SimRacing.org.uk

Championship 55 F1 – Season 32 – 1st round – Buenos Aires 1955 - Circuito N. 2

First event of this new championship with the 55s takes place at Buenos Aires 1955 - Circuito N. 2, it was made for the new 55 mod by Ginetto.

Read carefully the rules on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=620&theme=6).
 
Unlimited Shift R are allowed but should be followed by Stop & Go’s in the pits within 2 laps.

Race list	iGOR
Server	UKGPL_8
IP address	look at IGOR
Date	26-09-2017
Track	ba55n2 (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=11589)
Mod	55F1 with 60fpsV2newmod
Damage	INT long
Race time	~ 21:30 UK time
Qualifying	20:45 UK time - 45 minutes
Race length	25 laps
Replay	here (ftp://ftp.ukgpl9.co.uk:32122/Season32/1955 Grand Prix)

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

Password: see above (#post_event_password)
Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=620&theme=6)

Handicapping and chassis allocation.
This season the 1955 Grand Prix cars will be using a token system which allows drivers to purchase any chassis of their choice for a given number of tokens as published on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=620&theme=6). Drivers classed as Amateurs will be allocated an additional 10 tokens.  The token allocation will not be managed in SRou this season so (unlike the 67F1 Works and 67F1 Privateer divisions) the tokens available to each driver will not appear in the championship table (when the mouse pointer is hovered over the driver's total).  Rather, the available tokens will be published in the race announcement.  See below.

Available Tokens:
Note: These are the tokens available to each driver before the 10 tokens are added for making the race start.

Driver	Tokens	Status
Robert Fleurke	10	Pro
EvilClive	10	Pro
Ronniepeterson	10	Pro
DLogan	10	Pro
FullMetalGasket	10	Pro
Doni Yourth	10	Pro
Clive Loynes	10	Pro
Samb	10	Pro
MagicArsouille	10	Pro
Turkey Machine	10	Pro
Billy Nobrakes	20	Am
maddog	20	Am
bagrupp	20	Am
Geoff65	20	Am
Jeep	20	Am
Gareth	20	Am
Rainier	20	Am
Phil Thornton	20	Am
dave curtis	20	Am
francesco	20	Am
ReiverEcosse	20	Am

The moderator will try to calculate the tokens for each racers before all 55 races

Drivers must pay the number of tokens for the chassis they use in accordance with the following table:

For the first race, Pros will have 20 tokens and Amateurs 30 tokens, then 10 tokens more each races.
But A driver who fails to start any of the first 5 races will only be eligible for an initial allocation of 5 tokens ...

Chassis	Cost in Tokens
Mercedes-Benz W196 SL	20
Mercedes-Benz W196	18
Lancia D50	15
Maserati 250F	12
Ferrari Tipo 555	12
Ferrari Tipo 625	10
Vanwall VW55	10
Connaught Type B	5
Gordini Type 16	Zero

   
 

For some reason, I thought a good handicap system had been made here.  10 extra tokens for slower drivers.  Start with 30.  Add 20 per race for Amateurs.  Add 10 per race for Pros.  

What I see is 1 token per race for 10 races?  Or 0.5 for part time. :wetfish: Is this correct?

Hi Martin

The slower drivers only get an additional initial allocation of 10 tokens, the "start money" is the same.  You are almost right, 10 tokens for 10 races, 5 tokens for 5 races.  Not much of a handicap I admit.  The season hasn't started so the moderating team can be influenced by a well structured and constructive argument  ;).  How many tokens do you suggest would be fair?

Thanks Phil, for allowing some interaction.  This was more usual, back when I started here.

55's do not have a huge difference in their laptimes.  Any handicap should consider the advantage gained, by a fast 'Amateur' , over a fast Pro, from the extra tokens allowed.  1 token might give 0.2secs, or maybe 0.4secs?. To give good competetive racing to all, you need several seconds to give those with a parambulatory deficit a chance to compete.

I'd suggest a full token choice for Am's.  And a restriction for Pro's to realistically let Am's compete.  :winkiss:

0.4secs a lap equates to how many tokens? I'm not sure how to equate lap times with tokens.  To come up with the token allocation for the 55, 66 and GT cars we have compared the World Record times for the chassis, assumed a linear relationship and mapped it against a token range of 0 to 20.  We then adjusted it (a little) until it looked right.  But it's all a bit subjective.

The token system in the 67F1 works by allowing a driver to take the same mid priced car car over a season and the formula seems to work and produces good racing.

So we've adopted the same principle for the 55s (and 66s and GTs).  For the 55s the same 110 tokens over a season (10 at start of season and 10 per race) would allow a Pro to take:

4 x Ferrari 555/Maserati 250F + 6 * Ferrari 625

A fast Pro will always beat an average Am no matter what cars they are in.  The Spa'67 race was an example of that.  Tim managed to come second in the Gordini beating some quick Ams in silver and red cars in the process.  The handicapping will only really have an impact between the slower Pros and the fastest Ams.

If we try to give the Ams enough tokens to compete with the Pros we are in danger of making the Ams competition into a spec race. I was in a Lancia and Tim was in a Gordini and he still beat me so it doesn't matter how many extra tokens I am given I'm not going to be competitive against Tim.  Even if you gave me enough tokens to take the Mercedes W196 SL in every race.

However for the more evenly matched Pros and Ams:

An extra 10 tokens would allow an Am to take:
10 X Ferrari 555/Maserati 250F

An extra 20 tokens would allow an Am to take:
7 X Ferrari 555/Maserati 250F + 2 x Lancia D50

An extra 30 tokens would allow an Am to take:
4 X Ferrari 555/Maserati 250F + 6 x Lancia D50

An extra 40 tokens would allow an Am to take:
10 x Lancia D50

So would the fastest Ams in a Lancia be competitive against the slowest Pros in one of the Ferraris? 

Let's give an unlimited number of tokens for Ams ...

For my PoV, it will almost change nothing.

Look at the Gordini driven by Tim in Spa, quicker than any other cars except Axel's Ferrari (for only 3 or 4 tenths)

Just my opinion, we are wasting time with this ...

Guys, will the results table be split between the Pros and Ams - I.E. 2 classes as we've done previously in other series?
If so, who has how many tokens becomes irrelevant as the Ams won't be directly competing with the Pros anyway.

And while I'm here - I know I'm missing Monaco as I'll be in Japan, I'll probably still be there for Indy too, Is it simpler for me to assume I only have 5 points to start the season with?

The intent is to have one championship table so the Ams and Pros are competing in the same championship.

In previous seasons we have run 2 classes by either:

• Having 2 completely separate divisions as per the 67F1 Privateers and Works run on completely different servers
• Having 2 completely separate divisions but sometimes sharing the same server as per the spec series in Season 22 (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=343&theme=6) which used the "Heavy" and "Light" terminology rather than Am and Pro or Privateer and Works.

The overriding issue with any or these options is in how the results are loaded into the SRou system.  SRou is a mighty impressive creation but believe me it takes a lot of effort to set it up properly so that all the championship tables display the right races, the races are imported correctly and the correct rules are applied.  It isn't an easy matter to make changes to SRou (SRou is the web site that hosts UKGPL for anyone who isn't sure).

We are running a token system for the 66s, 55s, and GTs outside of SRou for this season (using a spreadsheet) to see if it works and to allow us to tweak the token values if necessary.  If we decide to keep the systems we can then arrange to have the "debugged" systems incorporated in to SRou.

Tokens is a chassis levelling system not a handicapping system but we have an opportunity here to experiment with allowing some drivers (classed as Ams in this case) to have a few extra tokens and allow them to be a little more competitive.  It is not going to change a Phil Thornton into a Tim Muttram.  I would need a Lewis Hamilton's Merc for that not a few extra tokens that would get me the W196!

If people don't think it will help we can drop the idea but I personally would welcome a few extra tokens to allow me the luxury of avoiding the slowest cars.  But I don't want so many tokens that it means I always have to take the fastest chassis to be competitive with my peers.  These days my goal in most of the races is to avoid being lapped, very hard to do that in the slower cars.

The token system is great for adding variety, and for delivering a handicap. To see how tokens will affect laptimes - you take a maximum token Am. lap, with a maximum allowed Pro's lap, but with an Am. driving.

Using Dave's suggestion above, you'd compare an Am. Mercedes ( 20 ) with an Am. Ferrari ( 10 ) at a track or 3.  This would give the advantage gained, and allow A worthwhile handicap such as this example, to be adopted and adapted, for different carsets, with a lot less guesswork. 8)

That's the problem with the 55s, there isn't any mature data available.  Hence the intent to manage the tokens outside SRou and as the data becomes available we can amend and update the token allocation.  If you, or anyone else for that matter, would like to monitor the lap times over this season and calculate a sensible token allocation I'm sure the mod team will take notice.

I think it is a good base to read and compare the technical data of the cars

Speed Gordini 162,2
Speed Mercedes 177,6

...but
Speed Gordini driven by Tim 177,6
Speed Mercedes driven by Rainier 162,2   :D

Yes but what will Tim be able to do in the Mercedes???    :scooter:

Those exact numbers look like a lot of work, for a simple handicap system.  Choosing who can race as an Amateur is not exact, so probably no need for an exact calculation.  :)

An easy way to make an estimate for 55's, would be to look at these funraces.  Take a fast, medium, and slow track.  Give Am's 20 tokens, and Pro's 10,  to see who has the faster laptime?  By how much? 

Try again with 15 and 10, and with 11 and 10.  Exact and perfect is not necessary, but something to keep more drivers in the hunt, would be good.

I looked at The Thornton Dollar issue differently.

I looked at the cars that a Pro might need to use on the given budget and then listed the cars that I viewed that I would want to use if there were no restriction.

I spent $106 Pro Dollars and $169 Am Dollars.

The extra would probably be best distributed as additional start money.

There have been some good points made on token allocation. Unfortunately no exact science.

For me the benefit of giving the Ams a little more starting money is that we avoid the fastest Pros catching up with the slower Ams & having to lap them too often - especially when you take into account the brake fade.
The allocation of tokens is quite flexible & will be controlled by the series moderator.
Let's start the season under the suggested allocation i.e. 10 extra tokens. We'll see how the Pro & Am drivers fare & who the drivers are. Lets review after 3 - 5 races. If the delta in times is quite big then the Ams can get some extra tokens.

I'm at the top of the list!  Can we stop now?

Get back in line Loynes, and get your hand out of that cookie jar!!!!  ;D

This first 55 series in UKGPL is a little bit of a step into the dark.
We can only wait for data to materialise about how fast each car really is, and more importantly how various drivers can use those cars in races. It might become apparent that there needs to be an adjustment in the token allocation,

My hope is that during this season drivers will be persuaded to use more than the fastest 50% of the cars available and maybe we will get some interesting races? Although judging by Tim's recent exploits in that Gordini........................things might get very competitive at times.  :-\

LOL

It will be interesting to say the least!  Downright unfathomable, to be honest, when it comes to Tim's speed in that Gordini.  I've been giving it a try and 'orrible is about all I can say.

Established that i'm an amateur,Where is the list of amateur and pros?

The list of Pro and Am drivers is being prepared and will be posted on the 55 Season page very shortly.

Most of you already know what group you will be in, but the mods know that everyone likes to be sure  ;).

The list will always appear in the race announcement.  This is the only place the drivers will be able to check how many tokens they have and what status they are.

Just bumping this question - I have my flights now so know I will miss both Monaco and Indy.
Shall I just assume I'm starting with 5 points rather than 10?

I've written a spreadsheet that will hopefully work everything out for the moderators.  It is coded up such that if you start any of the first 5 races you will get the 10 tokens for a whole season, rather than 5 for a half season. 

I won't change the spreadsheet but you are perfectly entitled to underspend on your allocated tokens if that is what you want to do  ;)

Fair do's - I'll play by the spirit of the rules then and start with 5.
That should give me a challenge!

A big thank you to the guys who put up the practice server tonight.  Took my Vanwall around and am now relatively convinced I can lap consistently, if slowly.  25 Laps without going off is going to be a big challenge but I'm looking forward to it.  Will the practice server be up again between now and the 26th?

Also, I have a very rookie question, iGor chat in #UKGPL, is there a password and if so, how do I enter it.  Apologies for the dumb query!

Yes, I'll try to have a server up most nights

Passwords are near the top of this page.  It is 'Savage'

The #UKGPL chatroom needs no PW to join

It must have fallen off! 

Can I just check if the Amateurs will get 10 extra per race, or 10 for 10 races?.

10 for 10 races

Hi Phil,

Any chance of that server please?  Alex is having trouble hosting.

Ta

server is up. Sorry it took a while, I was out and I've just got home.

Commitments elsewhere will deny me the opportunity to enter this round.  Bugger!

Have fun, chaps!  :)

Thanks Phil,

Not sure if I have another problem or if it is the same thing resurfacing but I don't seem to be able to run on your server for more than a lap and a half before my pc crashes to blue screen.  ;-(

Trouble is that servers are so few and far between that it is difficult to establish what the problem might be.  It runs off-line ok.

However, it allowed Alex and Dave to get some miles in so that was a positive.

YIKES!  Sounds like an overheat, Clive.  Hope you get it resolved ASAP.

Cheers Doni,

New cpu cooler on order.

Happy to do some experimenting to try to find out what it is.  I normally run my server with bandwidth settings (in core.ini) of:
Server 5/384
Client 5/84

Cookie has a better internet connection and he runs his server at:
Server 4/384
Client 4/84

I don't know how that could have an effect in your case but we could try it.  It is the only difference there is between the servers that I'm aware of.

I'm going to set the server off for a 66 practice session.  I'll try it with Cookie's settings (I've just had my internet connection updated to fibre+ so it might be better at the higher bandwidth settings now).

Have a go at connecting if you've got the 66 mod installed (I know you haven't entered the Historics this season).

Thanks Phil but my two brain cells will only cope with one mod at a time.

I'm going to try to rig up a damn great fan aimed at the cpu to see if that helps.  On the basis that my new heat sink will not arrive until Wednesday.

If Axel's server has been passing more data then I would have thought that that should have given me more trouble.

The server data rate has nothing to do with your CPU!
It would affect you only if you would still use a 56K modem  ;D

IMO you still suffer of low RAM and/or slow HDD  ;)

Do you have a software firewall?

Modern virus checkers run interactively, checking for viruses each time the hard disk is accessed.  Would disabling the virus checker or making the C:\sierra folder an exception whilst racing help?

Cheers guys.

I'm running Avira Free virus checker and when I went to try to shut it down I couldn't find any way of stopping it other than hitting it with a brick!

Said virus checker has also decided that the hardware monitor that Axel introduced me to had a virus in it and now that doesn't work either!

A new pc is on the cards but it is fighting for budget with spend on the new house.

Christmas is coming. But the big question is...."has Clive been a good boy this year?"  ::).      Just a minute, that question is echoing around this house too!!!  :shifty:

And probably getting the same answer!  ;-)

If it messes up at Buenos Aires I shall be using this pc to batter the damn mole who has started digging up my lawn!

New cpu cooler is in place but I'm not convinced that it will solve anything.  But the shiny copper pipes look good.  ;-)

If it's heat related then it's more than likely the heat transfer paste.
Standard OEM stuff lasts upto 10 years in my experience and then breaks down too much to do anything.

As you've ordered your cooler it's a bit late now but I'd have suggested cleaning the old cooler and top of your CPU and re-fixing using some Arctic Silver or similar  :)

Cheers Tim,

I've fitted the new cooler and I've put a 5" fan in the side of the case such that it "blows" at the cpu.

Checking the temp by rebooting and going to the hardware monitor in the bios I was seeing 51degC with the old cooler after moderate work.  The new cooler dropped it to 41 and with the blower on it is only 36 after running GPL.

It's now cooler than a dead penguin!

Which is more than I can say for the engine in my jalopy for tonight!  Can the engine temp be taken as a guide to its health or is it all just too variable to know?  I'm seeing 103 deg C and wondering if I'm going to see all 25 laps on the same engine.

Honestly don't know - I've yet to blow one through heat.
It's normally miss-shifts and silly RPM  ;D
Or the Gordini badge on the front  ;)

Not ideal, but it's unlimited resets - so you can at least use that safety net if required [each with the appropriate stop & go of course...].
But you should have an idea if temperature matters for the next event :)

Cheers,
Dave.

Late home and just missed the race by 3 mins.  Thanks to Jethro for stepping in with UKGPL_9 server.

First world problems - every other person having no issues joining the server apart from the lemon sat next to the bleedin' thing! Error 10054 via IGOR, local IP goes "nope, can't find you" directly in GPL. Any ideas?

Well gents thank you for that!  Huge fun for my first race.  Glad I made the finish!  Was getting very worried about Mr Curtis breathing down my neck at the end, and I enjoyed my duel with Mr Logan until his pressure cracked me and I fell off the road.

Wonderful stuff!  Roll on Monaco!

My race started with the usual engines festival.The first after half lap and the second after 20.2 S&G and pursuit of the other pilots.
The second engine explode after reaching the cars of Reinier and Perterson  :(
Anyway i was not able to reach my track record of 1,4390

Hard luck Jethro and no I don't have a clue.

My race was a disaster.  I was well organised for this event, having sorted myself a race setup with the required amount of fuel in it.

Then just as qually finished it was noticed by someone that we were required to do 29 laps instead of the expected 25.  I was still trying to add a couple of laps worth when you all cleared off down the road without me.  :-(

The Gordini just didn't have the brakes to pass anybody, well not with me driving, and as a result they got themselves in a bad place from which no amount of lift and coast seemed to let them recover.  Then the tyres started to overheat and I had a couple of spins to finish the job off properly.

Well done to Alex on finishing and congrats to Tim, Tristan and the other bloke who lapped me.

Congrats Tim, Tristan, and Clive! It looks like Tim has a feel for this mod.

Sorry Clive. I didn't know where to go. I should have braked more but I worried about causing mayhem behind me.

Things went decent after the early incident. I went off the track a couple of times but I kept the car in good shape.

Clive tried to pull off a double pass. He almost did it. We were 3 wide on the second straight. The next lap I couldn't brake for the same hairpin Clive missed the lap before.

Sam had me smiling for a while. I was faster but I couldn't see a way to pass him. I tried to take it easy and save my brakes while behind him. I couldn't get a good run on him down the main straight. I figured I need him to make a mistake or get my brakes in good shape and outbrake him into T1. Luckily I had been saving my brakes behind Sam. I had saved just enough into T1 on one lap. A little more fade and I might have hit him. On the very lap I thought I might finally be in position coming out the last hairpin Sam lost it on the exit. That made it easy to hold P5. I quickly saw I couldn't gain on Clive. The only suspense left was, do I have enough fuel to finish? I didn't realize I might run out until late in the race.

Thanks for the race guys.


Make sure the GPL and GPLSecrets folder are not set to "read-only" and that file indexing is allowed on both folders.

Not an inspiring start to the season. Must have clicked the wrong set up box, so I started the on default settings. The combination of understeer & steering ratio meant I was spending far too much time off track. Only having 12 laps of fuel persuaded me that retirement was a better option. I won't be starting Monaco. Despite much practice I have not worked out how to spare the brakes at Tabac so there is nothing left for Gasworks apart from the barriers.

Maybe, you did not select "use core settings" ?

Hope you can get onto your server next race Jethro! Appreciate you hosting this race.

That was my first run in the Gordini. It felt as if the brakes were made out of cheese and coupled with a gutless engine and one that made it's peak torque towards the red line, almost as if it's trying to catch you out at every hairpin exit, it was a handful with my limited skills at the wheel. It definitely caught me out more than once this race, as Greg alluded to in an earlier post.

Despite my lack of pace, more so the driver than the car, much as I'd like to claim otherwise  ;D, I found myself in an undeserved 3rd after a couple of laps, thanks to the misfortune of others. It wasn't to last, I was a moving chicane and Bastian & Clive made it past easily enough. Greg took a little longer to pass me but it was a case of when, rather than if. Enjoyed the battle all the same Greg, I admire you for managing not to hit me with these car's brakes!

Congrats to Tim, Tris & Clive for their podium positions.

The Connaught was a sort of "easy option", because I had used it here in a previous fun race and ( mainly because ) I had done no other practice for this race. But I had no idea how quick other guys would be.
So, 4th on the grid was a pleasant surprise, although Tim had squeezed an extra second or more out of his Connaught and there was a couple of faster cars between me and him!
Strangely I already had ( theoretically at least ) enough fuel for 29 laps so my car was set up to carry that load. 4 abreast on the grid is tight, but I feel that it is just correct for this era and adds a certain spice to proceedings.
I thought that turn 1 was going to be interesting with the pack charging up behind and I was right, except that I was the interest element!! A nudge from behind punted me onto the grass as the field swept past and I rejoined almost last, there was only some duffer in a Gordini still filling up the fuel tank in the pitlane  ;) behind me.
With these cars and this track I thought that any chance of a good finish had gone, but there was still 29 laps to go. As cars ran out of brakes ahead I was picking up places and a few cunning passes got me up to 4th place at around half distance. But the leading trio were way in the distance and any thoughts of climbing higher were just a dream.
Then I came across a Merc cutting the grass at the hairpin and pribluda told me that it was Bagrupp in 3rd place  :o OOOOh! I could smell blood  :shifty:

I had fallen into a rhythm during the race where I was only really braking at 2 spots ( at the hairpins ). This meant that I had full brakes when I needed them, but in my excitement at catching Bagrupp I forgot the routine and had used a few dabs on the brakes through T1 and T2 to try and catch the Merc. When I arrived at the first hairpin I did not have the brakes I expected and totally missed the corner.
I recovered and got back into the proper rhythm but that 3rd place was 600mtrs up the road  :-\.
I just maintained my pace for lap after lap focusing on avoiding mistakes until, there was that silver lawnmower again  ;D.
I took the chance and made the pass and pushed as hard as I dared without risking the brakes with 4 laps to go.  I suspect that Bagrupp had another incident because he suddenly dropped way back, which was just as well because I came upon that Gordini driver again and had to make allowances for this natural hazard.  ;)

Grats to Tim and Tris, I had hoped to annoy you two, but T1 ended that possibility.
Also congrats to Reiver for finishing his first race with UKGPL, I suspect that he discovered racing against real people is a little different to the AI and much more fun??
I will be on vacation for the next 2 weeks so will miss the fun on track, although I should be able to kepp up to date on the forum.

Great report there Evil.

I also struggle to keep my daft left foot out of things in the heat of battle.  I think that this is why I was convinced originally that the brakes that were fitted for the race were not as "good" as the ones used in training!

I was talking severely to my left foot and managing to close on a Merc and another Gordini when I was spooked by a big red thing suddenly appearing behind me.  Thinking it was the leader, my brain stalled and I didn't change down fast enough for the final hairpin.  That was the end of my attempt to catch the Merc.  Later on, said red thing appeared back in front of me, having been into the pits, and I hung on to him for a while.  By now the real leaders were giving me too much to think about and the left rear tyre tried to melt, causing me to spin at T1.

But the super-cooled and fully blown pc didn't miss a beat! ;D

Well, i was really going to the limits and lost my concentration and fell back to 4th Position after some spins.

Most of the time a lonely race.

I have absolutely no proof that any of you guys are real people  ;)

Aside from that, I enjoyed the race a huge amount by my god it was nerve wracking at the end with DC hunting me down.  Very annoyed at myself for a couple of very stupid spins coming down the hill into the fast left right, I lost it on entry with off power oversteer there a few times.  Worth tweaking my ramp angles a bit I think.

Still a Gordini at Monaco for me I think, A)  I'm awful and Monaco and there's no point wasting a good car on it, and B)  It's slow enough for me not to hit anything too hard.

Some of us are aliens, but I'm 100% human.  Totally fallible!

Very pleased you enjoyed your first race.  Hopefully the first of many!

Great news Clive!

I'll set my server up in practice mode tonight.  It would be good to confirm you can connect my my server as well as Jethro's.

I've loaded the chassis the drivers used into the token calculator spreadsheet.  For the next race the available tokens will be as declared in the table below (the table will also appear in the next race announcement).  The calculated values are automated but selecting the cars is a manual process so please check your tokens to make sure I haven't made a silly error.  There was no token overspend for this round so no one is disqualified.

Available Tokens:
Note: These are the tokens available to each driver before the 10 tokens are added for making the race start.

Driver	Tokens	Status
Robert Fleurke	10	Pro
EvilClive	15	Pro
Ronniepeterson	20	Pro
DLogan	8	Pro
FullMetalGasket	15	Pro
Doni Yourth	10	Pro
Clive Loynes	20	Pro
Samb	20	Pro
MagicArsouille	8	Pro
Turkey Machine	10	Pro
GregT	15	Pro
Carlos Cendejas	10	Pro
Billy Nobrakes	18	Am
maddog	20	Am
bagrupp	12	Am
Geoff65	20	Am
Jeep	20	Am
Gareth	20	Am
Rainier	12	Am
Phil Thornton	20	Am
dave curtis	18	Am
francesco	15	Am
ReiverEcosse	20	Am
Syd Drake	20	Am

Cheers Phil,

We had visitors today and I've only just managed to turn on the pc so didn't spot the server.

I'll try and get the server up between 8 and 10 most nights. Hopefully this will give you a decent chance to test your connection.

A running Server is a good advertisement.  I've looked at the tokens used for this race ( see above ). Pro's used 6.3 average - Am's used 12.1 average.  Best Amateur finished 4th.

If the same happens at the next race, the extra tokens to help Amateurs compete, will be gone after 2 races of 10. :o

I think that you have to let it run for now.  You can't make a judgment on one race and who is to say if the amateurs have been less prudent with their budget than they should have been in the long run?

As far as I'm concerned the rules were stated and I have planned my allocation of cars accordingly.  I'm going to get miffed if it all gets thrown up in the air and I suffered that damn Gordini for nothing!   ;D

I'd not considered your idea of lowering the Pro allocation, Clive. There were 6 extra tokens spent by Am's, and with this help, all but 1 were easily lapped :P

The rules won't change mid-season Clive so your plan is safe :)

The extra tokens for the Ams is a bit of an experiment.  If people hate it, we can drop it.  If people like it, we can keep it and maybe extend it. In fact it would be possible to have an individual handicap. A bit like a golf club, 24 additional tokens for a total beginner down to zero additional tokens for the scratch players.  Anything is possible, I'm sure these issues will be debated at the mid and end-of season reviews (if we have them).

Don't know the answer but I have a similar problem in that I keep getting dropped by my server. I think it is down to my LAN.  Sometimes my Race PC looses internet connection and looses connection to any network drives.  Don't know why this happens but I assume this is what is causing my GPL problems. 

So outcome of all this is I suspect it is something to do with my PC rather than my GPL installation.  Current suspect is a dodgy ethernet cable.  I've got a new cat 6 cable on order  :D

All seemed to be running well tonight Phil, for both of us!  ;-)

Yes your connection was very stable, no lag as far as I could tell.  Hopefully it will be just as good with a full grid.

The starting grid was a tad cosy!  I could have unfastened your wheel nuts!

I enjoyed that one, it was a good fight keeping Tris at bay in his Masser.
Because I'm missing the next two rounds I'm working to the original ruling and only allowing myself an extra 5 points at the start of the season (Feel free to edit your chart to suit Clive).
I took the Connaught because it's quicker than the Gordini (I didn't think this track would suit it), and I actually think it's a faster car than the Vanwall I drove earlier in the fun races, on circuits that feature 'proper' corners - I can't seem to make the Vanwall change direction as I'd like it to (Look at my laptimes for the fun race here last month).
The Connaught on the other hand does almost exactly what you tell it and has it has a nicer motor than the Gordini - the lack of power or gears doesn't really notice on shorter tracks.

I spent an hour or two tuning a setup for here using my Monaco base. I set myself the task of equalling my previous PB in the Vanwall as an absolute minimum (offline I had it down in the mid 1:42's - I somehow messed up the setup for the last race).
After half an hour it was obvious the Type B was capable of destroying the previous best.

I didn't actually expect pole to be honest - Tris has posted better laptimes on GPL Rank in all the 'fast' cars than I could manage in the Conn - so sitting pretty at the front was a happy surprise, and also a PB.

I'm still amazed by Tristan's start, it's like he had some secret Waza technology the way he launched - I thought I'd had a pretty good launch but was already behind him by the time I'd stopped wheel spinning  ;D
Bastian took advantage of my confusion (and car) and also jumped me into T1, luckily I backed off as he turned across my nose, he would have put himself into the wall otherwise.
I backed off enough to ensure I didn't brake for Turn 2 and could get a good exit and then fired down the inside of T3 at the hairpin.
Bastian didn't seem to see me coming so was easy to pass under brakes - Tris did see me and left racing room (thanks) but I couldn't get enough ahead to challenge him due to the chicanes just around the corner. I filtered back in behind him to avoid slowing us unduly and waited for the second hairpin. I expected a harder fight but I guess this is the dissadvantage of driving in the 3rd person view as Tris has to assume his brakes might not work at any point :D
This allowed me back into 1st for the start of lap 2.
Tris tried to return serve on me into the T3 hairpin but this time suffered brake failure at the critical point, luckily I spotted his car suddenly ceasing to slow in my tiny mirror and left him room to fall off in peace.

This gave me a gap over Bastian who was now slower having reached the point where the Merc starts to need it's brakes managed, he also had a recovering Tristan to deal with so I was able to pull away a little.

Tris got back around Bastian fairly quickly, who then had an off of his own and dropped a fair way back.
With my Connaught's lack of power my only chance was to maintain the gap and stay consistant - If Tris got close to me and caught the draft I'd be done for.

Luckily Tris must have equalled my own collection of small mistakes as I managed to maintain a ~2 second gap for most of the remaining race.
It only really seemed to vary when we were dealing with backmarkers. Sometimes they favoured him, sometimes me.

Well done Tris and Clive for the podium spots.
And also to the rest of the field, it all seemed very civilised when I encountered backmarkers (At least as civilised as it can be in these things!)

I predict you'll see an equally low expenditure from the Pro's until we reach Indy, where there'll be a rush to the bank. Same again for Spa and Riems ;)
The Ams will have to watch their spending or they'll risk being stuck in Gordinis' and Connaughts' amidst a sea of Silver  ;)

Unfortunatly I don't think you can use tokens to level the playing field in the 55's yet. The main difference between the fastest Ams and slowest Pro's isn't laptimes. If anything we have Ams who can go faster than some of the pros.
But the pro's have consistency and fall off an awfull lot less. You could run a funrace where all the Pro's are in Gordini's and all the Ams are in W126's - over a 50 minute race on a technical circuit I'd expect the results to be much the same as they are now - the only difference is that the Ams would dominate the fastest lap board  :)

LOL.  Yes it was a bit tight.  I've created a loose grid. Staggered 1x1 with the last man still on the main start straight (not so far back he is around gassworks).  Hopefully that will be better.

Server will be up again in 5 mins

Agreed.  In fact I don't see that you ever will.

The tokens are a great way to encourage the use of the less popular cars but there isn't enough range in the performance of the cars to accommodate the difference in driver ability.

I'm just looking forward to seeing Tim in a Gordini hassling a Merc-SL down the long straights at Reims!  ;-) 

I think that's one of the few places the performance differs enough  :P
A Gordini should just hang on to a badly setup Merc I recon as they have a decent top speed, but it will have little or no chance to beat it though

I have a garage full of badly setup Mercs!

Mine was caused by the routing not recognising hairpin NAT correctly. Sorted it with some tweaking of the port forwarding rules and can now see it!