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Round 9 – the business end of the season & the Spec Challenge crosses the Atlantic to the USA to Watkins Glen. It’s a tried & tested Papyrus track with two 1965 cars going head to head.  A couple of machines that you can throw through the esseses , power into the loop – at this point there is an option of the haybales or hanging in for the straight, hammer through the big bend, swing the hairpin & then do it all again.

We will continue with the shortened qualifying times - 12 minutes for race 1 & 10 minutes for race 2.

Last time out FMG away was playing with real cars so Hristo has stolen a lead in the championship at Rouen & doesn’t look like being caught. Sam Blood took up the Black Night challenge with a 2nd place as did Evil & the third place podiums were taken by Clark Hill’s Steve Bird & Vosblod.
Full details here Spec Race Challenge (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=280&theme=6)
Spec races consist of two back to back Intermediate Short races on the same track. Each driver has to drive one car in each race - start whichever you like. Anyone daft enough to drive the same car will be disqualified from race two. This weeks choice of chariot is the Brabham BT7 & the Cooper.

Spec Races is the only championship with no handicapping – it’s down to individual driver skill & the ability to cope with different cars. Races will be run on one grid with one championship table for Season 20.
 
The Spec Series will be run according to normal UKGPL rules, although only reported incidents will be moderated. (Please file reports by the Friday after race night). Unlimited resets (Shift R) are allowed and you must take a Stop & Go penalty unless another driver or warp was clearly responsible for your misfortune. Stop & Go means coming to a complete halt in (or around) your pit box - please be careful on the rejoin not to impede other cars.
 
Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL_T7_2
IP address = 62.149.202.168
Race date = 27-02-2011
Time = 21:00 UK time (21:00 GMT)
Track = Papyrus original
Race length = Intermediate Short
Variant = 1965
Chassis = Brabham BT7 & Cooper
Damage Model = Intermediate
Qualifying time = 12 minutes Race 1 / 10 minutes Race 2

Password: see above

Please be in IGOR UKGPL chatroom by 8:50 pm UK Time = GMT).

Mmmm, BT7 and Cooper!  ;D

Just what I was thinking, should be good fun :)

2 great fun races.  1st race with Ronnie and 2nd with Clive and Tim (Vos).

Cheers guys, great fun and a pleasure to drive with you.

First race less said the better.
Second was the best one I've had in ages. Not because I got 4th, although that was a bonus, but for the non-stop racing. It was umpteen laps head to head with Steve with a bit of Evil sprinkled in. Steve got past and then Evil had the cheek to follow him through. After that it was a 3 way battle in which evil eventually triumphed over the good knights of Clark-Hill.
Goes to show, and I'm not claiming I'm fast or anything, that you can have lots of close racing without any collisions. Not aimed at anyone but I felt safe with those two and knew no one would do anything silly - well apart from Clive getting in front of me, very silly ;)

Looking forward to the last outing at Monza.

Enjoyed race 1 despite gearing my Cooper wrongly and thus hitting the redline way earlier than I needed to. The loss of top speed meant I couldn't make inroads into Steve and Ronnie who were having a good battle about 5sec ahead. Still, I had a good fight with Attilio and managed to hold him off for a few laps until he ran wide.

I was much better set-up for race 2 and got 5th on the grid behind Ronnie, who I got ahead of off the line. Going into the Loop I defended the inside but then moved over slightly for the corner and we touched, sending us both off. Sorry about that Ronnie, looks like I just didn't give you enough room and is another reminder that I need to work on racing closely with others.

After that things went downhill, I rear-ended Billy in my impatience to catch up (sorry Billy) and then stacked it a few laps later. With nobody to race it didn't seem worth carrying on so I parked it.

Still enjoyed the races overall though and hope this series will continue next season as it is great fun.

I had two very poor results, but the track is surprisingly difficult to overtake on and most of us were very close on pace, so that also made for some very fun and close battles along the way, especially with Bernie and Ross in race 1.

I do owe an apology to Ronnie though, for that rejoin in front of him in race two was real rubbish.. :( I packed it in soon after in that race, since I was left lonely at the back and all the fun had motored away in the distance...

Grats to winner and podiums.  :)  :)
 


 

No problem guys. But I did laugh at the time thinking, thank god this is race 2 of the Spec series at the Glen and not the Novices title decider at Adelaide. Good luck to both of you with that by the way.

Great race with Steve in race 1, race 2 still had its moments, I could have sworn I saw Bernie? These cars were new to me and a real challenge. That BT7 is noisy as hell and the Cooper, in my hands, never felt fast. From this I assume in the Novices, Ross wears ear plugs and Attilio has a turbo fitted to his car.

Looking forward to Monza and I too hope this series continues.

The only fun I had was holding up Attilio for a few laps after he had spun off , way off the pace as per usual in these cars.

Dunno what it takes but I seem to be destined to the mobile chicane catagory for the duration  :-\

These races look like fun and I can do 1.12 in the Honda so looking for 1.14 ish in the BT7. Thought about joining last night as a guest. Ten laps later and I had to give up at 1.15. Maybe next season! Keep it going next season Billy and I will see you there.

Unfortunately no race for me.The main power of my PC has forsaken me in Friday.For sure i'm in race the next time.

The first race was a struggle to come back after the two Tims cursed me before the race for going off at The Loop and so I did... twice in two consecutive laps!!!  ::)

I got lucky both times, bouncing off the wooden fence and quickly continuing, but the gap to Evil was about 4 seconds after the 2nd off, so I didn't believe I'd manage to catch up, let alone bother Tim who was 1-2 seconds further ahead of my teammate.

I kept pushing though and once the slipstream kicked in, I managed to pass Evil on first attempt, which resurrected my optimism that perhaps I had a chance to challenge Tim for 1st. And so it happened, but then I had to make sure he won't be a threat in the remaining 2-3 laps.

It became obvious that he had less than optimal gearing and despite getting my slipstream was unable to make any serious attacks, so it was all settled.

The 2nd race was a continuation of the final laps of the first one, with Tim again not geared too well and struggling to keep up despite the slipstream. We had some great side by side racing early on though and I'm sure it looks nice on the replay.

There was an interesting moment when I noticed Evil getting a good run on Tim on the exit of the esses, so I tried to time moving to the right on the straight before The Loop with Evil's attack, to give him additional slipstream and rob Tim of his. It seemed to have worked quite well and Evil went into the corner side by side with Tim, but what happened afterwards only he can tell.

Tim was left chasing me on his own and for the reminder of the race I managed to keep around a 1 second gap back to him, and bring it home without problems.

Oddly enough, the Cooper slightly slower for me, but the setup wasn't as polished as the one I had for BT7, so the lap times are definitely not a sign of any chassis difference.