SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 17 - Novices Trophy - Race 5 - 65 mod - Mexico City

The fifth round of the Novices Trophy is at Mexico, in front of the lines of armed police with the dark sunglasses.  After his win at Imola Clutch has a slender lead over Mike,  but with the drivers following them able to drop their two worst results the championship is still very much open.  Mexico has a very difficult T1 for a full grid, and accidents to the outside or at the chicane tend to come back onto the track, its also very tempting to try to go two or even three wide because of the wide straight, though there's only room for a single car at the chicane.  Tyres are cold at the start, your control will suffer- and if you are on the inside be aware that there may be a car outside you, if on the outside don't get stuck on the armco.   

Reserve drivers should not join until there are only 30 mins of qualifying left.  However, all drivers should not go on track until there is 30 minutes of qualifying left.  This helps all drivers join the server successfully.  Please restrict chat to pit messages.

Please use the updated 65 mod for this race.

The 65 mod V2 update is being used by UKGPL and 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.

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. UK
(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 TBC
Race date = 28-04-2009
Time = 20:00GMT 21:00UK
Track = Mexico City
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = Int
Qually time = 30 minutes.
Race length = Long (20 laps)

Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=208&theme=6)

CHASSIS ALLOCATION  If I haven't included you but your chassis has been agreed it's not important, otherwise pm me.

Ferrari Norbert Roguk Fabio
Lotus Al Vos Mike Scott Vee8
BRM Billy Hezemans Hurtubise JamesRye
BT11 Graham Maestro Clutch Nhance
Honda Bookie Tomd18
Cooper Asbjeurn* Ian* Steve B* Steve B2* Geoff* Bernie* Nicky*
BT7 Aulden Burt* Glyn

*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 got pole at Mexico in the Lotus 33, his time was 1'56.17.  Richie Ginther won the race for Honda.

David Wright's 'Legends' site 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[/quote]

Looking forward to this race, had a fun practice race last night with no disco's. So hopefully I'll make it to the end this time... :)

Phew, saw the checkered flag at last. ;D A message came up saying 'network error detected on device' on the penultimate corner. I wasn't going to risk lapping whoever was in front of me but I really got a move on when that message came up!

Thanks to the people who were dicing for position for letting me through. Congrats to Nicky on fastest race lap. With my PC unreliability I think I should be in a Ferrari. I was quite tense on the last few laps, waiting for the game to crash or the wheel to fail!

Anyway, I'm happy with the win and a PB in qualifying. Bring on the next round ;)

Not a lot to say on this one.

Qualified 3rd, finished 3rd.
Ryeman and Nicky were away at the start. i kept the gap to a couple of seconds througout the first lap, but knew i needed to slipstream them both to get close on the following lap, i couldn't and they left me.
I tried for a couple of laps to stay with them but they just kept punching in quicker laps that i couldn't match so i decided to stick in 3rd for the rest of the race.
Well done to the back markers for moving off the racing line, great driving. And well done to those in front of and immediately behind me for a careful entry and exit into Turn 1 on lap 1. Not sure what happened further down the field but my Pribluda appeared to indicate a crash?
Great win for Ryeman. The Championship could go any number of ways as we approach mid season.

Next stop Watkins Glen where i hope not to be doing a 'Graham Hill'

My race was very novicable , found myself in a comfortable 6th place after the T1 sortout , then around about lap7 , I got a dose of the old tequilla drinkers cramp ( I needed a stiff one)  , *Note to self* "must use both hands whilst negotiating tyre walls" ::)

after the spin I had a lonely drive home to 8th place , not sure why , but my lap times decreased with time so I ended up slower on empty tanks than I was on full race gas  :-\
 methinks it may have been tyre temps as the only set up I had was a hotlappers fastlap. and I didnt want to change stuff incase It went worse .

Thanks to Nicky who after the race , very unselfishly posted me his own very fast set up , though I doubt it will be much better in my hands . great gesture though mate , and a wonderful example of the GPL community spirit  :)

Grats to the pod boys , you was way outa my league  :)


 

Just disqualify me from this race! I seemed to crash into anyone I tried to pass, especially Norbert, who I had a long fight with. I was faster than him out of the tightest corners, but for some reason I tried to drive through him instead of past him - many times - and really ruined his race more than mine. My deepest apology, Norbert! I feel really bad about it. :(

Qualified 4th and would have needed a rocket boost to get on the front row so I put on race fuel instead to feel where the car was, and typically almost beat my lap time.

Maestro overtook me from the line and I didn't contest it into T1 and settled down for a lap or so before trying to find a way past him. I was quicker than him in 3 places but couldn't get the car setup right to take advantage before having a trip on the grass. Caught him up again so I knew overall I was faster if I could pass him but again before I could do that I had a little spin from punching the throttle too soon. That put an end to any hopes of a podium so it was a race for 4th from then on.

Vos was behind me at this point and running well as I couldn't drop him and catch Maestro again but after a while I settled down again and got a move on. It took me longer to catch Maestro this time as I dropped about 7 seconds or so but I caught him for a third time and took no prisoners with a move up the inside into T1. I didn't want to get into a battle following him again so I went straight for it. I got into a little slide but caught it nicely and held the place, which I then spent a lap or 2 seeming to want to give it back to him again, having to catch another big slide in the Esses. I think he must have had an off somewhere because he suddenly dropped a couple of seconds which meant I could then manage the gap for the remaining 3 or 4 laps.

The top 2 were pretty much untouchable here, for me at least, their race laps were like my practise laps and I've only ever seen a 1:53.9 here on prib, so to actually do them in a race is great race pace.

I'm glad Mexico is over, I don't hate it like I used to but I certainly don't like it.

My driver of the day was Alastair Baldwin for following me on the first lap and not being put off by what can only be described as crap driving.

Congrats to Jimmy, Nicky and Clutch - and all finishers (15 out of 17). Also, very nice start by all from what I could see.
Qually was fine, near enough to my PB.
Race was one of the toughest I've done so far. Settled down into 6th and thereafter Aulden was behind me the whole way. Not quite in my pipes but in parts of the track he'd close and others I'd break away - the pressure was relentless and I knew one slip from me and he'd be through with very little chance of regaining the place.
So no lonely drive on this one, thankfully I held it together through the race.
Unfortunately on my last lap there was an 'incident' whilst lapping a backmarker resulting in a Sh/R and allowing Aulden through (he was lucky to avoid the same fate). I guess that's racing for you...
Apart from the last lap a good race for me.
 

I am writing this from memory as I haven't watched the replay yet.

The race. - Wife did a nice Chilli con Carne for tea to sort of put me in a Mexican mood, fire in the belly & all that. Well it didn't work. Not in the race sense anyway!. An injury time qually lap got me 8th on the grid but I lost at least one place at turn 1. After that it was a series of ... erm... racing incidents!. Hope I didn't cause any of 'em, don't think I did.

Punctuality is a thing with me so I was disapointed early in the race to be a late arrival at an informal gathering of drivers at the esses after turn 1. Made a literal big impact on entrance though when I t-boned someone who obviously thought you race across the track & not along it. A compass is in the post. Drove off but I thought things were not right which was confirmed when I touched the brakes for the next bend, the hairpin. Smacked straight into the armco. Something was amiss or missing even. Correct, it was the front wheel!.
Shift-R but did not S&G as I felt it was a result of the previous no fault impact but I may be penalised so thats it.

Dream finish behind my team mate Clutch. Trouble was I was 1 lap down!.

Thanks to Geoff H for the set up which improved me by 1 second a lap & which I passed to Graham & he used it as well.

Well done to the podium boys but I expect they are quite used to it by now. My driver of the day is Vos as I think that 7th place may have sunk any thoughts of Mountside Racing mounting a challenge for the team title. We'll keep trying though.

Norm H

I certainly wouldn't call me the driver of the day, I'm closer to the Nelson Piquet Jr award for being lucky to still be driving…..

First of all I’d like to apologise to NHance, again for the second time in two races I have done a bad rejoin right infront of him. Very, very sorry. My only defence is that I did check the track, I also checked Prib. I saw 2 Ferrari’s racing, I let them past and then I rejoined the track, at that moment his car appeared. Very sorry.

I need to think again about my driving, I’m fast but I’m prone to errors. At the moment I’m quite deflated, so need to pick myself up. I have been working on constancy, my lines and keeping it on the black stuff, in the practice races I’m fine, in a 66 race or 69 race I’m much better it seems in the 65 races, where I know I’m quick (ish) and I should be doing quite well it all goes to my head and I lose the car too many times. There’s some very quick drivers in the Novice division this year, I really want to win and have to drive at 100% to stay in front of them, that’s when my mistakes come.

On to the race itself, I was quite pleased with my qualifying, it was a PB and that’s all I can hope for. Race started OK, I got away well, was right behind my team leader and was keeping station. I made a sill mistake on lap 2 and spun, I did a bad rejoin and ended up last. After that I was driving within myself, but still doing the odd mistake. My high point of the race was on lap 5 were I cleanly overtook 3 cars :) Myself and Rog UK65 pretty much had a race long battle, I would catch him, make a mistake and fall back. I finally got him and made it stick with 5 laps to go, settled down to do some normal laps, let the leader past on the last corner, and finished a lap down.

I quite like Mexico, and was looking forward to it, but I was rubbish here last night. I’m sorry for the accident that I caused, I really was trying to avoid any incidences so I’m mad at myself for causing one. Please accept my apologises if you where caught in the incident on the second lap.

Dont get too downhearted , we all have good and bad times , like you say out and out speed is quite useless on its own , you need to be fast but consistent , no use being uber quick for one lap and slow the next . Its probably down to you overdriving the car , pushing too hard . We all do it ( mostly when the red mist appears )

Remember if you can you are racing the track , not just the car in front , concentrate on brake and entry point into corners , and a smooth early exit out regardless of the car in front . dont become fixated with tailpipe watching .

I'm sure it will help your racing in the longer run  :)

 

dont beat yourself up happyal, we all have drives like that. I kept spinning at the clubmans race at the Ring the other day and finnished waaay down the order, despite a PB lap in the race itself.

We should all be closer at the Glen because this is where everyone starts off.

Well well well...I actually managed to get a finish at Mexico !!! :o
I`ll apologise now for being such a slowbie   :D

This is a track that I`ve learned to dislike intensley...have (tried) driving it many many times since GPL came out....at best my efforts here could best be described as " a disaster that found somewhere to happen " !!!...in fact if my memory serves me correctly this is only the second time I`ve entered an online race at Mexico...I won`t even talk about that first one   :-X   lol
But, this time I managed to get around more or less in one piece   lol.....lately my concentration and energy levels are extremely low so my aim was to finish and stay out of everyones way if possible....I think I managed for the most part to do that  :)  ( I need the points ye ken ;) )

My apologies to Vos for that last lap effort at the hairpin...I didn`t realise that you had to do a shift_R mon ami.....it was, as you said, a racing incident....I certainly felt the hit  but was not impeded in any way...you were less fortunate however and I am sorry for ruining your good finsish by getting in the way  :-[

I had some good racing along the way to make my run very enjoyable....Nicki came up on me late in the race and I tried to stay out of his way and let him through unimpeded...he chose however to drive with his head and just let me get through all them twisty bits before he made his pass on me...thanks Nicki,  nicely done and appreciated  :)

My BIGGIE  for the whole affair though was to finally  ( since 1998)  get a lap in UNDER 2:00.00  hahahaha  in fact I got three in a row at the end  all  in the 1:59s  with a PB of 1:59.54  so I left as a 'happy camper'  :)

Sorry for leaving as soon as the race ended too...my wife had dinner on the table and I thought it best to eat while it was hot  :)  ( the food that is   :P )

Looking forward to Watkins Glen...see you all then..

Cheers dears 

Glyn

No problemos Asbjørn ! ;)
I was quiet slow anyway.
Should actually have let you pass by
cause you were really faster
could have  made the race better.
Anyway - looking forward to the Glen.
See you there! ;D 

 :) :)
That was a real  nice race. extreme big fun .

Before I forgot , I like to thank Steve Bird for big help on trying to figure out what  was wrong to my Cooper at the free practise races last week. My Cooper did acts like an old rotten truck that time , with poor  top speed of max 228kmh and lap times up the 2min marker.
Well Steve did tried my Cooper setup an soon reported back , that to him the 6th gear revs out couple meters after the pit`s exit.
So clearly definitely something was wrong on my GPL.
After hard working on my memory , I realised I did not rearranged proper the  changes to  GPL  , I had done days before to introduce my brother`s litlle two sons to the universe of GPL. Advanced Trainer was still checked inside GEM .lol…

Well , back to Mexico ;
Qualifying went very well to me . got couples of clean laps and settled down 2nd with  0,4sec  behind  my PB and half an universes away from Ryemans outstanding 1-52-993.
Big hand on it !! such a brilliant lap !
Was quit surprised not to see any else in the 53-xx zone , but didn’t got much time to think about  as the starting flag drops down soon  and race was on .
6 way gearbox of the Cooper seams to help me a lot to came out the blocks , considering my poor starts with the Ferrari . So it was possible to follow Ryeman into T1 close by.
unfortunately it turns out , that as soon I was extreme close behind , the BRM to me was warping a lot , even disappeared completely for couple of seconds .As I knew I had to had keep contact in slipstream area to maintain any sorts of chances to catch him  , I felt bit unlucky first . But for a quit a big number of laps I could follow , within a gap of 2-5 sec , as pribluda shows , and I really enjoyed  the race. car was fantastic to drive. Big fun.
Well , Ryeman didn’t make any mistakes at all and fades away constantly and the time I hit traffic I buried all my hopes to came back into fight by luck .
To be honest Glyn , at that moment  I was shouting at you ( why the heck is he racing me , havnt he noticed he is gonna to be lapped ? ) tooks me away of about bloody 15 seconds. But of course I am not complaining , I know its not easy to move , especially at the esses of Mexico race track. Thats part of rac :)ing to stuck a bit in traffic.
And however , their wasn’t a way to me to catch Ryeman  as he was all the way faster.

So again big hand on well deserved pole and win of the race !!!!
As well big hand to Clutch and James and to all taking part.

Thx all for great racing .
See ya  at Glen

Sorry about my cloaking field Nicky, with luck I should have a faster internet connection for the next race. At present I have 2.5 meg, but this is being increased to 8.

Hope you don't get a faster car too. :o

Faster connection won't help you with online racing. You could even use Dial-Up or ISDN, as long as the connection is stable and you have a low ping to the server (30-150).

hope your not using "wireless" if so you dont stand a cats chance  ::)

Well, this certainly is my personal worst. 5 places lost on penalties in one race is something I don't strive to accomplish. Will hopefully do better at Watkins.