SimRacing.org.uk

Season 24 Works Trophy (67) - Round 5 - Imola

The fifth round of the season will be at Imola in Italy. The circuit is named after Ferrari's late founder Enzo and his son Dino who had died in the 1950s. Before Enzo Ferrari's death in 1988 it was called 'Autodromo Dino Ferrari'.  We will be using the track as it was inaugurated in 1953 when it had no chicanes, so the run from Rivazza all the way to Tosa, through the pits and the eventually notorious Tamburello was totally flat out, as was the run from Acque minerali all the way to Rivazza which is just a long straight with a few small bends.  The circuit remained in this configuration until 1972.

Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL_GPG
IP address = 77.249.239.123
Race date = 10-03-2013
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 = Imola
Variant = 67F1
Damage Model = PRO
Race length = 50 minutes (laps 32)
Password: see above (#post_event_password)
Replays Available here (http://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/inc_replaysS24_js.aspx)
Driver lists and token rules can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=387&theme=6)
The track can be downloaded from : here (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=485)

The full time drivers can start to practice as soon as the server is available.  Reserve drivers can also join as soon as the server becomes available but must leave the server with 35 minutes of qualifying left, for a total of 5 minutes; this will allow any remaining full timers to join.  If there is enough space on the grid, the reserve drivers will be able to rejoin when there are 30 mins of qualifying left. 

Please restrict chat to pit messages including at the end of the race until ALL drivers still racing have crossed the line.

The race will be run under PRO rules so no resets are allowed.

The chassis token system is explained on the Works standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=387&theme=6). 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.

Moderating 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 Acque Minerali. Other moderation will be on reported incidents only.  However any incidents that occur in the red zone that are not reported by the drivers will be reported by the moderator.  This will allow all affected drivers the opportunity to present their case before the incident is moderated.  This should ensure there are no surprises when the moderator's report is published and hence appeals will be less likely.  If you haven't received a PM about an incident before the link below the results table is removed, you can be sure that you will not appear in the moderator's report.

GPG server is set for 32 laps Long race.
Ciao

North America...well, most it of it, anyway...switched over to Daylight Savings Time earlier today.  Clocks were advanced one hour.

Could I have the start times posted in GMT, svp?  (For this event and subsequent races, too.)

Yep - but we are on GMT so 21:00 UK Time IS 21:00 GMT for today.

Start's an hour later than has been recently for us colonials, Doni.

Will do Doni ;).

FYI British Summer Time and European Daylight Saving starts on 31 March.  So the UK and European drivers should all stay on the same time difference but you will be affected again on the 31st.

Qualified at the back as expected, the pace at the front was seriously quick :alien:

Pushed hard but made a few too many mistakes and dropped back before my engine expired :(. 

Nice to be able to finish that one for a change! Left leg and left hand now very sore, not used to anti-clockwise circuits nor doing a full race distance! Props to Hristo and John, seriously quick pace and left a minute to the rest of the field (us normal people!).

A DNF again but at least I got to 1/2 distance this time.  A distinct improvement over Albi!  :)

I had a fine time dueling with Jethro and he even squeaked by at one point but some minor contact a moment later and he went for a skate on the outfield of T1.  Sorry, Jethro.  Not be design.  I only just survived this when I came under attack from Bob.  He wangled a risky pass in T1 starting Lap17 and I followed closely down to The Tosa.  There, I biffed his tail, we were both off with a remarkable degree of damage and instant retirement.  Near as I can tell from a close, frame-by-frame look at my replay cap leads me to the belief that Bob warped back into me under braking.  Pity as a good duel was shaping up.

A day of mixed emotions...it started with a couple of 'laps' of Rouen-Les-Essarts - the real one!

As most of you probably know, that really means a couple of 4/5ths of a lap, as that's all that's possible these days. Its a bit sad to see what's happened there (a guy named Chris Hall had done an excellent summary of what's happened, which was on the apparently now-defunct lugnutsracing.com site - I have a printout of the pages which I might need to scan in). However, it was quite thrilling to start at the antenna near Paradis (yes, its still there, with its tip poking into the low cloud) and be able to go all the way round to Gresil. Best of all is coming round the left hander after the infamous Six Freres and getting the shock of a very familiar site - the Noveau Monde hairpin looks almost exactly like it does in GPL (minus armco), with the village of Orival further down the hill. Its then quite shocking to see how narrow the road through turns like Sanson and Beauval is.... the straight between Beauval and Gresil is still there, and I shall take the 5th on what might have happened with me and my bike..... :o

Anyway, Imola. Probably because of the long ride home, I was really too tired for this race. I was comfortbaly lapping in the very low 133s before I went to France, and I was over a second slower than that in practice. Either fatigue or frustration meant I qualified below what I'd have expected, and that set the tone for the evening. Too many tyres on the grass and for the first 10-15 laps I would pass Phil and Jethro (I think), spin, then chase and re-pass..then repeat. After a while I got into a routine and settled into steady lapping. I was a little concerned (for both our sakes) that when H came up to lap me, I could see blue flags, but not H. When JB came past shortly afterwards I had no issues seeing him coming and therefore plan to let him by.....and sadly I saw Ronnie coming too, cos I binned it trying to think about what to do about him (I was chasing Rainier for position)... hey ho

Arf

Grats Hristo, nice driving!
good qually time atillio, not sure what happened to you at the start

Thanks all for a good race, cheers to all who made passing easier, it was a fun qually session for me, 31.3 was quick enough for pole so i was fine with that.
The race started and all was fine up until i overshot the last turn a few laps in and hristo slipped by, i was still fine with that and was happy watching the brabham bounce around in front of me for a while until i ran wide again which lose me a few seconds, i pushed very hard from that point on however i didnt get to grips with the car too good for the rest of the race and couldnt make the lost ground back up, second was a good result.

Thanks JB, your times didnt look too shabby in that brabby either.. ;)

As for my race, I blew the engine on the starting grid, second time in the season. I can recall this happening twice in all my races. Including this one.. ::). In this first part of the season I skipped 1 race, and blew up on the starting grid twice, with my best result obtained in a BRM...Now I am facing the conundrum: should I be rational, trust the statisticians, and decide it can only get better in the second half, or should I be superstitious, opting to sit out the rest of the season, as 24 must not be my number  ;D? I mean, even Clive managed to disco after me.. ;D ;D

Sorry it took me so long to get out of the way, at first I thought I had just bogged the start as the car was still slowly moving. Grats H and podium and finishers, almost a full house, terrible traffic during qually but great for the race (if you actually manage to have one..).

Yup!! yet another disco!!

Just for the sheer hell of it I decided to try the Lotus. I have been suffering with a nasty viral infection for 2 weeks and was pretty much fed up with life in general, so I decided to blow some of the points I had amassed on some fun machinery.

I did a few short practice sessions and was able to lap in the 1:32's on race fuel...that felt good  ;D I fully expected John, Hristo and maybe Art to be at least equal to that pace. The only downside was that I found that I needed at least 2 laps to get enough heat into the tyres before I could push.

I had one small freeze in qually and was hoping ( forlornly ) that maybe the race would be incident free?
WRONG!!!
When it came time for the start I had a nice 5th-6th? grid slot .. I could not join the grid! But I waited and I was able to start from pit lane.

OK so we will make up places slowly, but any chance of mixing it with the aliens up front was gone. I managed to pick up a couple of places in the first 2 laps as the tyres came up to temp, but I pushed too hard too soon and allowed Bob W to get past. Not too bothered as I knew I had pace to burn in the Lotus..I just needed the tyres to yield some grip!
As usual the gremlins were biding their time, and as soon as I felt the grip coming.......disco!!!!

Grats to Hristo and John for some stunning pace up front and to Ronnie for claiming 3rd spot.

My race report rather echoes Arf's, sadly not the trip to Rouen (what - no pics Arf?) but in not being able to match my earlier practice pace. Probably my own fault though - Imola is a real bogey circuit for me (one of many this season - thanks Phil! :P ) so I went quite conservative finding an incredibly stable, albeit not all that quick, setup that I'd hoped would limited my tendency to fly off the track at regular intervals. Was on Ronnie's tail for the opening laps but he started lapping much quicker than I could go & as he gradually pulled away in his Ferrari, I found Fulvio looming ever closer in his... Did my best to keep him at bay but after several laps Fulvio pulled a nice textbook pass for 4th place on the run down to Tosa & despite my best efforts, controlled the gap after that for the rest of the race. Still, an error-free run at Imola is something of a victory for me so I'm pleased about that at least. Congrats to Hristo, JB & teammate Ronnie.               

After last nights CTD I cannot fire up GPL. It seems that it has lost ( or is unable to find )..."glide2x.dll"  whatever that is.
Anyone have any advice on this latest problem??  :-\


I am seriously thinking about a total rebuild of the computer and GPL, which might see me out of action for a while ( lol not that you guys will notice any difference in the races as I am usually disco'd way before the finish!!).

 I now think that is the only way I am going to get back to some stable and reliable racing as I appear to be wasting my time even trying at the moment  :-\ :-\ :-\

UPDATE 19:00 monday.

I thought.."I'll download and try the GPL Demo, just to prove that this is a software glitch. Guess what?  Perfect d/load and install in different directory and  " cannot find glide2x.dll" ???  Does this mean that it is a graphics card issue?  My knowledge of computers will not keep me afloat at these depths  lol.

Clive

Maybe it can help if you have a look here : http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=3714


2- If you use anything other than a VooDoo card (3dfx rasterizer) for graphics, choose software at first, then apply the D3D and/or OpenGL patch after installation.  Otherwise you will be told "glide2x.dll and redline.dll is missing"

thanks David   ;)

Clive - there's a discussion of that issue over at SRMZ http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=8586&hl=%2Bcannot+%2Bfind+%2Bglide2x.dll (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=8586&hl=%2Bcannot+%2Bfind+%2Bglide2x.dll)

On your PC probs generally, here's what I did when faced with similar XP woes

1) downloaded trial version of Win 7 64 here (perfectly legal): http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/Windows-7.shtml (http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/Windows-7.shtml)
2) clean install of win 7 (not upgrade) on problem PC - your old files will be backed up automatically but I backed up important stuff anyway
3) no need to reinstall GPL - I just reinstalled GEM & pointed it to GPL directory
4) rejoice at suddenly working GPL - celebrate by buying Win 7 64 (I got it super cheap) & typing in license on your 'trial' install
5) let AL overtake freely in gratitude for the rest of the season :D 

Hmmm...as is usually the case both parties seem to have different views here.  I see you admit to running into the back of me, not sure about the warp though, it looks to me that you misjudged your braking, as on the previous laps I seem to gain on you there.  Over to the mods.

As for the pass, I'd been behind you for a couple of laps and rehearsed the move the lap before, when I made the move it was clean, you can see me move through your mirror so you know I am side by side, so I'm not sure what you are unhappy about  ???

I was quite annoyed by you taking me out as after a poor qualifying I missed the grid while fueling, but was seemingly making good progress.  If you hadn't run into the back of me I am pretty sure I'd have cleared off, my best lap was 1.2 secs faster than yours.

Bob.

P.S My wreck finished a few yards ahead of Doni's so surely I should be classified ahead of him...even before modding!

Ah, my underhanded tactic worked. :D *joke BTW, I hadn't intended to run off to let Bob through, but decided to let things play out*

I must admit I cackled, going past shards of their Brabhams, but warp is a fickle mistress not to be messed with, and when I accidentally tapped Doni misjudging the distance between us I thought it was curtains for us both... luckily we both continued without too much damage at that point!

Main aim for me in that race was consistency, one thing was evident - I consistently lack consistency! At least now the leg and arm have healed, despite the unseasonably cold weather.

I've already looked at this one but I would appreciate it if you both raised incident reports and attached client replays so I can check for warp etc.

Bob: A churlish attitude will get you fast...to nowhere.

I didn't say that I was unhappy with your pass.  I said that it was 'risky'.  And as I couldn't see exactly where you were, it, indeed, was.

I shall mount a convincing defence.

Doni

I had a look at the replay of the battle between Doni and Bob. Sorry to say it, Doni, but I don't see where Bob does anything wrong. You kept driving very defensively for nearly 2 laps, to the extent where you actually weaved and blocked him on occasions, and he had to take evasive action to avoid contact. Then, on the s/f straight, you opened up the ideal line and Bob simply took it by going straight and then he kept the inside at T1, passing you as a result. Then you just braked too late and rearended him through Villeneuve on the approach to Tosa. I don't see what kind of a defence you can come up with, considering it was totally your fault, and if anything, Bob has the right to be unhappy about it, not only for the incident but for your way of defending prior to that. In fact I was quite amazed how he managed to avoid hitting you for nearly 2 laps, considering he was all over you in every corner, yet you hit him almost immediately after he goes in front of you. Oh and I don't think warp had anything to do with it, even if there was some warp, it happened after the contact between the two cars. There was never a noticeable gap between them at the point of contact.

Hristo: I don't believe that 3rd party comments from anyone supporting either are appreciated at this time.

I've already commenced my case with capturing numerous screen shots which I will present to the moderator.

I will say no more til the case is moderated and nobody else should either.

I believe once you bring it up in public on the forum that anyone is free to comment, but sure. I said everything I could about it anyway, there's nothing more to add.

Thanks Al and to everyone else who has offered help.

Think I might try the free download of Win 7.
Although I have owned 2 GPL discs in my lifetime I now cannot find one!! so I have ordered a new copy ( only £4 ) intending to reload the whole thing again alongside the win7. Also think I will do a fresh install of GEM.
I know that several of you have said that I do not need to re-install GPL, but I am unsure where my problems are rooted so I figure I have little to lose by starting afresh. I will of course back-up my setups and identities.
As my computer ineptitude is legendary, I suspect that somewhere along the line I have committed some dumb faux pas that has started all of these problems. Each of my fumbling attempts at correction probably sent me further into the maze and now any chance of finding my way out are remote at best ::)
I might be stuck in the pits for the next few races but working towards at least some completed races in the future.
But, don't think I won't be asking for more tekky help as I try to fix things lol!!!

A completely fresh start sounds like a great idea Clive. It's a pain in the backside, but I prefer to totally blitz problem PC's - i.e., backup everything I need (along with everything I don't, just in case) then reformat the drives so I can start with a completely clean sheet.

After an endless series of niggles with my last PC, as an experiment I dumped all commercial software (with the exception of Win 7 & games), dumped all 'dodgy' software (i.e., commercial software that I'd 'acquired', cough) & installed only open-source software for everything (i.e., open source equivalent of MS Office, all imaging software, all video software, all music software - literally everything is open source). It cost nothing, is completely legal & unlike the increasingly-bloated & resource-hungry commercial software, works better than any PC I've ever had. I'm sure half the problems I had were caused by companies like Adobe/Nero/Apple continually foisting fat updates to their software which end up sprawled over every part of my PC & continually fight to hog as much processing power as possible. You only have to look at all the baggage that comes with seemingly-innocuous music software like iTunes, all the programs that work in the background constantly, many of which cannot be removed without serious messing around in your PC's registry.               

sound advice there from Al . i have to agree with what he says about open source software but would like to point out something to you (clive) might not understand , there is a difference between open source / free software and freeware / propriety software . take two different examples , the first is internet explorer .

everybody knows that you can change your browser but not all are open source . chrome and opera are not , but chromium and firefox are .

the second example is adobe acrobat reader . you probably don't even know there are open source alternatives and why would you even use one as acrobat reader is a free download . like Al says adobe do have a habit of installing extras on your pc and for those worried by security adobe software is thought by many to be a large attack vector . it used to be also rather slow (but i haven’t used it for years ) so i would recommend you give something like evince a go .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evince

usually freeware software come loaded with extras you don't want and can clog up your pc , so i'd advice looking for open source options even for those .

john

Yes you're absolutely right John - there is a big distinction between freeware/shareware & open source. Everytime my old mum installs some freeware, she also installs all the useless crap they seem to lump in with it - a few weeks later her PC grinds to a halt under the strain of a huge collection of smiley toolbars/weather webcams from Siberia/dancing cartoon cats, etc, etc !   

Thanks guys. I really think it is time to bite the bullet and have a good clear out, backing up first of course  ;) Fortunately I have a USB hard drive where I can stuff all that I wish to keep.

I am at least partially aware of open source software and certainly very aware of all of the crap that comes with many proprietary/freeware pieces of software.
I am not expecting this exercise to proceed without at least a few glitches, my computer skills will ensure that something screws up lol.

Just waiting for the new GPL disc to drop through the letterbox and I will unleash the pressure washer onto my PC to clean out Windows  ;D

Clive if you use this PC for GPL only it is a good idea to do as you plan.

But if this PC is used also for other purposes maybe a second harddisk is a better way.
Then leave the HDD as it is and add another small HDD to your PC.
Just change the boot drive in the bios and boot from the new drive where you install an extra OS and all things that you need for GPL.
After this you can have a dual boot system that asks you at the start wich system to boot.

I'd have thought that as Doni was in front on the last completed lap that he finishes higher up the ranking than you

er, yeah, I do have some. I think the troubling thing is that, as then, the roads were public highways, and after years without racing they look even more like ordinary roads, and on my camera phone I don't think they look up to much. However, if someone can enlighten me on how to add pics to a post, I'll upload them and you can make your own mind up...

Arf

Arf^3 is quite right Bob - it is completed laps and then time to complete them as a tie-break

I think you need photobucket or a similarprogramme to host your pics ?

Bernie - do you mean I cannot upload them to this site? There is a button above which appears to allow us to upload images, but it only creates img and /img tags, and I cannot see what else to do.

Arf

AFAIK, you can only link to images hosted elsewhere on the 'net, at Photobucket, Picasa, etc. Your ISP may (most do) allow you some (usually very limited) space to host files on their servers, but you'll have to figure that out yourself. Photobucket's pretty easy to use (but isn't responding for me today :( , you get what you pay for :P ).

Arf you can upload them to here but to do so you need to use some form of web hosting like photobucket , picasa etc.
You have to upload the pics to the host server,  then point GPL (using the buttons above ?) to the host site where you uploaded to  , I think you copy the URL then paste it like this (http://url .....)
Havn't tried it myself because its way to complicated for an old fool like me ( actually I dont seem to have the patience for it ) but I'm sure you can sort it , look forward to seeing your Rouen pics , Someone who visited Rouen about 5 years ago posted pics of the track as it is today which I found very interesting , cant remember which web site they were on though  :(

Got it, understand now. Will try to upload them v soon, but don't get your hopes up, all I had was a mobile phone...

I've noted the modding report.  I'll be appealing this with multiple screen shots taken that show otherwise.