UKGPL Season 26 (2014) Friday Trophy - Solitude - Feb 28

[Mark Jones]

The VOR had a Canam race here in December and we had a plague of screen freezes on like lap 3.

[EvilClive]

OK! with only a couple of days left we have no option but to change the track and it has to be a one that everyone knows.

So the next 4 races will be at Solitude.

I will amend the race post to show this and review the car choices.

[maddog]

I would hope, a more fair and even handed approach towards F2's be taken.  I was only just able to win the last round, and only then thanks to a lucky Rabbits foot, which i collected along the way!  I've actually no problem with which car is allocated to Lights, provided they stick with it, through all four rounds.

[DLogan]

F2s were OK, 69s sucked.

[Rainier]

F2 : Cooper was too slow for me ..not for Mark  

69X : I have not yet look at the replay  and I don't know who was the driver, on lap 2, who tried to overtake me on the sinuous final part of Solitude where there is no chance to make a clean overtake ...but he was just able to send my car somewhere between the earth and the moon  

Maybe, it's a wrong feeling, I have to check it, but there are less and less clean races in UKGPL (Historics 66 : 0% of the races without accident, rear end, Friday quite the same ...only 67 seems OK, perhaps because cars are harder to drive ?).
So at this time, I am very disappointed by this season 26 start  
    

[maddog]

Yes David, it is a narrow line between fun and craziness.  I get online to practice, when there is a Server, and use some craziness, to find where that line is, hopefully.  I notice you have decided to start your races slowly from the grid.  This will cause an accident sometime, as you surprise the cars behind you.  Better to start last, if this is safest for you.

[Rainier]

I have not really decided to start slowly ...but it is often the case !
I should improve my starts without breaking my engines.

I think my yesterday's 69X start was not so slow. (but my F2 was)

[maddog]

I have mentioned before, there seem more than a few who have poor starting technique.  These cars are not modern F1's - most act as if they are.  I gain a lot more places than I loose, by starting as they did in 1967.

[maddog]

I'd hoped to get some extra practice in, for the evenings 2 races, but hit a snag.  My car had too little power, and  red lights kept coming on!  So eventually arrived home with just barely the time to assemble some dinner, and jump on the Waiter . . . I mean the Server!  Grumble!

I've been using a cheap headset,to hear the lilting strains of cubic capacity, being thrashed to their fullest. Unfortunately, in my hurry to get plugged in, I broke an ear clip, so needed to quickly rig a temp. attachment.  Luckily, a paper clip seemed possible, and after a bit of bending, I'd fabricated a quick fix, the likes of which Bruce Mclaren might be proud!  Turned a good lap, and sat on the grid, trying to finish me dinner.

It came to pass, a good early scrap with the lead pack went wayward, due to a Lauda at Nurburgring moment, when the McLaren flicked suddenly right at something nasty!  And while Nicky had his helmet knocked off, it seems only my brain was knocked loose.  

In my defense, it wasn't easy drifting those esses, while negotiating peas and potatoes.  Pre-mashed next time  I think.  Not the car!  Gentlemen . . .  please.

The other thing was my other clip around the ear, which started pinching painfully!  I felt like a schoolboy, with an ear pulled by it's teacher, and being told, "Get it right, the next time around!"  "Grumble . . . grumble!"  It's not funny!  Finally went mono, went hungry, and finished the race to avoid disgrace.

'Tis sad to see so many 69's all looking the same.  I admire whose few who risk disgrace, and dare to be different.  I decided to be different, and for once grabbed the fastest machine on the circuit!  By the end of lap 1, I expected to win.  At race end it was again stolen, by a fiend in strikingly familiar colours . . . "Grumble!"
 

[Mark Jones]

Two very different races, in the F2 Cooper it was a case of hanging on grimly and then desperately hold off Evil on the last lap.  In the 69's, I had the MS84 setup nicely and was able to come up past others and chase after Martin.  Could only sneak past Martin if he made a mistake and I could sneak away to the flag.  Good stuff, Solitude is such a terrific racetrack.

[DLogan]

...who was the driver, on lap 2...

That was me. I'd made up a lot of ground on you and thought you were leaving room on the left. Sorry.