SimRacing.org.uk

This is the post for the results of the Privateers race.
Could you submit any incident reports by close of play Friday 11 September.
A token tally will be included in each race post so you can keep track.

Also, you may notice the championship screen does not include the Privateers results yet - fear not this is being fixed.
UPDATE : now fixed, thanks Phil

Looks like we had 2 Rick Naumans and 2 Burtoners on the grid  :) pretty smart driving huh!  :D

Joined very late and by the time my fuddled brain realised you were in Igor not VROC practise was almost over so with no time to "fine tune the Coop" I slapped the required race fuel on board and went out to set a time which would have made Lucer Badoer look like a world champ  ::)

The race was pretty straightforwards and almost boring as I passed a lot of debris from battered brarbhams and lots more drivers sat in there cars wandering where there pistons had got too .

Halfway through the race Nick decided he had spent time enough admiring my rear end and decided to pass me and return the compliment , I did my best to stay with him but an understeery set up led to a 360 spin andd 10 seconds gap so I decided to just peddal home to the flag.

Was suprised to run out of gas on the final lap but managed to cross the line for a 4th (and final place) place.

Grats to the podium boys for a well driven race .

commiserations to all those who fell by the wayside and better luck next time  ;D

 

The Long And Winding Road - I was watching a Beatles documentary on Saturday and this race made me think of that song.
Quallied third and finished second, and bar Ruud's mishap third it would have stayed.
Spent most of the race running solo, slowly watching Al H drift away - he uses Jedi mind tricks by the way ;)
I had a cushion behind me and just concentrated on keeping calm and hey presto it worked. Won't complain except that elusive bottle of champagne stays in the fridge thanks to my uberfast team mate.
I blew my tokens on Chapman's green machine as I like this track, not sure what I'll be using at Laguna but see you guys there...

I'll make my point then shut up for the rest of the season. If (as it appears we may) there is going to be a separate Privateers grid in the 67's - can we have Shift R?
Pro settings are probably a bit beyond my capability in the 67's - down to a blown engine last night rather than a crash.
Finishing was more down to survival than racing. After my little detour into a ditch on Lap 1 I joined at the back & the only glimpses of other cars was the result of accidents. As the laps passed I picked up places due to casualties - not racing. To be fair the chaps in front were quicker than me but I didn't feel confident pushing the car. I'd had two blow ups in qually but still managed to do it on lap 15. With Shift R there would have been more cars on the track = more racing = more fun.
Another observation - tokens seem to enhance the popularity of the Brabham. When you disregard team chassis preferences it does seem the overwhelming choice. Maybe there will be more tactical selections for the power circuits. Whilst Brab is my "team" chassis I might save a few pennies for an Eagle at Monza or Silvy & take the low cost options at circuits where my finishing position is likely to be a ditch.

I'm interested to hear others points of view but the answer, for now, has to be no. Aside from changing the game after the season has started, at this early stage we can't guarantee enough numbers to maintain a separate grid and we can't do one week PRO the next INT.

Personally I am dead against Sh/R's. It's good for the Novices as that is our starter division. Whilst we want newbies to take up the 67 mantle it has to be a step up. I'm not sure how others feel but the realism makes for a slightly more careful approach when you know there are no second chances.
Yes engine blow-outs become a factor, and I should know, but those 67 beasts take a bit more caressing than the 65's.

Didn't work out quite that way in the Works race. I'm sure tactics will come into play but we'll see how it goes.

I would say that WG is a place that doesnt take prisoners regards going off track , on many other tracks you can quite often make an error and get away with no damage .

Regards the engine blow ups I would suggest using a higher ratio gear set for Pro races rather than the ones you use to qually in .

You will certainly benefit from a faster chassis at Monza and the like , but remember a well driven BRM or Brabby can put paid to a less well driven Fezz or similar speed machine and with the PRO rules you still need to get your Eagle or whatever to the flag,  in one piece .

I'm all for Pro in this series, it makes us concentrate more on driving well, not making car to car contact and above all staying on the black stuff .

Just one "off " can and often does lose you the race , how much better to learn to stay on track and have a better finishing position .

another bonus is there are no bad S/R re joins to worry the guys out front .

HTH  :)

This was a bit of a tortoise & the hare affair with UKGPL debutant Ruud Savelkoul scorching away into the distance & me (as the hard-shelled one  ;)) clomping along in his wake, but eventually inheriting a rather fortunate win. I say fortunate because I didn't actually overtake anyone on track all race :P

Knew I wouldn't beat Ruud's superfast 1:05.3 in quallie as it would've needed a PB & then some - gave it a good go anyway but couldn't get below the 6's. Still pleased with 2nd though, especially as teammate Tim was right behind in 3rd. Having practised a lot for this one I really wanted to get to the finish so made a (too?) cautious start - tiptoed through the Esses & around the Loop but still came perilously close to throwing it away at Big Bend. Rick was all over me on lap one but sensibly didn't make any Banzai dives that might have ended in tears - instead he lined up a really neat move on the inside at the Loop on lap 2 to take second place. Once I'd warmed up my tyres I started to press a bit more & by lap 7 was tailing Rick & trying to figure out a way past (btw you were warping a bit Rick) - but then he caught the grass on the exit of the Loop & spun. After that I drove hard to try & reel in Ruud but despite a few hairy moments where I almost outbraked myself, he was still pulling away & was about 25-30 seconds ahead by the halfway point :o. I was concentrating so hard on just keeping it on track & trying to keep the gap to Tim in 3rd that I didn't notice that Ruud had disappeared from Prib around lap 30. After that it was a fairly lonely run to the flag though I still managed a heart-stopping excursion across the grass at that pesky Loop on the way.

Bad luck Ruud - a terrific debut but at least you still scored points & grabbed pole & FL. Thanks to Sharkfin for giving me room when I was lapping. Congratulations to Tim, Rick & Bernie for getting it all the way to the finish line! And apologies to Tim for once again depriving him of his (ultra) chilled champagne but I suspect you'll be cracking it open soon :)

Bill, I was having the same problem in Clubmans last season (blew 3 engines in one race at Monza  :'( ) Along with Bernie's suggestion about the gear ratios, I would suggest practising offline with full damage settings on. I've found it helps me get in the habit of lifting more when I change gear plus I'm not using so many unnecessary downshifts.

My PB with BRM was 1:06.6x, but because of fever I couldn't get close to that time yesterday evening.

Practise went unexpectedly well - 5 position.

I had a safe start, but managed to stay on 5. I made small mistake on Big Bend and Burtoner pass me. On lap 4 he went off on the Esses and I was on 5 again. On lap 7 I saw Rick Nauman's Brab outside the track(4 place for me 8) ).  I was trying to stay close to Tim's Lotus, but that wasn't easy for me in BRM and on lap 8 I've made mistake going into The Loop. I've lost wheel and that was the end of race for me.

Congratulations to all finishers, especially to My teammates for great result :jumpjoy:

Congrats to Al.  Great job.  And to Vosblod for P2.  Bummer Ruud!  You were in another class.

I am very satisfied to get on the podium.  After my spin exiting the Loop I would never have bet I'd climb onto the lowest step.  But most of it was due to retirements not passing though I did manage to get by Darwin in his Cooper around mid-race.  Thanks for the compliment Al but I feel my passes could have been cleaner.  Actually I made two passes neither of which were all that beautiful.  PRO damage made me very cautious and in both cases I had not quite gotten it set it up and braked a little early not wanting to pull the trigger.  But the other drivers, Heller and Darwin were, I think, equally cautious and braked a little harder holding to the outside because they had lost sight of me in their mirrors.  This was a good thing because I ended up not holding the inside but overshooting and running deep.  This could have spelled disaster if they had cut to the apex.  Sorry guys, I'll work on that.

I was lucky to make the race at all.  I've been out of town for 2 weeks and had not had time to practice.  Plus the time zone thing got me screwed up.  I thought qualy was 4pm my time but logged in at 3pm just to see if there was activity.  There was a full chat room and qualy was just about to begin!  So OK, I got that start time logged in the ole noodle now.


I had to log in twice.  The first time gave me only default setups.  Not sure why.  Maybe a IGOR thing.  Did some file drag and drops and got it sorted out.

For my preference... no shift-Rs is what attracted me to UKGPL.  We don't gamble life or limb or money so the no reset rule is the only thing to add a bit of tension to the races.  I like it.

As far as warping...  hmm, I've never had that reported to me before.  All my races for the past year or so have been from the USA to Argentina or Brazil.  Maybe I'll log into some practice races on the UKGPL servers and watch the meters to see if they indicate anything.

While I'm blabbing on, let close by adding a little criticism.  As a newcomer to your web presence I find it somewhat confusing.  There are so many sub-pages that it is hard to find the right place to get to the info I seek.  Seems I read someone else's post alluding to this (don't ask exactly where!  ;D ) and I agreed with their comment.  Not a biggie really but I thought I'd chime in (or maybe that's more like a clunk in.)

Great race.  Great fun.  Looking forward to the next.

Well that didnt go well, qualifying was decent being ahead of Bernie, but I made a nice shot off the grid and after a few laps i was trailing the top 3, chasing down Vosblod I think it was, I was catching and catching until i put it in the barrier at turn 2 and lost a wheel :/

Not too bad, its nice to know i still got the speed, but that 1st time i drove 67s since April 19th at nurby, which was my last 67 race :O

I suprised to see we had Pro rules even for a graduates drivers, and not the people above.

I dont mind sticking to pro rules, needs more concentrating and looking after the engine ;)

Hopefully I be lot more aware and up for it at next race.

Seems that "Pro rules" rules - but probably worth having the debate. Thanks for the advice on engine preservation - I shall switch over to "realsitic" damage model for practice in future -looks like "advanced" was not advanced enough. For me, sixth place was good finish & earned me as many points as I collected in 3 races in Season 17.
From my breif experience of Laguna the next race could be another survival test but there are a few tamer tracks on the calendar.

Laguna  67 is one of the best tracks in GPL, both for 67 and 65, period. You'll see once you get to the actual race, the action is unbelievable and the track itself has a great rhythm once you get into the groove. It also diminishes the advantages of faster cars, which is always a good news.  ;)