SimRacing.org.uk

Grid/server capacity: 22

Practice/Car change: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (20 mins)
Race: 20:40 (15 laps)

Track: Spa '67 Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg109873#post_spa1967) (Includes texture update)

Cars allowed: All cars included in this pack Download this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3358.msg54520#post_lemansclassics)

CLASS P+2.0

Ferrari 330 P3/4
Ferrari 330 P4
Ferrari 412P

CLASS P3.0

Ford Mk.IV
Porsche 907K
Porsche 907LH
Porsche 908K
Porsche 908LH

CLASS S5.0

Porsche 917K
Porsche 917LH

Car restrictions: Three drives maximum per class. Check your status here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Tl-HdpSeXk40LZtdbnMeXBpTOn_wlo7i-U4Huou9oc/edit?usp=sharing)

Time of Day Setting: 14:00
Start: STANDING
Tyre wear: 2x
Fuel consumption: 2x
Pit stops: Required

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.

Very interesting:

- Frank Gardner, on the Porsche 917 (found on fb)

"Late one Friday in 1969 the telephone rang. Hello Frank, this is Huschke (von Hanstein). We would like you to drive our new car at the Nurburgring 1,000 kilometres this weekend. I said I was busy and recommended he call Brian Redman. 'Brian has had a crash, and is in hospital.' Jo Siffert was my next suggestion. 'Jo has had a crash and is in hospital.' 'What the bloody hell is going on there?' Our new car is not easy to drive, Frank' - and he wasn't kidding!

"Porsche came to us because there was a shortage of drivers but the money was good so David Piper and I decided to take it on.
"These first cars had alloy tubular chassis, which was gas-filled to detect cracks. There was a big guage in the cockpit, which measured the gas pressure. If the guage zeroed, they said it meant that the chassis has started to crack, and they said I should drive home 'mit care'. I told them, 'If the needle zeroes I'll park the ******* there and then and walk back, pick up my Deutschmarks and go home'.

"The chassis flexed so much that the position of the gearchange was never the same twice in a row. You'd reach out for the lever and it wasn't there anymore. I was asked to drive it at Le Mans, the money was great too, but I told them 'I never wanted to be the quickest bloke in motor racing - just the oldest- and that Porsche was going to interfere with my plans.

"Then there was the engine. You had about 300 horsepower at 5000 revs, and then between 5000 and 6000 you picked up another 300! So it was a bit of delight, really, and it was on narrow nine-inch rims all round. The computer had said that nine-inch rims would make the car very quick in a straight line, but the computer wasn't strapped in the bloody seat up in the Eifel mountains, where you tend to get the odd corner...

"David did one lap at the Nurburgring and said he was too young to die. It snowed and poured, the car was snapping sideways and aquaplaning at the same time. It was one of the few times I extended my concentration levels above and beyond what I possessed, but we finished 5th".

 :)

Great find Kurt - both frightening and hilarious at the same time  :)

+1

Great read, hilarious and frightening (sorry to copy Erling's adjectives but he took the best ones)

.....................................that description could be applied to some of the cars have driven in GTL!!!  ::)

Really don't like fb, but there are some groups with very interesting motorsport pics anf info.

Now found the complete storye about Frank Gardner ("Lunch with Frank Gardner" - Motorsport Magazine):

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/march-2008/84/lunch-frank-gardner (https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/march-2008/84/lunch-frank-gardner)

 :)

IMPORTANT

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=15034.0

It's donation time again folk's. We need your generosity to stay online so please give whatever you can afford  :notworthy:

Probably will miss this one. Simply too hot   ::) at the moment for any kind of activities  :P

Have fun guys  8)

We now have rain in the UK so not so hot. Suggest you wear only a racing thong tomorrow night.

Way too vivid a replay Tony........LOL

Bob M.

LOL !

http://www.dmi.dk/vejr/til-lands/byvejr/by/vis/DE/2946447/Bonn,%20Tyskland/ (http://www.dmi.dk/vejr/til-lands/byvejr/by/vis/DE/2946447/Bonn,%20Tyskland/)

30° C in the room where the PC stands  :P

Sleeping in a vault cellar (18° - 20°C) for one month now. Preferring the colder regions of this planet ...

Looks like I will miss this one also.  Miscommunication with the wife.  I told here we were switching to Wedn. for racing last week so she made a Mon. doctors appointment for today to check on her broken wrist.  So will see you all next Wedn.   Have fun all!!!

Bob M.

Guys, Is it ok if I join in tonight's long distance fun. Quite unprepared but eager to race as always.Cheers, Dan

No probs mate

Sigh, twice running now the conn dropped. This time while entering the pits  :taz:

Bad show ! Ingnored a stop and go penalty and was disqualified. Never saw any warning was too busy keeping it on the grey stuff. Will have to get used  to the routines again . My start and first lap were a disaster anyway.Bit rusty. Should have listened to Tony: race is not won in lap one!

Thanks for racing and hope everyone else did much better than me. Cheers, Dan

Great to have you with us, please join us week Wednesday for our next UKGTL race, your most welcome.

Results and replay now posted.

Great race for me yesterday. Love this version of Spa, given a suitably bonkers quick car, and the 917 fits that bill nicely.

Can't believe I stole pole from Geoffers by just 0.1 sec, on a 3+ minutes lap  :)   Start was tricky if you use a clutch pedal; as soon as a gear is engaged, the car starts rolling, so timing is crucial. I pressed the clutch, held the revs, but didn't engage 1st until the countdown reached "1".

Kept 1st place, but Roger and Geoffers in hot pursuit. Gap never more than 3.5 secs max during all but the last lap of stint 1.  Geoffers seemed to handle the tyre wear better than me, as he was shortening the gap late in stint 1. I had a fishtailing rear coming out of the 1st gear hairpin, which brought him right up my chuff.  Braked more than he expected at Eau Rouge, so he bumped me, sending us both into a spin. I got off the best; when the car stopped, it was in the middle of the track, facing the right way. Geoffers lost more time, ending up facing the wrong way.  In the race I thought he was right behind me, but that was in fact Roger in similar car.

We all pitted at the end of that lap, with Roger leaving first, apparently skipping a tyre change. I was next, chasing after him on fresh rubber.  Had a good scrap when I caught up to him, where we exchanged positions a couple of times.  Eventually eased away to open a small gap.  Grats to Geoffers & Roger for completing the podium - and to Clive, Tony & Dan for the P3.0 podium.

Commiserations to those who met misfortune in various ways; Bill, Matt & Dan.  Dan, I'm not sure, but believe you have 3 laps to serve a S/G, so best get it over with if you're issued one.  If you never saw the warning, it's not much help of course.

Race offered great potential for some exciting racing with four other drivers in the same class but it was all ruined on the start line when my car crept forward and gave me a jumped start S&G penalty. Pitted to serve penalty only to find my pit chief refused to accept my arrival until I had positioned my car just so. To far away from anyone else to try to catch so only made up places by other drivers leaving. Pitted only to refuel but still way behind anyone to have a battle with. Ho hum. Sounds like some of you had a more eventful evening.

Got over confident again, didn’t lift early enough and hit the Armco on the outside of the corner, was flipped over the Armco and rolled away on the track to La La Land.  ::)

Grats to the fast guys and the podium, I could see that things were pretty intense up front.
I was tempted to take the 917, but had a couple of drives still spare in the 2nd group, so thought I had better use one of those.  Other than assuming that the groupings relate to the speed potential of the cars I really have very little experience to work with  :-\

It was a little disheartening during qually to find cars absolutely blasting past my car when I was already redlining in 5th!! Then I checked who was driving what, and realised that maybe there was a reason, lol.

Dan's "unorthodox" starting technique had me worried for a moment, and I thought I might become an interested party, as he turned sharp right to test the concrete wall  :o :o. Luckily I avoided any contact and chased after the 3 hot shots in their 917's......a little optimistic on my part as they were simply too quick on the fast bits, and not slow enough through the corners either!!

Matt got his beast up and running and pulled a pass heading towards Masta…….a place where I was not lifting, but I discovered that Matt does!!! Some very squidgy moments in the underwear department and much frenetic wheel twiddling kept me out of the various barriers and scenery, but allowed a recovering Dan to sweep past.

Dan later retired and Matt had a disco, so I was promoted to class leader with Tony still running but a loooong way behind. Gradually settled into the handling of my Porker and was beginning to push the envelope a little when I got a SnG for cutting the track??!! If anything I had extended the track by running wide ( very wide!!) at a couple of corners.  ;D
OK no probs, plenty of time in hand so did the SnG and whilst I was waiting for Arnold to wave me back into the race I worked out that if I pitted in 2 laps time I would have completed 10 laps and would therefore only need 1/3rd of a tank of fuel to get to the end  ;D
2 Laps later cruised into the pits...no need for tyres they were all good......select fuel on pit board and put in 1/3rd of a tank...………………..Those of you who are switched on will realise that I didn't put in 1/3rd, I only topped up the fuel to the 1/3rd level, which is not the same!!  ! lap later I realised that I was going to be 1 lap short of finishing EVEN if I got lapped. So another splash and dash which brought me out a mere 8 secs ahead of Tony!! When all of the pitstop malarkey started I had been 90secs ahead!!!
I suspect that Tony had issues because I was able to ease away slightly over the last few laps and hold on to my place...but it was buttock clenching time for a while there!!

Result (https://www.avonrise.co.uk/srou/kurts/Spa1967_30072018)

8)

Bit of a late post, sorry.

Very entertaining race this one. Prior to qually I didn't think I could challenge Erling here, best I had acheived in practice in the 917K was a low 2.08 & Erling was doing 2.06s. Got pole early in qually with a low 2.06, 2s better than my PB, Erling then went a tenth faster. Had another go & got into the 2.04s only for Erling to once again beat me by a tenth.  :o

Race start was poor, had to hold it on the brakes to stop it rolling forward & then didn't give it enough throttle wary that it could get out of shape as it had done at Sebring, consequently not only did Erling grab the lead but Rog went past too. Got past Rog on lap 2 when I got a better run onto the Masta straight & set out after Erling. Lap times were very similar until around lap 6 when I started to gain a little & when Erling got out of shape exiting La Source I was right with him. However despite lifting early for Eau Rouge I still got caught out by how much Erling slowed & bumped him into a spin. Justice was done as I came off worst, finishing up facing the wrong way, & by the time I got sorted, Rog had gone past into 2nd place.

All three of us pitted at the end of lap 7, Rog rejoining 1st, I guess he didn't change tyres. Somehow lost a lot of time in the pits & was now 20s behind Rog & 17s behind Erling, caught up some time on the next couple of laps & by the time Erling had found a way past Rog I was only 12s behind. Gap to Rog came down quickly after that, guess his tyres were slowing him, but could not gain much more on Erling. Caught Rog with 2 laps to go & luckily got past with a tighter line through Les Combes on lap 14 & came home 2nd.

Congrats to Erling & Rog  :clap: :clap: :clap: & well done to all finishers.

The 917 was a delight to drive on this track, the high speeds showing up none of the handling vices I had trouble with at Sebring.

Your the man Kurt  :thumbup1:

Even in a racing thong...  ;D