SimRacing.org.uk

Season 26 Amateurs Trophy - Round 9 - Albi

NOTE THE CHANGE OF SERVER

Welcome back to the Amateurs Trophy. For the Penultimate Round (and the last in Europe), we find ourselves at Albi in France.

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.

Our race will be run under INT rules and only ONE reset is allowed. Entrants must complete 50% of the race distance to score. ANY Shift-R MUST be followed within TWO laps by a Stop 'n' Go.

All drivers have free choice of chassis although the faster drivers (you know who you are!) should avoid the BT11 and Lotus. There is currently no handicap for this series.

Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL3
IP address = ukgpl3.dyndns.org
Race date = 27-05-2013
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 = Albi (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/tracks/albi/)
Race length = 31 Laps
Variant = 65
Damage Model = INT
Race length = 40 minutes (laps 31)
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

65 Patch: The 2.02 Release of the 65mod can and should be used. You need a working installation of the 65 mod to install the 2.02 Update. All the 65 Mod files can be found here (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Mods/1965)

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

Driver lists and rules can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=431&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.

Moderation: Full moderation of lap one red zone which is the FULL LAP.

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.

Password: see above (#post_event_password)

My steering wheel was making a distracting clicking sound as I went over the bumps in the Double Droite turns. I decided to change the force feedback settings to fix the problem. In GEM+, I press the "controls" button. Then I lowered Force Feedback Damping to 25, and I lowered Force Feedback Maximum force to 180. After making the change, I changed cars and closed GEM+ so that it would change the necessary files. Then I reopened GEM, and tested the new settings.  

I am sharing what I did in case it helps someone else, and so that I can get feedback from knowledgeable people who can help me. For instance, I made changes to both Damping and Maximum force at the same time. So I do not know which setting actually fixed the problem.  :D

Thanks,
Walter

Walter :o

have you ever tried the ffb2 patch of brr?
You will get it at SRMZ ;)

No, I have been using the default settings. Thanks for the recommendation.

The read me says:

DISCLAIMER

Don't use the patch unless you carefully read the instructions below and fully understand them.
The patch may put more stress on your ffb wheel. Use at your own risk.

Cookie, I am trying to put less stress on my FFB wheel. Should I still try it?

Yes, of course just use a softer setting ;)

GEM+ settings:

force_feedback_damping = 0
force_feedback_latency = 0
max_steering_torque = 400 (I use 420 with G27!)

If you don't want it just uncheck ffb2 in GEM+ and set your defaults again.

Thanks! I should be able to give it a try tomorrow.

Don't know what they do,  or even what would be the ideal force-feedback, err, feedback.
But I seem to be using some settings found over at SimHQ quite some time ago.

Latency: 0.055
Damping: 240
Maximum force: 145

NOT using Ffb2

(With a G25)


Doesn't seem particularly strong, but I'd say this would be different if clamped to a lap tray / or if you drive from the sofa with wheel clamped to an ironing board...

Cheers,
Dave.

I've just registered, so providing I can get everything sorted and working for this evening, see you on the grid  :)

Great.

Enjoyable qualifying but disappointing race... well good while it lasted. I ran the wrong line into turn 1 with Dave unsighted on the inside and hit the barrier- after this the car would not slow down very well which saw me into the fences several times -once infront of BB. Retired disappointed. Congrats to Walter and the podium.. a good win and some great fun racing with Dave. See you next time.

Good race. Made my customary slow start as Rog passed me for 5th but Honda power got me back past at Double Drat. Lap 2 I tried the same thing on Bill but as I slid wide I tagged him and he span into me. Glad I didn't ruin his race but it put me last. Pulled in Steve and Bernie and set about chasing Rog. Caught Rog just as he was lapping Bernie so Mr D gave me a bit of a drag and made loads of room for me. Thanks Bernie :thumbsup: Had a good battle with Rog for a few laps and thought I had him once or twice but finally got him on the back straight. That left me about 500 yards shy of the three way for second but I only caught Johnny after his troubles. Bad luck there Mr P.

Closed up on Dave and Bill but had left myself too much to do. I was pretty quick tonight but perhaps just not patient enough. Story of the season really. 6th in the table and that is probably about right.

Finally WELL DONE WALTER! First of many, I suspect. I also suspect that I will NEVER win a Novice's race...

Can't make Round 10 so thanks for all the racing and see you in Season 27.

Congrats Walter, well deserved, good to see you take your first win in UKGPL! Also grats Billy and Dave :)

Thanks, Good race all! It was my first UKGPL win, and pretty much my first online win. So I am very happy! I spent a lot of time on the set-up this week. I was able to secure the pole position by .01 seconds. I had a good start. I could feel the pressure from the pursuing cars, but they lost time battling each other, and I was able to escape. I knew that I needed a sizable gap because I am bound to screw something up!  :D  I did go off course once, but I was able to save it. Near the end of the race, I tried not to rev past the redline just in case.

I am glad to be a part of Amateurs Trophy this season.  There have been five different winners amongst the Amateurs this season. The competition seems evenly matched. I'm looking forward to next week!

- Walter

Also, I used the FFB2, and I will probably try increasing the max steering torque. Thanks Cookie!

Congratulations Walter;   you just ran away with it tonight!

Well done to Billy too,   he just crept up on myself/JP when we had stopped for a picnic,  then just picked up the cake & ran off with it.

Unlucky JP,  but had certainly been entertaining until that pesky barrier jumped in front of you.

Of course, I'd like to think I'd have been good for a run at teamie Billy if I'd have got close enough again/if circumstances had been right - but this is all about the "ifs"! 

A couple of times I was searching for a gear (any gear!) at T1 which dropped me back each time.  Of course,  the extra 8laps of fuel may not have helped much either.  There again,  Billy looked to have pulled me along to FL,  so maybe can't really use that one :)

Was lucky to have secured 3rd on the grid & overall,  lucky to finish on the podium.  Blood sr was not over the finish line that much later.  Qually was close & so was the race - good going all!


Cheers,
Dave.

Dave,
Are you using GPLShift with the clutch threshold setting at 50% so that you grind the gears when you don't press the clutch in far enough?  If so, I know that it adds to the difficulty. It is more real, but I decided to turn that option off when I joined UKGPL. I did not want to miss a downshift, and rear end someone.  :o

 

Grats Walter on win
Grats to Podium

Had some good racing early stages of race with Billy but then lost the draft, then had some fun with Badblood  but made a few mistakes and he took off in the Honda, just made 5th due to JP dropping out, thought as in praccy 1.17 would be fine, but no.

No, it was just a hand-coordination issue!
For example - one instance,  I was just trying to pop it into 3rd with the intention of getting round the corner,  but instead seemed to find 1st. Then tried a few different gears until finding one that worked.

Luckily did not leave it in 1st long enough to cause any major damage.

Oh - I'm not really trying to suggest that a couple of sloppy gear-changes cost me a higher step on the podium,  although didn't help much together with the picnic at the Parc.  The other guys were just too fast/consistent.  As was JP too until that troublesome T1 incident.

Well done on that first win Walter!

Well done taking the chequered flag Walt. I feel slightly less gratious pole which you nicked by a very fine margin. Was hoping give you a race but I ran slightly wide between T1 & T2 & lost a couple of places. Rog gave me a really hard time for several lap & near the end Johnny & Dave parked up for a moment & I was able to rather fortunately reclaim 2nd.

Looks like the champioship will go down to the wire at Watkins Glen. Been a very competitive season.

Good to have Mr Bird back in the mix - I suspect he will be nearer the front once he has worked out the BRM.

"Moderation" published

Thanks Axel