SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 17 - Division 1 - Race 1 - 67 mod - Spa-Francorchamps

"Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends". ( a pathetic and wothless prize for whoever identifies the source of that quote).

 By popular demand Division 1 is here for another season of thrills, spills and frustration, but its continued running does depend on having enough of us turning up to produce a viable number on the grid. so please try and make as many races as you can guys.

 To our new drivers and to those stepping up from the Clubmans Division, don't be afraid its only a game....honest ::). To the old hands, welcome back to where GPL is at its best.

 This season sees the team competition re-joined, with old teams rising again, along with some new fledgling teams to take on the ubiquitous SRBC. Lets have a great season of racing and make this Division 1 the place to race.


We start at Spa which has always been a favourite despite its reputation for killing engines and for trapping the unwary at Eau Rouge and Masta.

Please use caution at the start, as the field can bunch more than expected before L'Eau Rouge, where there is probably only one true racing line and three cars cannot all use it at the same time. The middle and back of the grid need to take extra care not to run into cars that have tangled ahead of them.



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

Server ukgpl1
IP address TBC
Race date = 08-03-2009
Time = 21:00
Track = Spa-Francorchamps
Variant = 67F1
Damage Model = PRO
Qually time = 30 minutes.
Race length =  (  15  laps)

Division 1

	Single Stop Time		Double Stop Time
Cooper	No Stop		N/A
BRM	Stop and Go		N/A
Honda	9		N/A
Brabham	16		N/A
Ferrari	20		N/A
Lotus	42		16
Eagle	48		19

 First Pit Window is: 13 (to go on your pit board) to 8 (to go on your pit board)
 Second Pit Window is: 11 (to go on your pit board) to 4 (to go on your pit board)

Oh come on. "Whispering" Bob Harris got me through university almost single handed. Emerson, Lake and Palmer - what's my prize?

I knew someone would fall into the trap of confessing their age and mis-spent youth :D...its nice to know I'm not totally alone ::)

This weeks star prize consists of:-( and our legal dept has confirmed that this is entirely within the description given above)

 The remains of my rear tyres after the Spa race. Arnold and Mabel Glutbucket, the ever attentive pit crew, will personally deliver and fit these valuable relics to a supermarket trolley of your choice and Mabel will administer the winners kiss. ;D

we draw your attention to our disclaimer for medical expenses and injuries suffered during the presenting of any prizes. With special reference to injuries caused by crushing or excesseive vacuum contact

That seems rather generous. I was just gonna offer him the brief but luxurious view of my Lotus 49's gearbox as I waltz into the distance and promptly crash at Masta! :D

Well, the crashing at Masta didn't happen, although I did tap the wall on the exit of Bus Stop before La Source, the only contact I had during the race with solid metal. Had a nice ding-dong with Lorenzo in the super-fast Cooper during the first couple of laps of the race, I so nearly ran him off the road at Burnenville if I'd hit the brakes I would have DEFINITELY done so, so if he wins it, thank me for not tagging him. After passing him the next lap, I set after Clive Loynes, then the engine blew after La Source. Gutted, cos I thought I had good pace even with the limited practice I'd done.

Not the best start to a championship challenge. My quali was riddled with spins and crashes but at least I managed a new personal best, ending up 9th on the grid. The start went well and I picked off two places, stuck behind Bernie's Lotus, unable to pass him. Towards the end of the lap I got passed by a fellow BRM of Napo and watched a nice little battle developing up front.

On the second lap approaching the Masta Kink, Bernie and Napo had a tangle which resulted in the Lotus nicely parked on the racing line. I had no hope avoiding the car and hit Berine at full speed, losing a wheel in the process. Was quite amazed how Tim, following closely behind, managed to avoid us 3 parked all over the track  ;D.

So, another slow start to the season but hey, maybe Albi will provide better fortune.

Well another race down the drain...at least my isp didn't disconnect me this time. :D

Not doing any practice and been a while since I raced at spa I decided to just run qual in race trim. Managed to get faster each lap. I was hoping the lotus drivers up front would just drive faster than me but that never happened. I ended up racing a lotus who was warping a bit but was driving very safely himself. he got past me going towards masta so I lifted and slotted behind him unfortunately he got sideways and I got tagged and spun into a house. Damaged my engine tried to keep up with Dave's BRM but binned it at eau rouge, and that was my race.

Very enjoyable while it lasted. Had some problems joining and so only completed one quali lap and started way down the grid but managed to stay on the blackstuff for a few laps as others were falling off and found myself in 6th. Unfortunately I messed up my pitstop by not spinning the wheels fast enough and got booted, joining an illustrious throng behind the pitwall. It's Coopers for me from now on ::)

Glad you got there eventually Mike.  You shouldn't have any BW mismatch problems if you use these settings in your core.ini

net_mdm_client_send_every = 3              ; Client packet freq on dialup
net_mdm_client_send_size = 84              ; Client packet size on dialup
net_mdm_server_send_every = 3              ; Server packet freq on dialup
net_mdm_server_send_size = 384              ; Server packet size on dialup
net_use_mdm_bandwidth_for_tcp_ip = 1       ; Use modem bandwidthfor TCP/IP

If you get a time out just wait until GPL asks you to reconnect and then try again.  Don't quit back to VROC or IGOR straight away.

Phil
I've just checked and those settings are what I have. I joined using the IP address in GPL without any problem so hopefully it was just a one off.

Probably yes, but do you select "use Core.ini" when joining through vroc?

As for my race, it was a repeat of the Spa race in season 14 with the exception we don't have shift-r option anymore, so it ended in retirement.

I wasn't happy with the handling of the car in neither qualifying or the race, there was bad understeer all the time with snap oversteer whenever I lifted up, so that combined with the need to substantially short-shift to keep the oil temps at reasonable levels resulted in somewhat poor and inconsistant performance.

To begin with the start though, I had a good one but Gasper's Lotus edged ahead into T1 and led the way. He was rather going off the ideal line in corners and missing his braking, but there was no real chance to overtake, so overall we were just losing time while the cars behind seemed to have disappeared due to a collision or something. I knew that if Lorenzo was still in the run though I'd need proper gap before my stop, so getting pass by Gasper (or having him pull away which would've helped as well) was necessary. We exchanged a place on the run out of Masta and again at Stavellot when he did a good move on the outside, but again - more time lost. Then I had a very good run towards Blanchimont and moved to Gasper's left preparing for a pass, but he opted to brake later and I assumed he'd be taking the middle or outside line as I was already commited to the inside. Sadly he didn't leave any room to avoid contact and all I could do was try and keep to the inside as much as possible, but warp contact ensued and his car flew away, flipping over.

As much as I didn't like the outcome of that there was no time to think about it so I focused on building that gap back to Lorenzo, if he was still in the run. After another lap it appeared that it was actually Clive behind and with a mistake or two on my part he had reduced the gap to 4 seconds, which remained like that for all but 1 lap before my pitstop when the gap became 5 seconds. Prior to the stop I've had done more mistakes and also was sacrificing alot of speed to keep the oil temp happy.

As soon as I stopped for my stop at the end of the pit window Clive had arrived and was slowing to do the same and I managed to spot that Lorenzo's Cooper was right behind him and took the lead. By the time I emerged from the pits and completed the following lap Lorenzo had a 8 seconds lead with 7 laps to go. I knew that catching and passing him was within Honda's capabilities except the fact that it wouldn't last that long if I use those to their fullest. So I tried just a bit harder, using more revs here and there, but the engine expired almost as soon as I did that, lol.

Still, it was a good result for Wazas with Tim and Evil getting to the finish, well done.

We'll see how Albi would turn out but if I judge on the Season 14 race again, it doesn't look much promising for the very same reasons.

-=Hristo=-

I had a good one with H. I had no practice before the event, pole lap was more than 2s off my PB. Didn't know what to expect on full tanks, I raised the car (maybe a bit too much) and it was awfull to drive. I was all over the place, as H said. I saw Hristo was out of my slipstream approachng Blanchimont, but I never thought he'd try to make a move there, so I tried to negotiate the corner as usual. It didn't work out, let's hope Albi goes better.

Felt out of sorts from the word go , still recovering from a flue virus didnt help and I couldnt get a decent practise lap in for crashing every time I tried to press on .
For the race I raised the socks and suspenders to stop the car bottming , but went a bit too high and that was my downfall , after outdragging Napo down Masta I entered The Kink a tad too fast , got sideways and we collided . I couldnt believe that the car was still in one piece from the way the crash went I should have been dead , mort , finished , expired even , but to my great suprise and relief I was able to carry on although well down in the running order . I was now chasing "JackO " in his Bournebrum!

My elation was short lived as I soon realise that the engine had developed a missfire which soon was to become a dead lump of cossy.

So my race ended on Lap 2,  pity really because prior to that I was still in touch with the leaders was driving steady rather than fast and thought a decent finish was on the cards.

Not looking forward to Albi, for some reason I get car sick there on the twizzy bits just after the pits  :)

 

I get similar feeling when driving at Albi, quite unpleasant.

Chortle, chortle, chortle.... ;D ;D ;D ;D

You can't beat a late Sunday evening snack of Stuffed Wasa.

All your dead engines are belong to her!

OK, so one swallow doesn't make a summer .............but I just can't stop grinning!  ;D

Grats to Lorenzo.  Hard luck Gasper, you were doing a great job and you never know, it may have been fighting you that eventually did for H's engine.

Good show from the rest of the team too.  When Ken's pc is back on its feet we should be really giving them something to think about.



Nice place Albi by the way. ;D



Chuckle, chuckle.........

Grats to Lorenzo for a fine win in the Cooper T81 of all things!  I'm mightily impressed!  A hearty well done to both Clive and Tim for garnering the P2 and P3 podium spots, respectively.

I'd practiced in advance for this event and was confident of a decent showing having carved out a 24-odd lap as best.  In qualifying, I was taking it EZ to end up with a 27 which was quite satisfactory if not a threat to most.  The opening rounds were a concern as I came across the odd detached wheel here and there accompanied by assorted skid marks so figured that grief had met those up the road a piece.  Bad luck, chaps.  I had a nice duel with Michael in the Eagle in swapping the place until following him thru the 2nd leftie of Blanchimont, I paid rather too much attention to where he was and not enough to where I was.  Off onto the verge and a wild spin.  Luckily, I didn't hit anything.  This was a real shocker and caught me utterly off-guard.  It's even more telling as I'd planned to duck into the pits for my S&G at the end of the lap.  What a waste!  Sigh...

On my outlap, I bungled the entry to Stavelot and got the car wobbling to lose it comprehensively.  Incredibly, I didn't hit anything!  It took forever to get turned around directly on the track surface but at least I was safe in the knowledge that I was running last on the road at the time and in no fear of getting T-boned.

Spent the rest of the show just trying to stay on top of things and bring it home in one piece.  Scored a lucky P6 thanks to the misfortune of others.  6 out of 10 only.

My PC should be up and running again this Sunday, although the only common item from the original will be the case!!!

However I've just realised I will be away for the weekend when the next D1 race is scheduled. Shame as unlike some people here I actually love Albi! There is a possibility we will be back home by 9.00pm but I wont know until the day, can you stand by your bed Clive?!!

You do realise that we are coming up to Northumberland this June and you will have to answer to Pam, eyeball to eyeball!

We will be stopping off on our way up to Wooler on Friday 12th.  Fancy a get together at the Snowy Owl?

Perhaps you can get Graham to come up with a kart challenge at Warden Law the following week.  ;D 

Looks like the Soggies can't get their act together - this is our chance, Wazas !!!  8)

Where did Hristo finish 7th? only 7th lol  :jumpjoy:

Can somebody please finalise the results for S16 D1? :)

12th is on the calendar now and i'll have a word with Graham!!

I'll just have to ply Pam with a few glasses of wine to ease her wrath!! I'm sure she'll understand when she knows my weekend away is to treat a fellow GPL widow for her 40th birthday!!!

and I wont rise to Hristo's bait!! :)

Wrong, I didn't finish at all or it would've definetelly not been 7th. ;) Enjoy while you can, muhaha!

whatever , he did a lot better than you or I   :'( :'( :'(

Clive is on holiday for a few days.  I'll ask him to look at Round 3 when he gets back.  There was only one incident reported which shouldn't have any affect on the final standings for the race or the season.

Your wine budget might be safe anyway.

That's Mother's Day.

We are likely to be on our way back from Selby at 9:00

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5786.0


Ahem! ::)....it has been here for quite some time. ;D

Not that what I meant, I meant the fact that according to my racing history, S16 is still ongoing!  :o