SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 17 - Novices Trophy - Race 7 - 65 mod - Rouen-les-Essarts

The seventh race is at Rouen, a fast track on public roads.  Bugatti was used for the French Grand Prix in the 1967 series and Clermont in the 1965 series, however Rouen was requested once more after some fine racing last season.  Bugatti can be enjoyable in the 65s, apart from the final section, but Clermont is a thrill that I feel the Novices cannot pass on next season...

T1 at Rouen can be difficult at speed because of the camber, be very careful if you attempt it two wide on the first lap.  The field will compress at Nouveau Monde and Scirie, where drivers should be aware that they may need to brake early.  Also be aware that the 'realistic pits' option on the latest Rouen update is not compatible with the original version.

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 = 26-05-2009
Time = 21:00 (UK time) 20:00 (GMT)
Track = Rouen
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = INT
Qually time = 30 minutes.
Race length = long (18 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....  The 1965 French GP was at Clermont-Ferrand, a circuit that I have every intention of inflicting upon you next season...

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)

AARRRGGGGHHHHHH....

Other half and kids think it's funny to distract me, I was all over the place, and then my brake pedal broke. Just Great!!!!!

Late home, only few qualify laps.

Good start and then lot of luck avoiding the crashes...
I made later a small error, so shift + r followed by a stop & go.

After nearly half of the race... CTD >:(

cu all in Mosport

BTW: Where can I download the server replay?!?

unlucky happyal...

I just couldn't get going at Rouen. Was happy with P4 and would have been happy to finish there...

Into the race, I got a great start and took a run at P3. He blocked me off as he is entitled to do and I eased out of the move, but then P3 (Clutch?) eased off some more and I was trying to follow closely. Anyway, I hit him and caused some carnage....so sorry if I screwed anyones race.

Then in turn 3 I lost it again! and was at the back.

I decided against a stop and go for the first corner as I thought it was a racing incident...but I'll wait for the moderators review  ::)

Anyway, from then on it was all out attack and I started to progress through the field...although some of you guys are tough racers! Unfortunately I kept selecting neutral in T3 and skyrocketed the RPM, this is because I had raced the 67 BRM at the weekend and thats got an extra gear.

Apologies to Vos for tapping the back of him...someone was stuck on the road and we both slowed to a crawl to avoid him. It was the gentlest of touches but the crazy physics bounced you about a bit.

Great racing from whomever picked up P6 and to P8, it was fun closing you down and you defended well, forcing me to pass you around the outside. I was a bit silly not to slow down at this point because P5 was too far ahead. Anyway, once more I selected neutral and this time the engine blew. I took my SNG and there weren't enough laps left to catch you up again (especially with cold tyres).

My lap times were all over the place and I had no rhythm and I would rate my performance at poor. The championship is slipping away...  :(

Congrats to all finishers, especially the podium. Thanks for the close racing guys and sorry for turn 1.

Ryeman

Darn! Forgot about the whole race! :( Sat down watching a documentary about the 47 million years old fossil of a missing link that was displayed last week. The mrs of course rang in the middle of the program, when it was the most exciting, so I didn't get much out of that  either. :(

Are there any more races to miss now?

I saved the replay at the end of the race and just watched some key moments.

Stemmler, you were the hardest person to overtake. That was a cool race we had there....

Ryeman

http://www.jamesonline.net/ukgpl/

Thx a lot Mike!
I owe you a beer

My second win and a return to form following my disastrous Watkins outing.

Qually was great and the car was handling perfectly which meant I did a PB and got Pole quite early in the session despite messing up the exit of Scierie and having to lift slightly. I settled for that time wherever it would put me the final list and nobody beat it while I went out with race fuel for a few laps, although newcomer Al Heller gave it a valiant last gasp effort.

My first Pole then and thankfully the lead 3 got through the hairpin without incident, though my new team mate Al Heller got passed by Nicky who started to put the pressure on. Nicky had an incident that dropped him back a bit and Al Heller broke loose (see what I did there?) and was behind me when I headbutted a polo but luckily I bounced back off it and continued in the lead.

I was able to open up a bit of a lead but small errors where I made minor slips onto the grass exiting corners meant that any gap I had was closed by the chasing Nicky who was a constant threat. We got into a pattern of me opening a lead then Nicky closing it and I had to defend corners a few times, most notably Scierie where I thought the lead had gone, but I always covered the inside line fairly and did it early on the approach so Nicky could see the line I would take and he was was unable to pass. I'm grateful that Nicky had a good clean drive and did not make any silly attempts, and on a couple of occasions I heard him lift and follow me through a section rather than just put the car somewhere that would risk us both going out. Thanks Nicky.

My past problems being slower through the backmarkers than the rest did not affect me as most of them kindly spun or ran wide as I approached and the only hairy moment was lapping Glyn at Sanson where I went for a gap that I wasn't sure would not close but thankfully it didn't and I saw that Nicky got through as well. Thanks Glyn.

Great result for me with my first Pole and a Pole to Flag victory though it was helped by a great drive from Nicky who made it a good clean fight. Clutch made it a great podium and the 3 of us currently top the table though he had to wait until the last lap to do it. Next time my team mate has instructions to knock you off the track. ;)

I don't expect much from Mosport as I've never raced there but it should be an exciting last few races.

Firstly congratulations to team-mate Mike on a brilliant pole to win, new teamie Al H on a great debut and team boss John R on his Amateurs win plus all other podium and finishers.
I’m afraid I was the eye of the storm in the mayhem at the start; Flag dropped, looked a better start than Happy Al and Norm in front so opted to go through the middle. After that decided not to push my luck so went to tuck in behind James. As I’m closing on James all the cars disappear :wacko:  Rather than risk hitting his invisible car I hooked right then the cars reappear as I’m straightening back up. At this point whammo from Rog. Rog is entirely blameless as I am suddenly in front of him going a lot slower. The server replay shows the opposite with me disappearing.
Luckily (or unluckily for them) looks like only Norbert and Peter were caught with most drivers avoiding it.
I’m taking it as a connection problem – apologies to all affected. I don’t normally report but will for this, sort of feel I did the best I could under the circumstances.
After that excitement it was a case of plod round and try to gain back some places.
Only other incident of note was lap 5. Found Peter admiring the hairpin so had to slow right down and got a clip from behind. No worries for that James, pretty unavoidable...
After this my fifth gear revs started to deteriorate. Later passed Bernie exiting the pits but could not keep the Coop at bay, so watched him slowly pull away for the rest of the race.
After all that I was pleased to finish in tenth.

Big Well done to Mike, another good win for you.

My Tea is irrevalent here. This is the best race I have had this season. I was supprised to get 6th in qually but I had a good drivable set up here.
 
I thought everyone was slow/cautious off the line - except Happy Al!!!! who passed me clean as a whistle before turn 1. Ruk would have followed him through I'm sure but Clutch & Ryeman collided so we both slowed to avoid them.
Happy Al at the hairpin, lap 1, oh dear, that was costly. Still both me & Ruk avoided him

I'm 4th in illustrious company so a children's card game came to mind. I invented my own, "UKGPL Top Trumps". Does leading Ruk, Clutch, & Ryeman outrank being led by Mike & Nicky. Well it did in my book so I was loving it!!!. No offence to the new driver in 3rd.

This set up the best bit of racing I have had in UKGPL. Ruk was right behind me all the time but I made sure I hit all the corners ok & we had  side by side braking duels at the end of the straight. Unfortunately in the lap 2 duel we collided but I don't think either of us made an unreasonable move so I'll leave that to the moderator. I was ok but Ruk hit the fence which I am sorry about. This let team mate Clutch in behind me so I stupidly pushed it now as bragging rights were at stake, outbraked myself & he was through on lap 3. I was glad Ruk was not delayed too much as we now resumed our battle as before for 5th. On lap 7 I lost it on turn 1 did 2 360's without hitting anything & was glad he missed me as he was faster. I knew that. By the end of the race he was 20 seconds in front. Thanks Ruk hope you were happy my tactics I definitly did not want to knock you off I was enjoying it too much.

The loss of time put Bernie 2 seconds behind me & the race continued with the gap varying between 2 & 4 seconds so that kept me on my toes. Then Ryeman appeared & passed me on lap 14 but did not pull away like Ruk so this gave me heart to keep at it & it payed off because on lap 16 I passed him stopped & my 6th place was secure.
Norm H
   

Did an OK practise with full race fuel , good start , missed the carnage but the car felt wierd I was driving the nuts off it , was sure I saw 16 valves pop out the bonnet at one point yet I was a sitting duck compared to the Ferraris and BRM speedsters ( Oh for a decent engine )
Round about Lap 9 I had a missfire and was convinced i had bent a valve or two with all the speed shifts I was throwing ,so  S/R and pit in knocked me down the order . A few dices with a fast BRM ( sorry cant remember the name  )  insisted on doing tyre swops every lap at the hairpin catching me back up on the uphill stuff , slipstreamed by on the straight until seamingly getting caught in the hairpin  tyre trap .

It was only afterwards I realised my car had the wrong race set up  with only 9 laps fuel on board , hence the misfire caused by the tank running dry and low fuel pressure (should have stayed home )  ::)

'A few dices with a fast BRM '

That was me Bernie, you seemed to be fine on the corners...but I was able to breeze by on the straights, so maybe a setup issue there?

Ryeman

Very enjoyable debut league race for me. My last-ditch lap in qually somehow hauled me up the grid to start 2nd alongside Mike - that proved a fortunate place to start too as the 1st lap incidents left me with nobody in my mirrors so I could relax a bit. Watched Nicky & Mike dicing for the lead then got the faintest whiff of champagne when Nicky went off to hand me 2nd then Mike pranged the polos right in front of me.. Dreams of glory proved shortlived though when Nicky flew (literally :)) past me at the hairpin & I settled back trying to maintain a steady comfortable pace. Clutch was gaining on me fast towards the end of the race though & I was so busy mirror-watching on the last lap that I missed my braking point at Scierie, went a touch wide & handed 3rd place over in the process. Was a bit gutted to lose out on a podium having held 3rd for the whole race but after looking at Clutch's laptimes as he hunted me down I'd say he deserved it. My goal at the start was just to complete the race without any spins so getting 4th was a bit of a bonus.

Congratulations to the top 3 - especially team-mate Mike for a deserved win under pressure. Oh & thanks to everyone who has helped me get going - especially John Roberts, Tim & the Clark-Hill team who have had to field some serious newbie questions from me over the last 2 weeks (like "What's IGOR?")... 

Enjoyed this one, despite the carnage at the start. Great Track Rouen and has a lovely flow to it.

Qually went Ok. Might have had a shot at pole on my last run looking at my split times but messed up the last sector so couldn't match Mike's excellent time. But was happy with 4th.

Start went Ok, thought i might have a shot at 3rd into T1 so had a tentative look at the inside line but thought better of it and eased off in anticipation of the car in front remembering the "Careful into T1" warnings. I may have eased up too much however as i think Ryeman who was following closely hit me from behind. Not sure who was deemed to blame for that one, but like Ryeman i'll leave that as a Racing Incident until told otherwise. However, apologies to anyone, including Ryeman, if this messed up their race.

I managed to get going again and made a couple of passes and after NHance outbreaked himself at the end of the back straight i found myself back in 4th position.

I thought i'd push for a couple of laps and see what Pribluda looked like in terms of catching anyone ahead. Mike and Nicky were long gone, but who was this Al Heller character?? Well he was fast thats for sure!! I think it took me around 13 or 14 laps to catch him, just taking the odd tenth here and there and really pushing my luck with the rear tyres kicking up the mud at the edge of the track. We both had various amounts of good or bad luck on where we caught the back markers, including me having a spin at the hairpin with someone rejoining the track, but no matter, its impossible not to be in the way down that end of the track and is all part of the fun.
After basically trying to drive 13 qualifying laps to catch the guy, i eventually got within exhaust fume range on the last lap.

I got within a couple of tenths of Al Heller as we made our way onto the back straight on the last lap but he just took off and i couldn't really pick up a toe until we reached the braking zone. Luckily for me, he missed his breaking point and over shot the corner allowing me through to steal a jammy 3rd.

Not sure how that leaves the Championship but it looks like it'll go down to the wire. Well done to Mike and Nicky for great drives and especially well done to Al Heller, a very impressive debut.
Also special mention to my Team Mate N Hance who got a few handy points for 6th with a Drive i know he'll feel did his practice form justice.

On to Mosport. Used to be addicted to this place when i first got GPL last year, but that was in my days of using a keyboard to Control the car. Only tried it once using my G25 wheel and pedals and it was an absolute Nightmare. 2weeks head scratching to work out how to get a car round that place me thinks.

Thanks all for the great racing as ever. See you in Canada.

Clutch,

how on earth did you manage with a keyboard   :o

Didn't do too bad, though i never raced online with a keyboard due to the obvious restrictions the game puts on a non wheel user and i didn't want to spoil anyone's race. I reckon i played it for about 10months or so with a keyboard but after reading more and more about it on the forums i decided to take a chance and get a G25 Wheel. Obviously once you use a wheel with this game it becomes even more difficult (locking brakes, sliding under acceleration, gear changes..etc) so i've never looked back. Think it took me about 4 or 5 months to get my lap times up to keyboard standard again.

Thats one of the reasons why the game is so good and is impossible to get bored with... its so bloody difficult!

I'm not a computer game player at all, but remember seeing this game years ago. When i got my own PC about 2 years ago i took a chance on this game for £4.99.

Mine cost me £39.99  10 years ago  :(

wouldnt run on my old 486 machine , had to splash out on a new PC and it was still crap  ::)

Had some great racing here at Rouen with Nhance, nose to tail for the 1st seven laps could not pass him, he was outbraking me and cornering faster. tried to take you end of straight lap 2 but cut across you and hit your car i temp went off, caught you, then lap 7 watched you spin off giving me 5th place, rest of race was on my own. Thanks to 2 back markers who kindly moved over to let me through. My 2nd most enjoyable race the other was Watkins Glen trying to stay in front of J/R.
 

 :)
extreme big fun , very very great racing with Mike , as well with Al.
For sure one of my most thrilling races I did with GPL.
thx for that and big hand to Mike for an very well desereved win , to Al for great debut and C.Clutch on fastes racelap , to all taken part...........

 :o hope to find a bit of time to practise Mosport with my Cooper.........

 :)