UKGPL Season 26 (2014) Professionals Trophy (65) - Oulton Park - Feb 4

[Cookie]

You would still get a poor time cos you LEFT THE PITS

No, Tony I can do another fast lap with seconds left crossing the line 

[Robert Fleurke]

With ref to qually procedure. Apologies to Robert Fleurke. I stayed wide & slowed at Lodge thinking you would go inside but it didn't work out that way. My time was ok but had a few offs & 2 Ferraries went off in sympathy when they saw me It didn't go well an omen for the race.

That was my bad. You stayed wide, but I braked too late and wrecked you and myself :'( Your car had a strong Fezza magnet I did say "s" in chat meaning sorry Maybe you could have let me by earlier but nobody's perfect, in general it's easier to let ppl by on straights rather than in turns. Then discoed and reconnected to put conn meters off as I got freezes with ppl (re)connecting/chatting, had nothing to do with you or so.

PS: sorry to hear Axel Thanks to Tony for the max room lapping!

[Wiltshire Tony]

You would still get a poor time cos you LEFT THE PITS

No, Tony I can do another fast lap with seconds left crossing the line 

[Doni Yourth]

Qualifying Etiquette

Some basic guidelines to a smooth practice and qualifying session...

Far too often, aggravation is the order of the day when competitors fail to observe some simple procedures and policies during qualifying.  Some regard themselves as 'King of the Road' and insist on making life difficult for others when all that is required is a little mutual courtesy.  Remember the old phrase(in life as well as sim racing), 'Courtesy costs nothing.'

1 > As you are about to strike the green button in GPL to place you in the cockpit of your speedster, first, observe the port/window showing 'Pit Lane'.

2 > Using the tab arrow, select 'Chase View' and maintain it til you're ready to join.

3 > Ensure that your time frame is 'live' and not in delayed replay mode.  This is key.

4 > Using the driver select arrow, punch through the competitors on track to see where they are taking special note of those late in a lap and approaching the pit area.  It should not be difficult to identify a competitor's location as you are viewing from the Chase View.

5 > Wait til a hole appears in the traffic of nominally 15 seconds before punching the green button to enter the cockpit of your car.  (You want that amount of time between the passing of the last car and the arrival of the next in order to get up to speed without dramas.)  When the last competitor is approaching the pit area, you may join via the green button and be placed in your car.  Take note of the marque of the last car.  If a gaggle of Loti are approaching the pits but the last in line is a Ferrari or Honda, it should be very easy to determine when it roars by and you now know that you have a substantial amount of time to join the track surface proper before another competitor arrives in the vicinity of the pits.

6 > Proceed quickly out of the pits and qualify safe in the knowledge that you haven't screwed someone over.  (When pulling away from your pit stall, it is important to quickly move to the outer lane.  If you chug straight down pit lane in line with your initial position, odds are that at some point or other, someone will join and place themselves in their pit stall, directly in your path.  I think that we've all experienced this at sometime from both standpoints.  Not fun.  OK...so maybe it is.  )

I use this procedure for all events and never have an issue with balking another competitor on a hot lap.

Happy Motoring!

Comments?

[Cookie]

You would still get a poor time cos you LEFT THE PITS

No, Tony I can do another fast lap with seconds left crossing the line 

Tony,
when I have 2 min left in quali and I know a lap will be ~ 1:38, my outlap has to be pretty fast to be able to do a fast lap just in last seconds.
I don't know why, but in my short racing career this was often that I succeeded to make my fastest lap like this   

My procedure out of the pitlane is watching pribluda wich shows me the actual distance in meters to other cars   

[Ronniepeterson]

Hm, now I play the advocate:

What if I am doing a last stint to get a better time with 2 mins left, have obeyed all etiquette rules leaving the pits,
but find a lukewarm cruising car in front after 2 corners?

I would try to pass as soon as possible...  (and the passed driver could be clever to use the slipstream to improve his time!)

I would have to say no to that Axl. Its just my opinion but unless the driver your approaching makes the decision for you to let you through, you just have to back off and curse your bad luck. Like Clive says, its tough to accept but if the guy in front is on a lap themselves, flying by is not guaranteed to help them.

Not wishing to broaden this debate too much but I'm not a fan of slipstreaming in qualifying. Don't misunderstand I will never refuse a free tow I chance upon but I don't go looking for them when I join the track or while on the track. I don't object to drivers peeling off or having an off so to speak to avoid towing someone behind, but drivers dawdling round deliberately looking for a tow is not something I like to see. I suspect others might disagree but again its just my opinion.

One last point. Incident reports can and have been submitted in the past for incidents during qualifying, but I'm sure the moderators are busy enough already.

[Cookie]

Seems to be my bad english why you don't understand my point

"I would try to pass as soon as possible..." does not mean I try to ruin anyones lap!

In your point of slipstreaming I agree 100%!

[Wiltshire Tony]

Another, unrelated point, if I may. My car died last night, way short of the race finish. I don't believe it was engine related as temps were not showing red. Are there other causes for engine failures in GPL? So I'm assuming I ran out of fuel. My setup was set to 31 laps. When qualy ends does GPL deselect your current setup? (yes I did the last of qualy on a full tank, I like to have the feel of the car before the race proper).

[uli]

GRATS again Tristan and Robert,
was an exciting quali – I was happy to manage a real last minute pole 
The fight with Tristan was big fun!!! Don't know why but about lap 13 I lost some grip on the front wheels, got more and more understeering and some time later I couldn't prevent to spin in front of the hairpin …
great pity - was fantastic racing until that, THX to you Tristan again.
And THX to all backmarkers great job, very well done in race and quali too, you all showed clearly that you saw me, with driving early enough beside the racing line!
SRY for your bad luck Axel, hard to believe!
I‘m looking forward to Monza to a great slipstream battle…
uli

[Ronniepeterson]

Seems to be my bad english why you don't understand my point

Axl you should know me better by now I never get anyone else's point...I don't even get my own sometimes   

Another, unrelated point, if I may. My car died last night, way short of the race finish. I don't believe it was engine related as temps were not showing red. Are there other causes for engine failures in GPL? So I'm assuming I ran out of fuel. My setup was set to 31 laps. When qualy ends does GPL deselect your current setup? (yes I did the last of qualy on a full tank, I like to have the feel of the car before the race proper).

We have all been there at some time Tony.

I hope this helps. Race setup is separate to practice setup and they both need to be selected independently.  Even when using your race setup in practice it is so easy to enter the race with the few laps worth you have just been trying to set that pole time with. If the setup you are using in practice is the one you want for the race then make sure you have it selected as your race setup as well and with the correct amount of fuel. If that's not clear ask away and someone will explain it better.

[Robert Fleurke]

Tony, at setup screen put your race setup at "race" (left top screen), that way you will always have the right setup for the race (unless you change it under "current" during countdown race)...

[Turkey Machine]

Another, unrelated point, if I may. My car died last night, way short of the race finish. I don't believe it was engine related as temps were not showing red. Are there other causes for engine failures in GPL? So I'm assuming I ran out of fuel. My setup was set to 31 laps. When qualy ends does GPL deselect your current setup? (yes I did the last of qualy on a full tank, I like to have the feel of the car before the race proper).

Welcome to GPL's setup guide for fuel consumption. The laps it sates is merely a guide, for proper accurate fill to a round number that's proportionate (e.g 10 gallons = 10 laps, do 3 laps, see if you have 7 gallons left, adjust tank accordingly, adjust maths accordingly cos that may not be right).

With regards engine kaboom, oil pressure makes it go, no pressure no go, dropping pressure less go. Keep an eye on the needle (or Pribluda if you have the addon installed). Fuel pressure follows the same principle but drops steadily from about 2 gallons down, when you reach below 1 gallon it starts to splutter.

If the engine started smoking this isn't good, but you could still go on for a bit longer with reduced power and engine life. If it went bang and you had no juice and it was terminal then it'll be something else.

Speedshifting, where you buzz the limiter on down and upshifts, is not good for engines. Lift off when shifting gears, and try and stay near your car's peak power rev limit if possible (10500rpm for the Climax in the BT11).

Lastly, there are separate setup options for race and practice. I make it a point in qualifying to separate qualy and race setups into different files and set it accordingly in the setup menu.

Unfortunately all this can only really be learned with practice.

[Tom van Ostade]

Normally when your car fails it has to do with you not treating the engine or curbs right, but sometimes your car will just fail randomly without you having anything to do with it. I've lost a wheel once (funny enough also at Oulton) while driving on the start/finish straight. It just let go  . I've had some random engine failures in the past as well. It's a mechanical sport 

[Doni Yourth]

I just had a look at Tony's last lap via GPLRA.  I was scoping it for fuel pressure.  Unfortunately, the readout seems not be had.  Ditto for oil and water temps and oil pressure, too.  Is this typical of trying to read those values in RA with GP65's?  Other mods?

[DLogan]

I just had a look at Tony's last lap via GPLRA.  I was scoping it for fuel pressure.  Unfortunately, the readout seems not be had.  Ditto for oil and water temps and oil pressure, too.  Is this typical of trying to read those values in RA with GP65's?  Other mods?

I believe those stats are only shown for the local driver.