SimRacing.org.uk

Season 18 Novices Trophy - Round 4 - Spa

The last round at Oulton Park had to be re-scheduled because of server problems so this event has now become round 4.

Spa is one of the finest racing venues in the world and has been since its inception in 1920. Look out for people throwing ballast from the car as top speed can be king here and people need to use care when taking advantage of the slipstream following the notorious incident last season. Remember, there may be more cars following you than you think.

Car needs to be taken at Eau Rouge on Lap 1 as the field will bunch up. This is not the place for making Lap 1 Turn 1 do or die manouevres. You cannot win the race in turn 1 but you can certainly lose it, and more importantly you can lose the race for those around you, beside you and on occasion under you.

Reserve drivers should not join the race server until there are only 30 mins of qualifying left.
No drivers should go out on track until there is 30 minutes of qualifying left as this helps all drivers join the server successfully.

Restrict chat to pit messages, and at the end of the race avoid chat until ALL drivers still racing have crossed the line.

Please be in the IGOR UKGPL chatroom by 8:55 p.m.
(You will need to set up a channel called #ukgpl if you haven't already done so)
IGOR and Race passwords: see above (#post_event_password)

Server = 6.UKGPL
IP Address = 80.5.200.198
Race Date = 3-11-2009
Time = 21:00
Track = Spa
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = Intermediate
Qually Time = 30 minutes.
Race Length = Long
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=223;theme=6)

Chassis allocations are below, and the same chassis will be used for all races this season unless there is an adjustment agreed by the moderator.  Please note chassis adjustments can be made at any time not just at the mid season review.  Good luck!

FULL TIME DRIVERS
Burtoner - Brabham BT7
G Poole - Brabham BT11
Vosblod - Lotus
Happy Al - Lotus
Maestro - Brabham BT11
Nicky - Cooper
Bookie - Ferrari
Norbert - Ferrari
NHance - BRM
Al Heller - BRM
Il Lupo - Ferrari
RogUK - BRM
Mark65 - Brabham BT11
Barry De La Rosa - Ferrari
Billy Nobrakes - Brabham BT11
Bernie - Honda
Tussman - Brabham BT11
Roberto Motta - Lotus

RESERVE DRIVERS
Viss - Ferrari
Karlisss - Honda

Please use the updated 65 mod for this race.
If you have re-installed UKGPL over the summer break or are joining us for the first time, please don't forget to use the updated 65 mod which is available here: Jamesonline.net/UKGPL (http://www.jamesonline.net/ukgpl/1965mod_PATCH_v2.0.2_Setup.zip)

looks to be another no go for team Pie Eater  :-\

Password problems still Bernie? Looked through various ini files and can't fathom what the problem is, putting in a boss password or not shouldn't make any difference. Is it worth reinstalling IGOR?

not the way i do things , it could take me forever to re install , hoping the thing has by some miracle, self cured itself for tonight's race.

I was able to join the teamies race on UKGPL6 after re booting my PC but was the same timed out message with UKGPL 4 .

Did another re boot but by that time I was locked out presumably because the race was about to start . even so i got the same timed out message rather than the expected connections not being accepted thing that usually pops up when trying to join after race start .

So fingers crossed for tonight  ::)

frustrating because I am unable to test the problem prior to the race   ???

Sometimes I have to try serveral times before I can connect to a server (I'm talking of up to 7 or 8 timeouts).  I just wait until the timout message dissapears and when the prompt to reconnect appears, press the button again.

Aborting as soon as the timeout message appears and trying to rejoin doesn't help and simply takes longer.

How many times do you try to reconnect before you give up Bernie?

Lets just say the re connect button has a headache

have been on UKGPL 5 3 times this evening , if there someone could put a password in i could check it out before the race  ,


like now  :-\


Feck! too late, there all in there practising,  race in progress  :-\

you go for a quick pie and a cuppa and this is what you get  :'( :'( :'(

We've got a healthy compliment of new drivers in the 65s but relatively few are daring to try the 67s in the Graduates Series.  Is the PRO rules?  If so there may be a gentler way to learn to drive the 67 brutes, look here (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7036.0).

Firstly congrats to Al H, Bernie and me? for podium

Pretty chuffed to qually 2nd behind Al H, think it was my best yet and only Al's jedi mind tricks stopped me getting pole  ;)
Anyway reasonable start but on the straight before Masta Rog had me good n proper. After that it all went belly up as he had a follower - I took a Sh/R for that but, racing incident aside, I felt a no fault was in order - down to the mods on that one.
I almost thought give up but went Robert the Bruce combined with Galaxy Quest (never give up, never surrender) and pushed on from 7th or something... 
I eventually carved my way back up to 3rd and saw a spec on the horizon I now know was Bernie. Well I went into Big Bad Wolf mode to get him but as much as I huffed and puffed to blow his house down that 400 yard gap was made of brick. There finished my race.

Very pleased with 3rd, and what with yesterdays 4th in Gold, it gets me out of my 6th place rut. That champagne bottle for 1st looks elusive but enticing...

I know Bernie isn't that keen on long races but I reckon he'd have welcomed at least one extra lap here as he was closing on me very fast towards the end of the race.

Second place was clearly cursed on lap 1 as anyone who followed me seemed to suffer misfortune.. first Tussman disconnected, then Tim & Bernie collided, then Rog had a spin. That left me with a little breathing space which was to prove invaluable later. The long straights of Spa allow a bit of Prib-watching & once Bernie moved into 2nd place, I could see my lead coming down lap after lap. Knew I'd be in trouble if Bernie got anywhere near my slipstream so just drove as hard as I could - but Bernie had that Honda moving & my lead dropped from 6 to 1.5 seconds at the flag. One more lap Bernie... ;)

Congratulations to the podium - great drive by Bernie & also by Tim for a terrific recovery to 3rd (and a great qualifying time). I have to say that taking part in the 67 series seems to be really helping to improve my 65 times & driving so would recommend it.

Well I had my chance & couldn't take it. I was cautious on lap 1 & it paid off as others crashed & left me 3rd at the end of the lap. Couln't pick up a tow. Stayed wide when I saw Bernie coming hoping to pick up his tow but didn't. Worse still I thought Vos was passing me & slowed at the Masta kink with the same idea, got all wobbly & off line as a result & spun letting RUK through as well.
Lonely race after that but Maestro was catching me & I was worried but he had a moment on the last lap & dropped back so I was ok on the last few bends.
I always seem to be geared differently to other drivers so that is something I have to address. I'm just not fast enough. This season pole was about 2 seconds faster than last so its not getting easier.
Hope that I'm not in the Mods report for a change as I don't think I did anything wrong.
Norm H

Yes Norm, Novices is getting harder with this seasons pole time about 2 secs off last year.
A finish without being lapped is a reasonably good result for me - bit easier to achieve at Spa than some other places.
Got caught up in the tangle at Masta on Lap 1 - two cars were sideways, now way I could  stop & thought I'd just be able to slalom through - didn't quite work out but reckon I get a free Shift R.
Lap 3 I misjudged Le Carrier & hit the house (local resident must be so fed up with GPL gate crashers). Attempted a SnG at the end of the lap but totally messed up the braking. Apologies if I hindered the car on the straight. 

 :D :D :D

it was a pleasure to drive the 65's after days of trying to tame the 67 fezz at Spa for my none event grads cup race

I resolved to take it easy with the honda make no silly errors , concerve revs and go for a best place finish.

With no idea how good the Honda was going to be at Spa I was pleased to make a 4th place qually spot but as usual some way off my pb,  fluffed the start and lost a place or two but had a good run down to masta and got in the tow of rog who was trying to get by Vos. 

Then going into the kink we got right up close,  Rog got past Vos  I followed him with Vos inside and me on the outside going into the kink, but 3 into 1 wasn't going to go as it turned out and Vos and myself made contact , will let the mods decide who gets the dressing down and any yellow cards but from my point of view I really think I was clear in front of you before the corner , but sorry if It was me who spoiled the party for those following. 
Not quite sure what happened and need to check my replay, but  hell had let loose in my mirrors with bits of car flying everywhere, (Its been a good week for crashing, first my PC then my Wessy and now this)   :-\

After the dust settled I was suprised to find I still had all four wheels,  so set off in pursuit and got settled in to the race proper .
I was quite suprised with the pace of the honda as i really was taking things easy braking early and not over revving as I didnt want another time consuming off .

3 laps or so from the end I was getting a site of Al's BRM up front but thought he must be taking it easy and if I risked all trying to catch him and did get past , thought the power of the BRM would let him re pass me at will anyway and so I resigned to finish P2 which would be  brilliant and didnt want blow it .

On the penultiment lap I could sniff BRM exhaust fumes and decided to give it the beans in the hope he was in trouble , but as Al says I was a lap short on luck (still sure you was sandbagging mate cos I know you had a couple more secs in the BRM from your qually pace )

Poor Nicky got blown away when I got past him I was sure he would be haning on for the draft then realised what a handicap driving the Coop at Spa means , hats off mate for a really good effort .

Really suprised to get that PB , now i'm left wondering  what might have been with a tow from Al,  though I suspect my 6th gear was too low for it to be effective and prolly would have goosed the ungin .

Not sure about the next venue ,dont think the track is a good one for a league race and I for one cant get to grips with it at all

cyas on the tarmac  soon

Yes my race pace wasn't great compared to qually - having thrown it off track in the 67 Spa event I was admittedly being a little more cautious but I think it was more because of my last minute setup change. I was pushing the rev limits in qually & was worried about blowing the engine in the race so I made the mistake of going rather too long on 5th & 6th gears (thought I might need it for a tow too ::) ) Oh well, you know the old chestnut "win at the slowest possible speed" :D

 :D :D :D
First off all big congrats to podium :  Al , Bernie  and Vos  and as well to Rog and all  !!!


Well my race wasn’t a big story :
- did qualified poor
- start was perfect ,

- lap 1 turns out good to me .found myself on P2 crossing the s/f line into L2
  but Al was far away , no tow at all , so just a matter of time being caught up

-Bernie was first to pass me by , even too fast for me to stay in his slipstream

- Vos was next to pass me by , could manage to stay in his tow for time , serves me
   my PB 1-39-xx and a top speed of 280kmh ( guess my gearing was a bit too long ,lol )

- half a lap to go  , I decided to slow down to be on save side  , as Rog was comfortable behind me . Strangely my Cooper disliked that  and reward me with a complete 360°spin .

- well P5 in the end . not bad , especially as I started from P9 ?. So cant complain off not having enough luck on my side. But nevertheless this race wasn’t much fun to me …
well at least GPLSO Ferrari sound I put on my Cooper serves big fun .


see ya all at  CF ( nice spot , but less good for thrilling races .. ,imo )  ;D

Which version of charades is we using  :1eye:

2 words, first word, sounds like shermont
second word sounds like gerrand

LOL  ;D

Is it a film or a book  ;D

UKGPL: The Musical.

I think we can agree to have a friendly difference in points of view - and GPL has some very restricted points of view  ;)
From my perspective I knew you were behind Rog but you hadn't cleared before turn in albeit there was overlap (which I couldn't see). I think it's one of those things but didn't take a SnG as I felt I wasn't 100% at fault.
Anyway leave it in the laps of the Mods, no doubt Phil will be casting his beady eye over it.

It's all academic as there is no way I would have held you back through the race, see you were doing blistering 37's, and I ended up in my rightful place ie behind you.

Plus my insurance company has told me not to admit to liability  ;D

just the one  ;)  methinks your mid race laps were quicker than mine . BRM rules at Spa

Race laps
Lap 0: 45.878s
Lap 1: 3m58.824s [Off the track]
Lap 2: 3m40.715s [Off the track]
Lap 3: 3m40.796s [Off the track]
Lap 4: 3m40.538s [Off the track]
Lap 5: 3m40.617s
Lap 6: 3m40.065s [Off the track]
Lap 7: 3m39.342s
Lap 8: 3m39.972s
Lap 9: 3m37.757s

Dunno where the sub 38 came from , maybe the pre race whiskey chaser helped , who ever said "dont drink and drive" obviously never drove a Honda around the Spa Francorchamps track  ::)

As there are a number of threads on this web site - if anyone is up for a bit more racing in the 65 Mod see my post on the UKGPL section - Possible Sunday Series (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7060.0)
Also - wondered how to get from Newbie to Junior Member = 50 posts - you can type any old rubbish.

After taking a shift R following the incident with Mark, Alastair is caught out on cold tyres and crashes at La Source (no other car involved). He needs another shift R. He makes a stop and go and the end of the lap but fails to do another within the next two laps for the second shift R.

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Surely the first time I needed to do a shift R wasn't my fault? I did the stop and go for second shift & R where I was being a bit silly, should I have taken a stop and go for both?

Not trying to second guess Phil but I think it's like mine ie considered a racing incident BUT that doesn't mean it's no fault as no one else was blamed / penalised.

A no fault shift R is only allowed where the incident was quite clearly 100% the other driver's fault.  For racing incidents that isn't the case.  Racing incidents are usually as result of a contested pass where both drivers are fighting for position and hence putting themselves at risk.

I've probably been a bit harsh giving you a 30 second penalty because I counted the S&G as the one for the result of the Blanchimont collision.  Doesn't make any difference to the results though as the field was quite spread out at the end.

Cheers Phil for the good report and large dose of sensible moderating  :)

Seconded, thank you for taking the time to explain to me also.