Haul arse after T7!!!??? I hope I remember.


Oh crap! I had forgotten Europe may not have changed yet. It took me 2 or 3 days to realize we had changed the time. I couldn't understand why two of my clocks were correct and two were wrong. This might be the first time I haven't anticipated the clock change. So the start should be a hour later for me?

Congratulations Yannick, Clive, and Tristan! Those were some excellent lap times by Yannick and Clive! It's interesting to see that Phil did a 1:41 too.

I didn't look so stupid this time. I wish I had been a little better prepared. I struggled with braking at the end of the long straight and could not use the slipstream effectively. I hoped I could stay in Enrique and Tristan's slipstream but that didn't last long. I couldn't use Axel's tow much either.

I tried my best to be consistent but that didn't work well. Phil and Pete both surprised me. I was so focused on trying to drive the car better I didn't know they were behind me until my mirror was filled by their Lola or Chaparral. Phil was tailing me so close at one point that I was wondering if my mirror should have lettering saying, "Objects are closer than they appear." During the first 1/3 - 2/3's of the race I may have relented to Pete and Phil quickly, but when it gets late in the race I'm not giving my position easily. I hope I entertained you two a bit. You guys made my race more interesting. I was enjoying it except I was a little nervous about my early braking before the final turn and my slow entrance to the right hander before the long straight.

Thanks for the gentlemen. I'll see you next time.

Congratulations Axel, Clive, and Tom! Nice work gentlemen!

I apologize for forgetting about the rolling start. I read the race post a hour or two before qualifying. I knew what I was supposed to do. I just forgot. It might have been a bit of shell shock or something.

Practice didn't go well at all. Slight mistakes were devastating. I ripped my left rear well off at Holowell my first two times out of the pits. I almost did it the third time too. Late in practice I was starting to get fast until I caught Clive after an accident. I went to the inside hoping to slip by but Clive tried to get off the racing line and it was too late for me to avoid him. That lap would have gotten much closer to Axel's great pole time and I had another lap of fuel to go for pole position. I tried again at the end of practice and ran into to too much traffic.

There's not much to say about the race other than I was trying to drive too fast and I had two accidents that ended a rather frustrating outing. It sure wasn't my day.

I needed to practice more than 3-4 laps prior to qualifying and I think riding the motorcycle I recently bought is having a real bad effect on my GPL driving.

I hope you come back for more racing Tom. Doni, if you can take aspirin for the pain, try it. When I broke my arm the opium the doctor prescribed did not work well for the pain. After 3 days, I started taking aspirin and it did a much better job with the pain I was feeling. The only good the opium did was it allowed me to fall asleep the first two or three nights after the break. I quit taking it after that.

Thanks for letting me join gentlemen. I hope I don't look so stupid next time.

Congratulations Axel and Phil! Tough luck Clive.

I was glad to see Axel in the Chaparral. I knew that the Penske Lola and Chaparral actually appeared in Nassau in 1966. The Chap won one of the Trophy Races while Donohue won the other. Axel in the Chaparral seems to be great motivation for me to drive well.

I took the slowest car that I thought could put me on the podium. With 3 high speed sections you need some good horsepower on this track. I'm surprised there was so many of the slower cars. Clive and Doni did great for having such a weak car.

I did not expect to win this one. I tried to make sure I was ready for Tristan and Yannick, and it's not an easy feat beating Axel in the Chaparral.

My car worked very well. I copied my Lola 359 setup that was dated from 2016. I copied that setup many times several years ago. I got a hour of practice during the preceding day. I was able to test various ramp angles, change the brake bias, and fine tune the cambers and gearing. After one qualifying stint I was very pleased with the car and lap time. I couldn't think of anything to improve the setup after that stint. I spent the rest of the time playing around on race fuel.

The 4 speed transmission helped a lot on the start. It allowed me the open a little gap so Axel was less likely to hit me going into the chicane. His car's downforce helped him brake much better there and carry more speed through those early turns. I drove the car hard through the first several laps. Once I opened a 5 second gap, I felt Axel's only chance was for me to make a noticeable mistake. With a 6 second gap, I set the cruise control and enjoyed the ride to the finish. Unlike Clive and Phil, I was able to back off a little and remain very consistent. I couldn't have asked the car to perform much better but I still have some ideas about how I might make it a little faster.

Dimitar, thanks for posting the stream. You can turn off the internet meter (Alt + M) and turn off some of Pribluda with the function keys. That might keep your frame rate up early in the race. Occasionally I turn off all of Pribluda except the distance meter until there's more space between the cars.

How would you like 500 miles in one these things? I didn't know they were running 500 mile races in this type of car. It's a common distance in the US with Nascar and Indy cars on ovals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYwh7kQNKME

Thanks for the fun gentlemen and thanks for letting me race with you.

Congratulations Axel and Clive! It looks like I got lucky Clive had some early trouble. It was very difficult staying in front of Axel. Two drivers may have been far more pressure than I could have withstood.

I was glad to see Axel in the Chaparral. I drove the Lola since I hadn't driven it at Sebring and thought it might give me a chance to keep up with Axel in the Chaparral. I think Axel posted his qualifying time at the same time as I posted mine. I was right on his tail when I got pole position. That was a nice lap you drove Axel. I kept thinking you were going to slow me down at some point but you never did.

I gave it everything I had for 17 laps to stay in front of Axel. I "worked" so hard to open a 4-5 second gap on Axel twice, only to slow drastically to avoid a spin and lose all that gap. I thought he was going to catch me again late in the race, but he seemed to fare a little worse with lapped traffic than I did.

Sebring was my favorite airfield circuit until Nassau was released. The two places us North Americans loved to go racing during the winter. I think the Europeans preferred Australia but plenty of them made it to Sebring and Nassau too. I think it was a very nice choice of track and mod to drive this time of year. I can't think of any time of year I'd rather be in Florida.

Thanks for the fun gentlemen and thanks for letting me join. Take care guys.

Oh, Axel, thanks for hosting and managing this series. It's very kind of you to do this for us.

Congratulations Doni and Tom! Tom may have been able to beat Doni if he got some decent practice beforehand.

This track suits the M8F well. The Shadow and big Lola did not stand a chance against the mighty McLaren.

This was a good test for me. I had a setup dating from 2014. 30 minutes of practice before qualifying was enough to improve the old setup and drop my fastest lap by 0.5 seconds. The car was prone to over heating the left rear tire if I ran wide, but it was easily manageable.

It was a fun season. I've been wanting to work on my 71 setups for years now. I was able to make improvements and learn a little more about the cars. It's a shame Yannick and Tristan didn't appear. I wouldn't have been surprised if they won more races than me, but I could have given them a good challenge.

Fulvio, I apologize for crowding you at turn 1 on your last lap. Pribluda had me thinking I had another lap to run. I hoped the timing would work well and I could pass you easily and try break into the 1:32s on my last lap. Without that distraction, you would have had a better chance at trying to get Enrique's position.

Congrats to Tom and Enrique on P2 and P3 in the championship! If I wasn't here, it would have been quite a battle for the championship between Tom, Enrique, Phil, Pete, and Fulvio. It was good to see we had a fair number of drivers for this series.

Thanks for the fun gentlemen and thanks for letting me race with you. I appreciate it.

Congratulations Jonny and Eduardo! Nice job gentlemen.

Jonny did well.He was able to stay about 3 seconds behind me for a long time. This was mostly a case of driving just fast enough to win. I sure wasn't up to the task of taking much pressure this time. I struggled with consistency and abused my left rear tire many times.

I used this race to make changes to my setup. I was pleased I got within 0.1 seconds of my fastest lap. I was tempted to change my ramp angles to 45/60/1 from 60/60/1 at the end of qualifying. I was getting too much wheel spin but I thought the ramp angle change might cause me problems. I'll have to check that soon. If I can make my setup better I think I can do high 1:54s. I can't help but wonder if my old setup would have been more consistent.

It looks like it was a rather interesting race for many others.

I like Rouen. It was the first track I drove something other than a Lotus or Ferrari. I used it as my test track for at least a few months when I first started driving GPL.

Congratulations to Doni and Jonny for the other podium spots in the championship! It's a bit of a shame Axel missed the podium, but it's good too see Jonny salvage a difficult season. Doni is still determined and a consistent finisher. It's only the last year or two I started thinking I'm a better driver than Doni. A lot of that probably has to do with Doni's age. For years I may have been faster than Doni, but I didn't think I was any better because my consistency was not as good and my nerves weren't as steely as his. From the earliest of my online races, I often thought, if I get as consistent and wise as Doni, I'll be somewhat good at this sim.

I might miss the next Works season. I want to reduce my online racing time some so I can spend more time on beta testing. I expect to run one 67 championship and one mod championship next year. The 4 championship seasons and beta testing this year was a little more driving than I want to do.

Thanks for letting me race this season. It was a lot of fun. I am lucky to be champion. We had two drivers absent for a lot of the season and at least a few others that had very bad seasons. I am happy that I drove well enough that nobody could have been absent or made many mistakes if they wanted to finish ahead of me in the championship.

Congrats everybody!

Congratulations Jonny and Fulvio!

I enjoyed driving the Lotus. I still enjoy driving the Ferrari most but now I realize the Lotus is my 2nd favorite. I improved my best lap by more than 0.7 seconds. I'm still learning how to set up the car better.

This is an easy track to destroy a car. I thought I could keep from wrecking the car but I worried I would destroy the engine. At least 3 or 4 times during the race, I over revved the engine thinking I got lucky that did not pop the engine.

I got lucky Tristan was not able to finish the season. I would have bet on Tristan being champion. My plan was try to stay somewhat close in points and maybe get a win or two using the Eagle and Lotus.

Like Jonny, I like Bathurst too. I had never heard of the track until I started driving GPL. Since then, I've watched a lot footage from this circuit. It's by far my favorite Australian track.

It's a shame Jonny struggled with the start. I thought he might put some pressure on me. A little pressure might have got me to have an accident.

It looks Team Baarf might be champion too! Equipe BGB was the likely champion if Alain had not had such a bad season and Tristan wasn't absent. Bob and Colin were always outmanned the first few seasons I drove with UKGPL. It's been cool that I could put a 3rd team into championship contention.

It's been a good season. I enjoyed the track and car selections. Thanks for the fun gentlemen.

Congratulations Enrique and Tom! We got lucky Tom was late.

Enrique did well for the first half of the race. I don't know how he kept his tires from catching on fire. He was sliding all over the place. I had to be very smooth and I could only run one line to keep my tires from over heating. Enrique, I was very cautious the first 5 laps. By lap 6 I started looking for a way that I might pass. Enrique defended his position well by keeping me from getting inside of him on the back straight. I also had no confidence that I could out brake him into T1. I tried passing him on the outside in the banking and while crossing the finish line. My car was not fast enough and that tactic only overheated my tires. He finally made a mistake coming on to the oval. He lost his momentum and I was able get beside him exiting the first banking. I must have been using less wing to power past him on the back straight. Then once I had the lead, Enrique went off at T1 losing a few seconds. He needed to be as cautious as I was early in the race. I increased my lead until I ran wide at the International Horseshoe. I lost a few seconds there and let Enrique back into a little of my slipstream. He made another mistake and then he couldn't get back in my tow again. I didn't realize how much concentration I needed until the race was finished. I was ready to relax when we finished.

Had Tom not been late, he would have had a good chance at the win. Finishing 12 seconds back after starting P9 is great! It's cold enough here that Enrique didn't make me sweat but Tom likely would have if he had not started so far behind.

Dave, my setup wasn't great either. Another hour of qualifying might have helped me a lot. Sometimes, you need very stiff springs to keep the car from bottoming. I copied my M8F setup from 2015 and it needed a lot work to correct the camber settings and try to keep the right rear tire from overheating. I gradually got smoother and more consistent throughout qualifying. I was still wanting to make changes to the car by the time qualifying ended.

Thanks for the fun gentlemen and congrats again Enrique and Tom.

Congratulations Fulvio and Enrique! Congrats Enrique and Clive for your fast lap times. I don't know if I could do any better with those cars.

Silverstone seemed like a good place to drive Jackie Stewart's car. I think it might be the most difficult car to drive. It's fast but it's not as easy to set fast laps as the M8F. The Shadow can be difficult to drive too.

I apologize for running you off the track Axel. It appeared you tried to let me pass as you exited turn 1. I ran wide entering T1 so I did not catch you as soon as you might have expected. I was not expecting you to be so slow at T2. I'm glad I didn't hit the back of your car. That would have been catastrophic. I could not feel any contact but it looked like I bumped you off the track.

I wish I had spent more time preparing the T260. I could easily over heat my front tires with the brakes. And although I was driving the car hard in the late laps I finished with my tires under inflated.

Thanks for the fun gentlemen. Take good care of yourselves.

Why did you go south east? There is little more there than sand, tumbleweeds, and oil rigs out there. You should have went west into the Sierra Blanca/Sacramento Mountains. Ruidoso and Cloudcroft are beautiful areas. I recently read an article about gimmicks/tourist traps in New Mexico and the alien stuff in Roswell was mentioned in the article. I think I would like the pecan orchards better than alien "museums".

Congrats Doni and Bob! It's easy to screw up here and destroy your car. It was good to see my teammate on the podium.

I got lucky Leo, Enrique, and Jonny were not better prepared. It's a shame their luck was so horrible.

I struggled a little in qualifying. I was nervous for some reason and couldn't keep from making time consuming mistakes until late in the session.

Clive's report is why I try practice at least 30 minutes some time before qualifying. I would be reporting similar things if I tried to qualify/race without any practice and a decent setup. I have a good Ferrari setup that transfered to the Eagle well. I did worry about my whizzy bits. I had doubts I could keep them whizzing to the finish.

The race went well. I hoped to open an early gap so I could be cautious if I needed and try to take it easy on my engine. I lost a couple seconds in the sand once, made a few bad upshifts, and over revved the engine a few times when the car got light. The Eagle is a great car for this track since you have such a long stretch at full throttle. The car worked well. I was a little surprised how fast I was going without pushing my or the car limits much. My fast lap was done without drama and no real abuse to my drivetrain. I was very pleased about that.

This is now my home track although I do live a little more than 130 miles from the track. This would have been a good time of year to race there. Winter hasn't really arrived nor do you have 110F (43.3C) that is common in the summer. I don't get much of the searing heat in the Central Highlands but we do get some bitter cold every winter.

Thanks for the fun gentlemen. I appreciate it.

Paul, I always make sure I am 8 yards (8m) ahead of the other car on the Pribluda distance meter before I move over in front of the other car. I did find an anomaly at Monza. Once in the 71 Can Ams I was high on the banking and Axel was low on the banking, Pribluda read that I was 10m ahead of Axel. I thought I had plenty of room to move in front of Axel, but I almost took his nose off when I dropped to the bottom of the banking.

Congratulations Alain and Eduardo! It looks like pole position determined the winner. It also looks like Eduardo is getting faster.

It had been a while since I drove at Mexico City. The 30 minutes of practice prior to qualifying helped a lot. At first I could not keep the car on the track. I was a bit worried I might wreck or destroy my engine during the race. Luckily, I was able to open an early gap that allowed me to take it easy on the DFV.

I improved my fastest lap in qualifying by about 0.15 seconds. I liked that. Physically, I don't think I can drive any better than I could several years ago but more experience and improved setups are still allowing me to get faster in some instances. By the time qualifying ended, I thought I might be able to break into the 1:45s some day. If I increase the rpms in 1st and 5th gear, I'm sure the car would set better times, but I would be shocked if the engine could finish a race with that gearset.

Without a poor opening lap, Alain would have had a good chance to beat me. I don't think I could have withstood much pressure Sunday. Alain's pace was good in the second half of the race. I didn't dare try to run a 1:46.5 like he did. I was so concerned about wrecking or destroying the DFV that my tires ran very cool most of the race. It was only the last 2-3 laps that I got them to a good temperature.

The only thing I did well in the race was keeping myself from making any stupid mistakes. The Lotus did most of the work.

Thanks for the fun guys. I appreciate it.