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UKGTL => UKGTL Races => Topic started by: Wiltshire Tony on December 05, 2020, 05:17:43 PM +0000



Title: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Wiltshire Tony on December 05, 2020, 05:17:43 PM +0000
Championship standings HERE (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=902&theme=5)

Grid/server capacity: 22

Car/Track download available by pm to WT

Track: Nivelles-Baulers (Long)

Car restrictions: Check your car allowance here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1adEZQkdfKJkh1CkXiXLJmqACTDm60QMPS4BDep64oaQ/edit?usp=sharing)

Practice: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (20 mins)
Race: 20:40 (34 laps)

Time of Day Setting: 14:00
Start: STANDING
Tyre wear: Normal
Fuel consumption: Normal
Pit stops required: NO

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


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Hristo Itchov on June 30, 2021, 06:55:38 PM +0100
Going with the Datsun today, so after I do some laps, the setup will be available in the online database.

So far I had a 1:26.185 as my best time, but it's tricky being consistent on corner entry and especially in the places where you just have to ride those curbs (the chicanes).

EDIT: Down to low 25 with less fuel and some setup changes. Uploaded 2 setup variations online


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Wiltshire Tony on June 30, 2021, 09:58:32 PM +0100
Results and replay now posted.


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Wiltshire Tony on June 30, 2021, 10:16:26 PM +0100
I had a 11 sec lead over Matt when my anti-virus software decided to pop up to tell me how well it had done. Windows normally suppresses these  messages until after I've finished gaming but this time the AV software was so jolly pleased with itself it just had to tell me straight away. Locked up my GTL and I just had to keep clicking on the AV popup window until it removed itself from the screen. Was able to close on Matt but could not get close enough to attempt a pass. Quite exciting tho.


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Erling G-P on June 30, 2021, 10:45:38 PM +0100
In my entire GTL career, this was one of the hardest, best and absolutely worst races ever!!    Keeping two aliens, taking turns at harassing me, at bay for 34 f...... laps, only to lose everything in the final corner of the race.  I have no words...

On a side note; as I love fast corners, I really liked the track, apart from the killer curbs.  Tried both of Hristo's setups, but had too little time to get comfortable with either and thus stayed with my own.  He used lower gearing, which gave me problems in the left-right downhill chicane.  With short gearing, 2nd felt too short for the left-hand entry, but in 3rd I invariably entered too fast, messing up my exit line.  With the higher gearing, 2nd was appropriate for the entry, and I could get early on the gas for the exit.


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Dimitar Dulichki on July 01, 2021, 05:13:15 AM +0100
Apologies for not being here in a while guys. I started a new job and it's very intensive at the moment but it won't be that way all the time, so i can't wait to be back on the track. I am happy that you have interesting races and grats on Daz on the win. :)


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Hristo Itchov on July 01, 2021, 12:56:22 PM +0100
In my entire GTL career, this was one of the hardest, best and absolutely worst races ever!!    Keeping two aliens, taking turns at harassing me, at bay for 34 f...... laps, only to lose everything in the final corner of the race.  I have no words...

On a side note; as I love fast corners, I really liked the track, apart from the killer curbs.  Tried both of Hristo's setups, but had too little time to get comfortable with either and thus stayed with my own.  He used lower gearing, which gave me problems in the left-right downhill chicane.  With short gearing, 2nd felt too short for the left-hand entry, but in 3rd I invariably entered too fast, messing up my exit line.  With the higher gearing, 2nd was appropriate for the entry, and I could get early on the gas for the exit.

So sorry that you lost it like that, Erling! You were pretty much faultless through the entire race and deserved the win, so for that to happen on the very last corner must have been heartbreaking...

As for my Datsun setup, I was using 3rd through the first chicane by riding the curb on the entry and 4th through the second. Riding the curbs was the only way to get down to the 25s with it.

I decided to switch cars in the last moment and struggled to get used to driving the Porsche, trying to quickly come up with a setup until the end of qualifying. I don't like the car at all, it's just too unpredictable and once it begins to slide it's so difficult to bring it back. It was also bad over the curbs, so I had to avoid them as much as possible.

The race was as tough as I expected it to be, with Erling and Daz going slightly quicker, but some small mistakes on their part and battling between themselves allowed me to keep up and even threaten them. I managed to get ahead of Daz twice and stay in 2nd for some laps, but he would always come back and overtake me again.

TBH I was a bit annoyed by some of Daz's attacks, as he didn't have any patience to wait for a good opportunity but instead stuck his nose as soon as he was close enough, forcing both of us to go side by side through the long corners, losing us time and allowing Erling to escape further. It was already so difficult to push the Porsche to the limit and take big risks in corners just to keep up, so I was frustrated losing extra time because of those battles.

Anyway, as the tyres wore off, I began to drop back and the gap to the two in front grew up to over 2 seconds, but then in the last few laps it seems they started to struggle even more with tyres, so I was able to catch up to them. Unfortunately I made a stupid mistake with 1 lap to go, which dropped me further back, but much to my surprise, both of them hit trouble on the very last corner, so I managed to get up to 2nd and even challenge Daz for victory on the run to the line! His acceleration was sufficient though and we finished just a tenth apart.

Quite happy with how consistent I managed to run the whole race, with most of my laps being in the 1:27.9-1:28.1 window, regardless of fuel and tyres. It took all I had just to keep up with Erling and Daz, and that in itself was satisfying, because I was basically on the edge of spinning out or going off in each corner for just about the whole race. Turn 1 in particular was extremely bad in the Porsche, as it would either oversteer or understeer in an unpredictable manner, which was made even worse whenever I would hit those huge curbs.

Congrats to Daz for the victory, that was a great drive in the underpowered Opel!


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Daz9 on July 01, 2021, 04:21:36 PM +0100
That turned out to be a fantastic race, one for the highlight reel in many ways :thumbup1:

Massive kudos to Tony for the combo choice, that really did work out well across the three cars. :thumbup2:

Was tempted to take the Porsche to get it out of the way, but then I saw the word kerbs in Hristos post and decided to avoid like the plague. So, ended up taking the little Opel, as my arm is still quite sore from the jab and I thought the Datsun might be heavier on the steering. Tweaked away at the setup, looking at the replay it was not perfect on the brake balance, but it drove ok and in quali found a little time to just pip Hristo and Geoff, but could not match Erling in the Datsun.

Thought I bogged the start, but the car launched great despite the low revs. It was both front rows away well, but then Geoff span to leave Hristo, Erling and myself to go forward. It remained that way, with the order changing here and there all race.....

The Opel felt nice, but still the kerbs carried danger, which I found to my cost losing time once or twice :oops:. As Hristo said, we traded places a couple of times, I had to refocus and come back at him with all the car would give me. We were both staying with the Datsun, but for myself in the first 2/3rds of the race at least, it was very much on the limit to stay with the pace of Erling, and catching was difficult enough without even thinking of being able to pass. Being an annoying pest in the mirrors was all I could do at first, not until the latter stages could I say that I was a little quicker, and at that point was pressing a little more. The gap never went past a second for quite a few laps, but Erling was perfect on his lines despite my dummies in the mirrors, and there were very few chances to challenge. There was some contact in the chicane at one point, I was caught out by lack of acceleration that Erling could produce at that moment, but thankfully he gathered it all up with ease and we went on our way  :rockon:.

The see-saw in the gaps continued, with Erling withstanding yet more pressure :fencing:. I did squeeze past eventually, but then Erling came back at me with a couple of laps to go, followed by me going past again on the penultimate lap. Hristo was now all over both of us, but went wide on the hairpin at the end of the penultimate lap, leaving Erling chasing me for the lead on the final lap. I made a small error at turn 1 (I think), and now Erling was back in front. Hristo was gaining, but we now had what looked like enough of a gap for it to be between Erling and myself because of the run wide from Hristo.....

But, Erling could see me lining him up for the hairpin, and decided to take the inside line for the first time in the race, and lost the rear on the brakes :blink:. I was on the wide outside, and ended up slightly on the grass at the same time :eek:, losing a lot of time and speed. I got back on track, and as I accelerated down the straight, Hristo was gaining, gaining, but the line arrived in time to save me :sweatdrop:. Close finish to a close race, but more luck than judgement for sure!


Apologies for the contact at the chicane Erling, and also for a moment earlier in the race where it appeared I went for an optimistic lunge down the inside at the hairpin, that was actually avoiding action after I was just a touch too late on the brakes in comparison to you and I would have taken you straight off if I had not changed my line.

I'm sorry you were annoyed at the attacks Hristo. But, there was no way I was outbraking you anywhere on that track, and you were too fast to go past with any ease at all. The only tactic available was to try to move you around on the line and then hopefully off it. I'm pretty sure I spent a good number of laps behind you, and Erling in fact, in relatively close proximity to demonstrate reasonable patience, watching as you made very few errors to speak of, giving virtually no opportunity to just drive past. And, at no point did we have any real contact I am aware of, and I think if the roles were reversed you would have been more than happy to have done the same. For me, side by side racing in the way of last night is proof of good trust in the guy you are racing with, and I was happy that you were more than good enough to attempt to do that with :thumbup1:. There will be time lost, there usually is when someone is overtaken after all, but that is part of racing I feel.

Massive commiserations to Erling, you drove an outstanding race  :yes: and to lose on the very last corner is beyond frustrating. I have very genuinely been there, so know from experience. It pretty much was the only error all race, really very unlucky indeed.

And hats off to Hristo for the pace and ability to get that 914 to the end of the race with a miniscule amount of issues, totally outstanding  :notworthy: :sorcerer:. I have no idea what has been done to that car but it feels worse than the GTL original from memory!



Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Geoffers on July 01, 2021, 04:35:35 PM +0100
Well I really messed up that one. Had a nice setup for the Porsche & was happy just to run at a comfortable pace & get it to the end. But I appeared to be quite competitive in it so stiffened the rear suspension a little to try to make it less understeery. It worked quite well in qually so stuck with it for the race, big mistake, the car was less understeery on the power but was all over the place into corners, sometimes understeer, sometimes chronic oversteer. Big oversteer moment on lap 1 dropped me to the tail of the field then understeered off the road at T1 on the next 3 laps  ::). Made up a few places when Clive, Matt & Kurt all went exploring the undergrowth before I followed suit. Then did it again & again & again.  >:( Eventually decided enough was enough & having a beer was a better option.  ;D

Congrats to Daz, Hristo & Erling for some excellent pace & consistency.  :clap: :clap: :clap:


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: SpecialKS on July 01, 2021, 04:58:55 PM +0100
Result (https://www.avonrise.co.uk/srou/kurts/_2021//30062021_Nivelles)


8)


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Hristo Itchov on July 01, 2021, 05:35:27 PM +0100
I'm sorry you were annoyed at the attacks Hristo. But, there was no way I was outbraking you anywhere on that track, and you were too fast to go past with any ease at all. The only tactic available was to try to move you around on the line and then hopefully off it. I'm pretty sure I spent a good number of laps behind you, and Erling in fact, in relatively close proximity to demonstrate reasonable patience, watching as you made very few errors to speak of, giving virtually no opportunity to just drive past. And, at no point did we have any real contact I am aware of, and I think if the roles were reversed you would have been more than happy to have done the same. For me, side by side racing in the way of last night is proof of good trust in the guy you are racing with, and I was happy that you were more than good enough to attempt to do that with :thumbup1:. There will be time lost, there usually is when someone is overtaken after all, but that is part of racing I feel.

Oh I do understand your reasons for those attacks perfectly, Daz! I know how difficult it is to overtake in the Opel, so you have to go for any opportunity you had. It's just that I was really worried Erling would escape the slipstream distance and leave us both behind for good  ;D

Well I really messed up that one. Had a nice setup for the Porsche & was happy just to run at a comfortable pace & get it to the end. But I appeared to be quite competitive in it so stiffened the rear suspension a little to try to make it less understeery. It worked quite well in qually so stuck with it for the race, big mistake, the car was less understeery on the power but was all over the place into corners, sometimes understeer, sometimes chronic oversteer. Big oversteer moment on lap 1 dropped me to the tail of the field then understeered off the road at T1 on the next 3 laps  ::). Made up a few places when Clive, Matt & Kurt all went exploring the undergrowth before I followed suit. Then did it again & again & again.  >:( Eventually decided enough was enough & having a beer was a better option.  ;D

Exactly my experience with the car, Geoff! It was terrible at T1. I had to brake so early for it during the race and even then, if I didn't apply a touch of throttle and didn't avoid the inside curb, or turned in a tad too late, it would be all over the place...

The only way I could drive the car was by using half-throttle in the corners where the rear would begin to slide away from me, and even then, I had to make rapid minor corrections with the steering on the exit.

I forgot to mention something - decide to stream my race yesterday, on Twitch. No camera or commentary, but if anyone wants to check it out, here's the link:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1072585037

Race begins around the 40 minute mark. You can see I was still making setup changes blindly right until the very end  ::)


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Erling G-P on July 01, 2021, 06:01:54 PM +0100
Apologies for the contact at the chicane Erling, and also for a moment earlier in the race where it appeared I went for an optimistic lunge down the inside at the hairpin, that was actually avoiding action after I was just a touch too late on the brakes in comparison to you and I would have taken you straight off if I had not changed my line.

No worries Daz - I can't even recall the chicane, so can't have been much of a problem.  The lunge down the inside provided an opportunity for the classic dive under move, which never fails to put a smile on my face.

And yes, frustrating does not even begin to describe the feeling at that final corner, and all for a stupid attempt to protect the inside line.  Should have taken it the same way as the previous 33 laps - unless you got a much better exit, you wouldn't have been able to outdrag me up the hill, and at least I would have stayed ahead of Hristo.


Title: Re: UKGTL Season 21 1973 ECGTC - Nivelles-Baulers - Jun 30
Post by: Wiltshire Tony on July 01, 2021, 06:26:17 PM +0100
Result (https://www.avonrise.co.uk/srou/kurts/_2021//30062021_Nivelles)


8)
Thanks Kurt  :thumbup1: