I could not induce any oversteer either into or out of the corners. Eventually resorted to putting much more pressure into the rear tyres than the temps indicated to try reducing the rear grip. Put a couple more PSI in during qually but it still made little difference.

One advantage of all this rear grip manifested itself at the start when it shot off the line & nearly got into 2nd place. Had some good racing in the early laps with Ziu, Clive, Matt & Erling until I understeered wide at the final turn, hit the barriers & spun. Rejoined near the back of the field, got back up to 5th then did the same again about 2/3rds distance. I ended up in the middle of the road forcing a few cars to take avoiding action, I think Tony went down the pitlane, as did I in my attempts to get out of the line of fire. Eventually came home 7th.

Congrats to the podium.  :clap: :clap: :clap:

This race was great fun for me.  I spent a lot of time getting a setup so that the Imp was very docile.  Cornered like it was "On rails" for me, which is unusual for me for a rear engined car.  I did notice a lot of difference in the different models and settled on the #131/172 models.  Grats to the podium, my first time on this track, which I thought was a good choice for these smaller dispacement cars. 

Bob M.

Results (https://www.avonrise.co.uk/srou/kurts/Crystal Palace 19062017_R1)

8)

Every race I do at Crystal Palace seems destined for disaster, and this one was true to form.

Regrettable was far from matching my offline pb during qual - had I been the 0.4 secs faster, Ziu wouldn't have grabbed 3rd from me.   Being in a Mini, I of course lost a couple of places at the start.  How Matt retained his 1st place is beyond me - black magic ?  :blink:

First few laps were hectic to say the least, as I both gained and lost positions. Passed Matt recovering from a moment, and eventually got past Geoffers and thus running 3rd.  Promptly was passed again by the two gents, when I ran wide at the final turn, losing momentum.  Lost more later, giving John an opportunity to get past.  While chasing him, I tapped him at the final turn, thankfully not hard enough to cause him problems.  The tap I got from Tony in return wasn't quite as harmless unfortunately. Shunted me into the wall and a couple of spins.  Lost places, but regained a couple when I passed Geoff & Tony, both going through the pits.  When I next arrived at T1, I found that the shunt had crippled the car - it would no longer turn right, so I ploughed into the wall, spinning again.

Down to 9th when I rejoined.  Made up a couple of places, and eventually reeled in Tony, passing him when he had a moment.  Had to return the position again a few laps later, as tyre wear coupled with the damage caused me to run wide again.

Grats to the podium and commiserations to anyone else suffering from misfortune.

Cheers,
Erling

We're fortunate then that TeamSpeak doesn't extend to the use of webcams, by the sound of last night's predicament, Clive!

These screaming Imps are fun to drive and surprisingly quick with the right setup. Unfortunately, my gearing wasn't ideal last night so quickly found myself being lapped, many times, although I believe I did unlap myself more than once due to others mistiming their braking zones.

As others have stated, this track is great fun to drive, probably in any class/car.

Grats to Matt, Ziu and Jeep for their podium finishes.

Just so much happened in this race that a full report would be too long to write. I have had to watch the replay two times now, really good race on one of my fave circuits. Happy to of finished 3rd in class and thought the Sunbeam was a great little car to drive but took some time to get the setup sorted. Big sorry to Erling for the tap at South Tower. We were both following John and were driving very close to each other. I was caught out by Erling's braking and could not avoid a tap which span him. I took a self imposed drive thru as penance. Considering his car was damaged his pace and control throughout the remainder of the race was epic. Only just managed to hold him off on the final lap and took the finish slightly ahead of him.
Great to have so many cars on the grid for both races especially as the heat was, for some, almost unbearable.

No worries Tony; just a racing incident. Do wish I could have stayed ahead till the finish though  ;)

Cheers,
Erling

Really like Crystal Palace it suits these cars very well.

Qualified down in 7th which was disappointing, Well off my PB which would have moved me up to 4th but it was not to be. Made a set up change just before the race. The plan was to give me a bit more oversteer both into and out of corners but as is usual for me made a rookie error and made it according to GPL rules so adjusted the drive and coast side diff in completely the wrong direction so ended up with a very stable set up which didn't really want to turn into a corner and ran wide under power on the exit. This got worse if I tried to push it once the tyres had warmed up so I was really slow in the slower corners. I think this was almost certainly the reason Erling was caught out by my slow approach into the final corner and later in the race meant I couldn't grab 2nd off Ziu as I lost so much time out of the corners I couldn't make use the Escorts speed down the straights to make a clean pass.

But 3rd was a lot better than I expected and consider myself very fortunate that a few fell by the wayside during the race as I was definitely not in the top 3 as far as lap times were concerned.

Congrats to Matt and Ziu for the top 2 places and commiserations to those who had problems.

Apologies to Huggy for the shunt at T2. I was busy trying not to lose contact with Ziu and completely missed my  braking point, If I had gone straight on I would have passed behind you but like an idiot I tried to make a block pass work but all I did was push you into the barrier, Sorry again. :(

Thanks for the race, great fun as usual.

TTFN
John.