Congratulations to Mark on a stunning win!  And in the BRM no less!  BRM shares rising sharply on the LSE this morning.  

Great job by Deaner to score P2 aboard the Ferrari and Tim for a P3 also in the BRM.

Apologies to Mark for not making way when you were lapping me but due to the scoring error in GPL, I had no idea that this BRM that suddenly showed in my mirrors was the leader coming through.  I saw no blue flags and thought it might have been for position.  Thought it might have been Sam, in fact.  I didn't see you coming and was taken utterly by surprise.

Indeed, Sam, our race was epic but thanks only to the generous slipstream provided in the '66 mod.  Without a tow, you had me covered nicely, I'm sure.  Grats on that P4 finish and a super drive.  We were, in fact, lapped so our race did end on Lap33.  Checking in GPLRA, that lap ended with you passing me for position accelerating off the Parabolica and hitting the line 0.018 ahead of me.  Grrr...  I thought it was the final lap and was surprised to find no checker being waved.  On our final 'bogus' lap, I tried my best to make a pass stick on the outside of the Para but bungled it and skipped through the kitty litter to spoil my chances.  Great fun nonetheless!  

Edit: Gosh!  So sorry to see so many eliminated in that Lap02 business.  I stood on the brakes and went right down to 1st gear hoping to miss all the broken cars and flying wheels.  Lucked in.

Welcome, CC! 

Carlos C is well known to me through assorted races with the ADC and I can give him two things here.

A hearty welcome & assurance to the UKGPL that he is a stand-up pilot most worthy.  He'll do just fine. 

Hi, fellas! 

I plugged in for < 75% participation.

Congratulations, Robert!  There's no such thing as an 'undeserved' victory! 

Super job by Tim to claim P2 in the Cooper(as per RF).  Shame we couldn't dice again.

A podium position for Pelle but, oh my!, what a disappointment that must be.  A terrific drive in the Red Ball Special to lead nicely for so long.  Sympathies.

A P8 was the best I could do on the day and perhaps I should consider myself lucky to score that.  I got a sniff of P7 at the S/F line at the checker as Ray ran short of fuel and spluttered over the line just a few feet in front of me.  If the S/F line were a hundred or so more metres down the road...

I figured this race to be a trial as my eyes were smarting the moment I awoke in the morning.  I had limited computer time during the day catching the Moto action from Brno.  Shortly before the start, I took eye drops which seemed to help slightly.  Off the grid, I had to feather the throttle for Dean who was a little out of sorts and Iestyn slipped ahead of me.  Down in to the Old Hairpin on Lap01, I have to wonder if Izzy collected the bollards at the apex as he seemed to lose a lot of speed and I had to check up to miss him.  Felt like I'd come to a full stop!  LOL!  This left me floundering well off the cam of the Maser and Martin slipped by for position.  Only moments later, I caught sight of Dean slipping off the road.  I managed to re-pass Martin coming off Coppice and then Clive had his NET glitch to promote me one more spot. 

So far...so good.  Ended Lap03 in P10 not far behind Arf in the Brabham who'd slipped off at Hollywood and fell back to me.  The next laps were fraught with danger and confusion.  Arf's BT24 kept winking in and out all over the place.  My NET bars looked OK so I can only assume that his connection was playing up.  He would disappear for upwards of 3-5 seconds at a time.  It was impossible to judge exactly where he really was and a couple of times, in getting close, I voluntarily checked my speed to allow for his reappearance only to see that he was well down the road.  Completing Lap10, Arf vanished on the run into Redgate and this almost certainly lead to my brief spin.  I didn't lose much time but fell right back into the clutches of the Sinister One.  Over the next lap and a bit, I fought hard to keep Clive behind which, in hindsight, was foolish since my vision had next to collapsed by this time.  Everything was pretty fuzzy and some corners I bungled badly.  I couldn't see the kerb on the outfield under the Blue Bird until I was passed it!  Getting slightly out of phase for the run down the Craner Curves, I stubbornly held the inside line approaching the Old Hairpin and, sadly, short-changed Clive for room.  He skated off.  Sorry, CG.  My bad.

Rocket than took up the challenge to pass me and for a number of laps, we circulated in close company.  On Lap17, we came across Arf recovering from an off in McLeans and we both managed a pass as he overshot Coppice.  Allowing for this pass, I was slightly down on exit speed to start the run down Starkeys and Ray used the power of the Ferrari to gun me down.  I ran in high hoping to force the issue through Goddards but it was a done deal.  Back to P9.  For the balance of the race, I gave chase with little chance of a re-pass til the last lap when Ray was definitely off pace coming onto the pit straight for the final time.  He had just enough petrol to stay ahead and claim P7.

It was somewhat of a surprise in the last couple of laps to have my vision recover slightly but overall, it was hellish.  With this as the primary reason, I shan't be registering for S19 as a full-timer but rather as PT.  This will allow me to pick and choose which events appeal to me on the day provided I'm up for it.  I will, however, finish off this tribute season for Joe. 

Qualifying due to open momentarily.  I just downloaded, installed and tried the solid bollards.  Fine by me.  I'll go to the line with those in my track folder and come what may...

First things first...  It really was an honour to have Malcolm join us for this Brands round.  Hoping it's a trend. 

Fine congratulations to Robert for a walkaway win in the Cooper!  A 'slam' by any definition. 

Begrudging grats to Tim on a P2 finish in the Cooper.  Grrr... 

Just kiddin', Tim.  I really enjoyed our spar.  Ripping!

A lucky P3 for me to make it a Cooper sweep.  But oh, my...  A tiny error cost me P2 with only 1-1/2 laps to run.  Grrr...  Then again, could have been worse!  More on that later...

I chose the Cooper for this round as it's such a nice, plush ride.  Sorta like a Caddy.  The Brabham I found slightly 'edgey' and while I was a full 1/2 second faster in the BT24 in pre-race trials, I opted for the T81B.

I was really bummed-out to note a couple of things from this event.  Firstly, on going to the pit lane to start my qualifying, I was mystified to see my pit stall tag about 30m down the lane.    What was this all about?  It didn't have any consequence for me as I was able to exit the pits as per normal but...  As it turned out, everyone seemed to have their stall mis-placed and the really unlucky ones were assigned stalls that put them into the haybales at the start of the pit lane and with no shift-R available, were scuppered in any attempts to qualify.  MERDE!  This glitch cost a number of top guns the chance to qualify and start where they might normally do so and went along way to explaining why I was able to start well up.  In scoping my replay cap of the race, I noted, too, that we were all placed a similar distance back-track on the grid proper.  I jumped into Robert's cockpit and couldn't help but notice that he wasn't anywhere near the starter's stand.  Clearly, something up with the track.ini file.

Secondly, after my qualifying runs, I watched some others on their rounds and was alarmed to see many car images were winking out for a couple of seconds.  This did note bode well for the race.  If it was repeated, all manner of nonsense was likely to occur and indeed, I think that some shunts and contact witnessed after the race in my replay cap seemed to indicate just that.  Downer!    I experienced one, brief spike in my lag bar in the race but otherwise had no complaints.  Only after Tim passed me late in the going did I see that his Cooper was stuttering a bit.  If he had to spend 18-1/2 laps with me doing that just in front of him, it wouldn't have been fun.

Dean's early off(but staged a nice recovery to finish P7)and the contact(warp? sure looked like something goofy was going on there to these eyes)between Axel and Pelle had me up to P2 within a mere 1-1/2 laps.  HEY!  I'm not used to running this high up!  MOTHER!!!

For many a round, I had Tim right on my tail pressing for a pass.  Robert was lone gone.  Most laps, I had things pretty much covered and while I readily thought that Tim was faster, there just wasn't the opportunity to pass.  Comes Lap18 and I was somewhat conservative in my entry to South Bank.  I turned in a bit early and bled off some more speed than usual.  Doubtless feeling the heat from behind.  This compromised pass through the corner really bit my in the arse when I lightly nudged the outfield kerb and I had to hesitate before going throttle up.  This cost me speed down the straight and with Tim getting a really good launch off the corner, he drew alongside on my left.  Ahead, even.  From my cockpit, I could just make out his RF wheel.  I was determined to fight back, though, and dove into Hawthorn as late as I dared on the inside lane.  I  changed down to 2nd gear(not my usual 3rd)to get a better pass through and out of Hawthorn in hopes of gunning Tim down on the run up the hill to Westfield.  Nope.  I kissed the infield kerb in my effort to leave Tim room on the outside and this killed my chances to contest for Westfield.  Nevertheless, I pressed on hard.  Tim eased out a smallish gap over the last 1-1/2 laps but I kept pushing hard hoping for a small error.  It didn't come.  Indeed, I just about threw away my podium finish with a lurid slide coming off Clearways with the finish line in sight.  The LR tyre only just caught the outside verge and I went for a skate off into the infield.  The Cooper looped around but I was lucky in that it righted itself and I was able to regain the track surface not far ahead of Ray.  That could have gone much, much worse.  Lucky boy!

Two races.  Two great dices with Tim.  On to DONIngton.  Hmmm...  Dare I think? 

RIP, Joe.

I should start on the back row more often! 

Grats to Iestyn on a fine win and in the P115, no less.  A sterling drive.

Axel a fine P2 in the Ferrari.

Robert a splendid run in the Cooper for a podium placing.  Good show, RF.

So sad to see that the fine efforts of both Pele and Tris were rewarded with discos.  Bugger!

I had no end of troubles joining the server.  My recently renewed Norton AV software has been revised with upgraded GUI.  And it's proving a joke trying to communicate with it.  It keeps prompting me for clearance to assorted programmes including GPL and all its mods and thingies but no matter how many times I give permission to run, the blankety-blank blank AV software keeps pestering me for approval.  Grrr...  I did finally manage to join and cut a lap to qualify.  I stepped away from the computer for a few minutes and came back to suddenly realize that I was locked up.  A quick dash over to the Task Manager got GPL killed off and in my attempts to rejoin, faced the same silly permission nonsense.  I finally managed to join just as the clock timed out.  I'd lost my grid slot and was placed on the back row with no time credited.  At least I got a start.  PHEW!

The opening laps went well and it was keen to see such a full start field.  Almost immediately, some runners were having grief and soon, I found myself well up the field and on Phil's tail.  PT was driving very well and wringing good performance out of the Ferrari.  I had little chance to size him up for a pass but as he so accurately details above, a slight miscue in the Russel chicane cost him speed on the pit straight and to top it off, a fluffed up-change.  I had no chance to avoid clipping his RR tyre which sent poor Phil into a series of spectacular barrel rolls and a retirement.  Ronnie got caught up in the shunt and it forced his retirement, too.  Sorry, gys.  I actually heard the missed shift as I veered away to the right and I couldn't help but recall that PT and I came to grief off the grid at the recent Monza 69X race.  Deja vu all over again.

The net result of this was a P11 placing in the field but I was under a terrific threat from Tim in his Cooper.  Earlier, he'd had an off and rejoined just behind me and now was making up for lost time.  For the balance of the race, we had at it in a splendid duel for position.  I have little doubt that TM was significantly faster but he just couldn't quite pull off the pass.  Several times, we were level-pegging and I only just managed to prevail by a whisker.  Tim and I have a bit of a history...GP65's at Monaco...that didn't end too well so I was very conscious of having him challenging from close astern but as it turned out, everything shook out just fine with contact.  Great driving there, Tim, and it was a real hoot!

I should mention, too, that at about the 10 lap point, my eyeballs were fogging over rather badly c/w some stinging pain and I seriously considered pulling up with a DNF.  The experience was like having some sand thrown in your face.  Not pleasant.

As the finish loomed, I suddenly had Clive in my sights he in the infamous Wazamobile.  He'd had an off and dropped back to me.  I chased hard with hopes of two goals.  Passing CG and staying out of TM's clutches.  In the first, I failed.  In the second, I succeeded if only just.

Poor Deaner...    The hard-luck man of the race.  If your Repco could only have lasted a couple of hundred more metres...

Hope that Joe enjoyed the show.  Off to Brands! 

I've been planning to wind down a lot of my online sim participation...many are relieved at that news...but I consider this as a must.  As Beefpie would have undoubtedly chosen the BT24 for GPL67 races, I'll look to to likewise.

Here in Canada, the province of Quebec has as their official moto(to be readily seen on automobile licence plates), 'Je me souviens.'  The simple English translation?  'I remember.'

RIP, Joe.

WOWZER!!!  Talk about a close deal in the championship standings!  It can't get any closer without a dead-heat tie.

Congrats to Iestyn for taking the gold ring in the standings!  Full marks.

Ditto to Robert for placing P2 in a stellar run.  But for two lousy points, eh? 

Great job by Clive to claim the final podium placing with solid drives to claim a just reward.  Well done.

I had a so-so S28 but thoroughly enjoyed myself in this fine GPL league.  I'm not likely to return for a full slate of races in S29 but no, you haven't seen the last of me. 

Now that the S28 Pro season is a wrap, I just wanted to jump in and offer up congrats to Robert for clinching the overall title honours.  And in fine style, too!

As ever, Iestyn is a serious threat and gets his reward with a creditable P2 in the final standings.  Well done, sir.

Last podium honours for the championship go to Axel in a fine performance.  Grats!

Special mentions for both Dean and Dave who came very close to scooping that last podium placing in the title run.  Well done, lads.

I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed in my show.  I expected better in the P261 but it was not to be.  As I don't plan on making the full slate of races in S29, I don't see myself as placing any better than S28.  Time will tell...

Congrats to Clive on the victory!  Well done, mate.

Fine drive by Ray to cop P2.  Grats!

A lucky P3 pour moi considering.  Engine woes for both Tristan and Iestyn plus a crushingly bad luck spin by Dean let me score a podium.  It was great fun dicing with Ray til I threw away a chance at P2 late in the going.  Still, a huge smile from me at the checker.

Grats on the overall series championship, Iestyn!  A very creditable job by Tris to finish P2 and something must be seriously wrong somewhere if I can place P3 in the final standings. 

CYA in S29 where I'm likely to scale back my participation to part time only.  Not gettin' any younger...

NP, Rocket.  Poo happens.  I find that hairpin rather slippery and slow more than I would like to ensure a clean pass.  This may have caught you off-guard.  I have a score to drop so I guess this is it. 

Grats to Tris(great job in the Cooper), Robert and Iestyn!

Made it back home five minutes too late to make the start.  The gang insisted we stop at MacDonald's.  Thanks, Ronald. 

At least it sounds like the first cataract op when well, Norm.  Good news on that.  I sincerely trust that the next procedure goes equally so.  You'll be missed but never fear.  We'll keep a chair 'round the fire reserved for you.