SimRacing.org.uk

Season 32 Privateers Trophy – Round 3 - Road America

The third race in the Privateers Trophy takes us to Road America in the USA.  The track covers 640 acres (2.6 km2) within Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine. It is near the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive and has hosted races since September 1955. It currently hosts over 400 events a year. Road America has not been modified and retains its original configuration of 4.048 miles (6.515 km) in length and consisting of 14 turns. The track features many elevation changes, along with a long front stretch where speeds approaching 200 mph (320 km/h) may be reached. One of the best known features of this course is a demanding right hand turn known as "the kink." Road America's open seating allows spectators to venture throughout the grounds. Grandstands are available in several locations, as well as permanent hillside seating where crowds of more than 150,000 can be accommodated.

Note the Privateers division is run on Intermediate damage settings. Drivers are permitted 1 Shift R followed by a Stop & Go in the pit lane within 2 laps. Failure to make a stop will result in a 30 second time penalty. If you require a stop & go on the final lap & are unable to complete a time penalty of 15 secs is added.

Race List	=	IGOR
Server	=	UKGPL_4
IP Address	=	look at IGOR
Race date	=	29-10-2017
Variant	=	67F1
60fps patch used	=	60fpsV2newmod
Track	=	Road America Elkhart Lake (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=11724)
Qualification	=	20:45  UK time -> 45min
Race	=	race starts at ~21:30 UK time
Race length	=	~50 min -> 21 laps
Damage Model	=	Intermediate
Replay	=	here (ftp://ftp.ukgpl9.co.uk:32122/Season32/67F1%20Privateers/)

Driver lists and divisional rules can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=616&theme=6)

Only reported incidents will be moderated, there is no Red Zone.

The chassis token system is explained on the Privateers standings page. Please ensure you choose a chassis that is within your budget, which can be seen by hovering the mouse over your points total in the standings.

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

Password: see above (#post_event_password)

What a joy it is to be driving on the new version of the old Road America. I had the opportunity to do some exploratory laps. I may have to take the Can Am cars for a quick lap as well. Hope to see you Sunday.

Have you seen the man with the camera and the flash?Is on the curve befare the bridge.Is one of the beautiful details of this track.

Clocks in the UK went back one hour last night.

So, what sort of laptime is the competition happy with round here?
Anything to scare Mr Hulme with his  2:06.6?  :)

Cheers,
Dave.

No way he made this time in a F1 67...
He did it with a McLaren M8F!

Everything between 2:16 and 2:20 is good for a Privateer imo.

Thanks; then it's official - I'm not good! :)

Did not fin a good setup and retired. Car was too nervous under breaking.

A failed third gear in T11 and engine Ko have decided my position.

Unlucky Fran. I was behind you when the engine blew.  I saw the smoke and went down the inside.

I missed a lot of gears tonight too.  Luckily none of them caused an engine failure but the last one caused me to spin off and loose a podium place :(

H-Shifters are authentic but they are hard work!

If you were Walter at the beginning of L7 or Billy during L11, you would know what it's like to try to pass me when I barely know where I am, much less where anyone else is. I do apologize to both of you. Even though I was desperately trying to stay out the way of each of you, and toggling back and forth between cockpit and helicopter views to try to see everyone's position, I did make a complete hash of everything. Every time I think I'm getting a handle on this game, along comes a race like this to teach me how truly inept I can be.  Sigh.

Well, I ended up giving myself quite a workout there.

Very grateful to UKGPL4 being up earlier today;  I'd been left in the house (with not much on my list of jobs)  so was able to invest some time on this track.  Thought I was making good progress too - until Robert turned up in his Cooper & easily posted a time that was around 2:15 or so!  Ok, so I shouldn't be anywhere near that anyway, but all the same - eeek!

Qually went very well, with a PB since records began (Saturday).  Although it was clearly getting serious nearer the front!

After a handful of laps, the chaps in front had various issues & somehow Cookie ended up exiting the pits as I blasted past; temporarily being loaned the lead/chance of a potential podium step.

Wasn't to last of course;   during the next couple of laps I had managed to go offtrack a number of times where I really shouldn't & also ended up in the woods for a picnic losing a couple more places  [although to be honest;  that probably just accelerated the inevitable].


Still this was more fun than I was expecting.   I do have s soft-spot for the Honda,  although I do not have the fundoshi as favoured by other members of the community :)


I also think I have some H-shifter work to complete.   Getting some very sloppy/unwanted gear-changes.  From looking at good old GPLRA,  I figure an extra 35 unwanted gearchanges on lap1 alone.  Still, I'd have still thrown those inherited places away anyway,  so I don't think that will factor that much.

Anyway,  good to have one of the surprise tracks knocked-out :)

Cheers all,
Dave.

The same for me but the gear at T11 have confused my action and i was gone outside.Could be a very battle with you Phil,having seen the overtake the lap before.Will be for next time.

Actually, I think the L7 contact was at least 51% my fault. I was going to be patient. Then the temptation of using the Lotus' power down the front straight was too great. I had to guess whether to go on the left or right side, and I guessed wrong. But it is not your fault this time. I give partial blame to the narrow straights. I was glad to see that we were both able to keep going. I am sorry that I didn't give the place back afterwards. However, you were able to regain the position with two laps to go when I had to do a stop n go.

During qualifying, I realized that my internet connection was not as good as it should be. I tried restarting my PC, but did not improve much. I was cautious at the start. I was able to narrowly miss Bastian and Billy (which looked like avoidable contact). I was happy following the car in front, and trying my best to be consistent. I may have only managed four clean laps before I dropped a wheel off causing the first of many minor off track excursions.

After the L7 accident, I recovered quickly and caught up with Fran. I learned from the previous incident, and I used more caution. With the Lotus advantage on the straights, I knew it was just a matter of time. After a few laps of looking for a good opportunity, I finally had one down the front straight. Scary enough, Fran's car disappeared for several seconds (my internet again). Luckily, he reappeared in my rearview mirror, and I had plenty of room for T1. I only had the position for a few corners and then I messed up my braking and gave the position back. I was back in chase mode, and my laptimes were improving. But I started making mistakes more frequently, and I lost sight of Fran.

Then with two laps to go, I spun in Canada corner and ended up on top of a hay bail. I did a reset, stop -n- go, and just lost two positions to Pepe and Billy. I was able to stay with Billy until we crossed the checkered flag making the finish very interesting.  

Congrats to the Podium finishers, and to everyone that had a clean, consistent race!

Next race I will paint a big target on the car, just to make it easier for other cars to hit me. Out of 3 starts this season I have been wiped out in lap 1 or 2 every time.
Like the majority of drivers I struggled with this track & made a number of mistakes. To keep matters interesting I spent most of the race chasing Pepe. On three occasions I got close but spun out. When I did finally profit from his error I ran off in T3. Must due due for a slice of luck next race. PS pepe, no worries about the Lap 11 thing, it was just part of the battle I just didn't anticipate your line.

Had to miss this one which was a shame as I would have taken the Eagle and won.

Had my injections for my charity trek to Peru and my arm was hurting a bit too much.

I'll miss the next one too as I will be on said trek but will return with a win in Monza.

What's that? Why, yes, if you wanted to sponsor my trek you can certainly do that here:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mikejamesperu

See you soon.

Like Walter I had connection issues tonight. I wasn't sure if it was all me as I saw the odd car in a bunch disappear while the others remained visible but after watching the server replay I could see I definitely had a problem. Sorry to anyone who was spooked when running close..

I had considered splashing out on an Eagle as I was quite a bit faster in it than the Brabham but I had decided before the season started I'm driving the Brabham this season in all races..

I was expecting to see a sea of Eagles and Lotus on the grid for this one. Was very surprised to see only a single Lotus and no Eagles at all. Amazing Pole time by Cookie in the Cooper beat me by 7/1000sec.

I feel a bit like I'm walking on water at the moment, tonight's race was anything but straight forward though, managing to spin at least 3 rimes either losing positions or just losing ground on the person I was chasing. I was pretty near the tail of the field after my 1st spin at Canada Corner but was able to use the extra power of the Brabham to retake positions from the Cooper's on the straights. I figured a podium was possible as Dave in the Honda was a fair distance ahead and Cookie was well out on his own. Then suddenly it all changed. Cookie had to do a S&G and that meant he and Dave were losing time scrapping over 1st allowing me to eat into their advantage. Passed Dave and then promptly spun at T5 and after getting the position back put a wheel on the grass braking at the end of the Hurry downs and spun again. Gave chase and Dave returned the compliment exiting the Kink and I set off after Cookie. Needed about an extra 5 laps I reckoned to stand any chance of worrying him then with about 2 to go he went wide entering the SF straight and I was through and held him off until the flag.

TTFN
John.

I'm sorry, i guess i went for a too small space. Will look at it later. And I also forgot it....because it is to forget  :wacko: :death:

D'oh! I eventually figured this out & just thought I'd share in case anyone else has similar...

I think that my G27 shifter has worn away slightly, so a couple of the gear positions now have more side-to-side movement than they should.
As a result, the pot positions end up where they should not.

I run it through a Leo Bodnar adapter  & have just realised there is a configuration utility (which has not been required before!).
Indeed, could see the free-play in there.  So just updated the horizontal values, so now when in 3rd/4th, the sloppy movement does not cross thresholds to quickly alternate between that and the position next door/2 gears away.

As a result of my belated findings,  this potentially means my 2x worn out G25 shifters [in the secret spares cache in the loft] may have some further life if running via the Bodnar too...

Now to fix my driving,  but unfortunately that's probably a lost cause.

Cheers,
Dave.

Mod report published.