SimRacing.org.uk

UKGPL Season 21, 65 Professionals Trophy
Race 9: Spa Francorchamps

After the unfortunate events 2 weeks ago where all of Australia simply ceased to exist during our race, we now move onto a more stable continent - and the insanely fast Spa-Francorchamps road circuit.
The more powerfull cars are deffinatly at an advantage - but can they hold it together long enough to actually make it stick?

Race List = IGOR
Server = UKGPL_T7_2
IP address = 62.149.202.168
Race date = 23/08/2011
Time = 21:00 UK time
Track =  Spa
Variant = 65F1
Damage Model = Pro
Qualifying time = 35 minutes
Race length = 14 laps
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

65 Patch: The 2.02 Release of the 65mod can and should be used and can be found here (http://bit.ly/d8dECl) (currently down - also available here (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=3765) )

Driver lists can be found on the Pro championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=305;theme=6)
The track can be downloaded from :  Standard Pappy circuit
Add-on’s available at : SRMZ (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=143) - although I'm sure there are others elsewhere

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

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The race will be run on PRO Damage.

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I'm NOT looking forward to this one.  ::) Hope you'd be up to pace though, Tim, so we can battle for 6th or something, lol.

This was one I was looking forward to but looks like I have to go out now.

Last minute change of plans meant I could make it. Very chuffed at third, obviously the chassis helped.

Unfortunately I think I owe an apology to Goran as felt when passing I probably swung out a bit and saw him fling off although I don't think there was any contact.
After that I was completely out of kilter, and ridden with guilt, then thwacked a bush and promptly retired. Didn't have the heart to try and recover.

Shame as this was one where I could of perhaps had something as it's a favorite track.

Short and ..........well short actually. But these things happen.

Managed to avoid Goran but not Clive who rolled into my path through no fault of his own.

After that bout of Lap1 carnage at a track like Spa, I will no doubt have a wry chuckle to myself the next time I hear a Works/Pro driver go on about what is expected of a Privateer/Novice driver.

Tough break Vos you were fast enough to get a good result, better luck next time. Good luck to all still racing.

Love the track. Its a Classic. (Look out for an accurate version to be released for GPL in the hopefully near future)

Was pretty confident before the race of being in the mix and qualified 3rd without pushing too much on the limit.

Poor start but wasn't worried as i climbed Eau Rouge 7th as we were all in a line so slipstreaming and Power would help.

Half way round on Lap 1 there was a crash which i just avoided but the drop in pace to avoid it meant a gap was created to the lead group who were all able to tow each other so i needed help. There were a couple of drivers around me and we started to tow each other along for the next couple of laps and Pribluda showed me that we were catching them slightly, so another few laps and we may have a chance. (In think Raoni and FMG were with me).

On lap 3 i exited La Souce and i don't know what happened. I either missed a gear or selected the wrong gear, but the car wouldn't pull. As a result, FMG gently tapped the rear of my car (not his fault at all - my error). At the next 3 right handers the rear left tyre was lighting up on Pribluda, the car was drifting a lot and when i got to the end of the Masta section the car drifted so wide it scraped along the wall allowing Evil and Bernie past to put me last. The next couple of laps were a learning excercise to see how to control the car with this damage. It was Ok, but the car drifted and then had snap oversteer on the fast right handers for the rest of the race so i had to drop my pace due to opposite lock, extra braking and later throttle. It cost me a couple of seconds here and there but i was happy to sneak home 5th in the end.

Apologies to Evil and Bernie as i was slower than i should have been in some sections and at times my racing line may have appeared a bit bizarre. If the problem was unsafe i'd have retired but it was driveable and predictable to a degree.

All my own fault, and perhaps an opportunity missed, Needed a win to have a shot at the Championship, but to be fair, my DNF at Porto is the real culprit.

Great Racing by all and good fun. If you have the tow here and the skill, anything is possible, regardless of car type.

Still enjoyed it, and hope i didn't spoil anyone's race.  :)

No problem Vos, I was not totally innocent  ;D The "funny" thing was that I was just wondering if it should be best to let you bye when I was sent home to my maker, well if it had been for real that is. Of cause it was a shame but I think you need some treatment, not that I know what a kilter is and not how to thwacked a bush either but I think you should have carried on and robbed my competitors of some points instead.  Let`s have some better luck for both of us at Zandvoort.

And I must say that I am really impressed by your win Raoni, even if it was only by .003 sec. There seems to be no stopping you now that you have found the formula. But as at Monza last season it is really we in the faster cars that need to be ashamed when we let the BT7 and Cooper be on the podium at tracks like Spa and Monza.

Göran

best ever 65 race by far for me , great racing with Clive and Clutch ( could see your handling problem , thought it was a big understeer issue) then with 2 to go I was practising my last lap strategy which involved the Le source hairpin flip with semi twist and salco, but somehow ambition outwayed talent ( or maybe some Flemish Gypo had removed the manhole cover for a lucky charm ) anyway the result was the same as I launched skywards and made a complete of the landing .

Unfortunately for Clive,  he decided to join in the fun with a synchronised bounce manouver reminiscent of  birds of paridise strutting there stuff,  which also eliminated him from the victory celebrations ( hope the neck brace fits and the collar bones heal soon ) ;D

P.S. next time go a bit softer on the bump rubbers Matey  :D

 

WOW!!! Only 3/1000 of a second gap !?!?!?!?

This was a great race for all sorts of reasons and for different people in different ways.

Being lumbered with the Cooper, I knew that the slipstream was going to be critical at Spa and I concentrated on a race setup rather than trying to get a good grid position. After all, what chance was there that I could pull away from the faster cars behind before the straight down to Masta on lap 1!! and be far enough ahead to stop them drafting past me??.....somewhere below zero I suspect!! ::)

I got a great start off the grid and jumped a couple of places...not always a good thing going into Eau Rouge on Lap 1!! but it seems I had a nice space around me and there were no incidents.

I think I was in about 5th spot and tailing Hristo down through Burneville to Malmedy with a couple of Brabs and Lotii snapping at my exhausts. I deliberately backed off just before Malmedy to give me some "room to move" if there was an incident and was able to draft up behind Hristo again on the run down to Masta and his tow just kept me in front of the faster cars behind.
Out of Masta, which everyone was taking flat out, and down to Stavelot and I was thinking that I was in a good position, with just 4  cars ahead to provide a tow and all very close  ;D ;D ;D .
Then Tim Vos and Goran decided to interfere in my cunning plan and touched somewhere around Stavelot. I could see Goran's Honda flying off into the bushes so tightened my line slightly to avoid any rebound, but not wanting to back off and drop out of the "tow zone".
Maybe I should have just eased off a fraction and taken an even tighter line, because Hristo zipped through just in front of me as Goran's stricken Honda came back across the track but I was not so lucky and I got clipped sending me spinning. I got clobbered by some other poor driver before I had come to rest and thought that my race was over...I must be missing at least 2 wheels!!
When my head stopped spinning I tried to drive off and was amazed to find that everything seemed to be intact!! and no damage  ;D, but a long way behind everybody!!!  :(
By the time I got back up to speed, the only car on the radar was Bernie and his Brabham. It took a lap or two to get within slipstream range  and then I closed up quickly.
 However, catching a faster car with slipstream is something entirely different to getting past and pulling away!! and Bernie was obviously determined to make a fight of it. Despite trying to pressure him for an opening he held things together and used the power of the Brabham to fend me off. Meanwhile Clutch had recovered from an incident and was closing up behind too quickly for comfort. It soon became a 3 way battle where Bernie and Clutch had the edge on the straights but the Cooper was faster on the few places where there were bends.
My only chance was to get a pass completed before Blanchimont and rely on the better handling of the Cooper to pull a big gap up to Les Coombes in the hope of staying in front right down to La Carriere again. But both Bernie and Clutch were putting up one hell of a fight and any time that I got my nose in front they simply drafted past on the next straight bit. Then Bernie made a mistake and dropped back and I was just able to keep the slipstream from Clutch.
I was desperate to get close before the run from Malmedy to Masta and just went too hot into Malmedy and clipped the greenery and Clutch was gone!! Bernie took advantage of my mistake and gradually closed in from behind eventually drafting past....rats!!!
A couple of laps where I tried to make a pass stick and I decided that barring breakdowns or crashes ahead the best I could do would be to tail Bernie and look to pass him at Blanchimont or La source on the last lap. Bernie did not fancy that result and contrived to lure me ina La Source with 3 laps to go so that he could leap on top of my defenceless Cooper and bludgeon it into submission.

I hung around to watch the titanic last lap between Hristo and Raoni...great finish guys.

Grats to all for some great racing ;D

Didn't realise we touched Clutch, I thought I'd successfully avoided you as there was still clear air on my client!
Belated sorry from me in that case!

After that it was a boring race as I lost the tow to Raoni - seems I was the only one without a decent race :(

Bernie in a Brabham ?   ::)


news to me  :o

Was this the closest finish in UKGPL history? A few screenshots here:

http://racingleague.co.cc/hikiwaza/race-reports/possibly-the-closest-finish-in-ukgpl-history/

Nice - who was going faster at the finish? i.e. did you need the line sooner or later H?

I will mention it in my report later (if I'm not lazy to write one  :D ), but initially I accelerated better out of La Source (it was what allowed me to catch up to Raoni who was a couple of car lengths in front after the fantastic overtaking he did at Blanchimont), but as we went downhill side by side, his Cooper edged ahead slightly and I tried to shorten the line by going over the apex on the inside of the final kink. I think I overdid that and the car jumped a little, which was more than enough to drop 3 thousands of a seconds and place me 2nd.  ;D

@Evil - I wasn't aware you were right behind me and got hit by Goran's car, as far as I was concerned he was gone permanently into the bushes. Pity...  :(

I know the second closest was S17, Clubmans, Albi (here (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5980#event1719)) at 0.017

Maybe Phil can recall the closest as this may well be a new record.

At UKGPL's main page you can find few statistics(https://www.ukgpl.com/ukgpl/index.html?main=%2Fukgpl%2Fstatz%2Findex.html (https://www.ukgpl.com/ukgpl/index.html?main=%2Fukgpl%2Fstatz%2Findex.html)), but I think those stats haven't been updated for a while.

Ah yes not updated for a while but looks like the record was .01.

Hence I think we can say .003 is a new UKGPL record.

Lotus...Brabham...whatever,,,,,,they are all green and look the same to me  ;D

Yeah, I thought Fulvio was in a Lotus, but it turned out to be a BT11.  ::)

I did a little calculation - given the speed we were traveling at when we crossed the line (~188 km/h), the distance between our cars at the finish turns out to have been aproximately 5.2 centimeters!!  :o

No problem FMG. It felt like a tap, but maybe not. It doesn;t matter anyway as it was my fault, but still enjoyed the race.  :)

Report published  :)