SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 18 - Historic Division - Race 2 - 66 mod - Solitude

Race date = 29-09-2009
Server = 6.UKGPL
IP Address = 80.5.200.198
Time = 21:00
Track = Solitude
Variant = 66F1,  3L engines
Damage Model = PRO
Qually time = 30 minutes.
Race length = long

Group I
Mclaren M2B Ford       
T1G Eagle Weslake             

Group II
BRM P83             
Lotus 43 BRM       

Group III
Honda RA273         
Cooper T81           
Brabham BT19           
Ferrari 312         

Drivers Restricted to cars from Group I
Gerard Kayou
Fulvio Policardi

Drivers Restricted to cars from Groups I or II
Evil Clive
Mike Beattie

All other drivers have free chassis choice.

Password: see above (#post_event_password)
(2) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=221&theme=6)

I think you're missing a few details here Syd  ;)

I don't. What's he forgotten?

Phil added drivers that were restricted to group I and group II.

Ohh!
I can haz Waza Mobile!  ;D

Should have gone well as I'm good at Solitude.
My clutch pedal seemed to have other ideas though - It decided not to register properly meaning I kept missing gears.
That resulted in numerous spins due to lack of cantrol before finally being taken out braking hard to try and avoid 2 cars in front who were much slower through a section than I was used to  :(

Bummer.
At least I can go play in my Dino on the Targo now though  :angel:

Knew i was in trouble as soon as i took to the track for qualifying.
Had what i thought was an OK, safe set up to get me round, but hadn't had chance to really practice with it and i soon discovered that braking without spinning was practically impossible.
I considered leaving the race so as not to endanger other peoples races, but thought i'd have a quick look off line at my set up. By the time i'd pin pointed the problem and made a quick, but far from perfect adjustment, there was not enough time to attempt a qualifying lap. Still, i'd have been at the back anyway.  :)

Managed about 4 laps, but saw a yellow flag on the twisty section back to the finish and ran wide as it distracted me. Car ended up on the roof, so race over.

I've never really touched the 66 Mod, hence wanting to give this division a go. I'm learning little bits at a time set up wise which are making them at least bearable to drive, but it'll take me years to get the hang of them - which is the beauty of GPL in my opinion.

Enjoyed it whilst it lasted, however, time to practice would have stood me in better shape.  ;)

I'd managed one complete timed lap in pre-race practice which was scrappy at best. Once I'd met several points of the scenery in qualifying, I drained the fuel and went for several laps. Managed not to hit anything and one lap put me 3rd on the grid, which seemed to surprise most. It meant I was on for a very good start if I didn't hit anybody, which seemed to worry some.

At the start, Hristo seemed to be a little slow, and Ken was comparitively slow. H took the inside line to T1 which meant I had to do my utmost to resist mating my nose to his Honda's gearbox. After the first lap they pulled away and I had a good battle with Dave for a few laps til the Brabham spat on me several times with 2 offs. Oversteer's the only way to get the Brabham to turn effectively and it hit when I least needed it to. Managed to run wide at the last corner and go on the outside of the hay barrier. Crossed the line, but couldn't find a way back onto the track, so retired as there was only 1 lap and evilclive woulda been lucky to finish but for his epic escape from the last corner inside ramp effort!

Sometimes I can't fathom my own stupidity!  Running a comfortable 4th with Ken & Hristo miles ahead, a recovering Gerard back in the groove and disappearing in the distance at 600 yards + and holding Evil a few hundred yards behind; so with just a few laps remaining the only sensible option was to keep to a well controlled pace and bring home 4th place worth of points.  But no, couldn't resist pushing harder and consequently lost it under braking to shed a front wheel!  Gutted and kicking own shins!!  >:(

Race started well, made up a couple of places on first few corners to put myself behind Jethro who looked a bit hairy at times and eventually lost it, putting me up to 3rd with Evil and Gerard behind.  Managed to lose it (safely) on the return section and give up two places to rejoin behind Evil.  Recovered to pass Clive who didn't seem that confident on the 1st part of the lap and then blew it as above.

Congrats to podium

Off the start I didn't think I got away terribly well and stayed wide through T1 and T2 and I was surprised I came out the other side ahead of Hristo. My time at the front was relatively short lived though and inevitably H was soon back through on the run down to the hairpin. He pulled a bit of a gap over the next lap and a half but then I was amazed to find myself reeling him back in (partly slipstream aided I have to admit). Anyway I enjoyed following him for the next 4 or 5 laps but then at the penultimate corner I got some understeer and instead of trying ssome throttle or brake to correct it I just froze and ran up the grass bank and down again. That lost me about 5 or 6 secs and try as I might I couldn't reduce it over the remaining laps, although again I was pleased it didn't increase much either. Grats to Hristo and all who finished on this demanding course.

My start was not good, frame rate was well down (I had the eye candy set too high, usually have detail bias half way but for some reason it was on full) and cars were dissapearing from view on start line.  Car was hard to control and  consequently I spun at T2.  Syd couldn't avoid me and I was punted over the armco down the steep banking and into the trees.  Amazingly the car kept all 4 wheels and I trundled round trying to find a way back onto the track.  Car seemed to be handling reasonably well but I put a wheel on the grass on lap 2 and lost a wheel to a tree trunk, race over :(.

Sorry about the shunt Syd, hope it didn't damage your car.

Having done a complete re-install of GPL in the hope of curing my disco problems, I then found my FF setting had changed and I couldn't get them sorted in time (does anyone know where you can "reverse" the FF setting on a G23 in GPL, I can't remember). Isettled for the McLaren, as it was easier to drive round the twisty bits. However, I upped the nr of  plates in the diff to 3. This helped settle it down , but gave me power oversteer. This caught me out on the last corner of L1, where the back nd powered up and I started heading for the wide tarmac on the inside. Ofcourse this isn't tarmac , its a ditch, and I ended up clipping a tree and after numerous tumbles ended up on my roof beside the control tower. :(

Interesting that Ken opted for the Mclaren ( as did Gerard) because of its easier handling. I had the choice of the Macca Eagle or the Lotus and BRM in group 2 but opted for the Eagle as the "safest" handling car.
Undoubtedly the Lotus and BRM had more power and felt faster down the long straight, but the pendulums stuck on the back of both of those cars made the return run a lottery for me. Whereas, when I tried the Eagle , which I had discounted and left until last, all I did was adjust diff and brake balance initially and it felt sweet straight away. One or two gear ratio tweaks and it felt great. :o

A cautious start to avoid possible mayhem at T1 and waited for the tyres to come up to temp, as I fully expected this to be a race of survival for me , rather than any giant killing runs for the podium. I was quite heartened to find that I could still see 3rd and 4th cars after a lap and that maybe my race pace was not so bad. Meanwhile Gerard had got his Mclaren wound up and was hustling me for a passing opportunity. Fortunately the Eagle, either by setup or design, seemed to have a fraction more grunt out of the corners and a slightly higher top end so I was able to defend my position although every timer I strayed off the optimum line Gerard was sniffing for the pass ::).
I tried to be fair ( not like me I know but,.. ::)) and leave a space when it looked like he might be getting alongside and we carried on our battle for several laps.
I think the euphoria at passing Jethro in the haybales and then Dave recovering from an off went to my head because it seemed that I selected a favourite tree, from the many on offer on the return run, and tried to impale myself upon it when I had just pulled a small gap back to Gerard!!!
I thought that I must at least have lost a wheel, but all 4 were still there, although it transpired that 1 was maybe not attached in the manner that it was meant to be!! and for the last 6 laps I had a car that displayed a distinct leaning to the left and an aversion to going anywhere remotely to the right...which was interesting :-\
It was pointless trying to defend my position, as I could not carry any speed through any right turns, so I was hoping for a few retirements ahead ( thanks Dave ;D ) but was kicking myself for concentrating so hard on controlling the beast and not realising that it was the last lap, when I was trying to stay ahead of Al approaching the s/f line and blew it!! to lose the place with 100 mtrs to go and finish last!!!  lol.  :-\
Grats to Hristo and the Waza  glad you avoided the haybales this time  ;D and to the podium.

A few hours at Targa made it quite clear that the problem is with 2nd gear on my wheel rather than the clutch  ::)
It seems to have gotten 'sloppy' meaning it doesn't always register being in gear until after the clutch is back out - GPLShift then says 'oh no you don't!' and I find myself in neutral  :(
Will make adjustments tonight, but very annoyed I'll have to remove some realism by dropping the clutch threshold to about 10% to compensate...

Still gutted about Soli - from above it appears I would have been near garenteed 2nd again if not 3rd  :'(

This was a hard race, harder than I expected anyway, as Ken had a great pace and was able to keep up with me throughout the whole chase before his off in the penultimate corner. He was especially quicker in the hairpins and gaining a few tenths, but fortunately for me the Honda had enough grunt on the straights and that kept me safe.

We were both pushing very hard early on and even the tiniest of mistake would've given advantage to the other, but at the same time that was quite enjoyable. I was happy with the Honda handling, but it would still struggle to make tighter turns and it was also quite loose on the exits of some corners, but the chassis has that nice property of being easy to catch a slide.

After Ken went off I could relax a bit, but that led to a few mistakes, some of which were nearly terminal as I narrowly escaped hitting some of the trees on the side of the track. In the end I tried to go for a 32 but the tires were somewhat overheated and the handling had deteriorated.

Grats to all finishers and ALL MY VICTORIES ARE BELONG TO HER!!!  ;D

-=Hristo=-

So does that mean I finished 4th or second-last? I know which one I prefer ;) Actually I'm completely chuffed with that - with so many quick drivers in this series I rather expected to be dining on crumbs from the Masters' table but someone chucked me a couple of loaves here!

After crashing all over the place in the 65 Solitude event, I aimed to run very much at my own pace here in an effort to get to the finish. Wasn't that far off my PB in quallie which gave me 10th on the grid :P but got a decent start to nick a place from Fulvio who nevertheless was all over me by the end of lap 1. Pushed as hard as I could & managed to get a bit of breathing space - thanks largely to the big Brabham which certainly had an advantage over Fulvio's Eagle. Caught up to Jethro in the twisty bits just as he was recovering from a spin which allowed Fulvio to close right up again but luckily just as he was lining me up he edged the haybale at T1 & that extended the gap once more. Thanks to the generosity of the chaps ahead, 7th at the start of lap 10 became 4th by the finish a lap later.. Evil Clive turning into Rather-Nice Clive by deciding to go off tree climbing on the start-finish straight rather than cross the line :D

Anyway congratulations to Hristo for pole, FL & win & to Ken & Gerard for the podium places.       

Sorry Tim, the two cars in front were me and Al. On first lap Al was taking very easy in the esses and I hadn't nowhere to go to pass him too so I settled behind with patience. When Al warmed his tires he went faster and we had nine laps on same pace. I had 5th too short so I couldn't get a tow on the straight to try a move and I had to stay behind in the esses even if I was a bit faster.
At lap 10 when we were on Evil tail I got distracted by JW chat and got wide at the fast right hander downhill, clipped a tree and ended on my roof. :(
Sorry about the chat followed my retire, I was very upset. I'll take the right penalty.
Ciao

Ciao

Fulvio, I wholeheartedly apologise for that, and if anybody should be penalised for it it's me, not you. Needless to say, I was looking forward to chasing Dave after my offs.

Very difficult race for me. I had a tough day at work, and when the race started, i was tired (it is 22h30 for me).

Anyway, i managed a good time during practice, very far from the rockets on the front. For the race, it seemed clear that the mclaren was not the best choice, good handling but poor acceleration and top speed.
It was impossible for me to overtake evil, all i could do was pushing him to do a mistake, sniffing his exhaust very closely.
@evil : you were more than fair when you let me pass!! It was a gift :)

It worked, and i could take a third place because of my regularity instead of my speed.
On the last two laps, i could not keep my concentration, and i did a 360 on the last lap. Hopefully, i did not break the car and had enough advance to keep my place.

The choice of the mclaren was : easy to drive, and the water temperature is not quickly on the red, in the opposite to the eagle. I guess it was a mistake, the races are short.

I'll try to sleep more before the next race!!

 

Funny, I thought I was in a Brabham! but yes it was for it's ease of handling.  :)

Is that so? ;)

Well from where I was... about 4 km back all cars look the same :P

Well if Hristo didn't want it I'll have it!!!!

(http://www.auga68.dsl.pipex.com/Solitude_WR.jpg)

Slightly tow assisted that one but my unaided qually lap would get it too, unless Hristo updates!!

 :D Perhaps some time during the next century... grats!  ;D

Results imported.

Well done to both ken and Hristo for moving the goalposts yet again, please stop it!!  ;)

Just when did you reach alien status Ken?  We used to be similar pace a couple of years back, I take some time out and when I come back your DNA has been tampered with!

Wish I knew the secret, able to drive the more aggressive diff settings now and normally quite smooth but never really moved on to that next level.  Maybe I've just reached my limit, or perhaps you need to live and breathe GPL for a while..  Any suggestions welcome  ???

Well I certainly don't live and breath GPL, I hardly get time to practice at all. Maybe that's the secret!!

Seriously over the years I've invested in some decent hardware. I think I may have had my Speed 7 pedals back in the period you're referring to but early this year I bought a G25 and that gave a noticeable improvement (still using the Speed 7's with it though). I found my old DFP had become sloppy over time with quite a large dead band in the middle.

Another big help for me has been a rather fortunate situation which has resulted in me being able to use a projector/screen setup. Luckily I haven't had to buy them but it came to my attention that the bike club I'm involved in had them tucked away in the store room. Enquiries revealed they were little used and I could take them away as long as they could be returned whenever the club needed them! The setup is a real revelation. I always thought a three screen setup would be the ultimate so that you got some peripheral vision but unless the three screen are very large then the projector/screen would take some beating. The image is only 1024x768 and when projected so large it does get a little pixelated but that is more than made up for in realism. The image is approaching life size and I have the screen hung from above so that it position is just behind my steering wheel but in front of my feet, so I'm virtually sitting in the virtual world! The image is large enough to have to look up at the exit of Eau Rouge when you hit the dip at the bottom and when you pass by a wall the top of the wall is above your head. All of this makes it look very real, and the road look much wider. I did have to return the kit once recently and going back to my 19inch monitor was like driving in to a postage stamp, I just couldn't do it.

So I'm stuck now. If they ever take it back off me, or if it breaks, then I will be forced to buy a replacement or stop driving completely!!!

Should have added on my last post that Hristo has none of this fancy hardware. I think he has an old Thrustmaster non FF wheel and not sure what his monitor setup is. So fancy hardware might help someone of limited ability like me but doesn't seem necessary for the real tenticled drivers!!

bloody eck !

thought I was doin well fitting a 40watt bulb upgrade in me monitor   :o

And old Gameport version of MSFF actually, but I drive it with the FF turned off (doesn't work properly under XP, plus you have more freedom without FF). Monitor is 17" CRT. I'm not sure I can be faster with better equipment, it's a matter of getting used to what you have and feeling comfortable with it.

Trouble is I have 25 years of real life riding/racing/driving hard coded in to my old grey matter before I was involved in any of this virtual stuff. So anything that fools it in to thinking it's actually back in the real world seems to be of benefit to me! :)

Your projector setup sounds magic Ken, I use a 22" TFT but sit very close to it  :)

Thanks H & Ken for the insight, think I need to get back on some real tracks too and dust off the ADR for some track days.  Secondly, might be worth checking the pots on the BRD pedals as I'm quite sure they've not been replaced since 1998!