SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 15 Clubmans Cup - Round 4 - Monaco - May 11

Gentlemen, welcome to the round four of the championship, see race announcement below.

Please keep up the good work with excellent first lap record of Clubman division. :)

Wish you all good luck.

Kruger


Please be in the UKGPL IGOR chat-room by 20:25 BST.

Server 3.ukgpl
IP address 87.194.135.42
Race date = 11-05-2008, 20:30 BST
Track = Monaco
Race length = Int Long (30 laps)

Qualifying time = 35 minutes. Don't start until 30 mins left on
clock to
allow everyone to join.


CHASSIS RESTRICTIONS
The following groups of drivers are restricted to the cars shown
below unless they opt to carry out additional pit stops to equalise
the performance of the car that is chosen:-

Group 1 - 1st and 2nd - Limited to BRM, Cooper or Honda
Chris Bull
Artur Le Marquand

Group 2 - 3rd and 4th - Limited to BRM, Cooper, Honda or Brabham
Robert Burton
Ben Summers

Group 3 - 5th and 6th - Cannot take Eagle or Lotus
Phil Thornton
Bernie Darwin

Group 4 - 7th and 8th - Cannot take Lotus
Will Tway
Ian Docherty

9th and below - Free choice of chassis.

PIT STOPS FOR DRIVERS OPTING TO USE FASTER CAR THAN ALLOWED ABOVE
Drivers wishing to take a chassis other than as specified above will
need to make the appropriate pit stop(s) as follows:

Group 1
Lotus 1 x 36 seconds or 2 x 15 seconds
Ferrari 1 x 18 seconds
Eagle 1 x 14 seconds
Brabham 1 x 10 seconds

Group 2
Lotus 1 x 20 seconds
Ferrari 1 x 3 seconds
Eagle Stop n Go

Group 3
Lotus 1 x 17 seconds
Ferrari Stop-n-Go

Group 4
Lotus 1 x 12 seconds

The pit window is as follows:

Pit stop to be taken between 23 to go and 15 to go on your pit
board. If a second pit stop is required it cannot be taken on the
lap following your first stop and must be completed before your pit
board says 7 laps to go.

Password: see above (#post_event_password)
(2) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=79&theme=6)

Very sorry I had to bail in the middle of qually.

Woke up this morning and instead of making a nice mothers day breakfast, we had a major pipe burst in the basement.

About 5 or 6 laps into qually, my mate shows up to help weld the pipes. I had to quit or tell Mrs. Will to take a cold shower on mothers day. :o 

All is now fixed but I missed my favorite circuit.

Hope C'n'B didn't burn too bad.

Looking forward to reading the reviews.

Will

Well that was a pretty tough race, par for the course at Monaco.  Managed to get fourth on the grid, which turned into third when pole sitter Will had to go (real life intervened at the end of praccy, bad luck Will).  Made a careful start following Ben and Bernie up the hill to Casino Square.  Ben and Bernie run a bit wide at Virage de la Gare, I take a much tighter line.  Unfortunately there is contact between me and Bernie on the exit (looks like warp on my replay but moderator will decide) and Bernie spins out.  Don’t know how Bernie got going again (from my client replay) but he lost a lot of places, sorry mate.

I set off after Ben.  He's quick but he's not pulling away so I try to settle in and drive consistent laps.  Luckily for me Ben makes a mistake at Tabac on lap 2 and I'm into the lead.  Now it's more important than ever to concentrate and drive carefully.  Ben recovers without loosing another place and I keep an eye on him in my mirrors.  His Coop is no match for my Ferrari under acceleration so I think to myself as long as I don't make a mistake Ben has no chance.  He might be able to catch me through the twisty bits but I'll just drive away on the straights.  Things are going to plan fro the next few laps.  Ben gets pretty close at Portier but by the time we get to Massenet I've got a healthy lead again.

Lap 10 and I get my braking a bit wrong at Gazometres (I did exactly the same thing on lap 7) and I lock my left rear.  This catches Ben out and he gives me a little nudge.  Ben looses his wheels to the Armco but I can continue.  I spend the next lap driving carefully just in case I've got a puncture or serious suspension damage but everything seems OK so I press on.

Lap 12.  I put a wheel on the inside pavement at Massenet which is enough to spin me around and I end up facing the wrong way on the racing line.  I do a 180 to get out of the way but Mike Turner (who let me and Ben through at Virage de la Gare a few laps earlier) was closer than I expected (I knew the second placed man was some way back but I wasn't sure about lapped drivers).  Mike had to slow down but didn't hit me.  Thanks Mike, sorry to get in your way.   A quick check of the pit board on lap 13 showed Ian Stanley was closing in, the pressure was back on.

Next few laps I monitored the distance back to Ian and he didn't seem to be gaining so I tried to drive consistently.  Came across a few back markers who were watching their mirrors carefully and let me by with no fuss.  Thanks guys.  After a while I notice it's Bernie on my tail, somehow he'd got past Ian.

Lap 19 and I catch Dennis at Mirabeau.  He very kindly moves over to let me past at Virage de la Gare.  At this very moment my chair lurches back (I use one of those office chairs with a recliner function – bad move) and I pull my G25 wheel completely off the desk!  Nightmare, I’m in the straw bales with a G25 flapping around in my hands, Bernie breathing down my neck and a newbie on my inside in his first race no doubt wondering what is going on!  Anyway I’m fiddling about trying to get the clamps sorted as I get round Portier but it’s not until the straight after Tabac that I get the wheel back on the desk properly and everything tightened up again but by then Bernie is through and I’ve lost the lead.  Sorry for the erratic driving Dennis, hope it didn’t put you off too much.

Bernie starts to pull away so I grit my teeth and chase after him.  Steve Bird lets me through at Mirabeau on lap 22 but I’m trying too hard and I spin loosing more time to Bernie.  My only hope now is that Bernie makes a mistake.  I press on as hard as I can and get Bernie in my sights again but there’s only 3 laps to go.  Lap 29 and I’m almost on him but I spin at Massenet and my chance has gone.  Nevertheless I recover and press on, there’s always the chance Bernie will crack on the last lap.  But Bernie is made of sterner stuff and he holds on and I finish just over a second behind him. 

Great race Bernie, especially after the lap 1 shunt at Virage de la Gare.  Bad luck Ben, better luck next time.

REED, MARQUE, LEARN: THE JACK O’FERRALL STORY

The Tip-Top Club, Monaco May 11

…Yachts, casinos, hotels, nightclubs, the carnival exuberance of Formula One motor racing.  Money, beauty, sun, royalty.  Yet the team was down.  Loot hadn’t summoned us to Burley after Rouen, not even for the customary pre-Monaco pep talk.  I was troubled, so I had a quiet word with Tom.  
  “Jack, you know Loot is obsessed with Monaco.  Every year the winner gets drinks at the palace with Grace Kelly.  It’s what he’s in racing for.  All the nights I’ve sat up with him discussing ‘Rear Window’...  Most of the teams are run by bright engineers who want to understand cars.  I doubt that Loot is conscious of cars on that sort of level.  He knows ours are going badly, that’s about it.  But not to have Grace Kelly as his chatelaine- that’s an emptiness he feels very deeply.”
  “Peter Sellars will be at trackside,” I mumbled.
  He wasn’t impressed.  “Actors- Loot would just say that he was short, that he could outdrink him, or that he only heard of him two weeks ago.  Why should men want to become celebrities?  When the first actor becomes Pope, that’s when Loot might bother with them.”
  “He likes his drivers to be famous.  What about the tartan seat covers and big sunglasses?”
  “You’ll have to ask Gerry about that, that was his wheeze.”
  “Bell had the tartan put in?”
   Tom had the distant look of a successful man surrounded by expensive drinks, scantily clad young women and less than fascinating conversation.  “Yeah, Jack.  How much do you know about glamour, other than we have glamour and the Vietnamese have rice fields, tunnel networks and a fanatical belief in worldwide communism?  Engineers believe in science.  Scientists believe in philosophy.  Perhaps philosophers believe in advertising, like Prussian uniforms and drill last century.  Glamour is just like uniforms, except that it’s less expensive and keeps your vitals on the inside.”
  “Hold on Tom, I just drive, I’m not up on the philosophy of it.  I may be related to Peter the Great, is that any help?”
  “Here, have a cigarette, Jack.  And wear your race suit more.  Never go on ‘Call My Bluff’.”

   After a couple of drinks I decided that I still wasn’t sure that Tom was joking, so next day at practice I collared Bell.  “Hey Bell, Tom says you get involved in the marketing schemes for drivers.”
  He was faintly amused.  “Jack, the only castings I get are late, thick and far more trouble for the transmission than they should be.  They cause bad vibrations and this leads to an unacceptable failure rate.  I suppose you want to be James Bond, everyone does.   Or have you some more modest scheme for your descent from the heavens, to amaze mere mortals with your special powers and plans for world peace?”      
  Was this some sly reference to my new penchant for ending races upside-down?  Unfortunately I wasn’t in the best position to confront him, since the machine we’d lent out had outqualified ours at the last race. Bell was within his rights to suggest to Loot that the cars weren’t being driven as well as they might.  Change of subject.  “I’ve settled on higher tyre pressures this time.”
   “Jack, Loot expects the cars to win.  If you want to know how celebrity has affected your career, I even designed the P83 specifically to win at Monaco.  It’s a compact car made for hairpins.  If we’d used the V12 it would have been six inches longer.  However, for this race, taking into account your expert input, we have a special secret modification.  Jack, we’ve noted that your braking seems to produce… smoke.  The mechanics have replaced the foam we packed under the brake pedal, it should have an improved effect.  If you’ve decided you want to be famous, brake as hard as you like.”

Monaco was busy with Ferraris.  For a car that inspires so much passion, it’s a surprise that it doesn’t really have a team in our pits to back it up, though the other teams had borrowed some.  There was one team, Scuderia Cosa Rosso, but they didn’t seem to have an entry this time.  I asked an Italian journo, he just shrugged “Cose migliori da fare”.  But wasn’t the Ferrari’s elegant design almost part of Monaco? “E una cosa bella”  So why hadn’t they a team then?  “E tutto per il modo in cui vanno le cosa.”  I didn’t understand more than one word of Italian, but Tom was right about staying suited up.  

However, there was also the small and more earth-bound matter of qualification.  The machine we’d lent out was there as well.  If I had to spin in front of one of our cars last race, why not that one?  Ian managed to out-qualify it- and me, so he would get a good start for once, where it would count.  I hadn’t been that bad, considering the traffic, and there were no last minute setup changes.  Just stay out of trouble and remember to brake into Gazometres.  There was only one accident before the start line, but the rest of us got away okay.  Then I slid into Gazometres on cold tyres at crawling pace, which cost me a few places and afterwards I got shoved off at Gare by an impatient Honda, which cost me some more.  Eventually I was running clear of other cars, just had to maintain a gap in front of the lent machine, brushed the chicane oh hell.  It went past, I’d lost my comfortable race though the car was okay, so I chased it for a few laps, made another slight mistake so that I lost sight of it, then found it stopped across the track at the chicane….  It was only a wheel though, so I limped out of Bernie’s onrushing path and got out of the car.  A wheel’s nothing.  Ian lost one when he was on for a podium.  Bottoms up.    
 
Bernie won, champagne, fame and celebrity for him and the Soggies, foam and oblivion for me and Reed Racing.

A tough race but I enjoyed it thoroughly considering it's one of my worst tracks. Quallied in P4 which was a bit of a shock but happy with that. :)

As for the race well I got a decent start and managed to keep position going into T1 and all I wanted to do is stay out of trouble and just enjoy the race. :) Nothing really major to report at all and from point of view a clean race with not too many bumps. Had a few scrapes after people spun in Mirabeau and Virage but to be honest nothing un-toward so not gonna be reporting anything.

Dropped down to 9th at one point after spinning but managed to claw my way back to 4th and catch up with Paul Bird's Honda. Had a few nice laps following him and trying to find a way past but coming up to back markers I lost sight of him. So now time to get my head down and hunt him down again with around 10 to go. Came pretty close on one occasion after he went wide and coming down to Mirabeau I though I could outbreak him but fear got the better of me (and also not wanting to take both of us out) and settled for 4th. :) You made that Honda very wide Paul...good job.

Great job to podium and another good finish for C 'n' B. :)

Onto Zandy!!

Hi all,
        Replay and all that other stuff is uploaded. http://www.neurology-crew.com/gplserver

Well I was out to dinner, family stuff. Just about made it back around 8:50, logged straight in and there was about 15 mins of praccy left. Just enough time for me to get a decent lap in, qualified 8th. Better than I was expecting with my trusty old BRM again :)

Made a good start once again, I'm loving the clutch pedal on my G25 :D. Actually it was probably too good a start, Paul Bird was in front of me I cut to the inside to try and get by, but looks like paul was sliding to the middle aswell and I rear end him. Sorry! I carry on and Lap2 @ Virage de la Gare I am right behind Paul Mclusky. I dont brake in time and rear end him rather ungraciously! Sorry about that Paul! :(

I carry on and by lap3 Im in 3rd! I wasnt expecting that! Then at the chicane i take it all wrong and lose a wheel or 2! I shift-r and then make my stopngo at beginning of lap4. now I'm back to 10th place.

I try to get my head down and start driving consistently! Slowly start working my way up again. on lap7 at the chicane B.Blood has lost it and is in the middle of the track. I hit him pretty much full speed, looking back at it I did see him spinning out in front but failed to brake, if I had slowed down a bit i could have avoided him maybe... Anyway I make non-fault Shift-r and carry on.

With 10 to go i'm back up to 7th and then I seem to take 2 places on that lap and now i'm up to 5th, and thats how it finished. I quite happy to be fifth, but we'll see what happens after moderation. I'm not too happy to be involved in so many incidents, but I have been good up until now!  :angel:

Grats to Bernie, another fine victory! Well done Podiums and my teamies :) 2nd and 4th, another good haul of points! Maybe we should change our name to Ferrari! lol.

Shame you couldnt have raced Will, excellent qually time.

See you all soon

Bully.

Forgotten how hard online racing is especially at Monaco.  Surpised myself in qually - struggling to get it all together and then managed a 1:30 finally ending up 6th on the grid. 

Made a good start but the Honda power was too much for the rear tyres and the back end started to slide towards the middle of the track, lifted to get it straight but got hit by Bully - no problem mate you had nowhere to go.  Ended up on my head and had to let the whole field go by before resetting and getting going.  Did a shift R on lap 2 as not sure what happened and if it was my fault or not.

Started to chase down the field and by lap 8 up to 5th, by lap 15 up to 3rd then had to deal with Art all over my gearbox to the end.  Good race.

Finally replacing my trusty9 year old P2-400 Voodoo 2 setup, looking forward to running GPL with all the bells and whistles.

"All your victories are belong to her"

Diki Waza

Hi all,

My apologies for not attending, shame I was looking forward to it. Went fishing  for the weekend and ended up with a terrible migraine and went to bed at 4pm....

Sounds like a good race... See you all soon

All the best

Andy

Results have been uploaded. You may now submit your incident reports via the link below the results.

Looking forward to watching the replay :)

Kruger

what a race took a couple of laps to settle down from the start found it quite hard with nobody in front of me to set a pace plus keeping an eye out for people lapping me  hope i never caused to many problems what a great race first on line race Carnt wait for the next one and see you in zandy  Mr Poole were we can finish are battle ill have to figure out why my comp crashed 4 laps from the end thanks guys

After missing out Rouen because the team transporter  arrived too late for
the race I decided a more serious approach would be required for Monaco. So by vertue of  bludgeoning the Soggies Team Manager "Numpty" half to death we
managed to aquire a piece of the latest eyetie technology ( instead of that
outmoded stuff those Coopermen where using) (anything to give us an
edge) and what a difference, pre race practise gave me a "personal best" lap time in "race trim" with a pretty stable set up (VIP for Monaco) and I even had the optional "luxury" velour arm rests fitted, for those nasty hairpin bends.

Practise went very well for me , row 2 was above and beyond my expectations , I thought pole was up for grabs but on the few clean laps I could find I tended to "overdrive " the track in my enthusiasm and thus spoil my chances,

Race day came and the only changes the mechanics made to the set up was to raise the ride height so i could get a better view of the beach babes as i drove along the Monaco promenade (big moral boost) .

I got a decent start , all was well, until station hp (that's hairpin not sauce) loomed up and I found my cold brakes coupled with a heavy fuel load, caused me to run a tad wide.

The next thing I know is the world is spinning around and I am stationary (get it !) and facing the wrong way , I have to let several cars go by, but fortunately there is a break in the traffic and I can "spin turn" back into action . I thought my race had ended prematurley at the time and was busy entertaining the grandstand with some very choice french speak. As luck would have it (and she surely was smiling at me today) , Jacko saw the waved yellows and braked to avoid ramming me into oblivion (thanks Jacko) .

I managed to regain my composure and find myself in 7th place,  then at the gasworks I test the haybales again but with no damage, now I'm struggling to settle down into "race mode" which isnt helped the next time around at Sation where Bully and Paul M are dancing with each other , while they dos'e doe,  I nip through and am now behind Art , The chase is on when going up the hill into Casino,  Ian S gets a wobble on, Art has to take avoidance and finds himself out wide with me following on the "proper line " Art then comes back over into me and although my replay shows "no contact" Art visits the armco and scratches his british racing green on the Armco .
lap 3 sees even more fun, as Chris hits the chicane and then further down the road Paul M tags me in the Gasworks,  Art joins in and we make a BRM sandwhich with red pepper and Lotus blossom dressing . Again lady luck favours me and I can drive away from the melee.

I can now smell the Podium , but trying to catch up I try a bit too hard and it becomes my turn to do the  "chicane shuffle" as I clip the curb and do a full 360 but again I get away with it , although my car now doesnt feel right , is there a
problem with the handling or is it just my imagination ?  whatever I note that I cant do the tunnel or the chicane flat , which hampers me but I can still race and Ive now caught up with Ian S but decide to follow him rather than attack  hoping he will make a mistake somewhere. sure enough in his efforts to stay ahead he gets the chicane wrong and lets me through ( Ta mate ) I can't beleive my luck today and especially as on the very next lap I pass a slow Ferrari (which turns out to be Phil) and I then see "Bernie P1" , boy life is good at times !

The next close encounter of a Monaco kind is the dreaded chicane again, I somehow get through what looks like a 120 mph scrap heap challenge by dent of my superb reflexes and both eyes shut tight ( but not as tight as my a*se cheeks ) For the next laps Phil has a real go at coming back at me but his challenge comes to nought in casino square and I can cruise to a finish .

The only dissapointment was Phil snatching the FL from me on lap 30 but I was resolute about my "go easy" escp. after personally witnessing Old Black Jack himself throw this same race away on the last corner of the last lap to my old hero Jochen Rindt way back in time (longer than I care to remember )

Tough luck Phil  you really deserved the win . commiserations to Mr Tway for having to leave the party . thanks to the flag marshals who had a really busy day and to all those backmarkers who did such a good job, I hope you all enjoyed your day as much as I did . 

Just hope now that the result stands , It was a real suprise win especially after last seasons attempts at collecting the yellow card points record .

     


           

Just wanted to apologise to Jack. I hadnt even realised we made contact on lap24. From in my cockpit it looks like you just flew past, and I felt nothing in my car. Now I've had a good look at the replay I see what happened. Sorry about that, bit of a bad rejoin on my part!  :angel:

Bully.

Cracking race Grommit!

Qualified 7th (with a BRM PB) having spent the sesion just trying to get a decent steady pace and not make mistakes - didn't happen but nothing catastrophic.

At the flag the 6th place Honda appeared to turn over almost immediately - wanted a tickle on it's tum ?
Over the next lap or two just kept it steady, picking up a couple more places due to others - Bernie & Chris - misfortune.
Don't know how long Bernie was up my chuff for, but it felt like we should get the papers for a Civil partnership, then we came across Ben at Gaz, so now running for 2nd place...wow!
The car had initially felt pretty good...for a BRM...but as the race went on it seemed to get more nose heavy, whether that was due to me becoming more cautious and not using the revs to get round I don't know. Anyway, I eventually sucumb to bernies advances - ok I go the chicane wrong - and after checking all is ok with the car, set off in 3rd. After a couple of laps the car still doesn't feel quite right but it's drivable even if 4th place is coming up on me, I may just be able to hold on til the end.
Alas no, a stricken Honda at Gaz and a possibly hasty dive up the inside by me sees my trusty motor coast over the line lacking at least one wheel.
Oh well...not too far to walk back to the team.

We sit and watch Jack keeping up the honour in 6th, until he disappears off the lap chart with a handful to go.

Reed Racing is getting there, slowly maybe, but getting there.....and enjoying the scenery along the way. 

The race report is published now  :(

Please, if you have any complaints about the penalties or the interpretation of the incidents, refrain from discussing at the forum and follow the UKGPL guidelines on appeal here https://www.ukgpl.com/index.php/rules/league (https://www.ukgpl.com/index.php/rules/league).

Thanks.

Kruger

Thank you Kruger , that sure looked a tough moderation job.

I thought the report excellent and showcased your usual wisdom and dilligence.  :0)

 ;D ;D ;D

P.S.
Very sorry to read Ben decided to quit rather than do a S/R  ? he could have made the race for P2 much more interesting  ;D


P.P.S.
Very sorry I will miss round 5 but the bank holiday and the I.O.M. calls   8)

 


 

WOW!!!!  ;D

No wonder it took so long to moderate.  ::)

Good job Kruger.  8)

No Kidding.

What a great review Kruger. A truly dedicated moderator.

Will
C'n'B
 




 

Thanks lads. Very motivating to hear that :)