Will be about, haven't been around due to an arm injury, so I'll turn up in case this thing actually happens !!

Phil,

The only aspect in the Race  Schedule I will comment on is the 65s, as the rest seem to work fine from my point of view.

Certainly, I feel that handicapping the 65 chassis cars is very hard, as basically there are two slow cars and the rest are pretty much the match of each other. I'd also comment that I think the Cooper and the BT7 are identical, or as near as makes no difference, in performance. Hence they should be considered as one.

I'd actually suggest making the 65s a free chassis choice, as there are a plethora of drivers in the field who are as good as or quicker than myself. The guys who are slower, I think it has been proved, are still slower in the faster cars than Hristo and I are in the two slow cars. So is there any point in trying to handicap it at all?

Certainly, I feel the current system has too many flaws, and seeing how we got chided at the start of the season for not saying anything at last year's review, I'm putting the case now.


Race length

Go to Pro Long - why? It means if we end up iusing a "reserve" server then it's easier to set up quickly.


Tracks

In the 65's don't use the likes of Spa, as they can't slipstream very well and die when you pull out to pass, I'd stay clear of the ultra fast venues.

Server

I'd rather not go the Contribution route if possible, but realise that a lagging server is an even bigger hinderance to good clen racing. So if it needs to be then count me in for a tenner

I'll put my name forward for this one, if required.  As usual any chassis

First off apologies to John for my move that ended up with both of us seeing unintended parts of the French countryside, you'd got sideways and lost a bit of momentum and I went for the gap, and you know the rest. I was glad to see you were still running when I exited the race a few laps later.

My day started badly when I went for a practice. GPL refused to recognise my prized set-up, a variant on the DBCoop65 version. I tried moving it to another folder, rebooting the system etc, etc. Even when Fulvio sent me the base DB set-up during chat ( many thanks) it still refused to load it. So I got another set -up and did what I could, but it was only good for 3.21s, so I was about 2 secs down on pace.

Obviously the reserve server didn't have the 1 x1 grid loaded so it was a bit cramped there. As he predicted, Hristo didn't get a great start and even my Cooper caught him by T1, so Jethro you were trying to get round someone who was alreadyon the outside of someone, so 3 abreast ain't going to work.

L1 was hectic got inside H at T2 but knew he was still there on the outside and kept it wide for T3 so he got back ahead. A couple of laps later I spun and John got past. I passed him back  only to spin again trying to catch Tim & H who were 10 secs up the road. Then we collided, as per above and Evil got ahead of me

Again I had lag, but this time it was only when you got to the last couple of metres, it was really bad with Clive the Honda shaking about all over the road !! Like John, Clive was really slow in a few places and I really had to lift out of it and lose momentum, . Eventually it was a fated move into the last hairpin that saw me slide up the inside and run backwards into the bales. The rear suspensioon was damaged and that was that.

Hadn't really managed much practice for this, about 40 mins when I came home from work before the race, so had a Ferrari, that wasn't quite how I'd like it. In qually I got a bit of a tow from Hristo for the second half of the lap, but had to keep backing out of it as I wasn't getting great exit speeds onto the straights and couldn't make the pass, so I was surprised to get Pole.

The Drake Racing masterplan was ski-wiff at Eau Rouge on L2 when I clipped the inside bank and flew into the wire fence. I assumed that there would be too much damage, but, the car bounced back onto the edge of the track and was still fine. So I set off to catch the Wazzas and Jethro, only for Jethro to throw it off at Stavelot , so it was up to me to save the club from the Massive Wazza Ego Trip that would ensue from a full HER Podium    No pressure then !!

Tim made a mistake into Blanchimont on L3 which let me by, but I repaid the compliment at Burneville on the following lap. I then worked like heck and caught him back with 2 to go, making the pass on the run to Masta, Tim then did the same move on the last lap, but I got him on the run out of  Masta, held him off up the back section, and when he went for the inside at Blanchimont he compromised his line and did a bit of grass tracking.

So grats to Hristo & Clive, at least Team Drake got a place

Wazza Rule 

Guys,

Float the idea by all means, but it changes the aspect of the Inter Leagues for all the other Clubs from fun, occasional events to a very serious competition that requires oodles of time.

Err........ Phil I have to say the Teams Points Scoring table looks a tad disingenuous   They get to score once and we get a running total !!!      Proves my point, you don't have to win to lead the Championship 

Yes, I do realise its a standard template.

Oh BTW re the results Drew crashed out he didn't get a Disco, with 5 laps to go, just for the sake of History and future generations !!

Hmm, the new series of Top Gear is on at the same time !!  Frankly, I think it's a no brainer..............that's the qualification for racing at Bremgarten   But I've said all this before and got slated, so Bon Chance, boys

oAo won because they had 5 finishers to our 4

Got second after all the hares threw themselves off. Got squeezed by "team-mate" Jethro throught the first turn and then ended up doing a rear guard action to hold up the oAo mid fielders. Eventually spun and  was behind Chris Darkes and Nowaks, got past the Eagle, but by that stage Chris and the Honda were 9 secs up the road.

Towards the end I was lapping the tail enders, and had an oAo guy behind me who was 8th with Donnie in 7th up ahead. Slowed the pace to try and give Donnie a run home to the line, but he was dicing with Bruce and unfortunately spun.

One day UKGPL will learn that the team with the most finishers wins, not the guys who fill the podium !!

Maybe in future it would be better to keep the race in iGor and oAo join via IP, if it is going to cause problems?

Phil

My recent connection probs were traced to poor wiring within my house. My broadband had deteriorated noticably over the previous month. The BT engineers checked the line and said it was an internal fault. This was proved by connecting my router to the mian socket, the first one on the line when it enters the house, and may d/l rating went from 450 kps to 7300 kps !!  I traced the fault to a junction box between the socket I use for my router and the main socket. All the wires were connected when I first looked, but when I pulled the box off to look again one of the wires came loose !  This was the fault, and while it had maintained a connection, it had obviously been making a poor contact.  Remaking the contact, it is one of the connectors where you push the wire between two metal blades, solved the problems.

So if you are not using the main socket for your modem/router, then have a look at your own wiring first.

Did a 1.09 in the Cooper, for a first sort of test drive. 

Certainly the chicane cutting is going to be an issue, whether people do it intentionally or not. As one place where you could try out-braking an opponent, all he has to do is run through the second apex and he'll pass you back, and he has a valid excuse that he had to go wide to avoid a collision.

You can also cut into most of the other apexes without impunity.

Always a great source of controversy in GTL and GTR on this track, as well as the reason the ADC dropped this track long ago.

As these races aren't moderated, it's a recipe for a deal of unrest.

Jethro

I'll take the Cooper seat, Donnington isn't my fav venue, but if the team needs me I'll be there

James

I'm sorry your race ended that way, we were having a great dice, but I'd urge you to compare your speed into that corner on that lap compared to other times. You really shaved off speed much sooner than I expected and to me the effect was like you jammed on the brakes, suddenly your car came rushing towards me, and I braked and tried to steer inside you, but to no avail.

You mention about me being close, well I'm afraid that if you are driving the Cooper (or the BT7) the only way you can stay in contact with the other cars at Spa is to get very close, otherwise you lose ground, big style. As you will have seen earlier, I can't even pass when I get a tow, as once the T77 pulls out of the slipstream, it just slows. So the only place I can regain ground lost is in the twisty bits, which is why I was trying to stay as close to you as possible, and it means if you make an error, no matter how small, I've very little room to manouvre.

As I said I'm sorry it ended your race, I would have like to have beaten you on the track.

Clutch, yeah when you passed on the outside and then swung over to take the racing line into the corner, your back wheel brushed my front and that started the wiggle, which then put Mr T within striking distance !!

The Download, is what comes down your line, i.e ALL the data, it's not what you save on your H/D