SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 24 65 Novices Trophy
Race 4 Aintree

Welcome to the fourth round of the Novices Trophy for Season 24.

Back home in the UK, well,  at least for some of us. Aintree Motor Racing Circuit is a 3-mile (4.83 km) motor racing circuit in the village of Aintree, Merseyside, England. The circuit is located within the famous Aintree Racecourse and used the same grandstands as horse racing. The circuit has hosted the Formula One British Grand Prix five times, in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1962 and saw Stirling Moss’ first GP victory in 1955.

As always patience is ESSENTIAL. The first lap will be fully moderated within the red zone. The red zone will be the ENTIRE first lap. PLEASE ALSO BE CAREFUL ABOUT CORNER CUTTING. Three wheels off is OK, four is not.

Please check the Season 24 pages for details (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=386&theme=6) regarding rules and the Novices Trophy (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=393&theme=6) pages in particular.

HANDICAPPING will be applied to any drivers in the top three who are within 20 points of the leader.

Giovani is limited to the BT7
Geoff has the choice of BT7 or Cooper
Jonny O has moved into the Pros so Andy is asked to limit himself to the BT7, Cooper or BRM

Race List	IGOR
Server	UKGPL_3
IP Address	ping ukgpl3.dyndns.org
Race date	19-02-2013
Qualification Time	~20:45  UK time (minimum of 30 mins)
Race Time	race starts at 21:30 UK time
Track	Aintree (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=1284#entry8476)
Variant	65F1 the 2.02 Release of the 65mod should be used
Damage Model	INT
Race length	22 laps
RED ZONE	All of Lap 1
Password	see above (#post_event_password)
Replay	available after the race here (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Replays/Archive/Season24/Novices/)

Qualifying may start before 9pm, if so, Reserve drivers should leave the server when 35 minutes of qualifying remains and only rejoin when 30 minutes of qualifying is left. This is to ensure that Full Time drivers get priority in joining.

Please restrict chat to pit messages if necessary, and this includes the end of the race, until all running drivers have completed the necessary laps.

The Novice races are run under Int Long rules and all incidents in the red zone on Lap 1, at least, will be moderated. For this race, the red zone extends to the whole of Lap 1. There is no limit on the amount of resets but EACH Shift/R MUST be followed by a Stop n Go.

65 Patch: The 2.02 Release of the 65mod can and should be used. You need a working installation of the 65 mod to install the 2.02 Update. All the 65 Mod files can be found here (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Mods/1965)

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=393&theme=6)

I've had my first run at Aintree and it seems a good little track. I found it hardwork to get my car around until I found a rogue parameter in my setup that has been there for the opening two rounds. I hope for better here.:-)

I am overdriving this one madly. Best Prib of 1:48 but best overall of 1:52+! If I can hook it up I might just be competitive.

Beware misleading Prib overall times here at Aintree. Timing zones tend to be where you overshoot/underbrake and make a mistake leading to over optimistic possible times. Obviously a man of your abilities is more than capable of a 1.47 here Paul, I hope you are using the BT7 to give others a chance ;). As for straight lining the back straight over the grass and between the hedge/signage to gain time I know that is beneath you ::)

Good luck.

I find the right hand turns the most difficult here as there are not too many markers for braking.

Blimey, how did you manage to watch my offline practice?

Quiet, otherwise everybody will want a copy of my GPL offline spyware  :laugh:

hehe

My answer is not addressed to you, Johnny.  I am taking advantage of your remark to coach my best opponent in this league.

Paul, don't get fooled by the markers, they were put in place for bicycle and soap box competitions. You must rely on the first marker you see and start braking way before it, in some cases actually my advice would be as soon as you see it. 

Don't trust the black marks either, they were left by Scottish strong men during a TTPP competition (Truck Tire Push Pull).

If you don't see any marker before a turn, start braking before you notice they're missing. During the competition itself, take a stronger attitude: assume that no marker means no braking . This last advice is my "Tuesday Night Special Race Only"

Finally, I understand you're a well seasoned British Sportsman and as such you know what a free advice is worth.  Paul, feel free to send me a check.
Paypal will do.

Thanks Pierre.

Don't forget to call in the tea rooms every few laps.  Don't go too fast, or you will miss them.
Open during event-season, but closed Mondays.

LOL Pierre. We can have a cream bun or two together...

Now come on. How competitive is lapping at 1:52?

Come on Paul, I hope you're not considering my times as a reference. I have just started practicing today as my past weeks have been spent on the Sachsenring. I'm exhausted, my hands are shaking, my kids are weeping and my wife keeps threatening me. If she cuts the flow of Jamaican rhum that keeps me alive and gpling .... I'm telling you, life is tough.

In spite of all these irritants, when I read about your 1:52, I thought "easy does it, I just have to stop scratching my back while I'm driving, that should do it" .  Well, it didn't, I'm still far from your times. To tell you how desperate I am, I'm about to give up my faithful ZX81 keyboard to replace it with a steering wheel.

I'll keep you posted .

I'm hoping a 1:52 will be competitive as that is what I'm lapping at too.

Hi guys,

whats a good car for Aintree tonight. ???

I cant seem to get to grips with either the Lotus, Ferrari or the Honda !

out of them all the Honda seems to have the edge on Power. 

If nothing Else at least the Ferrari sounds great  ;D

Paul V

Dining out tonight so will miss my home track , ironicaly I was in Aintree village yesterday visiting a friend .

So near yet so far away  :-[

Hope you all have a good race on this great track , I will be listening for the tortured sounds & smells of burning rubber ,red hot castrol R , racing machinery  and crashing cars  ;D 

 :)

Aintree is famous for many types of racing but tonight it will see its first moose racing:-)

As usual the 'Herd' will dominate...

...places 16-19!

Honda is OK round here but I think the Lotus is more nimble and that would make up for the long straight. I am a Honda boy though.

I find the Lotus quite difficult to drive, I am much better with a BT11. I know that the Lotus is faster over one lap, but for me the BT11 is faster over a race.

But I love the Ferrari too much to drive anything else while I still have a choice.

The Lotus is a bit skittish and I find that I can hotlap for about 5 and then I will spin. As Al says the BT11 is a solid choice. John Roberts would faint if he heard Al's comment about the Fezza but that is solid too.

Advantage of the Honda is the six gears but if you get the gearing wrong that can be a disadvantage too.

Don't know about anyone else but I am hitting 153-154mph at the last marker board before the kink through the hedges. Splita are roughly 26+, 34+, 25+, 26-. 1:51 should be attainable without tow and tow could shave a couple of seconds off. Mind you, that is Novice pace. Gio will probably go and do a 1:37...

Well that didn't last long  ::)

Wondered where you went Tony. Disco?

My race was pretty good. Got a decent start but just couldn't nail the laps. Inherited 2nd after JP span and built a big lead over Ross. Span at the last turn but had enough in hand and promptly span again next lap. This put me just behind Ross but I was confident I could lap quicker and catch him. Sadly span AGAIN. Closed up to Ross by 200 yds or so but just not enough.

Happy but sad if you see what I mean. Al was different class, bad luck to JP and well done to Ross.

No, car up the bottom  :o

Very surprised to be starting with a view of the front row.  That was not going to last long...

Too many offs/pile-ups took their toll.  But the worst thing was watching in my mirrors to work out if there was a collision going on a way back,  rather than looking/taking the next corner.. D'oh!  lost time/places as well as a new heavy car/cold tyres & resulting stop/go - maybe I'll bear that in mind in the future!
 
It would appear that a lot of ground can be made up via that kinky bit near the end!
Although,   it seems there is also a bit of time that can be lost around that area too :(

The Black Night parade was a joy to behold for a few laps;  we even managed not to take each other out :)

Cheers all.
Dave.

OOH painful... didn't fancy a reset? You can report it though using the link under the results (as if you need telling)

It was carnage lap 1 - looking forward to modding that one... NOT!

I missed this one. I couldn't get back home in time.

Congratulations to Al. I see that Paul was 3rd both on the grid and at the end of the race. Impressive.

Cheers buddy. Only my third ever podium and my best qualifying... I've never managed second on the road and tbh I threw silver away so bronze feels a bit disappointing but better than last!

My car was much better on race fuel than for qualifying so I was not too concerned about starting 2nd. I chased Al for a few laps getting close but several spins of my own doing hampered my chances of success. The last 8 or so laps were really good although I was alone the car was great and I could give it some instead of squirming about. Congratulations to all on the podium, Paul is really pushing his Honda this season and Ross did a great job too. Al was the class of the field and a worthy winner. Well done Al- great driving.

Good race for me, I wasn’t expecting to be so quick, but I’m happy that I was. After my disaster at Mexico I was determined to do better. I have been practicing for a solid 2 weeks for this race so I’m happy that all that practice has paid off.

Qualifying went so much better that I could of expected. Paul was good enough to start the server early. I joined to a almost empty server and started straight away. I did a series of good laps for me, and was pretty happy with my times. I recorded a high 49 which I didn’t think I could beat, but carried on anyway as I had the fuel, and there was so much time left. I dialled in some braking points, and kept my laps tidy and on my last lap I pretty much got a perfect lap, everything was just spot on, it was a PB in ever sector and that was my finial qualifying time. The cars really felt alive without any fuel in it and I really did get the best time I think I could of got.

The race started and I got quite a good start, I saw Johnny right behind me and we had a good battle for a few laps. I was concertinaing on my braking points, and trying to get everything warmed up, Johnny was coming at me and at this stage was slightly faster than me. I had to keep myself calm and be as tidy as I could, of course that’s never going to happen and a few mistakes let Johnny get a run at me. Then nothing, he just wasn’t there anymore which I was sorry for, as it was great fun dicing so closely with him and I think it would have been a race long battle.

After Johnny disappeared, I checked Prib to see where everyone else was. I saw that I  had a healthy gap so I tried my best to keep tidy and drive for the flag. To my surprise I managed to keep my concentration and didn’t make any silly mistakes. Once most of the fuel had burnt off the car came alive again, so in the last handful of laps I kept myself busy with trying to set fastest lap :) Something which could of very easily back fired.

Glad that I have won a race this season, as I really didn’t think I had much chance of winning after inters and novices were combined and seeing the times of my competitors. Great result for Clark Hill too, with Ross in second, and of course a well deserved podium for Paul. Looking forward to Zandy.

Ended up in P8 in qual, which, given recent qually performances was maybe a bit higher than I expected.

Again, there was a bit of shenanighans early on, T2 saw the yellows out, and I tip-toed through tight to the inside and luckily stayed safe.

Came out of it in P4, and very much on my own on the track, and after JohnnyP has a spin, I was in P3

Often in this situation, I get caught and passed by the early spinners, and end up losing time and losing time to anyone ahead.  This time, I seemed far enough ahead to maintain a gap, as they were duelling for positions behind me, and costing themselves time.

Though there was 10-12secs between us, Paul and I were posting similar times, and only due to a couple of small errors ahead by Paul, was I able to move from P3 to P2. Luckily for me, there were only a few laps left, so was able to hold onto the position.

Yep, a good night for Clark-Hill. - Well done Al & Paul & all finishers.

I don't really like such track at all, so I quit the race very soon. :-\
Grats to everybody and a special mention to "Flying" Al and "Podium" Paul  :thumbup1:

Disastrous race.....:(  I'd been practicing a while in the Coop for this race, and knew it was going to be a difficult one. Apologies to Dave Curtis for hitting you at T2. I had a good run on teammate Rog out of T1 and figured I'd have a crack at him, to try and keep some of the Lotus's at least in sight! I braked early by my standards, but Rogs' Fezza stepped sideways into my path, shortening my braking distance available by at least 1/2 a mile. I had to ease the brakes and jink around him to avoid a contact, but from that point it wouldn't have stopped....I was pretty much a passenger. So from then on I got hit from pillar to post by every man and his auntie....and deposited on my nut in the middle of the track.
Reset, s n g later, and the race was a washout really. Confirmed that presumtion after the s n g, chased Dave C out of the pits, decided I could possibly run for a while with him and use the pace of the Lotus to drag me up....Until we encountered Tony in the Honda. Dave snuck past in the technical section and left me trying to get by a car painfully slow in the corners and rocket fast in a straight line. Even up the back straight in his draft the Coop would only stay with him, it wouldn't even consider drafting by. Now, I'd deliberately been quite slow through the kink trying to maintain accurate lines and working on a tidy entry into the last corner, aiming at a fast exit onto the S/F straight. I couldn't see Dave Curtis had spun and was sitting off to the right from the kink, nor were there any yellows waving at that point. Sorry indeed for swatting the back of your Honda Tony, but you must have been fixated on the spinner rather than where you were meant to be going. Forgetting to drop the brakes and to accelerate.....left me nowhere else to go, you just kept coming back at me. And, really 80mph thru the kink is about 20-25mph slower than my regular pace thru the corner, and i was taking it easy....I was a bit concerned I might get t-boned mid corner at my pace. I truly had no way of knowing you were struggling that much. the offer of some training is still open at your leisure. PM me when you want to.
Congratulations to my 2 CH teammates for their fine driving, and snaring of P1 and P2 .....and a special 'Well Done' to Paul, for his excellent 3rd. You owe me a beer for those diff settings, we'll talk bars next time.... ;)
Geoff.

This week’s tale of woe. Couldn’t quite get below 1.52 in qualifying which meant middle of the grid start. Generally not the best place to be. Turn 1 – steady start. Turn 2 – Oh S**t. Cars bounced left & right but left deceptive gap in the middle – which was promptly filled by a sideways car (Geoff?). Ended up facing the wrong way & had to drive back to find space to turn – last place but one. Better plan would have been to have watched the football, skipped qually & started at the back of the grid. Same end result.
Had a number of different battles with team-mate DC. One ended with a wheel on the grass before the kink. Not usually a problem – I reckon I hit a pile of horse s**t left over from the other sort of racing.
Second one at Beachers bend, closed up on DC & Paul V. Paul took a really wide line, which must of scrubbed off speed so I closed up much faster than expected & tapped him. We both spun off & attempted a synchronised rejoin. Apologies for the contact, but by the time I worked out the speed differential I couldn’t avoid contact.
Quite fond of this track – will be a chance to try again in the F2’s later in the season.

Black Night seem to be slipping down the table – extra practice for Zandvoort guys!

couldnt really decide if to stick with the fezza or try the Lotus for a change.

although as Paul and others mentioned the Lotus may be faster but perhaps a bit more hard work.

I tried a few praccy sessions in both and although the Lotus seemed Ok, chose the Ferrari as the setup and overall driving experience seemed in favour of the track for me. could go much faster than lowish 1:54,s or high 53.s anyhow.

got a nice steady start and got outdragged by a few cars by me that got away really well.  came up on the crash just over the crossing and although i missed most of it came almost to a standstill and nudged a spinning car, really sorry to whoever that was.... although seeing you had burst into flames while spinning around on your head i think i was the least of your worries.. although my apologies for the bump.. 1st lap so if im due a mod bashing then i shall find out soon enough.

after that that things went really well for a few laps with somemore good racing, even saw i was 5th at one point due to picking up some free places while all the fast boys sorted themselves out. going really well until middish point when had the, err ? what should we call it ? Incident with Billy :0), or was it a happening ? .. not sure cos it wasnt really an accident, was basically me finding the ol fezza starting to get a little loose, Dave C was going real well and was behind me but in front of Billy when he quite rightly took the chance to come up inside while i was "slewing" out away from my line. I had no option to try to stay wide, slow down and control an iffy car.. no good, touched the grass and went wider and slower still... dave made an excellent move and was gone.. trouble is by then I had regained something akin to control and had get back onto the track and was just getting underway when Billy, who had been chasing us around the corner came upon me, still pullin. up me Knickers and trying my best to get going after my short sojuorn into the countryside. It was only the tiniest of nudges, but in GPL thats all one needs.  So Im sorry to you Billy for being in the way, you really tried all you could mate to miss me. so no probs there, I was actually giggling as after we sorted ourselves out. We had what I can only describe as a "GPL square dance" to rejoin the track.. was glad you got away before me bill because after my mistake it was your place anyway as I had screwed up the corner. happily Dave was OK. shame you never got through while I was "Moose Swerving" allover the grass n track :0)

after that settled down for a while until a little bit of loss of concentration and the Ferrari running a bit wide and loose again saw me take a couple of offs, luckily didnt bother no one else but did drop back 2 or 3 places or so.

really had some good racing as I say, most was in the company of Dave C & Billy but most importantly also had a great time.  even got down into the 1:51,s and a new PB.  

hope I didnt cause anyone any issues,  and congrats to Al, Ross and all the  podium boys... including fellow MooseMan "Badblood". great finish Paul, and in a Honda too. 

cheers to one and all.. see you at the next one.



Paul V.  

With practically a different podium for each round so far, the driver standings (provisionally) ::) are really quite close with the top six being seperated by just 16 points. Paul- if the results from Aintree stand I think I will be in for some shackles at Zandvoort- would that mean a choice of BT7 or Cooper?

I suspect the result won't stand... but probably yes. Zandy won't be too bad with the handicap. All the chassis are pretty close round here, even the BT7 for the poor leader...

Moderation (finally) published. Apologies for the severe delay.