SimRacing.org.uk

Grid/server capacity: 28

Practice: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (20 mins)
Race: 20:40 (32 laps)

Track: Portland 1970 Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg81636#post_portland70)

Cars allowed: American V8's pack Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54518#post_american_v8)
                            Chevrolet Camaro SS
                            Dodge Charger
                            Ford Falcon Sprint 351
                            Ford Mustang TA
                            Mercury Cougar TA
                            Plymouth Roadrunner
                            Pontiac GTO
                            Shelby GT500

Time of Day Setting: 14:00
Start: STANDING
Tyre wear: Normal
Fuel consumption: Normal

Server: simracing.org.uk Mondays
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Notes:
(1) It's best if all drivers can make sure they are connected before the Qualifying session as drivers on track during qualifying will not see cars that join after they are on track until they go back to the garage.
(2) Please make sure you are fully aware of the SimRacing.org.uk Rules.
(3) The AI control should be turned off so that you have control of the car at all times, including pitting. Your player file should therefore read
Autopit="0"
Force Autopit Off="1" // Forces autopit always off
No AI Control="1" // AI never has control over car
If you still finding pitting problematic, experience tells us that its less to do with positioning and more to do with approach speed. A slow approach to pit crew chief has proved most reliable.
(4) Driver lists can be found on the Championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=418&theme=5)

Special Notes: The most popular car will be dropped for the remainder of the series.

One World Cup match will clash with this race. Kick off @ 21:00 BST.

No problem for me - I hate football  ;D

So what? ??? ::) :D

Great to have you back with us, we thought we'd lost yer.

This might help for future reference https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=11812.msg212761#msg212761

I'll give the V8s a go this week, and if I can handle them at a reasonable pace then I'll be joining you. Anyone care to share a rough benchmark time, so I know what I'll need to do to keep up? Last time I raced here was a long time ago, with a Cobra and it didn't go well...

I was testing here last night and I think all the cars were in the 1:26-1:27 region but I'll confirm this when I get home tonight.

Thanks for target Tony, half the time it takes me at the moment! ::)

Correction: Best time with full tank is 1:25.4  8)

Car chosen

Tony I can't see Falcon 351 on the server, has it been deleted as most popular car?

No way Bill! Probably a technical glitch i.e. I have screwed up  ::)

Will check it out when I get home tonight.

Thanks Tony. ;D 

All six eligible car makes now ready for you on the server  ;)

Oh well hit the wall at the end of the start/finish straight on lap 5, pitted that lap, got lapped under reapir, left the pits 2 laps later spun on the same corner and got tottalled by a white & green camaro heading straight for me! (i will finish one day soon i guess)  :'(

I was genuinely surprised to win this race. When I saw GT in the pits alongside Erling, and a few other experienced members, I thought I would be struggling.

I knew I had one lap pace for qually and that a 1:21 sec lap was hopefully going to get me somewhere near the front...never expected pole  :o!!!!

I got a magic start and hooked up a clean and fast first lap on cold tyres that gave me a nice cushion back to the pack. It meant that I could concentrate on my braking points and lines without worrying about someone trying to pass. So, I pushed hard for the first 3-4 laps and extended the lead. It cost me a little rubber but I figured track position was worth it. ::) Besides I was worried that GT was playing "the long game" and saving his tyres for the second half of the race. I fully expected him to burst through the field and eat into my lead in the last 10 laps.  :-\

I think this was the first race that I got the tyre wear about right. I eased off after 10 laps and simply monitored the gap back to Erling in 2nd spot, trying to judge my pace to keep the gap around 5 secs. It looked from the lap times and gap that Erlings tyres were in about the same condition as mine, as I could maintain the gap by driving smooth and careful, with enough in hand to stick in a hot lap if I needed it.

By the end of the race I think I had only enough rubber to erase a small pencil line, but it was enough to get me to the flag.

Nice to see a lot of cars on the grid and great fun wrestling these beasts around a nice circuit. Thanks to all who allowed me to lap them cleanly, I hope I did not upset their race too much.

Replay and results now posted.

Great turnout which I hope equaled an enjoyable evenings racing. Thanks everyone  :thumbup2:

Nice to have our latest driver jmtautau join us, welcome. Can you please fill in the drivers details part of your profile please, thank you. (Pouvez-vous s'il vous plaît remplir dans les pilotes détails dans votre profil s'il vous plaît, merci).

Oh and we wave bye bye to the Chevrolet Camaro SS.

Very enjoyable race and great to see such a large grid.

Was delighted when I joined the server and saw that the local Camaro Club was there - that meant my preferred ride; the Pontiac would survive yet another round. However, just as I had posted a rather mediocre laptime, SneakyClive and someone else left and quickly rejoined. Was cursing under my breath "Bugger, bet those b**** are now in Pontiacs too..".  Sure enough, it now started to look like a Pontiac gathering too, but fortunately it was still outnumbered by Camaros.  ;)

Knocked a considerable amount off my pb in qualy, landing me 3rd on the grid, but still looking positively amateurish next to Clive's pole time. Got a decent start and slipped into 2nd.  Geezer hard on my case the first laps, but he was soon replaced by Matt on a Mission!
Slowly but inexorably, he reeled me in.  As he was the only one ahead of me in the Championship, he was exactly the one I least wanted to see getting bigger in my mirrors. Gap shrunk to 1 sec or less, when Matt's rear stepped out, coming out of a corner.  That gave me an extra second, and then to my relief, the gap slowly grew again. Stabilized around 5 secs after a number of laps.

With the threat from Matt seemingly neutralized, I still fully expected to see the gap to 3rd drop rapidly, once GoldTop made his way through the field. Never occurred though, and as the race wore on, I counted down the remaining laps, getting ever more hopeful I could hang on to 2nd.

Catching Clive was never an option, unless he made a mistake. That seemed unlikely though, as he appeared in total control, maintaining a 5 sec gap between us, and thus not really under pressue.

Matt and I now tied for 1st, with Postal close behind.  Looks like the stage is set for some exiting races in the rest of the season  :)

Cheers,
Erling

Grats to Clive on win
Grats to Podium

What an enjoyment this race was, great track and the Camaroo ss was a beaut to drive, had a bad start i think Jmtautau in front of me missed his gears and i shot into the back of him sorry about that, first half of race some good close driving with Tony and Tibernius, 2nd half of race a bit lonely Tibernius took off in front and tony dropped back.

That was an odd one  ???

Offline testing had me fastest in the Falcon by a good margin and further testing produced better times. Come race night and it became a complete turbot to hassle around the track. Great looking grid and pleased to note that turn 1, lap 1 wasn't a crash fest, well done driver's  :thumbup1:
Spent a lot of my race being a mobile roadblock to whomsoever was unlucky enough to find themselves behind me. Span off a few times and did manage a few fast laps but ultimately I felt that I could have done better here  :'(

Shame we lost the Camaro as I missed the chance to drive her but rules is rules. Anyone care to guess which two cars will be left to battle out the final event at Riverside?

During my track research for next season I have stumbled across some circuits that these cars will be great racing at so expect to see them again in Season 15.

Next up in this series is Lime Rock Mountain. Faster track than this'n (IMO) and with some corners offering great drifting opportunities. Looking forward to it so might start testing early.  ;)

I only chose the Pontiac because it seemed the quickest straight out of the box when I did some quick off line testing . Let's face it, I still know nothing about the various attributes of the cars in GTL, so I go with my first gut feel only. Unless Arnold and Mabel get involved.

One thing quickly became apparent with the Pontiac, and the setup that I was running. It had the potential to be very quick, but needed an awful lot of rubber to harness the power. Lime Rock might present a similar dilemma, especially with all those long fast right handers I can see the front left tyre melting inside 10 laps if pushed hard.  So Slime Crock might be a lesson in tyre management????

It might just be the way I am setting these cars up that tortures the tyres, but it looks like everyone was suffering from lack of rubber towards the end of this race.

Was a good race. I was catching Coyote for a while as he says, but I started trying to be kind to the tyres as they
were wearing annoyingly fast, I had the same sort of wear rate in the Camaro, so I don't think I was disadvantaged
I took the Falcon because it was the lightest, and it was quite good round here. Lime rock is to me a tight
twisty little track so the heavy cars may not be ideal  ???

It's Lime Rock Mountain guys.....................not Lime Rock Park

Very different

I think that no matter what you do, 1500 kg of Yankie metal is going to take its toll on the tyres.  I tried all the available cars for this race, and they all seemed to suffer from excessive tyre wear.  My left front was around 30 at the end of the race  :o

Btw, for someone claiming to not know what he's doing, you're doing pretty darn well...  ;D

Cheers,
Erling

Late decision to join this race so just picked the Camaro as I don't think I've raced one before. Started at the back and steadily made my way up as far as Postal in the Pontiac but just couldn't get a decent run on him to make a pass. I eventually got a bit too close in the chicane and had to jump on the brakes to avoid contact resulting in a spin and putting me back to square one.

Enjoyed the chase back and caught Postal again with a few laps to go who defended very well. Tried all my tricks and at one point thought I might sneak past as we approached traffic but couldn't quite make it count. Nice race  8)

Well I guess I have a few years experience of sim racing, but that has all been in GPL until now. So I am having to do most of these races by the seat of my pants. Although I try and keep an eye on the forums and enjoy the banter, real life does not allow me much time for any serious practice offline lately and much of my preparation is immediately before any race.

 I might know some of the tracks that GTL uses ( although Portland was new to me) but the cars are all totally unknown territory.  I really am on a steep learning curve and only just beginning to feel the changes to setups in terms of how it affects the car in GTL or PnG. Also I have no experience of which cars are better or worse at various circuits, and have to guess at which one would be best to use based entirely on how they feel in a few laps off line practice.

By far the biggest new thing for me is tyre wear, because in GPL although you can overheat the tyres and lose traction, you can also ease back and cool them to regain control. Plus of course the tyre life is unlimited, they do not wear out, so provided you keep the temperatures within certain limits they never reduce in grip no matter how long or hard the race is. What a luxury lol!

Well GPL is obviously a good teacher  :)   I never made it past the demo, which I found very fascinating, but excruciatingly difficult - don't recall ever managing a full lap without wrecking the car.  It's too far back for me to remember, but probably only had a joystick as controller, so may have been more manageable with a proper wheel instead.  Lol, non-wearing tyres, yup that would be a luxury indeed!


Lol, I could have told you that based on our Nürburgring race - he's friggin' impossible to get past..  ;)

Cheers,
Erling

I can't comment on whether GPL is or was a good training ground for other sims, but it certainly teaches you to look after the engine etc There is no way that GPL cars would survive the speedshifts I hear in GTL and PnG. Maybe that is where the luxury tyres balance out ??? Have to admit I only dipped into GTL and PnG over last Christmas as something different to play with.

Due to various things in real life that require my time and clashing with race nights in GPL, I was treating GTL as somewhere to relax and escape for an hour from all of the stress etc. it has certainly filled that gap  ;)

geez yes! a joystick in GPL would be a serious handicap IMHO.

But, there are still guys running on KEYBOARD or even MOUSE!!! I have to confess I am not too surprised when they try and modify the scenery  ::)

If you feel like giving it another go drop in on UKGPL, there is a new season about to start soon and always space for new members. If you check the forum there are several fun races between now and the start of the new season...(Nurby with 67 GT's on Friday!!).
 We have about 6 different mods running from the easy 65's and F2's ( an absolute blast!!) right up to the 69 winged beasts and then the 67 GT's and the awesomely powerful 71 Can Ams ( whoever thought that the idea of an 8 litre V8 strapped to a go-kart was a good idea needs locking up!!).

Lol, I could have told you that based on our Nürburgring race - he's friggin' impossible to get past..  ;)

Cheers,
Erling


[/quote]

Well that was not GT's incompetence in the Camaro that prevented him to make a decent pass. I just managed to DL this track before qualy and discovered i had no setup for the GTO, so loaded a set which i made for a Mercury Cougar (eeeekkkss) Checked if these settings looked like anything i would come up with and filled up the tank.
Luckely it was not a very hard track to learn, however managing to keep it on track on wearing rubber more so. This meant when i negotiated a turn i was using full lock left and right most of the time  ::)   I was using all of the tarmac indeed, so i can see i was a little difficult to pass. Will practice for next event though!
Enjoyed the racing guys!

Night went better than expected, new PBs and finishing.  Towards end of race had a few laps in company with Kurt, other than that had lonely race just trying not to delay lapping cars - par for course.  ;D

Thanks for organising programme Tony, nice to see a bigger turnout.  :rockon:

Can't imagine how to play GPL with keyboard or mouse  :o

Thanks for the info and suggestion. Does sound tempting, but I'm already pressed for time with regards to GTL, so don't think I can cope with more - and GPL doesn't strike me as something you can do halfheartedly..  ;)

Would have to get hold of the game too - is that even possible in this day and age ?  Has the graphics and/or sound been updated, or is it still at 1998 level ?

Cheers,
Erling

If you want the gane CD I am pretty sure it is still available at about £5 various places . Plus of course, just like GTL, there is a huge free database of circuits

(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000062VQK/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=479289247&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00004U1Y7&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0XTFTKPZV5CJMSA62MWR)



Although the game is still used on-line with 36fps there is a 60fps patch that is gaining in popularity and that improves the visuals a little.

I know all about time constraints Erling, but if you want to get GPL working I suggest you go to UKGPL and follow the guide and advice. Then ask loads of questions like I did!!   ;D

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6787.0.

Thanks for the info and links Clive.

Remarkable that it is still possible to buy after all these years - speaks for the longevity I guess.

Read a few of the rave reviews on Amazon.  It does surely sound tempting, but I'm afraid it can easily become a very time consuming obsession, so not sure I dare jump on that wagon..  :)

Cheers,
Erling

Lol I am NOT addicted, I just prefer to spend my time with GPL instead of...decorating, gardening, washing up....eating...sleeping etc.
 But I am definitely NOT addicted!!! ::)

LOL, you're not helping persuade me..  ;D

Cheers,
Erling