SimRacing.org.uk

For those who can't bear the thought of no races for nearly three weeks we have organised a little festive get together on 28 December.

Basically it will be a team competition with Santa versus the Elves. We're going to run it on the suitably snowy 'Rouen in Winter' track. It is not currently available but I've had no objections to making it available (see link below) and it has been tested online before.
Normally for a team event we would run PRO but Santa is feeling generous this christmas so you will be allowed to Reset (without a pit stop) BUT, the catch is, for every reset you take (fault or not) your team will be docked five points. Do you want to be the multiple Shift/R man that costs your team a win? The choice is yours...
It will be a Spec Race of Santa (Ferrari - red) versus Elves (Lotus - green) so it will be easy to see who your team-mates are. As an added twist the team Captains are the Big Santa and Evil Elf which means they will carry double team penalty points of ten if they reset but they will also get a bonus of fifteen points for your team if they make it to the end with no resets (ie cross the finishing line). I will appoint the team Captains in chat, my prerogative, but I will be looking to appoint two of the less 'alien' drivers to lead you.

Team selection will be made by Big Santa and the Chief Elf, by turns, in the chatroom so there is no need to pre-register, just make sure you are there by 8.45pm if you want to be in the race as that is where the password will be given out. The first Captain chosen has a momentus decision - you can either pick the team/chassis (Santa's - red Ferrari OR Elves' - green Lotus) or have first choice of driver. It's then like picking footy teams in the school playground – Captains take turns to select from the assembled cast.

It's quite simple;
'Those of you who are playing in the match this afternoon move your clothes down onto the lower peg immediately after lunch, before you write your letter home, if you're not getting your hair cut, unless you've got a younger brother who is going out this weekend as the guest of another boy, in which case, collect his note before lunch, put it in your letter after you've had your hair cut, and make sure he moves your clothes down onto the lower peg for you. It's perfectly simple. If you're not getting your hair cut, you don't have to move your brother's clothes down to the lower peg. You simply collect his note before lunch, after you've done your scripture prep, when you've written your letter home, before rest, move your own clothes onto the lower peg, greet the visitors, and report to Mr. Viney that you've had your chit signed.' 
And a team bonus of 1 point to the first person to guess where that came from...

Team Points Scoring;
Standard Points Positions 1-19:
-------------------------------
30 - 25 - 21 - 18 - 16 - 14 - 13 - 12 - 11 - 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1
(you must start ie cross the 'start line' to qualify for points)

Additional/Deducted Points:
---------------------------
10 Extra Team Points for the whole Team (Santa / Elves), if all drivers of the team cross the finish line.
15 Extra Team Points if the Team Captain (Big Santa or Chief Elf) crosses the finish line without a reset.
1 Extra Point for the first 'quote' guesser (who and what film)

5 Deducted Points (from team) for every Reset made by a driver (fault or not) - DOUBLE for the Team Captains


Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL_T7_2
IP address = 62.149.202.168
Race date = 28-12-2010
Time = 21:00 UK time
Track = Rouen (in winter)
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = INT
Chassis = team captain allocation (Lotus OR Ferrari)
Qualifying time = 35 minutes (please don't start until 30 mins left on clock to allow everyone to join)
Race length = Int Long

Password: provided in the UKGPL chatroom

The track can ONLY be downloaded from : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=81HW08TF (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=81HW08TF)

Please be in IGOR UKGPL chatroom by 8:45 pm UK Time to allow for team selection.

65 Patch: The 2.02 Release of the 65mod can and should be used.
http://bit.ly/d8dECl (http://bit.ly/d8dECl)


From its opening in 1950, Rouen-Les-Essarts was recognized as one of Europe's finest circuits, with modern pits, a wide track, and spectator grandstands. The circuit (which ran on public roads) had a few medium straights, a cobbled hairpin turn (Nouveau Monde) at the southernmost tip, and a few blind corners through a wooded hillside. The appeal was greatly enhanced by the climb from Nouveau Monde at 56 metres to Gresil at 149 metres. Rouen hosted five Formula One French Grand Prix races, the last one in 1968 resulting in the tragic burning death of Jo Schlesser. The circuit continued to host major Formula 2 events until 1978, after which it was used for various French Championships. The circuit was closed down in 1994 due to economic and safety reasons. In 1999, following the circuit's closure, all evidence of area's racing past was demolished, including grandstands, pits, Armco and track signs. The cobbled Nouveau Monde hairpin was also asphalted but it is still possible to drive around on the original circuit configuration.

John Cleese   Clockwork?  might be the only point I get if its a correct guess!!!  ::)

I'm thinking 'meaning of life' here - All I know is it's deffo Python-esque  ;D

I might get a point if there are only 19 entrants :)  Sounds like a blast, but I am away I think. GLA

BTW I think Tim is right. It IS from the Meaning of Life although what Sex Education with John Cleese has to do with Rouen in the snow is anyone's guess.

What's that? Its perfectly simple... :D

Humphry addressing the class in Pythons The Meaning of Life , do I get the prize now  :D

There's a man who knows his Python and picks up the golden bonus point.

Hopefully I haven't made the whole thing too complicated, just turn up in chat is the gist of it.

If you watch the whole thing this is part of the first extended sketch in Part 2 of the Meaning of Life - Growth and Learning. Sketch starts in the school hall with Prayers and moves on to a sex education lesson with John Cleese performing a practical demonstration with his 'wife'. The speech is the opening scene of that lesson.

Told you I had too much time on my hands :D

Still think Tim should get the prize and if not I posted before Bernie - so there. :laugh:   

Ahh but Bernie specifically said it was John Cleese addressing the class. Of course you can Appeal  ;D

Wooo Hoooo!   :taz: :taz: :taz: :jumpjoy: :clap: :clap: :clap:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTMlZSKEu-Y

Classic...

 ::) Do I get half a point for guessing John Cleese as the actor 1st????

Rouen in winter, must be slippery then ?  :)

Actually it's not, it just looks very wintery.

As regards the bonus point the moderators decision is final, the decision was swayed by my pity thinking of Bernie shivering in his loft in his Santa outfit for this event. At least it's worth frostbite now for that golden extra point.

BERNIE SHOULDN'T BE SHIVERING IF HE STOKES UP ON THE PIES. It's all internal combustion ya'know.

Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner
eating his Christmas Pie
He stuck in his thumb
pulled out a plumb
and said .............












whats a plum doing in me steak and kidney  ::)

RIGHT I'M APPEALING I SAID WHAT HAS JOHN CLEESE DOING SEX EDUCATION GOT TO DO WITH....

COULD I BE CLEARER!!!! PAY ATTENTION AT THE BACK.

lol

My experience of Appeals isn't that great...

Well normally, as the moderator, I would have to refer this to our evil Senior Consultant. But as he's likely to be appalling appealing too for half a point we can't do that.
After long and careful consideration Bernie's golden bonus point will stand. Stocked up on pies or not, I still can't bear the thought of him shivering away in the cold cold loft of winter without the incentive of that extra point in hand ;D

Hope you are feeling better soon Paul, I'm on the hunt for team captains.

Forsooth and calamity . . .  watch out for a conk up the old, 'fruit & veg!'  Grab that precious point quick Bernie, only not the pointy end! ;D

GRRR BLOODY MODS BAH HUMBUG GRUMBLE GRUMBLE...

Looks like I am at home for Christmas after all so I may make this one.

Merry bloomin' Christmas to one and all (even Moderators) :D

Dimbo question ...........

Have D/L but can't see how to install this , so have to ask, in the absence of any instruction book 

Is this a standalone track or does it overwrite the existing Rouen folder ?

Also . how to check if I already have the 65 Patch V2.02 installed  ?

Thanks  :)


First all correct answer wins all my left over xmas turkey skins  ;D

It is a standalone track that installs alongside the existing Rouen track. Very pretty it is too.

Not sure about the 65 patch check although I am sure I could find out for a bonus point! :D

I think mod 2.02 patch enables 65 mod specific program covers so if you look at the program covers and you have 65 versions for 67 tracks (e.g. Spa) you have the mod.

Right chaps , installation a.o.k. now I just need , in order of importance ....

(a) 1 pr snow goggles

(b) Full set of brake marker boards,  preferably in Red (or any "other"  colour than white )

(c) 1 x shovel ( for building a few more spectators )  :)

installed the track... quite impressed
and the 65`s feel nice round rouen so i count me in and call me Santa :)

Its nice isn't it? Thought it might be slippier but it isn't. Need to practice but hoping to take part. Anyone got any setups?

I haven't tried it yet, but if it's just the original Rouen with different textures, use a normal Rouen setup. Some of those in my pack. :P

I think it is. I'll go unpack...

i`ve got a nice stable ferrari setup... need to work on the lotus one just in case i end up on the rotten dwarf team.

Good for a Pole to flag win in my last outing there. ;)

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

Mike

What am I doing wrong ? D/L your set up , unzipped to sierra/gpl/players/set ups/Rouen

Can see the set up in GPL but when I click on it to try, it reverts to default setup  ???

Very strange , tried some other jamesonline stuff , none of these set ups will run in my GPL  :-\

Send Help!

Cold and Frustrated of Wigan

Not sure bernie,

Is you filepath correct?

Mine is
C:\Sierra\GPL\players\James65__Mike\setups\rouen

similar to yours but not the same.

You could try right clicking on the unzipped setup file and making sure that it is not read only, though it shouldn't be.

Anyone else having trouble with them?

That has happened to me with my own setups sometimes. It's like the files get corrupted or are not compatible. I suspect it's something to do with the way the mod exes (including gplc67.exe) save the setups, with the small increments. It sucks as I've lost some decent setups that way.

Also remember you need to put it into rouenwin NOT rouen for this track.

I've also had the occassional issue with it not picking one up. I go into the track in GPL and save the default as 'delete' then restart GPL and the set-up I copied then shows up for reasons unknown.

if you have a 67 setup that was made with gplc67.exe and it won't load into gpl.exe you can do this to fix it .

load the setup into Lee's GPL setup manager and then save it , you will then be able to load the setup with gpl.exe (and gplc67.exe) .

you might be able to do this fix with other setup programs .

john

Shirley the fact I unzipped it to my rouen folder means zip , it should run whichever 65 track folder it goes in ?

Using explorer , I checked and can see the files in the correct track folder, must be corrupted somewhere , maybe the fact they are zipped has something to do with it ?

 

I don't think so Bernie as they work perfectly for me, I think it si more likely to do with the fact people have mentioned, the different mods and exes being used.

Try Setup Manager and see if that fixes them.

If it does I could run them all through it before uploading them again.

Thanks, JR, I'll try that.

don't call me Shirley ..

btw did you see what Rob posted about GT tyres at another place .... i know you have had problems with them ..

"Most of the problems I see people reporting with the Mk IV stem from this braking issue. If you trail the brakes in it, they will get very hot and this has the effect that it puts the surface temperatures on the front tyres sky high and that results in an instant loss of front grip and the car ploughs straight on until the surface temperatures get back under control. Factors which affect this are the weight of the car and the load you put through the tyres. It is an instant effect, not a simple averaged effect of prolonged overworking of the tyres, as is seen with other mods where sustained abuse heats the core of the tyre and the tyre loses grip, (i.e. you can generate this snap loss of grip, even when the core of the tyres are cold). This is a fast dynamic effect and can be made much worse by braking, accelerating and turning all at the same time. The best solution to the Mk IV is to drive it more realistically and either right foot brake, or brake slightly earlier but less hard. I find that the Mk IV actually drifts quite nicely once you get it going and get the hang of it, much more so than the Mk II in fact as it is slightly more balanced, but it really does not reward trail braking I am afraid. The Mk I on the other hand is a lovely car, and a wonderful car for sale to the privateers as it is balanced and safe to drive, just a bit underpowered for its weight.



Rob"

john

I don't know, JR. When he says "drive it more realistic", it's a bit absurd. Trailbraking is a completely realistic thing and all top drivers in reality do it. And as for the instantaneous heating of the tires during braking, I would like to see a real life example of this happening the way it does in the mod. Temperature generation and distribution are never immediate, nor is the change in adhesion in relation to temperature, so maybe this is done a bit over the top with the GT mod. It's like all is well until a certain threshold and you lose grip gradually until that temperature limit, then suddenly it all goes downhill like a rock. But then the tires regain grip a second later like it was nothing. It just doesn't seem plausible.

What I mean is that even if I'm just slightly touching the brakes, the tires lock up as soon as I trail brake a bit more (i.e. let the car drift to the side). There is no hard driving or anything, so maybe that effect is a bit overdone. Curiously enough, it doesn't happen with all cars in the mod. I don't know if it's the setup or that they use different tires for the different cars (physics wise)?

I would also like to hear some comments from the devs on tire pressure. Why is the default so high and is that the optimal tire pressure to run with? Personally I find it impossible because the middle layer of the tires rockets sky high in temperature, so I reduce the pressure down to regular F1 67 values.

velly ineresting! ;D

If the problem is with sudden high temps and loss of grip at the front, then "shirley" the logical answer would be to move the brake balance rearward?? and let the rear tyres do more work, provided they do not lock up.

I notice that the default setup has around 58% front bias on the brakes which personally I cannot deal with or drive, as the car just ploughs straight on in corners that I even remotely try and attack. So I run ( at my current stage of exploration) around 52% and trail brake ( in my own way ::) ) and thus far have had no probs with front tyre temps, other than they are too cool and stay in the dark blue spectrum ( whatever that means lol).

BTW, is the temp threshold the same as the 67's?? for tyre performance. i.e grip starts to dissipate after 260 deg F?? because my new prib goes red a lot earlier than that ( incidentally engine temp also goes red at 200F for all mods and I know that ain't correct!! ) and I am unsure whether that is something I need to change in Prib or a genuine figure??

Found loading it into GPLSUM then saving works .

Important , have to save under a "new" file name , rather strange ? but come to think of it I seem to remeber having had similar problems with some of H's set ups and a few others int' bargain.

Didn't Evil once say he had a similar problem in an earlier thread  ?

Anyroadup nice setup , drives well , but not tried it on the ice yet  :D

Ta  :)


Now just need them brake markers please,  anyone ?

Trailbraking is entirely realistic, EXCEPT when you are in one of the heaviest cars ever to win Le Mans and have to make sure the car lasts more than three laps.

Neither brake fade or tire wear are modelled in the GT mod, so I don't see how that concerns our situation, Tom.  ;)

Might try and make this one, see how things go.  No training that night so should be about.

It would be great to have your company Steve.   ;D 

If you want to add a bit more of a wintery feel to your race, try adding this to your 'rouenwin' track ini file:


You can vary the amount of fog by lowering the 'density' level.

You need the v2 rasters for this to work.

(http://speedsnap.co.uk/zip/gplfog800.jpg)

If you want even more wintery than this, then you'll have to get in touch with Bernie and go visit him in his loft  :P

Egads!  If things get any worse, we'll need to think about fitting snow chains! :(

More pointing towards the fact you can't drive the MkIV on the limit all race, with such a heavy car there are going to be mistakes when pushing the envelope all the way.

Just like with any car... the limit is hard to reach and keep at, regardless of the car.

So, have the teams been chosen or would this happen just before the race?

EDIT: Ah, nvm, I just read the bit in the first post. So I guess nobody will know which car they're going to drive until the last moment.

You can bet money on it being either a red or a green one  :D

Unless those naughty elves have been out during the dark hours with there paint tins ::)

Not for me ;D . The Ferrari 312 is an easier car than the BRM P115 when I drive it.

Just got back from the Ardennen, about 10 miles outside Spa. I didn't realise this race was on Tuesday instead of Sunday so just might make this one if I'm home from work on time (should be) . Cya in snowy France!

Yes, some cars are easier to drive than others and/or may suit your style better, but to drive them on the limit consistently is still as difficult as with any car. The only thing that really changes is the lap time differences between the drivers, e.g. the differences would be smaller in a car that's easier to drive, but the better drivers would still be ahead. Of course I'm talking about GPL cars (65s, 66s, 67s, etc.), so the driving style doesn't have to change too much from car to car.

fun as it lasted. I know I can t throw my gearstick into third cause it ll slip out again.I did it anyway and tried to panicbrake down to the hairpin but got stuck in the tyres and could not get out. Dont understand wjy I loose so much braking when it slips out of gear.maybe I lift the pedal a bit in "shock" hearing the engine idle

Big thanks from Chief Elf to my Elven team members - final results are not published but thanks to some strong finishes I think we may have beaten the fat Santas.
Only possible spolier could be the fact that I took a Shift R on lap 2. I eased off the gas to give Ronnie the first corner after the hairpin which may have caught Goran slightly by surprise & he ended up in my tail pipes. To be honest I hadn't properly read the rules but not too much sould be done about it. The rest of the race was about staying on the track and finding the best places to be lapped - fortunately the lapping cars were almost all Lotuses.

and the race according to Slow Santa....

to be honest i found this just a little too hard for me.. too late and too long which lead to me making more driving errors in this one race than i`ve made all season so far! I was slow (to be expected) but was able to keep things clean for the leaders when they lapped me.
I like the format but, perhaps the 30 minutes of team-selection comedy up front was a little farcical.
On the whole, an interesting experience and yes, i probably would do it again.

Well, in my opinion, from competition point of view, it's unfair to have one team handicapped by having a slower car and yet the choice of drivers is not relevant to the cars. Next time I think we should either have equal performing cars, or have the team with slower cars be assigned faster drivers, to balance things out. I'll post my race report later.

I have not seen a replay but sorry Billy if it was me that caused your early shift-r. I was mortified that I might have collected my own captain but soldiered on. I for one loved the drawn out team selection which had me in stitches which in hindsight was great preparation for a seasonal fun race. Looking at the results at the end I'm sure the elves prevailed. Great team selection captain!

Hi all,

I thought the team selection process worked out reasonably well. I eventually got into the Elves squad although I practiced with the Brabham BT11 (silly me thinking it was the car of choice for the Elves) and the Ferrari 1512. I didn't drive the BT11 in anger much but I did a test race just before the real event in the Fez and I was having real trouble under braking so I wondered what the Lotus was like.

Arriving in France I found out I didn't have a Rouen setup, so I took a Zandvoort setup with tweaked gearing instead. This worked well and the car handled beautifully, and with a qually lap with a little bit of slipstream I managed a reasonable time which was good enough for P4. Unfortunately Art and John went even quicker after that so I had to start back in 6th spot, and I was getting worried because the plan was to stick with the leading three for as long as possible.

My start was ok, and after a clean first half of the lap without any incidents I set myself up to pass Art on the long straight after Gresil. Unfortunately that didn't go as planned because another Santa, I think it was Hiro, tucked in behind and stole Art's slipstream from me when I was looking where the corner was. So I was too far back to overtake Art, however while looking where Hiro went I suddenly found myself on Art's tail, who was very slow going into the corner, and I had to take immediate avoiding action and bogged down handing the position over to Hiro.

So now I was stuck in 7th or 8th spot with some overtaking to do. First I managed to pass Art when the made a little mistake, having been passed by Hiro earlier on. Dean Logan then retired. I'm not sure what happened to Hiro anymore but I think he made a mistake. A couple of laps later I catched the recovering John who had spun just before, dropping out of the leading pack I presume. A huge battle commenced for 4th place between me and John, with Hiro joining later. This must have gone on for 6 laps or more, me and John swapping places at least once a lap. A little while later Hiro managed to pass me and then had a go at John after he made a little mistake at T2. They were side by side all the way untill the exit of the hairpin where they finally collided, half a lap later! I had backed off since I had already seen my fair share of near-misses in the corners before the collision ;D .

After that mishap all I had to do was cruise to the finish. When John and I started our little battle we were 4 seconds behind Joe, but after the mishap the gap had extended to 17 seconds so there was no point trying to push anymore. Johmn was now 8 seconds behind me so there was not too much pressure from behind either. I eventually crossed the line in 4th place. Fourth place was the place I kind of expected to be before the start but I had hoped to challenge the leaders a bit more. Still, had heaps of fun especially in the middle of the race!

Grats H, FMG and Beefpie!

Tom.

What a fun race it was, and of course a thanks to the organisers and racers alike.  :)

As always with practice, I go out early and set what I think is a super fast lap time only to watch Hristo and Tim go almost a second quicker.  ::)

The early part of the race was close run for the top three, with each of us leading at some point before I dropped a rear wheel on the snow at Samson and slid into a half spin from which I recovered in 4th. Regained 3rd shortly after and gave chase to the leading pair but the gap was widening at a second per lap at times despite my best efforts, eventually I settled for 3rd and coasted the last two laps for fear of not having enough fuel. :-\

All in all pleased to get another race finish and podium in the stats, well done to all the finishers, especially Tim and Hristo for keeping such a furious pace, lets see what the final result brings.  ;)

Happy new year to you all. :)

I felt a bit Billy Nomates not getting picked but made it home in 9th (11 points) as the wildcard driver. I still wanted a drive so, as announced in chat, my points are awarded to the team with the least resets.

Results uploaded and the final scores were as follows;

Total Santa points: 74
Total Elf points: 130

ADDITIONS/DEDUCTIONS:
Santa's ;
+15 for team Captain finishing with NO reset
-45 for nine resets by the team in total
TOTAL deduction -30 points

Elves;
+10 for whole team crossing the line
-10 for team Captain taking a reset
+1 for having the 'golden guesser'
+11 points from 'wildcard' driver for having the least resets
TOTAL addition +12 points

Final scores on the doors;
Elves 142 points / Santa's 44 points

So a big trouncing by the Elves...

A couple of admin points. I tried to take the best bits from past events and feel it generally worked. Pre-registering takes the fun out of just turning up, is an admin headache, and means we have to shuffle if someone has to do a last minute cancellation. We could have cut the time down if we went silent in chat bar captains/note taker but I see some enjoyed the banter. As regards the choice of Lotus v Ferrari it gave drivers the chance to tell friend from foe. I really don't think the chassis differential is that great - if you look at the results the 9 resets for Ferrari v 1 for Lotus says more to me.

HO HO HO! In the sense of: what a painful kick up the backside for the Santa team :'(!

As Captain of the team I tell you I had to hear a lot from the Fat Man himself, and he wasn't impressed one bit. I dont think much of what he had to say is actually repeatable on here, but I wouldnt even bother with those socks next year if I were you. And he added something about those '**!%! re-setters' which I didnt understand, but didnt sound reassuring at all, ur problem guys... :laugh: :laugh:

But back to us. Apologies for those of you who found the picking bit in the chatroom excruciating, it wasnt done on purpose. There were plenty of people who I didnt know, and probably it would have helped if people used the same name in the chatroom as they use in the races...But even so, I dont think it was a big deal and to extract a good laugh out of it wasnt a bad idea at all, even if we wasted a few mins along the way. And Vos, I would have obviously stuck you in a Fezza very happily (and effectively, seen the results!), in amidst that mayhem it just didnt occur to me you were amongst the 'choosable'! So, see, how much worse it could have been for you!!

Speed wise I think the teams were reasonably balanced. The results of qually are very even, with 2 santas and 2 elves in the first 2 rows, and the same for row 3/4, with a shared row 5. So, I would agree that any difference in performance is actually negligible around here, and actually in my hands the Fezza was marginally quicker than the Lotus! I think the red things are a bit trickier to drive, especially under braking. So, I probably put someone on the backfoot by picking them for the Santa team, but hey, someone had to give!

As for my race, had a good qually, equalling my PB. But I knew that going around for 50 mins without one or two spins was going to be a tall order for me, and I was duly confirmed in my belief during the race, with 2 major spins that made me tumble back to what is a more appropriate position for me at the moment, when I am racing the big boys. Highlight of a substantially lonely race was keeping  Clive, The Evil Elf, honest for some 10 laps. Until I decided that my now lower fuel level was going to allow me to push a bit harder,and as a consequence, i started making a few small mistakes, which slowed me down and let him breeze by effortlessly  (boy, was Santa pissed for that or what..).

I did like the whole format, I think it gave a twist of lightness to the event which was enjoyable. Great job with the track, whoever has done it, by the way.

Grats to the winner (who has kept the right to hang his sock next year) and to the podium finishers. Also thanks to my teammates for their proud effort in adverse conditions. ;D ;D

Have a great New Year you all, see you at the next one!   

The 2nd part of your statement negates the 1st - in my opinion it was because the Ferrari is a bit more of a handful and has worse torque out of slower corners that led to Santas having to push harder and therefore ended up making mistakes and having to reset. And also, I couldn't really tell who was a Ferrari or a Lotus unless I was already side by side with them, so it didn't really help to distinguish friend from foe.

It was fun though, especially the opening laps, but also Qualifying where I didn't really think it possible to beat Joe and Tim for pole initially. Then some improvement in my time brought me a tenth behind Tim's time and so I went for a final push right at the end of the session. The first flying lap was quite good, but the 2nd one felt even better, but ended up a tenth slower because I started running out of fuel before the final corner.  ::)

I had a good start, but was overly cautious into T2 and the following corners, which bunched up the pack behind me, with Tim nowhere to pass though. The Fezza was really sluggish off the slow corners with all that fuel onboard, but it had quite good top speed, so my only concern was making the most of the 2nd hairpin and the right hander before the backstraight.

Joe was on fire early on and due some minor mistakes on my part which involved cooling my tires in the snow off the track a few times, he was able to pass both myself and Tim who was stuck behind me at the time and still couldn't find a way by. Joe was surprisingly quick though and was soon almost a second ahead, having blown me away in the section out of the first hairpin up the hill until the long straight.  :o

I tried to respond and managed to put some pressure on him by closing the gap a bit, and not before long Joe was doing his pirruette, surrendering the lead in the name of Santas.  ;D Tim was a different story though, since I couldn't expect him to make any big mistakes, but eventually he must've done at least one such because he dropped out of contention and the hard-to-break-from tow which I was giving him for the past few laps.  ::)

The race felt rather long and lonely for the reminder of the distance, with the ocassional Elven backmarker blocking me more than they should, but without any bad consequence. One particular bad elf was Ronnie who raced me with a lap to go just to lose it under braking going into the first hairpin and launch himself into the tire barrier - no hard feelings, but I had a laugh and I'm sure Santa Sr. did as well.  :D

All in all quite a good event, and I'm sorry if it irritated someone in the chat before the race, for I was having fun commenting and interrupting the process of choosing drivers. A voice inside of me was telling me to shut up so we don't delay it further, but it was too amusing to pass. Besides that, I agree with Artiglietti that it's really confusing when people either use a totally different nickname from their real name or change their nickname too often. I mean, it's OK for a forum and even in a race, but not for a live chat and team assignments.

Grats to the Elves for the gift they got from Santas, because it really was just that had it not been for several Santas retiring early on. I'm sure everyone had a good reason to do so though and perhaps the penalty for a shift-r was too severe. It led to a situation where the team would lose less points if the driver retires than if they shift-r.  ::)

Looking forward to another such event though, it was entertaining! Perhaps Tom (van Ostade) can transform the next fun race track for winter conditions, because TBH I really like driving them with such visuals and the fog settings.

-=Hristo=-

I saw you Hristo and hoped you would wait until after the hairpin before passing me. Alas a look in my mirrors showed you were not hanging about so I felt obliged to enter the hairpin a lot faster than I could handle to avoid a possible rear end shunt due to any early breaking on my part. I was happy to visit a large polo mint and see you get through safely. Sorry if I inconvenienced you.

I would never rear end you, but I caught you as early as T1 and you simply tried to race me in a couple of corners and I think that is what "ignoring the blug flags" means.  ;) Anyway, I didn't really mind at the time because I had nobody behind, but no need to think that I would rearend you - I was lifting off on time to account for any possible speed difference and was just hanging behind you. In fact I agree that out of the hairpin is one of the better places to let someone through.

Great fun and the track just added to the occasion.

I found myself with an hour to spare earlier in the day, so I tried both of the cars. I don't think I have driven either of them very often  since the 65 mod first came out, except for the Spec Races and that usually ended in disaster for me. ::) They are both so different to the Cooper or BT7 in terms of power and different in handling to the BT11, so it took me a while to sort myself out.
Strangely enough I found the Ferrari about 1.5-2.0 secs a lap faster for me than the Lotus, which probably explains why I ended up with the Elves??!!  :-\

I was still crying with laughter when we eventually got both teams to the pits at Rouen and could not focus on driving at anything like race pace. The delayed start was well worth it in terms of entertainment. I think we have the potential for an annual pantomime within UKGPL...( for those members who are not familiar with British theatre tradition you will have to look it up on Google, as it would take far too long to explain it here  ::) ) all we need is a couple more Toms and it would descend in to total farce.
Just to complete the comedy experience, the replay shows that I was harpooned on the 1st lap not by a vengeful Santa but by a fellow Elf!! at Nouvea Monde which dropped me back to last place with a S/R against me lol.

AFter i recovered i gradually picked up places as people allowed me to pass or dropped out until I got within 8 secs or so of Art and just glazed over for a few laps and was cruising. I woke up eventually and popped in a few laps that allowed me to see art and frighten him with my "mad elf face" until he made a few mistakes and I took 5th place from him and rolled on to the  flag.

Great fun altogether and it might be the basis for more fun "team events" in the future I hope.

I was faster in the Fez aswell - found it much more stable under braking so could go deeper into Nouvel Monde as a result.
That combined with the slightly higher top speed gave me 'much' faster times.

The race was great fun, was really upset when Joe span into Samson as it looked set to be a massive 3 way fight to the flag (I was content to sit back and watch someone else hastle H for a change ;) )
Still, I think I held on till about half race distance at spitting distance from Hristo's car - so about 50 miles of close racing.
In the end I was hanging on by a whisker but was finally cast adrift when I caught Blito at the wrong point and was held up for 2 corners (Not your fault Blito, there was no-where I could have passed at that point regardless)

Great fun race and driving in snow and fog only added to it. I'm going to install the wet Nurburgring track and add heavy fog to that for fun at some point now!

Apologies again Hristo. The fog was too thick to see any blue flags!!! My concern was not so much you going into the back of me but me backing into the front of you before we got round the hairpin. Sorry again.

NP, Ronnie, I wasn't criticizing you, just trying to explain.

The nature of the track makes the racing line very narrow in parts, which is why its easy to get caught out by lapping drivers. Still, I love Rouen because of the precision needed to really nail the downhill run to the hairpin, the snow was a good look too. :)

Would be great if someone could upload a replay, forgot to save one at my end again, thanks.  :)

I need to practice with gpl.exe at a new track for oAo and wanted to copy over my monza setup which was made in UKGPL race, under gplc67.exe, but it cannot be loaded in game. I tried loading it in Lee's setup tool, but it says it cannot recognize it and asks me if it's a 66 or 69 mod setup (and it's neither). The settings show OK if i select 66 and then I can write down my settings, then do the changes manually, but apart from that, is there any other way of fixing this?

Ive have had same problem earlier , i  open gplc67.exe (67patch) maded setups with setup assistant '65 named tool and save it again =  setups works again.

http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=2891



Juha

Thanks very much, Juha, I'll give that a go!