SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 18 (2009) Amateurs Trophy (65) - Round 6 - Clermont Ferrand (Charade)

The sixth race of the season is in France at the challenging Clermont Ferrand circuit in the Auvergne Mountains.  This is not the longest track on this season's callendar (Spa and Solitude are longer), but it is very twisty and difficult to pass on so each lap seems longer.  Patience and concentration will be required here.

The restriction that reserve drivers should not join the race server until there are only 30 mins of qualifying left is being relaxed for this race.  We have enough grid slots to accomodate all the full-time and reserve drivers so there is no risk of a reserve driver taking a full-time driver's grid slot.

Having joined the server, no drivers should go out on track until there is 30 minutes of qualifying left - this helps to ensure all the full-time drivers have joined the server successfully before qualifying begins.

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 = 17-11-2009
Time = 21:00
Track = Clermont Ferrand 1965  -  download the track here (http://gpltd.bcsims.com/?limit=10&author=&country=&type=&kind=&state=&sort=&show_results=0&show_gplrank=&intr=&sbtd=Clermont&menu=Show_Letters&send=Search)
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = PRO
Qually Time = 30 minutes.
Race Length = 50% Grand Prix (20 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
Asbjeurn - Ferrari
KingHiro - BRM

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)

Been practicing here and managed a 3:30 after about 10 laps.

So hoping for high attrition as I trundle around to the finish.

Thanks for starting the thread Phil.

I was thinking of missing this altogether due to lack of practise but I have gone from 3:40 to 3:28 since yesterday and I am still slow at the top of the first hill and through all the first twisty bits, as opposed to being too slow I now feel slow enough to start at the back.

Please do not hit my caravan when you lap me.

Don't let that put you off M8, I haven't practiced either so we can have our own private battle.  As long as I'm confident enough not to be so slow as to be a serious liability to other drivers, I'll be racing (assuming I get back from taking mu son to Judo in time  :scooter:)

Dear Lord, please can I have my sanity placed in a pickled jar to preserve it while I dash around 20 laps of this mad mad "circuit" whilst attempting not to hit anything, anybody, or John Roberts?

Much love,

Jethro

20 laps !!! This is gonna put me in hospital for sure, lol... I rely on Jethro to take us out of misery early on though!  ;D

Posted this over on the novice thread but sounds like you guys could do with a little Clermont inspiration too... some footage of the original 1965 race at Clermont (love the state of the art paddock facilities :D)

http://vimeo.com/1601414 (http://vimeo.com/1601414)

Short clip of the 1970 race too http://vimeo.com/1510295 (http://vimeo.com/1510295)

erm...

James 3:30 = Trundle
Mike 3:28 = still slow in section

WTF!!!! Perhaps I wont even bother anymore!

Race pace will be much slower don't worry, and the secret is to find the few parts you can do flat and hope it sticks for the twisty bits.

This should be fun  ;D

I know I can expect a battle with Mike B, I suspect H will be right up there too but havn't raced him here before.....


Hope I can last longer than Bremgarten - Was just starting to enjoy the place when I made my mistake  ::)

I was doing 3:30s yesterday in practice but had best sectors for a 3:24. Just don't hit anything and you'll do fine!

If I can do 3:20's then anyone can  ;D

So, I guess that makes me a "nobody"? :-\

I'll have a problem on the start, even if I take pole, a few people will pass me up to T2.  :-\ Passing them back is near impossible on this track.  ::)

Most of them won't finish. ;)

..........the first lap  ;D

Not happy at Mike nurfing me into the T1 barriers on lap 1. Got as far as the first hairpin, then followed James down the hill preparing myself for the twisty bits. Then lag bit and I slammed straight up his tailpipes when his car suddenly moved from left to right. Apologies for the appalling rejoin, I hadn't registered there were still people behind me and either Steve, Asbjeurn or Phil broadsided me down the mountain. Fruitless efforts to get myself back up the hill resulted in me taking an excursion to blown-engine land. Happy to forget this one, I was already getting frustrated from T1.

Am I racing in the amateurs or the novices  :-\

Again I was rear ended, probably I was going to slow or breaking early or something  ???

You cannot win the race on the first lap. If you are overtaken off the line, dont try to compensate by overdoing it.

Rant over, was never gonna finish this one anyway  :).

Anyway, after moving up to P4/5 ish, and then being bumped to last. I had a fun 2 laps overtaking a bunch of Ferraris. Actually overtaking is the wrong word really as they all spun off in order to let me through! They all had the last laugh though as I beached myself after an appallingly lazy spin.  ::)

Ah well, there is always the next race....

Jim

''Got as far as the first hairpin, then followed James down the hill preparing myself for the twisty bits. Then lag bit and I slammed straight up his tailpipes when his car suddenly moved from left to right.''

Ah well that explains that. No problems Turkey Machine, lag is out of anyones control.

jim

Very Poor from me. Hitting someone from behind is unforgivable.

It was Lap 4 and i was steady and in the groove, knowing that all i had to do was keep going in 8th for a decent result.

NVix must have made a mistake up the road as when i started Lap 4 he was just in front of me instead of the usual 4 seconds. He was getting up to speed and getting his rhythm back but i seemed to nudge him from behind into the first tight hairpin of the lap. I thought i'd breaked more cautiously than usual, but for whatever reason we collided as he turned into the corner. It wasn't a passing move by me at all. Massive apologies, but glad he kept going, whilst i was on my roof and out.

Stupid Mistake.  :(

Don't read too far into this, but you were going incredibly slowly in a couple places, so much so I had to make double efforts not to rear-end you when I thought you were brake-testing me!

Upon looking at my replay, I had rear-ended you because you braked comparatively early. I knew where I was going to brake, even with other cars there, and had aimed my car to the outside of the corner in preparation for that. Your car didn't go from left to right suddenly since you were in full control, I don't know why I didn't register that you were braking then until it was too late. Wasn't Prib-watching, was keeping an eye on you. I know it's the following drivers responsibility to avoid a collision, but from the lag I had I was having half a job controlling the car against the frame-skips and predicting where your car was going. When I found it heading square on I couldn't avoid the collision. Lag took care of the resulting spin and wreck, otherwise it would have simply been an almost-harmless rear-end shunt; you'd have probably continued with an impressive slide, I'd have probably spun and ended up the bank.

The rejoin was unforgivable, however, so apologies to anybody's race that ruined.

I was having a great race and after Tim was kind enough not to fight me too hard, I managed to build some lead and settle into a very comforting rhythm. All of that came to nothing as I got disconnected with less than 7 laps to go.  :-\

Grats to Tim, at least SHE will be pleased!

First off apologies to John for my move that ended up with both of us seeing unintended parts of the French countryside, you'd got sideways and lost a bit of momentum and I went for the gap, and you know the rest. I was glad to see you were still running when I exited the race a few laps later.

My day started badly when I went for a practice. GPL refused to recognise my prized set-up, a variant on the DBCoop65 version. I tried moving it to another folder, rebooting the system etc, etc. Even when Fulvio sent me the base DB set-up during chat ( many thanks) it still refused to load it. So I got another set -up and did what I could, but it was only good for 3.21s, so I was about 2 secs down on pace.

Obviously the reserve server didn't have the 1 x1 grid loaded so it was a bit cramped there. As he predicted, Hristo didn't get a great start and even my Cooper caught him by T1, so Jethro you were trying to get round someone who was alreadyon the outside of someone, so 3 abreast ain't going to work.

L1 was hectic got inside H at T2 but knew he was still there on the outside and kept it wide for T3 so he got back ahead. A couple of laps later I spun and John got past. I passed him back  only to spin again trying to catch Tim & H who were 10 secs up the road. Then we collided, as per above and Evil got ahead of me

Again I had lag, but this time it was only when you got to the last couple of metres, it was really bad with Clive the Honda shaking about all over the road !! Like John, Clive was really slow in a few places and I really had to lift out of it and lose momentum, . Eventually it was a fated move into the last hairpin that saw me slide up the inside and run backwards into the bales. The rear suspensioon was damaged and that was that.

Sorry if my Waza was dancing Mike, but I was certainly gatting a bucket load of lag and frame dropping.
So much so, that I found at times even the controls were lagging.  I would apply brakes and turn in to a corner and ....nothing! for an age ( it seemed) whilst the car ploughed straight on, suddenly picking up on the input and responding. Which is why I was very slow in some places as I could not predict what would happen.
Eventually after about 7 laps when I was losing the will to continue, it caught me out completely at the top of the fast uphill section and I shot over the earth bank and down into a wooded French valley losing wheels on the way.

I don't think I have experienced lag as bad as that before, certainly not as regards steering and brakes. :-\

Disappointed not to make it last night but personal things cropped up at the last minute, well about 8:30 to be precise. A shame because I'd been practising and while not up to the Ams pace as usual I was confident of getting to the end.

In other news I have noticed a fault on one of my phone extensions which may explain the worse than normal lag for some, though I think Tim said he had an almost perfect connection.

I will get the extension fixed but it has not caused me any Internet issues so far so maybe it was not that.

Went well - thought I had pole sussed until the final 10 mins when H pipped me by a second  :hammer:
Luckily Mike's setup woes kept him behind me so at about the 7 minutes to go point I gave up trying to catch Hristo and just started practicing on the race setup.

In a very unusual turn of events Hristo near-enough equalled my start  :o Enough at anyrate to hold the inside line into T1 which forced me to take the outside line - The extra powahs of the Honda then came through for me giving me the whole road to play with by T2, with Hristo eventually settling in behind me after seeing off Mike's advances. I knew that Hristo was going to be a problem as he was clearly faster going by the Qually times - Mike was an unknown as Previously he'd slaughtered me here but didn't seem to have the pace last night. I know why now...

With this in mind I settled into the fastest rythem I felt I could risk, knowing that H wouldn't try anything silly this early in the race with the field so close behind. Somepoint in L2 the pack dropped back considerably and H seemed to be displaying an interest in getting by me - I continued as before knowing his best chance was to get a tow out of T1 and outbrake me into T2 as everywhere else was too tight. I imagine this was rather frustrating for him as I was clearly slower n some of the moe technical sections...
A lap or 2 later and Hristo struck somewhere I totally failed to anticipate - The braking zone into Virage de la Ferme
I was about to turn in as usual when I spotted him diving up the inside, Rather than hold my line I decided discretion was the better point of valour and made room for him to avoid potential contact. I still had a damn good (almost certain at the point) shot at 2nd so didn't want to push either of us to detruction that early in the race - especially as Hristo will sometimes bin it while trying for lap records ect  ;)

I assumed that that was what became of him when he disconnected, hadn't realised he'd mearly been dropped/lagged out - I shall write a letter of thanks to the relevant telephone/internet provider anyway  ;D

Oddly the red message informing me of his demise actualy resulted in my going faster rather than backing off to preserve car and tires. I still don't know why I did this - Mike had already retired and I was a minute clear of Natan/Fulvio.
I set my fastest lap of the race the following time round, this resulted in several slower ad more skittish laps due to the resultant heat in my rear tires - I than managed a gracefull piruette at the rear of the circuit on about lap 17/18 which gave me my slowest lap of the race, before finishing in style by putting in a pair of FL's on L19 and then L20. These were both 3:22.08 and about .003 seconds apart  ;D

All in all a good fun race for me - if slightly lonely after H ran off into the distance. Clermont is just so much fun I could have quite happily ran that distance on my own I think  :angel:

I also dicovered Bilbo Baggins and his house when parking up after the race - I've been driving past Bag End for the last 5 years, and even knew of the tunnel and Abbey Road, but have somehow never noticed either him or his house  :-[


Anyway - SHE is pleased  ;D

All your races belong to HER!  :D

I didn't any practice before the race cause I know well the track, but when I joined I found that I had a BT11 setup from 5 years ago when I had still the ol'red LWFF and I used to be a Right Foot braker. I dropped the front brake bias a bit and reduced the steer lock to suite the DFP higher angle, but the car didn't handle too well. I got 7th on the grid, but when I tried to put in first gear and watch on the side view nothing happened, wheel and pedals were working but no buttons and paddles available. In the horror of what would have happened at start I wrote in chat some curious words to bring attention, but too late, the flag dropped and I was hit by someone that was caught by my fault start. After all the pack was gone the buttons and paddles worked again and I could start and try to catch the pack. After have passed some spun cars I did a lap and an half behind Phil's Ferrari that hadn't any intention to let me by. I couldn't risk a pass on the twisty and he was faster on the straights so I settled to pressure him a bit till he spun  :angel:
Later I passed John, that was struggling with a damaged engine on the straights, but it was defending well on the twisty bits, and a BRM. In the end I was second after many drivers had to retire with sensible margin on K.Hiro in 3rd.
Since half distance my Lat and Q bars went up and they didn't return to normal till Natan retired, or he got discoed?
Ciao

Oh - to follow on from t'other Tim's comment.
Like Fulvio my lag was fine throughout most of the race bar around the time Natan vanished. They then dropped back to normal 10-20 seconds after his disconnection..

Dunno if that'll help you at all Tim  :)

I had that for Bremgarten when others disconnected, just FYI.

So something happened to everyone at some point of the race, probably when I got disconnected. I guess some people's connections couldn't deal with whatever happened. Seen it happening in other races before and in other leagues. Usually the cause of mass disco.

OK, my report:

Qualified next to last after Phil beat my time in the last minute.

The start went ok, I didn't do any mistakes, didn't gain or lose much, and drove happily off in the back of the field, behind Phil and one new guy called K. Hiro. The three of us got through Le Belvedere when we saw some cars had a gathering in the next turn. Luckily there was room to pass on the outside. Hiro got through, Phil got through, but when it was my turn, a Brabham crossed my path and I couldn't avoid hitting him. I was able to continue, but on the next lap my engine broke down. Obviously my cooler got the worst of the shunt, and wasn't able to keep the engine temperature down.

I watched the replay afterwards, to see who I crashed with, and to see what really happened. It's useful to watch the replay before I decide if I should get angry or not. Many times what I thought was another man another man crashing me out turned out to be all my fault, and all my anger disappeared like dust in the wind.

Well, this time I got angry from watching the replay. Jethro was in the brab, and I studied the replay both from my position and his. When I drove through, I was focusing on the gap between the to crashed cars and the side of the road, and I never expected that any of them would get in our way on purpose. OK, a stray car skidding across the track out of control was something I could expect in this situation, but both cars had stopped and seemed to be in control, so I presumed it was safe to pass. So his move was totally unexpected.

When watching the replay from his cockpit, I couldn't understand why on earth he started moving at that moment. There was no way in h*** he could avoid seeing there were three cars approaching, so why start moving before the last car had passed!?  >:( Jethro, what was going through your head in that situation? Did you see me coming at all, or did you have a tunnel vision so narrow that all you could see was your rev counter? In that case it was only tough luck that you hit me and not Phil or Hiro. It's not that you destroyed a winning chance for me, it's just that I love it so much driving this track, so when I get only one and a half lap, I get very disappointed. :(

Asbjeurn, you have a right to be angry. I don't know what I was thinking. But keep in mind that the view from the server replay is very much biased against me, since the bandwidth settings are (from memory) 4+2, meaning 2 cars behind. The server replay sees all the cars on track, the client replay sees a couple of cars behind you accurately at any one time. One of them was James, who was stationary, which meant Pribluda was playing catchup and one car was appearing out of nowhere every couple of seconds due to the settings. I couldn't be sure how long to wait for, so just buried the throttle and hoped I didn't hit anybody. The hope was misplaced, and I have apologised to you. It won't happen at Zandvoort, I likely won't be there.

Not to flame you or anything, Jethro, but you (or anyone else) should never rely on Pribluda for rejoining or judging gaps to other drivers in attempt to avoid collision. I've stopped using it partially because it keeps missing drivers around the track and having them suddenly appear in the standings and gaps list.

It's much better to use your ears and eyes, and gut feeling, to judge distances and approaching cars.

The other reason I stopped using it was because it's so damn distracting!

So what current book/magazine/newspaper/comic do you read whilst racing instead of Prib  :D

H, that's all well and good, but when there's cars coming literally popping out of nowhere the sights and sounds don't mean a damn thing.

Sorry, Jethro. I didn't take the bandwidth settings in account. Off course when you don't see all the cars behind it's not easy to judge when it is safe to move. I must admit that I have experience in being in that sort of situation ::), and if I'm forced to move across the track to get going again, I always move veery slowly, just to be sure that I'm able to stop if a car that I wasn't aware of should turn up.

TBF, it probably wouldn't have made a difference there anyway, any collision from the way my car was pointing was always going to be a big one. Where James's car was positioned meant that I couldn't do a slow 3-pointer or spin the car round without blocking the track.