SimRacing.org.uk

SEASON UPDATE – the race schedule in the Registration thread & the Championship standings page has now been updated. Just to confirm the Spa race, moved to 5th August, will use the original 1969 Mod.

For Round 4 its Albi in France. Quite a straightforward, nippy track built on an airfield which should see times in the ’65 chassis of 1.17 – 1.14 depending on you ability. The back straight gives plenty of opportunities for drafting but requires heavy braking for the hairpin. As a few of the drivers at Keimola found a problem locating the pit lane this one is in a very obvious place.

In the Championship Table, after three rounds sees a new leader with Natan & Evil swapping places. Goran keeps third but Hristo is not far behind despite missing one event.

The track can be downloaded here  albi (http://a.bosco.free.fr/gpl/albi67.htm)

For any new entrants to Spec Racing the format is a little different from other divisions. There will be two Int Short Races, back to back on the same track. For each event there are two chassis available and you should drive both cars - anyone daft enough to use the same car will be disqualified for Race 2. Start with whichever chassis you like. Your choice of chariot is the BRM & Honda.

There is no handicapping all participants will run in one division. Nice to see an almost full grid at Keimola – if numbers increase any further then a second grid will be considered.

Unlimited resets are allowed but every Shift R must be followed by a Stop & Go in the pit lane. If you Reset on the last lap a 30 second time penalty will be awarded.
Incidents should be reported in the usual way.
In line with other divisions the races will be subject to full moderation on lap one.

Also please note that qualifying runs are limited to 12 minutes.

Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL_T7_2
IP address = 62.149.202.168
Race date = Friday 24-06-2011
Time = 21:00 UK time (21:00 GMT)
Track = Albi
Race length = Intermediate Short
Variant = 1965
Chassis = BRM & Honda
Damage Model = Intermediate
Qualifying time = 12 minutes

Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=308;theme=6)

if there spare places or other free spots i might try with Honda  :)

edit: and or BRm too

Great fun tonight. Haven't looked at the replays and I am pretty sure I took the Moderator out (didn't mean to though Billy - can I ask for 17 similar offences...). Had real fun chasing Bernie Jason and Fabio down in race 1 and they all kindly fell off. Race 2 with the Honda - I got a great start - effed it up, caught up, made a cracking pass on Juha (I think) and then effed it up again but the Honda had the legs to catch Billy and Juha and then Juha knocked Billy off (I think) to save me the trouble. Got ahead of Geoff and set about chasing down Cookie - was going OK and then Jason came out in front and he was frustratingly faster than me on full tanks and cold tyres :( Lost it out of T3 on to the grass which gave Geoff a great opportunity to close and we had some cracking racing but he was quicker but I had a nice wide whale. Got my braking wrong for the last turn after we caught Cookie on the back straight and he got a run on me, I left plenty of room and he duly went past. I thought I might get him back immediately but he wasn't falling for that and he drove away to leave me breathing his fumes at the end. Great fun. I just love Specs. Might be a few warnings coming my way for a few <ahem> muscular passes.

So, I might be up before the beak. I'll review it and advance apologies to anyone else that I tagged.
 

Qually went ok for R1 and was surprised to find myself in 5th. A waste of time really as I bogged the car at the start and got passed by 3 cars, Axel, Juha and Hristo....before T1. Arrived at Double Droit on L1 to find carnage ensuing and the track blocked A small gap presented itself, I aimed for it and shut my eyes. I turned out to be Steve Bird's battering ram......clearing a path for him thru the debris of battle. Avoided hitting the wall at the end and sustaining no damage headed back on track. Just in time to collect Fabio who was negotiating DD at the time. Oh dear.....the Beak will be VERY busy this round. We both got going eventually.....I followed Fabio onto the track....properly this time. Sorry mate, I did promise in chat not to hit you......I then had to chase Fabio......hard, just to stay with him. Add to that Fulvio snapping at my heals for a few laps and it was very entertaining racing. We'd passed both Juha who'd spun on L3 and of course Natan who'd been upside down at DD on L1. Exiting DD on L5 I got badly sideways when the Honda stepped out.......caught the dirt verge on the inside then snapped sideways again. Fulvio's eyes must have been like dinner plates......being handed an opportunity like this. He raced up the inside into Parc, I left him plenty of room but wasn't backing off.......we were side by side into Virage du Karting, but as I held the inside line Fulvio had to give me best. Set out after Fabio again....managed to pull away from Fulvio... :o until nearly having caught Fabio once more on L7, he spun off at Parc. Fulvio at this time had his hands full with Juha and a fast recovering Natan giving him grief. I tried to settle down to run out the remaining laps and hold my position...or even force a mistake from Axel who was next...but quite a few seconds up the road. I seemed to be holding Natan at bay with similar laptimes til he threw in a mid 15 about lap 10 and I saw about a second of my lead over him evaporate instantly.......bloody pitboards. Natan caught me on lap 11, but I was determined that catching and passing were going to be 2 different things. Until the last corner with 1 to go. As I rolled in the gas, the car stepped sideways.....just like at DD some laps earlier. Natan nipped past too easily....but I was having none of that. Chased him hard the whole lap with no mistakes.......and at some points mere cm's from his gearbox....hoping a Honda filling his mirrors might cause a disturbance in the Force. Sadly it didn't and Natan held on to secure 8th and ninth for me. No doubt the best race I've driven in a long time. With one blemish of course.......<book down trousers> Congrats to the podium, and those lucky enough to escape the DD black hole on L1........ :-\

Race 2 was fun, I enjoyed driving the BRM more than I ever had before. I'd set a PB 1:15.7 in the car on Pauls server practicing with Axel earlier on Qually was just hopeless, trying to find some clear track to set a time. Even dropping back didn't work as drivers seemed to be racing in qually and consequently, you'd catch them easily and the lap was ruined. Quallied 14th with a very average time. Managed the best start of my GPL career. When the flag dropped I lit up the green boat and rocketed between the two cars ahead of me being Axel and Billy nd Passed Jason as well before T1.  (more to come)  Oh dear.....although I enjoyed this race it appears it will be all for nought. After a mid or late race contact with Juha when I followed Paul through..........yes, you heard right........after he passed Juha thru T1, and Juha finished front wheelsless over the fence and I on my lid. I took a reset and forgot all about the s+g.......oops, one serve of DQ too go for me it seems.     :(

Oh dear oh dear oh dear, what a dreadful race meeting for me :(
I've had a very busy week and so arrived at Albi with zero practice behind me, nosetups for either car and only a vague recollection of where the track went...

Race 1 - I slapped my usual settings on the BRM and spent the practice session fiddling with gear ratios.. Quallied 2nd from the back.... ..... I took a careful start aware of the likelihood of a T1 pile-up .. which there was!! I benefitted massively from this but threw it all away on the next lap when I found the BRM just wasnt handling the way I expect and put it into the barrier at T1 !!! I then spent the rest of the race struggling with a car that had a vague front end.... and then to cap it all, when Fabio passed me into DD, I tried to cheekily cut back under him on the exit but got it all wrong and speared him instead :( .. I then more-or-less gave up and let everyone past... an inglorious last place :(

Race 2 - curiously, despite having no setups at all for the Honda I found the car rather nice to drive in Qual and set a decent time.. I must have guessed the setup right!  The start was OK and the race was going well... lapping around/just below the 1:17 mark and fighting up to 6th place... and holding it from a hard charging Bird (Sp Ornithologus Veloxis) when the V12 let go!!! One S+R plus S+g later and Im chasing Axel (and dropping Badblood - sorry m8 :D ), catching up fast enough to hopefully make a last lap challenge when ...... Axels V12 Blows up causing his car to swap ends mid way down the straihgt after DD.... I got tangled up in his wreck and quit on the spot....

In sundays 1967 race I drove a steady run to victory and I felt like a champion... 5 days on and things couldnt be more different :(

No, you're not - lol

Poor Fabio, seems to have been rather a punching bag this weekend. Ever wonder what you've done to deserve this treatment Fabio?

SUPER LOL. I enjoyed it though... Didn't stop you catching and passing me later, did it? I think you get 30s not a DQ. Gives me back my place though :)

Its payback for all the penalty points he accrued in S20N :D

For some reason, that the amateur psychologists out there will no doubt have an answer for, I arrived in chat expecting a GT race!!! ::)

Yes!, I know that I had read the race announcement a week before and it clearly said  "Friday 65 specs at Albi", well maybe not in quite so few words, but you get my drift.

Fortunately one of the cars to use was the Wazamobile and at least I had a few setups that I could choose from that might give me some good racing.
But, the BRM is a car I have very rarely used and most worrying was the absence of a red line on the rev counter??!! Did that mean I could mash the gas and never suffer an engine blow up?? was the engine indestructible???
I decided to use the Honda for the first race so that at least I would be fully dialled in to the track, before trying to tame the BRM.

Strangely I found loads of open space in qually and was only occasionally baulked by other cars on their fast laps, but as I was running on race fuel in qually I could back off for a lap and go again without worrying about running out of gas. Sure enough as the fuel load came down, so did the lap times and partly because of Hristo's late arrival I stole pole position.
The start, and lap 1 was going to be crucial, but the pole position and the inside line into T1 was a double edged sword. Pole position meant I already had a 10 metre lead over Natan in 2nd spot, but he would have the faster line through T1 from the outside of the track. That would give him the chance to be right on my tail pipes as we got onto the straight!! and in a very quick BRM. Fortunately I got an almost perfect launch off the grid and took T1 absolutely on the limit of adhesion from my inside line and nailed the gas in 4th the moment the car was settled to carry as much speed through to the straight without lifting. ( this required a tightening of the waza headband/blindfold to avoid having to watch this suicidal move). When I opened my eyes I was on the straight and a quick glance in the mirrors showed that Natan was not quite close enough for the full slipstream benefit, but it looked like he was going to try a launch down the inside for DD......engage waza demon braking technology, setting 3Z  ;).  DD was nailed and I got a good exit and as i shifted up through the gears a glance in my mirrors showed...nothing??!! a glance at prib showed a very healthy gap back to 2nd spot and Sam ( I think?).
It was all looking very comfy until a lap later when i looked at prib to check my safety margin and Hristo's name was showing already in 4th. A lap later and he was 2nd!! OK keep it smooth and he will have to do all the work and take all the risks, seemed like a good plan. Just a shame that Hristo wass not reading the same script that I was, where he has to make a few mistakes or blow an engine. Within 5 laps he had reeled me in an cruised past without apparently breaking sweat!!, but our speed had carried us both well away from the chasing pack. I kept up as much pressure as I could on H just in case he made an error but he took a well deserved 1st in a Waza 1-2 in Hondas, which slightly amused HER.

Race 2 was something I was not looking forward to. The contrast between my experience with the Honda and the BRM was likely to be exposed. It seems that the BRM is just about everyone else's favourite car!! which meant that they would have setups and be familiar with it........something I was most definitely not!!

I played around with the setup and especially the gearing. The lack of a red line worried me so I opted for safet and geared to upshift at about 85% of max revs on the tacho. During qually, again on race fuel, I slowly discovered what the BRM was like. The setup that I had allowed me to get slight power on oversteer which meant that I could brake in a straight line and once I had the nose turned in I could give it max wellie through the corner and carry the speed up the next straight ( speed is something this BRm seems to have in abundance!!). By the end of qually I had qsueezed a 5th spot on the grid with 4 very fast guys ahead.  :-\ and few equally fast drivers close behind. Hristo and Samb launched into an epic battle for the lead as soon as the flag dropped and I tucked in behind Natan who was now in a Honda. It soon became apparent that Natan was not entirely happy with the handling of the Honda or that he was just not used to driving it and I could see opportunities for an attack  ;D. The strong point of the BRM is its speed, so I set up a passing attempt as we crossed the S/F line by leaving myself far enough behind Natan so that I could carry more speed through the T1-3 complex and out onto the straight and max out the slip stream advantage...........1st attempt I was too close and had to back off before we hit the straight losing momentum, 2nd attempt worked perfectly and I made asimple pass befor DD . Pushed really hard for 2-3 laps to open a gap and squeezed out about 100 mtrs only to throw it away by putting a wheel on the grass at T1 and fighting a tank slapper. Natan closed up but was unable to get close enough for a pass and as I eased away again I passed a smouldering Sam in his broken Honda.......Wazas were 1-2 again!! Hristo slowed or had an "incident" and the gap suddenly closed but there was never an opportunity to try a pass and he deservedly took the top step of the podium..again!
Grats to all the other finishers in both races and to Bill for organising some great fun.

BTW what is the max safe revs ( or oil temp?) for the BRM????? I still have no idea  :-\

I too was preparing myself for a late join for a GT race, but what do you know - it was Specs instead! It's not the first time I'm confused like this, it must be that we're used to running Specs on Sunday and the GT test season on Friday.  ::) I was glad it was 2 '65 races though, as I'm certainly more comfortable with those, despite not having setups for Albi for either Honda or BRM.

I also went for the Honda in the first race as I've driven it more before, as opposed to the BRM, so by the 2nd race I would've been settled with the track and driving the BRM wouldn't be that much of a challenge compared to running it first.

Too late of a join for Race 1 though and too much traffic, combined with some mistakes while still warming up, and also tweaking a Silverstone setup a bit (just gears really), all that compromised the 2 hot laps I managed to do and I found myself in the middle of the grid, which was a bit worrying because there's always an accident happening at this track.

Accidents happened indeed, but I was lucky to avoid the cars spinning and instantly gain 2-3 positions, then made another move to move up to 5th or 4th, not sure. I wasn't really sure who I'm fighting with, so I just kept on going as quick as I can, despite the bad stutter that I'm experiencing since I got my new PC. It's because the sound gets distorted badly if I run Sound Hardware Acceleration on max (Realtek onboard sound, known to cause problems with GPL), so I turn the slider down but that causes some frequent loss of frames, especially in the 65 mod (for some reason).

It's a bit of a blur, but I managed to pass everyone up to 2nd, but then Evil was some 2-3 seconds up ahead and it took much longer to close in on him. Once I did, it was a bit of a surprise that I managed to overtake him with my very first attack, but maybe he made it easier for me as well. Once in front though, I couldn't really escape, partially because of the slipstream, but also because Evil had better exits out of some corners, especially the double hairpin (DD?). Even so, he eventually dropped back and so I took the win.

Race 2 was a bit more straightforward, as although I had no setup for the BRM, I copied over some Goodwood setup and only adjusted the gears to make it work. Just like Clive I had no idea where the optimal torque range is or at what max revs I should change up, so it was a bit of a yo-yo with the gearing until it felt somewhat comfortable. The strange thing was that when a gear was shorter, it felt too short, but when I made it longer, it felt too long. This was particularly the case with 4th gear which I used for T2 (or T3 if you count the little kink).

My start was OK and I kept the lead, but Sam was instantly on the attack and he appeared to have found a lot more speed than in Qualifying. I didn't want to risk the engine in the first 2 laps, until it warms up, so I had to risk braking later than Sam, usually by waiting for him to brake first before I hit the pedal, then try to come out of it the best I can, lol. It worked well and produced some exciting moments, and once Sam had dropped back I just had to bring it home.

For some reason I experienced some more stutter than usual near the end of the race and that eventually ended up with a full spin on the exit of T2, sending me straight into a billboard, but miraculously not ripping a wheel off. The gap to Evil who had emerged 2nd was some 9 seconds, so I just managed to continue on time. Nearly lost it in the last lap as well, but just nearly.  ;D

SHE will be double pleased with the results while the other team bosses would probably be double pissed off!  :D

Just to make sure - H, Evil, GT RUNS ON SUNDAY - YES - THIS SUNDAY

:jumpjoy:

Unless I'm mistaken, you're getting the Porsche, Paul.

According to Gpl Wiki (and player info in gpl as well) it's 11 700 upm.

I can't get you a red needle, but I found a bit of red paint and marked it on the rev counter  ::).

Just in case you should be forced into the BRM again ;D

It's usable with the standard brm, but looks definitly best with the pascal celton brm p261 update

http://www.sendspace.com/file/yyb4rv (http://www.sendspace.com/file/yyb4rv)

I think that's the max revs, not the safe or usable revs.

Good fun those races. Having really only driven the BRM until recently in my GPL races, I've found the engine is nothing short of bulletproof. I've given the engine such a pounding over various races with only one freak detonation throughout my online experiences with it, I've just assumed it's almost impossible to kill a 65 engine in general. Of course I was proven wrong in race 2  ::).

Race 1 was simple enough, qualified 4th, made a reasonable start but unable to catch Clive and H. A spin half way through the race put an end to my pursuit in the lead, and had to pass an impressive Steve in the dying laps to snatch back 3rd.

Race 2 was much more fun. Having never really driven the Honda. I hastily downloaded Steve Cloyd's Silverstone setup and tweaked the gears. I was surprised how much of a peach the Honda was to drive through the corners. It would sweep through the bends so quickly with excellent control. The first half was terrific fun, I was driving out my skin to catch H, I was even side by side on occasion, but again, simply can't compete with him on the brakes. I tried some later braking when I was a second behind.......and onto the grass. About 3 laps from the end, about a couple of seconds away from H, the Honda's engine had cried enough from my brutal treatment and that allowed Clive and Natan through, losing any chance of a podium. The next couple of laps were a comedy of errors, with various coming togethers and off-track executions, on-route to 10th place.

Still, was worth it just to keep up with H for a while  :). Congrats to everyone on the podium.

Brm max rev is beyond rev counter.
Just try to overrev it and you see.
That does't mean of course that player infos rev information is the max save rev ::).

But for the wazamobil for example it shows 12 000 upm and if I'm not very much mistaken
that's quite close to the usable max rev ::).
(and absolut max rev is somewhere around 13 500 upm)

Having that in mind, I think it's worth a shot to use the player info.
(Until you blow your engine, of course, then we would all claim we knew it was bullshit ;D)

Performances were terrible - spend quite a while trying to find the right set up but it never materialised. Hoping for better things on Tuesday when I can use the trusty Brabham.
Sorry to Cookie for rear end on lap 4 of race 2 - checked the replay & dont think you sufffered any harm. Bigger apology to Geoff for the same thing at the end of the straight on Lap 5. Retired after that. On both occasions I was working on the basis that I could use my normal barke point as you chaps were going to be quicker than me - mighty surprised to run into you - but thats not an excuse.

Anyway - on to something useful (of course I didn't bother looking at this myself befor Albi) but I think it was Steve Bird who posted this link a while back - shows the max revs for various GPL cars http://wiki.grandprixlegends.info/index.php?title=Cockpit_Gauge_Explanations.

That's excellent information, thanks! And it seems you're right, Norbert, the player info shows the RPM for peak power. Looking at the BRM's manually drawn red line on the RPM gauge, I was just about nailing it yesterday.

Yes, thanks to Norbert and Billy some vaery interesting info there. It amazing what you do not actually know about these cars despite driving the wheels off of them for several years!!  lol If Hristo was getting it right I was mostly short shifting!!  .............but next time  :shifty:

Did some praccy before this race with both cars which where as new to me as the track...

My first Quali with BRM went ok to midfield and with some nice fights I landed in a satisfiying 6th.

Second quali with Honda was discouraging, as I could not reach my practice times by far.
The race was fighting for the golden pineapple (german!) but I finished....

Thanks the Wazas for all the info about this "lady" but too late for me...
Next race!

Cheers

PS Where can I find the replays?

 Axel,
perhaps this will help you understand the Hiki Waza team and who "SHE" is..   ;D

http://www.hiki-waza.dsvh.co.uk/

Repalys now uploaded - in the usual place.

Mod report now up.