SimRacing.org.uk

Hi folks, Cilla 'ere - this one's gonna be a lorra lorra fun.
A nice familiar track but with a twist. You will be on a blind date with the car in front of you on the grid. Your times will be combined to produce the winning couple who will receive a free weeks break in Hawaii (once I win the lottery). The loser will receive the UKGPL blow up dolly, Lotta Fargina, as they may need it  ;D

So, shift/R's allowed, but it's in your interests to help your 'date' as their lost time is your lost time. If this doesn't work hey it's only a fun race, but it could produce some interesting driving tactics...
Now who is the car behind you on a blind date with ?? If you're at the front of the grid there can be only one.

Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL_T7_2
IP address = 62.149.202.168
Race date = 09-03-2010
Time = 21:00 GMT
Track = Watkins Glen
Variant = 65 mod
Damage Model = INT
Qualifying time = 35 minutes. Don't start until 30 mins left on clock to allow everyone to join.
Race length = Long (33 laps)
Password: no password

Download the track from here; original Papy track
Add-on’s available at : http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=573 (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=573)
Please be in IGOR UKGPL chatroom by 8:50 pm

Watkins Glen International ("The Glen") is an auto race track located near Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the home of the United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for 20 consecutive years (1961–1980). In the early years races passed through the heart of the town with spectators lining the sidewalks, but after a car left the road in a 1952 race, killing one spectator and injuring several others, the race was moved to a new location on a wooded hilltop southwest of town. Later a permanent race course was constructed on 550 acres, overlapping part of the previous course. Despite improvements, the circuit became unable to safely handle the increasingly faster and stiffer ground effect cars of the late 70s and a few horrendous, sometimes fatal accidents and increasingly rowdy segments of the crowd began to tarnish its image. Finally, in May, 1981, several months after Alan Jones had won the 1980 race for Williams, the International Auto Sports Federation removed the race from its schedule because the track had failed to pay its debts to the teams.

I want whatever you're smoking Tim!
Had to read through that twice to understand what you were going on about  :P

Duh??!! ???

So, if I am on the second row of the grid perhaps 4th..then I am twinned with both the car in 2nd spot  AND   the car in 6th place on the grid??? but as two seperate "teams"??

But the cars in 1st and second spots only have a single partner? ( the two cars behind in 3rd and 4th) as do the guys occupying the back row ( the two cars in front of them).  :o :o

I hope you have a good spreadsheet to calculate all the permutations for the results. ::)


Or am I missing something here??? :-\

In 4th you would be paired with the next driver up (ie 3rd on the grid) AND the next driver down ie 5th. So you get two chances to win.
Any other way looked even more complicated LOL
The car in second dates first and third but yes he who is at the front only gets to date the car behind. Couldn't see an easy way round that as no point twinning with last on the grid as you can't influence the outcome.

If it all looks a bit silly just race, will see how it works out for a bit of fun...

Just an idea, how about twinning with the car at the opposite end.

i.e.

1st & 18th
2nd & 17th
3rd & 16th
4th & 15th
5th & 14th
6th & 13th
7th & 12th
8th & 11th
9th & 10th


This also may level the field a bit with potentially fastest and slowest paired up in increments.

19th dips out but introduces a bit of competition to not qualify last on the grid.  They can still race for fun & position, but wont count in the blind date competition.

Obviously may need adapting if there is no full grid, but the races have proved popular so far.

Just and idea.  :)

Ha, who says we're not doing that?  ;)

err....you did in the original post  :P

 ;)

OMG!! its gonna be one of his sneaky grids!!!  You absolute b**************!!!!!!! :eek: :lol: :w00t:

OMG now I'm confused!  ???

lol

Reverse or mixed grid like this would very likely lead to bad incidents on the start and the opening laps. The difference between some people speed in braking and cornering is too big. Especially when a faster driver in a less powered car is stuck behind a slower driver in a car with stronger engine.

So it tests the fast driver more then??

2 words: I'm f**ked!!!

That's 3 words,  if you discount the apostrophy  ;D

I was waiting for some smartarse to point that out. Consider you and I buddies for this race. ;)

What's there to test? You end up putting more pressure on all drivers and those incapable of handling pressure well will do more mistakes and it would lead to accidents.

then surely these type of 'fun races' are the place to help them get used to pressure that otherwise they will not experience, therefore developing drivers to become more competitive.

Would it not make a change for faster drivers to have to battle through some traffic, in real world racing that makes for some of the best racing.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but some variety and a change from the norm just adds a little spice to regular racing now and again, otherwise everything may as well just be run as it always is.

That's the point of the fun races, to do things we can't normally do. Hopefully it's things you guys will enjoy or not much point...

I don't know, usually people get demotivated rather than anything else when they're put directly versus faster drivers. Imagine how you'd feel you start in front and get passed by half the field.

I know it's for fun, but depends what fun means for people. It won't be fun if the race is ruined by accidents that were caused by mixing up the order. Have you watched WTCC where they reverse the order from 1st to 8th for the 2nd race? It ALWAYS ends up in tears for someone.

Anyway, just my opinion on this, don't want to enforce it or argue about it. Hope it's gonna be a good race.

I'll be there, but I'm not going to pretend to understand it.But hey, i'ts just FUN right?

From my understanding, each driver except the pole man is in 2 partnerships: with the car in front and behind.

Yes, you get two chances. And remember it is whoever is in front and behind you on the starting grid.

One fly in the ointment is I'm not sure if non-Prib users would know who their dates are until they go round once and get the pitboard. A new dimension to it  ;)

Not sure I used the wording pole man...

If I've really confused you think of your date in front as your personal gimp, if he falls so do you... BUT you do have a reserve behind. Ergo it's still in your interest to quallify as high as you can

YEP. Might be total rubbish but thought I'd try it. Just race if you like...

Just a bit of fun H. Will be interesting to see if people approach their racecraft in a different way.

I think Tim must take this season's award for the most complicated scoring sytem yet devised for a race, and for the most enormous amount of p*ss taking ever. Despite that he organised ( for me at least) a great fun race.

I still do not claim to understand what I was meant to be doing with either my "blind date" or the guy behind me on the grid, or even if they were one and the same person??!! :-\. I'm sure that will become clearer when Tim has processed all the data, collated the results and passed the figures through his spreadsheet before allowing the adjudicators to equalise the positions and publish the number he first thought of!! ::)

As this was a fun race I thought it would be funny to take the Brabham, because it is a funny little green car with only 5 gears. ;)

Qually was a case of getting used to the new sound file I had installed and reminding myself that this was not actually a lawnmower!! even if it sounded like one at times...
So 5th on the grid was better than expected, but whether that was good for my blind date I have no idea!!!

The start was good and I jumped Al ( I think) to slot in behind Nicky's BRM with Hristo and John threatening to break away at the front.

Nicky's Brm proved very tricky to get past cleanly and it took several laps of pressure before he left an openng big enough to exploit safely. Fortunately Hristo and John's squabbling over 1st place meant that they were not that far ahead, maybe 2-3 secs.

I think an attack by john compromised both cars at some point because suddenly I was a second closer and beginning to pick up some real slipstream on the straights and soon was right with them having dropped Nicky behind.

The next few laps were a great 3 way battle between John, Hristo and myself ( all in BT11's) as we swapped places looking for somewhere to gain an advantage.
Fortunately I had geared 5th for some slipstream and it worked well as battled around the Glen. Then John appeared to lose some momentum somewhere and dropped back by about 1 sec just as Hristo took the lead. I knew that Hristo might be quicker than me if left alone so I allowed H to lap unchallenged whilst I sat in his slipstream for a few laps just to see if he would pull us away from John...and he did.
Ifelt it was pointless tring to pass H before the last few laps because defending against him would probably be hard work and anyway I was being towed along quite happily by his pace. It would have been a good plan, but for the intervention of an innocent backmarker.
Hristo managed a pass just before the Big Bend but I was slightly baulked.(.no fault of the backmarker, just had my racing line compromised because he had to be somewhere on the tarmac  :-\ ) Hristo took full advantage and put the hammer down to drag himself just out of full slipstream range and then steadily drew away.

I kept up as fast a pace as I could, just in case H made a mistake and just about kept him in sight until the flag, although nowhere near making the planned last lap challenge.
Managed a certain PB in the Bt11 and was well pleased with this funny little green car, but still not sure of what my "blind date" thought about it??!! ::)

Ah, I do love my internet connection................ NOT!!! The sooner I fork out for them to have a master socket in the correct place, the better it'll be.

This was a fun race. I was under the impression that whoever is ahead or behind you (depending on position) is your teammate and so it seemed 3rd placed Nicky was mine.

The start was OK and soon JR began his attack campaign, but he chose to lift up every time he was within striking distance and slot behind instead. This continued for a couple of laps before he decided to finally go ahead and I didn't want to risk anything, so I let him by and followed into his slipstream.

JR was having trouble at some places, going wide a bit or making corrections on the exits, and so I had two choices: either ease off or attack for 1st. We kept exchanging positions for the next few laps and that allowed Evil (surprisingly, because I expected Nicky) to catch up and pass us both (!).

I was suspecting Evil might break away if given enough time so I tried to pass JR as quick as possible and did so at the end of the same lap. Then a long battle with Evil began, with neither having the upper hand, while JR and Nicky dropped back and out of our slipstream tail.

I managed to get past Evil but he was always in my slipstream and catching back up after losing some ground in some corners. That was until we were catching up with a backmarker with 6 laps (or so) to go and I decided to use this chance to escape ahead.

After risking a very fast entry into the Loop and then passing the backmarker by using his slipstream, it led to Evil catching him up at the next corner and losing enough time for me gain an advantage before the next fast bit. After that I just paced myself to the limit, because the BT11 has such a wonderful handling and one can really throw it around with confidence.

Looking forward to the final results, but I believe myself and Nicky had probably won it.  ;D

Well as far as my dating history goes, this was a fairly typical evening... I made a few overexuberant passes, lost control several times & ultimately ended up going for a roll in the hay on my own :D

Great fun though & congratulations to the winners... if we ever manage to figure out who they are!

 :D ;D
That was extreme fun  !!

and driving an BRM  here at Watkins Glenn is more sort of a walk around compared to drove  my beloved Cooper. Well , gearbox wasn’t set up right for first split uphill section  , but hey , my right leg didn’t hurt me after 34laps. Completely new feeling to me as a ` Cooper driver `.

wont go that far to say I understand the rules for this race  , was under the impression my team mates where Al and John  at start  and me and John later on then . well that leads me to `don’t close the door ` as  Evilclive  slightly ambitious  overtake at the loop , cause  his team mate was far away.
Well , later on  ( been behind John ) I came to the conclusion that he did not see me as a team mate . or at least not as a one been fast enough to serve him slipstream so we both could maybe , catch up again a bit to the two drivers in front . I was always trying to find the balance to give him the right signals by pushing but not pressing . lol didn’t work out .

Only Tim knows who was with who on a blind date , I think .
So , Hristo , I am too , looking forward to the final results .

Anyroads , see ya all tonight at Silverstone  Breasts race .


 :laugh: thx for that big fun Tim

Hands up to a bit of a khazi on this one, it did seem an idea at the time. The plan was for the grid to be 19-1-18-2-17-3 etc etc, but I went wrong in not allowing for less then 19 drivers. Hence we ended up with a few fast boys sitting at the front until our 15th entrant kicked in against the 5th quallifier.
Ergo Hristo and John formed the first date - saves me doing my spreadsheet as they are the 'happy couple' hands down.
That said, and it was just a bit of fun, from the posts it looks like you all enjoyed the race anyway. Especially impressed by Evil's push from 6th to 2nd.
You'll just have to indulge me - I like to come up with a few different ideas for the mid season races to make them out of the ordinary and at least it wasn't a disaster.

On my part had a great race, it went fast due to lots of pressure. Great fun with Goran - he breezed passed me and I thought ok bye then, but I kept pushing and eventually caught his slipstream and got him back only for him to pass me again. A bit further on he spun off gifting me a place.
Al and Steve were a bit back but always looked menacing so no let up. Towards the end Steve seemed to apply the turbo, he always seems to manage to pull out that extra bit. He was closing fast but luckilly for me and unluckilly for him there was not enough time left to get me.

Roll on the last fun race - 69 endurance nice and simple  ;)

OK, I guess I was totally wrong, but you did say that those ahead of you and those behind you were your couple, so I went by that assumption and Nicky was directly behind me on the grid. Had I known JR was my teammate I wouldn't have fought him and tried tricking him into ending up in a fight with Nicky... please make it more clear next time.  ::)

Hands up guilty of onerousness  :hammer:    The Iron Man  (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=7607#event2126) race is a bit more straightforward  ;D

It was fun racing, and felt a little more competitive right up until stupidly spinning.....twice!

The closing stages were testing, while trying to catch Tim (Vos), Al was closing on me somewhat faster and we were concertinaing up for a close finish, but laps ran out.

Thanks for setting it up Tim.  It's good we have people like you here to think of fresh ideas and set these races up, keeps interest going for many, even if you do get moaned at sometimes!  ;)

So, who was actually on a blind date with??? :-\ :-\ :-\ :blink: :blink:

Well this was how we started; Hristo / John / Nicky / Al H / Szculkiye / Evil / Tim FMG / D Rock / Nigel S / Goran / Steve B / Fulvio / King Hero / Pete M / Vosblod
Your dates were the driver in front and behind you.

Uhm... so I was with JR, but was JR with me and Nicky, and was Nicky with JR and Al? What do you mean by "in front and behind you"? At the same time? Doesn't make sense to me...

This is feeling like hard work  :hang:   Maybe I didn't think it out enough, ie was a bit of a good idea that didn't work in practice - maybe I should resign OR just retire from doing mid-season fun races???  :wacko:

No, Tim, I mean... I get your idea (I think) that each 2 drivers form a pairing, so there's a maximum of 9 pairings for a full grid (right?). So initially I thought 1st and 3rd (on the grid) form a pairing, 2nd and 4th, 5th and 7th, 6th and 8th, and so on. But you meant 1st and 2nd form a pairing, 3rd and 4th, 5th and 6th and so on, right? If not, then I'm lost.  :P

Ah ok - yes. And the words 'in front' probably should have been 'next up the grid'