SimRacing.org.uk

Season 26 Professionals Trophy, Round 4, Laguna Seca

Welcome to the Professionals Trophy for the 1965 Grand Prix cars.
This time we cross the pond to visit our american friends in sunny California.

Laguna Seca was built in 1957 after the nearby Pebble Beach Road Races (another track used by UKGPL) were abandoned for being too dangerous.  The first race, held on November 9, 1957, was won by Pete Lovely driving a Ferrari 500 TR Sports Car.  Several Trans-Am races have been held at Laguna Seca but Formula 1 races were never held there.  The track has frequently been used for motorcycle races most notably the AMA Superbike Series, World Superbikes and MotoGP.

Division Moderator	=	Badblood
Race List	=	IGOR
Server	=	UKGPL_8
IP Address	=	tba
Race date	=	04-03-2014
Qualification Time	=	~20:45  UK time -> 30-45 min
Race Time	=	race starts at 21:30 UK time
Track	=	Laguna Seca - laguna67 (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Tracks/Laguna Seca)
Variant	=	65F1 the 2.02 Release of the 65mod should be used
Damage Model	=	PRO
Race length	=	~50 min -> 42 laps
RED ZONE	=	From the start to the exit of T4 (before the uphill climb)
Password	=	see above (#post_event_password)
Replay	=	you will get here (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Replays/Archive/Season26/Pros/)

Driver lists and series rules can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=430&theme=6).

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.

Moderating The red zone will be fully moderated for lap 1 only. For this event the red zone will be the first lap up to the exit of T4.

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.

I ran off some laps in trials for this one today.  The Honda is a hoot around here.  Best I could manage was an 11:20 with not much more to be put on the table.  Not likely to scare anyone but it is fun!

I anticipate a terrific if tiring race!  :)

Nice tight track, anti-clockwise, with a good rhythm...I expect it's hard to pass here, and it's very tight after the start...hope to have a 1m10ish racepace without burning RF and blowing up the engine, and not hitting a kerbtire...knock on wood, and need to drive smoothly ;)

Hopefully an exciting and clean race for all! :)

Am not sure that went well at all... struggled to find a balance in qualifying, settled on something cobbled together from the pack I had, modified the gears a bit, drained the fuel and went for it in the last 4 minutes. Got 5th on the grid with what can only be described as a "dirty" lap. Felt good and would have been better had I not screwed up T1.

Clive found the start a bit sideways, and whilst 4th felt a little good I only fell further back. Serious warp whenever anybody got near me, either in front or behind, put paid to any kind of race feel, and the car only felt good in clear air. On lap 22 (just over halfway) I clipped a tyre on the T1 chicane and it threw me into the very solid tree ripping a corner off.

With 12 laps to go a valve made my engine kaputt...

Could have become a great finish with Clive so near after my spin...

Grats to podium and finishers :thumbup1:

Very uneventful race for me. Had a good quali with a PB, but Uli had another überlap and smashed my hopes for a pole ;)

In the race I tried to follow Uli, but he had the edge, and followed at 2-3s...then after Uli had lapped Arf, and Arf spun in front of me in the hairpin, Uli went off at T1. From then on it was basically keeping it on track and manage the tiretemps...didn't have fast laps in the race, but pretty consistent and solid race for me :) Lucky and kind of easy win, with Uli's retirement...

Sorry to see many have bad luck, but well done Tristan and Clive (lead lap) and finishers ;)

Well I had a starring role in the mechanical report for this race - 3 separate mentions....and yet I still feel under-represented! Something I have never experienced in years of GPL happened tonight. It felt as if my steering broke in the middle of the straight coming down to T8 and I went flying off the track. After this T8 was impossible for me (and the mechanical report says very light damage.....................................) as the car seemed to ground on its rubbers any time I tried to take T8, and braking was plain scary everywhere. I was about to retire when I saw Uli crash, and soon after another person retired... the car was challenging to drive to say the least, but thought I'd see what position I could achieve by attrition. The answer was P6, which was amazing given that my lap times varied between 1:16 and 2:00....

Grats to Rob and Tristan .

For me 3rd place was just about the best I could have hoped for after the start.  :-\

I think I just about nailed the perfect start in the BRM and Robert got a little too much wheelspin. The result was that I was inside of Robert as we approached that cone on the apex of the crest. I could hear Robert alongside and thought  "he does not know I am here!!!"  I watched for his front tyre and kept as far to my left as I could, but when his tyre did appear it was obvious that both cars were not going to get past the cone. I know from past mistakes that the cones in these parts are filled with concrete, so I opted for a bit of Rallycross and dived down over the bank  :(.

I trundled along the grass towards the Esses and waited for everyone to pass before rejoining absolutely last and 3-4 secs back from the last car.

It was hero to zero I guess lol!

From then on I just pushed hard every lap picking of cars and passing those who came to grief. With 15 laps to go I was in 5th..then I think Uli retired and I was 4th, but Axel was way ahead and I thought that would be as good as I would get. But then he was right there in front and I could smell 3rd place and a podium  ;D Very slowly I was creeping up on him until his engine exploded on the S/F straight and I was 3rd!!

Robert and Tristan were too far ahead to catch even at WR pace unless they made a mistake, so I just kept lapping at 1:11 pace to the flag.

It might have been more interesting if I had not dropped to last on Lap 1, but I had huge fun chasing down car after car as I fought back up through the field.

I have to thank a couple of cars who allowed me to pass without any fight and to those cars I lapped who made it very clean and easy .

GRATS Robert, Tristan and Clive and all finishers
Bad luck to me this time! Engine Trouble :(
My Engine exploded when i shift down in front of T1 - very surprisingly. The engine was neither overheated and RPM were only about 12000 when she blows up!? What a mess. Have had fun until that moment THX ...
I'm looking forewad to Spa. Did you know the NEW historically correct Spa-Version?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0ykJgs02nQ
Enjoy it, it's great!!!!

Sorry to hear Uli, thanks, I was on the edge with my engine, and afraid she would blow. Did set taller 4th and 5th for race and shifted earlier, which cost me laptime, and still got lucky the engine did hold. When you retired I backed down a notch as well, managing tires and engine...

Have seen that promo vid, stunning track!

Sorry to hear Clive. I knew you were kind of close in my blind spot, but certainly didn't want to squeeze you, I felt I held my line ...but hate to see you lose out like that :( Still a great comeback ;)

Also thanks to the lapped cars for being courteous ;)

Congratulations to Robert on a fine drive!  Well done, sir.

Good job by Tristan to score P2 and a fine comeback by Clive to net P3.

A pretty handy P4 pour moi.  Rather unexpected to finish that high in the standings but some shunts and engine blowups put the boot into many.  Bad luck, chaps.

I had a fine dice with Dave in his Ferrari.  For the longest time, I was holding him steady with a gap back to him of 3-4 seconds but then I bungled the T1 tire(tyre)complex, lost a lot of momentum and he gunned it up the inside for T4 to snaffle the position.  It was a bit of a risky pass(I wasn't entirely sure exactly where he was but knew he was coming)and thought the better of axing down to the apex.  Hey!  I woulda done the same, Dave.  :)

After only a couple more laps, though, Dave spun away the hard-fought position and let me get away to score P4.

Spa next where I do not expect the drag-heavy Honda to perform well.  Much as at Monza in that regard.  The slipstream is my only chance to hang with the gang.

Doni

Mod published