SimRacing.org.uk

Season 27 Professionals Trophy - Round 5 – Solitude

65 Pros are in Germany to race at Solitude. Mainly used as a motorcycle circuit, Solitude was used in the early 60’s for a number of Formula 1 & Formula 2 races.
The name is taken from a local castle but it’s a long track so you may get quite lonely if you lose touch with the pack.

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.

Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL_8
IP address = TBA
Race date = Tuesday 14-10-2014
Time = 21:00 UK time (21:00 GMT)
Track = Solitude (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/tracks/Solitude)
Race length = 14 laps
Variant = 1965
Damage Model = Pro
Qualifying time = minimum of 30 minutes

Password see above (#post_event_password)
Replay will be here (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Replays/Archive/Season27/Pros/)

Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page
The red zone will be fully moderated for lap 1 only. For this race, the red zone will be until the exit of Frauenkteuz.
Other moderation will be on reported incidents only.

Here I experienced my first F1 race with all our heroes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Solitude_Grand_Prix)  :o
It was a rainy day standing in the muddy forrest above the last corner.
The main reason to go there, was to see our motobike heroes  Surtees and Mike the bike in an F1 car ::)

WOW! Axel that must have been a great experience for you , Seeing Jimmy win with Surtees 2nd and Bob Anderson (another ex motor bike racer in his privately entered car ) 3rd .

I have met all three when they have been to my local track at Oulton Park and actually had beer and a Pie with Mike the Bike when he drove for F5000 for Surtees a lovely man , sadly only big John is still with us today . 

Yeah Bernie, those were great times for us race fans.  ;D
We were regular attending the Hockenheim paddocks and had a friendly talk with our heroes.

One of my biggest regrets ever is, that I refused to climb into a 300SL (https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~rschild/mbgc.html) co-driver's seat for some training laps when I was <10.
But I had just seen some Porsches 550 crashing and rolling over :o

And one of mine was never going to the Aintree circuit which was only 10miles from my home town of St Helens , I never even knew the british grand prix was held there in the 60's only knew Aintree for horse racing and the Grand National  ::)

The sport wasn't advertised much in my youth , it was only when I got my first car that I got to go to race tracks  :-\

Great stories guys.. being on the Wirral, my local track is also Oulton Park.. and I didn't know about Aintree GPs until I found out through GPL!  :laugh:

I'm there (oulton) for a track day early next month - which direction should I wave in?  ;D

As for tonight - I'm not expecting much as I still have this bleedin cold!

You're on marshal post duty at Island bend sir!

Hope not, it'll be my first outing with the new diff so would rather not end it at a marshal post  :wacko:

What track car do you have Tim? I've just come back from a bike track weekend at the Monte Blanco circuit in Spain. Loads of fun, but very physical...

Anyway, Solitude. Spent the evening trying to connect, stay connected and then reconnect. When I did get in the connection quality was terrible - all three bars were maxed out and I got chucked out before I'd managed a quarter of the lap.... I suspect that Dropbox, which I have recently had to install for work purposes, might be to blame for my flaky connection, as it seemed to be doing stuff - does that sound feasible gents?

Arf

The overly defensive driving seen recently in these series is quite trying.  :-X

Oh, and argh.

A 1991 Nissan 180SX - fairly standard although I've just fitted a Cusco 2 way mechanical LSD. Feels wonderfully when pushed but bloody awful on public roads as there's simply too much grip available!

As for my race: Argh!
Qualified last on the grid on the.grid on race fuel, made 3 spaces on the first lap and was steadily reeling in Cookie/Jethro coming up to the 8th lap.
Then I ran slightly wide and made friends with the trees - doh!

Had a great race upto that point though and think I've at least managed to score some points this time..

Quali was great with a PR and .1s of the BT11 WR, without tow! Uli and Tristan motivated me a lot, and very happy with that pole.

Start went well (as often only used 1st for start, however took a risk with the engine needing more revs to keep in the powerband) but sadly with Uli close behind I braked too late on cold tires and heavy fuel load. Hard into the hay bales and some suspension damage, and car was a bit looser in left turns and tighter in right turns, so did need to adjust and to adapt. Uli and Tristan went by in the process...

Then got back up to speed and was able to pass Tristan and hunt down Uli. Went side by side but had to give in the lead after the straight. Had a few offs and went loose, and also Tristan bumped me into the hay bales braking too late. That evened out the damage and car was more neutral after that.

Another off meant Tris went by, but after that in the last 5 laps we closed down the gap to Uli from 6s to 2s. Sadly in the last lap I had another off, and had to settle for 3rd in stead of closing in on Tristan and Uli...

Mixed feelings, too many mistakes, also due to damage, but enjoyed the racing and the clean laps. Have to be satisfied with podium and laprecords...

Congrats Uli, another good win and well deserved, and good job Tristan! Wished I wouldn't have made that Lap 1 mistake that compromised my race. Car was a bit unpredictable after that but I gave everything I had! Also well done finishers and commiseration to the retirements...

I think 65 Pro is my favo league :) Very competitive and a great field of drivers! :)

Congrats uli, Tristan, and Rob!


I've got almost the same kind of car. A 1992 240SX coupe. In the US we didn't get the nice turbo engines, CA18DET or SR20DET. I thought about getting a SR20DET or boosting my KA24DE but I didn't want to spend that kind of cash and I knew I'd need even more cash for speeding tickets that would have resulted in needing more cash for higher insurance rates. :(

This is a PROPER  track. Its got everything. it ranks with Spa & Monza with me.
I'm never a good starter or until the tyres warm but after a good qually losing 4 places off the grid is worse than ever. FMG & Dean passed me getting the tow on the fast downhill section  early on but they weren't too far ahead. On lap 4 I went over the blind brow left kink in section 2 to be greeted by the sight of Dean going end over end on the grass & Ronnie across the track upside down. I almost avoided Ronnie but clipped the nosecone & did several mid air rolls. The screen had the usual snowstorm appearance & I thought that's it I'm out. No it landed on four wheels & facing the right way so I drove on. As at East London the rest of the field had gone by now but  I was up to 8th. Not sure where King Hiro was. After that the car seemed to lack a bit of speed somehow to what I knew it could do on race fuel & I was checking the mirrors for the black smoke thinking the engine would let go. My concentration started to waver & I had 3 spins in those last 10 laps but I brought it home & moved up the field as others had problems.

Well done the podium sounds like it was a close race.
 
Norm H

BT7, lapping at 4 seconds quicker than I have ever been at this track, took the only line that gets me round that corner in one piece. Some in MY position might have felt aggrieved at the contact which occurred. But I don't Dean. Honestly, I simply wish you and me better luck next time out.

Grats to Uli, Tristan and Robert.

Agreed. It's become one of my favo tracks. I always like fast tracks because they seem to suit me better than slow tracks. Great job on your top 5 finish Norm, well deserved! :)


Watched the incident because I got curious. Don't want to step on Billy's toes, but I give my opinion here as a driver. Ray won't report it as this is his philosophy which I respect.

Ray, you were just wiped out by Dean on a place where passing isn't possible (unless you have substantial overlap the overtaking driver has to respect the car's in front lines and speed). Compare how the leaders raced there. I had to lift for Uli and Tristan there, to wait for the straight after the kink to (try to) pass them. Just common sense...

Too many drivers just don't respect the speed of a car in front, you need to wait for an legit opportunity to pass a car. Until then you need to adapt to the car in front...that's racing...

Because someone is faster doesn't mean he has more track or corner rights. It's the same for everyone. We need to respect eachother on the track and do everything to avoid contact. Rather be safe than sorry (if you recognize your mistake that is  ::) )

This isn't meant to pick on you Dean, but just a general observation. IMO we all need to selfreflect a bit more, watching in the mirror. Seeing it from the other driver's perspective. That would be a good way to start to improve the racing and to avoid needless incidents like this one...

It's basically the mindset of a driver that causes the most avoidable incidents...we need to be able to trust and respect eachother on the track no matter what...

For a good example of give-n-take watch Cookie vs Jethro. 10 laps not spread more than 3 seconds apart. Superb fun and I wish I'd not crashed it at the little house on the prairie.

Congrats to my teammade Tris and Robert, big hand to you both!
You both made hard pressure to me, not only but very hard at the end of the race so I had to push to my limits. I‘m lucky to made only small mistakes. My win this time had much to do with my good consistory (0,5! – not typical for me) and my superb topspeed which helps a lot …  ;D
Grats to your fantastic pole and your fastes race lap Robert – two new UKGPL Records!!
very close to my WR which I couldn't reach anymore – I‘m getting to old? ::)
THX for the fair and fantastic close breaking maneuvers at the end of the strait – great racing!
By the way I had some dropouts/screenprobs too! not often but really irritating …
It‘s a fine league here, hope we hold the full grids in future, what I like the most apart from the fast competitors is that all 65 cars on the grid! Special Thanks to Iestyn, Ronnie and FullMetalGasket …

Is that with Trackaction on the 12th ?

No Bernie - Tuesday 4th with Javelin  :)
Never been with them before but they're normally good from what I hear - Think I did a trackaction one about 5 years ago so I'm more than a tad rusty at Oulton!


Sure you don't need the 'help', But as I understand it a few American companies do fairly cheap and reliable turbo kits for the KA as I understand it - or there are several near enough bolt in upgrades for Small Blocks and LS series V8's  ;D

Grats on that.


I disagree. The 65s don't need the whole track width there, as they don't get airborne like the 67s do. Your arc through that corner would barely have taken you over the centerline. I feel you could easily have left me a car's width there (or at the previous corner) without sacrificing speed.

Sorry to see KH as a victim, too.  :(