SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 18 - Historic Division - Race 5 - 66 mod - Spa

Race date = 10-11-2009
Server = 6.UKGPL
IP Address = 80.5.200.198
Time = 21:00
Track = Spa
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
Ken Murray

Drivers Restricted to cars from Groups I or II
Hristo Itchov
Dave Randall

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)

Syd, it's 3L cars for this race, just to unconfuse people. ;)

Sorted

I'm going to a jazz concert this evening, so no crashes for me this time, I hope  :o
Ciao

Enjoy it. Anybody familiar?

Stefano Bollani, Jesper Bodilsen, Morten Lund

Bollani is one of the best Italian piano player.

Ciao

Not familiar to me, but enjoy it all the same.

I'm gonna get slaughtered in the Brabham.

My 6th consecutive UKGPL non-finish at this track. I swear it's a bogey, despite the fact I have some speed here.

Qualy went alright considering I fought with a dodgy brake pedal that wasn't releasing completely. Think the pots could use a clean out. Time only good for 10th (EDIT: actually 12th) on the grid, Hondas and Ferraris dominant in the first 6 places. When the flag dropped, I musta gained 5 places on the run to Eau Rouge, everybody got away really slowly for some reason. Slotted in behind and then beside Hristo, and let him have the line into Les Combes so he could chase after the 2 Wazas and Mike ahead. They were having a ding-dong battle, and coming into Blanchimont, Tim's Honda gave me a very bad braking scare as I realised his car was approaching rather rapidly. On the run to La Source, everything was OK, and on the exit of Eau Rouge, Mike was recovering and he stayed behind me for the half a lap I managed.

Here's where I apologise.

Stavelot is a tricky corner at the best of times, but the tyres weren't good to me on the first lap, and I was carrying more speed than normal because the car hadn't slowed down enough. By the time I registered I wasn't gonna make the exit of the corner I was spinning having missed the hedge but hit the grass. I landed on the left-hand side of the track facing the traffic. A quick glance at Prib concluded I had enough time to bury the throttle and make the other side of the track where the racing line wasn't. I was then accelerating up to racing speed hoping that people didn't hit me. 3 cars went past, then another one clipped my bow and span while I was on the extreme right-hand side of the tarmac, which put me in a panic.

Not wanting to get penalised for hitting people, I started second-guessing where this spinning cloud of tyre smoke attached to a car was going to end up, which (me still in panic mode) meant I was going from one side of the track to another. This in turn sent Phil into the same spinning cloud of tyre smoke, only with a car to hit. While I was still trying to avoid hitting people, I think another car came and thankfully ended my trainwreck of an evening's racing.

Massive apologies to anybody's race I ruined. I just panicked. Panic and myself don't go well together! :)

I love racing at Spa on GPL - it always seems to produce good racing.

Qualified 11th after not being able to get a decent lap in that i knew i was capable of, but 11th wasn't too far off, and at Spa, there's always time to slip stream and make up places.

Steadily went into Eau Rouge on Lap 1 whilst rolling my eyes as there was the predictable pile up... why do people do that here..? of all tracks where there is plently of opportunity to pass? Its not Turn 1 at Monaco.  ;)

The turning point of the race for me came when i was following Dave Randell and Al Heller 6 laps from home. AH lost it at the end of the Masta Straight and spun. I tried to avoid him (he was miles in front, but i couldn't work out where he was going to finish spinning), but unfortunately i clipped him with my right front, not much, but enough to damage the suspension on my car leading to massive oversteer from then on.
With 6 laps to go i thought i might as well carry on and just lap slower whilst coping with the handling. Al soon caught and passed me but lost it at the Masta Kink as i closed in under slip stream, allowing me through again.
From then on it was just a case of bringing it home for 6th (I think).
Phil Thornton nearly caught me at the end when the handling was so bad that i spun at slow speed 4 turns from home, but i managed to get over the line despite him being in my mirrors at La Source.

I still struggle with the 66's set up wise, but glad i got a decent result at my favorite track.  :)

You weren't that slow M8.  I was pushing very hard and I didn't seem to be making any impact on you.  It was a morale booster to see the yellow flags and catch sight of you recovering at Blanchimont.  I got close enough to follow you over the line but you held on, I just needed a few more yards!!! Grats on a good result :thumbup1:

Hadn't really managed much practice for this, about 40 mins when I came home from work before the race, so had a Ferrari, that wasn't quite how I'd like it. In qually I got a bit of a tow from Hristo for the second half of the lap, but had to keep backing out of it as I wasn't getting great exit speeds onto the straights and couldn't make the pass, so I was surprised to get Pole.

The Drake Racing masterplan was ski-wiff at Eau Rouge on L2 when I clipped the inside bank and flew into the wire fence. I assumed that there would be too much damage, but, the car bounced back onto the edge of the track and was still fine. So I set off to catch the Wazzas and Jethro, only for Jethro to throw it off at Stavelot , so it was up to me to save the club from the Massive Wazza Ego Trip that would ensue from a full HER Podium  ;D  No pressure then !!

Tim made a mistake into Blanchimont on L3 which let me by, but I repaid the compliment at Burneville on the following lap. I then worked like heck and caught him back with 2 to go, making the pass on the run to Masta, Tim then did the same move on the last lap, but I got him on the run out of  Masta, held him off up the back section, and when he went for the inside at Blanchimont he compromised his line and did a bit of grass tracking.

So grats to Hristo & Clive, at least Team Drake got a place :)

Wazza Rule  ::)

Congratulations to Hristo, Clive & Mike. Not a great performance by me in this race. Pleased with 7th in qually & was in the box seats for the midfield T1 carnage - Jethro got a flyer & stormed up the inside line while Gerard did the same on the outside & having swept past everyone from two sides they both funnelled together on the entrance to Eau Rouge. Slowed to avoid a few spinning cars & having got through Eau Rouge in one piece found myself still in 7th though already a good way behind the leading pack.

Had a good battle with Dave & we swapped places a number of times in the opening laps - managed to sneak through into 5th place after Dave had a brush with the barrier at Eau Rouge but then pushed too hard trying to fend him off into Stavelot & spun. Apologies to Clutch who got caught up in my accident - I ended up pointing the right way but didn't think it'd be fair to trip him up & then speed off ahead so I waited for him to get going first. Like Clutch, I was now suffering from some suspension damage & though I'd retaken him on the run down to Masta, I soon discovered my car was rather reluctant to take the kink at anywhere near its previous speed... cue spin number 2 & apology number 2 to Clutch who once again got clonked. Even worse, I was now left facing the wrong way in the middle of the track on the exit of Masta :o Massive apologies to Tom (King Hiro) who rounded Masta at full whack only to find me desperately trying to get out of the way - sorry to have ended your race Tom :(. Somehow my car survived its 3rd major collision but it was now handling like a 2CV with a puncture so dragging it home in 8th was a bit of a bonus.

 

Replay posted here http://www.jamesonline.net/ukgpl/2009.11.10_Spa_Historic/ (http://www.jamesonline.net/ukgpl/2009.11.10_Spa_Historic/)

Apologies to Gerard. Upon viewing the replay it appears we both aimed for the same piece of tarmac at Eau Rouge, me on the left and him on the right-hand side of the track, and warp intervened. Damn GPL's netcode! I was staying as far left as possible, but was Prib-watching at the same time.

I must say, Hristo did very well when I pulled alongside him TWICE in one lap. The run I got on him out of Eau Rouge and Masta was sublime, but the tow he got in that Lotus-BRM scuppered my chances both times!

It was a frantic start of the race and I was expecting some sort of contact throughout the whole first lap, but then things settled a bit after Mike threw himself off as well, leaving us just 3 Wazas fighting it out at the top.

Evil was very fast in some sections and I didn't want to slow both of us down so I lifted up a bit any time he'd go for a pass, but he also lifted up sometimes, so in the end we were actually slowing each other down, lol.

Anyway, we managed to pull away from Tim in 3rd and just exchanged a few positions here and there, waiting for the final laps to come. I was wondering if Evil was going to fight me seriously or would just slot behind. The answer came on the last lap when he was obviously pushing very hard, but got it wrong at Masta and that removed any pressure on myself, so I just brought it home.

I was thinking we had a 1-2-3 Waza Podium, but Mike managed to snatch 3rd from Tim in the last moment. SHE will be pleased anyway!  ;D

Congratulations!

No need to apology, to me it is a race incident, and watching the replay, the track is so wide we could not see each other.
That's not gone well, better luck next time!

Maybe I should practice even less often than I do??!

For this race ( which I was NOT looking forward to, as I cannot nail Spa) I only did 30 mins when I arrived home from work in an attempt to modify my old setup so that I could control the rear tyre temps and maybe survive the race. :-\

When qually started, my worst fears were confirmed and I was left trailing mid grid albeit on race fuel.

Gradually the confidence in the setup grew, so with just 5 mins left, I dumped most of the fuel, adjusted the headband, tightened the fundoshi and wiped the tear from my eye.

Got what must be my best ever lap in a 66 Waza without a tow around Spa and crept in front of team mate Tim on the grid into about 4th spot.
I pulled my headband over my eyes and prayed through Eau Rouge and was amazed to find myself still in one piece on the run up to Les Coombs.
The two Fezzas were monopolising the front along with Hristo and I was resigned to being sucked along for a while in the slipstream rather than risk the Waza engine.
Syd's rear end looked very unstable from where i was sat, and he seemed to be struggling to control the Fez, so I dropped back just a fraction. This was a wise move because before long both of the Ferraris performed the Italian version of Hari Kari  ( Nieto Cornetto?) and departed stage left!!!

So it was Waza 1-2-3 with 90% of the race still to go  ;D

I allowed ( notice that I "allowed" ) Hristo to take the lead and use his Lotus juggernaut to make a hole in the air for me to cruise along in. Tim was following behind for a while but appears to have made a mistake somewhere and dropped just beyond the "tow zone".
This left H and myself away and clear.
It was quite obvious that this race would be decided on the last lap, because barring mistakes the advantage of the tow would pull back a second easily on the run down to Masta. I frequently found myself backing off to avoid getting alongside H with nowhere to go.

So, everything was going to happen on the last lap....but in order to preserve Hristo's aura of invincibility I decided to fake a mistake at Masta ::) on the last lap to avoid him suffering the indignity of following me across the line.
My story and I'm sticking to it!!!

She was pleased even though a red thing was brash enough to sneak into 3rd place ahead of a much more deserving Tim.

The results look like you had fun up front ,I was thinking to join in for this race as I love Spa.

But thinking about it, perhaps you wouldnt have thanked me too much for putting a soggymobile in front of wassa points  :D



 

Honestly, I'd be more than happy to see you do that, Bernie.

Can't seem to find the replay?  Anyone have a working link?

Ta

Just checked and should be ok to download http://www.jamesonline.net/ukgpl/2009.11.10_Spa_Historic/ (http://www.jamesonline.net/ukgpl/2009.11.10_Spa_Historic/)