SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 18 (2009) Amateurs Trophy (65) - Solitude (GP) - Sep 22/b]

Race 2 of the season sees a 65 mod debut for Solitude, a race track built on public roads to the west of Stuttgart. Used mainly as a motorcycle and non championship F1 circuit, it is yet another German track named after a nearby castle, and would attract crowds of up to half a million people, with an average of 288,000.

Let's hope that all those paying spectators have more than 5 cars to watch to the finish this time out as race 1 had a very high rate of attrition.

Please be careful on Lap 1 as the first right hander can be tricky on cold tyres and don't forget that lap 1 incidents attract an extra place penalty and can usually be avoided.

Reserve drivers should not join the race server until there are only 30 mins of qualifying left.
No drivers should go out on track until there is 30 minutes of qualifying left as this helps all drivers join the server successfully.

Restrict chat to pit messages, and at the end of the race avoid chat until ALL drivers still racing have crossed the line.

Please be in the IGOR UKGPL chatroom by 8:55 p.m.
(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 = 5UKGPL
IP Address = TBC (ping myjamesonline.net)
Race Date = 22-09-2009
Time = 21:00
Track = Solitude
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = PRO
Qually Time = 30 minutes.
Race Length = 50% Grand Prix (18 laps)

Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=222;theme=6)

Chassis allocations are below, and the same chassis will be used for all races this season unless there is an adjustment agreed by the moderator.  Good luck!

FULL TIME DRIVERS
Hristo Itchov - BT7
Evil Clive - Honda
Ken Murray - BT11
John Roberts - BT11
Samb - BRM
FullMetalGasket - Honda
MikeBeattie - Cooper
FPolicardi - BT11
TurkeyMachine - BT11
JamesRye - BRM
Natan - BRM
Miner2049er - Lotus
Clutch - BT11
Podkreceny - Lotus
Ruud Savelkoul - Lotus

RESERVE DRIVERS
Phil Thornton - Ferrari
Steve B_1_rd - Ferrari
Asbejurn - Ferrari

Please use the updated 65 mod for this race.
If you have re-installed UKGPL over the summer break or are joining us for the first time, please don't forget to use the updated 65 mod which is available here: Jamesonline.net/UKGPL (http://www.jamesonline.net/ukgpl/1965mod_PATCH_v2.0.2_Setup.zip)

Honestly... who thinks up the passwords for these races?! ;)

Apparently someone who went off in the fast trees sided area.  ;D

Which one?  ;D

Looking forward to this - hoping I can convert my Watkins setup for the 272 to work here.
That'll be pure bliss if it does  :angel:

I'm using my Zandy setup. Works OK, just made 3rd, 4th and 5th gear one or two notches longer for slipstreaming on that looong straight. (Not that I believe I'll get to use it. I'll probably crash before I get that far around the first lap)

tire pressure up the roof, zero toeeeeee front and rear.

don't pay attention to this, i haven't even done a single lap on solitude yet, not sure i'll make it tonight :(.

I'm not sure if I can make it in time, I have another committment this evening.
Ciao

Well there is usually a theme, e.g. wines, beers, corners, roman place names, drivers, engine bits etc but before I carry on ad infinitum ;) has anyone worked out what the theme is for the graduates?

Would it be............ no...or maybe?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, perhaps not, but it could be ....................

That was shockingly bad driving from me on lap 1, sorry to all who got caught up in the chaos I caused at T1. Slightly braked too late for the corner which was enough to not only spin me and possibly the car I nudged around but also cause all manner of problems for every other poor bugger behind in avoiding me. Somebody did a magnificent job of hitting my car and allowing me to continue. I'd lost 25 seconds in that melée, which wouldn't be recovered. There was also a good collision job going at the bridge corner on lap 1, so kudos on that as it gained me a couple places. :)

I was having a rather good battle with John, and when Clutch joined in things got a little heated. He'd made a mistake under braking after the long straight and run wide. John nipped through and I tried to follow. I gave Clutch enough room on the inside to make the next corner but he still pushed me out either through warp or through running wide to shove me into the crowd. I'd gained the time lost on the twisty run down to the finish line. I then dispatched with Clutch into the uphill right-hander having narrowly avoided rear-ending him in T1 and T2. Ran very close with John on the long run down to the braking zone and forced him into a mistake. When he ran up the inside bank, it chucked him back into the middle of the circuit. By then I'd aimed my car for the inside of the corner and our cars met. It turned me over, game over. Was enjoying it up until then.

Yes, another disconnection  :'(. I really am getting fed up with my internet connection now; I can only take so much! The race itself was rather lonely, but I enjoying myself in 4th place about 20 seconds behind Evil. Next race, I will be using a new internet provider so I'll see if that cures my internet woes. If it doesn't, well, I'm not sure it's worth carrying on....

Oh, I missed the race for a couple of seconds, when I tried to join the server was mutating :(

Tip toed round the usual Corner one carry on's. It took an age so i realised any chance of anything interesting happening had disappeared in the first 10 seconds.

Had a slight battle with John and Turkey Machine who points out that i pushed him into the crowd after the hair pin. Unintentional my friend. I knew you were somewhere there but thought i was pretty tight against the grass. Apologies.  ;)
Made sure i gave you plenty of room when you attempted your next succesful overtake. We'll leave that one to the moderators.

The next 14 laps or so were simply driving round with no hope of catching anyone in front and no hope of being caught. I was missing gears and running wide due to sheer lack of concentration. People were dropping out in front, but i felt jealous more than happy that they could go and stick the kettle on.  ;)

Thats probably the most boring race i have ever had, but i can't complain at a provisional 4th place.

As for Solitude - absolutely love the place. One of the Top 5 GPL Tracks in my opinion.

Well done to the Top 3.. and wow.. what a Pole lap too!!

I was quite pleased with my qually time but compared with Hristo, Tim and Mike I was a slug.  Amazing pole time and 2 of the top 3 cars were 8 valve jobs.

Managed to pick my way through the Lap 1 T1 carnage and I had Mike on my tail.  I was looking forward to a decent battle with someone of similar pace (well slightly quicker on the Round 1 showing) but we tangled at Schattengrund on lap 1 and Mike was out (I'm very slow there I just can't get it right :().  We'd had a bit of a shunt at Schatten too after Mike had got all squirrelly after putting a wheel on the grass.  Never mind hopefully we'll have a better dice in round 3.

After that there was no way I'd catch the guys in front so I set about defending my position.  First to try and get past was Natan (I think).  He got past somewhere near Cafe Glemstal but he had to compromise his line to pass me which meant he ran out of road 2 corners later.  That's what happens on bits of track like that,  it's not the corner you get wrong that you crash on, it's the one 2 corners later.  Asbjeurn was the next along and I could see in my mirrors he was pushing hard.  For once I'm driving conservatively in the races, with PRO rules I've tried to back off a bit and drive within my abilities so I'm not crashing so much (trouble is I'm too bl**dy slow!).  I had to pick up the pace a bit to keep Asbjeurn behind so he pushed a bit harder too and crashed out somewhere near Splitzklinge.

From then on I tried to avoid getting lapped but a stupid spin at Schattengrund lost me a lot of time and I was destined to be overhauled by Hristo and his flying BT7.  Tim lapped me too.  Sorry about getting in your way near Wildparkeck, I was sure I'd got enough time to move over and let you through but you were much quicker than I expected.

I think the answer lies (knowingly or otherwise) in Clutch's post in the first line ;)

Don't worry about the near miss - scary as it was for me! - just remember what you mods keep telling us, it's for the faster cars to lap the backmarkers  :)
You don't have to pull over, just don't fight back!  :P  ;D

Anyway. Corker of a race for me.
Qualified 2nd in the end, was actually half a second faster in my final flying lap (nearly .25 quicker than Hristo's pole time) and then made a really silly school boy error somewhere in the 3rd sector which destroyed my gains in an impressive 4 wheel drift as I caught my car  ::)
May even be able to do 38's if I could catch a tow....

Anyway, avoided the T1 shinanigans by putting my secret hyper jets to use when the flag dropped   :ninja:
While checking the mirror just before turning in I see carnage behind and Hristo being spun - my face looked like =  ;D as I thought this was now in the bag for me   :laugh:
Made a slight error due to cold tyres/full tanks before reaching the main straight which allowed H to somehow regain my slipstream  :o
He passed me into Schatten hthe following lap, and despite me making a couple of half hearted attempts I couldn't get back round. This allowed Mike to catch me and he drafted past at the same place and out braked me into Schatten also (damn those 16v go-karts, so much more nimble!) We exchanged places a few more times over the following 6 or 7 laps but it was nearly all a case of me chasing the far more agile T77.
Eventually Mike span at the highest point of the track, I *just* squezed past him to continue on my way - some 12 seconds behind H I think it was.
Aside from my hairraising encounter with Phil I had a very quiet, but massively enjoyable race to flag with H slowly pulling ahead and Mike (then Evil) slowly falling behind..

Brilliant race guys, well Done Hristo - SHE is pleased!  :angel:



And remember: All your race belong to HER!  ;D

Welcome to Pro rules Mike. :(

Qually went badly without a single clean lap so my time was over 4 minutes, usually I am around 3:47-48 but set PBs in 3 sectors last night so may have sneaked a 3:46 but that would have put me closer to the T1 carnage which I managed to tip toe through without incident.

I then got going on Phil's tail and had a little look at T3 but while he left me room I didn't want to risk a warp or contact on cold tyres, but with hindsight I should have maybe gone for it.

I followed him down the loooong straight bit and had a look again at Steinbachsee but with full tanks and cold tyres I thought there might only be 1 line through there, especially when I'm on it, so I lifted and waited for the braking zone at Schatten (OK it was me that thought up the password  ;D) where I successfully put a wheel on the grass, slid first hither and then thither, passed Phil, got sideways and finally hit him.

I followed him again down to Schattengrund and was prepared to follow him through all the twisties and then make a move on the next lap, but I wasn't prepared for just how hard he hit the brakes there and I had nowhere to go and hit him for a second time. That put me sideways across the track and I was just about to get going again but Natan (I think) who got caught up with us did a spin turn and got stuck between me and the fence giving me nowhere to go other than commit the cardinal sin and hit reverse.

Unfortunately just as I was doing that my team mate Bartosz attempted to go around me and his light contact with me set my engine on fire and I was out.

What was shaping up to be a nice battle with Phil was scuppered, as were chances of more points with only 5 finishers again.

Putting on my moderators hat, can I again just remind people to limit chat to Pit Messages as it is very distracting.

Thank you.

Oh, and sorry Phil.

Submit your reports please gentlemen.

I know I said I'll take it easier this season, but the car felt so good at Solitude that despite the disadvantage on the straights I could throw it into the corners with a lot of confidence, therefore going to the limit came more naturally without requiring that troublesome extra effort.

In Qualifying I could never get a clean lap as I was still tweaking the setup and trying to guess the braking points around the track since I've never driven it in this particular car before. On my last lap I went over the limit too often and that compromised a potential 38, something I managed to do in the latter stages of the race itself after getting more used to the car-track combo.

My start wasn't so good as I had set up a tall 1st gear to use it around the hairpins, so my revs bogged down and I moved to the left to allow people behind to go by. Not many did though, so I arrived in T1 3rd or so, braked very late and drifted a bit in the middle of the track, but it was clear road there, with only Tim ahead on the outside line.

Suddenly someone braked too late as I noticed for a moment in my mirrors before hitting me from behind and spinning me around. Luckily the car span back forward and I could immediately step on the throttle and avoid being run over from the approaching cars, but others behind weren't so lucky...

From there on Tim was about 2-3 seconds ahead and Mike was very fast behind me, plus I was now more angry from the contact so it upped up the pace instantaneously. That allowed us to catch Tim rather quickly and I made my attack going into T1 on one of the following laps, braking as late as I dared.

It JUST worked and then I had to defend from him on the long straight. Although he managed to pass by I braked late for the hairpin at the end and moved ahead once more, then opened up enough of a gap by the end of that lap to give myself some sort of security.

The race from that point onward was very (too) long, but I kept it in Qualifying tempo throughout the whole distance. That eventually almost cost me the race on the very last lap as I was going for the ultimate fastest lap  ;D , but touched the grass under braking for one of the turns and spun around with my rear into the tree wall.

Again, luck was on my side as  there were no trees to rip off my wheels, but the engine was now damaged so I had to cruise to the end of the lap. Fortunately I had enough gap over Tim.

Hoorah for Wazas 1-2-3!!!  :o SHE IS pleased!  ;D

Cheers,

-=Hristo=-

Well, I'll take part of the blame for the T1 fracas. :laugh:  As H has said his start wasn't the best and Tim got clear I was up on H's right quarter, As we reached the turn I swept in from the right, hoping to latch onto H's tail, but his tighter line gave him a slower corner speed and I clipped him. As we headed for the hay, I was already whincing at the thought of the Post Race berating, and was mighty relieved when we both bounced off pointing in the right direction !!  Sorry to all behind for the resulting mayhem.

So we set off after Tim, and I caught him by the end of the straight. I nearly had both of them off approaching the Hairpin, as they both braked much earlier than me. I then realised that for one I had a braking advantage ( normally that's the bit where I lose out) and then  on the following laps whenever Tim got past me on the straight I was able to get a tow from ( but not pass) his Honda to the end of the straight and then do him on the brakes !!  I even managed to do the pass round the outside one time  ;D

As Tim said I eventually lost it at the top of the hill and was in chase mode, in fact I spun again at the Hairpin, which put Evil  about 4 secs behind. I was working on opening that gap when I grenaded the poor little Climax just past half distance.


Thanks for the dice Tim, it was great fun

Last orders for incident reports please Gentlefolk.

Apologies to all, but real life has got in the way and I will be unable to mod this race until Monday.

I will post the Kyalami race announcement from work tomorrow but I have not forgotten the mod I am just unable to do it at the moment.

I have gotta have some more luck here...