UKGPL Season 24 (2013) Formula 2 Trophy - Brands Hatch - Feb 17

[fpolicardi]

T7 server is set for 26 laps Long race and listening on Igor in Consolle session with OpenGL_V2.
Ciao

[PaulV]

Hmmm. Struggling to break 1:40. Any better Paul?

getting there..  after a 40 min practice session and a little tweak or two of the setup got down to 1:37.84  in the Lotus 48

im hoping theres a little room for improvement but to be honest would rather have a fairly stable setup and try to be consistent.

most important thing for me is to first finish.  as I can quite honestly not expect to finish first !!

Paul V

[EvilClive]

I presume that those lap times are on race fuel guys? 

[Clive Loynes]

I presume that those lap times are on race fuel guys? 

LOL
Watch out for Evil, he's a Brands Expert.  (Ex as in old and spurt as in drip under pressure.    )

[PaulV]

I presume that those lap times are on race fuel guys? 

yeah, is for me. got enough of the stuff for 28 laps.

not using qually setups on any of the new mods yet as I find the transition from one setup to the other just another issue to deal with. 

using a race setup for qualifying gives me the chance to dial in me the driver and the setup.  most importantly allows me to try to stay within decent limits with the tyre temps. 

done fairly well so far upon my recent return to GPL by at least staying the distance if not by actually setting the track alight with my dazzling moves or "warp factor 9 " speeds 

So I'm happy.  probably means a start near the rear, but again that suits me fine. 

just hoping for a decent race with few incidents... not much to ask is it 

Paul V 

[EvilClive]

  to Mr Loynes  he could never get his cars sideways enough for a quick lap of Brands )

Good for you Paul, I usually do my qually on race fuel for exactly the same reasons. I want to know how quickly I can lap with a full tank of fuel and if that matches those around me. That way I can be sure that I am not deluding myself, because the worst case scenario is that everyone else is also on race fuel and they are genuinely quicker than me, but most likely the majority have done their quick laps on a splash and dash setup.
If I practice offline ( rarely find time these days) for a race, I might run on double fuel load and try and get within a close margin of the WR or UKGPL record. It still amazes me that one can shave tenths off at each corner by adjusting braking points ( brakes are for wimps BTW!) , line through the corner and acceleration points and gradually bring your lap times down lap on lap. For a game oops! sorry SIM, that is 15 years old it is remarkably realistic in that regard.

The only time I resort to low fuel is if I find myself a long way back on the grid for a circuit that makes passing tricky. Then a good grid slot is important, but of course you still need to be able to run at the pace of the aliens when the race starts..hopefully.
Sometimes I find that I can set a faster time on a full race setup, maybe because I have just dialled in to the handling of the car like that and when I try a qually run on low fuel weight, I overdrive it and spoil my chances.

This might all be a smokescreen of course and I might be planning a banzai lap on just the fumes in the tank at Brands to get myself on pole....or maybe not lol

[PaulV]

This might all be a smokescreen of course and I might be planning a banzai lap on just the fumes in the tank at Brands to get myself on pole....or maybe not lol

haha .. and this smokescreen one thinks will be from the burning rubber of ones rear tyres, will it good sir !

one thing I have noticed is the strange setup Brands seems to need.

most setups tend to oversteer under power and perhaps push/washout a bit when you let off the gas. so one can sort of use throttle and a bit of trail braking to rotate car into corner and then lift off if it gets out of shape.  

brands seems to me to need a fairly twitchy setup.  it seems as though you need to be able to trail brake and use positive throttle to turn car in and also need to let up at the right time to bring down your speed and still turn into the bend. dont suppose Im explaining it well, but hope you can see what Im getting at.

so as for a setup ive been trying for one that will sort of rotate from power on oversteer to power off oversteer.  not sure that makes sense , but do you know what I mean? and trying to keep it from getting too ragged or twitchy to drive.

dont really fancy 26 laps driving on a Knives edge.

[Hristo Itchov]

Screen freeze.

[EvilClive]

me too!!! thought it was my dreaded gremlins again. At least that is some comfort that it was not my PC.

It was a great dice whilst it lasted H

[Al Heller]

another SCREEN FREEZE ! Like Montjuich, every time we race at Brands I get a sodding screen freeze. This time I even started with a clean slate; I binned my old Brand67 folder, downloaded & installed the track again, detail levels all set low, racing with Dean & Doni for 4th and... screen freeze. Aaargh.

EDIT: Ah I see H & Clive also got hit - bad luck guys. I don't get it - this track was supposed to be fixed but as far as I can see it's just as unreliable as it always was.

[EvilClive]

Whilst we are on the subject of screen freezes etc...

Al, did you say that you were on Virgin broadband? If so I think I have found one of the main culprits of my problems which appears to be something to do with Virgin AV.

Every time I have a disco it coincides with something called "Communications facilitator" starting up. check ctrl-alt-delete and tasks if you have a prob and I'll bet real money ( well maybe some monopoly money) that this little sod is running or has just started.

My next move is to get on to the Virgin boffins and ask how I stop it kicking in, as End it all does not affect it.

[Al Heller]

Whilst we are on the subject of screen freezes etc...

Al, did you say that you were on Virgin broadband? If so I think I have found one of the main culprits of my problems which appears to be something to do with Virgin AV.

I used to be with Virgin cable broadband Clive but not anymore. I'm lucky to even get a phone line out where I live now!

P.S. Were you letting me repass after our incident Doni? If so, thanks.   

[s2173]

Screenfreese too... i would guess its not the server or the connection...but the damn track.

[Hristo Itchov]

The track works OK with some of the older mods or the original 67, but not so with F2 or GTs. Something to do with the way those mods are made, not really sure, but it's frustrating. I really like the track and despite my off I was slowly catching up Evil, so it was shaping up to be another good chase after the first 8 laps or so where Evil was constantly putting pressure within less than a second behind.

[kinghiro]

Sorry for your freezes. I almost never get them but I did last race and then I forgot to put mygraphicssetting away from "by aplication" on tha AA. I know it s a blindshot.
(I get cleaner wiew with forced AA but use by application on other games).
Then To the Race. Some guys obviously were to hot in the start. I got bumped from the side, there was a crash up front and although I had no problem stopping the guy behind me smashed me. Great.
I lost concentration from time to time and had some offs when driving alone. I managed to take home a sixth due to Arf being a bit "unstable "although slightly faster than me.