SimRacing.org.uk

Grid/server capacity: 22

Track: Zolder GP

Cars allowed: Lotus Elan 26R

CUP STAGE C, Round 2

Practice: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (20 mins)
Race: 20:40 (26 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.

Completely lonely and exceedingly boring race.  Used my Mondello setup, which was tuned for a bumpy track and was the best I had here.  Was fairly happy with the car's handling, but alien lap times were bordering on absurd - how I could concievably find almost 3 seconds a lap is well and truly beyond me.

Got an ok start (Dan didn't get ahead).  He did later on L1, but tossed it away again by running wide a few corners later.   After 2 laps, the aliens had vanished from view - talk about an A and a B Team in the league.  Stretched the gap to the cars behind, once again finding myself in the no mans land between the aliens and the rest of the field.  Never saw another car until the very end, where I glimpsed Tony up ahead.

Grats to Dimitar on the win, and to Daz & Geoff for the runners up.

Results and replay now posted.

Thanks Matt for a good fun race.
Speaking in general I would like to ask the front runners to be a bit more considerate when overtaking us backmarkers. No need for nudges etc, we'll give you plenty of room when we can.

Love the Lotus Elan.

Thanks for another entertaining series.

Cheers Dan

Had loadsafun 1st trying to keep up with Dan, then he slowed for some reason, and I was able to catch
and chase then I outbraked him into the 2nd chicane, but unfortunately that meant occupying the same
piece of tarmac.... so I waited  ::) and we went at it again for a while. I eventually got past
and then I was knocked off the track by a front runner as he lapped. As Dan says I know you are there
I can see you are being chased and don't want to lose time, but I am also in a race, and will do all
I can to let you past. Then Dan seemed to have another off, and I managed to keep the gap to the end.
Elan worked well here, default setup was drivable with a couple of minor tweaks.

Our Rules state this: The driver of the passing car bears primary responsibility for safely overtaking the car being passed.

I obviously cant get to grips with driving this Lotus. I used approximately the same setup I should have saved for Mondello with a few tweaks. When I joined practice I was dumbfounded by the lap times of the Aliens. :notworthy: About Three seconds a lap faster than I had expected, fantastic times.  I noticed that I was slower on the straights than the faster cars as if my engine was unpowered. Was my gearing too high making me slow out of corners or too low or were my tyre pressures too low?
I fiddled with my settings but just seemed to make things worse. Also I could not stay on the road if I tried to match the quicker drivers cornering speeds and my breaks seemed snatchy. I wasn't able to sort it out in time before the race so after a dozen laps of  really bad driving I quit before I had half the field queueing up to overtake me.

Grats to winner, podiums and all.  :clap: :clap: :clap:

A race of two halves for me, intense first half but like Erling a rather boring second half.

When I joined the server I was amazed by the laptime DD had already posted, 1.49  :o. I had struggled to get below 1.52 in testing so I was pretty well resigned to being unable to challenge for the win here. However I worked on my lines & braking points during practice & got into the 1.50s & somehow plucked a 1.49 out of somewhere in qually to get pole. ???

Race started well & I held a slender lead over DD & Daz for the first 10 laps or so, but as the fuel load lightened the car got a bit more lively & I eventually spun at the second of those confounded chicanes (did I mention I hate chicanes?). So dropped to 3rd place but was hoping, like at Mondello last week, that I would have better pace near the end of the race & maybe reel in the leaders. But as the race wore on it didn't happen & DD & Daz pulled further & further ahead & I had to settle for a lonely drive to 3rd place.

Congrats to DD & Daz.  :clap: :clap:

The Elan and me obviously will never be friends  ;D

https://www.facebook.com/groups/194807001220433/permalink/735443290490132/ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/194807001220433/permalink/735443290490132/)

Great video, I saw a lot of this type of  motor racing in the UK.  :thumbup2:

Reading Mike’s post I remembered that way back at No Grip it wasn’t uncommon for drivers to post their setups online for anyone interested. I have always benefitted a lot by this sportsmanly gesture as I am a complete disaster as it comes to setting up a car inspite of the numerous undoubtedly excellent “how to’s”  i have read on the subject.
Over the years I have collected quite a few drivable setups and sometimes i take a lucky shot and find myself driving a car that actually kind of responds the way I like it to. I really enjoy these sparse moments.

If this much appreciated custom from the past would in some form return to the present I know at least one driver who would be a happy racing chappy.....

I sometimes peruse the online setup folders. Often there are some good finds particularly for the older cars.

Happily upload my setups, can't claim they will work for everyone though! Dom used to try them and then go and hide under the bed mumbling....... :devil:

However, if it helps one individual get more out of their time racing that's a bonus already as far as I am concerned. On that basis, I will always upload to the online setups server from this point when I have something handy  :thumbup1:. You would not have wanted my setup from Mondello for this, that much I do know, it was crap....

Was better here, I found another in the Zolder folder that was nicer. But, I had done no practise for this, work has been a little busy of late....So I had no idea how fast was fast when I joined, but thought a 49 looked more than handy from Dimitar. That was revealed in full technicolour when I zipped around in the early 52s initially  :eek:....'get your finger old chap' was the thought, but the end of quali was too close to go too quick, treated it as a warm up session and applied a couple of late tweaks to the setup, but did close the gap quite considerably.

Decent start, but not enough to go past anyone in front. Pestered Dimitar for a couple of laps before running wide and losing the flow, ended up being 4 second off Geoff, 3 off Dimitar, and struggling with front tyres with no heat in them. Managed to hold the gap, and close in a little towards lap 12 or so, and then came across a cloud of dust with Geoff in the middle of it, probably cursing gently....Wasn't sure I had enough pace to close, as Dimitar then accelerated into the fresh air in front of him, posting a couple of good laps to try to pull the gap even further, but I had some heat in the fronts now and was able to respond, doing low 50s at this point in the race repeatedly. It smacked a little of Silverstone last week, in that I was reeling him in, but this time I knew I did not have quite enough pace to get there really, and then the tyres just gently lost grip on the last couple of laps so the chance was gone.

I didn't help it myself though. I stopped a lap early, total brain fart! The gap was only 2 seconds or less, but then I backed off over the line and it took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on..... :oops: :no: :whistling: :lol:

Good race, pushed Dimitar harder than he would have preferred I think, but ultimately couldn't do enough to stop him taking the win his consistency merited. Good drive sir :clap:

In slight defence of any incident between DD and Matt, that was right at the time I had him under the most pressure I think. Managing back markers is a real skill in its own right, and it is tricky when there is no extra grunt under the right foot to help. But, I always try to find an opportunity to slip past nicely if I can, and prefer it if people don't back off entirely as I wonder whether they are ruining their own race by doing so. The problem comes when either there is a big battle, or there are big differences in corner speed in my experience....

Looks like i always find great speed at Zolder. This is now my 5th win.

As always the qualy and race were brutal.

I thought i won the qualy 6 minutes before the end and put some fuel on to start testing the car with more weight and BOOM Geoff made the perfect lap and took the pole :D

But i decided to stay with race fuel and prepare for the race because even though i think i was able to find 2 more tents i didn't want to start the race not knowing how the car will behave.

And the start was a little bit shy. Geoff started perfect and i was just able to stay ahead of Daz. He was giving everything and the crucial moment was after turn 1 when i decided to downshift to second for more RPMs. This was a big risk but paid off beautifully.

So after that we started another great chase with Geoff and just like Mondello and Daz it was obvious that someone will make at least a small mistake. I think we were both giving everything, and Geoff was the first to crack on one of the chicanes.

So i took the lead but it was now Daz behind, 4 seconds away.

We started another great chase with him as well, just like Silverstone but this time he was not too much faster and there were laps where i was faster. So i was able to stay ahead of him, even though at one point every tent was vital. He run out of tires at the last laps and i had the chance to finally breath easier.

Grats to Daz and Geoff on their podiums and thanks for the great chasses.

Race replay with camera and commentary: https://youtu.be/DuxKIuQ4nNU

Result (https://www.avonrise.co.uk/srou/kurts/_2021//22032021_Zolder)

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