SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 17 - Novices Trophy - Race 6 - 65 mod - Watkins Glen

The sixth round of the Novices Trophy is at Watkins Glen, which hosted a United States Grand Prix for twenty years and was a very popular circuit.  Unfortunately the circuit had to be extended to cope with faster cars in later years, and got into debt.  Formula One is yet to locate an acceptable replacement.  Clutch retained a slender lead over Mike after Mexico, Nicky, Maestro and James form the leading group of the pack.     

Please can all drivers be very careful at the start of the race, many of the circuits are awkward at the beginning and Watkins Glen is no exception.  The first turn is tight, and the armco on the esses tends to create multi-car pileups, allow extra room for warp on the first lap.  Don't go off the Loop on cold tyres, it's easy to get stuck on the outside with too much speed.

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 19:55 GMT
(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 = 12-05-2009
Time = 21:00 (UK time) 20:00 (GMT)
Track = Watkins Glen
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = INT
Qually time = 30 minutes.
Race length = long (33 laps)

Make sure that you have enough race fuel to complete the distance!

(2) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=193&theme=6)

Penalties are to be worried about after the race, with the exception of penalties for restarts.  The UKGPL rule is that you have to take a stop-and-go in the pits for each reset at the end of the lap, with the only exception being if your reset was caused by another driver.  The penalty for not taking a stop-and-go is thirty seconds.   

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....  Graham Hill won the '65 race from pole in his BRM P261, his pole time was 1:11.25.

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)

How come the races are scheduled so late this season? Qualy start at 21.00 UK time equals to 22.00 local time for me. That makes the race start at 22.30, and ending at 23.15-23.30. That is a bit late for me. Last season's qualy start at 20.30 UK time was okay. What is the reason for the change of schedule?

Most races start late because of British Summer Time, whereby the clocks are put forward an hour. I don't know if this takes effect anywhere soon in your country, but if so, it should be slightly more beneficial to you. They've always been UTC+1 for those in Europe though.

From what I remember, the qualy for these S16 races didn't start early per sé, but then again I wasn't around for the entirety of S16.

Whole Europe is using summer time  ;)

It can be difficult to get it right for everyone - I have the opposite with GPLR races starting too early, right in the middle of kids bedtime which makes the Mrs even more enthusiastic about "that stupid game"  :wacko:
I recall last season starts were 8.45 but invariably got underway nearer to 9pm. Guess 9 suits the majority.

I know Vader Trophy races at 8pm, which is respectable for Int Long or 2 Int Short races. That works out alright. I know because we cater predominantly for UK GPLers we start at times convenient to us, but perhaps for S18 we should think about a time to start the race that would be OK for all, EU, US and Oz racers. One for another thread perhaps?

This is UKGPL  :)

Strangely enough the start times should favour those who live in the er, UK  ;D

I have trouble making the race times as is , so any earlier start time would be a problem and I dont think I am the only one who would suffer .

 

And the whole of Europe is digging Janis Joplin's Summer Time. ;)

OK, I was just wondering if there was some reason for the change. I just have to bow for the majority and cope with whichever start time that is chosen. it's only one evening every 14 days, so I have plenty of time to take up for lost sleep.  :sleep1:

The race start time never changed. I am always +2 hours on UK time and summer time didn't change that. The only thing that changed was the offset to GMT, but race starts remain at the same UK time. At least D1, Historics and Amateurs do anyway.

Novices used to start at 20:45 I think, but now that Vos is hosting Amateurs he would miss half of Novices qualifying if he had to wait until 21:00 to start the server, so the Novices start time moved to 21:00 also.

Aah! That explains it! Thanks Miner! :)

I'll be having my knee 'scoped tomorrow and I don't think I'll be ready to answer the bell.  Too bad, Watkins Glen is one of my favorite tracks.

Bookie
 :P

Can we please ensure the server will be set up properly for the correct race distance etc. wouldnt want a repeat of the recent Ruin round  ::)

We have the 65's all sorted Bernie - ukgpl.5 is novices, 6 amateurs

 ;D

That was a cracking race.

Qualified in P2, the first 5 were very close.

danced around in Mr Locarno's mirrors to try to put him off. I could get close to him....but not close enough. Then i made a small mistake (slide) into the fast right hander and Nicky just crept by. Then I was all over him for lap after lap and eventually Nicky cracked and had a spin.

The race then settled down. My car was very oversteery under breaking, but suddenly I was quick and closing down the leader. 5 sec became 3, then 2 and then the leader was under immense pressure for a number of laps.

I took a bit of a dive down the inside, the leaders car flickered and I tried to keep it tight....but we touched. I took an immediate SNG (although I felt it might be 50/50). rejoining in P3, I reeled off fast laps for the remaining 5 laps and closed right in on nicky in P2. someone was upside down on the main straight and I came within microns of a massive crash.

This was easily my most enjoyable race and for the most part my (wireless) connection was OK. I have a problem to connect with a cable (says it is unplugged). But I work with a programmer who is gonna take a look at it.

A quick word on the excellent driving of the back-markers. due to the closeness of the field, overtaking was really hard here and you were all great.

Ryeman

I felt great in qually and was 2 tenths off my PB but my race went from bad to worse.

Untidy, couldn't relax, wasn't fast, dropped it several times and retitred to avoid futher mayhem that seemed to hang around me.

Great result for Tim in 4th.

Firstly congrats Fabio and rest of podium. With Fulvio in the Am's looks like an Italian wipeout  ;D
Quallied 8th equalling my PB so happy with that. Very careful at the start and kept my position(ish), looked like we all had a good lap 1 to me.
After that Nicky got past me and procedeed to close on Fabio. I decided to hang back a bit and let them race - or was that because I couldn't close up  ;)
After ten or so laps I struggled a bit with the Loop and they started to pull away - must have been my tyres or was it just my driving.
Anyway after that a tad lonely but no errors. Found Rog rejoining on lap 26 so got past him. He was then in my pipes until 28 when he wobbled at Big Bend - did keep as left as I could but no contact.
On the last lap I came up behind Glyn and broke into a sweat remembering my previous incident. Anyway Glyn kindly gave me lots of room - many thanks.
From then it was a straight run to the end and 4th - my best UKGPL result so far  :thumbup2:

Bad luck to my team-mates Mike and Al who would probably have been in front of me had they not had bad hair days...

As others have said, this was a good fun race.
Qualified 4th, bit managed to grab 3rd off the line when the flag dropped. Managed to sneak past James Rye on the loop when he ran wide after a few laps (yes James..it was me.. not Nicky  ;) ).
I managed to hold onto Roguk..just, but couldn't shake off James behind. I knew if i held my line it would be difficult for James to pass, but i snatched a break appraoching the S's at the end of the lap and ended up upside down in a ditch.
Did a Shift-R and took my stop/go, and tried to salvage what i could.

Pribluda made interesting reading throughout the race and it looked like the Top 5 kept losing time, switching positions and also a few people having spins?? (Thats guess work).

Well done to the Top 3. We've had a few different winners and podiums so far so the Championship is looking tight and could be a nail biter.

Also well done to everyone at T1. No crashes? Maybe we're all getting the hang of it.

One final thing.. How fast are those Ferrari's? They were like rockets going up the Hill. Needed the straight before the loop to be a few hundred meters longer for the slipstream to kick in.

Next stop Rouen. Love the track, even though i'm a bit dodgy there.

US of A, then its burgers for tea- didn't work!. I like the Glen, its like my wife, small, but perfectly formed. Glad her comparison isn't Nurburgring............ large, lumpy & difficult come to mind!.
Qually time was what I expected. Got me 12th. A few incidents to others got me up to 8th by the end of lap 4. This is heady stuff!. On lap 5 at the loop it all went wrong as I slid & got a tank slapper on. Maestro got through but Mike could not avoid me. Very sorry Mike. Had to shift R & it looked as though I was lapped but took an S&G on lap 6 anyway.
Now last of the runners in 15th place & it took me a lonely 12 laps to lap 18 to catch & pass Billy making me 14th. Once again incidents to those in front made it that I eventually ended up 11th.
I enjoyed this race too maybe 'cos I find the track a pleasure to drive, unlike some we have visited. Others seem to be improving so I'm going backwards, but so what I'm still enjoying it. I'll just have to try harder & learn more about set up as well.

Norm H

What does 'Pribluda' mean?

' (yes James..it was me.. not Nicky   ).'

whoops! :P you were pretty quick though, I was enjoying the fight.

Even with the slipstream I just couldn't get close enough to pass people and just tried to make a nusience of myself hoping for an error. I wonder what Roguk thought of my overtaking attempt? was it fair or not (I wasn't sure it was, so I took the Stop and Go). Was pleased for you that you won, congratulations because you drove under constant pressure all the way.

 Was my car still dissapearing or was it a bit better this time? Should have the hard connection sorted for the next one. A couple of times people fickered in front of me...but it seemed better.

Looking forward to Rouen, the great long straight there should be interesting because the slipstream will really be making a huge difference. We may see people easing off on the straight only to tuck right back into the slipstream for a re-pass. :)

Ryeman

 

Could be worse, it could be Monza (flat with a huge back section).


I thought it was you but I haven't been brave enough to check the replay yet. I saw your slide developing and you were going outwards off the track but you seemed to suddenly switch back and come back across track.

I continued for half a lap but the engine was no longer pulling properly so I reset and continued. This was but one of the many disasters that caused me to retire in shame. No blame attached to you at all, just one of those things. I wasn't going to report it as it isn't something I would want you docked a place for and we were the only ones inconvenienced I think.

Mike might have a tendency to romanticise the fair sex, I would have said that Monza was a flat fast loop, with an even faster inner loop with banking that has been condemned as unsuitable for motor racing...

There's a corner at Oulton... no matter.  I'm happy that there wasn't a vast pileup at the start.  However, its incident reports time, name the guilty men.

LOL

I'm sure we all know how Knickerbrook got its name  :D

As for my race , it had some high's and some lows . Unfortunately the high's were more to do with aerobatics than racing .

After being zapped from behind on L1,  I trundled back on track somewhere near the back of the queu of cars playing catch me if you can , by dint of some hairaising driving ( not neccesarily mine ) I managed to gain a few places and eventually caught up with the Ferrari of Stemmler, I then spent what seemed like half the race breathing his the exhaust fumes and after several failed attempts to pass I made a bansai run up the inside when he went a tad wide at the final turn , me on the grass all arms and elbows and thinking I'd blown it but I need not have worried as he had left me plenty of room to make the pass , Thanks my friend , it was good racing with you !

On my travels I had 2 other close encounters which I believe were not of my doing , both resulted in contact with the other drivers , but looking at my replay I dont see how I could have avoided the situation . Will leave it to the mods to judge on those.

All in all I enjoyed the race and feel like I'm getting somewhere at last rather than my going backwards with the 65 mod .

My feelings are that there is no way the Coop can cope with the BRM and Ferrari power on equal terms.

 ;D ;D ;D :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

First off all big hand to Fabio on his well deserved win. Brilliant drive !!!

And congratulations to the  real fast drivers:
Pole man  rogeruk , ryeman , c.clutch , mike , peter
And another big hand on Vosblods great 4th , nice one .

Well , what can I say ? such a lucky race to me it was.
Getting out 2nd  wow , sort of undeserved ,lol.

As I did said in chat during practise the connection quality was extreme worth to me . left red bar all up  suddenly  ,so often .
 results in extreme understeer. Guess that’s why my qualy time  was more then 0,5sec off the pace. And during race it was so hard to take care watching  those red bar standings to decide to push or not in the corners .
However , watching the replay , I did saved myself , … its flickering all over most off the time . no matter which car watching. Most worth is watching Ryemans car ; it suddenly disappeared totally  to came back suddenly on track parts of second later.
See note L26 above.  Attention please : its just a description off what I could see on my replay .Nothing else !
( to be honest , I am unsure on your wireless stuff is doing a good job Ryeman )



Race in short words :

<Start ; I could overtake Norbert , who`s engine wasn’t rev out at the moment green flags drop
  Lifted me up to 8th       
<L3 Peter lost control at the Loop . as well then Vosblod  being close behind.
  Lifted me up to 6th
<L4 Mike lost his car by fighting Fabio at the Loop
  Lifted me up to 5th  .
< L9 at the exit of the Bend  ,Clutch spins and rockets the wilderness
  Lifted me up to 4th  .   
<L4 to L20 I could follow Fabio closely . thx for tow.
<L26 at the entry to the Bend , on my replay , Rye`s car simply drove over R.UK65 , then disappeared    totally and then came back right hand   backside to the Ferri and chrashed him out.
   Lifted me up to 3rd
<L26 Ryeman do a stop and go in the pits
   Lifted me up to 2rd.
< L27 I am still outa slipstream area to leading Fabio . so I decided to take it easy and save my  lucky 2nd       position.
  Only payed attention on pribluda to guide Ryeman behind me
<L30 Mike hit into the Armco  , unluckily to Peter no yellow flags where up in time , so he hit terrible into Mike`s car.
<L 30 Baldwin gave me an thrilling overtake at the last turn

<L33 , I  passed the finish line with a big smile on my face.


 :D
thx all for great racing , hope to see ya all at Rouen

cheers



 

My first UKGPL win!
:jumpjoy:

OK, OK let's write some more words about it...

Qualify: I was expecting a better position on grid than the 6th one but you all drive very fast tonight, eleven racers within a second!! With my PB I would get only the 4th place.
@Ryeman: I really don't remember you dancing in my mirrors. Apologies when I blocked you in a fast lap. :oops:

Race: a good start (as usual I would say... ;D) and I'm 5th at first turn but... Mike was glued to my back for the first four lap but... at 5th lap he made a mistake and goes out at the Loop.

At same time I reached the4th position because Maestro made a mistake too.

Now I got Nicky *over* my shoulders: the big fight has begun  :fencing:
I tell you the truth: I'm really not used to such close races and I was really scared to make a mistake but... I didnt!! ;D

Lap after lap the pitboard told me he was still 1" back and I had still his noise on my ears.

When I was finally able to put more space in the middle of us, I made a small mistake at the 90, and he got closer again... :o
It lasted nearly 20 laps, with absolutely no time at all to rest or to look for some american beauty amongst the crowd... 8)

On lap 26, when I was getting closer to the two leaders, Rog was out at Big Bend and James entered the pits, so I was the leader.

I'm really disappointed for them: I was just expecting a close battle in the last laps but... that's racing!! :angel:

Last seven laps were soooo long and I was expecting everything (one mistake, running out of fuel, disconnection, freeze, CTD).
According to my wildest dreams, four laps before the end, after the Esses I found a wrecked car and I avoided it for miracle and, last but not least, two laps before the end my daughter came in front of me to show me the dress she will wear next Sunday for a skating competition :cursing: but... finally I saw the chequered flag as the winner (with second FL too)!!
:clap: :clap: :clap:

Grats to eveybody raced and to all the UKGPL staff: au revoir in Rouen!

Long Live GPL!!

Well , my first race for a while that DIDN`T require a shift-R  :)

Quallified in P16  ( can`t accuse me of being too fast eh ? :P )
Fully expecting the normal Novices race pile up into T1 I took off easy...looked like everyone was gonna make it through the Esses unscathed....but no such luck ....halfway up the hill a Ferrari appeared out of right field  ( and I do mean right field)  from over  (or rather through) the fence to lob right behind Baldwin...the Fezza belonging to Stemmler,  Baldwin got a nudge that turned him around, Stemmler headed for the left armco..through it....through the fence...back again onto the track  ( via the same fence and armco)...NoBrakes took evasive action and spun...Poole also tried to evade but without any luck and also spun....I was next in line but got onto the middle pedal in time to almost stop  and without touching anyone....as the cars ahead parted I made my way through the mess to continue on my way, Stemmler and Poole had managed to get moving quickly and were just ahead me....NoBrakes not being so lucky was left behind still  mowing the grass !!  :(

From there on my `race` was a mainly good run...pacing along in P11 for the most part of the whole race......usually had someone reasonably close , either 1sec or so behind or in front of me  so not entirely a loney affair  :)

But...Murphies Law got into the act again and on lap7, heading for the Loop and being followed by Darwin  I took my normal brake point  and turn in point to the Loop...Darwin tried to squeeze through on my right as the `door` was closing...he mounted the kerb and grass only to bounce back onto the track and we collided side by side....he performed a very nice 360 deg. spin  as I was tossed across the track to end up in the ditch facing the wrong way !!!!    I was lucky however that I was able to drive out and resume without  the need for a shift-R...got going just as NoBrakes and M.James went by.....Poole had seen the accident and tried evasive action ( for the 2nd time) and again was again unseccessful and wound up turning turtle in the ditch.

Now down two places I got going hoping to pick up some scraps  ( crumbs) along the way...surely someone would be kind and fall over   :P

Well someone did and I got back up to P11 again.....but....

L30...exiting the Esses I came up fast upon M.James who had come to grief somehow...he had just done a shift-R which placed him on the left of the track..as I approached he drove to the right...probably to clear the race line ??  anyhoo...I had to zig left to avoid hitting him...this I managed and missed our wheels touching by two thickness of road dust   lol..but before i could zag right  I found myself in a wild side on slide on the grass at over 100mph...heading directly for a stationary Maestro !!!!   Holy Crappeth   :o
Somehow my little BT7 got some traction and steered itself past Maestro and back on track...PHEEEW !!!!  only me and the washing machine know how I felt  !!! :-[....in my delicate condition I can really do without a scare like that  hahahahahaha.....thank God for soft TP   :laugh:

On the penultimat laps I had to slow to allow our illustrious leaders a clear passage....I think I managed that chore ok..however  on the final  lap I was being chased by Vos...who unbeknowns to me was just about leaving skid marks in his undies at the thought of having to pass this Geriatric GP Impersonator   ::)...so here I am yelling  ( rather loudly as my wife tells me later)  Vos  will ya fer Petes sake go past ???...I gave as much room as I could but he was having kittens over it   lol...anyway he eventually took a chance and went by and I followed him over the line for the flag...

All in all not a bad race....began in P16 and made it up to P9   so that was good.....also a nice new PB  of 1:12.16   beating my previous PB done in the BT11  so again, a happy ending.
The BT7 is definately not the fastest car out there..nor am I the fastest driver...but together we managed to keep our lap times for the most part  in the 1:12s  and that I was also happy with  :)

Now onto to France for the next go....always like Rouen....a track that rewards good driving and bites bad drivers in the a$$     hahahahahaha

See you on the grid in Sunny France  :)


     

Not on my replay mate , I had a clear overlap.  I took to the grass in an attempt to avoid Glynn who was heading for the same piece of track I was using . Nor did we actually touch , so think our old friend Mr Warp played a hand .

Can you please also find a better description for an attempted overtake rather than the "ridiculous" one you use to describe said manouvre !

Wher's the "COMPLETE BOLLOX" emoticon when you need it  :o