SimRacing.org.uk

Scenic upstate New York welcomes us for round seven of the Works Trophy at Watkins Glen. King Hiro claimed his first win of the season in Tunisia whilst an undercooked Beefpie failed to make an impression. Can Mr Shaw regain his mo-Joe or will Al make it Hell for him for the rest of the season?

Race list	iGOR
Server	UKGPL_GPG
IP address	62.195.32.131
Date	04-03-2012
Race time	Race starts at 21:30 UK time
Qualifying time	Between 30 and 60 minutes, starting no later than 21:00 UK time
Track	Watkins Glen
Mod	67
Damage model	PRO
Race length	45 laps
Replay	Available here (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Replays/Archive/Season22/Grads_Works/S22_Grads_Works_R07_2012_03_04_Watkins_Glen.rar)

Reserve drivers please note; you must leave the server with 35 minutes of qualifying left, for a total of 5 minutes, to allow full timers to join.

The red zone will be fully moderated for lap 1 only. For this event the red zone will be from the start line to the exit of turn 4, Juncao. Other moderation will be on reported incidents only.

The chassis token system is explained on the Works (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=337&theme=6) standings page. Please ensure you choose a chassis that is within your budget, which can be seen by hovering the mouse over your points total in the standings.

GPG server is set to 45 laps Long race and listening on Igor.
Ciao

 ;D

Sorry guys, due to a mix up I have had to use UKGPL3

pc problems.great way to loose 20 tokens.

Yeah, for me too.  Something like an update chose an inopportune time to spring up.  This took the sound away and as I tried to frantically alt tab back to papyrus I missed my braking for the loop and ripped two wheels off....If only I'd had waited until after the loop to try and get sound back.  That is racing...and ahem, computers!

Shame, it was going pretty well, managed to take the lead on L1, thanks for giving me space Attilio.  My car seemed more comfortable on full tanks, though after a few laps I was cooking the front left.  However, I seemed able to be able to manage this by using braking and throttle to turn the car more.

I usually go well here, in the Lotus admittedly, but I also had back luck last time too, H and I had an altercation at the slow esses.

Onwards and upwards though.

Bob.

Thanks to Paul for hosting last night, replay available from link in race post.

Was chugging away quite nicely in the Cooper behind Doni albeit with Clive in hot pursuit. As we approached the Loop, Clive shaped up to launch himself up the inside & then disppeared into my blind spot. Hearing the roar of the Honda, I (wrongly as it turned out) assumed he was right alongside & with Clive's renowned tail-happy tendency I decided to go extra wide to avoid any possible contact, but of course this meant that I slipped off into the clutches of the dreaded haybale. Classic Watkins Glen novice error #1 :P

Stayed on to watch some exciting battles through the field, especially Doni & Fulvio, & was delighted to see Art notch up a very well-deserved victory - always good to see a new winner in Works :thumbup1:   

Hope UKGPL3 was solid enough. Entirely my fault that we didn't end up on GPG - I couldn't find the password and when I did it was the wrong one... :( All in all a totally disastrous night.

Internet problems kept me away unfortunately, hope you had a good race. Congratulations to Art for his first win of the season, and the other survivors of course. :)

Congrats on the fine win Art. My race was bittersweet. While I'm annoyed at throwing a possible win away, I'm bloody lucky to have survived my off with all four wheels on the car. Quali was a poor effort, in around the midfield, but made a good start and vaulted up to 3rd in a couple of laps. The next 20 or so laps were me trying to catch Art and Bob up ahead but I was slowly losing sight of them lap after lap. After Bob's off, it was down to me and Art, and spurred on with a possible win on the cars, I slowly caught up and went for an overtake soon after.

It was really touch and go as Watkins is so hard to pass at, but I felt it was within the boundaries. Art tried to defend by taking the wide line and lost the back end on exit which left me with a small lead. I haven't led a 67 race for a very long time so was hoping I could end my drought with this drive. That plan lasted until about 5 laps later where I was daydreaming, braked too late, spun the car, and did several pirouettes that would make most ballerinas feel sick.

Amazingly the car survived, and even more amazingly it was still drivable. Tried as I might, I couldn't close the gap to Art and settled for 2nd. Pleased to make in on the podium after the disappointment of Carthage. Congrats to all finishers.

Yayyy :thumbup2: :thumbup2: :thumbup2:! First win in Works, after a few near miss, it had to tip my way at some point! Rather ironic that it happened on the track I like the least amongst..er..all the ones I can think at. Only fun part to drive is the 5 secs around the esses, every pass not ending in a crash is half a miracle and then you need to go through that trap of the loop for 40 odd times, guessing which way those bumps at the top of the hill are going to send you this time round..Anyway, maybe now I despise it a bit less than I used to  ;D ;D

At the start I messed up with my gears, for some unknown reason trying to downshift at the second of the esses, so was slow on the straight and had to yeld to Bob who put in a clean pass at the loop. I followed him overcautiously for a few laps, and allowed a small gap of 2/3 secs to build up, which, when I finally woke up, I realised wasnt going to be  that easy to close after all.

After I saw the Lotus stranded at the loop, I soon started to fell pray of a rather severe attack of 'braccino', and in a few laps I had Sam breathing and snaring on my neck. Around mid race, and he goes for a dive at the last corner and manages to pass while I go into a quick 360 trying to 'square' the corner from the outside. I was still only 4 secs behind, so set off in hot pursuit, and in a few laps I was best placed to enjoy Sam's impression of a young Carla Fracci, held for a very selected audience at Big Bend. From then on it was just counting down the laps, although I was rather perplexed to see Sam keeping up some 10 secs behind with an obviously damaged car.

Grats to podium and finishers, glad to see some proper track lined up for the next rounds! 8) 8)

Sorry if my "reputation" scared you off the track Al.
Actually, I was very aware of how a wayward rear end might cause some mayhem and did my utmost to keep things tidy. I had worked so hard for so many laps to get within striking distance after a miserable qualifying session, that I had to take the chance when it came. It all started on the final corner where you got just a little out of shape which meant I was closer throught the Esses and able to pick up the to early enough to use the Waza power and get up the inside. Al was also in my blind spot and although I could hear his Cooper, I could not see it and when everything went quiet I feared the worst... GPL had finally made me deaf!! ;) Hard luck Al  :-\.

After Al, I could see a couple of cars way ahead and Prib told me that it was Doni and Fulvio and it took me another 10 laps or so to get within striking distance. Each time I was almost on Doni's tail I had to ease back as the tyre temps rose and more worryingly the oil temp approached the 260F nuke point for the Waza engine. Eventually I was in Doni's slipstream but the superior handling of his Fezza made finding a passing opportunity VERY difficult. Into the Loop is the only real place around here unless someone makes a mistake and so I had to pull the same move as I did on Al, although Doni did not have the good grace to attack the haybales and instaed insisted on making life difficult for me for the last 12 laps!!!

I felt that I had just enough raw speed to keep Doni behind and there was just a chance of catching Fulvio if he made an error in the final 10 laps, so I was reasonably content, having started almost at the back of the grid. Unfortunately we encountered 2 backmarkers at the final 90 on the penultimate lap and I Doni was so close behind that I knew I could not afford to lose momentum or he would pounce and regain 4th place. So, I forced the waza on a tighter line than I normally would take and screwed every HP out of the engine to get across the S/F line and up through the Esses to maintaim my advantage. The result was super heated rear tyres and oil temp at 259F as I approached the Loop. I just could not get the beast to turn in and drifted wide on slippery rubber. I thought I had almost saved the slide when the left rear found the grass and it was all over. I watched the remainedr of the race from the top of the haybles :-\

Grats to Art for his first win, it has been coming for a long time  ;) and to Sam and Fulvio for their podium places. Also grats to Al and Doni for some racing.  ;D

Great teamresult this race ::)

it's our version of a formation finish :wacko:

Events such as our Watkins Glen round will forever keep me an ardent fan of GPL.  Great racing, close and hard-fought but scrupulously clean passing bids and 45 laps that just flew by in seemingly a blink.  Splendid duels with first Fulvio and later, Clive, really were a treat.  My vision was excellent throughout and my policy of minimizing computer time prior to the race start is paying off handsomely when it comes to the old eyeballs.

A new PB in the Ferrari in qualifying was still only good for P10 on the grid.  Thanks to Hiro's misfortune...bad luck there, buddy...and his stuttering away from the grid, I vaulted up the order on L1 from my right-handed starting position and could scarcely believe my luck.  A terrific scrap with Fulvio was just a joy!  I noticed that Al was not far behind for the longest time doing a splendid job in the Cooper but went missing around 1/3 distance.  Then, way back there, I caught site of Clive's big Red Ball Special homing in on me.  Several laps of fending him off were great fun but ultimately, he got great drive coming off the Esses and ripped by fair and square.  As I'd fallen away somewhat from Fulvio, I was hoping that Clive would tow me back up to Fulvio and give me a shot at a podium.  Sadly, the last I saw of the Honda was it going wide to the left out of the corner of my eye in the Loop and not showing again as I got up onto the Back Straight.  No justice in that, Clive, after a scintillating drive.  Came home just a few seconds adrift of Fulvio who claimed that precious P3 podium slot.  Good show, mate.  I'm not in the least disappointed with P4.

Grats to Art for a super drive for the win and to Sam for surviving that ENORMOUS shunt without terminal affects.  I viewed the replay cap of that off and still cannot hardly believe you survived it.  I thought Lotus' were supposed to be fragile?  :)

On to sunny Brazil and Interlagos!  CYA there!

Great to see you're enjoying the racing Doni  :thumbup2:   GPL just gets better and better  :)

Grats to podium and WD Attilio on your first Grads win.  I wrote my other post during the race, otherwise would have congratulated you then.

Hopefully my first grads win will be just around the corner  ;)

Bob

Cheers Bob, I guess the important thing is to keep finding yourself always somewhere in the mix, then it is just a matter of time. Although I thought I remembered you winning some works races in previous seasons.. ::) See you guys in Interlagos, dont forget to put some tablets for motion sickness in the bag.. :1eye:

Incident reports need to be in by tomorrow night please.

Mod published.