SimRacing.org.uk

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Track: Riverside (Can-Am) Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg187123#post_riverside)

Cars allowed: Can-Am car pack Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54520#post_canam_1967)

Drivers are reminded that they are limited to only two drives per manufacturer. Check your status HERE (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P5lKaZvS42IA6lhZGbJfS8OFe7XLr1vDF0bj801bXUw/edit?usp=sharing)

Practice: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (20 mins)
Race: 20:40 (22 laps)

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

Server: simracing.org.uk Monday
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.

Special Notes: None

Appetiser  :drool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV59PJFc_5o

Away on vacation - so I'll miss this one  ;D

One of my favourite circuits and these cars are well suited to it. Best time so far is 1:50 but struggling to go any quicker.

Well, I seem to have left myself with the Chappy 2G or the Lola 361/372.

Chappy is down into the low 1:45's and the Lolas about 2 seconds slower.

But I can't keep the Lola's on the track for more than a few laps at Stardust so despite the Chappy's obvious advantage here for me I'll probably take a Lola for this one.

TTFN
John.

Well I changed cars and now I can manage a 1:48 but I doubt I'll get any better time.

Looks like I have a choice of car from any of the groups, so I figured that this track would be the easiest to try out one of those Chapps?

3 gears does feel very odd and sluggish, but the laptimes tell a different story, and I am at 1:45 in the 2G after about 15 laps ( including aborted starts and quits for setup changes). If I find time before the race I might give the Lola or the Mclaren a try, just to compare, but I think the winged wonder might be what I stick with.

These cars and the Capri Turbos are just too fast for my old reactions  :wheelchair: - I'm a rolling road block when I stay on the track! ::) :thumbdown: :rockon:

Replay and results now posted.

See you all in two weeks.

Well I have no idea where that qualifying lap came from, it beat my previous PB by over a second but Clive's was simply out of this world.  :notworthy:

I knew I was going to grab the lead off the start being surrounded as I was by the Chappy Slugs but equally I also knew my tyres were going to be pretty much shot by around Lap 19 and some lengthy testing showed taking it easy wasn't going to make them last any longer so I just went for it from the off. I definitely didn't have the speed to stay with the Chapperall's. I could only just keep pace when stuffed up right behind them. I found a set up which gave me my favoured slow into the turns but able power out but even then it was a balancing act as far as throttle was concerned. I fully expected to slide down the order as 1st Ziu and then Geoffers got onto my case and once Ziu got past I thought he would quickly disappear off into the distance but somehow I managed to stay with him and eventually hung on for dear life out of the final turn and made the pass stick into T1. Geoffers was next up and I could see he was lining me up for a pass down the long straight had he not misjudged T1 and fell back. Eventually as the tyres went off Clive started to eat into my lead at an alarming rate passing with about 4 laps to go. I thought that was game over and he slowly began to pull away but a few mistakes got me back on his tail and I was right up his chuff on the run down to the final corner on the last lap, I thought I might be able to use the extra gear to make a better exit but I fell about half a cars length short finishing 0.056s adrift.

So what with the epic battle I had Sunday night in the UKGPL 55 fun race at Spa and tonight I've almost forgotten about my disasterous Saturday oAo race where I didn't even get past T1 on Lap 1.  :oops:

Congrats Clive for the win and Ziu for the final Podium spot.

That exceeded all my expectations having found 5 seconds from somewhere in the past week of practising.

 Thanks all it was a blast as usual.

TTFN
John.

I almost felt sorry for John, ( almost ), when I took the win, after he had fought off Ziu, Geoffers and Erling in their Chapperalls  for more than half the race.

OK, so I won this race in cars that I have not had much joy with previously. Also if you had asked me before last night, which car of these Can Ams I would least like to race it, would have been the Chapps.

When I posted before the race that I had got the 3 geared monster down to 1:45, I had the gut feeling that I might find another 0.5secs on a perfect lap with that setup. The problem I was fighting, was the tendency for the rear wheels to spin up with that massive torque and produce terminal oversteer on corner exit, plus I was struggling to get the nose into the apexes on corner entry. I fully expected Ziu, Geoffers and Erling to be faster than 1:45 if they took the 2G, so although I hoped to be able to have a decent race I was not expecting to be fighting for e win.
Then, on Sunday afternoon my wife was watching a film on TV that held no interest for me, so I jumped on the PC and tried to tame the setup. After an hour I had a PB of mid 1:44, but crucially the car was much more predictable and comfortable to drive. I had ignored tyre wear and fuel usage, so I arrived on the server  last night hoping for a decent race.
I guessed at the fuel ( 22laps + 3 laps worth ) and did a few laps in practice that showed I was somewhere near the fast boys, with the usual suspects leading the field.
I rarely run a quali setup, but I was very aware that the Chapp is difficult to get off the line and I wanted to be as close to the front of the grid as I could, so I put in 10 laps worth and went for a banzai lap.................low 1:43 !!!  that was a shock. I sat in the pits and watched the qualifying times being posted. For a while I appeared to have nailed pole position, until John suddenly posted a mid 1:43, shortly followed by Geoffers and Ziu. I almost decided that it was not worth going for a faster lap, but what the heck!! why not.
So I did a banzai+ lap with everything on the absolute edge, including engine revs and posted a 1:42??!!! That was over 1.5 secs better than my offline PB!! There was no way that I could run that pace for the whole race, but it did suggest that maybe I was quicker than I thought?
Then the start............................I think that was the worst start I have ever made in GTL and all of the quali effort was history in about 5 secs, as I bogged down and dropped to the back of the field before T1!!
My race appeared to be over as the fast brigade were almost out of sight within half a lap.  :(
Once I had the tank up to speed I passed a few cars over the first 2 laps and was pleasantly surprised to be able to see Erlings Chapp in 4th place just a few seconds ahead, with occasional glimpses of a couple of cars further up the road.
I like a target, and unfortunately Erling was it.
Gradually I closed the gap and was hoping to get past him and see if I could catch the leading group. Erling proved to be very unhelpful about allowing me to pass and I was forced to press and harry him for lap after lap. One eye on the positions ahead showed that John had taken the lead and was fending off Ziu and Geoffers, and hopefully slowing them down so that they did not pull away, but I could not hope to join that battle unless I got past Erling. Then I noticed that Ziu had taken the lead and I fully expected him to scamper off, but a lap later John had put the cork back in the bottle  ;).
I still had the Erling problem, and although I was much quicker through certain sections, it was not possible to make a passing move. Also it was apparent that his gearing was different to mine and the gap see-sawed on the main straight as we changed gears at different points, but still nowhere to pass!!
Then he put a wheel on the sand out of the left hand hairpin and I saw a gap...................and was through and after Ziu!! I was quickly able to build a gap back to erling and close down Ziu.
Once I caught Ziu, he seemed to be struggling either with tyres, or that nasty oversteer, so I watched and waited until the chance came. My tyres were still good and I was able to get the power down much more effectively than Ziu, which made the pass a little easier.
By now Geoffers and John were a good few seconds ahead and I wondered if I would have the pace to catch them. I had come from the back of the field on lap 1 to 3rd, maybe I should be happy with that progress? Then Geoffers got something very wrong at T1 and I passed a spinning Chapperall, into 2nd place with John actually still within sight  :).
Slowly John's car became larger and larger and again I noticed that there were places where I was taking chunks out of his lead but others where John was quick.
With 5 laps to go I had caught John and there was now a sniff of 1st place if I kept cool ( not easy after the euphoria of climbing to 2nd place).

John had a definite advantage out of the corners, but I could close under braking and I also seemed to have a little more rubber available ?? If I could maybe make a challenge if I could carry enough speed through a corner and use the grunt of the Chapp down the straights.
That chance came when John ran slightly wide and I was able to stick my tank up the inside and compromise his corner exit, allowing me to take the lead with 3 laps to go.
 Once I had 1.5 secs lead I thought I was safe and cruised for the penultimate lap intending to just manage the gap to the flag................big mistake!!! John was enveloped in red mist and was on a mission to regain the lead.......how ungrateful, as I had allowed him to have the lead for almost 20 laps??? ::)
In trying to run a little slower I lost my rhythm, and a lot of time. As we started the last lap John was back on my tail pipes!!! I knew that he was faster off the corners because of that extra gear and that was a serious concern!!
I pulled a small gap down the main straight and tried to hug the inside around the final turn. John was equally committed and was right in my wheel tracks as we exited the corner. When he pulled to the right and disappeared from my mirrors I thought he had stolen the win, all I could do was floor the gas and hope that huge grunt would keep me ahead.....................................it did, but only by 0.1 secs at the line!!!!
Grats to John for a tremendous race and last lap effort and to Ziu. I guess I should also praise Erling for a great defensive drive too ;)

I was wondering why I have success in some races, and not in others? Looking back, and using the few memory cells that still function, I can see that when I can get some decent off line practice with time to develop a comfortable setup, I can compete at the sharp end. Unfortunately I that is not always possible and perhaps that is why I complain ( a little tongue in cheek  ;D) about some cars that I have not spent time with.

Maybe I should make more effort to practice with those cars that I moan about??

Thanks to Tony and enjoy the R&R. I will also miss a couple of races at the beginning of October when I take my annual break in Cornwall.

Another poor night for me. I have to grovel to Bob for the tap I inflicted on him at turn 8, lap 1. I knew Clive (I think) was trying a pass on my left and I was so concentrated on not hitting him, I missed by braking point and tapped Bob just as he began his turn thus causing him to spin wide and strike the barrier. Fortunately he was able to continue but it left him far behind the remaining drivers. Tried to keep Bob in sight but he was able to pull away and I was left to hot lap for the remainder of the race.

Had some good racing with Redvaliant in the Lola and was chuffed to go past Geoffers coming out of the sand turn 1, but that did not last as soon made a mistake and Geoffers was past and gone.

Grats to Clive on win

Grats to Podium

Still get screen going black for a few seconds, replay 1422 to 1427 shows a weird effect when my screen blacks out, any one no what causes it please let me know.

Grats to Clive but Yesterday i drove with one arm only. My left arm was too much painfull and also if i had a strong bandage was impossible and is very frustrating see that is impossible have any battle with Geoffers, Clive, John and with one laps more also with Erling.  Just i can say that was better to avoid this race in this conditions but i not could give up for championship and i m now worried, next Monday there is NOS 172 turns. The worst has been after the race yesterday my left hands was like someone hit me with an hammer.

Anyway with normal conditons my best qualy was 1:42.xxx and i put xxx becuase i want respect the Clive lap, Race with fuel was 1:43.4 normal

Sorry to hear that your arm was so painful Ziu  :( , but that explains why you were not as fast as you normally are. 

That was a good night's racing. I had never driven these cars or track before so it was a a bit of a shot in the dark as to which car was best. I tried most of them and plumped for the 350 Lola as it was a bit lighter than the others and revved to 8000rpm. Just before qualy,  I discovered that there was a softer tyre than the Enduros...lol. I went 4 seconds faster than in practice!  I Had a good battle with Rog for a few laps until I made a small mistake out of one of the hairpins and oversteered off the track. I couldn't, for the life of me, get the exit of the esses onto the back straight right - I kept losing the rear and exit speed there and was a sitting duck down that straight. But the rest of the track was a blast - turn 1: aim for the armco on the inside, start to slide past, snatch 5th at the apex as you drift out of harms way and towards the pit exit...magic!  

I hate the Ring... >:D GPL killed any attraction I ever had for it, so I will miss the next one. Cheers.

Intense, but resultwise disappointing race for me. 

Qual was unusual, in that my first timed lap was a new pb. Think it's the first time that's happened in all my GTL racing. Improved it again later in qual, but disappointingly far off the pace and down in 5th.

Start went well - at least I had a working rev counter this time, as opposed to my first Chappy drive.  Gained a place when Clive bogged down, but given his blistering pole time, it only meant I would have to deal with him when he recovered.  Sure enough, after a couple of laps he was on my tail. He seemed to have bags more grip than me through corners and under braking. While I found the magic formula for the 350 Lola, I haven't been able to do the same with the other cars, Chappy included, but more setup work obviously needed.  After Clive's endless griping about his inabilities with high power, high grip cars, I found it amusing that suddenly it's he who's teaching the rest of us how to corner in such one  ;)

Kept Clive at bay for most of the first half. During this we closed in on the lead group. Can't say whether it was Clive pressing me to go faster, or whether the leading trio had slowed, but we definitely reeled them in. That was shortly before I eventually put the left wheels on the gravel, allowing Clive to get past finally. He's one of the drivers I'm supremely confident won't run me off track (notice the subtle pressure I've cleverly put on you for potential future duels  :whistling: ;D), and thus I'm less inclined to hand out freebees when racing him.  Had I know he would go on to win the race, I should have let him past much sooner, as he stole points from John, who's my fiercest competitor for 2nd spot in the Championship.

Couple laps after Clive had gone past, I regained 4th when Geoffers spun off. Spent the remaining laps hunting down an uncharacteristically slow Ziu. Wondered if his arm was troubling him, which he has confirmed; sorry to hear that!   Caught him just as the race ended, so once again too little too late; would have been nice with a couple more laps to try and get past.

Grats to Clive on win, pole & fastest lap. You do realize you've beaten our resident alien on all accounts, and even if he's injured, that's no mean feat!!  :o

Grats also to John for 2nd and being so close to 1st.  Grats & commiserations to Ziu for 3rd and the arm problems.

Cheers,
Erling

Just one lap Erling

Possibly; we'll never know ;)

Hope your arm is better today.

Cheers,
Erling

 "He's one of the drivers I'm supremely confident won't run me off track (notice the subtle pressure I've cleverly put on you for potential future duels   )" said Erling.

Just to reverse the pressure, and use equally tricky psychology.................. ;)

Should I "inadvertently" punt you off the track to claim the points, and in the process scoop the championship, I can claim that it was obviously a completely innocent racing incident.  :angel:   Who could accuse me of cheating after you praised my gentlemanly behaviour on the forum???  ::)

I did not get the name Evilclive for nothing...... :shifty:

Well I seem to be having problems getting through races without making stupid mistakes at present. That is the 4th race in a row I have messed up!  ::)

My first attempt at racing the Chaparral & I honestly was not expecting to do very well. In testing I could do no better than low 1.46s & when Clive & John said they were a second or more faster than that, I was resigned to being 5th on the grid. Got into the 1.45s in practice & after a few setup changes got in the 1.44s & then the 1.43s in qually.

Start went much better than I expected, as every practice start I had tried resulted in bogging down or raging wheelspin, but this time I got it just about right. Spent the first half of the race in 3rd place shadowing John & Ziu, I seemed to have better pace than both of them but getting past was not easy as I appeared to be lacking a little straight line speed. Eventually got ahead of Ziu when he ran wide at the hairpin before the back straight, started to close in on John then clipped the wall at T1 & speared across the track into the barriers. With a damaged car I had even less speed on the straight & Rog cruised past me on the next lap, had settled for 6th when Rog spun with 3 laps left & I nicked his 5th place. :P

Congrats to Clive, John & Ziu.  :clap: :clap: :clap:

Cya all at Silverstone in 2 weeks time.

Results (https://www.avonrise.co.uk/srou/kurts/RiversideCANAM_11092017)

8)

Mmmmmm no, now that you've technically confessed in advance, in public, any scooping of championships in described fashion will result in immediate disqualification..  ;D ;D

Cheers,
Erling