SimRacing.org.uk

And now, the end is near, and so we face the final curtain. My friends, I'll say it clear, I'll state my case of which I'm certain. I've lived a life that's full, I've travelled each and every highway. And more, much more than this, I did it my way.
So we come to the final race of the season at Watkins which, incidentally, was also our first ever Graduates race in S18.
Here is the championship position (and forgive me if my maths is wrong);
Works; Al H 265 / Hristo 261 (net of two worst scores)
Privateers; Vosblod 264 / Ronnie 225 / Mike T 223 (net of two worst scores)
So those are the drivers in with a shout but there are plenty more positions to jostle with for the remaining aspirants. Good luck in what promises to be an exciting contest.

Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL_T7_2
IP address = 62.149.202.168
Race date = 08-08-2010
Time = 21:00 UK time
Track = Watkins Glen
Variant = 67F1
Damage Model = PRO
Qualifying time = 35 minutes. Don't start until 30 mins left on clock to allow everyone to join.
Race length = 50 minutes (laps 45)

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=248;theme=6)
The track can be downloaded from : original papy track
Add-on’s available at : http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=3620 (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=3620)

Please be in IGOR UKGPL chatroom by 8:50 pm UK Time

Reserve drivers should not join the server until there are only 30 minutes of qualifying left. Please restrict chat to pit messages. Moderating will be by reported incidents only, however the moderators reserve the right to review any incident with a particular emphasis on lap one. The aim is to review the race the following weekend so incident reports should be submitted within five days of the race (ie the following Friday). We're hopeful most incidents can be resolved amicably and recommend a days deep breath with a replay review before posting. A sorry in the forum won't be taken as an automatic admission of guilt by the moderators.

With the token system chassis strategy will be a factor. A driver must have sufficient tokens for the chassis he drives in the race.  Any driver who does not have sufficient tokens will be disqualified from the result and his tokens will be set to zero.

Chassis costs;
Lotus 20 / Eagle 17 / Ferrari 15 / Brabham 10 / Cooper 5 / Honda 3 / BRM 0

To see your current tokens hover your mouse over your total points on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=248&theme=6). Ten tokens will be added when you cross the start line.

The Championship is split into two sub-divisions, namely Works and Privateers. The driver split will be;

WORKS drivers

Phil T	Evil	John R
Tim FMG	Steve Bird	Göran Jonsson (R)
Al H	Bartosz (Pod)	King Hero
Rick	Baab	Hristo (R)
Sam B (R)	Fulvio P (R)	Ruud Savelkoul (R)
Dwarf Car Driver (R)	Doni Yourth (R)	Beefpie (R)

PRIVATEERS drivers

Bernie	Burtoner	Mike Turner
Vosblod	Bookie W (R)	Billy
Fabio (Il Lupo)	Rafael Mestdag	Graham (R)
Pete Maestro (R)	Nigel Smith (R)	D Rock (R)
Hannah (R)	Ronnie Peterson (R)	Maddog
Gilles27 (R)

67 Patch: The 1.3 Release of the 67mod can be used.

NOTE: In the event of enough entrants a second grid will be run for the Privateers on ukgpl.5. (ping myjamesonline.net) Instructions will be provided in the chatroom – please ensure you join the correct server, due to the way we import if you start the race on the wrong server your result will not count. If you can try to make sure you are in the chatroom by 8.50pm this will enable a decision without any delays to the start time.

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.

Eerie silence in the build up? ???

Fear?  ::)

I think the password is superfluous to lap 1 Privateers needs.  We are apt to self-inflict without any help. :P ;D

A disappointing end to the season. No problems at all during quali but then had a screen freeze on L2 :( Still there's always another season to look forward to :)

Congratulations Vos. Lost a piston on lap 2 and so the season ended early for me aaahhhhhhhh!!!!

Sorry to hear that Mike. A bit of a damp squib for us. Goodnight.

Two missed gears, that is all.  :cursing:

May the best man win. :)

EDIT: Congrats to Hristo, Vosblod and our other survivors!  :)

A dismal race for me.  Joined late, didn't get much time to praccy and had to use an old set up that had too much understeer and when I tried to push on I ran wide at the Big Bend, race over.  Never mind there is always next season.

A big thanks to Vos for organizing the Grads this season ably assisted by John Roberts in the early stages.

I wasn't expecting much from tonight's race as it was only my 2nd in this division. Pleased with 4th on the grid which became 2nd after Martin and Ronnie fell off early on. After that it was a quiet race as leader Tim disappeared into the distance.

I had a few harmless spins but kept going to the flag and a first podium in Grads, so overall a decent effort.

Congratulations to the new champions, Tim and Hristo, on excellent seasons for you both. Also thanks to the moderators for your efforts.

Looking forward to doing a full campaign in these beasts next season.

Pole, fastest lap and a straight win - a satisfying way to win the championship  :jumpjoy:
Was especially pleased to do 45 laps with no spins and, as I met no one (except Hannah who was exemplary when I lapped him), I don't think the result is provisional.
Also a big congrats to H on winning the Works.
I can't explain how satisfying it is to win the Privateers - it sort of makes the two year learning curve worthwhile. I'm sure you guys have all been there with personal GPL goals but my original aim for this season was just to get a win.
Anyway can't sit on my laurels, a really tough battle in the Nov's coming up on Tuesday, but have really enjoyed the Grads this season and my fellow competitors have gone from strength to strength; Pro is a merciless master...

I had high hopes for this race until I noticed it's at (the dreaded) Watkins! If I had knew earlier I might have even done some practice, because it's one of the Papy 11s where I never do well or even finish. It's usually an affair with The Loop after struggling to find balance in the car and pushing too hard to compensate, with tires overheating.

Well, Qualifying just proved it to be the case again - I probably "died" a couple of times after major offs while exploiting the limits of adhesion... which was lacking, really. I have no idea how I could've liked the setup I had (and it looked like a fairly developed setup judging by the naming convention I used), but it didn't work this time.

The major problem was sever understeer on both entry and exit, and snap oversteer as a result of trying to break through it with more abrupt throttle and steering inputs. I knew the car could go much faster, but for some reason I couldn't get the tires to perform - they would simply overheat without providing the needed grip at any time. Softening the front and stiffening the rear only made it worse, so eventually I returned to a fairly soft setup which treated the tires better.

I was far off the pole sitter Joe (welcome, new alien!) and 2nd man Tim, and personally I was at least 3 tenths off my PB with a joystick from 8 years ago! Talk about going on a decline, lol...

Anyway, I was kinda relieved to see Al behind me which meant all I had to do was bring it home, preferably in 3rd position. Evil suggested 60 fuel laps which seemed too much, so I put in 55. That proved to be way too much as well... I had 12 fuel laps left at the end and I wasn't really saving the engine or something! Evil!!!  ::)  ;D

The start was OK and my first priority was taking care of the tires until they're up to temperature, because if you overheat them too quickly they never get the chance to cool off anymore unless you slow down and lose 5-6 seconds at least. I was also worried about the engine, as is usual with the Honda, but my gearing was quite nice, especially 5th which was set for slipstreaming. Although that cost me a couple of tenths per lap when running alone, it was worth going for.

Joe pulled away instantly and Tim was quite cautious when I had a run on him. He didn't take any risks to reclaim the line quickly even though I was already behind him. That allowed Joe to escape even further while Tim began to pull away from me at the same time.

I had other worries though - Fulvio was suddenly very fast behind and putting a lot of pressure, especially at The Loop where he was decreasing the gap by what seemed half a second on each lap. I had to focus completely on my exits to compensate for that and it worked OK.

In the meantime Tim seemed to have found his mojo and was probably catching up Joe (who I couldn't see anymore) up ahead. I say probably because he definitely went up a gear after a few laps and started increasing his lead over me by half to a whole second per lap or so. Fulvio eased off (or so it seemed) after a couple of laps, just to relaunch his charge again and close up to within 1 second.

All in all, very intense racing and nobody could afford to make the slightest mistake. The first to do so was Joe who I just passed by as he was returning to the track after an off at The Loop (where else?!). I'm thankful he waited until we went by to rejoin as there was not much room.

I was wondering if I'm going to suddenly see my pitboard inform me of Joe's charge back through, but instead got informed he left the server. Some kind of relief at that time and I managed to drop Fulvio further back as well. I was just thinking that perhaps Tim might get bored running alone in the lead when I saw a glimpse of a car at The Loop run off area and then soon after a message that he retired as well. I swear, it wasn't a curse on my behalf!

Now the race was mine for the losing, but for a change I had a very consistent and reliable run, even if not very quick. The setup was working well enough to keep the tires within reasonable temperatures, and the engine was far from ovearheating, so I could allow to push whenever I needed to break through the monotony.

Doing that near the end of the race nearly cost me the Championship itself! A bit too late braking for The Loop (ffs, even ovals have more than 1 corner...), the rear stepping out in attempt to brake harder, an over-correction to the left and the car spinning into the fence. Fortunately the collision was at such an angle as to bounce me back towards the track instead of dragging me along. The car JUST managed to clip the dreaded hay bale slightly before spinning mildly to point in the right direction again.

There seemed to be only minor damage and what I believe was some engine damage because I couldn't rev as high anymore, but despite that the speed in the corners was still there and improving as the fuel load went down. The gap to Fulvio halved as a result though and because at that moment I had worries that I might run out of fuel (so far from the truth as mentioned earlier), I was not sure that the 6 seconds gap back to him would be enough if I had to slow down and lower the consumption.

As it turned out there was no need to worry and I finished at normal speed. Feels good to take another title, but it's becoming increasingly more difficult each season with everyone improving and the rules nor favoring our single-car team in particular. Amazing performance by Al this season and I admit he was not amongst those who I expected to run a Championship campaign. Keep it up, Al!

Great for the Great Hiki Waza to win another constructors Championship as well - as SHE would say:

SUBETE NO SHOURI WA WATASHI NI ZOKUSHITE IMASU!!!  ;D

(ALL YOUR VICTORIES ARE BELONG TO ME!!!)

Indeed...

-=Hristo=-

P.S. Grats Tim Vosblod for winning the Privateer Title! If you keep the learning curve that steep we'll soon be fighting it out in the Works as well!

An interesting jaunt was this.  My first on-line race at the venue, or as I call it, the Widow maker.  It was no surprise to read the culminating factors which did in the Glen Grand Prix.  I enjoy the thread openers, incidentally, and imagine others do.  But the track lulls one into a false sense of security.

It was no surprise to see Jim, er . . . Tim once again doing Colin Chapman proud with a pole, but it was obvious to me, the team was showing favouritism to their points leader.  My first time out with the Lotus, and only gridded 3rd.

A great start by Ross, who put me back to 4th off the line, and I needed all my horses, to overhaul his Brabham.  A scrap with Ronnie next looked possible, until his engine rapidly expired.  I passed close enough to his stricken car, for a consolatory handshake, but was rather busy at the time!  Tim had opened a gap, which I was almost able to hold on full tanks, but not for long.  I locked up entering the far turn, and fishtailed into a haybale. :-\

What I'd needed were a few more horses.  The Lotus had performed well, but the horses could've eaten the hay, and let me continue.  My car was undamaged!

So, helmets off to the champions, and those who survived, and just as well someone did - the hospitals were full!

Very annoyed with myself for throwing away the lead after being so chuffed with the start, managed to hold the back end up the hill and some bunching up behind me gifted me quite a lead, Tim was really catching after a few laps when I went too deep into the loop and lost the back end having failed to grab third gear. Having to let just about everyone go by I made some progress as a result of Clive's unfortunate accident. Then again I failed to grab second for turn 5 and without the neccessary engine braking I speared off the road and the car was unfortunately too bent to continue. Very frustrating but a fun few laps to start with.

Congrats to our champions Hristo and Vosblod and thanks to those who organise the events. :)

Joe.

I was quite happy with my PB time, because it was my PB ;)

I had a bad start to the race, big wheel spin cost me two places. I've started to catch up. afther some time I was just behind evil and soon I was able to make a move on him at "Big Bend". Than I've started my chase afther Rick, but it was very difficult because we both were lapping on similar pace.
Afther few laps of chasing Rick, I've made mistake at "90". I was way to wide there, and I lost a lot of time trying to get back on track. Afther that Rick run away from me, and Evil was just behind me. I've tyred to catch Rick again, but I was so mad on me, that I've become to aggressive and I spun at The Loop"
That cost me my wheel and I had to retire. Not the way I wanted to finish my season.

I'm quite happy with my first season as a works driver. I feel like I've learn a lot and who knows, maybe next season I'll be bigger thread for the Big Boys ;)

Congrats to Hristo and Tim for well deserved titles. I also want to congratulate to whole Hiki Waza Racing for winning teams championship. It was a great battle for the title, but next season the victory will be ours! Muhahaha

I'll also would want to thank to everyone involved in creating and running this great championship :)

After have run a lot of dirty laps with the result to sit in the back of the grid I concentrated in the last six minutes of qualy to put in some clean laps trying to paint the esses, open early the throttle out of the loop and not overdrive at Big Bend. It worked and I drop down half a second and set a new PB lining in 4th behind Hristo :)
The start at the front was quite good and only Tim had a bit slow exit from the esses that he compensated soon with the Lotus power, but again at the Loop brake he was a bit out of shape with H on his left and that scared me that looked the tires and got the inside curb. Luckily all went well and nobody behind me was affected by my workaround.
First ten laps I tried to get the tow from H to gain a little gap from Rick and Bart Lotus, but later the tires became hot and the Waza Mobile dropped some weight so I lost the tow and had Rick again on my tail.
When Tim retired I almost went wide scared from the yellow and the tires marks at the loop, so Rick became very close and me very wet  :o
The last ten laps were a battle against my concentration trying to drive more clean as possible trying to exit fast from turns and not overheat the tires and engine. It worked and Rick couldn't close up to try a move to pass.
Grats to H for the win and the title, and thx HQ for organizing.
I hope to be able to join more races next season.
Ciao

Thanks to all for organising and taking part in the MAIN EVENT and original GPL mod, which is still the hardest to master, but ultimately the most satisfying to get right....or so I am told!!!  ::)


Sorry about the fuel load Hristo, but I always play VERY safe on fuel in the thirsty Waza. You would have been more upset if you had run out 1 lap from the finish!!! ::)

Grats on taking the title again Hristo and to Tim for pushing all the way....that waza training last season has stood you in good stead  ;D
Al has also shown a potential threat for next season and Joe is looking dangerously fast and may need to take the alien DNA test!! ;)

I was afflicted with the same problem as Hristo as regards setup...overheating tyres and at least 1 second off what I thought I should be doing??
The start was good and I picked up a place of the grid, but that was just about as good as things got???!! :-\  My best hope was for retirements as I just could not get the Waza to compete. About 10 laps in I made a similar mistake to Hristo and missed my braking point into the loop, and failed to hold the slide, but I hit the fence a little harder than he did and lost a wheel.
Once again , mostly thanks to Hristo, the 2 man Hiki Waza team have defeated the green things, who depite massing "hundreds"  ::) of drivers to try and swamp the victorious white machines, have failed and fallen by the wayside.
Even the sneaky introduction of the token system in an attempt to sway the seasons results has failed to prevent HER team from being victorious again.

All our victories are belong to HER.   D  ;D  ;D  ;D  ;D

Anyone wishing to join HER illustrious all conquering team need only take the secret glass of Saki and wear the sacred fundoshi to become one of her followers. ;)

Firstly I'd like to congratulate Hristo on the title - you just can't argue with 6 wins out of the last 7 races! WD also to my teammate Vos on taking the Privateers.

My race in the Brabham ended up being rather lonely. Once again I was frustrated to find I couldn't match my practice pace in the race, though I think trying to survive 45 laps of the dreaded Loop had a lot to do with that, plus a badly overheating left front tyre. With all the retirements by half distance I ultimately found myself in 4th behind Rick, but despite my best efforts I couldn't close the gap to him so that was where I stayed to the end. WD to Rick & the bionic man Fulvio for the podium.

This showdown was a bit of a repeat of last season in Privateers as again I found myself going into the final race leading the championship... & yet again emerged in second place :P However I have to say that this result was a lot less disappointing than last season (beaten by 1 point! it still hurts, Rick! :taz:) Although any slip-ups by H here would have handed me the championship, it would have been a bit of a "Keke Rosberg" title (i.e., achieved with just 1 victory) so I think it's about right that the title went to the guy with by far the most wins. Anyway I'm pretty chuffed with my debut season in Works & did a lot better than I expected - just need to find a lot more speed for season 20!

Thanks to everyone for the great racing - from where I was sitting, it looked like we had a lot of clean & controversy-free races. Thanks also to Tim & John for organising it all & choosing some really interesting & challenging circuits - hope we see some more new tracks next season. 

It goes without saying the big thank you for the pleasure of racing with you guys this season. Great series and great organisation. I look forward to more action in the future! Congratulations again to Vosblod and Hristo.

Gah! My curse here at Watkins lives on!  :censored:

Knew the lotus would be an absolute swine while on cold tires so took it easy until I had some grip (The only decent long term setup resulted in something that actually handled worse than the RA300 until warm!  :o)
After that it would just be a case of remaining smooth as too much exuberence would cook the tires, Average temps for the rears were hovering at 300 degrees in normal race trim so I couldn't take much more ;D

All was going to plan, I managed to hold Hristo off for the first few laps as the car sorted itself out. Then I started to reel Joe back in as his car got warm and twitchy.
Once he span off at the loop I saw it as plain sailling and resolved not to take any risks here with my history at the Glen.
Even taking it easy the Lotus was good enough to knock maybe half a second a lap off Hristo which kept the pressure off nicely.

Then the curse struck and I somehow managed a wobble over the brow of the Loop under braking - this caused me to miss my turn in point.
No biggy I thought as I was purposely entering slower than I could, But a rear tire must have glanced at the grass so off I went in a nice pirouete  ::)
Lost the front left in the spin and had to retire  >:(

Congrats to H and Al for a well fought out battle in the Grads, and also to Tim for taking the Privates with some force!

I'll be back......

Not a great race, on my own for most of it and managed to fall off at L19 and rip a wheel off. :-(

Must get better in the 67s

will try and do more in the next season

Congrats to Vos on winning the championship

Fingers crossed I can give Vos more of a race in the Novs on Tuesday

Great reads everyone.  I'm very happy to have gotten onto the podium even if it was due to retirements.  We have some very fast guys here and my current talent level is just a wee bit short of top notch.  My qualy was only 2/10s off my PB but matching my PB would not have advanced me.  I got the jump on Bartosz and immediately fell into a chase of Fulvio.  I trailed at about 1 or 2 seconds and just couldn't gain any on him.  On lap 16 I had an amazing 360 spin in the middle of the esses where I managed to pull out of it facing forward and doing about 50mph with no damage.   :o  This ended my chase of Fulvio but luckily Al had already made a big boo boo of his own and so lost a chance to close the gap on me.  I then entered a long period of uneventful laps until eventually I saw the gap to Fulvio slowly but steadily diminish down to 1 sec.  Of course I got all pumped up and focused on getting close enough to make a go of it.  From my cockpit it was very intense.  My closest chance came with about 3 to go when I got pretty darn close going into the Loop.  A little extra push there might have gotten me into his draft down the long back straight, but then again it might have slipped me into that damned fence line and stack of hay that have ripped off so many tires of the too daring.  So I eased it off (translate: chickened out) and never got another chance.  :(

But it was great fun.  The whole season was fun.  Thanks to the organizers.  Good track selection, I loved the change of pace offered by Carthage even though I didn't last more than a few laps there.  I do wish though that we didn't have 2 weeks in between.  I just want to GO every week!

Big congrats to Hristo and Vosblod.  You are The Champions my friends!!   :clap: :clap:  Well deserved!

EDIT: make that 360 degrees

WD Hristo and Tim.

Remember: ALL YOUR WINS ARE BELONG TO HER!!!! ;D ;D ;D

Well done Hristo and Tim.  Thanks to the organisers for sorting the season out, the bit that I was able to make was great.

Unfortunately I couldn't make this one due a broken wheel, even after employing my soldering skills (gained from RC racing some 20 years ago), the thing didn't want to play.  Can anyone recommend a decent wheel?  Are G25s a default good choice?

Will there be plenty of fun races in the off season?

Is there any interest in a 69s championship?

Cheers, Bob.

G25's are great, plenty of other good options out there - but for the money a G25 will keep you going years and is almost unbeatable value.
Only major issue is finding a new one, think you almost have to buy 2nd hand now as they've stopped making them.  :)

69's always used to be a joint venture with GBGPL, I don't know if that's still going though. Clive should know as he used to be keen on it  ;)

Yes looking into it now, any ideas welcome...

Unlikely although there might be something in the Spec races.
Apart from not having a free 'slot' there weren't many UKGPL attendees when we ran the joint venture with GBGPL

Targa, IOM, Targa, and erm.... Targa  ;D

(I need to beat Mike this time  ;) )

He said "fun"!  ::)

@Bob - I use Microsoft Sidewinder wheel (10 years old now) and it's extremely robust. I don't think any wheel comes close when it's about durability. It also has an optic pot, so it lasts forever. You can find brand new ones on Ebay and much cheaper than Logitech.

Sidewinder is certainly a very sturdy wheel but mine always seemed to overheat.

As for fun races, some British tracks perhaps, Snetterton, Goodwood, Brands, Oulton Park maybe even Cadwell or Crystal Palace perhaps? :p

I had a Microsoft  Sidewinder until its tendency to overheat developed into a smoking habit  :o It was very good bu i wore out the lightweight bearings in the pedals and had to make some repairs to kep things working.

Then I invested in a G25 and it certainly is a good piece of kit. Very robust and good feedback with a nice smooth action.
I believe the G25 has been replaced with a new model, the G27, but I know nothing about that at all.

if you want to race 69's,  GBGPL run a 69 series which could always do with a few more competitors. There are all abilities running so you don't have to be an alien to enjoy a race. GBGPL run a more "gentleman's club" tye of outfit but the racing is no less enjoyable.

G25 is excellent wheel. mine is few year's old and still working like new. Personally If I was going to buy new wheel I would buy new G27, witch is improved G25. It have more buttons on wheel, better FFB and shifter(but with no sequential mode).

I've got a G27, excellent wheel and very low noisy compared to previous DFP. I wanted to install the AP Electrix load sensor, but is no more available at the moment. :(
Someone knows how to workout the configuration of H gears with GplShift? The Auto option that works with G25 doesn't work with G27.
Ciao

LOL, I don't know how you people overheated your MSFFs or broke parts of it, it must be a question of driving style.  :o ::) I never had such issues...

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll have a look on ebay.

Fun race at Kyalami?

Hi Guys,

I now have a sidewinder (complete with 1 year guarantee), if it is good enough for H...

Unfortunately I can't seem to calibrate the steering for GPL.  On the calib screen the arrow goes right, then moves but stays to the right side when steering left.  Pedals seem fine.  When trying to assign the steering controls, GPL doesn't recognise. 

When going through control panel\Game controllers everything seems fine, so must be a GPL issue.

Can anyone help?

Perhaps I should post on a different bit of the forum.

Cheers.

problem solved

I was about to say
... make sure you have removed any other joystick or wheel software or allocation, as I had similar probs when I had a Sidewinder.

But you have fixed it ;D.

Moderating completed