SimRacing.org.uk

Another step into the (almost) unknown in the SPECIAL series.

All of the tracks are the original Papyrus circuits that were published on the original CD, but we are running them in reverse direction. There will be a mixture of carsets to use through the season and for the third race we are using the 66 Can Am cars.
Please refer to the championship page to see which cars you are eligible to use. The general focus is on fun and close racing for all, with the faster drivers limited to the slower cars.
Once again, running a familiar track in reverse changes how corners need to be approached. Fast corners can become slower and bends that were slow now are maybe not so slow.

In the 66 Can Am, Pros cannot drive the Lola T70 Chev 359, Lola T70 Ford 305, or McLaren M1B Chev 361

Password: see above (#post_event_password)
(2) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=592&theme=6)

Race list       iGOR
Server         UKGPL_8
IP address    look at IGOR
Date            14-03-2017

Track           troovdnaz (https://www.sendspace.com/file/p4hs1z) (we recommend that you download the folder containing all of the reversed circuits and the reverse season.ini file)

Mod            66 Can Am
Damage       INT long
Race time      Race starts at 21:30 UK time
Qualifying      ~45 minutes, starting ~ 20:45 UK time
Race length    35 laps
Replay            get here (ftp://ukgpl3.dyndns.org/Replays/Archive/Season31/Specials/)

Shift/R is allowed but must be followed by a SnG in the pitlane within 2 laps.

There may be a typo in the announcement. We are driving 66 can am, yes?

Thanks Walter! the perils of using cut and paste when one is half asleep!!   ::)

After the disaster of Monaco I have checked the edges of the track for the unexpected.
No invisible walls anyway near the tarmac but it should be noted that the sand seems about 20x stickier than in other mods. I actually had to shiftR myself out in some places after being sucked off the track!

Perhaps the wind blows in a different direction in this version?  ::).

I did my first few laps yesterday, whilst I had a spare 20mins, and found that the distances between the bends appeared to be shorter than I recalled when travelling the opposite way? Either that or these Can Ams are much faster!!

One thing I did notice was the downhill braking into Hugenhoctsblocht was particularly dodgy.....sand on the track from FMG I suspect!

This could be a war of attrition!
If anything I think tonight will be more dangerous than Monaco  ;D

Maybe not from accidents but just the scenery!

Glad we have Shift-R's available.....

started several reccy laps at the weekend, t1 was a bit "fruity", no idea wa t2 looks like  ;D. Anyway, not going to drive tonight. RL slaps you some times  :'(.
Good luck guys.

May there be better days ahead Gareth.

I am trying to remember which 60 fps mod to use. I think it is the new one. So I'll give it a try. I will be happy if I am able to finish the race.

Not driven these Can Ams before this race and didn't manage any practice. You can imagine how that ended up  ;).

How I ended up on Pole I'll never know, but with a very tall first gear I was swamped at the start. Managed to pass Doni and from then it was a lonely run to the flag, marred with several offs and very inconsistent pace. Managed the odd quick lap here and there but it wasn't a good enough effort to match Tim & Clive.

Although the chaparral is extremely quick even in my not-very-capable-hands I didn't quite gel with it. Probably me not being used to only two gears.

Congrats to Tim & Clive and to those that made the flag in these brutes.

Kudos to the organizers Clive and Axel! My qualifying time put me within a second of the four cars in front of me. Thanks are also due to Tom van Ostade for sharing his setup last season.  https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=13737.15

I was happy following the leader for the first ten laps. Axel appeared in my rear view mirror, and I was in the process of letting him overtake me on the front straight when we had contact. I made a half dozen more mistakes in the race. Mostly because I was trying to find the limit, and these cars are so much fun. I regained some of my consistency near the end of the race. Until the moment when my wife called on the phone with two laps left. I am going to have to turn off my cell phone in the future. Anyways, the race was over for me at that point. I just needed to cross the finish line.
Good race everyone,
Walter 

Argh, got caught by the last second change of my setup in T1-2 and was dead last.
With some tire temps the setup change worked well,
 but my concentration was not lasting and I made too much mistakes and resigned...

I posted earlier that I had found 20 mins to test this track, and that was all the pre race practice that I had with a best lap of around 1:32.
 Also, my experience in the 66 Can Ams is very limited, so I had simply chosen one of the smaller engine cars in the hope that it would be easier to control, all very scientific  ::).

So qually was going to be a journey into the unknown. I guessed at the race fuel required, filled the tank and just started running laps, trying to find the fast lines and braking points. Gradually I chipped away at the lap times and ended up 4th on the grid. Woohoo that wasn't too bad!

The times that Sam and Axel had posted in the Chapps was well over one second faster, with Tim also looking very quick so finishing 4th might be as good as I could expect. But with Andy and Doni breathing down my neck on the grid that might not be so easy  :-\.

As the countdown started I remembered that those monstrous 2 geared Chapps are slow off the line, maybe I could sneak past one of them off the grid, and maybe hold them at bay for a few laps??

It was better than that ;), both Chapps crawled off the grid allowing Tim and myself to sweep past and steal the front 2 places. I expected Tim to just drive away from me given his qualifying time, but I was able to just ( only just!) hang on for the first few laps. I was still learning the limits of handling/braking/acceleration of the car and after about 10 laps I felt that I had driven a whole race such was the concentration. I was shocked when I risked a glance at the pitboard to see 21 laps to go!!!??? I thought we were close to the end of the race!!!!!

Once I had established a rhythm, it was relatively easy to stay with Tim and even when I dropped back through a small error I could close the gap again. Passing however was going to be a whole different story, unless he made a mistake. :shifty:

I pushed my braking just a little too much at one point and tangled with the haybales at Holtzenbochenstukinhay. Luckily, there was no damage, but I had lost almost 100mtrs on Tim. Over the next laps I chipped away at his lead and very, very slowly closed the gap. Geez I was pushing hard!!
Then, just as I was getting in slipstream range with around 10 laps to go Tim made his one error and ran wide at T1. I took the gift and tried to run for the hills.
The next laps were a case of concentrating hard through the twisty bits and ensuring that I got out of Tarzan smoothly before risking a glance in the mirror to check where Tim was. Once I saw the 3 laps to go board I was feeling pretty safe ;D. Tim was far enough away that I could back off and play safe for the win. ;D

Then, as I came out of T1 the car felt sluggish ??, through T2 it did not pick up like it should???????  By T3&4 the awful truth dawned on me. I had not blown the engine....I was out of fuel!!!!  :-\ The car was never going to limp around 2.5laps and hold Tim off so I had to Shift/R and SnG.
I knew that Tim would be closing fast so I ran the car off the track and gritted my teeth as he swept past before pounding the reset keys.
A swift visit to the pits and any chance of catching Tim was a dream, but  at least 2nd was secure and far better than I had expected at the start.

Grats and thanks to Tim for a great fun race. Also, to all those who got to the finish.

I don't trust these cars yet.
I was careful at the start to let things settle down as they do. Then I found myself behind Doni. I was faster around the back of the circuit, but he pulled away on the straight. My gearing in 4th (top) was all wrong and I couldn't even stay in his tow. There was nowhere to pass unless he made a mistake and he didn't. Well played. Grats up front.

That was a hard one for certain!
When I joined the server and saw the times posted I felt fairly confident. I'd gone much faster offline and also joined 10 minutes late - but then Axel started putting in some very fast times and finally Sam crept in with a last lap banzai pole and stole my thunder  :cursing:

Looking at the grid I realised both of my closest rivals for this round were in Chapperals - which as Clive has already mentioned should be awful off the line.
I therefore expected to instantly inherit the lead before entering T1 before then being heckled for the rest of the race by Sam and/or Axel - after Clive's pace in Qualy I thought he would drop back after a few laps, hopefully having jumped both Sam and Axel on the line and held them up for a while  ;D

I was very surprised when Clive continued to hang on even after my tires started to come up to pressure and then proceeded to harass me for the next 25 laps while the Chapperal train got de-railed :o

Eventually he made a mistake just after some backmarkers had allowed me some clean air and I pulled out to maybe 2 seconds - that was when disaster struck and my car bounced slightly strangely over the camber change into T1, this resulted in my entering the fence and gifting the lead to Clive.

I didn't expect to be able to catch and pass him but pressed on hard anyway - this taught me a couple of interesting tricks to faster laptimes as I tried several driving techniques till I started gaining. Then Clive ran out of fuel anyway and gave me the lead back. :P

I don't think I had time to even get closer than a second back without an error so bad luck Clive.
Well done to Sam for rounding out the podium and also to the surviving drivers - While I loved the reverse layout here it was seriously tricky to drive, and damn dangerous to leave the track on!

Super job in what could only be considered a 3rd rate ride, Tim.  You had the Genie smokin'!

Well done to Clive on P2 after coming up a bit short on petrol forcing a reset and S&G.  As I took the checker...a lap down..., I checked in the F10 view and was a bit surprised to see that I was down to 29psi.  If I had another tour to go, I surely would have stumbled in pace.

Nice job by Sam to score a P2 in his debut of '66 CanAm machinery.  The Chaparral really is fast.  Stick with it.

Kinda of a lucky P4 for me as I had all manner of contenders.  First Sam who skated by with a lurid pass and then fending off the attentions of Axel, Dean, Andrew, Axel a 2nd time and finally, Andrew.  I thought that I was managing a reasonable pace but post-race examination of lap times showed that I was well off what was capable and effectively serving as a mobile roadblock.  Sorry, chaps.  Andrew was driving really well...coming off a privateers victory on the weekend; grats!...and giving me all I could handle.  As I find with Zandvoort proper, I find this reverse version every bit as tiring and labour intensive.  I mean, I had a bottle of water sitting on the desk beside my G25 steering wheel hoping for a sip or two during the run.  Nope.  Never even had a chance to consider taking a swig.  Mirrors full every lap.  My run was largely error free...got a scare dropping into Scheivlak once by getting on the sandy verge and skidding a bit wide...but Lap19 was a howler as I hosed the braking coming off the front straight and the M1B skated off onto the infield verge.  Completely off the road and over the curbing.  Thought I was a goner.  I was astonished to find that the car came to heel in regaining the track surface and Andy was just that little bit too far back to pounce.  Lucky boy me.

I was shocked to find that around Lap20, blue flags were being waved at me.  HUH?  I knew by my pit board that Sam up ahead in P3 was long gone but seriously, I'm about to be lapped this early on?  Saw the Genie in my mirrors and no doubt about it.  I'm going a lap down.  Not long after Tim blew past, Clive appeared to do likewise.  HOLY SMOKERS!  Talk about quick!

My pace improved substantially after this and on Lap27, I finally dipped below the 1:30's.  This helped keep Andrew at bay but he was my ever-present shadow right up to the finish.  Well done, AL.

Wednesday following, I took the M1B out for another private trial to see if I could wring some more performance from it.  I eclipsed my PB significantly by cutting a high 27s lap time.  Still well off that of Tim, Clive, Sam & Axel but indeed, an improvement.  I noted, too, that in gassing it harder, my fuel consumption increased markedly and at that rate, would have never have made the distance on race day.  Accordingly, I've pumped an extra couple of gallons into the tanks should we ever return.  I've enjoyed the reversed tracks and I think that it's been a good move to include them in the sked.