First time in the 69s in practice for tonight and they seem very sensitive to setup and willing to plunge off the track at the first brush with a kerb.  Perhaps I just need more laps.

Though it wouldn't enhance the period feeling, if we are going to run 65s and 69s off-season I always wanted to race the 65s on the tracks built for the 67s, like Jarama or Estoril- is Estoril stable online?  Or Zeltweg or Zolder, though we ran Zeltweg during the season.  How about a Jarama 65 Jarama 69 double?

Will there be a 68 mod?  A 65-69 series was anticipated a decade ago.  I always wanted to race the RA 301 and T86.

It's a long time since I raced the 65s, great fun, even if I was not quite able to get on terms with the leaders.

I had a couple of screen freezes around the time Billy switched races, I noticed that there were twenty-one drivers listed on the combined servers at the time.  The race was fine, however.   

After my long absence what I noticed was how fast UKGPL has become!  Privateers would be very forbidding for new drivers, and without new drivers the grids will get smaller.  GPL is still available to buy and because of the efforts of the mod teams is reasonably easy to install, after twenty years the potential to attract newcomers might still be there- if there was less of a skill barrier?

The other side of the lack of new drivers is the availability of race data on the existing grids, which allows for better handicapping.  I have always preferred a chassis allocation system, I believe that it can be made to produce quality racing and that it is more satisfying in having the same drivers in the same cars on every track.  So rather than split drivers into two categories of a token system I would negotiate chassis before the season began.

While this is an old thread, I wanted to join the appreciation for the stunning Spa67 track. 

Also, for anyone struggling with similar issues, my major stutters were completely resolved by a switch to Open GL v2.

Is it a requirement to use compatibility mode?  I use administrator mode and no compatibility mode.

I had very similar problems before my extended absence, which were due to the new video card I had acquired- after I returned it and replaced it with a similar secondhand one the issues vanished.  However at the time I was also having trouble with other applications, if yours are confined to GPL then hardware won't be the issue.  I'd run a memtest check anyway to be sure, it is very likely some sort of memory issue as you can run it for some time before the freeze.

My error was to imagine that the setup with the most fuel must have been the one I used previously, sadly this proved otherwise and fuel ran out at pro distance.  I wondered why I had been able to race with the tail, still it was enjoyable while it lasted.

I suppose this could be called a rookie mistake if it weren't for setups from a dozen years ago, so perhaps it is a faded never-was mistake.  I was a promising newcomer once, the mod's race report said so it must have been true!

Is it under consideration to have a rookie 65s again, in an attempt to to improve grid numbers?  It might be optimistic for an almost twenty year old game, however the installation wizards have made it as easy as it could be hoped to install and the graphics still hold up.       

I can't get a racelist from IGOR, is it working for anyone else?

REED, MARQUE, LEARN: THE JACK O’FERRALL STORY

Zeltweg October 1st

The announcer at the new Zeltweg circuit was oddly portentous, as if bad Henry Fonda were to announce to a cheering crowd the end of democracy and the beginning of a new tyranny.  I realise that might not please everyone.  It might even have put me off, as I spent the time before the race alone, although this was also because there seemed no mention of a driver's room in the Formula One handbook.  I am not strictly a beginner despite my long and unsought separation from the track and perhaps I should have recalled the existence of one, however why miss an opportunity to place blame on a guide-writer?

The times were not good, I admit.  Perhaps not yet inspiring the commentator's get off the track before smoking kills me bad, but bad all the same.  Tom gloated afterwards. 'So, Fast O'Ferrall back among the Loot charmed circle again. At least you have just enough speed left to race, by about half a second I reckon.  If we had to pull out it would have been gay as gay Bond, if gay Bond were from Liverpool that is.'  Sometimes Tom needs his face punched.  'You're giving me that Mister Punch look again, you should blame Gerry he said he wanted some weight in the back for balance, I'd have imagined an engine would be more useful. The other missing weapon in our armoury.  However I only promote the team, I can't build and drive the car as well, if you catch my drift.  At least the American guy won, always goes down well with the crowd that counts.'

Yeah Tom, always easy to be quick with a quip. All the way with LBJ, that was marketing Vietnam, at least its contemporary.  Mister Punch would be so last century if last century happened to be the Restoration.  When you have to spend two-thirds of your race in an attempt to anticipate how to allow the pack past, there seems space for philosophy.  Just off the racing line, a more appropriate place for an engineer, you might imagine.  The only compliment paid to the H-16 was at least no-one would want to copy it, perhaps Jimmy should have stayed with it.  The will to power of the Superman is necessary to prevail over the eternal recurrence.  Faust that's German for fist, he made a pact with the devil.  Just don't be Kennedy, never eat the last part of the doughnut.  Or the strudel.  Don't eat a hotdog from trackside vendors either, even if it doesn't qualify as a philosophy.  Goodnight.     

It is claimed that as the probability of the existence of a world exactly like our own is less than zero, in an infinite space and time we must recur an infinite number of times.  The subject was broached at Loot's club the other day, and he responded that it was the sort of nonsense believed by the sort of people who imagined that dung beetles were masters of the galaxy.

Nevertheless the reestablishment of his racing outfit was to follow.  Whether Loot was influenced by some mysterious association between his racing years and stoic philosophy will probably remain obscure.  Also, it seems that the rehiring of personnel has not gone to plan.  I only know that when I encountered him and asked him about mechanics he stared blankly for some time then walked off in a state of some shock.  It was rumoured in the pits that he subsequently attempted to cancel every single one of our entries, however this seems unlikely.  While we have not been in touch over the intervening years, I feel certain that the prospect of our renewed partnership is as much a pleasure for him as for me. 

He did have to be restrained from whipping his secretary, so it is likely to be a mistake made by a less accomplished employee.  When a man of Loot's temperament been surrounded by mere hirelings, rather than the professionals and indeed artists he once used to rub elbows with, some sense of shortcoming is inevitable, and no doubt is sufficient to explain the delayed reaction.

So, it has fallen to me to announce that Reed Racing will once again compete for honours on the track, at least at those tracks where the entry has been unaffected by the inadequacies of bureaucracy.  Let the racing commence, though of course it has continued for some time in the team's absence.       

I'm not going to pursue this at SRMZ, as Francisco has requested that there be no further discussion- after he was finally credited by the 'author' of the rar file.  However, as there still seems some confusion, due to the entirely predictable lack of honour shown by my antagonists, here is a clarification for UKGPL.

Of all the addons for East London, Francisco Caballero's was the only one with a beach- he had gone to the trouble to recolour several mips to present an expanse of sea down one side of the track.  Unfortunately though Francisco had about the correct amount of beach, for whatever reason this was on the wrong side of the track, the S/F straight, rather than the Beach Straight side.

The bug fix was simple, as Francisco had already done all the graphic work- the horizon files are a series of mip files horiz0 to horiz11, all you have to do to reorient the horizon is renumber the mips, e.g. horiz0 to horiz5, with horiz11 then becoming horiz4.  This will work for any track where the files have a similar structure- the horizon will be moved around the circuit.  The problem is that the sky file will no longer be a good match, the only alteration to Francisco's files involved is to turn the sky.mip until you have one.  Even this is fairly simple stuff... I zipped up the horizon and sky files, added a note to credit Francisco and the next time we ran East London I uploaded it to SRMZ- where Francisco's addon was.

Then I was accused of stealing someone else's work, and quite fraudulently... here are some issues you might consider if you look at the thread:

-The readme of the rar file, as posted in the thread, does not credit Francisco Caballero at all!!!!

-It is not stated where the file had been offered for download, it wasn't with Francisco's addon where it should have been though.  When it was finally uploaded with Francisco's addon, the intention was not to provide a file for enjoyment, but merely to offer evidence that I have stolen someone else's 'work'.

-The SRMZ moderator claims to have proved that the files I uploaded are the same as the ones in the rar, this is simply not true.  Apparently, the sky file is different- and the sky file is the only file where more than renumbering was involved!  I had renumbered Francisco's horizon files similarly to those in the rar, but as this is a historic circuit this was as it should be.  The circuit has two long sides, the beach had been on the wrong one.  However the files I uploaded have different dates on them, as you would expect.  The rest is simply a lie by the SRMZ moderator, the claim that the horizon files in the rar had somehow been modified, rather than simply renumbered from the originals.

-The SRMZ moderator has written some additional rubbish about whether I had made clear that I had 'edited' Francisco's files.  I rotated Francisco's sky and renumbered his horizon files, as I stated.  Where the only 'work' is to renumber a file, if you renumber it, you have renumbered it. 

What I object to very strongly is that SRMZ have taken a simple bug fix and presented it as if it were original graphic work, in order to accuse me of stealing it!  It's no more than a bug fix, thats why my version of it was similar to one from several years ago, which it seems was no longer up for download, was never in the right place- and as judged by the readme posted, may have failed to credit the author of the files. 

There seems no room for 'compromise', because I haven't stolen anyone's work, the credit to Francisco on my zip was correct.  Either those making the nasty accusations have the honour to admit that they are fraudulent and unfounded, or they do not. 

Not my handiwork this time Bernie old chum, I have had a PC fail on me, so I asked for help from our newest moderators, as trained by Phil to join the 'long line'.  I can't comment, as I haven't been able to watch the replay yet and I would have to rely on reports alone.

While there have been many penalty points awarded this season, Novices has been the only division where the entire race has been fully moderated, the others have been report-only.  Also Novices has been full grids with resets allowed, while the other divisions have tended to thin out quickly, so Novices has suffered more from the closer racing due to slipstreaming.

Though your own penalties may be put down to trying too hard in an uncompetitive chassis- we'll sort you out with a a faster car for next season -if we move to report-only for the Novices it could mean that drivers who need advice won't get it.  Some of the rejoins this season were not appropriate for league racing, at any level.  Understandably drivers are more reluctant to point out the failings of their comrades than moderators.

Any comments on the report-only issue are welcome, if there is a new influx and particularly if we move to three divisions the Novices will remain fully moderated, otherwise we might allow it to be report-only. 

I've noted this before, it might either be a problem with a specific Brabham update or a specific server setting or capacity.

Pete, before you change anything, can you first test it online with a different server?

Thanks lads.

Mike seems to have flushed them from their holes, it can't be long before the end...

I haven't been able to be online at all recently, let alone race, however that situation may improve- thanks to my Reed teammates who asked after me.

While I've been absent it seems that I have been impugned!  Tim asked me to upload some East London files that I'd mentioned as having edited slightly, so I put them at SRMZ here: http://gplmz.bcsims.com/index.php?showtopic=238  No one seems to have taken up my defence, obviously you're all confident in my somewhat roughhouse reputation and languid mastery of swordsmanship, but I wouldn't have considered it presumption, since I was inconvenienced.

No matter.  I am to propose a wager, as any gentleman would, though there seems to be no reason to believe that this pair will be honourable enough to pay up.  However I am troubled by my current choice of charity recipient, the legal fund that aims to have Manuel Noriega released from prison before the next World Cup.  Can anyone produce a more deserving cause?  Ties will be broken by the contributor able to produce the most contemptuous description of what is being discussed...

Note that this will be a 23 lap race, rather than the 21 it was last year.  With the 65 patch a GP at Monza becomes 76 laps, the proper distance, rather than the less impressive 68 that seems enough for the 67 chaps.

Please be extra careful of the Curva Grande on L1, Monza is so much more fun when all drivers have got past the first lap and the race can settle down.