SimRacing.org.uk

Season 19 Novices Trophy - Round 10 Watkins Glen

The final round of the season will be in the USA.  The championship is still wide open with the top 4 drivers all in with a chance of wining the title.  Norm's chances are a little slim, he still has a mathematical chance but he will need a lot of retirements from the front runners.  Similarly Rog has to drop 15 points (his next lowest scoring round to date) so he can only score a maximum of 270 points.  The main protagonists are Pete and Vos, the wise money would be on one of those two but anything can happen in racing!  Pete has to drop 20 points (his next lowest scoring round to date) but Vos already has two none-scoring rounds to his name so all his points in the final round will count towards his championship total.  What this means is Pete can't afford to play safe and follow Vos across the line, it will be a case of winner takes all.

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.

Reserve drivers should not join until there are only 30 mins of qualifying left.  However, all drivers should not go on track until there is 30 minutes of qualifying left.  This helps all drivers join the server successfully.  Please restrict chat to pit messages.

Don't forget to use the updated 65 mod for this race.

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 = 10-08-2010
Time = 21:00
Track = Watkins Glen
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = Intermediate
Qually Time = 30 minutes.
Race Length = Int 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=250&theme=6)

We have split the cars into groups based on average performance and split the drivers into groups based on average ability. The chassis numbers for Novices are as follows:

NOVICE CHASSIS GROUPS
1 - Lotus, Ferrari, BRM, Honda
2 - BT11
3 - Cooper
4 - BT7

Each driver has been given a seeding number and must pick a chassis with either an equal number or higher number but not a lower number. For example, if a driver is given a seeding of 2, he must pick one of the cars in group 2 (BT11) but if he would prefer to drive either the Cooper or BT7 he may do so. This means that a driver given a seeding of 1 can pick any chassis he prefers.

**NOTE**
Whichever chassis a driver begins his first race with is the chassis he must use for the remainder of the season unless a change has been agreed with the moderator.

The following drivers have made their chassis choice:

FULL TIME

Driver	Chassis
D-Rock	Lotus 33
NHance	Brabham BT11
roguk	Cooper T77
maddog	Cooper T77
maestro	Brabham BT11
il_lupo	Ferrari 512
happyal	BRM P261
Billy	Brabham BT11
gilles27	Lotus 33
G Poole	Brabham BT11
BookieW	BRM P261
Sharkfin	BRM P261
norbert	Ferrari 512
Vosblod	Lotus 33
Burtoner	Brabham BT11

RESERVES

Driver	Chassis
Nigel Smith	Honda RA272
karlisss	Honda RA272

The following drivers are still to make their chassis choice:

RESERVES

Driver	Seeding
miner2049er	1

Please use the updated 65 mod for this race which is available here:
Jamesonline.net/UKGPL (http://www.jamesonline.net/ukgpl/1965mod_PATCH_v2.0.2_Setup.zip)

Im thinking of running this one, though I may be a little rusty after such a long hiatus. After going through moving and everything that comes with that, it'll be nice to get back on the track again.

Well, after being gone for so long I guess this was a fairly decent return, at least the part where I won the pole was. I cruised for several laps in 5th, not wanting to interfere too much with the title contenders. Then, in a moment of cruel irony, I spun in the carousel just moments after having talked on the phone while driving 2 mistake free laps. After that I rode around some more until my engine blew up 15 laps in. After taking my stop go I made it til 3 to go before spinning again, after which the game decided to CTD. Overall though it was good to race again, and hopefully between work and school I'll have time to drive in the offseason and in Season 20.

Firstly a big hand to Pete Maestro who pipped me to the post. Great championship battle.
Good start saw me third then followed Ross through to second. After that ambition got the better of ability and my potential move to make Ross my buffer back to Norm resulted in a loopy at the Loop.
After that Pete was through and try as I might I could not close the gap - even my 200 pins into the Meastro57 voodoo doll would not do the trick  ;)
Seriously, four wins was more then I ever hoped for this season and it was a great championship battle so see you all after the break (PLUG; don't forget we will have some Fun races)

Oh and a big 'black fingernail' for our unsung hero; they seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere, is he in heaven or is he in hell, that damned elusive Statmeister aka The Stig of UKGPL. Adds a bit of extra fun to the proceedings.

PS: a big hand to my doppelganger Tim on winning the Am's

Sorry I missed teh race, but as I'd had no pratice I thought it was better to stay well away.

Just wanted to say a big well done to Pete Maestro for his championship win, well deserved. Of course also to Vos, a close second and still a great year.

Grumble . . . grumble!  I new this race was going to be a challenge, for the working mans Cooper.  Threw everything but the kitchen sink, at a monumental setup, but it remained an uphill battle.  The car simply couldn't compete, with those snobbish Lotus' up the road, and gravity was winning.  So practice saw me trying in vain to put the 'welly' in, and I failed at the big tow.  So a lightning start from the back of the grid, and a red flagged thunderstorm, after 3 laps, were the best I could hope for.

It started well enough, as I drew alongside Rogers Coop.  But slower traffic mid-Esses curtailed my aspirations.  I'd considered a 3 wide move, but even as I put the yard stick away, a warp had my counterpart tasting the guard rail.  I keep forgetting these distances aren't real!  So a long uphill slog ensued - the downhill parts weren't so bad. :-\

My race was livened up the most during lappery.  I met with two slower cars at the entrance to The Loop, on two separate occasions.  Fortuitous, in that they allowed me to compare notes with the 67 race, at the weekend.  My 'seat of the pants' feeling, is that there's little difference in the trajectory of these 65s, once adhesion is lost.  Even though the 67s have more potential grip.  I think the straw may have tasted a little better on Tuesday though - a bit more moisture in it . . . and a bit less chewy.  Grumble!  So I trundled around, wondering what greatness had transpired up the road - rather a long way up the road!

The replay tells of a tremendous race long battle, between Roger and Bobby for 4th - very entertaining.  And of coarse, the major event had to be, 'The clash of the Titans', with Tim and Maestro going for glory, and Norm, hell for leather, trying to overcome the odds.  What a great championship decider!  Another dominating win for Ross, upstaged by these pretenders to the throne.  Only one of them ain't pretending no more!  Thanks for keeping things exciting chaps - a hard earned, and well deserved crown.

As for the next race at this infernal track, I'm well prepared.  But I'd suggest a small alteration . . . seeing as so many of us, discovered our cars prefered going backwards at certain places, why not make this a backwards race!  What's with these silly historical conventions?  No, I don't mean the track, the cars, backwards.  My setup is already dialed in, just need to add some floating mirrors, and scratch around for the perfect reverse gearing . . . and I could fool my car into thinking it was last!  Whats the problem . . . sounds good to me!  ;D

Sorry the Seasons over, it's been great!


Martin.    
 

Wow, my first race back in quite a while.  I could do no better than last on the grid during qually.  Well below my best time.  Decided to try to keep out of trouble and stay on the track.  Did too for the most part.  As time went on, my car got better and better(more laps on a new to me setup).  Found I was able to hold my own in the middle of the pack....exciting....not used to this.  The last ten laps with Roger were exciting too.  I was faster in some sections and was able to gain slowly.  The draft played a major part in my pass in Big Bend.  Thanks to Roger for not punting me off in the last corner.  It was fun!

Bookie

We didn't quite match the thrills and spills of Adelaide 1986 but this wasn't a bad title decider, especially from where I was watching. Commiserations to team-mates Tim and Rog, plus Norm, but in the end Pete was indeed the Maestro with a typically smooth drive. He's produced a number of those this season and fully deserves to be champ - WELL DONE THAT MAN!

D-Rock set a cracking pole time but my 3rd place soon became 2nd after he bogged down. Norm, myself and Tim broke away from the pack and had a good battle for the first few laps. Sadly it ended too soon as they both tried passing me into the Loop, and both ran out of road. That left me with a battle against concentration for the rest of the race. The only slight alarm was Martin spinning in front of me when I lapped him.

It was good to see D-Rock and Bookie back on track this evening, hope you guys will be competing on a regular basis next season as you've clearly got the speed to do well.

After three wins in the last four races I've got my feet under the table at UKGPL and am looking forward to season 20.

Lapped?  I'll have you know, I carry a top secret anti-lapping devise!  It looked to me more like the actions of a jealous stablemate.

I knew the result I needed. Also I needed to change my attitude, so no more caution picking up points, its win or bust time. For first time ever I didn't use my own set up but one downloaded from race sim ages ago. That took ½ sec off my PB.

Took an early lead from Ross, Vos & Pete, if it stays like this its just call me champ I thought.... er chump may be more appropriate. Small mistake running wide at The Loop & I was 3rd but Vos went off & I caught leader Ross. Its all or nothing now as I made an attempt to pass at The Loop. Fair do's Ross saw me coming & gave me room but I lost it & dropped to 4th.

After that I had some spins, probably more than in the previous 7 races put together & a bump with Sharkfin as he tried to let me through but I chose the wrong side. Amazingly the car held together in all this but I ended up 6th & 4th in championship unless I committed any errors for the Mods.

I'm happy though 'cos I gave it my best shot. Well done Pete a worthy champion whose been consistant all season & to Vos & Ross also. Respect due to our 2 Cooper drivers as well. Good to see a few returned faces at this one & hope we have fuller grids next season.

Norm H

 :jumpjoy: :jumpjoy: :jumpjoy:
Well that was a sweaty palms final race of the season! :sweatdrop:

Starting the final race in 1st place in the championship with only a slim lead in front of Vos, and I think the top four all in with a shout, is a bit nerve racking

Things didn’t start off well! :oops:
Joined qually only to find my wheel had lost its calibration setting, was 90deg out and wouldn't recalibrate.
Had to leave session and try and fix it, played around but still didn't seem to be 100% correct but tried in GPL offline and it seemed to be at least working OK. Rejoined with half the qually session already gone.

Struggled to get any sort of sensible time, either by my own mistakes or meeting other drivers. At the very last moment managed to get a lap in for 4th on the grid. Still way off a PB but it was one place in front of Vos. Phew I thought.

Congrats to D-Rock for pole time :clap:, especially as he hasn’t been driving for the last 4 rounds.

Start of race and Vos drives past me with ease. :o Where are my flying starts when you really need them. Down to 5th and not reached T1 :'(
The front four were pulling away slowly and with Vos in front of me, that was probably the championship gone. Then the race fairy started waving her magic wand  :sorcerer: and one after the other Vos, D-Rock and NHance fell off the black stuff and I was now second chasing Ross and importantly with Vos behind me in third.

Ross was faster and 100% consistent and slowly pulling out 1/10ths and moving away.
Vos seemed to yo-yo the distance behind me a small amount but generally I seemed to be making the gap bigger.

It seemed a very long race, and I was watching prib times all the way and hoping I didn’t make a mistake

Ended up 2nd and with Vos behind in 3rd was enough to stay in the lead and win the series.
Very pleased to have got there in the end and after 4 seasons in Novs it is nice to finally come out on top.

I would like to thank the following people for helping me win the championship ;D

 :notworthy: Vos – thanks for missing the first two rounds, 4 wins in only 8 races makes you top race winner this season
 :notworthy: Ross – thank god this was your first full season and your early races you kept falling off. 3 wins and a 3rd in the last 4 races
 :notworthy: D-Rock – thanks for being new and absent for four rounds. With 3 poles and 1 win you are too quick.
 :notworthy: N-Hance – thanks for missing two rounds, 5 podiums and two Fastest Laps in the last three races means you are also much too quick now.

I think I had a bit of a jenson button season, started well, and by the end was lucky as quite a few others were a lot quicker than me so was lucky to hang on. Thanks for the excellent racing guys

Also Big Thanks to all organizing people. :clap: See you next season or maybe some fun races soon

Race Mod and Season Standings finalised