UKGPL Season 16 and 17: Drivers Evaluation

[Asbjeurn Tverberg]

About the 40th anniversary season: Back in 2007 we ran a 40th anniversary world championship for the '67-season. The race schedule was equal to that of the original season, with the exception that we ran the races on the sunday that was closest to the original date. We drove full GP's with pro rules, and although it was tough to keep concentrated for a full one and a half hours, it was great fun. I can't remember completing any race, although I was close at Zandvoort, but got knocked out by another driver just a few laps from the end of the race. Hristo was one of the top drivers in that championship, I remember.

Drivers from all over the world competed. This was possible because we ran the races twice each race day, one race at 10.00 GMT, I believe, and one at 19.00 GMT. That way drivers could choose which race that suited best, and join that race. Would this be possible to arrange again? Maybe it's too late for this suggestion, in '67 the first race was on Kyalami in january, how was it in '69?  Back then I was helping out with the arrangement, but I wasn't a father then, so I had the time for it. Now there's no chance I can even take part in the races, being a new mod and all, so if something like it should be arranged now, someone else would need to pick up the glove (or whatever you say in Britain).

About pro mode in 65's: I'd love to try longer races in the 65's, but I'm afraid the time schedule makes it less suitable for me. The races start at 9.45 PM in my time zone, and ends close to 11.00. With chat after the races, I'm not ready to go to bed before 11.30. With another 45 minutes of racing, I wouldn't reach the checkered flag before 11.45, wich is much later than I like on a tuesday evening. I don't say that I would take part if pro mode was introduced, but the wednesdays would be hard to get through then. 

[Napo]

I just want to echo Hristo about how well ukgpl admins have done.

I love the interleague races, lots of fun. I wish I could have made more but been busy of late. I'll only race 67's. so if I can race in clubmans lol! ok maybe not

But whatever is best for the league. I havn't been here much lately so don't put too much weight on my post.

See you in season 17

[FullMetalGasket]

One thought - How about Monza 10k for 66's next season? 
Or has it already been done?

[EvilClive]

My initial thought is to change the handicap system for D1 pit stops.

Gents with Handicaps of 50-90 should have longer stop times for all chassis. 
 

The only problem with that idea Will, is assuming that we all have an "up to date" and genuine GPL Ranking!  I think mine is way out of date, and to be quite honest it does not interest me that much as i prefer racing, not hotlapping to drop my rank.
My current rank is somewhere in the -20's, I think, but as I usually forget or don't bother to save my races, I also do not save any improvements on my PB's.
There maybe a way of collating last season's performances in GPL and somehow devising an individual pit stop value for each driver....but who is going to volunteer to do the maths on that one???!!!

[Hristo Itchov]

My initial thought is to change the handicap system for D1 pit stops.

Gents with Handicaps of 50-90 should have longer stop times for all chassis. 
 

The only problem with that idea Will, is assuming that we all have an "up to date" and genuine GPL Ranking!  I think mine is way out of date, and to be quite honest it does not interest me that much as i prefer racing, not hotlapping to drop my rank.
My current rank is somewhere in the -20's, I think, but as I usually forget or don't bother to save my races, I also do not save any improvements on my PB's.
There maybe a way of collating last season's performances in GPL and somehow devising an individual pit stop value for each driver....but who is going to volunteer to do the maths on that one???!!!

I disagree with both of you because the idea of D1 was to leave driving skills (which includes pitstop tactics and proper choice of chassis) to sort out the races without any handicaps. We had Masters for that and we still have Clubmans, but in my opinion it would be good, as I said in my post, to have at least one division without handicapping.

[EvilClive]

Actually I think I agree with Hristo, in that it would be good to retain a "pure" racing, 67 class without artificial handicaps.

That is of course dependent upon the level of support that there is for it. 

[Geoff65]

I have been pondering alternatives for S17 and consequently this post is somewhat delayed. But here goes.
I and my team mates intend to continue in 65's next season, but I feel as previously stated elsewhere, that 3 divisions are a must to grow the class and  membership to the brotherhood in general. I accept the difficulties of supplying servers and moderating staff for this many races is difficult. To this end might I suggest approaching someone like Pete Stenning at GBGPL about, and I believe Dave alluded to this concept in another post in this thread, a combined UKGPL-GBGPL 3 division Novice, Intermediate and Pro/Expert series.
I think Pete is already running a Novice 65 comp, maybe combining the two leagues Novices together with their own server and Moderator. Either a novice competitor like new Moderator Tim Calydon (Vosblod) or a non-Novice moderator to oversee proceedings.That would leave the Intermediate and Pro/Expert to be run on UKGPL servers as is normal now with the current 2 divisions. And as the Pro level is moving to report only moderation, if the Intermediate level also ran report only, moderation would become less of a drama and less time consuming.
I would like to see ShiftR retained for Intermediate, however, only on the proviso that you can make it back to your pitbox.....then Shift-R from there. If you end up on your head or blow an engine miles from home. That's the end of your race. This should make drivers think more about the important stuff.....clean gearshifts, not over-revving engines and most importantly, displaying track courtesy to other competitors in the interest of safe racing. The coming 65V2 update will eliminate the collision box problems we have had.....and will promote close, exciting racing

I think that the Pro ranks would likely swell, with experienced drivers able to choose their own chassis, or indeed choose cars along team lines, and race without having to dodge numptys (sorry Clive.....no offence) at every corner.

I also get the impression that the Intermediate division would at this stage be rather heavily populated, and in the case of more than 19 drivers for the division, drivers may have to be re-allocated to higher or lower divisions depending on their abilities and pace. Any thoughts on this from other members?

I personally am not planning to run any 67 events this coming season....as I don't wish to master the 'alien' method for driving these cars, and as these cars don't really respond to a more conventional form of driving them....and carry any speed, I think it's a waste of time.

I will be running in 69's this season if there is a series eventuating.....the speed thru corners and overall violence of these cars is VERY F1 and the best workout I get all week.

And the more I drive the 66 cars, the more i appreciate them.....so lets look at the possibilites there this season again.

Any further thoughts, ideas....I will post later.
Geoff.

[vosblod]

I feel as previously stated elsewhere, that 3 divisions are a must to grow the class and  membership to the brotherhood in general. I accept the difficulties of supplying servers and moderating staff for this many races is difficult. To this end might I suggest approaching someone like Pete Stenning at GBGPL about, and I believe Dave alluded to this concept in another post in this thread, a combined UKGPL-GBGPL 3 division Novice, Intermediate and Pro/Expert series.

I agree with the suggestion but I think it's a numbers game and, with current numbers, we only have enough for two grids. Guess we could reduce the numbers on a grid but if it gets below 5/6, allowing for occasional drop-outs, it could look pretty empty on track.
Would be interesting to hear feedback re combining with GBGPL, I believe they race the 65's on Thursdays.

I also get the impression that the Intermediate division would at this stage be rather heavily populated, and in the case of more than 19 drivers for the division, drivers may have to be re-allocated to higher or lower divisions depending on their abilities and pace. Any thoughts on this from other members?

I'd probably start in the novices but agree re this, would be odd if you had one heavily weighted division with the other two being fairly empty. Also, if someone does well, do they get shunted up thereby missing a chance to win in the division they started and losing out by joining a higher division later. Perhaps some kind of combined points system could cure that, eg slightly reduced points in lower divisions but transferable upwards...

[Hristo Itchov]

I personally am not planning to run any 67 events this coming season....as I don't wish to master the 'alien' method for driving these cars, and as these cars don't really respond to a more conventional form of driving them....and carry any speed, I think it's a waste of time.

I have to strongly disagree on this one. The original 67 cars are by far the best way to develop proper driving techniques for sim and real life racing, as well as increasing your own stamina and concentration levels. I don't know what you mean by "conventional", using the steering wheel to control the cars more than the pedals perhaps, but that's more like daily road driving is, not racing.

What you learn from 67s in terms of controlling the car with throttle and braking is the most valuable thing and can be applied to any other race vehicle. I don't understand what you mean by "alien method" either, sounds just lack of understanding to me, there's no such method, it's all about getting the car to its limit after all. I think what favours the other mods is that they're just easy to drive around without spinning off and they're more forgiving, but the so called "alien method" is easily applicable to them as well. BTW, the setups deemed to be "alien", i.e. with 30/85 diffs, are closer to reality than what most people end up using. The only unrelistic thing is running the car so low, but that's because GPL doesn't model high frequency bumps and also being able to use such low braking bias with alot of throttle under braking as there's lack of brake fade.

BTW, if 67s are to be replaced with 69, you'll soon find that they hardly develop "non-alien" style to your driving, I'd say you develop a very awkward style instead. Not to mention they're generally more demanding in a long run because of the higher speeds.

[Clutch4]

Being new to online racing, I have only raced the back end of Season 16 in the 65 Novices, though have owned GPL for about 18months (a late starter).

I can only really comment on the 65's.
Though i will be racing the Novice 65's in Season 17 (my first full season), i think it would be good to have pro damage for the amateurs. I think this will make the races harder and give a certain prestige to the amateurs, in a kind of "you've learnt with the novices son, now try it in the Amateurs where mistakes are punished'. My only concern would be that a big smash would have the effect of wiping out a large chunk of the field, and the beauty of the 65's is the close racing (maybe even more so with the new 65 patch)

Another comment i would make in general is that is there anyway we could encourage people to complete races? i know there is motivation in the way the scoring is structured, but i always think its a shame for everyone, be it leaders or backmarkers, when people drop out because they think they are too far behind. eg, someone battles from 17th  to 14th, feels a sense of achievement, 15th,16th and 17th drop out because they think its not worth it, and they guy in 14th is plodding round last. Also, it makes it less interesting for the leaders who have no one to lap, thus lessening the chances of incident at the front of the field. (I'm excluding genuine internet connection problems, incorrect fuel load..etc).
I'm not saying this as a front runner be any means, my last place at Zeltweg proves that. I just think its a bit of a shame.

Happy for the moderators to only view reported incidents. How they find the time to do even that is great, so am happy with that.

As for circuits, i'd love to see solitude get more of an airing for the 65's - fantastic track. (Love Brno 49, and would love to see a packed grid there for a fun race - though no idea if it works online)

Other than that, i've been impressed and grateful to all those at UKGPL.

Cheers
Clutch