SimRacing.org.uk

UKGTL Championship - Season 1-ish, Round 1 at Donington Park National

Date: Thursday 25th May

Practice: 8:30pm (15 mins)
Qualifying: 8:45pm (20 mins)
Race: 9:05pm (28 laps)

Cars allowed: Alfa Romeo GTA or Lotus Cortina
Time Of Day: 12:00

Server: UKGTL Season 1-ish
Password: usual practice password (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2929)

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) See  UKGTL Season 1-ish Info (https://www.simracing.org.uk/index.php?ind=lm2&group=24) for general UKGTL Season 1-ish info.
(3) Please make sure you are fully aware of the SimRacing.org.uk Rules (https://www.simracing.org.uk/index.php?pid=7)

Woohoo!

:punk:

T

Hope to be there for this one, is this race open for any members?? I haven't raced in the previous couple of meets though....is this ok? ???

Yeah, no registration for these puppies. ;D

Cortina drivers of the world unite against the Italian menace! :P

It's the Cortina for me I think! Though I'm pretty slow compared to the GTL Rank times.

Looking forward to this one, it feels like I haven't done a race in ages.

I just downloaded the new Alfa sounds, gonna test them tonight. Haven't driven the track yet, but if I can remember correctly a 1:23.5 should be posssible.

Is this just the standard donnington track, or do i need to download a new version?

Standard track from the game, no download required.

Cool  - see you on the track  ;D

GS will be present, i spend some time practicing to improve my times, let´s see how it goes.

I'll be in the Cortina for a change. Boy it feels like driving a snail though, these cars are so slow. The last chicane should be interesting, I think there will be a fair bit of cutting there and possibly a fair few dodgy overtakes.  :laugh: :P

ARSE - Missed it ....

Good race there chaps. Had a 40 minute scrap with Ribeiro, which was good fun, apart from losing the fight.  :laugh:

Well done to my team mates on their excellent 1st and 3rd positions.  :clap: :notworthy:

Pretty sure the top 7 or 8 in the race were in exactly the same order as qualifying.  :yes:

Good race all round, really enjoyed it.
Thanks edam for the close action, made my race.  ;D

Best race ever - no further comment necesary.
I hope Jeff will make a video so everyone can see what I am talking about.
BTW: Fastest lap was faster than in qualy and was set with about 2/3 of fuel onboard  :o 8)

Great race that one. Got a good start, and made up a few places. Sorry to Don for the little touch on the side through T1, but I was a little 'commited' at that point :o :)

Had a great dice with Greg. Was faster than him through the final chicane, but couldn't catch him after T1, and we played cat and mouse for about 24 laps - great stuff :D

Had a few laps praccy before the race then headed into the unknown. Wow Ruskus n' pero you fella's should've drank some A-Team style milk before the race to give us guys a chance ;) Did a double downshift on about lap 2  :( span and waited for the field to go by but had a good time climbing back up through the field setting a PB on the way. So I'm pretty happy with 11th place in the race. great driving guys had some nice little battle's on the way through. Grats to new Shark boy Ruskus ;D Amazing pace

MAN WHAT A RACE!!!!!!

Did a PB in qually of 1:22.8 and got pole.
And the, the race. I had a classic fight again with Peter (that was too long ago). The whole race we were fighting and just 0.3 of a sec between us.
At one point I made a small mistake in T1 and went a bit wide, and Peter took the inside. I was behind him for numerous laps, but unable to overtake. The race pace was very high and there was no way I could give some more to overtake him. But he did the same as me, went a bit wide and I took him back.

At that stage of the race I was looking more behind me than infront :D. I had to be on guarded the whole race not to let him sneak through.
The backmarkes were no problem and didn;t interfere with the fight, which was good.

From our previous race here at Donny (Falcon, season 0) I knew Peter was capable of making one last attempt in the last chicane, last lap. And he did it again ;D. Luckily I could hold it and just get across the finish before him.

It was such a good race. Thanks Peter :thumbup2:

That was pretty good, although i din't get that involved starting at the back! hope i didn't slow anyone down too much, i need some practice! - those lap times you guys pulled out were Q U I C K!! :o

All I can say amen to that

I will probably make 2 vids, one of just us two (maybe under Hard rock halleluja :rockon:), and one of the whole grid.


I was amazed by my qually time, untill I saw your race time :o. I think that was at a point you were following me, using my draft :D. I notice that fuel amout isn't really a big issue with these cars in GTL.
Tyres are! ;). My rears were gone after 3/4 of the race, so what do you do then....indeed, drift some more ;D.

Great race, Had Madd pressurr from Madd RIP ;D for the first 10 laps, managed to start pulling away and saw him spin in my mirror at redgate. Tryed to close on Zacari but he was a little bit too quick, think he made a mistake at copice a couple of laps before the end but i wasnt close enough to take advantage.
Well pleased with the forth, always go well at Donnington probably because ive done about a million laps! Worth it though best track in the world in my opinion.
Grats to Ruskus. ;)
Cheers.

Fantastic nite for me after the abortion I made of the last race  ;D , quali in 5th and a pb for me, could just aabout hold off Shark and Ribeiro but just couldn't get close enough to Minton, no matter how hard I pushed, then I downshifted too fast in T1, Redgate I think?? but luckily had enough of a gap to get going without losing a place, although it was a bit touch and go for a few laps  :helpsmilie: with Shark right behind me, but just was able too get a little gap and finally finish 5th, well chuffed, I was doing almost quali laps all race, gonna have a rest now!!
Well done Ruskus, at least in this vid I won't be shown in the pits!!

PS
And to cap it all I beat 2 mins in Monza with the Pantera earlier on.... Wohoooo!  :P

That's a pretty impressive time. I'm can just beat the 2 minutes with the '69 Vette.

Coming from you that is a very appreciated comment, thanks, all I've got to do now is learn to drift around Donny like you and pero........ should be able to get it in about 30 years!! :jumpjoy:

Well its good to be different  :P. Not much to enjoy there.

Despite not being to excited about present format, gave it a go having not driven Cortina since last time. Got reasonable quali considering but race was a bumper car special  :). Not good for me nerves.

Never mind, present format is clearly a winner. Not to keen on alfa/cortina choice but I'm clearly in the minority.

Results (https://www.simracing.org.uk/index.php?ind=lm2&event=143) up and replay (http://ukgtl.simracing.org.uk/Donington%20Park%20National%20-%20Season%201-ish%20060525.zip).

I was right, top 8 finished in the same order they qualified.  :smartass:

Oh, I don't even need to finish at Imola. Good because I know Peter will beat me there easily :D.
Wait, I do have to finish, for the sake of the team. We didn't take first place for nothing :D

Well...congratulations to the same as usual :yes: :yes: :notworthy: :yawn:

Not much to say, unless, thank you Shark for the one of the most fun, hard, fair and interesting race ever :thumbup2: :clap: :notworthy: :lol:


You all are so fast and consistent :)


Cheers and thanks

UNOFFICIAL LAPCHART (http://www.tyfdesk.com/simracing/ruskus/lapcharts/Lapchart nDonington.htm)

Pretty good race that for me too. Had a good tussle with Don for a few laps until I finally managed to get a tow and negate the Cortina's straight line speed disadvantage, finally managing a pass into the chicane. After that I managed to build up a few seconds' gap and was looking like I might be able to get onto the tail of the Edam/Greg battle but started to cook my rears and had to cool it a bit and settle for 10th to make sure JonM couldn't catch me before the end.

Thanks to the two cars I lapped who made sure I got past with minimum time loss (and Will, turn your lights off :P ).

 :angel:

How can I make a video stream instead of downloadable?
I've got a 100MB video of this race, but I don't want to let ppl wait minutes before they can watch it?

LOL! Ur not streaming anything of my webby, u EGG! :o >:( ::)

100MB seems a bit big tbh m8. Imagine doing 10 races of 100MB each... And then imagine how it feels when ur login to the FTP doesn't work anymore ???

ROFL!

:P

T

I know it's big, but is there no other way to stream. I don't mind uploading it at rapidshare for peeps to down. But I think it would be more usefull for them if they can watch while streaming.
This vid is an exception. It's only about me and Peter. So only the real die-hards will watch it. The race video will be made later on and will be around 40-50MB.

Nice race, i made some mistakes, had some real nice fights one of them with cooler, i will see replay now, cant wait for that video.

Comedy of Errors!!  I apologize in advance for any contact on my part during the race, certainly none intended.

This was a very disappointing race for me.   In qualifying someone was not yielding to faster drivers, even after making mistakes that ruined his own laps.  I lost 3 qualifying laps this way and saw others having the same frustrations.  Qualified in P12, but someone ahead of us did not start so that became P11.

During the formation lap once again there was confusion and big gaps opening up.  JonM in front of me allowed a huge gap to open at the end of the lap as the leaders were leaving the chicane; we had to race to catch up, leaving a gap behind me, only to have to slam on brakes again at the starting line.  Everyone above P7 was in a very nice, tight line, but the rest of us were delayed.  We really cannot continue to have such disorganized starts!

Going into the hairpin on race lap 1, JonM braked very early, which confused me and sent me to the inside as the leaders were getting away.  While attempting to recover and hoping to catch the leaders again I found myself beside JonM and could not see where he was; coming out of the turn I lost the rear and 5 places.  P15.

Going into the chicane at the end of lap 1 folks were changing their lines, braking early, not braking enough ... in the confusion and committed to full braking I transferred my momentum to Bernie Lomax.  Then Eddie Meyer tried to come through on the inside, jumping the curbs and giving me a smack before cutting (me off...) to the inside and making second contact that resulted in a partial spin.  He recovered, losing 2 spots, but I lost 5.  P20.

After this we were three wide into turn 1, me on the outside.  whitham69 bobbled under braking with the resulting contact sending me to the inside where Jamera is trying to pass from behind us, with unfortunately more contact and loss of momentum, putting me down to P21.

Lap 2, going down the hill into the hairpin, Jamera runs wide; I keep my line but while recovering Jamera comes to the inside and taps me, sending him wide and giving me the braking line for the spot coming out of the turn.  P20.

Coming up the hill, Eddie Meyer has a moment avoiding sponsored by ginsters (coming back on track from his own moment) and rejoins near us, giving us an awkward entry into the next turn complex, but I am able to pull off the inside pass on whitham69.  As he goes wide through the turn I leave him room while Jamera comes up and transfers his momentum to me, unsuccessful in an inside pass attempt.  P18, which became P17 when JonM went off from P10.

Next lap, going into turn 1, Bernie Lomax spins and comes to rest just outisde the line at the apex.  sponsored by ginsters is hot into a clean outside pass on Tom Cooper, the two Cortinas just ahead of me, when sbg contacts Lomax's stopped car, sending him into me and then off the track, and killing my momentum again.  P15.

Coming out of the hairpin I bobble the acceleration and have a moment: P20.

A few laps later I am catching Eddie Meyer when he bobbles braking and comes out of a turn a little slow; I coast into his rear, transferring more precious momentum and causing Bernie Lomax to have to back off to avoid contact.  I'm sure Eddie is grateful for the push, though, and the gap.  :P

A little later, coming into the hairpin again, Eddie over brakes and runs wide; I don't have the best line but I make the pass, pushing my car as hard as it will go to the inside, but I'm still wide enough that we make contact as Eddie comes back on the track, killing his drive up the hill.  I guess my car wanted that momentum back.  P19, which becomes P18 when Jamera goes off out of the hairpin.

Another few laps later will16v has a moment going into the hairpin and ends up sideways in front of me.  Hairy, but only more (now MOST precious!) momentum lost, no contact, whew.  P18.

At the end, after narrowly avoiding his bumper several times, I was trying to pass whitham69 on the inside going into the chicane, but somehow I missed the braking point and went wide into the tires.  After that I found I could not select Reverse and had to retire on lap 12, not even halfway.  :(

Had some nice dicing at times, which in that respect getting dumped to the back of the pack can be fun, but also had to back off a lot to avoid contact (sometimes unsuccessfully...), which mostly sucks (momentum, my precious...).

Let's work on those starts!!

     -=> J <=-

Quiet race for me, clear in 3rd and no action apart from on first lap.  Standard GTL really, with Rus and Pero a mile in front!

The starts still bug me occasionally too, anyone leaving a big gap should be penalised for it anyway as it's prohibited in the rules. 

I've also been victim of people on their out-lap messing up my run, I was so annoyed at Brno in GTR I almost clattered into them in a fit of rage but thankfully I decided against it!  Just one of those things, some people seem to have the attitude of 'there's someone on a hotlap but I think I'm faster than them so I wont hold them up' but unless we start moderating quali sessions that wont change.  Speeding in pits happens every now-and-then too.

I had a bad race, i must remember that im not on my supermoto and jumping kerbs gets a stop go. two of them, i had same last race :laugh:. Had a good race with some drivers at the start. Qualy is hard if your slow like me you spend all your time moving over for the fast boys, there comes a point were you have say stuff it, "Im on my hot lap and you have wait till i finished".

I never get annoyed at people on a hotlap, I tend to back off if I think I can't get passed without affecting the other driver.  But when you see someone say 'pit out' and 30 seconds later holds you up for no good reason that's what gets my back up! ;)

Totally p*ss*d off at that, qualied 10th, went to fill car for race, came back to main screen and couldnt join  grid, flag was greyed out...aaarrrgh. Why isnt there a warm up session like GTR....oh well. Just checked GTL Rank, Pero's time of 122.7 is the second fastest in the world....wow on race fuel...amazing. Bout time you boys started giving race lessons to us mere mortals!

Drivers are reminded to post incident reports to me by PM.

Enjoyed the racing, thanks chaps.
The highlights have to be getting passed JonM (lol) and trying to keep Gizmo behind me for half dozen laps or so ;)
I then made a couple of silly unforced errors and found myself at the rear of the field.

On the down side of the game I'm becoming more frustrated with the amount of contact that goes on, surely it must be possible to race and overtake with out making  contact. Not pointing fingers at anyone, just my overall opinion.

If someone is properly on a hotlap then I don't expect them to move over just because a faster driver arrives behind them - finding the space to bang in a good lap is one of the skills required. But I have seen too many people on outlaps or who make big mistakes (even going off) during qualifying and then still holding other drivers up - it's rude, pointless and stupid and the only reason we're not moderating Q sessions is that there aren't any replays available for them. >:(

It's by no means everybody though - I had more than one person do the sensible thing and actually stop at the pit exit before joining the track until it was clear of traffic. Well done. :thumbup1:

I hadn't had much practice for this race (or GTL in general for a while) so I wasn't too surprised to be so slow :)

I had a really good tussle with Tom Cooper for many laps, who nabbed my place when I (somewhat predictably) screwed up the chicane. Nice clean driving Tom, that was really fun, sorry I spoiled it by spinning off, I was looking forward to seeing if I could nich my place back ;)

I'm surprised by the warmup-lap problems, mainly because I was the pace-car. I was doing constant 80km/h (11 o'clock on my speedometer) which is a bit slower than should be, but I was trying to keep the pack close.
What I notice is that people start warming their tyres up immediatly after the start of the warmup lap. This is useless unless you keep doing it the whole lap, or else the tyres will just cool down again. Better warm them up at the end of the lap and do it intense.
Another thing that happens is warming up the brakes. Most do this by slowing down, leaving a gap, then flooring it, and slamming the brakes hard. Not much use when driving in 2nd or 3rd gear, no faster than about 130km/h. Better just hold the brakes and keep the throttle pressed. This will warm the brakes up so much faster and will keep your speed the same.
I never was a fan of rolling starts, but I see now that they can be interesting, if done properly. Like somebody said, the top 7 was very close at the start, making the race interesting (for me atleast). Why oh why would you leave a gap right before the green flag ???. Crawl up on his bumper and put the guy infront under pressure.

This video is just about me (Ruskus) and [RSms]Pero_Grzoni. We had such a awesome race I just had to make an individual video about it. And good I did, because this video lasts 10 minutes already ;D. The whole race the gap was so small, and even the finish was close, with Peter being right at my bumper. With music of Breaking Benjamin - So cold and the Prodigy - Smack my bitch up, the 10 minutes will be over in a jippy.

VIDEO (http://rapidshare.de/files/21417150/Ruskus_vs._Pero.wmv.html)

It's rapidshare stuff, but I'm waiting for Tyf to give me permission to upload this big video on his FTP. Don't know how much space he has left, but I will only leave it up there for a short time, because it's at rapidshare now forever. So may I, may I, may I Tyf, pleeeeease :-*

Space is going to fill up quickly m8. That's why 100MB vids of a pwetty short race are not really useful. And the whole idea of having some FTP space imo is that we'll be able to keep these files hosted for a long time. Really annoying when u read an old thread and every1 is excited about the video and u can't d/l it anymore, hehe! Vid map is 300MB now, which is fine, buttah...die-hard fans can get it from Rapid ;).

8)

T

Is it not possible to put the videos on http://www.youtube.com/ or similar?

Just downloaded THE VIDEO. Great work Rus, and congrats to you and Pero for providing some great entertainment
Had a good clean dice with Popa at the back of the field - thanks Pop - you made an old man very happy when you went off, lol.

On the subject of slower drivers, I don't think that anyone INTENTIONALLY gets in anyone's way - we're just doing our incompetent best! When Rus and Pero came past me I would rather have DNF'd than impeded them(they were awesome to watch at close quarters)

I think that we are all guilty at times of the mindset that says "when I make an error it's genuinely accidental, but when anyone else makes one it's because he's a bloody idiot"

It's still a great racing league and a pleasure to race with(at the back of) all of you.

TC

Here is the race video, without Peter and me :D. Were some really close racing at some points, so I had to select the scenes, or else there would be another 10 minute video. Because of this there are hardly any shots taken from the back of the grid. So next time, when you want airtime, PM me about good action ;).

40MB, 5 minutes

VIDEO (http://www.tyfdesk.com/simracing/ruskus/vids/UKGTL DonnyNat.wmv)

Donations are welcome ;)

Heheh! Glad to be of service!

Nice Vid once again Ruskus 8)
On the subject of the starts I always try too leave a bit of room because everytime I've been close up to someone on the warm up lap I always seem to end up swerving to avoid a contact and I really don't want to K.O. somebody on the warmup lap and into any turn 1 on the first green lap I try my best to brake early because If I don't no doubt the person in front will and it's too late to wished I'd braked that bit sooner. If I brake early....Go past :P

Thanks.

If everybody keep a steady pace, there is no reason to swerve to avoid contact. Will going 80km/h you can warm your brakes ad tires just as easily as when driving like a mental patient.

 ;D nice vid Rus!! I could see shark's and Ribeiro's race nicely in my rear view mirror, looked a right old ding dong!

More detail on Qualifying: As I was starting laps (coming off non-hotlaps) with people in front of me I would be sure to leave plenty of room, as usual, so I could keep my fast pace without worrying about catching up.  Two times with more than enough room at the start, by the end of a good lap I had caught this person whose grid time was not all that different from mine so obviously this was not a hotlap for him, but he did not yield and so my hotlap was ruined as well.  Another time he was on an outlap and did not obey the blue flag.  One time after I came back on from a mistake (sorry to the fast guy coming behind me whom I couldn't see!) I saw this person, also on a non-hotlap, block one of our esteemed championship leaders who returned to the pits with <ESC> at the end of the lap rather than continue with a ruined lap.  Of course there are reasons for this to occur: no mirrors or the "you joined while I was on track so I can't see you" problem (which I know is not the case here).  But in general, for me at least, blocking faster cars during qualifying is a no-no -- most especially if my lap is not good -- and I have completed my own hotlaps even while allowing others to pass safely.

BTW: It is possible to save a replay of qualifying by leaving the event, but of course someone must sacrifice a qualifying position and risk not making it back in time to join the race.  Also: if you get a really good PB time in qualifying, leave the event to save it, otherwise it will not get into your Career.blt file when the session changes (another bug...).  Obviously, don't leave the event if it's an important qualifying position or when you might not be able to get back into the server (full pubby races).

More detail on starts: I like rolling starts!  I saw a replay of a super cool, double grid rolling start in an rFactor league race that just blew my mind it was so coordinated and fast.  But every one I've been in here so far has had massive confusion caused by large gaps opening up.  When I see a gap like that, my concentration is full on catching back up so if someone ahead of me does NOT have that same goal then we are at odds and much more likely to have an incident.  In fact, I contacted someone in my very first rolling start for that very reason: he took off, I thought with intent to catch the escaping pack, only to slam on his brakes a few seconds later before we had caught up and not in a braking zone.  And with a gap just at the starting line, am I now in a race-to-cross-the-line-faster-but-not-first situation??  Technically I believe that's not how the rules spell it out.  It's all very confusing when that happens.  If a nice, steady gap and pace are maintained then the following cars may concentrate on tire/brake warming without needing to worry about keeping up.  Gap == BAD, keeping up == GOOD.  Many gaps == ruined start.  Basically, do what the cars in front of you do.  After the start, especially in a long race, if you can't keep up at least get out of the way so others may have a chance.  Holding back faster cars at the start of a long race is like punishment as those vital seconds are multiplied by race length.  I always feel bad if I hold back truly faster drivers.

More detail on contact: I do not believe anyone here was being overly aggressive as we have seen in other league races -- even had a blatant wrecking incident in one, if you can believe that in a league race!  But I seem to have encountered a large amount of contact issues in the race yesterday, probably just a long run of bad luck all wrapped into a few laps.  There are a few more controversial incidents, though, which I have duly forwarded to our moderator.

     -=> J <=-

I've never done this, even if (like last night) I did get a PB.  Just get the qualifying time from the results upload and manually edit the career.blt file, nothing wrong with doing that!

Noone should be accelerating out of the last corner to catch up a gap.  The leader keeps the same pace from the last corner to the s/f line and everyone behind should do the same!

Not that there was anything wrong with the speed of the start yesterday, but I tend to slow to a crawl near the end of the lap to make sure of a bunched field in the same way I would if slowing for a standing start after a formation lap.  Tyer temps don't get raised enough to worry about weaving about (and in any case excessive weaving is against the formation lap rules) and as Ruskus said, brakes can be warmed by dragging the brake pedal whilst accelerating (unless you've not got split-axis pedals, in which case your stuck :P)

Sure, when it's available.  Most pubby races no one uploads anything anywhere.  And the results files don't autosave.  :(

     -=> J <=-

That's what I've been trying to say all along.  So far, both races, it's been the same thing though.  It's really very much more important to keep up with the guy in front of you than anything else on the formation lap.  <sigh>

     -=> J <=-

 :o :o :o public servers?!  I see the problem lol.  But noting the time down on paper would do too ;)  Hopefully it'll be fixed in GTR2 at least, (as well as showing what driver aids are on for any recorded laps!)

If you set Extra Stats="1" in you .PLR file you should always get a results file at the end of each session...

I know about that setting but I did not realize it also adds a timestamp to the filename!  Very kewl.  Thanks!

     -=> J <=-

Top job on the video again Ruskus  ;), there was some great battles going on!  Good tune aswell mate.
Cheers.