SimRacing.org.uk

Season 26 Works Trophy - Round 6 - Albi

For this round we return to Europe, France to be exact and the small town of Albi in the Midi-Pyrénées region.  Racing first started on the Circuit des Planques in 1933, the pits and startline being on a short straight before the road twisted down into St.Antoine. At St.Juery the cars had to contend with an extreme hairpin bend, followed by a railway level crossing. The 5.531 mile circuit was shortened in 1951 to 1.859 miles, before being closed in 1955 following the Le Mans disaster. Racing resumed at the nearby Aerodrome in 1959 which is the circuit we now know as Albi. The Chicane du Sequestre was introduced in 1988 but we will be using the original layout as raced in 1967.

For Season 26, all drivers must complete at least 50% of race distance to be classified.

Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL_GPG
IP address = 62.195.2.111
Race date = 23-03-2014
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 = Albi (http://ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Tracks/Albi)
Variant = 67F1
Damage Model = PRO
Race length = 50 minutes (laps 42)
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Replays Available here (http://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/inc_replaysS26_js.aspx)

Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=427&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. 

Moderating The red zone will be fully moderated for lap 1 only. For this event the red zone will be from the start to Ligne Droite Tarn. 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.

The chassis token system is explained on the Works (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=427&theme=6) standings page. 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.

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

Password: see above (#post_event_password)

42 laps. :helpsmilie:

Hey, look at the laptimes... ~1:10!  ;D

Yeah, short lap in comparison to others. *cough*GreenHell ;D

Saying that, this circuit is very hard on steering, more so than usual. Mainly right-hand turns, one proper left-hander to speak of. Stiffer left-hand side of the car needed to counter that.

Iestyn looks like the man to beat, if he's going to run Eagle, with a 1m09.4 racelap on GPLRank  :o

Never drove here before, happily an easy track to learn. Started with my asymmetrical Eagle Monza setup.
Changed it to a symmetrical suspension setup. Still looking for right gearings, and maybe finetuning diff and tires...

So, taking a red Antipasti Eagle here, but not much chance to practise anymore, as I'm going to Remco Hitman tomorrow checking out his equipment  :P

Attilio looks great with a 1:10.68 in a BRM. I'm stuck at 1:10.74 in the 312. I have to hope I'm at least consistent.

Just did a few sub1m10s, but in the Eagle, and in quali trim. In racetrim best lap 1m10.25s so far. True Greg, you're a consistent driver, it's not for nothing you are leading the standings! :) That's a great hotlap by Attilio in the BRM ;)

Anyway, hoping to be able to fight for the win, but first need to make sure to keep it on track and to finish. Really need a solid result in Works...  ::)

PS: that 1m09.4s racelap by Iestyn is done in the Eagle...

HI Folks :)

 I hope that the MOTO GP Race ( night race in Quatar )  will be finish before our race...... if you can don't missit !.....GP start at 17h (check it ) ...moto3, moto2 and moto gp ......ENJOY  ;D

 ;D...do you know what need a F1 pilote to be a MOTO GP pilote ???......     ......watch the MOTOGP ! ;D

Unfortunately,  we've lost it from Eurosport this year :(
BT sport can probably whistle!

Highlights on ITV4 tomorrow  :'(

Oh dear, I used to watch it on BBC, now I have to look for the German or Austrian(HD) version...

I'm just back home, and worn out after checking out his 13Nm Bodnar wheel, his Tyrrell P34 replica cockpit and such...have gotten a lot more respect for right foot brakers, heel/toe and shifting in H-pattern...especially very impressed with http://game-stockcar.com.br/?lang=en

Man, I sucked, like a n00b! I can do the trick with GPL, braking left without clutch, being respectably fast as far I should say that about myself, but right now with both feet back on the ground, having an inferiority complex....

PS: no MotoGP feed here, and I've got all channels but HBO and Fox sports...

Bugger. Engine blew on lap 2. Had a bad feeling about using the Coop here...wish I'd listened to myself.....

GPL locked up with no response when I was on lap 24 and leading by 5 seconds. Just cannot get lucky.... :(

Glad to finish :) . I got the BRM set up pretty good with a Silverstone setup, pretty much only adjusted gearing. Managed to survive the lap 1 accident and didn't hit Arf when his engine went just in front of me a lap later. Was able to drive a pretty good pace after that. A recovering Dean passed me about 1/4 through the race, unfortunately he ran into some kind of trouble not much later. In the meantime I ran into some connection troubles, got distracted and spun, handing a spot to Killer Miele. I tried to reel him in but just as I was about to catch him, he pulled over, probably with some kind of mechanical trouble as well. After that I just tried to keep the gap with Greg as close as I could, untill I got lapped a couple of laps before the end. Managed a P6, pretty happy, maximum result I think.

I have to say that up untill the accident, which at first glance appears to be a true accident rather than an oversight, everybody went very well through the first corners despite a very close field. I was on the first row in the BRM and enjoyed the sight very much :) .

Gents, imported the results but found a name I don't recognize.  Who was driving as Killer Miele?

Iestyn asked in chat before the race if he (Killer Miele) could join. I said you (Phil) should decide, as Paul wasn't present. When he joined server I thought you had given permission and pw to him, but obviously not...

So not sure what happened there...

PS: I did accidentally join with BRM checking server, and again after that...sorry for that, I know it's not allowed, but it wasn't intentional...

The name rings a bell here... Either way, he was a very skilled and fair driver in today's race :) .

That was a fairly pleasing race for me. I managed to hold on the the championship lead for one more week. I got a PB in qualifying with a real possibility of picking .2 or .3 more seconds had I run the best lap I could. I thought Attilio might be 1 second faster than me in the same car. I was happy to get within .5 seconds. It was nice to be within a second of Robert too. I also finished as well as I had hoped.

It looked like we got a clean start from my perspective. Nice job guys! Clive made an unfortunate mistake exiting the hairpin? I was lucky I had room to avoid him but he must have collected others behind me. I struggled a little early so I never got a chance to see if I could stick with Iestyn using his slipstream. I gradually fell back about 4 seconds until I lost my concentration around lap 10 and spun. I couldn't get going decent for another lap or two. After that I started shifting earlier and by the half way point I quit using 1st gear. Even if I had ran a great early race I doubt I could have kept close to Iestyn without risking an engine failure. Since nobody behind me had the a car to pressure me I was able to take it pretty easy most of the race. I did screw up again on the last lap and spun for a second time in turn 1. Guess I relaxed too much thinking the race was over.

Thanks guys. I appreciate it.

I race with him some. He's a pretty good driver. It was probably a bit tough on him today because he didn't know about car choices until just prior to qualifying starting. He spent all his time on the practice server in the Lotus.

Quali went well, had initially a lot of traffic, sometimes with cars on outlaps, and that was actually just what I did need. A bit of pepper in the bottom so to speak.  ;D First run ran a 1m09.8s, but Jethro bettered it. Second run ran a 1m09.5s, and was very pleased with that, pole and PB!

Race, had a good start of the line, but went in too hard on cold tires into T1, and went on the grass and lost 2 positions to Jethro and Tristan, with Attillio and Iestyn close behind. Jethro had a great pace early on, and had a 5s lead to Tristan when he discoed just over halfway. Basically followed Tristan, but everytime I got closer, I made a mistake myself. Towards the end I pushed a bit more, but went off at the hairpin losing a few seconds, and another mistake between T1-2 meant I denied myself a shot at the win.

Very tough luck Jethro, you had the pace to win, very impressive. Tristan ran almost faultless, and deserved the win after Jethro discoed. I think I had slightly more pace, but made a few mistakes. Very happy to have a good result after all the outer-race trouble I ran in this Works season!

Congrats Tristan, good job Attilio, and well done finishers. Lapped cars were very professional giving room, kudos to you as well :) Great race for me!

Lovely track Albi, always conducive to close racing. That said, sounds like I should explore the stiffer left side that Jethro mentions (and Rob for Monza)..

I have fond memories of a D2 win here (and Clive wrapped up the title), in the Brabham, so took that combo and Rob could breathe a sigh of relief  ;D but to be honest, I doubt I could have bettered his Pole and PB. Good job!  :P

I wonder if it was helped at all by trying Remco's setup before hand? Very impressive.. maybe it helps unlock speed as well 8).. The improved FFB and pedals must help improve the sense of realism a huge amount. Also managed to catch the last two laps of the MotoGP on a replay on BTSport app pre-race. Well worth watching if you get the chance!

Gradually got the pace down in qual, to line up near the sharp end. In the race, I managed to get a good flow going, after following Rob at T1 (Greg did well to let me get back in before we would have gone two wide in that section) and relearned how to drive the Brabham (and the finesse of braking in general), so my pace might be gradually coming back to me. The hairpin was hectic, with Clive getting a bump with Attilio while side by side, and spinning.. I just accelerated out of the way of the spinning Lotus. Greg behind did well to avoid right, but Ronnie P behind him took a full hit (and Clive lost his left side wheels).

After that, I was close to Attilio, and even in his slipstream once. But, I slipped up under braking when passing Ronnie P on the outside into the hairpin (for lapping), and re-passed him again on the next straight, causing him to fall back a bit from Doni, who he was chasing. Attilio came back to me at 3/4 distance, which then saw me brake too hard into the penultimate corner and go off.. after that I just tried to get a sub-10/PB/fastest lap, as I had a gap to Greg behind. A few mini-spins later (and a new PB), I stuffed up a chance for a sub-10 near the end, after a perfect first half of the lap. Jethro was definitely unlucky to disco when it looked like he had the win wrapped up. Well done podium!

PS. What does F1 1967 W/T mean? Hovering over the race finishing position, I see this for some cars.. ???

--

Killer Miele is Frank Miele.. he races with Greg, Doni, Tristan and I in oAo. I told him about UKGPL, after a practice session on the oAo server, and he showed an interest in joining and racing. So, I gave him the web link, but he found it too confusing to join/register/post (his native language is German). I have sympathy with him here, as I wouldn't have been able to race with LFGPL unless I was guided through the processes. Pre-race, I explained the coins to him, and said if he took Cooper here he could have a free car choice for Mexico. He found a setup and was good to go - so I tried to get him to click the registration thread poll again, but it got lost in translation and he said he couldn't find the button. Having missed some races from clicking the poll too late and not getting the p/w myself, I then said that perhaps Andreas Gebhardt could help him out later/explain in German, and gave him the p/w when it became clear (with 30 mins to go) that the server would not be full. I know he's a clean driver (-45, -205) and told him the red zone lasted until after the hairpin on lap 1. He already had the practice password, so I thought that confirmed at least signing up for an account. I wouldn't have given him the password if I didn't know that he was a clean racer and had merely mucked up the registration process, despite my best efforts to guide him through it. Post-race, Mick Chapman also expressed interest in joining in #oAo, but said he couldn't get the join/register process right either.

Well, first of all apologies to the guys who were involved in the DD crash. I was defending on the inside, Clive gave plenty of room on entry, but then closed a bit on exit, and I was there...Maybe he thought he had cleared me with the late braking? There was still a tiny bit of room to be given on both sides, and we end up touching near the middle of the track, still it was always going to be marginal given how tight and bumpy that corner is..Anyway, it is red zone I think, so will send in my bit of replay for Mods to have their say.

As for the race, I have to be content with the result here, as there were many drivers who were just faster. I managed to keep up with Tristan and Robert for the first part of the race, then little by little I started losing ground, and my gap was suddenly more than 5 secs. A couple of small offs which lost me 4/5 more secs, and there you go...Very impressed with both the leaders and poor Jethro who was driving a faultless race, it will come together soon as he is so quick. Also Iestyn was buzzing around pretty quickly in his Brabham, he kept me company in the second part of the race. Not sure if it was that enjoyable though   ;D ;D.

So, grats to Tristan and Rob for win and podium, and to all finishers, and thanks for the racing, will see you all in Mexico. 

Apologies to Art and anyone else who got involved in my chaos.  :-\

I thought i was leaving enough room, but the bumps at the hairpin are treacherous and I think I strayed too far to my right and touched Art. Glad to see that Art carried on, but sorry to those who were affected.
I was pounding the escape key but, each time the car almost came to a halt someone nudged me again and GPL would not allow the "quit" until the car had stopped.

If I join races in the near future I might aim to start from the back of the grid as my head is not in this at the moment and I am likely to ruin too many other's races.

New drivers should post in this thread first, after registering on the forum, any questions they have they can ask there as well, or PM a moderator for help:

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6787.90

As I said in chat, Paul (BadBlood) wasn't present yesterday, and Phil missed it prolly being busy starting up the servers. I didn't want to make that decision, because I'm still pretty new myself. Anyway it's great some more/new drivers express interest in joining.

After they have posted in the new drivers thread, they have to register here for a division, by voting (less than 75% attendance):

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?board=48.0

Works registration:

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=12127.0

It will work out, and will contact other mods in order to have them registered as First Reserves for the rest of the Season, and as we don't have full fields right now, I'm sure they can run in the rest of the races ;)

PS: remember, after voting/registering it needs to be processed by the divisional moderator first in LM2, in order for new drivers to see PW for races. I see Killer Miele in Registration Helper in LM2, but I'm not the Divisional Moderator, have to wait for Paul (BadBlood) to return, and he has to complete the registration process, or either Phil. Again it will work out. Will PM Paul and Phil.

I'm guessing it is points scored. 'W' is works, 'D' is driver points, 'T' is team points. If someone is not in any team, he is omitted from the 'T' scoring list. So, even though you've scored 43 points for second place overall ('D') , you'll get 50 points for first placed team member ('T').

Correct. You're very keen, Tommie :)


Thanks Iestyn, true that, was relieved you took the Brab, but felt you still would be running for the win as you always drive the wheels off the car  ;D


Well, I was afraid it wouldn't. Despite the fun, if anything, it gave me an inferiority complex sucking so badly, using clutch and RFB, and shifting in an HH pattern, with an awequate gearsystem that made it hard to select the right gear. From 1 to 4, from 6 to reverse and such, lol! Note that I don't have a driving license, only for a forklift! :laugh: Remco abused his rig so much, was fun to watch his skills, heel/toe and very precise shifting and using clutch!

The amount of immersion was immense, driving on the old bumpy Interlagos lay-out, with Game Stock Car, in a 1975 F1 Brabham-DFV Cosworth, was like being there...however I was only 5y old back then, so had to travel in time!  :D

Had a headache getting home, but took a painkiller, and was actually surprised it went so well. But wanting to have a solid result meant I was able to, with some luck as I almost wrecked after the start...


We're you that Brab not letting me by on the straight in his outlap?  ;D After I messed up hairpin, I let that Brab know I wasn't happy with that :angel:  ;D


Whatever is going on Clive, best wishes. Hope the situation will improve, or that you get a handle on it, dealing with it.

We all know you're a very consistent fast clean driver, and I'm sure your normal form will return! Take care mate!  ;)


Well done Greg, I admire your ability to be such a consistent finisher, and you seem to improve your speed week after week!  :)

May I just add that the back-markers I had lapped were completely professional, and Doni + Andreas did a sterling job considering they were having their own battle!

I will finish, and I will win eventually, but I just need a little bit of luck.

Affirmative. May the Force be with you.

Thanks to Doni for what I hope was a bit of sport in my wounded Eagle (the mechanical report below merely confirmed what I could feel after the lap 1 melee). I tried to keep you at bay as long as I could and then had to push very hard to try and keep up. I enjoyed it while it lasted, I hope you did.

1m36.330s
Ronnie Peterson - spotters reporting:
minor problems with left front tire.
minor problems with left rear tire.
minor problems with left front suspension.
minor problems with left rear suspension.
the car has an engine problem.

At least I could keep going, unlike poor Clive who was minus a wheel or two, sorry. I think you are being tough on yourself if you think you were to blame in any way, these thing just happen sometimes. Better luck next time and that goes for Jethro as well. Tough break especially when leading the race.

Grats again to the podium of Tristan, Robert and Art.

Registration and import is all sorted now.

It is always nice to welcome new drivers to the league.  It looks like Mr Miele is a competent and fair driver so no harm done, welcome to UKGPL Mr Miele.

However not everyone out there on IGOR is up to the standards required for UKGPL and the Works division in particular.  It is always best to formally register before the race so the moderators can be sure the new driver is allocated to the right division.  It doesn't take long to process a registration provided the divisional moderator is aware of the registration.  We are not notified automatically.  A PM to the divisional mod who is listed on the championship page should be enough to get the registration sorted.

Cheers Phil, and respect Ronnie, finishing with such a car is not an easy task, well done ;) And finally welcome Killer Miele, hope you let us live  ;D

Not a particularly noteworthy round from my quarter.  Lucky to have finished at all, in fact.

I'd initially taken a shine to the BT24 for this go but after logging my best in the car, discovered in my Doni66 folder that I'd eclipsed that time with, of all things, the BRM P115.  No sense spending 10 tokens on a slower car, is there?

In qualifying, I struggled to approach my PB in the BRM ending up fully 6/10 of a seconds shy.  At least it felt comfortable.

Off the line, I bogged it down from last place but wasn't too concerned as I expected a bit of a concertina effect down at the hairpin.  Boy!  Was I right there!  LOL!  Cars going every whichway and I ultimately tagged poor ol' Clive who was just coasting mid-track.  I hadn't realized that he'd already had the LF corner pruned off.  Bad luck there, Evil.

After a little bump and grind, I emerged from the mess to find an Eagle off my tail so I eased off and just let it pass.  Not much chance of holding off the Blue Bird.  Strangely, over the next several laps, the Eagle wasn't disappearing over the horizon.  This was Rocket Ronnie who'd sustained damage in the Lap01 fracas and was now being powered by what seemed a V-9 Weslake.  Way down on power.  I was holding the gap and decided to run consistant laps rather than attack as it was possible that, in his struggle, Ronnie was going to over do it to stay ahead.  No, that didn't happen but I at least closed in enough such that on Lap11, I was able to sift by comfortably on the back straight.  Promotion to P11.

Some additional fallers along the way...including Dean who seemed to simply pull over on the pit straight and park for no apparent reason...promoted me to P9 by Lap 17.  Ronnie was my constant shadow throughout as he used the slipstream to help make up for his constipated engine.

Comes Lap20 and lordy!, here comes a Lotus blasting up in my mirrors on the main straight.  This was Jethro in P1 with a tidy lead and it only remained for me to assess whether it was better to let him by immediately or if I had time to negotiate the hairpin and let him by on the straight following.  I was so intent on gauging the gap between us that I missed my braking point and went sailing off into the hale bales in a cloud of smoke from the covers.  Lost several seconds which was more than enough to let Ronnie pass for position.  Splendid rookie gaffe.  Sheeesh!

At least Jethro's arrival kept my head up for more lappers and soon, Tristan and Robert were through cleanly in close formation and not long later, in all the action, I'd managed to get by Ronnie again, hopefully, this time for keeps.  Indeed, as Art and Izzy soon lapped us, I got a margin on Ronnie that broke the breeze off my BRM and he was helpless to stay in touch.

Once the dust had settled from all this, I noted that Andreas was not that far up the road in his BT24.  With all the ebb and flow of allowing the hot shots through, I found that I was only five seconds adrift of P8.  Hmmm...  I upped the pace.

Clearly visible ahead now, with 15 laps remaining, I'd whittled the gap down to just four seconds and the prospect seemed very doable.  Lap27 and for the first time, I drew into the hairpin shaving off several metres from my braking point.  Bugger!  I drifted off onto the grass and lost a second.  I berated myself for the error and promised myself not to do that again.  And I didn't for on the very next lap, I managed to thunder straight off into the bales and grind to a halt!  Merde!  I had to select reverse to get straightened away and fully expected Ronnie to cruise by, laughing all the way.  But no...  The fates were unkind to Rocket, too, on Lap28 as he'd looped it in T1 and lost a bunch of time as well.  Not a lap that either of us would be proud of.  :(

This let Andreas off the hook and from there on in, I more or less cruised it in being lapped for a second time just short of the S/F line.  As I said above, lucky at all to have finished.

Fine victory for Tris!  Close one for Robert and Art.  Pitiful luck for Jethro.  Good drives by Izzy, Tommie and Greg.

I think I figured out what caused the lock-up of my laptop and GPL - transpires that since the shuffle-around of our living room in giving me a dedicated desk that actually is comfortable as well as able to be connected directly to the router, the temperatures of the laptop went sky-high thus causing it to freeze. Having procured a cooler for the laptop this should now be a very distant memory, and may also have been the cause of my lock-up in Zeltweg a few rounds earlier.

Just wondering when the server-replay of Albi will be available!? Cheers  :)

PS: good to hear Jethro! :)