SimRacing.org.uk

A perfect start to the season for Hristo Itchov sees him aiming for a hat-trick of victories as the circus moves on to Zolder in Belgium. Any potential challengers need to show their hand soon or they will be left battling over second place. Rumours that Attilio Artiglietti has returned to his native Italy for a secret training camp remain unconfirmed but all will be revealed on Sunday.

Race list	iGOR
Server	UKGPL_GPG
IP address	62.195.32.131
Date	15-07-2012
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	Zolder (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=7886)
Mod	67
Damage model	PRO
Race length	33 laps
Replay	Available here (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/replays/Archive/Season23/Grads_Works/S23_Grads_Works_R03_2012_07_15_Zolder.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, Lucien Bianchi Bocht. 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=360&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.

Installed Zolder67 on both T7 and GPG servers and set to 33 laps Long race. I also set a loose grid.
Ciao and GL  :)

Thanks Fulvio, you are a star!

Guys, probably I will be not of the party this evening.

With absolutely no preparation for this race I started to try and set the Brabham up for the race about 1945. It just didn't feel right so I resorted to the trusty Cooper, using my setup for the original Zolder. It was a revelation I thought... except I did a 13183 on a practice server, then couldn't get close to it during qualifying. A common problem I find. Resigned to a sub-standard time, I filled the Coop with race fuel and went back out to understand the feel.....and went even faster. Weird....

Managed to keep my nose clean on the first few laps. Doni and Skymole seemed to have a moment on the first bend, and S went out, so I started chasing Doni, with Robert chasing me. Exciting stuff for a while, as the three of us moved up and fell away from each other. I worked out a way to come onto the main straight faster than Doni, but it took several laps to get close enough to take the advantage. I dived down the inside of Doni going into the first corner, and held it tight in case he was keeping up with me, and Doni took the corner wide - it seemed like good clean stuff but unfortunately Doni was sent spinning. Sorry about that Doni, but on my replay we were always a distance apart, so I imagine that'll go down to warp contact.

After that I set off to chase down Evil (I think), but a silly spin let Robert John through, and a moment on turn 3 gave him the distance. A great shame, it was fun racing. In fact the racing with Doni and RJ was the best fun I've in GPL for a while. Shame it ended badly for Doni.

WD to all.

Arf

Well, I think I overpracticed abit for that one... after a decent 1.29.80 and a nice mosport pb, since I used the mosport setup anyway, I went to sleep... when I woke up, my right hand was so sore I couldnt even grip the mouse propetly. My preformance was awful, I couldn't get anywhere near my pb whitout speedshifting, my gearing was wrong anyway, someone pushed me out of track at turn 1 lap 1, I warp-punted someone at hairpin at lap 3, and after that I stayed away from others... spinning countless times and making countless mistakes, until I finally gave up.

Btw...Zolder67 is decent track, but Zolder Terleamen is better...

   

The last time we ran Zolder I think we used the old track file and I really struggled to wrestle the 67 Waza around with the setup that I had. In my stupidity I had expected the "new Zolder" to be the same track but with better graphics and simply no bugs..........so Saturday evening was a bit of a shock when I joined some guys for a practice session and discovered a whole new track with extra bends!!!!

The old setup was quite frankly.... cr*p! and so I started sorting a new one in Saturday's practice without a lot of success.

I managed to evade the fun warden on Sunday afternoon, when she fell asleep in front of the TV  ;), and worked for a while on a race setup.
Coming into quali things were better but not exactly "good" and so various tweaks and adjustments were made right up until the start of the race. I was indeed fortunate that a single fluked lap got me up to 3rd on the grid  and amongst the "contenders" although I was still not confident of finishing this race with all 4 wheels still on the car  ::)
Hristo's time was way beyond anything I could hope to do and Al's Brabham looked most likely to be the car that gave H any trouble.
Off the line I managed to hold a careful 3rd spot through the first lap as I got some heat into the tyres, but Al was definitely struggling to stay with Hristo and looked a little vulnerable  :shifty:, so I tried to position myself to take any opportunity.
Lap 2 and Al ran slightly wide at T7 and lost momentum on the run down to the hairpin... and I pounced! taking my Waza down the inside and risking some very late braking and a block pass ;D.
The question now was "can I hold Al behind, when his qually time was a good 1 sec a lap faster??" I pushed as hard as I dared on the vaguely warm tyres and heavy fuel load and stretched out a slender lead, only to throw it away by running wide a few laps later. Once again I tried to nail every apex and concentrated very hard on not spinning up the rear tyres to keep the temps in check. A few exploratory lines almost wrecked my race but I survived and pressed on.

Gradually, I found the sweet spot in the setup and the lines to exploit it and was able to lap comfortably in the 1:30's to draw away from Al who was being hassled by Robert ...thanks Robert!!  By 75% distance Hristo was well out in front and barring a breakdown or off had the race in his pocket. The gap back to Al and Rob had grown and I only had to hold my pace and monitor the gap, to bring home a WAZA 1-2 for HER.

Grats to Hristo who was in a different race altogether, and to all finishers.

The replay is now available. Incident reports should be submitted by Sunday 22nd July.

Congrats Hristo, Evil, and Al  

If that doesn't please "HER" I don't know if she can be pleased. But, then again....     ;D

In the six plus years I've raced online I don't know if I've had a race so gripping from start to finish. I don't think my pulse rate ever came down from the start. I made a pretty decent start helped by the dirty side of the grid bogging down a bit. I slotted in behind Arf with Baab on my tail. Hmm, guess I was the meat in a "BARF" sandwich.    :laugh:
The early laps were good chasing Arf and Doni. I was able to get in a zone and gain some confidence on a track that kicked my a$$ in training. When I saw Arf diving down the inside at turn 1 I thought things might get interesting. From my vantage point there was a clear space between he and Doni but GPL didn't. Tough break for DY and also JR as a result. Doni had an engine failure soon afterwards so I was able to keep my eyes straight ahead. The pace picked up a bit chasing Arf and when he slipped on the curb I was thru. Looking in the mirrors I could see he gained the track quickly so my instinct was to run like hell. Al was just ahead and so began an epic race that lasted till the finish. I was able to breath a bit when Arf lost some time and concentrate solely on Al. Some sections of the track Al was better, some it seemed I was able to close back up. Little mistakes by each of us here and there but nothing I could gain an advantage from. From the exit of Bolderberg thru the Rindt and Ickx was where Al was clearly better. I had nothing for him here and my efforts to go quicker were taking me ever closer to a crash. Outbraked myself on the last lap at turn 1 and was lucky to get out without any problems.

Very happy to finish P4 and pleased with my consistency. A nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Thanks for sharing the track everyone, especially Arf and Al.   Cheers

Peace  

RJ

Well!  Hristo is certainly putting his stamp on S23, isn’t he?  Another admirable drive to P1.  Grats, maestro!

A great run by Clive to score some very useful points with a P2 finish!  Take a bow, Evil!

Al scoops the last podium slot with a workman-line run into P3.  Well done!

And Robert John!  What to go, bud!  I’m seriously impressed with your drive after limited practice.  A very handy P4 is a fine reward for your efforts.

I practiced the Brabham, BRM and Cooper for this round.  The BT24 was quickest but a little skittish and I could no better than a 30.99 lap.  The BRM was impossible!  Over about eight laps trial, I could keep it on the road over the ‘yump’ only once and managed a dismal 34-odd timing.  Best park my favourite car in favour of something that I could at least keep on the road.  A call went out to the Coopers.  I managed a 31.58 with the T81b and for the sake of all of a half second, it was the choice over the Brabham.  (BTW, I’m seriously impressed with Rocket Ronnie’s ability to scratch out a 31.16 in qualifying aboard the P115; out of my league, bro!)

In qualifying, I was quite pleased to notch a 30.89 timing, eclipsing my Brabham PB.  Looking good!

Off the start, I got a bit of a jump on Sky on my right in the Lotus and trailed Clive closely down into T1.  I eased off early for fear off arse-smacking him and Sky pulled up on my right.  But he was a little unsettled in the braking zone and stayed wide.  I tucked in low to the kerb and sadly for Sky, it would seem from the server replay cap that he turned down rather abruptly and struck his LF corner to my RR.  Off onto the grass verge and a spin.  Bad luck, mate.

Immediately in front of me, Clive was menacing Al.  A small slip from Al in the Terlaemenbocht complex was enough to let Clive gun the big Honda by in time to scoop P3 by the time they got to the Bolderbergbocht hairpin.  I finished Lap1 in P4 with Al about one second ahead me and Arf ditto behind.  Shaping up to be a good race! :)

The next several laps wound off with consistency.  Hristo was breaking away up front; Clive was a solid P2; Al was firm in P3 with myself chasing and being chased by Arf.  I find Zolder a bit busy and peer in the mirrors is only fleeting.  I noted someone not far off Arf’s tail but couldn’t determine whom it was.  Later, of course, I learned that it was RJ in the Cooper doing a ripper of a job!

Comes the start of Lap7 and I’m still running P4 about three seconds down on Al and only a second up on Arf.  Roaring down into the Terlaemenbocht complex, everything’s under control when suddenly, on my office door, a vigorous and loud pounding. ???

‘This had better be an emergency!’
‘Dad!  I hear thunder!’
‘How close?’
Silence.
‘How close?’
Silence.

Our area of Keswick had already experienced a fierce thunder storm around 1pm local time that day and another was on the horizon when I sat down to start Q at 4pm.  I’d asked my 15-year old son, Logan, to alert me if we had lightning strikes in the near vicinity since it was unlikely that I’d hear any thunder associated with them with my headphones on and a V-12 Maser screaming away just over my shoulders.

I asked Logan to step in and report.  Not that close as it so happened but the distraction I didn’t need.  I noted from GPLRA that I lost a ton of time by going very slow into the Bolderbergbocht hairpin.  From 9/10ths up on Arf starting the lap, the gap was now down to just 1/5th.  I blasted down into T1 going fairly late on the brakes but I noted that Arf moved left for a pass attempt.  I kept wide on the turn-in and stayed there as we swept thru the corner.  I note from the replay cap that Arf kept his Cooper nicely down to the kerb on entry and pass thru but crept to the right as we started to exit the corner.  Despite what seemed to be a solid two feet between us, GPL determined that was too close and punted me off.  I could have used an extra six inches of clearance room there, Arf.

Recovering without a huge loss of time, I regained the track just in front of John Roberts who, it seemed, tried to sweep around me only to go tearing off into the catch fence and retirement.  Bad luck, JR.

Getting back up to speed, I only made a few hundred metres more before the engine failed and that was it.  Sigh...

A challenging but nicely flowing track, with tricky curbs and slippery surface. I haven't done any practice prior to Qualifying, so I had to both learn the track and make a setup during the session. I knew how the layout goes more or less, because I have driven the modern chicane versions in rFactor, but still I had to get acquainted with the details and braking points. Setup-wise I took my Montjuic setup and it worked quite well right off the bat, so with some adjustments to the gears and toe, it was just fine.

Took me some time to get up to speed though, but managed to get pole near the end of the session.

I think I made a good start, but couldn't see where Al was, so I stayed on the inside for T1 just to make sure. From there on I managed to pull a comfortable gap over Evil who jumped into 2nd place, and it was just a matter of not making any mistakes and maintaining a rhythm.

There were a few scares along the way, including a bottom out at the big crest which sent me off into the fence on the right (a hundred meters before Villeneuve's accident site) but luck luck was on my side and I managed to recover without getting stuck (which happened a lot during my qualifying attempts!).

I pushed for fastest lap near the end and the car felt really good, running consistently all throughout the race distance, so the lap times kept going down.

SHE will be pleased, no doubt, with Evil's fine 2nd place and thus a 1-2 for Waza! Grats to all other finishers as well!

Shame on me , forgot all about this terrible accident until you mentioned it above H  :(

R.I.P. Gilles , one of the greatest racers ever  :(

Yet another really hard-fought 67 race... Pleased to line up 2nd on the grid, but for some reason I really struggled during the opening laps & came perilously close to binning it completely with a big sideways moment on L2. Clive pounced to take advantage of my mistake & demoted me to 3rd, though for a few laps it looked like I might get an opportunity to return the favour as his Honda looked to be exploring the limits for a while. Sadly Clive's exploration served him well & while he found more speed & edged further ahead, I suddenly spied a triple serving of Coopers barrelling down on me. A quick glance at Prib confirmed it was my tormentors from the last round Doni & Robert, along with a speedy Arf - holding on to 3rd looked like it was going to be tough...

I tried to settle into a decent race rhythm but soon realised I hadn't done my homework very well & I found myself bottoming out pretty badly approaching the 'hump' & also cooking one of my front tyres. Luckily for me, while I was struggling to tame my badly-setup Brabham, the guys behind were busy racing each other & this led to Doni's unfortunate exit. Bad luck Doni. Any hopes I had for a small breather were shattered when Robert's Coop swept swiftly into my mirrors & commenced over 20 laps of relentless pursuit. We were very evenly-matched & the slightest error, just losing a tenth here or there, was enough to put Robert all over my tail. Compliments to RJ for his patience & gentlemanly driving throughout. If we were in the same cars, I don't think I'd have been able to hold onto 3rd but luckily the Brabham's extra pace through the final sector bought me enough time to survive the rest of the lap - just... 

Congrats to Hristo & Clive on the Waza-one-two & also to RJ for another terrific scrap.

Mod (finally) published. My aplogies for not doing so before - I have been away.