SimRacing.org.uk

Staying in France for the GT races we move to another popular GPL track but one at which we have not raced in GT's before...it should provide some interesting car choices.

Albi on the airfield perimeter road has often been used, so no excuses for not "knowing" this track. A couple of long straights but also some corners where handling and braking will be needed and that is something that is going to provide a challenge.

The rules are simple….

You have a free choice of car for every race, BUT you cannot drive the same car twice. So if you take part in every round you will drive 5 different GT cars and 5 different Can Am cars.

You are allowed a single Shift-R  followed by a Stop’n’Go  which must be taken  within 1 lap.

All starts will be from a loose staggered  grid. There will be NO rolling starts this season, so please be careful .

"Please ensure you are aware of the in-series penalty rules. Details are here (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=10879.0). Drivers incurring a penalty will receive a PM informing them of this."

Race list	iGOR
Server	to be announced
IP address	tba
Date	15-03-2013
Race time	Race starts at 09:30 UK time
Qualifying time	Between 30 and 60 minutes, starting no later than 21:00 UK time
Track	Albi
Mod	GT
Damage model	INT (Each driver is allowed a single Shift-R)
Race length	35 laps
Replay	Available here (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Replays/Archive/Season24/SportsCar/)

I will start UKGPL_8 at 20:30 UK time with 35 laps in Int long mode

Many thanks Axel.

My GPL is still not functioning so I might not be able to take part in Friday's race. but i should be able to get into the chat room to wish you all good luck  ;)

Up date 20:30... I have finally got GPL working, but the gremlins have not yet been evicted. So, I should be at the start of the GT race Friday even if I do not finish.. :-\

Sitting comfortably behind Dean in 4th when black smoke started puffing out the back of the Ferrari... reset & stop 'n' go dropped me right down the field but great fun racing with Nicky who was applying heavy pressure in his Mirage for many laps. Well done Mark, Dean & Evil.

Grats, MJ. Fun race today, and good job by the lapped traffic, thanks guys.


Thanks for the unintentional gift of P2, but good to see you finish one. I was wondering which Ferrari (going the wrong way  :o ) that was I passed in Virage du Parc on the final lap. Realised I was faster chasing you than leading, and the gap back to Raoni was coming down, so better to get 3rd than risk anything. Have you tried a different monitor? The screen blackouts you've described sound (to my very basic knowledge of electronics) like you might have a dying capacitor or something in there (heats up, stops working, cools because it's not working, starts working again, lather, rinse, repeat).

Surprised to find that I was the only Porsche on the grid, at a track that rewards a good handling car through the corners. For some of the race at least it was just like peak hour on the freeway with all those fat lumps of iron in front beetling thru the corners then disappearing in a fumy haze down the straights.
Had an entertaining dice with Sergio for a few laps of cut and thrust. Sorry if I gave you a wee tap in DD about 4 laps in Sergio. I was trying to turn in under your whale and get a good drive out up the inside. Didn't seem to upset your car too much, and I assure you, I wasn't trying to 'push' past. I was really enjoying the dice though....:)

A bit later I picked up Dave Rainier as he was departing the pits after, I presume, an S 'n G. Drove my butt off trying to keep the buffer I needed between us so that he couldn't easily close the gap. Managed that for quite a few laps, until I ran it wide thru Parc, I think...shot across the track to the other side when it gripped up, then had trouble stopping it in the grass....Ended up parking up against the END of a haybale. Needed to back up before I could get out of there. Mark, Evil and Dean came on the scene, which held me up a little, but also the cars in front....which let me get somewhat closer to David after his earlier determined attempt to squeeze by. I did make it hard for him, by design..... ;)

The laps ran down very quickly, just trying to keep Dave's 2d in close proximity, then on the last lap, stupid spin in DD....after kicking it there all race. Very disappointing.
Enjoyed the race heaps though, and I hope I made it difficult for some that I came across.......lol
Great fun, Grats to the podium Wallahs.....and thanks also to the guys that made my race enjoyable.

 :) ;D :D
Big hand to Mark, Dean and Clive !

Yeah , as usual it was big fun racing you Al .
Apart from that, it wasn’t a pleasure to try moving those 1to weight with four wheels and no brakes round the track .lol

It was gratifying to make it to the end of the race, which is a rare occurence for me lately. I suppose I should be grateful for 3rd place given my recent probs, but I had 3 short screen blackouts each of which had a major effect on my result.
I was pleasantly surprised to get 2nd spot on the grid after a tight qualifying session and had even more reason for optimism when I realised that I had Mark in his 2F on pole. Of the GT's I think the 2F is about the slowest off the grid and the Lola one of the quickest to get going  ;). Qually on race fuel proved that I had the pace to match the big 2F so maybe I could pinch first spot off the grid?

Sure enough, Mark's white tank was sluggish off the grid and I risked a few extra revs to punch down to T1 where I had the outside line and the faster entry. This allowed me to get the T1-2-3-4 complex nailed on a clear track and I emerged onto the straight already with a healthy lead. I was careful on cold tyres for the initial laps and monitored the gap to Mark's 2F until prib informed me that he was beginning to creep closer as he got some heat into his rubber.
A few quicker laps stabilised the gap and was lapping quite comfortably until the first blackout at the midpoint of DD. When my screen recovered I was parked on the infield and was able to watch Mark cruise past *****!!! :-\
I rejoined just ahead of Dean and it took me a lap or two to regain my composure and pull away from Dean and begin to close down Mark.
Slowly the gap was coming down and I knew that if I could just get into the slipstream I would be able to give Mark some grief. Just a few more laps and I would be in business.
Enter the second blackout!! This time approaching DD ( why is it always at a critical point and never at the start of a straight??) when the darkness cleared I was facing the wrong way and able to watch Dean sweep past ******###!!!!! :cursing:

Once again I had to control the adreniline rush and smooth out my driving in order to catch Dean. but slowly his gearbox got bigger. It became apparent that I had the advantage through T1-2-3-4 and was gaining a chunk of time there. Eventually I was in the right place as we approached T1 and Dean ran just a fraction wide, compromising the rest of that complex. I lined him up and absolutely nailed the gas through T3 and T4 to emerge onto the straight alongside his Lola, but crucially on the inside for DD  ;D. It was just a case of matching his braking point and making the classic block pass into DD.......back to 2nd place but Mark was out of sight and barring a problem had 1st sewn up.

I steadily pulled a safe gap back to Dean, but he was always close enough to profit if I made any sort of mistake so I tried to just maintain the gap and drive at 95%.
Last lap and 2 corners to go, 100mtrs lead on Dean, 2nd place beckoned and......3rd blackout!!! Once again I recovered to see Dean pass before my eyes to steal my 2nd step on the podium.
Grats to Mark on a faultless race and to Dean for some great racing.

As regards my blackouts. The monitor is only about 2yrs old and is a 23" flat screen HP. I would be disappointed if it was already failing. The problem that I have is that there could be any number of reasons for the problem as it is totally random.  I could go out and spend good money on a new monitor only to find that I still have the problem?? I might try and "borrow" a monitor from my office and try that over a weekend, but if the gremlins decide to have a weekend off it might prove nothing. :-\

 :)
Clive as to your PC blackouts. I recently got the same probs and it turns out my Avira Free Antivirus program changed his backround behaviour. Changes simply came by one of the daily updates without a warning. However only way to stop this software was via msconfig & uncheck all entries of these antivirus software been listed. Just close via right click on mouse etc. doesn’t really stopped that program from working completely.
Since I did no black screens anymore on my PC. ( I even got them offline running GPL ) .

Well, maybe you have sort of same trouble in a way with some software.
Just type msconfig and hit enter . hide all Microsoft stuff and study what kind of programs are left device to start with boot up of PC. Surely you will find some are unimportant for running GPL only .

Good luck

Clive, if you test out another monitor make sure & test another set of leads as well, as it could just as well be a set of dodgy signal cables. Having said that, I think it's unlikely to be monitor or cables - in my experience the chief culprit for such things is often the PC's power supply unit - they trigger all manner of quirks when they start overheating/failing. If you have access to a spare PSU or can borrow one temporarily from another PC, I'd definitely give that a whirl.

I assume you've cleaned all the dust & accumulated crud from around the CPU fan, checked all the case fans are running & also given the graphics card a thorough going over? Not sure what graphics you're running but often they provide some software that will show you what temperature the card is running at - this could be revealing. Same with your CPU - would be worth restarting & entering the BIOS after the PC has been on for an hour or so, just to see what temperature the CPU is registering.

That was my first proper go with the big white fridge, and it held up admirably.  Snuck pole position from Evil but it wasn't until I was on the grid that I remembered the drawback of using the Chaparral.  Sure enough I got beat off the line but managed to hang on to 2nd.  Settled in, but found the rear tyres getting a bit too excited in Evil's slipstream.  Then he's off at the top hairpin and I'm in the lead.  From there it was reasonably straight forward.   8)

Regarding your blackouts, Evil:  Are you sure it's not some hidden away hibernation or power-saving option in Windows?  If they happen on a regular basis it must be based on a timer of some kind.  What do you do to recover from them: wiggle the mouse or press a key?

Had a lousy start. Johnny O crept up my inside but not quiet far enough to overtake. So then guessing game is on:Is he coming or not. He politely let me stay in front while I kept going slow and wide with him in the blind and I didn t dare to cut in.After that I had a minor miss that let Fulvio by and then I kept my position until 10 laps to go . Then Johnny who must have had an off came up behind me. He was clearly faster than me so I let him by hoping that I could "ride" with him back to Fulvio who had some 4 secs on me. A pitting Fezza messed up that plan as he came out together with johnny and they had a dice on their own. I stayed on my position till end. The Mirage handled wonderful, but I guess another choice could served me better. Its just that I like the Mirage so much :)

Clive, a shame you are still having problems. Could be any number of the issues previously mentioned but I would seriously consider trying a different monitor. Failing capacitors are a big problem with monitors and televisions. The screen blackouts are exactly the issue I had for ...probably over a year. I got away with it most times but when the lights go out there is no telling where you'll end up on the racetrack.    ??? 

There are numerous self help videos on the net and many companies sell the repair kits. I was ready to toss my monitor(and pc) out the window, or through the window, until I found the solution.

Good Luck

Peace

RJ

Had a go in qually but just felt ill basically and as I could only get within eight seconds in between coughs I didn't really fancy it. Watched Comic Relief which was as funny as toothache. <sigh>