Well, that was exciting, Qualified in 9th close to the time I expected. Arf went off at T1 and came back across the track hittng me hard and launching me into low Earth Orbit. Took off at the exit of T1, landed close to the entry of T2 minus several important parts such as front wheels etc. Couldn't SH-r until the whole field had gone past. Took the mandatory S&G at the end of the 1st lap and rejoined a long way adrift of the rest of the field. Slowly made ground on the rear of the field and had some great battles as I began to make my way through the pack, Pepe allowed me through (Twice) as I made a complete mess of it 1st time and lost it at the next corner. Upset the handling a bit as well. Had some great duels with Fran and Arf later in the race. Spent a good few laps trying to eat into the gap to Clive until he had a nightmare lap and I went from 500yds behind to 150yds. Then he lost it exiting Abbey and I was finally through. Arf came back at me later in the race, a battle momentarily interrupted as we allowed Pelle through Then Arf disappeared from my mirrors and I was very much alone with Bastian a long way ahead and a recovering Clive a similar distance behind and that was how it stayed until the flag.

A really enjoyble race in the end but my wife thought I was going to have a heart attack during the T1 incident.

TTFN
John.

Very quiet race for me. Qualified around the time I expected and was surprised to have beaten Cookie into 3rd place.

Most exciting part was the start. I got great grip off the line, pulled level with jonny and was right on the gearbox of Pelle as we hurtled down to T1. But as I was on the wrong side of the track it was only going to end in tears had I tried to keep Jonny at bay so eased off and settled into 3rd. Had Cookie for company for a few laps as the front 2 extended away and then when Cookie disappeared I was running alone with Greg slipping further back as the race went on. Came home 16s behind jonny and about half a minute ahead of Greg's BRM.

TTFN
John.

That was certainly one of the best GPL crashes I have seen in a long time Greg. I should have probably backed off a bit more which would have saved my race but I figured the speed and altitude of your car was going to put you somewhere on the railway line, not back onto the track. I really need to read the rules I guess, I didn't realise I could have Sh-r and took a stop and go (My car wasn't going anywhere under it's own steam).

Up to that point I was about where I expected. Also as expected the front 4 began to pull a gap quite early on and I also had a gap developing behind. I knew the Eagles following would eat my Ferrari down Masta which is why I was reluctant to ease off when I saw Greg's Brabham pirouetting off track ahead.

Shame I really like Spa'67 ad was looking forwards to this one.

Congrats to Podium and all finishers.

TTFN
John.

Mixed race for me, Hadn't had much time to practice so was pleased to have got into the 1:53's in Q, Lined up 6th on the grid and we were off. Lost ground on the leaders and had Greg breathing down my neck. Decided my defence was killing both our lap times so tried to let him past by running wide off track between the final 2 turns to let him through but he followed me and as I slowed hit me from behind spinning me around. The car didn't feel right after that. Oversteer on right handers and understeer when turning left really hurt me through the stadium section.  Slowly came to terms with it but not until late race by whch time I was down in 7th chasing Dave's Lotus. Managed to wring the Ferrari's kneck and stay in contact down the straights and make up a bit through the Ost curve, but couldn't get close enough to make a serious challenge without taking us both out so was content to bring it home and score a few points after my recent DNF's.


Thanks guys, A blast as usual.

TTFN
John.

According to the Racelist it's 92.116.138.119

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John.

Thanks Cookie, Yes I've got them all, just wasn't sure which one we were using.

Thomas's site disappeared some time ago. It's now being hosted here...

https://www.autosimsport.net/thomas_laechele/

TTFN
John.

Which Hockenheim is it we are running next week?

Thanks in advance

TTFN
John.

A race of ups and downs for me, Mainly downs unfortunately, Qualified 5th on the grid which was disappointing, I knew I had a lap time in me to move at least one possibly two places closer to the front but it wasn't to be.

The start went better than I dared dream. We set off at the flag and I settled in behind Clive Then at Dr. Tiroch Kurve Pelle, Clive and Greg went very wide and I was able to keep a tight line and came out of the turn just behind Pelle in 3rd, Pelle then had problems at Bosch Kurve and I suddenly found myself in 2nd with Greg up my chuff, A few small mistakes allowed jonny to pull a small gap but I was able to use the extra oomph of the Ferrari to open a small gap over Greg on the main straight and also the run down to Bosch. Meanwhile he clawed it all back through the corners. Then not sure what happened, I hadn't hit anything (So far) but I either completely forgot how to drive through Schikane or the fuel burning off upset the balance. Either way a few strange moments led up to me losing the rear completely and spinning off onto the grass. I recovered but not until both Greg and Cookie had already gone past. Greg was but a distant memory but Cookie looked catchable until I did it again. Then I had Clive showing an interest. Schikane bacame easier again as the fuel burned off and I slowly extended a gap back to Clive only for Dr. Tiroch Kurve to catch me out bringing Clive back into my mirrors.

Managed to pull out a gap again from Clive but shortly afterwards the engine let go exiting Dr. Tiroch and my race was over. All my own fault I had set my gearing to coincide with the crests on the exit of Dr. Tiroch and on the entry to the Rindt Kurve. A few times I missed the gear change and over revved then engine. I was also pushing a lot harder than I wanted to to stay in front of Greg early on and I think the combination of these probably caused my demise.

But loved it up until that point, I think Zeltweg71 is one of the best tracks out there.

Thanks guys.

TTFN
John.

Well that was more than annoying. Felt really good about this one and qualified on Pole. Led for the 1st few laps until a stupid mistake at Canada Corner spun me around and Clive and Cookie went through. Set off after them and was looking forwards to a good battle then my Router decided to reboot itself for some unknown reason.  Pissed off doesn't even begin to describe it.

TTFN
John.

Qualified in 2nd behind Cookie's Ferrari but got a better run off the line and toughed it out into T1 figuring as Cookie was on the inside he would have to slow more than me on the approach.

Pelle was soon on my case and like an idiot I thought it would be a good idea to actually race him (What was I thinking). He passed me on the run down to Parabolica and I took the lead back upt the SF straight. Then Sanity prevailed and I decided I couldn't keep up the pace so tried to let him by on the run down to Prabolica a few laps later. I think he held back though figuring to pass me on the SF straight. But I was now off the racing line and by the time I got back I had missed my braking point so ended up in the kitty litter. Recovered but not until Axel and Greg had also passed. Tried to hang onto Greg and did exactly the same thing again (Missed my braking point) into Parabolica a few laps later. This time didn't lose any places but was now well adrift of the front 3 with a comfortable gap back to Bagrup's Eagle.

Then about 5 to go and I came across Cookie recovering at Gurve Grand and swept past into 3rd. I seemed to have the edge in a straight line but Cookie was so much faster than me through what corners actually exist at Monza.  We finally crossed the line about a second aprt.

So well chuffed to have stayed in the company of such exhalted opposition as Cookie, Greg and Pelle for as long as I did..

TTFN
John.

Apologies to anyone distracted by my awful connection. Everythng was smooth as silk during qualifying and just before the flag dropped everyone started disappearing (So obviously a problem on my end). I figured I would see if it improved in the opening laps and retire if it didn't. But then everyone started throwing their cars at the scenery and the field thinned out so I followed Cookie for a while and after he spun out at Paddock hill bend I was running alone with Jonny a few 100yds up the road and Pelle the same distance behind.

A mostly uneventful race from my end. Had 1 spin at Hawthorns a few laps from the flag but other than that kept it ion the black stuff and cruised home in 2nd.

TTFN
John.

At work so no time for practice but joined server ok.

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John.

Decided at the last minute to give the 55's another chance. Discovered I had enough tokens for the Lancia so grabbed it and joined the server. Took the default set up, adjusted the brake bias and diff settings but other than that ran it as it came out of the box.

Qualified in 5th over 1.5s adrift of uli's pole time but was happy with the progress I had made during qualifying.

Got a great start and jumped both Cookie and Evil on the run down to T1. Managed to hang on for a few laps until Evil took advantage of the fact that I never managed to get the entry onto the Hanger straight quite right all race and was losing time all the way down to Stowe on every lap.

Tried in vain to hang onto the back of the front 2 but slowly lost ground until Evil made a mistake late in the race which put me right back with him, Unfortunately (for me) I had destroyed the brakes trying to stay in touch to the extent the only went yellow for any length of time time on the Hangar straight, being red with only the odd glimpse of yellow everywhere else. So finding myself back on his tail probably worried him more than it excited me as I knew I didn't have anything left in the locker to mount an attack. As it was he opened up a 2s gap in the final laps leavng me to claim the last of the podium spots due to Fran's problems.

So, glad to have given them another chance but they still don't grab me to the extent of say the 67's. I still feel the brake fade is a bit over agressive and the recovery takes a little too long. (But what do I know). Not sure I would rush to commit to another 55 season which is a shame because I really want to like them.

Great drives by Clive (And Clive). Congrats to Clive on the championship.

Thanks all it was a blast as usual.

TTFN
John.

I had this happen to me several months ago (AVG).  There is an exceptions/Exclude option from one of the menus and I simple added the path to the executable there and no problems since.

TTFN
John.

I still have no idea how I bagged 2nd at this one. Obviously Trist and Pelle having issues helped but it still wasn't one of my finer races. Fortunately managed to miss Greg's spinning Lotus on L2 which seemed to slow most of the field. Then Pelle went wide at T8 so I think I was 2nd. Trist as usual just drove off into the distance until he disappeared. Clive was in close proximity for a while and I soon had a hard charging Greg closing fast. It might sound defeatist but I was already planning on the best place to let him past as I knew he was nearly 2s a lap quicker then me in clean air. As it was I messed up all on my own, bottoming out through the dip just before Moss and stuck it in the barrier. By the time I had got everything pointed in the right direction Greg was but a distant memory and Bastian had also squeezed through. Had a great few laps following Bastian, I was quicker into the corners but he was quicker on the exits so I was never able to get close enough to attack him into one of the breaking zones. Then he spun at T3 and I found a way through on the outside while he gathered it all back together.

For the remainder of the race I managed to extend my advantage until with about 6 to go I started to notice my fuel state with some concern. Backing off and short shifting didn't seem to help much and as the tyres cooled down I started to get a bit ragged and I was watching Basian's progress on Prib trying to keep the closing gap to as little as possible By the time I had 3 to go I was convinced I was going to need a splash and dash and sure enough exiting Moss the Brabham started to splutter. I thought I still had another lap to go but as I reached T8 I saw the gap to Greg was dropping quickly. He had either crashed on the last lap in which case I needed my splash and dash or he had finished. I took a chance and didn't pit and was so very relieved to see the guy waving the chequered flag as I came out of  Whites corner. Finally crossed the line with 0.2g which became 0.1g as I rolled to a stop at the end of the pit lane.

Really enjoyed this season and stunned to have got 2nd in the championship even allowing for a few notable absentees this seasnon.

Thanks guys, it was a blast as usual.

TTFN
John.