SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 18 (2009) Novices Trophy (65) - Round 7 - Adelaide

The eight round of the season takes place down under on the sunny streets of Adelaide. The circuit is a temporary street circuit in the East Parklands and played host to 11 Formula One Grand Prix events from 1985 to 1995. It is the scene of Niki Lauda's last race and Ayrton Senna's last win, and it has also proven to be the deciding round in more than one World Championship, including the famous incidents involving Nigel Mansell in 1986 and Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher in 1994.

It also held the shortest race in Formula 1 history when the race was stopped after 14 laps due to heavy rain.

The version of the circuit we will be using can be found here:
http://jrpearson.homestead.com/AdelaideCircuits.html

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.

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

Please restrict chat to "pit in" / "pit out"  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 = 6.UKGPL
IP Address = 80.5.200.198
Race Date = 15-12-2009
Time = 21:00
Track = Adelaide
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = Intermediate
Qually Time = 30 minutes.
Race Length = Long
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=223;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.  Please note chassis adjustments can be made at any time not just at the mid season review.  Good luck!

FULL TIME DRIVERS
Burtoner - Brabham BT7
G Poole - Brabham BT11
Vosblod - Lotus
Happy Al - Lotus
Maestro - Brabham BT11
Nicky - Cooper
Bookie - Ferrari
Norbert - Ferrari
NHance - BRM
Al Heller - Brabham BT7
Il Lupo - Ferrari
RogUK - BRM
Mark65 - Brabham BT11
Barry De La Rosa - Ferrari
Billy Nobrakes - Brabham BT11
Bernie - Honda
Tussman - Brabham BT11
Roberto Motta - Lotus

RESERVE DRIVERS
Viss - Ferrari
Karlisss - Honda
D-Rock - Lotus
Gilles27 - Lotus
Rogster - Honda
Nigel Smith - Lotus
Flatspot - Brabham
John491 - Honda
Maddog - Lotus
grahamrd - Lotus

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)

I've been practising here recently at Adelaide for the next round.  I hope I get a spot on the grid and can improve my performance after Zandvoort.  Enthusiastic newbie waffle follows:

It seems the key there is finding the best compromise between a setup that's soft enough to be aggressive over the curbs at the first chicane and at Markets Kink (I'm only riding these curbs significantly with the right-hand wheels), but not so soft that the car is unresponsive in the rest of the lap.

I think I'm getting there, the only place the car catches me out even when I'm concentrating properly is at the entrance to Wakefield Corner.  Sometimes the car wants to pull to the left under braking, and if that happens I end up running very wide.  Surely the car can't still be affected by the left-hander after the chicane by then?  The only way I've managed to be reasonably fast through there is by chucking the car into the corner and hoping for the best.

The other problem is Stag Hotel, where the car's often still slightly unsettled by Markets Kink, and oversteers a bit.  It's hard to use all the road here, and I seem mostly to be just trying to catch the car when it's pointing the right way and powering out.  If I do run out wide, snicking the kerb even slightly makes me spin.  Brewery Bend is a lot of fun though, and when I get the trajectory right the car follows the groove and then the kerb catches the slide for me.

Certain parts of this track are very slippery and Stag Hotel is one of them. I exit the kink and get the car settled with a bit of throttle before braking for the right hander. You may find the car naturally starts to slide right and you can use that to get the nose pointed in the right direction and control the exit with throttle. Takes practise but its doable.

Try this setup that I use. A team mate and I can do mid to low 35s with it so far but have best sectors for 34s.

http://www.jamesonline.net/gpl/setups_65.htm

If you find it to sensitive and pointy, you could change the diff settings.

Wow, your setup is tons softer than mine!  (Even though it's for the Lotus and mine's for the Brabham, the cars aren't that different surely.)

My PB is around 1:35.7 so perhaps I don't need to be looking for more speed as much as I do consistency.  I'll experiment with softening things up a bit on mine and see if it helps.

I'm not sure how much faith I put in combined sectors, as you can reduce them quite a bit by not braking nearly enough just before the timers for sectors 2 and 3 are triggered.

Yeah, prib is a good guide but can be misleading at times, also, consistency will help here as the track is so slippery people are bound to spin, especially with somebody in their mirrors.

Flatspot, I've been finding pretty much the same thing as you - only I can't do a 1m35s!!

This is a track that I am finding it hard to be consistent on - I get on or two sectors right each lap, but never all four. More practice needed.

Cheers,

Ross

Hi Mike,

I've been doing plenty of laps with your setup, it's a lot better than the one I was using before. Typically I can do 37s and 36s, occasionally getting 35s when I hook it all up.

The main problem I seem to be having is getting heat into the tyres. Pribulda's tyre temp indicators only get up to green after around 5 or 6 laps, before that I get chronic understeer and my times are really slow.

Is this normal? Perhaps I need to be more aggressive on cold tyres to get the heat into them quicker.

Cheers,

Ross

Bear in mind that I am running in Pro 50% races so if I have the tyres too hot, by mid way in a Pro race they will be no use. GPL doesn't have tyre wear so they don't degrade over the race but if they are too hot they will lose performance, so if the first few laps are under temp it isn't too much of a problem and everyone else is in the same position anyway. Also the heavier fuel load I run at the start of a race will help me heat them more quickly than you will with a low fuel load.

I find the opposite than you though, I find I get oversteer, but if you approach the turn in a little slower by braking a little earlier and getting on the throttle as you approach the apex then the back should be happy to step out and you can get a nice 4 wheel drift going on and through the exit. That's the theory anyway though i don't always manage it.

If you're really not happy put an extra psi in each tyre or try 2 and see how hot they are after a longer run (half a Novices race length).

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the tips. I tried changing my driving style as you suggested and it seems to have helped a bit. I'm getting more consistent now, did a 12 lap run with only one spin, which is good progress for me.

I think I might have been wrong about the tyre temps - at the end of the day, as you say, everyone is on cold tyres for the first few laps, and Adelaide is a short lap so it will take 4 or 5 to get them up to temp.

I see the race length is set to Long, I make that 25 laps, is that right? It's going to be a tough 45 minutes or so of racing, concentration is key around here, IMO.

Cheers,

Ross

I noticed that in the first post the info for the Amateurs is shown, which among other things says that there are enough slots for all full time and reserve drivers. This obviously isn't the case so i thought I'd point that out.  :)

As for the race, what is the rule on going wide over the curb at the exit of the backstretch kink? I know it's quite a risk to try it but will we be penalized if we do?

You wont be penalised for going wide there.  ;D

But, be very careful in getting back onto the racing line, because someone who has got that corner nailed will be catching you very fast. If you pull back onto the main circuit and cause an "incident" the moderators may take a dim view. :hang:
Not that I have EVER done anything like that you understand ::)

Hi all,

I'm left in the paddock. while you're all racing.  My first ever online campionship race - alas.

My mechanic tells be it would be better to develop a Turbo-brain first, so I'm faster.

That's fare enough, but my transporter broke down before I even reached the track!  PASSWORD

INCORRECT.  Was Nickys server not S+++++ or maybe case sensitive?  Either way, I was expecting

someone to stop in the chatroom for 5 minutes with a tow rope!

Sorry I missed the fun - that "L" plate or novice 'X' is going to have to stay on longer now . . . .

"sob . . . snifle !"

Yet another No Go for me , couldnt join Nicky's server this time I get .....

10054 ERROR DETECTED


wtf is that  >:(

Then try to join by IP and there is

IPX node bla! bla! bla! in the place where you should be able to type the IP address .

Then try re boot till im blue in the face, but its just the same  :-\

I go to Monza (on line ) no probs , its fine !

What do I have to do?  this is driving me to an early grave, I dont understand why I can join on line races but when theres a password needed I cant get in (where is the "shit" emoticon)



gone for a STIFF DRINK to CALM DOWN

 

 

 

Saw you in chat mate but was to busy trying to sort out my own probs , chin up and better luck next time  :)

 

Now I see it  !!!!!!!!!    Top of page at 9am - clandestine stuff.  I checked a few hours too early.

It's like the French at Le Mans - they used to change the regulations at the last moment to help the

home teams.  But I'm British I tell you . . . I even drive a Lotus, when

allowed . . .  "grumble . . grumble!"


Maddog.  (becoming mad)

Sorry M8, I was late home from work (didn't get in until 9:10) so had to jump straight onto the server.  I'm usually around in chat to help the first timers.  At least you know where the password is now :(

We do state where the password is in the Race Announcement (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7200.msg125948#msg125948).  See "IGOR and Race passwords: see above"

I appreciate the forum can be a bit difficult to navigate around at first.  Easiest way is to go the homepage (https://www.ukgpl.com/) and find your way from there.  The race announcements can also be found by clicking on the flags at the top of the Championship table (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=223&theme=6).

A network error on your system, your network card =is unable to communicate properly.


IPX is an old networking protocol before the days of TCP/IP and is mainly for Novell networks.

You could uninstall the IPX protocol altogether as you won't need it.

Might even help.

And ?


How do you do that ? 

How does the bludger get there anyway ?

Answers on a post card please ( In BIG letters and please write slowly cos I'm thick ) 

C'est une problem.


Right click on the connection and bring up its properties. The only things you should need in there are Client for Microsoft Networks, File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks and TCP/IP.

Click on any others and then click the Uninstall button below.

If you take out one you need, you can rreinstall them but you may be asked for the XP CD.

Doping either will require a reboot I think.


Well, that'd be the Wiganer in you.

Quallied 2nd to last - prib said 37 but I couldn't get better then a 39.
Not seen the replay but found myself in third after a few laps. I knew there was no way I could hold on to that with my speed but scraping in seventh was a good result for me at this track.

Hey maddog,

Sorry to hear about your problems last night. Not sure if the password was case-sensitive, I worked on the assumption it was, and got connected OK.

I do know how you feel though - for Zandvoort two weeks ago I had been practicing a lot (over 200 laps) and then couldn't connect on raceday. Very frustrating, especially as everyone else has gone leaving you alone in the chat room to wonder WTF is going on. Thing is, once you get connected, you don't want to go back to the chat room as (I think) you would lose your best time in qualifying, as well as wasting practice time.

Hope you get in next time although you may have to wait until the Xmas break is over. There is always Billy's Sunday Spec races though.

Cheers,

Ross

Very demanding track & hard to be consistent - about 2 seconds between my Prib time and laps time. Nevertheless didn't have a bad drive starting last on the grid and picked up a few places by the finish line. Didn't even need a Shift R. Had a running battle with Norbert - we weren't exactly racing but trading spins. I spun last so Norbert finished in front.
Good debut drive by Ross to finish 4th(?). Where do all these fast Newbies come from - we need some slow drivers to make me look good.
No more championship races until January !! Just to keep you chaps in shape there will be a Sunday Drivers spec race on Sunday (plug) 20th December at Mosport. If you are not in the Interleague find a set up for the Honda & the Cooper & join the fun. There will also be a hang over special on 3rd January at Watkins Glen - can't remember which cars - will post nearer the time.
... Bill

Thanks mate, clear as mud  :-\

I threw everything I had at this race as being a tight twisty track I thought it might be my last chance of a decent result in the BT7. In fact I was surprised to find in testing that I was quicker here in the BT7 than I had been in the Lotus for last Summer's Fun Race (which is also a measure of how much I have improved over the last few months I guess). I'll be moving up a division next season so it was great to get such an unexpected result here.        

I like Adelaide & once again driving the 67 race here helped me improve a lot in 65's (as ever, I'd recommend the 67 junior series Privateers to anyone running in Novs). Beat my PB by some margin to grab provisional pole early on in qually - I knew I wouldn't better that lap so did some test runs on race fuel & wasn't too disappointed when Tussman relegated me to 2nd late in the session. Both me & Tussman took it easy into T1 & then began a nose-to-tail battle that would last all 25 laps... it's not often in GPL that you can race someone closely the whole race without incident - it was very tough but was a good clean fight with neither of us doing any silly moves. I followed Tussman closely for half the race before a slight mistake let me through into the lead - suddenly the situation was reversed & Tussman was all over the back of me for the next 12 laps. My setup was optimised for the twisty sector 1 & the Stag Hotel corner so I could just about pull out enough time to guard against Tussman passing me on the long straight. Any mistakes would have settled it but somehow I managed not to make any slip ups & held on to win.      

Congratulations to Tussman for 2nd & to D-Rock for 3rd. Also well done to Ross for grabbing 4th on his debut. Thanks to Nicky for stepping in with the server (sorry to see your engine blow - had a few go on me in testing too :P) I wonder if we should set up a spare server for Silverstone as quite a few regulars were missing for this race - might be an idea to provide a fun race for the reserves in the event that we're over-subscribed?  

 :)
Hi Bernie ,


To check if your TCP/IP protocol is enabled , go to :
1.   Windows-system control panel
2.   open Network-connection ( those icon shows a plug in the earth , lol )
3.   right click on the LAN connection is listed in there and open properties .( could be more then one , depending on your hardware. I f there are more then one , simply do the following steps to each  ).
4.   make sure the boxes are checked for : Client for Microsoft Networks , File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks and TCP/IP protocol .

I hope that helps.

Well , to be honest  , I am surprised you could join Monza but not my server.
Was Monza PW protected as well ?

Kindly regards
NickyIckx
 ;)

I enjoyed the first two thirds or so of this race before my frequent spins started happening on nearly every corner.  Must somehow learn how to be consistent.  I need to concentrate 100% on not crashing, but my mind wanders to thinking about whether I'll be able to catch the guy in front, or if I'm being followed paying more attention to my mirrors than the road in front.  It's frustrating to know that I'm fast enough to fight it out somewhere in the middle of the field, and then to finish last due to spinning almost every other lap.  At least I finished though.

Qualifying was all right; I was half a second off my PB, so would only have been a place up even if I'd managed a super clean lap.  Apologies to Billy for impeding him with a bad PO and Nicky for spinning on some grass that had been painted to look like asphalt.

Gilles got a bad start and Rog had a flyer (why did he vanish after lap 1?), so I remained fifth.  I wasn't fast enough to keep up with the front four, but moved up to 4th when Nicky bizarrely stopped for a break on the grass.  My spin (which proved to be the first of many) at Stag Hotel let four people past, but after passing Nigel at the hairpin I was briefly back to 5th.  Looking more at my mirrors than my turn in point did for me at the chicane, and hesitancy at rejoining led to me beaching and needing a shift-R.  My clumsy SnG didn't seem to do any damage, but I was down to 9th, a double spin at the hairpin put me down to 11th, and further spins put me 12th and last.  I fought my way past Norm and Norbert for tenth, but a series of mistakes put me last again, and too far back to catch anyone up.

I had a couple of small collisions with Norm, and have submitted incident reports so that I can get some guidance on what I might have done wrong, and learn as much as I can from the incidents so I can find the right balance between fighting for a place, but doing it cleanly and without crashing.

 ;D
First of all big hand to Al and Tussman !!! very well done .
Congratulations too goes to D-Rock for great 3rd and to Gille for great 4th !

pitty that Bernie wasnt able to join  :(

what happend to Roger ? disco at beginning of L2 ?  ??? ???

My race :

-Went to start late and didn’t warm up my engine proper
- got an real good start , but not fast enough to jump on P2 safely
- decided to stay in 3rd gear at T1 instead of 4th , coz Al and Tussman realy took it easy
- due to that 2 self created mistakes I stranded up with an blown up engine to the end of Lap 1
- waited till the whole field  passed my , did shift-R
-did an stop and go inside the pits
-did a lot of bullshit over the whole lap 2 , till I could calm myself down
- 2-3 nice laps hunting John491, who was P5 that time
- mismanaged to fight for P4/P3 by making a stupid spin at last turn on L21
-luckily could regain P5 at least

all in all a poor performance by me . BUT still big fun.


Hope there will be some fun races over the holydays …
 :)

Thanks Nicky , I have looked at those and all boxes are checked .

Monza didnt need a password , also I was racing Adelade on your ( I think it was you)  practice server last monday night.

It seems the problem I had before has come back to haunt me , last time I was convinced it was caused by my AVG anti virus plus firewall , but I disabled that and still had the error message so can rule that one out  ???

Im thinking a full re install of GPL is now the only way to go , but would rather have all my teeth pulled than try doing that  ::)

Re-install GPL to somewhere other than your current place and check it all works properly.

Then make a backup of it that you never ever have to touch until something else goes wrong. That way, you know you have a working install without issues.

Ah Adelaide, its the track that made the Aussies say "lets run a GP......... at Melbourne". :'(
Had an engine go in qually so watched the revs in the race (see below)
Was changing race set up as the server moved from Qually to Stand by to Race which resulted in no green button so I watched the grid form up & depart without me. Frantic mouse clicking resulted in me suddenly being in car in the pits so I set off 20 secs in arrears. There must have been bother early on as I caught the back markers by lap 2. On lap 3 my engine went again so it was shift R & S&G losing further time leaving me 12th & last. By lap 11(repeat 11 !!!!) Tussman & Al H were lapping me as I was leading Flatspot after one of his many spins. I went wide to let them through but had a bump with Flatspot but he got the better of this one & pulled a 10 sec lead on me as I plodded on my lonely way. Towards the end I was racing Flatspot again! & we had another bump but this time I came off the better but he was behind me until he lost it yet again & I proceeded to finish 11th after D Rock had lapped me. I've replied to the incident reports he submitted & hope neither of us get penalised as there was no red mist or anything deliberate on either part I felt.

Thanks to Nicky for the server & well done to the awsome Tussman & Al H. Think it may not be too long before D Rock is on their case as well.
Norm H

First of all, a very well done and grats to Al, what a race you did in that BT7.

If you look at Gpl-rank the BT7 is about 1 sec slower than the BT11 so, well you must be 1 sec quicker than me then.

The race begun well, I manage to get pool and took the start and for the first part all went well but then I braked a little too late and Al passed me.

The rest of the race I tried to get back on top but Al was so quick in the first part of the track so I could not pass and I have noticed also that passing is not my best skill in GPL. My last attempt of passing ended  with a spin so thats why I was about 7 sec after Al over the finish line. Well it was, as Al said, a clean fight and in the end I just was not fast enough, but at least I got poole and fastest lap so 2/3 is not too bad I guess.

Sorry to hear about your engine Nicky, and I must ask about that you said about warming it up before the start, was that a joke or does it really matter, I have never thought about it.

Grats to D-rock for p3 and just one more thing;

Flatspot said, have you noticed that what you think about tend to happen the same way that were you look you go, so, think of what you shall do and were you shall go and skip the not thing.

PS. If the quote and underlining is funny it's because I don't know how to do it, if it is allright I was just lucky

Yes, I don't feel you were reckless or anything like that, it's just lack of experience (me especially).  I didn't submit the reports hoping to get you punished, just to get more experienced eyes to have a look and tell me if I could have done something better.

Bad luck about having to start from the pit lane, but I'm impressed it's possible to do so in GPL.  Obviously less impressive when it's not letting you get on the grid.

I discovered a program called GPLshift+ (http://www.gplshift.dk/GPLshift/index.htm), designed primarily for using an H-shifter (which I don't have) with GPL but also it lets me use the POV hat on my steering wheel to look around, reducing the risk of not being able to find someone in a blind spot.  It's taking a bit of getting used to, but it's better than just the built in look left/right commands.

Well done to Tussman and Al, who were in a class of their own in that race, not only quick but racing cleanly and with minimal mistakes. I think Nicky and Rog might have been close to them but for their problems early on.

Although I was 4th, and really should have been 3rd if I'd not spun twice at that poxy chicane, I think I was pretty lucky to be honest. Others were quicker than me, and several guys were missing, so midfield would have been my likely finishing place.

The early laps were pretty hairy, I had a choking fit on the grid (next time I won't eat gingerbread before the start!) and lost a place, but Rog disappeared and I found Vos in front of me - how the hell that happened given his grid place I don't know! I passed him at the hairpin and had a pretty lonely race thereafter, trying to keep D-Rock at bay until the two spins.

Still, it's a decent start to my UKGPL career, shame we have to wait until New Year for the next one but hopefully there will be a few festive events to help me escape from the family :-)

Cheers,

Ross

That's a good point.  I think I just need to log hundreds of laps and make sure that what's going through my head is nothing but "braking point, turn in, apex, power on, straighten up" and try to get 5 clean laps in a row, then 10, and so on.  Too much of my practicing has just been hotlapping, but there's no point knowing I can do a decent 1:35 if everything goes right and then averaging nearly 10 seconds a lap slower due to spins.

Hi Flatspot,

Nicky showed me how to map the F10 button onto my wheel button - I find it useful for a quick look at the "chase" view - especially for rejoins. Details are found in this thread if you're interested https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6617.msg115038#msg115038 (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6617.msg115038#msg115038)


Horses for courses I think Tussman - I guess Adelaide suits my particular way of driving but at Zandvoort you were 1.5 seconds faster than me!

 :D
Hi Flatspot ,

F10 view in fact is a good alternative to those gplshift look around , and for sure more easy to get used to.

floating mirrors are too  extreme helpful . I would highly recommend them.

and no question to me ; Pribluda is a must be as well , imo .


 :D

Congratulations on the win!

I've found I can use the Logitech drivers to map F10 to a button on my wheel so I don't need the extra program.  So I have the FOV look-around, the outside view, and Pribluda.  How can I make an excuse when I punt someone off to say I didn't know they were there?

Say your pedals broke. ;)

Spins & crashes - a thought. Over a period of time my braking & downshifting has got worse to the point where I was just slamming the brakes on hard & going straight to the gear for the corner, sometimes 6th to 2nd. Got this wrong regularly resulting in lock ups &/or the torque pulling the car off line & spinning. So I never went through a race without a spin or crash. I can't heel/toe.
My team mate Clutch, without whose help I wouldn't be in on line racing,went on board with me at silverstone challenge race qually & basically said I was doing it all wrong (well a bit blunter actually). So he came round to my place & gave me a teach in.
Drive with socks on the feet, no slippers, for sensativity, brake earlier, & squeeze the brakes lightly, easing off as you dip the clutch & downshift ( H shifter). Repeat for each gear. Dont downshift too soon either. It aint easy & I'm not fully there by a long way. You can still take 2 gears at once on some occasions but for the big stops go right through the box. As he said when he left you won't go any faster but you won't crash as much.
Adelaide was the first race ever I think, well certainly for a long time when I went right through the race with no spins apart from partly off at the 1st chicane & the 2 bumps with Flatspot neither to do with braking.
If you all knew this then sorry for boring you. Yeah I know I was 1 from last but to me it was an improvement in driving that mattered.
Norm H

  

Using a H shifter in a league race = respect!!   :notworthy:

I have a G25 (and I have GPL Shift installed so the H shifter works) but I only use the H shifter for a bit of fun and realism.  I'd never dream of using it in a league race, it is just too difficult.  I just use paddles and left foot braking.  Only use the clutch off the line, after that I don't touch it unless I'm making another standing start for some reason.

First off congrats to Al and Tussman, you guys were absolutely flying, makes me wonder if perhaps you were using the shortened circuit  :D Good job to gilles as well, you would have beat me to the podium if not for a couple of spins at the chicane, and 4th place is a great debut, especially on a track like this.

Speaking of that chicane, my race almost was ruined there on lap 3. I ran slightly wide at the first bend, launched over the curb, spun to the right, missed the end of the wall there by a few inches, spun around a few times, and still managed not to hit anything  :o
After I got the car righted I took a short drive through the trees until the wall ended and I could rejoin the actual circuit.

Other than that there were no major mistakes, a huge contrast from my best Alex Yoong impression at Zandvoort. Could be 3 for 3 on podiums if not for that race, but either way it's been a good start to my UKGPL career  :)

 

If you watch the alien drivers ( whatever you do DO NOT watch me!!) it's all about smoooothness. Braking and down shifting so as not to break the tyre adhesion ( yes, GPL is that smart...it knows when you are abusing the grip!!) and likewise on acceleration no wheelspin or wild power slides. I will bet that your fastest laps and PB's are generally done when you were not really trying, but did a very clean and tidy lap?
AS you have discovered, going off costs time.. about 20 secs per excursion is a good average, braking 1 sec earlier seems like a good trade off? and if you are fully under control going into the corner you will get on the gas earlier and get a clean fast exit..PLUS you carry that extra speed all the way down the next straight ;)

Phil try use H shift, with Left Foot Braking. I do this all the time and it works quite well(I would use H&T but for me it's uncomfortable with G25).

Amen brother!


Especially true at Adelaide I found, when the first sector seems very slow it is usually smooth and quick.

Hi, i've been reading all your comments and would like to add a few- none offensive I hope. I've been participating in UKGPL events for about a month now and am enjoying it very much. Signing up for as many leagues as possible probably doesn't help consistency, but my biggest problem is finding computer time, and my 'practice' seems to be the qualifying sessions.So, apologies to anyone I may get in the way of and there should be a horn button for the aliens to tell me to get out of the  way when lapping me, lol, as my attention seems to be limited to one thing at atime as I get older. Adelaide- I tried the 67's there the night before but went through about ten engines in qually and couldn't manage a lap in the race without at least one spin, but the 65's were much better, picked my way throught the early mayhem to find myself, I think in 4th- big shock- and immediately went into 'overdrive' mode resulting in loss of places ;( Congrats to Al +Tussman- and everyone else- as we all know its not easy. Look forward to seeing everyone again soon. Thanks for listening.

 Grats to the podium guys and grats to all drivers who finished race.
Adelaide a bit of a disaster for me, after downloading track and installing, found my GPL froze after a couple of laps, end result 4hrs doing complete reinstall of GPL/GEm/ect, (must keep backup) entered IGOR 9.15pm in time for race, Qually mid field, 1st lap got good start following Nicky, 2nd lap at Brabham straight hairpin Nicky blew engine Good news for me but not for long as got discoed.
Have checked my network connections as Miner2049er said, and have all 5 boxes ticked (don't know if this is problem with disco) have unchecked 2 leaving ones ticked as told, when i was discoed GPL went back to its reconnect to server screen, don't know if this is the same as Bernie's prob.

Happy xmas to everyone and see you all at Silverstone.

Well, after my first online gpl i have learnt a lot. After an encouraging quali, I made the classic mistake of trying too hard on the first lap. Recovered quickly to find a rythum and made up a couple of places during which got my pb by a clear second.
The 25 lap race certainly requires a longer attention span than i am used to, but i really enjoyed the challenge of the Adelaide circuit.
Had a spin on stag hotel corner later in the race (never really got the hang of that one) and then on the pit straight hairpin but pleased to finish and not drive into anybody.
Look forward to the next race.

Thanks to everyone involved in running the race.
John491