Somewhat disappointed to only score a P6 here at Mexico.  To be sure, there was a lot of talent on the grid in very fast cars...Lotus, Eagle and Ferrari...but by mid-race, I was already static in P6 and looked to see my pit board flashing me P5, P4, P3 and so on as the laps reeled off but you guys are just too good!  No race-ending shunts or engine blow ups.  A testament to the quality of the field.

Starting P8, I saw Syd blow his Lotus to bits on the grid.  Goodness me!  I didn't get the best launch and maybe that was all for the best as down in T1, there was grief with Alain off the road and the field bunched up to Phil's immediate DNF from a butt-ram.  Two Lotus runners out and not a mile in the books. 

The opening lap dramas weren't over as Bob spun his Brabham directly in front of me just downstream of the hairpin and I had to take evasive action to the left.  Bob executed a neat 360° spin to carry on ahead and my loss of pace let Alain through for the place.  I had Colin hot on my tail for the balance of this opening lap.

Soon, I was able pull away somewhat from Colin and mark time on Bob.  Lap10 was Bob's undoing as he spun in T1 and pruned off a wheel.  Up to P6 now with Jonny not all that far ahead in his Ferrari.  Didn't figure on much chance of challenging JJ so just looked to put down consistent laps and wait for developments.  They never came so P6 it was.

Ripper of a finish between Pete & Ricardo!  That will make the season-end highlight reel for sure.

Fine job by Greg for the victory!  Great recovery by Alain to claim P2.  Eddie making it a Lotus sweep of the podium in P3.  Well done, chaps!

Now sitting a heady P2 in the standings.  My poor old heart can barely stand it! 

Way, way too much drama for my liking in this round.  My poor old heart can hardly stand it, chaps.

Set a new personal best in the Ferrari in qualifying to start P6.  Not too shabby.  I had Leo starting in P5 and knowing how lethargic the little Gordini is on launch, I figured to pass without much trouble.  Job done so up to P5 straight away with Phil close on my tail.  Lap02 and high drama in the Clover Leaf as Evil Clive collects Clive Loynes and they're both off comprehensively.  Poor Evil loses a wheel to DNF.  BOOOO!  This was just out of sight for me but I did catch something out of the corner of my eye as I rounded the corner to start the run down the main straight.  Only moments later, Jonny surges by Ricky for the lead and almost immediately bins it by spinning in the chicane at the end of the straight.  Had to stifle a little giggle as I slipped by for P2.  Serves you right, JJ, for taking the Merc.  Keep it up, boys, and I'll be leading by the end of the lap!  LOL!

Lap03 and Jonny has recovered from his off to displace Phil and is now hot on my tail.  Lap04 and he roars by on the main straight to put me back to P3.  Ricky has pulled out a nice lead at this time.  Lap06 and Phil suffers an engine failure coming off the Clover Leaf.  Bad luck there, PT.  In the same lap coming off the Lake Hairpin, I caught sight of a Gordini in my mirrors and figured this to be Leo recovering from the start.  I expected to now be in for a hard time.  To this point, I had been making many small but recoverable errors.  Now I really bungled it at Windmill Bend by sliding off and kissing the haybales on the exit.  This bled off all manner of speed and a green car surged by on my left.  I had figured this to be Phil not realizing that he'd already parked it for the day.  Next lap and my board showed me that it was Clive Loynes roaring back from his Lap02 dramas.  But where was Leo?  He was right on my tail as I entered Windmill but was now MIA.  Turns out that he spun in Windmill almost at the same instant that I biffed the bales and he lost a ton of time getting it straight.  No longer a factor on the leaderboard.  My pit board was showing Fulvio next man down to me some 14 seconds behind so it was looking comfy for me to cruise home to P4 and if Jonny obliges me with another spin, well, then...

So...  Eight laps down out of 21 and a solid P4 in the bag, it was time to go on to cruise control.  My overall philosophy in the GP55's is very conservative.  Avoid shunts at all costs.  Spare the equipment.  Moses had displace Fulvio but was still light-years behind.  Sometimes it can be a dangerous thing to believe that you're in  solid for an easy ride.  For the next five laps, I next to fell asleep allowing my lap times to balloon into the 2m13s bracket.  When the gap back to Moses got into the single digits, I decided to wake up and get a move on.  Lap14 and Leo passes Moses to take over P5 not all that far behind me.  My pit board didn't show me this til I came up to start Lap16. LEO???  Where the H did he come from?  Knowing that he was significantly faster in qualifying, I figured that I was now going to be subject to a real fight to maintain my P4.  So much for Leo no longer a factor on the leaderboard...

Lap18 and I'm working really hard now to keep Leo at bay.  Unseen by me way, way up the road is a major development.  With a solid lead, Jonny has disastrous run into the Clover Leaf.  He's clipped a haybale and spun.  More than that, he has enormous difficulty getting the Merc straightened round to resume and drops to P3 behind Ricky and Clive.  Goodness me!

It's the last lap now and I cross the SFline to start it just a whisker ahead of Leo.  Heading down to the Clover Leaf, I feel that I have a good enough lead to take a normal pass into and through.  Suddenly, on my left, Leo goes roaring by under braking and I figure he's done like a Swanson.  No way he's going to make the corner and avoid smashing into the bales on the infield.  WTF???  From out of somewhere I know not where, he found some grip and held on to take the place.  I followed through the Clover Leaf close behind and got a slipstream pass on the main straight.  PHEW!  Can I hold him for the last half a lap?  I just knew that he'd try a bid at the Lake Hairpin so I tucked my Ferrari in a little tigther on approach to discourage that attempt but dammit, he went for it anyway!  Heavy contact has us both spinning off and it looks like I'm going to recover first to proceed.  All the while, Moses was only a couple of seconds back.  Then, another collision this time with Moses who has ricocheted off Leo and gone straight into me sending my Ferrari into a full 360° spin.  I have to consider myself the lucky boy in this as both Leo and Moses had much more grief in getting up to speed again.  Albert had a great view of all this in his Gordini coming on the scene only moments later to find three cars trying very hard to DNF.  Got the Ferrari straight first and made it to the line in P4 a most lucky and exhausted boy.

Ricky was trumps all day and a fully deserved victor.  Clive Loynes recovered splendidly from the early collision to claim P2 and Jonny makes it home in P3 which all considered, must be a grim disappointment.

Jonny leads the title standings with Fulvio in P2 and Clive Loynes in P3.  I'm sitting P4 not all that far behind JJ with something up my sleeve for Reims. 

I'm most likely a DNE for this round, chaps.  My chip is overheating thanks to a fan going US.  The box goes in for service Tuesday morning and it's doubtful that it will be put back right in time.  Have fun! 

More brake, less throttle...

A fine victory for Jonny!  And after the heartbreak of Kyalami, richly deserved.  A great run by Ricky to score P2 and make it a Maser 1-2.  Clive Loynes a fine podium in the French puddle-jumper.  Well done, all.

Quite satisfied with a P5 placing here.  I anticipated much in the way of grief here for many an entrant and I relied on this to get a decent finish.  My qualifying effort was some three seconds off my best but good enough for a P10 start.  Away from the grid, I had to mark time with Clive's Gordini slow away.  Phil pounced on me at the first hairpin to set me back a place but I wasn't worried.  Over the full seven laps, I just made sure to hit my marks with plenty in hand and get home without incident.  Ill fates struck down so many up ahead to promote me up the order.  Even on Lap01, I could see that fallers were happening already as I came across an errant wheel in the middle of the road.  Turned out that this was from Evil Clive's Maser.  Dear me...

P3 in the standings.  Can't be bad.

MERDE!  Those wretched curbs!  Tripped over them not once but twice and cost me a legitimate shot at the win.  Sigh...

Not to taking away anything from Ricky.  He had a superb drive to the win and in the Ferrari no less.  Well done.  Evil Clive a fine run to P2.  Fulvio steals P3 on the last lap when Tom runs short of fuel.  Bad luck there, TJ.

I was about 3/10 shy of my pre-race lap time in qualifying but was satisfied to start P3.  The roller went off well from what I could see and I slotted in behind Axel's McLaren.  Lap02 and he went very, very wide entering the last corner and I got a run on him to take P2 down the pit straight.  Over the next several laps, I was closing slightly on Ricky til Lap07 when I took the curb at Virage de la Combe rather badly and the McLaren spun.  I made a full 360° rotation to carry on P2 just ahead of Axel having lost about three seconds to the lead.  More annoyed than anything, I put the hammer down and proceeded to close again on Ricky but on Lap09, it all came apart at the seams.  Rounding Gauche de la bretelle, I again caught the curb badly and this time, the McLaren spun to the outfield and onto the gravel.  Knew full well at this point that Axel was well positioned to make the pass and sure enough, he was by cleanly on my right.  Now comes an incident which I've examined closely and still can't figure out how it came to be.  With the Parabolique close at hand and Axel clearly ahead, I looked to take up position on his left rear.  In an instant, we were both off the road and into the fence.  DOH!  Clearly, I had clipped his left-rear fender and spun him but I can't for the life of me figure out how I could have been so monumentally careless.  I recovered first and carried on having lost about 10 seconds and three positions.  I didn't know exactly what had happened to Axel but next lap, my pitboard showed me that he was a couple of seconds behind me so I eased up on the pit straight to let him have the place he rightly earned.  Only the sporting thing to do.  Then, for many a lap, I chased hard after Axel looking to honestly regain the place but Axel held firm.  Lap20 was almost comical as Axel got all crossed up at the tricky Gauche d la bretelle and lost all speed.  I was so close behind that I had little option but to slow dramatically to miss him.  Here's these two, big, fire-breathing McLarens almost coming to a stop in the middle of the road.  LOL!  I may have actually touched Axel's tail slightly but no harm, no foul.  Coming up to finish Lap25, I was closer than ever to Axel exiting the last corner and made a bid for the pass on the brakes on the inside going into T1 to start Lap26.  Thought I had the job done but no, Axel held firm and ran a high line to keep the place.  Almost shades of Gilles vs Rene.  Later in the same lap, though, Axel had a rough pass over the curbing in Virage de la Combe and skated wide.  Gave me my chance to slip inside on the right and take the place.  Over the next laps, I managed to pull away but made little impression on the group ahead.  I was becoming quite fatigued in the late going as my steering ratio was set to 16:1 and causing me to saw away at the wheel rather more than I'd like.  I usually use this ratio as I find the CanAm 71's very twitchy and the slower ratio helps take the edge off that but here at Dijon with the McLaren exhibiting mild understeer, it was becoming a chore.  Indeed, on the very last lap, I spun to lose some time but had some seconds in hand over Axel to remain P5.

Still in the running for the title despite a disappointing result.  Of course, it helped that Greg was a no-show.  

WOW!  That race turned into a genuine, proper, no holds barred GPL Smack Down! 

The full 35 laps at qualifying pace with never a moment's rest.  Only made a couple of very tiny errors so quite pleased with my drive to P6.  That just as easily could have been for P8 or P9 or even worse.  A high-quality field meant for a great race.  Constant threats and challenges.  The fans loved it!

I have a personal best in the Brabham here of 1m20.61s set back in March of 2017.  In using the recipe I used to achieve that marker in pre-race trials for this race, I got the distinct impression that I was punishing the engine with too many R's in a few places.  Accordingly, with an eye to keeping the spinny bits in the engine where they belong, I adjusted my gear ratios and used only four gears.  I went for a gear pack that kept the revolutions in a more comfortable range.  I came within half a second of my all-tim PB in qualifying with this arrangement and felt it a small price to pay for the sake of reliability.

Starting P9, I got a good launch with a first gear that was super low...and not used again...to run down to Crowthorne with Ricky's Honda on my left.  It was touch-n-go as to whether or not I had position on him but he got on the brakes a fraction of a second ahead of me so it was clear that I had a shot at gaining the place.  Rolled into the corner close to the curbing but apparently, Ricky thought it was clear to carve down for the apex.  Sorry but I was already there, Ricky.  I got away with a scare only but Ricky was off the road and lost some positions.  This left me in P8 close behind Ricardo's Eagle and only just ahead of Syd's Lotus.  Considering the straight line superiority of these two marques over my BT24, it was going to be a tall order to pass the one and hold off the other.  Lap02 and Ricardo is off the road to the infield at Clubhouse and I'm close enough to wangle a pass before we reached the Esses.  Not that I thought it was a done deal by any means as the Eagle is stout on the main straight and it didn't surprise me in the least that Ricardo roared by on the run down to Crowthorne to regain P7 to start Lap03.  I noted that Ricardo's Eagle was a stable image when 8-10 car lengths ahead but in getting closer, his car started to jump about a bit and this was of some concern.  Getting within a couple of car lengths, it was hopping about quite dramatically.

As the laps reeled off, I chased Ricardo hard and was at the mercies of Syd in the Lotus hot on my tail.  For many a lap, I was able to resist his pass attempts going into Crowthorne.  He was close but not quite close enough. Starting Lap12, there was less than a second separating the three of us and Syd was close enough this time to make his bid for the pass going into Crowthorne.  He was through cleanly to take the place.  I chased hard for several laps holding the gap to about one second.  It hadn't escaped my notice that Ricky was now next man down from me and closing somewhat.  A good recovery from his Lap01 drama.  Coming onto the main straight in Syd's slipstream looking to finish Lap15, I saw a puff of black smoke from the Lotus and knew that his Cossie had failed.  Bad luck.  I passed and took up the chase of Ricardo again.  Soon, I could see Ricky's Honda in my mirrors and it was obvious that I was going to be under attack shortly.  What I couldn't see in my mirrors was that the Red Ball Special was being closely hounded by Phil and Bobbie_B in their Brabhams.  No, I don't use Pribluda for live timing; that's just lame and not authentic to the sim.

Lap20 and Phil is off in Crowthorne to lose a place to Bobbie_B.  As well, a major development as Ricardo skates off in the Esses and his three second lead over me is gone.  Now I have his slipstream and I have the chance to threaten him again and it helps me keep Ricky at bay.  Lap24 and grief for Ricky after a fine comeback drive as the V-12 Honda gives out.  No justice there.  I didn't pick up on Ricky's exit til the next lap when coming off Clubhouse, a quick peek in my mirrors revealed a Brabham now coming on strong.  Who the devil is that?  Where the H did he come from?  Another lap and my pitboard tells me that it's Roberto.  Sigh...  No rest for the wicked, it seems.  Lap30 and Phil's excellent run and threat evaporates with a costly spin in the Esses.  For the longest time, my pitboard was flashing me, 'P8'.  Now, it was P7.  Hmmm...  Someone has come to grief.  JONNY!!!  OH, NO!!!  Geeezzz...  A couple of laps later and I'm now P6.  Dear me...  Poor Axel has his Repco fail from a good P5 run.  The last laps ran out with Ricardo just out of reach and Roberto close behind.  A mere 1.2 seconds covering the three of us.  Good stuff!

P3 in the standings.  Can't be bad. 

Sorry, again, for the collision, Andreas.

I had the benefit of being a beta tester for Pete's creation so more than likely, I knew the circuit...and its pitfalls...better than most.

Was great fun dicing with you! 

Dear me...  This race wasn't any more the 10 seconds old when it all turned to shite.

Set a reasonable lap in Q to start P8 directly behind Will.  Off the grid, he faltered and I swung right to clear him to find myself looking at the tail of Andreas' Cooper.  On my right, Phil got a blinder of a start in his McLaren to surge up on the right of Andreas and I'm thinking that this act may have spooked Andreas a bit into backing off way, way early for T1.  The result was that I butt-pounded him a ton and we were both off the road big time.  Upshot of this was falling to dead last.  Sigh...  Sorry for the biff, AG.

Bouncing back from this, I chased Andreas and over several laps, was amazed to see my progress up the order.  To be sure, I saw many a faller in those few laps and if this kept up, I'd be on the podium!  LOL!  By mid-race, there wasn't much between AG and me so P5 was definitely up for grabs.  We had Fulvio some distance back and seemingly, not a factor.  With 10 laps to run, Fulvio had gone from a distant threat to a full-blown challenge as he was now full in my mirrors.  I was the meat in a Cooper sandwich between Andreas and Fulvio.  Starting Lap25, there was barely one second covering the three of us.  I got a swell run up the hill through Valley and went for the pass on the right of Andreas going into Anson.  I had noted for many laps that I seemed to be able to go in there significantly deeper on the brakes than AG so now was my chance.  Andreas let me by and it was up to P4.  WOOHOO!  Gassing it away from Anson, I held a decent margin...defined here as four car-lengths...to finish the lap and dive into Hood.  This corner is crucial to good lap in the Eagle/Weslake.  The V-12 engine has been properly detailed with a narrow power band and not enough torque to pull the skin off a tapioca pudding should you let the R's fall below 7000.  All previous 24 passes through here were according to script but now, to finish Lap25, it all went sour.  Turned in a fraction of a second too late, missed the apex, skated wide onto the grass, had to soft-pedal it to regain the roadway and, of course, both Andreas and Fulvio had scampered by doubtless having a good chuckle at my expense.  Grrr...  Planting the throttle to the floor, I was determined to stay close and retake those positions but within 1000 metres, the engine gave out.  Sigh...  Despite this disappointment and the Lap01 collision, it was a fun race on a truly great circuit.

Sorry to see some notable fallers along the way including Axel and Pete.  Good job by Clive for P2 and Uli for P3.  Fulvio pipped Andreas for P4 in the closing stages.

Not hard to score this one over at GPLWeekly.  An easy 5/5.

WOOHOO!  Evil Clive scores a superb win and after the calamity of Aintree, it could hardly be more welcome.  Well done, champ!

Fulvio a splendid run to P2.

My run a near-perfect effort to P3 with no major errors but somewhat lucky in that others ran into grief.

On the grid, Jonny was directly ahead and knowing that his Gordini gets a pitiful launch off the line, he pulled left and let me pass cleanly.  Clay was on the right ahead and got a poorish getaway, too, allowing me to split the pair right up the middle.  Two places gained before T1.  Can't be bad.  Up ahead, it was looking like British marques were going to have sweep of the podium places with Evil Clive, Phil, Clive Loynes and Fulvio all aboard the green cars.  Lap03 and major dramas as Clive Loynes overshoots Druids by a ton and shunts off.  Clay was hot on my tail but he came to misfortune in South Bank by dropping a wheel off on the infield and being helpless to avoid a major hit on his chances.  Two challengers down in a matter of a few seconds.  Lap04 and it would seem that Phil was sporting the same engine that Evil Clive used at Aintree.  From a solid P2, the engine went on to 2-1/2 cylinders.  Sigh...  No option other than just pull over and weep.

All this left me with a tidy P3 and not far behind Fulvio.  For the next 20 laps, I did my best to challenge but came up short.  A couple of times, I was right on FP's tail but he held strong and prevailed.  Got to the line just a second behind after a breath-taking race.

Clive Loynes recovered for P4 and Gentelman Jonny nabbed P5 and this after falling to dead last on Lap01 after a hip check into the bales at Paddock.  OUCH!  Nice recovery, JJ!  Clay managed a P6 which just as easily could have been a podium if the fates were kinder.

Edit: Nice job by the lapped cars to give way cleanly.  Well done.

Scored this one a 4/5 over at GPLWeekly.  Not a flawless drive on my part but pretty reasonable considering that 10 minutes prior to the start, I was sawing logs.  Dozed off watching YouTube videos and woke with a panic realizing that qualifying was already well and truly underway.  No time to do anything more than one sighting lap so just gassed up and hoped for the best.

Got away well and chased Alain til he slid wide and let me through.  Ditto, Walter.  Ended up behind Dave and positioned to pass on gaining the Conrod Straight but he moved left where I intended to pass and I came within an ace of shunting out.  Hung on and made the pass good in the next lap.  Came close to binning the M8D in Hell Corner to start Lap05 when the car got all out of shape under braking.  A close shave and still shaking out the cobwebs.  Later in the same lap, here's Fulvio's Lola sideways in Forrest's Elbow and I only just slipped by for the place.  Soon, he was showing large in my mirrors and after a couple of abortive pass attempts on Conrod...it is difficult to maintain control over the rises at some 200mph...I decided it best to let him through cleanly on Lap09.  Didn't take long for him to roar away into the distance.  We both closed down on Axel and on Lap12, Cookie went a bit too late on braking for Murray's and had to give best to Fulvio.  This allowed me to move into position to challenge.  Comes Lap17 and I'm within half a second of Axel when I gassed it too hard coming off Griffin's and went for a skate in the outfield grass.  Cost some serious time and my hopes largely dashed.  Hang on...  Comes Lap21 and I'm not all that far behind Axel again and he's just run too deep into Hell Corner having to use the grass verge on the outfield to save it.  I've come up hard on his left with every intention of roaring by but Axel moved left and closed off that chance.  Up on the mountain, it all went sour for Axel as he caught the verge on the infield right and it spun his M8D into a DNF.  Bad luck there, Axel.

With Fulvio well clear and nobody threatening me at this late stage, I backed off and just concentrated on hitting my marks and bringing it home to a decent P5.  Sigh...  If only I'd kept up the pace a bit, P4 would have been mine!  Fulvio's Chevy blows sky high at the end of Conrod on the last lap but he has enough momentum to creep through Murray's and coast up to the line.  I came up short of another place by all of 1/2 second.

Greg a real storming drive for the win.  Phil a great job in P2 in the Shadow.  Pete a standout run in the M8C.  Well done, chaps.

This morning, I loaded up Greg's FTD and compared it to my best with a merged replay.  In some areas, I was reasonably close on pace but up on the Mountain, he was just light-years faster.  Was he driving an M8C or a Chaparral sucker car?  

A lucky podium indeed!  Poor Axel.  That last lap was nothing short of gruesome.

Only scored this one 2/5 over at GPLWeekly as it was not a drive to be proud of.  Too many '64' laps.  Jonny was very thoughtful in giving me a wave-by early on.  Thanks, amigo.  A foolish spin on Lap07 when I was checking my mirrors looking for Jonny.  This got me miles off track not once but twice and cost me about 15 seconds.  As well, in regaining the roadway, I took away Ricky's line and we collided.  Sorry, my bad.

I settled down after this and Jonny once again let me pass for place.  On the last lap, I came across a Honda foundering in the sand after T1.  Didn't know whom this was but thought it highly unlikely for it to be Axel.  Golly G!  It was.  Twenty seconds lost and a podium to boot.  Dear me...  On that last lap, I caught Phil half way 'round and had a devil of time to pass.  This track is just too, too narrow.  PT very kindly checked up to let me by cleanly.  Thanks

Nice job by Greg to score P2 in the Red Ball Special.  Some good finishes down the order with Jonny in P5, Bobbie_B in P6, Bob in P7 and Syd in P8.

CubbieRoo...

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread looking for the iGOR running of the mod.  My reference to Toronto was to indicate that it's five hours difference...earlier...from the UK.

Looking forward to giving the mod a trial.

I tried a hookup via the IP address given but may have got the start time wrong at my end.  Unable to join.  I'm near Toronto.

I wasn't even sure I'd enter this opening round in the Libre series as quite frankly, I have a burning dislike for the venue.  Made unnecessarily difficult with the 'up the hill with a blind corner following' nonsense with multiple apexes thrown in for good()measure.  It's right up there with St. Jovite in that regard, imo.  BLAH!

Didn't even bother to qualify and considered only going to half distance to secure some points however few but after 12 laps, still felt fresh so decided to continue.  Had some fun in the early laps to keep me interested with Billie harassing my tail in his Ferrari.  Sorry to have lost touch with you there, Billie.

Noted from the replay cap the Evil Clive had a start worthy of Don Garlits but it soon all went sour as he fell back to be the next man ahead of me well down the field.  On the very last lap, he fell off the road to hand me P10 but I didn't want to steal points from him so soft-pedaled it off the last corner to let him by but he, too, backed off to let me take the place.  TY, Evil.

Glad this one is done.  On to Blandford...

PS: Pete...  Please assign me to Group #1.  Nobody else seems to have selected it so I will.