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UKGPL Season 17 - Novices Trophy - Race 1 - 65 mod - Spa-Francorchamps

Welcome to new drivers and welcome back to drivers returning for the second season of the Novices Trophy.  Last years champion Sam has moved onward and upward, so the crown is empty.  The Novices uses the updated 65 mod at int level- resets have to be followed by a stop-and-go in the pits, unless caused by another driver.  Chassis allocations are below- the same chassis will be used for all races this season, unless there is an adjustment agreed by the moderator.  Good luck!

Use caution at the start, as the field can bunch more than expected before L'Eau Rouge and the middle and back of the grid need to take extra care not to run into cars ahead of them.

Please use the updated 65 mod for this race  

The 65 mod update has surprised us as it was a low-key announcement, and it isn't available on the 'Legends of 65' home site, where the 65 mod is hosted.  However, the effort put into it certainly merits a season's testing, without which feedback and any further development would be made difficult.

The updated layout features are very welcome, with the ability to record best lap times at addon tracks and to have 65 specific tracks. The new collision boxes are also a great improvement.  Though the new slipstream code will need extensive testing, the preliminary race seemed to show that it would be a definite improvement in racing terms, without the controversy over its extent, as with the 66 mod.

It seems a pity that the opportunity wasn't taken for more extensive changes to the 65 mod, especially as this means that we'll be racing cars that have compensation for the absence of slipstream built into the top speed, yet with slipstream present.  Though it might be a consideration that an update with corrected and slower speeds would then not be useful for rank, as the cars would be slower, rank should always take second place to realism, and the ranks could continue with the original mod.  However, an extensive reworking of the 65 mod might have taken resources that aren't available to the community.  While I'm disappointed because I'm not keen on the concept of patches that make the carsets faster without regard to realism, at least it's still possible that we could still have a 65 mod v3 based on the 66 physics and made incompatible by the addition of extra cars to prevent the unrealistic faster 2.02 mod being used by overcompetitive racers.

Thanks to all involved with producing the update.  If the new slipsteam code works as well as it seems it might, perhaps it could help persuade the authors of the 66 mod to rework their code as well!

Please be in IGOR UKGPL chatroom by 8:55 p.m.
(You will need to set up a channel called #ukgpl if you haven't already done so)
IGOR and Race passwords: see above (#post_event_password)

Server ukgpl5
IP address  

Race date = 03-03-2009
Time = 21:00
Track = Spa-Francorchamps
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = INT
Qually time = 30 minutes.
Race length = long (10 laps) note- the updated 65 mod uses 10 laps for a long race

Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=206;theme=6)

CHASSIS ALLOCATION

Ferrari Norbert Roguk Fabio JamesRye
Lotus Al Vos Mike Scott
BRM Billy Hezemans Hurtubise
BT11 Graham Maestro Clutch Nhance
Honda Bookie
Cooper Asbjeurn* Ian* Steve B* Steve B2* Geoff*
BT7 Aulden Burt* Bernie*

*drivers also assigned an Amateurs chassis

65 Mod

These were the 65 drivers
BT7 Bonnier, Baghetti, Hulme (Bonnier drove for Walker)
BT11 Brabham Gurney Gardner Anderson Siffert (Siffert drove for Walker, Gardner and Anderson were privateers)
Lotus Clark Spence Rodriguez Mitter Russo Solana (and Maggs Hailwood Attwood Amon and Ireland for Parnell)
Ferrari Surtees Bandini Rodriguez Vaccarella Bondurant Scarfiotti
Honda Ginther Bucknum
Cooper McLaren Rindt
BRM Hill Stewart

The 1965 season was the last to use the controversial 1500cc formula which had begun after 1960, to the initial advantage of Ferrari.  The 1965 cars are smaller than the 1967 cars and have less torque and hence more grip.  It was claimed that they 'cornered on rails', however this allowed the Grand Prix series to retain the use of circuits which were otherwise to prove extremely dangerous.

The 1965 cars are ideal for those new to GPL as they allow the tracks to be learnt in light reliable cars, however these are also full Formula One cars, and quite fast....  Jim Clark won the 1965 Belgian Grand Prix in a Lotus.  Graham Hill took pole in his BRM P261 with a time of 3'45.4 .  The 1965 distance was 32 laps.

David Wright's 'Legends' site http://fp.gplegends.plus.com/  (http://fp.gplegends.plus.com/) has the download of the 2.0.1 version (under 'details') as well as being an exceptional guide to both 1965 and 1967, for those interested in Formula One history.  The 2.02 update is available here: http://www.jamesonline.net/ukgpl/1965mod_PATCH_v2.0.2_Setup.zip (http://www.jamesonline.net/ukgpl/1965mod_PATCH_v2.0.2_Setup.zip)

well i think i've signed up for this ...  if so what car will i take ?

scrub that .... then again ... can i drive in the novices :)

guess not

john

What does this mean? I haven't signed up for the Amateurs trophy, so is this in case I should be moved up?

Yeah, there's slightly more drivers than a full grid in both divisions, obviously this won't translate into full grids but we decided that it might be good to build some flexibility into the allocations.  Also, Geoff and Steve had indicated that they might be as happy with a slower car on the slower grid, and Burt was completely unable to decide, so a category of drivers of similar pace seemed the right move.  Perhaps they could form the nucleus of Geoff's desired D2, if we continue to add numbers!

However, you wouldn't be required to move up from a Cooper anyway, it would only be if you decided you wanted to test the pros.  Same with the other drivers- the Novices is harder to balance than the Amateurs, but if there is a runaway leader they could drop to the Cooper or BT7, rather than have to move up into the Amateurs.

Good plan gentlemen.....Well done. I presume the (*) drivers points are to be transortable between both classes? And do we need to sign up to both classes as well?.....or will that just be Mod magic??.... ;D

I won't be there, I discovered. I'm going to a conference tomorrow and the day after, and will be away from home tomorrow night. That means people will get a head start on me, which will make my road to victory a bit longer.  ;)

Qualified in 10th which is good for me. Five  :o 'incidents' in the first 3 laps put paid to my chances. One of these was my fault when I rear-ended Billy, wasn't expecting the early brake but no excuse. Apologies to Billy, NHance and anyone else who got caught up in it - took a Stop N Go for this.
Once the dramas were over had a steady (and lonely) race concentrating on getting a finish...
Congrats to Clutch and other podium guys. Onto Albi...

Qualifying went much better than expected for me, I was on pole for a while, but ended the session 3rd, which was much higher than I expected, set a new PB in qualifying so couldn’t ask for much better. Start was great, I got a flying start and led the field for about half a lap, I didn’t fight clutch at all when he went past, my plan was to sit behind him and try to force a mistake and pass. This worked well for about a lap and a bit until I made a silly mistake (how many times until I learn) which meant that clutch got away and Peter M got past me.

I wasn’t too worried at this point, I just wanted to get on with the race, but unfortunately I made another silly mistake which cost me loads of time and meant I was 5th. I started to chase down Jim Hurtubise in his BRM who was just in front of me. I set my fastest time during these laps, and it turned out to be the races fastest lap, I really don’t know where that time came from, it was much faster than my other laps. I did get past Jim, but something happened (don’t now what happened) and I got into a violent spin, I was having fun too :(. I had a cushion at this point from the drivers behind and settled into reeling off the laps, had a few more spills, but nothing major.

Overall I was happy with my race, I had speed in the car which really surprised me, but the same old story of not being consistent enough. I need to keep a cooler head.

Very enjoyable race.

Finishing 2nd helps ;D
will probably not get repeated during the season :(

Congrats to Clutch. Pipped me for pole on his last qualy lap

Chased him most of race, but he was overall very consistent.

He must have had the odd wobble as I caught him up twice, but made my own mistakes both times that dropped me back before I could even consider trying to get past

Wow good grid or what. Where has everyone come from?

Onto Albi. Never even loaded this circuit let only driven it. Anyone got a good setup for the BT11?

Cheers

Peter

In the name of scientific experiment I took the Coop but soon found how essential a good tow was to overcome the  lack of horses

Made a superb start (though I thought I may have instigated  the T1 shunt as I had sqweezed into the gap in front of me in order to get on close terms with the leaders, but my replay shows that no contact was made between me and N Hance who was outside of me but at the time , but there was maybe some warp so I will appologise now in advance if the mods think otherwise )

I was up with front the pack and going well but it went wrong at burnenville ? when I collected a wayward BRM of Hurtubise , this dropped me back and allowed Locarno in the fezz and Hezemans to get past. Lap 2 saw me draughting Locarno into La Source but in spite of me braking early I caught his rear end with my front and we half both spun but were able to continue . Another incedent at the same place involved more cars as I tried to move to the inside to clear a late braking Lotus , I caught the kerb and engaged launch control  the race developed into a fair old scrap at times but the coopers handling combined with my driving couldnt make up for the speed of the faster chassis .
The last few laps were a disaster , I had more spins and incedents trying to find the limits , then fun with Burt on the last lap , so more appologies to follow.

All in all a good fun race even if it was a personal disaster ( I think Spa hates me ) and glad to try anything that stops the mods from becoming bored   :)
 

I've imported the results- for our new drivers, click on the link to file an incident report.  As this is a beginner's race I will look at the entire race, but I'm not certain to spot something unless you've highlighted it for me.

Apologies for the tight grid, this was due to the new 65 track.ini catching the mods unawares, it shouldn't happen again.  Spa might not have been the ideal track for your first try at the new slipstream, but I hope you all enjoyed it!  Albi is much more conventional, for drivers that haven't raced there yet.

What a day !!!!!  First question is ....what happened to  " Take it easy on L1  into Eau Rouge "  ?????????!!!! >:( :o..........a field of 17 and 85% of them wiped out BEFORE the first bend !!!!! :o
I lost count of how many posted that warning in pre-race chat just before we hit the grid...and look what happened.......I guess this is why we are all in the Novice class eh ?......was more like the 'NONCES' class   :P
Began in P11...by the time we all sorted ourselves out after the Eau Rouge shenanigans I was away in P17  :(..then into Malmedy and lo and behold...the same crowd are at it again as I come into the left hander ....8 cars involved this time !!!!   WTF !!!  is what I heard myself saying...again, I get away after the others and chase Bookie down to Masta....not sure if he lifted or not but his tail-end  and my nose cone were getting awfully chummy,  I had to shift my line to avoid a hit on him...that slid me wide into the r/h  armco and around in circles.....Bookie managed to perform a similar feat a few yards ahead of mine......from there on it was a matter of chasing cars down.....wringing the neck of the BT7 for all I was worth.....managed to close on some and the only slipstream I got to enjoy was chasing a Ferrari for a lap......until he came to grief at Stavelot....had a few close calls along the way...including one where the guy in front of me going into Blanchimont  decided to perform a 'wall of death' stunt on the berms  letting me past...almost collected a recovering car as I went past the wall of death hero   :P........a big spin out of Masta  saw two cars fly by but I caught them at La Source when they stopped to perform a Tango for the spectators...I had to hop the inside kerb to get around them  and held on to my spot  ( P10)  during that final lap.

Not the sort of debut I was looking for in my first UKGPL race...but that`s how it goes eh ?......I WAS kinda hoping that it would be different to the 'other' league I run in  in as much as the driving skills would be better.....maybe for the next race eh guys ??? :-* :laugh:

All in all I managed to enjoy the bulk of the 'race'    shoulda got higher but was not to be this time.....looking forward to a better result at Albi in two weeks time.....meanwhile I think I have to do some work on the BT7 gearbox    ::)

Thanks all for the excitement  :laugh:

is there a replay off the server that can be downloaded  from somewhere?

Yeah- there's a 'Replays' link on the UKGPL front page.  The '..' link takes you to the Index, it should be obvious from there.

A tight grid is too bunched for L'Eau Rouge at Spa, without 'proper' peripheral vision there's little chance of using the 'proper' grid.  Also this was the first race of the season- with the new patch which has been out for a week or so.  I expect all of you to get better by mid-season though!

The Amateurs got the wrong starting grid too.
Hands up for this  :-[  As Jack'O mentioned we were caught out by the new 65 patch which adds track65.ini's for the historic 65 circuits.
Loose grids will be sorted for the next race...

Well my first win of the season.
Spa's a real favorite so i'm not sure my pace will be the same at all tracks, infact from the few races i've done at the back end of last season, i know i'm not the quickest guy.
Got through Eau Rouge in second with 3rd place about a second behind as we headed along the straight. I then looked open mouthed at Pribluda that semed to indicate there had been some sort of massive pile up at Eau Rouge. This was a real shame as from the qually times i thought we were in for a tight race, especially with the added slipstream patch.
Followed happyal? who was leading down to the Masta kink and got a tow which allowed me to pass. I think him and Maestro were then swapping positions with Maestro being the winner and holding second.
From then on it was a case of trying to maintain the gap to Maestro who kept on putting in fast laps to keep me under pressure. He was often within a second of me and nearly got me a lap from the end. A good drive by him.
Only worrying part was about a lap from the finish when i saw a yellow flag waving as i commited to the Masta kink at 165+mph. Closed my eyes and luckily made it out the other side to go on to win.
A good race, but shame the field imploded at Eau Rouge which gave the Top 3 an easier podium than they might have had.

As for Albi, never driven it, and i've heard there's not really any setups to modify at the track database, so will have to start head scratching for that one.

Thanks all, Clutch

Guys !

4 incedent reports requested , do me a favour , OK I admit , I'm guilty as charged on ALL counts , just dont have the time to respond to all 4 so I'll take the hit whatever you say .

Not in the running for any cups or medals so the outcome doesnt really matter (or does it ??? ) 

Just hope the racing improves next outing and you all give me some elbow room  ::)


Take care , its a dangerous game out there  :D

What a kind of race was that!

2 incidents on lap 1, 1st corner just after.

Qualified in a lowly, 15th place, which was expecting at least middle of the pack. Got a great start off the line!, and You have to just see it for yourselves, until carnage at 1st corner, then i get hit again into railings, get going again to an accident near masta again im at back and just bringing the car home, hate to say much else, apart from when I overtook Bernie and I didnt hit him but he seem to veer off track maybe warp contact?

Looking at my replay you did hit  :-\

Looking at server you missed me , but only by a bugs wazzer , you was a bit close really but no matter I owed you one for La Source the previous lap , except I let you back in front there mate  ;D

Seems to be more than a few warp incidents happened for some reason , but more so I think the culprit is the new "tow" which has the effect of sucking you onto the back of the car in front , the effect being amplified at higher speeds (e.g. like Spa) and also when 2 or more cars braking from high speed into a tight corner (e.g.  La source )

The problem with Simm racing is we dont feel the acceleration / deceleration forces , we only have a visual reference which maybe needs re programming in our heads for the new mods effects.

A similar thing occured when the 66 mod first came on line , places like Monza had cars being driven by very experienced racers who suddenly began rear ending each other Oooh! err! mother  ::)

Well thats my opinion anyway for what thats worth  :D

lol, that was partially the case of "my 2L can brake twice as late as your 3L k thnx"  :D

I hope not, but the ALBI first corners can/will give even more problems then on SPA!?!? ???Hez.

check out the 1st lap...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1rxwBhC65s