SimRacing.org.uk

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Car/Track download available by pm to WT


Track: Brands Hatch GP (Early Brands)

Car restrictions: Drivers are limited to a maximum number of drives per Class. For more information please click HERE (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SR_KIsT2tJ1jkIvisxRkh9Jp_-3NXY6gP9DqhgAzLo8/edit?usp=sharing)

Practice: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (20 mins) Drivers must not leave qualifying to change car make
Race: 20:40 (20 laps)

Time of Day Setting: 14:00
Start: STANDING
Tyre wear: Normal
Fuel consumption: Normal

Server: simracing.org.uk Wednesday
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.

Kind of a teaser - cover of an 1966 AUTOSPORT issue I own, dealing with 1965 British Club Racing
(a V8 Cortina in the background):

(https://www.bilderhoster.net/safeforbilder/3xnx637s.jpg) (https://www.bilderhoster.net)


 8)

2 Shillings and Sixpence! Ha, I remember those  ;D The tooth fairy would put a sixpence under your pillow if you lost a tooth.
Or some dodgy baking person would hide one or more in a Christmas Pudding (https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/great-britain-elizabeth-ii-sixpence-260nw-1995269252.jpg)
This one is showing the Thistle for Scotland, A Leek for Wales, A Shamrock for Northern Ireland, and Rose for England


And threepenny bits, oh, we had some weird coins before decimalisation. I can even vaguely remember the thing with a robin on it. Farthing, yep that was it

Anyway, cool event cover  :thumbup1:

Great cover photo Kurt.

I think that V8 Cortina was the "Savage Cortina" built and driven by Dave Sanger(?). I watched that car absolutely destroy the whole saloon car field at Castle Combe, where he also drove a 7 litre Cobra which was another monster. Dave was a big man with a huge bushy beard and a "bone dome" crash helmet. In both classes, the crowds saw his cars appear at Quarry Bend completely alone after the short run from the grid, followed by a demonstration of the benefits of raw power for the rest of the race.

The sight of him in an open top Cobra wrestling with what was a very large steering wheel by racing standards as he was power sliding through Quarry bend, before he nailed the gas and the car appeared to shudder and then leap off down the straight. ( this was in the days before the mickey mouse chicanes ).
I was fortunate, many years later, to meet Dave at a small, private Garden Party ( thrown by another racer John Dangerfield, who raced Morgans) and we had a long chat about those two cars. He confessed that the Cortina was a little beyond the spirit of saloon racing of the time, but immense fun to drive all the same.
The Cobra was developed to such a level that it became very unstable at high speed. I think he said that top end was around 160mph?

Practising on the old Snetterton circuit down the long straight it almost ended in tears when the front end lifted off the ground just before the heavy braking zone. He claimed (tongue in cheek) that they almost invented ground effect years ahead of everyone else. They cut a slot across the boot lid and built a duct that went down under the car to suck the air out from under the car... and it worked.

By the time I met him he was long retired from motor racing but had what he described as the dream job. Basically, his modest success during his racing career had brought him to the attention of a couple of big motorsport mags and they would hire him ( fat fee and all expenses paid) to drive classic race cars and write a report. The magazines would contact private collectors and arrange to borrow the car for a track day. So, he had just returned from driving thrashing a Chaparral around a track and the best bit was, that he was not responsible for any damage to these cars as the magazines covered all insurance!!!
Some people have all the luck  :-\

Interesting read Clive, but I think the guy you were referring to was Terry Sanger, a well known saloon racer of the 60s & 70s. After his time in club racing & Special Saloons he raced in the BSCC in Ford Falcons & Chevrolet Camaros & also in F5000.

However the car in the picture above is not that one, but that of Derek "Doc" Merfield, hence the DOC number plate. The Lotus Cortina ahead is Andre Baldet, a regular in BSCC at the time.

More details about Cortina V8s here:

http://www.specialsaloons.co.uk/cortina-v8s/4588366627

The V8 Cortinas were really the start of the trend in Special Saloons of transplanting big engines into small cars which led to ever more wild creations. Eventually these cars were nothing more than space frame race cars with fibreglass bodies which looked vaguely like saloons.

Sorry to inject some off topic once again...  :offtopic:
Interesting enough reason Bernd Rosemeyer's fatal crash in 1938 speed record run has been found out to be due "missing ground effect".

As the wind tunnels were really new thing in 1938, Auto-union recordwagen was developed in one and engineers noticed bizzarre effect when creating two tunnels under the car (nowdays they would be called venturi tunnels) causing the car getting more grip but also more drag at the same time. As the competition with Mercedes was fierce, car was sent to record runs to Darmstadt autobahn without almost any analyze why things happen.

In the morning there was few practice runs carried in which the car only reached 418km/h in flying kilometer and mile. That was too little to beat Rudolf Caracciola's / Mercedes' last week record. As the car was running the tunnels open, Bernd thought the additional drag was caused by them and ordered them to be closed for the big one. everything went fine during the flying kilometer, Bernd clocking still valid internal combustion engine car in public road flying km record 432 km/h (268 mph). But while continuing to finish the flying mile, the side wind catched the car when coming from forest to open field. Bernd really was driver with big D as he was able to correct 2 first slides caused by the lost traction, but third one was  too much dooming the car's and it's driver's faith.

As the wind situation was not changed much since morning, it is most likely cause of the accident that the in morning, the car was running as true ground effect car, but no one really realized that. In record runs the tunnels were closed with hatches, which reduced the down force greatly and so car lost it's stability in over 435km/h.

(In that speed car moves over 120 meters (400 feet) per second. you can just imagine the reflexes driver must have able to even try to correct the slide.)

   

                                                                                                                                                                                                    
I'll have a look, when I'm at home again on Sunday. If somebody is interested, I can scan the whole article.

You are right on all counts Geoff. My memory is not what it was and TERRY was indeed his name. Also I missed the "DOC" number plate.  :oops:
I did recall that the wheel arches on Terry's car were just enormous, and the pic here ( http://www.specialsaloons.co.uk/cortina-v8s/4588366627 ) shows how much metal/fibreglass was removed. The car could have doubled as a road roller!!

Happy new year to all of you  :)

Here, for the sake of completeness, the article about Club Racing 1965 from the
above mentioned AUTOSPORT issue:

https://mega.nz/file/aN901LbB#kONStYlDFuMQctkUAlL84TliQY8ZhXzixOxlftN5iuQ (https://mega.nz/file/aN901LbB#kONStYlDFuMQctkUAlL84TliQY8ZhXzixOxlftN5iuQ)

 8)

A good read Kurt, thanks for uploading it.

Interesting to recall how the drivers the author highlighted in the opening section fared in the racing careers.

Tony Dean raced a lot in saloons & sports cars into the 1970s without ever really setting the world on fire. He did quite well though in F5000 mainly in a Chevron. Probably his most memorable win was in CanAm, winning the 1970 Road Atlanta race in his Porsche 908.

Sid Taylor, I don't really remember as a driver. He was more well known as an entrant in sports cars & F5000, his cars winning many races in the hands of Denny Hulme, Peter Gethin & others.

Brian Redman was the most successful of those mentioned. He did have a few drives in F1, mainly in uncompetitive cars, but did have a very successful career in sports cars, F5000 & CanAm. I remember having an all too brief chat with him at the Goodwood FoS a few years ago, he was telling me all about his time racing Porsche 917s until he got called away to drive one of the cars up the hill.

John Harris, I didn't remember him at all, only looking him up, did I recall him driving a GT40.

Finally Bernard Unett, became BSCC champion 3 times in Hillman Avengers. He spent most of his career in saloons as far as I remember mostly in Rootes Group cars, Imps, Avengers, Hunters etc.

Happy New Year guys. I wish you all the best and to be always in the circuits with me. :)

Superb race in the 970S  ;D
Managed to keep ahead of the charging DD for a couple of laps, then I went wide in Clarks and he went past
then he pitted, apparently for S/G. it was too easy to get one from going even slightly wide in Druids, and then running over poor Graham Hill
I remember that from previous races here.

Then I went off in Clarks, and let Dan past, then spent almost the rest of the race trying to catch and pass, while keep some gap
back to Clive. Dan did the Clark's trick near the end, and I held the place back to the flag. Very intense race. Love these 970Ss

Result (https://www.avonrise.co.uk/srou/kurts/_2022//03012022_EarlyBrands)


8)

@SeniorDan: what happened? I had the impression that you crossed the line just in front of me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7hGrgUE_hc
Take a look at 43:22 where I recieve stop/go penalty for my first "cut". Is there any way I can be compensated with some time? I lost at least 25 seconds at the pit stop.  ::) :-\

Grats to the podium finishers.

4th place was way beyond my expectations, especially in an infernal Mini lol.
TBH after the first 2 or 3 laps where Dan and Tony provided the entertainment, my race was quite solitary. I could see Matt up ahead, but I just could not close that gap and trying harder just made the gap bigger  :-\, a lesson there I guess ??  The gap behind was steadily growing and it looked like 5th was as good as it would get, until Dan made his SnG on the penultimate lap.

I am looking forward to this series, it should be fun. Thanks Tony  ;)

Results and replay now posted.

Yep that doesn't look like a cut to me. But that is one cut of the three that cause a pit in. So is it fair to compensate you for the entire time spent in the pits or only one third of that time?
But you will say that with only two cuts, for the entire race, you would not have been given a stop/go.

Anyone else have a view on whether Dimitar should be moved up to fourth place?

Having discussed this with the GTL Moderator we are both of the opinion that the cut was there for everyone to be caught out by. It is obvious that drivers that take liberties with track limits are more likely to be affected by bad cuts than those who drive within track limits.
Therefore we do not feel that a reward of recovered time lost retrospectively is fair, particularly to the drivers who would lose places and had done nothing wrong.

Whilst not wishing to argue with a moderators decision, there is a precident to this. In the race linked below I was given the time penalty back for getting the exact same cut penalty that DD suffered.

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=14142.0

@Kurt,
           I had a stop and go in the penultimate lap and  got another one leaving the pits so the game put me back one position. I think I got the stop and goes in the same spot as Dimi and I agree with Tony's explanation. Just bad luck.

Good race for me, just unable to stay with Fulvio's Cortina.

I was going with the 1275 Mini, but DD suggested I join him in the 970, so went with that instead even though I had not practiced it. Luckily I had a setup for it from a previous race here many moons ago & it worked well & was nearly as quick as the 1275.

Got a good start but Fulvio's Cortina was quicker away so had to chase him for the first half a dozen laps until I ran wide at Surtees & clipped the barrier. Just recovered before DD appeared then promptly lost the place by under steering off at Hawthorn. I was concerned that the impact with the barriers had damaged the steering but after that it all seemed fine, so was just my error. Got 2nd back at the end of the lap when DD headed for the pits so spent the rest of the race trying in vain to close the gap to Fulvio. I did pull a couple of seconds back but was never going to catch him.

Congrats to Fulvio on the win & to Matt in 3rd & to Dom & Tony winning their classes.  :clap: :clap: :clap:

But another driver pleaded your case and the cut decision was over-ruled. If another driver does the same for Dimitar we will of course review again.

Thanks to Geoff for the setup. I was struggling a lot with that Mini (as always :D ) I think I was slower at the quali but found a little bit of pace at the race. I don't think I had a chance versus Fulvio and Geoff but maybe I could bring 3rd position home. After the stop/go we had great fun with Kurt and Tony. I overtake Kurt easier than Tony. To overtake Tony's Mustang I had to wait for a mistake. Few laps before the end of the race I decide to dive for the long right corner (I think it's corner number 4). Tony was surprised and let the inside open so I took it with more traction from my car. At acceleration he spam, so I was luccky because at the straight he was going to retake the position.

Grats to Fulvio, wonderful driving and to Geoff and Matt on their podiums.

The game says I made four overtakes. Sounds good . But actually I had none and only the misfortunes of others put me much higher on the final score than anticipated (merited?). I doubt very much I could have caught anyone under my own power, let alone overtake them. Then again, I've never been fast in GTL (oh, P&G, where art thou?) and the bulk of the good or decent results I've ever had only come from: not making a mess, or at least a smaller mess than others. I'm glad I'm at least still able to do that, especially after having been away from a wheel for so long.

Speaking of which, after being out of the loop for 18 months (how has it been so long? What's wrong with the concept of time?  :o) I'm very uneasy about being in the position where I'm one of the people who would be affected result wise by a reversal of the decision about Dimitar's predicament. Ideally I'd rather stay out of it but not saying anything is also a choice. I could easily make a case for both viewpoints but ultimately:

The game is what it is and the tracks are what they are, i.e. far from perfect representations of the real thing. Is it Riverside where you can crash into the tyre barriers while being visually two feet away from them? And this spot, the outside of the exit from Druids at Brands Hatch is probably the most notorious one of all tracks when it comes to unfair S&G's. I'm sure I remember there have been similar situations in races on NoGrip too, next to those here. I was aware of it and avoided it like, well, the plague. Which probably made me slower overall. Events like these in simracing are like bad beats in poker: everyone has their stories about them.

It's a shame I wasn't aware this was the reason Dimitar ended up behind me otherwise my favourite solution to such issues has always been that I would have become mysteriously slower in the last part of the race just so that it happens that Dimitar would have only one second to gain on me in the final lap. A solution I've used on more than one occasion in the past and which I find not only a lot more fun but also much more in line with 'gentlemen racing' than having races decided on 'the green table'.

Please note that the above paragraphs have been written, deleted and re-written several times which indicates how much I loathe (being forced into) taking a position in this.

Congratulations to the gentlemen on the podium  :clap:

'Edit: Work's guaranteed to be hectic in the first month(s) of 2022 but I have every intention of doing at least this championship. I hope the weather and my health will cooperate in this.

Sorry for my continued absence chaps.

I do now have internet, but yesterday was putting up lights and all sorts of other lovely stuff in the new place .....Plus, I only have wifi at this time into my office, and I am loathe to drive online on wifi just in case it isn't stable enough and causes issues for others. Hopefully back on track next week if I can sort a route into the office for a cable. Probably won't be this week as I have deliveries every day that need sorting, furniture etc.....