SimRacing.org.uk

Division 1 - Round 5 - Zandvoort

Round 5 of the Season 15 Div 1 championship is at Zandvoort.  The driving so far this season has been exemplary with everybody cognizant of PRO rules and careful to avoid a major lap one pile-up.  Warp can still be a factor, even in these days of high speed internet connections.  So drivers are reminded to drive accordingly, especially on lap 1 when warp is at it's most troublesome.

Don't forget, incident reports should be entered on the SRou system following the link at the bottom of the results table when it appears.  Race details below.

Div 1 Season 15 Round 5 is this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. London UK time.
Please be in VROC UKGPL chatroom by 8:55 p.m.
VROC and Race passwords: see above

Server 1.ukgpl
IP address  194.105.176.22

Race date = 01-06-2008
Track = Zandvoort 1967  (Papyrus Original)
Variant = 67F1
Damage Model = PRO
Qually time = 30 minutes.
Race length = 50 minutes (35 laps)

Password: see above (#post_event_password)
Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=73&theme=6)

Division 1

	Single Stop Time		Double Stop Time
BRM	No Stop		N/A
Honda	8		N/A
Cooper	13		N/A
Brabham	41		16
Eagle	48		19
Ferrari	50		20
Lotus	67		29

 First Pit Window is: 28 (to go on your pit board) to 18 (to go on your pit board)
 Second Pit Window is: 26 (to go on your pit board) to 9 (to go on your pit board)

Those are some meaty pit stop times :o

Whos going to take the Lotus then? :D

Maybe someone with a bladder problem  :laugh:

LOL  ;D

I think that's takin the pizz   ;D

Sure are, but they're all calculated from a simple formula based on WR times. As published in the Pit Stop Calculator (https://www.ukgpl.com/files/pit_stop_calculator.zip).

I've added an extra facility in the calculator for Season 15.  It's the "Race Pace Adjustment".  If you click the Zanvoort tab enter 1.005 in cell E11 (which effectively increases the Lotus WR time by 0.5%) and then press the "Calculate Pit Stop Times" button, the Lotus pit stop time goes down from 67 to 53 seconds.  This just shows how sensitive the pit stop times are to changes in WR times.

I wasn't intending to change the way the pit stops are calculated mid season (i.e. fiddling around with the "Race Pace Adjustment" - do we get more "Hot Lappers" posting WRs in the Lotus?) but then I didn't expect to get a near Cooper spec race at Monaco.  Has nobody got the balls to take the Lotus?  :surrender:

Lotus ? Monaco ?  Fine if you can stick it on pole otherwise you run the risk of getting  stuffed behind the Cooper que and all that extra HP is useless .

It would take a very brave man (which rules me out)

IMO of coarse  ;D







   

hmmm!??? take the Lotus......with a pit stop of over 60 secs and only 35 laps it doesn't take much to work out that I have to be about 2secs a lap quicker than everybody else to have a chance of winning!!!

So the question is, can I lap the Lotus 2 secs faster than Lorenzo and Hristo in a Cooper/Brm!!! ?

Doesn't take long to work that one out does it!!!  LOL :-\ lap times of 1:22 in a lotus would be just about perfect!!!

Yes, but you will come to the same conclusion whichever car you choose. If we all take Coopers or BRM's we will just be behind Hristo and Lorenzo for the whole race. At least if you take the Lotus you may run up front or even in the lead for at least some of the race! :)

If only!!  lol
The problem that I have Ken is that none of my pb's in any chassis would give me enough advantage to warrant taking the pitstop of the faster cars. I just would not gain enough time to cancel out the stop. I tried that in the last Master's race when I took the Eagle...it did not work for me.
Which I think, is the same issue for most drivers who look at a 60 sec pit stop and know that they will not be 2 secs or more a lap faster,each and every lap,  than they would in say the Cooper. Therefore simple maths dictates that the best option is the Cooper or BRM with no stop and hope for a couple of retirements up ahead.
I know this returns to the insolvable nutmeg of the pit stop calculations, and I have no wish to ressurect that argument. But, it is interesting that even those aliens with the ability to lap a Lotus at world record pace and take advantage of the faster car, still take the BRM or Cooper. Surely if Hristo and Lorenzo both took the faster chassis the competition between them would still be as intense...just quicker? and they would take the same podium spots?

In my case I am sure it matters not a jot which chassis I use .

Long ago I reached the Terminal Velocity Threshold "TVTmax"  above which my brain will cease to function and my limbs become frozen and disconnected from the nerve center.
The result is that any chassis will get me around a given track at more or less the same leisurely pace, But any attempt to increase lap speeds  (lower lap time ) will result in my arms and elbows flailing about wildly like an octopus on steroids and both legs fighting each other as I slowly dissapear under the table trying to reach the gas and brake pedal in a vain attempt to control my progress around the track.

The above does not of coarse apply to those circuits which consist of one long straight e.g. Spa or Monza where driver skill is at a minimum and straight line speed is God.

Its really down to selecting the most comfortable armchair to race in  ;D

         

Ah, but initially you were saying you couldn't lap 2 secs faster than Hristo or Lorenzo in Coopers/BRM's, now you are saying you can't lap faster than yourself in a Cooper/BRM. So yes you might think the slower car is the better choice, however there are other aspects to consider. There maybe slightly more chance of being involved in an incident if you are back in the pack and the possibility of being slowed by a driver in a faster car, whereas you could have the track to yourself if you took the Lotus and ran at the front. But as Bernie has pointed out, they are long races and it is a good to drive a car you are comfortable in.

Well got into praccy a tad late but still managed a PB in the Cooper so was happy with 9th.  :)

Got a decent start and had Mr Darwin in my sights on a few occasions. He made that car pretty wide so good job on the defense. I was wondering why I was a bit quicker than him in a few places then realised that I still had Praccy fuel on even though I had fuelled it and change the race set up to 35 laps.  :o >:(

Well I thought I would just pit lots of times. lol I came into a bend a tad too fast and went to rejoin off the racing line when all of a sudden I was on my roof. :( I watched the replay and to be honest it was definately a racing incident as Burt lost control and he came skidding into me. To be honest there was no way Burt was at fault so don't be worrying m8. :)

Onto Nurby.  ::) Not my fave track at all.

Took the BRM mainly because it was one of the few remaining Monster times I needed to get negative. Did that in qually after about half a dozen laps and then promptly forgot how to drive the beast and just got slower and slower! I still thought I had a chance of racing the Coopers because of the lack of any stop.

And so it transpired. I managed to leapfrog them all as they stopped and then they queued up behind me!!

Because it has a far turn of speed I could keep the tank ahead down the s/f and then hold them off through the twisties and one by one they all went making sandcastles in the dunes as they became frustrated at the moving chicane in front of them.

So I was running 2nd and on my last lap, or so I thought! I eased right up to ensure a finish and Clive was now back on my tail but I only had to get it over the line. But what's this no chequered flag and prib still says 1 lap. Bugger. Carried on with Clive now all over my gearbox. Marshals waving flags at the hairpin, they think it's all over, it is now. Lost concentration and banged in to the bales. Clive through and 2nd place gone. Oh well, still a podium, but a little frustrated with myself to say the least.

The usual medeocre performance from me ( at least I'm consistant) My only problem (apart from staying awake for 35 laps ) was GPL wait , I pressed the P in key and nothing,  made my scheduled stop,  pressed the Go button ......... and ,   ............Nothing ....... zilch ........ nowt !  in fact F'all happened so there I was , sat in me car trying to count the seconds but can't for the life of me remember how long the Brabby pit stop time should be , durr ! stupid or what ? After an age I re join the track and resume "racing" as normal and waiting for the inevitable "alien attack" so I can get out the way promptly.

Was a bit sick after the race to find my Pit Crew had taken nearly  2 minutes to change 4 tyres, wipe my visor and fill her up. No bonus money for that shower this W/E , in fact if they dont get there ass in gear for Nurbs they will all be for the flugplatz  >:(

Rumour has it they couldnt get the wheelnuts done up for laughing  :)

      

ROFLMFAO  ;D That's my trick Bernie. Great write up.  :)

That was a very intense race. Moreover, it was very hot and humid last night and I struggled with the sweat which kept pouring over my eyes so I used a very short trying to wipe it away, nearly every lap.

Had a good lap in quali, nearly a PB and good for 4th on the grid. Managed to hold off charging Brendan in first couple of corners - don't know exactly what happened but Brendan was soon replaced by Clive who was definitelly quicker than both of us in the Cooper. He gave me sweats until he made a pitstop almost at the end of pit window and I had another 2-3 laps. Managed to complete my stop and pit out ahead of Clive with couple of seconds to spare but Ken made a very good job with his BRM and flew by me while I was pitting out.

I set off chasing Ken who was slower through the twisty bits but had sufficient power to get away on the straight. I was going to settle for third and wait for a mistake, if any, but Clive behind had other ideas so I was pushed into pushing Ken. Ken went once to narrow into the hairpin and I went for a wide line to avoid him and Clive sneaked on the inside. Clive after made a mistake on last corner and I was through again.

Again, following Ken but he didn't let him self being rattled. I made a small mistake at one point, touched grass with the wheels and spun letting Clive through again.

Then pushed too hard for no aparent reason and on lap before last, engine started spluttering and I was about to limp to the end of race trying to save whatever positions I can. It didn't look good as I had another lap to do with virtually no power and then the savior arrived in the form of Ferrari shod alien who lapped me meters before the finish line and bringing the much needed chequered flag otherwise, I would be losing more positions than just one I lost to Brendan. Thx Hristo ;)

Grats to Hristo and hats off for the experiment with pitstops. Grats to Ken and Clive, Ken really had a good race and deserved that second position so it was unfortunate to have lost it that way. Clive was by far the fastest Cooper and he too had a really good race and a good pace. Grats to both of you.

I too had quite an intense race and indeed the atmosphere here was also rather humid.  I wasn't helped by forgetting to set-up a desk fan as I usually do....... :sweatdrop:

Anyway, I arrived late to qually (nearly didn't show at all after a few RL problems) with the intention of setting a reasonable time and then taking it easy for the race.  As it was I ended up 5th on the grid.

Made a decent start and followed Kruger for the first few corners, I was mindful of any close contact as my last time at Zandy, a warp ruined Ken's race, as a result I got a bit of a tank-slapper on which allowed Clive through.  This was just as well, as he and Kruger were both much faster than I.

Tried to keep in touch with the pack in front, but in doing so, kept overheating my front left tyre, which sent me off line on more than one occasion and cost me quite a bit of time.  I pitted early to try and cool them down a bit and set off again in 6th I think.

I tried to modify my driving style to manage the tyres a bit better, but they didn't really come on song until about 10 laps from the end.  At this point, the lure of the sand dunes was quite overwhelming, not just for me but also Neil and Clive.  We swapped places a few times and I was up to 3rd I think until a mistake on the back straight allowed Clive to close right up and scare me off into the dunes again.

Luckily for me (but not for him), Kruger's engine expired on the penultimate lap and I was up to 4th.  I also blew my engine on the last lap, but had enough momentum to coast silently across the finish line.

Grats to H on another fine win and also to Clive on his great Cooper pace and Ken's shrewd car choice.

See you at Nurby.

After 35 laps in the Honda, I've concluded 2 things:

1) Up until lap 5 you drive the car.
2) After lap 5, the car drives you.

I knew the only way anyone stood a chance at beating Histro here was for me to hold him up at the start. Things looked more promissing as I got a better start but not good enough to get ahead going into the first corner. Lorenzo was then on my tail until I made a silly mistake clipping the grass while braking for turn 1. Around this point the Honda was really driving me, and to put it blunty I spun to many times, annoyingly quite near the end after Kruger had a moment and I made up some places.

Never mind, had some good battles with a few cars which was fun.

I hope you DO understand it is the time for two of us to get worried with the constant improving c-l-i-v-e ;)

The force is strong with him :) and he's on dark side

Hmm, I too have noticed his turn of speed recently.  I wonder if he's been abducted by aliens.......... probed :o.......... and then returned to civilisation (if that's what you can call life in Bristol ;D)

Well, what a race!!
I finally gave in and tried the Cooper, as my pit crew ( the ever present Mr amd Mrs Glutbucket ) refused to set up a Honda that would not melt tyres at sub 1:28 pace.
So we dragged a second hand Cooper into our garden shed and set about converting it to our needs.
Mrs Glutbucket is a large woman and absolutely useless at mekaniking, but she is quite useful as a work bench. The Cooper will sit nicely upon her rather large abdomen without damaging anything delicate ( on the car, not Mrs Glutbucket!).

As a team ...I use that phrase as a loose description of my association with the glutbuckets.....we had never played with the Cooper in anger before, but it does seem to be popular amongst the massed ranks of sub-alien drivers. So late on Friday evening testing began under cover of darkness, after all, if you have to look at Mrs Agnes Glutbucket's red and puffy face and listen to her wheezing whilst the car is balanced upon her, it is as well to be in the dark.

Initial setups and runs proved less than succesful with times similar to the Honda and only marginally less tyre heat. However when I promised Arnold G with a weekend away with Agnes if he found a solution and a whole week if he didn't, things began to improve.
 
Radical changes to gearing and some deft tweaks to roll bar settings, (caused by the entangling of Agnes's girdle whilst lowering the car to the tarmac)  along with a whole different approach to driving compared with the Honda ( I tried removing the blindfold!!) showed that maybe this Cooper could be made to handle.

By Sunday pm we were getting low 1:25's and some control over tyre temps, if we filled them not with compressed air, but Arnold's deoderant spray.( eau d'ear ).
Practice loomed and the Cooper was wheeled nervously out of the pits, this foray into unknown territory could be a disaster.
One quickish lap in practice put me 2nd on the grid for a while, but the usual suspects edged me down to 6th before the start. As I did not wish to have to do any defensive driving in a strange car that was not so bad, as those in front were the drivers I needed to pace myself against. Except for Hristo who had alomost succumbed to my sneaky psychological ploy in the forum and fallen into the trap of taking a fast car with looong pit stop, but not quite foolish enough to take the Lotus.

Got off the grid and held my place into T1 watching out for sneaky moves up my inside!! ::) Kruger and Brendan got into a spot of avoidance mode on the approach to T3 and Brendan was good enough to allow me to move up a place. Now I was sandwiched between two Cooper specialists..hmmmm ....so I tried to concentrate on maintaining a safe 1 sec gap to Kruger in front until tyres and deoderant warmed up and fuel and weight came down.
Brendan held station about 1 sec behind and was a constant threat in my mirrors until he had a moment somewhere and dropped back to a more respectable 3-4 secs ;D.
I had expected Kruger to pull away slowly but instead I found that the spray nozzle that Agnes had fitted into the nose of the Cooper ( you can just see the tube, in still shots of my Cooper tucked into the air intake) was indeed very effective at close quarters when I could spray some of her moisturising cream onto Krugers rear tyres. The regular little slips sideways allowed me to close very slowly but not enough to risk a pass. I still had visions of large tank like Lotus cars being exceptionally slow through some of the corners ;).
I decided to visit the Gluts in the pits and top up with deoderant and moisturiser before I missed the window of opportunity.
The sight of Agnes without her usual layer of make-up caused me to leave the pits in blind panic, inadvertantly spilling some of the spray onto my own tyres with the result that they went red with embarrasment.
I was forced to moderate my speed and survive a couple of squeaky, buttock clenching moments for the next few laps such that when Kruger completed his stop he was almost the whole straight in front.
But the Glutbucket's had an ace up their sleeves, they had been moonlighting for BRM just to earn some money ( is the glory and kudos of working for me not enough??   ungrateful wretches!!) and had got Ken's mount in front of Kruger.
 ;D In front and just slow enough for me to catch them. Then blow me!! if when I catch them Kruger does the honourable thing and dives out of the way so that I can slip in behind Ken.
I was just planning my pass on Ken ( oh! yes I was ...oh! no you weren't...oh yes I was!!!) at Tarzan when my concentration strayed and I put a wheel on the sandy stuff entering the straight...instant Rallycross!!!! as Kruger cruised past...drat!!!

Set off after the pair of them and now had a recovering Brendan in my tracks along with a Honda behind him. Gradually got the tyre temps back to normal and then spun!!..... Brendan through!
Caught Brendan in a lap or so and did a bit of evil staring in his mirrors as we approached Tarzan.. a quick squirt from the nose cone and he was up the bank heehee. after Kruger again but he and Ken were way in front but the gap was closing again . Until Kruger parked and got out his deck chair on the sand for a snack and waved me past. Only 4 laps to go and Ken was in sight...2 laps to go and I was closing very quickly.
Dilemma time..do I settle for a safe 3rd...or is 2nd there for the taking muhahahaha.
1 lap to go and I am right on Ken's tail into Tarzan, maybe into T3 or out of T3 up the hill...where he wont expect it but where the BRM might not be so nimble. Instead, Ken sees sense and, rather than risk the Loyne's treatment, chickens out and pulls over to allow me through...probably very wise I thought, well I would wouldn't I? :angel:

At which point I realise I am 2nd!!!  and with Hristo in 1st spot, proving that he is still too ruddy quick to be even remotely human.

Big grats to Hristo for having the nerve to take a fast chassis and endure an enormous pitstop, next time perhaps Lorenzo will join you in the the Lotus?
Thanks to Kruger and Brendan for being the target and the threat at different parts of the race and to Ken for actually believing what was written on a pit board held out be the Glutbuckets!!!!
evil

LoL, great write up Clive, as usual  :)

Thanks, all, it was a rather different experience for a change and actually quite a pleasant one as the Ferrari is such a nice car to drive (compared to what I'm usually strapped into). Almost lost the lead on the start, but some late braking and wide fast line into T1 kept me ahead. The setup seemed so good that the car almost ran on its own without needing much driver input, so I just enjoyed the ride. That was until Lorenzo appeared on my pitboard and got me worried about 2x 20secs pitstops requiring huge gap to make up the difference. At the rate the gap was increasing I quickly realized that even though I'd manage to come out infront after the 1st pitstop, there was no way I could build up another 30 secs gap between lap 18 and lap 9 for the 2nd pitstop. So at that time I had already accepted 1st place as nearly impossible and just thought of bringing it home safely in 2nd. Luckily for me and unluckily for Lorenzo he retired for some unknown reason and the gap to the rest of the field was more than satisfying to lift up any worries in my mind. I made both my pitstops in such manner that would drive away any racing fan, coming to a stop very slowly and getting going again without any glimpse of revving up or wheelspin, but I could afford it, so...  :angel:
The thing that I learned from those long pitstops was that they really mess up the tyre temps for some reason and especially after my 2nd pitstop the car was rather odd to handle and I nearly binned it once or twice, and even though I set my fastest lap in the end, it was not what as good as what the car was really capable to deliver in case I hadn't done any pitstops. In any case, good tyre temps or not, with Lorenzo not making any mistakes he'd have surely jumped ahead at my 2nd stop, but it was a good test nontheless and driving a good car for a change had me enjoy driving more than usual. Grats to all and thanks for the kind words.

Sorry I couldn't make it chaps - my Internet connection is broken at the moment (and most likely a Pipex cock-up....Plusnet here I come!!!).

Another solid result for the men of Cooper, and...what's this? Evil in a Cooper, and going fast too  8)....hmmm.....time to sign up with the Men of Cooper old chap? Let's take the fight to the Soggys!

Well done Brendan on the 4th place,great driving as usual. :)