UKGPL Season 26 (2014) Formula Two Trophy - Jops Siffert - Mar 16

[Turkey Machine]

Enjoyed the race, even if the pace was hot and I was not. Pleased to have finished mostly in one piece, and congrats to Robert setting a new UKGPL race record (and possible qualifying record) in the process of taking the chequered flag.

[GregT]

Some curious stuff happened later in teh race, never mind Dini's disco. I have grudgingly started using the Prib bar that tells you relative distance to those around you, and Greg started jumping 700m ahead of me, then 100 behind etc. When his name went dark green I assumed (correctly) that the server had lost him, so was never sure what position he was in..until I passed him after a spin. All of a sudden I was 3rd, but it looks like Clive may be reinstated ahead of me...does that mean we need to called him Riccievil??? 

Now I'm thinking I might need to quit using it. I do like it for reentering the track after an off and I like to check lap times and time gaps when convenient instead of relying on the pit board. About the only thing I looked at during the race was if Clive was leaving Axel and I behind and if Dean was closing on us. I checked my lap times occasionally to see how fast I'm going.

When GPL quit scoring me, most of the green and white text on the top of the screen changed to red and I got so distracted I wrecked. First time pribluda's wrecked me in a long time. I'm pretty good at ignoring it.

That was a fun race except for my two problems. Axel did all he could to get me on the podium. He drug me along at least a dozen laps. I struggled with the first lap and lost Clive and Axel's slipstream pretty quick. I would have liked to have seen how Clive might have pulled me along. Axel was kind of enough to spin and let me catch up. I followed him very closely for a lap or two and noticed Dean was gaining on us and I wasn't getting by Axel anytime soon. I backed off a little bit and that seemed to help Axel pick up the pace and we started pulling away from Dean a little bit. About 2/3's through the race I blew the engine. That let Dean by, and unfortunately I had to do a stop and go so I wasn't able to use his slipstream. A lap or two later I got the distraction that helped me relinquish another position to Arf. I was in position to get a very nice finish but I'm not disappointed with 5th. I just don't have the experience to place the Cooper on the podium, yet.

The connection seemed good. Axel's car never looked strange or flashed once that I noticed. Only problem I had was his car would distract me slightly from the apex of some turns. I had to think to myself at one point "less focus on Axel, more on the apex." I got plenty of time to look for a place to make a pass late in the race but I never saw one. Axel would pull away from me under acceleration and I'd make up the time in at least 2 or 3 turns.

Congratulations Clive, Axel, and Dean! Well done guys!

Thanks, I appreciate the fun.

[Robert Fleurke]

Really sorry to hear Doni  :'( Just hoping for some better luck for you, buddy

Paul's server has always been kind to me, but of course you can't buy anything for that...just hoping your luck concerning connection/warp will improve...sometimes it's very hard to put a finger on what's the problem...it could just be a whale in the ocean so to speak...

We should be very thankful for private servers like Paul's and Axel's...would be great if we could add a few...so far I've had only probs with T7 seeing (server)warp...you can be sure UKGPL does its best to provide good raceservers...



As far my race, I hoped for consistent FPS, and that went well, very happy about that. Had a good quali and was able to do a sub27 in clean air, which was good for pole. I think I did underestimate the capabilities of the Cooper, which lacks on the straights but is very good handling.

Race started well, took the lead, but Piero was able to pass me on the straight. Inherited the lead again when he went wide in May, and Jethro was not too far away behind me. But Piero charged up again, and I made a mistake in Jops and he could pass me again. Piero went through the lapped cars better than me, and then I had a brainfart in May, totally missed the turn and went hard into the fences.

Car was damaged, but in F2 minor problems don't matter too much...

Code:

23m43.990s
Robert Fleurke - spotters reporting:
minor problems with left front tire.
minor problems with left rear tire.
minor problems with left front suspension.
medium problems with left rear suspension.
minor problems with right rear suspension.

Had some more understeer in righthanders, and had to adjust driving, but being angry with myself I started to push like hell, and was able to improve the current UKGPL race laprecord. When Jethro did a halfspin out of Toulo, I inherited P2, and I'm still not sure what happened to Piero, who deserved to win...

In short terms, got very lucky to win, that I didn't deserve, despite my pace. Had a few bad laps and messed up May once. The Cooper is a great handicap at tracks like Spa/Monza, but at fluent tracks where handling is important, it's pretty competitive...so Ronnie, I like to apologize to you saying the Coop was at least 1s slower than the top chassis in F2 on most tracks. On this track maybe a few tenths...  

Congrats to Grid A winner and podium, sry to hear about the problems...well done Jethro and Phil for podium finishes in Grid B. Commiserations to all who suffered from bad luck in whatever way...

[Billy Nobrakes]

My connection for the Grid A server was solid all race.

Had one of my best F2 races. With the lack of slower drivers I started in the familiar back of the grid position - but not too far off the pace. There was a major incident at T1 which moved me up to 5th place. Only one mistake the whole race in T1 about half way through which put be back in the last of the running cars just behind Marco. As Marco was handicapped in the Ferrari I was able to stay with him for a good dozen laps to the flag. Never close enough for a pass - but very close. As an extra bonus I didn't get lapped.
According to the finish result I beat Evil & Greg - but I suspect that will be adjusted.

Might have some family obligations that will keep me away from the next race.

[Phil Thornton]

Quite a good race for me.  Had a 15 lap battle with Roberto in his Cooper.  I had the power of the Matra so I could stay with him on the straights but Roberto was very quick in the corners.  For lap after lap I practiced passing him on the finish straight but I could never get ahead before the line so I knew it wasn't the right strategy for a last lap challenge.  I was going to have to do it somewhere else if I was going to beat Roberto over the line.  On the last lap I got a good drive out of the esses and got ahead of Roberto before the difficult "jump".  I held the inside line but my rear end stepped out a bit which probably put Roberto off (there is no contact on my replay); he got sideways and scrubbed off a lot of speed which gave me the chance to stay ahead until the chequered flag.

The pass looks clean on my replay but there was a bit of warp so perhaps the server replay will be different.  Feel free to submit an incident report Roberto.

[BadBlood]

Can anyone shed any light on why Clive is shown as a DQ. I will review the replay and adjust the results but any 'on track' info might help.

[GregT]

Can anyone shed any light on why Clive is shown as a DQ. I will review the replay and adjust the results but any 'on track' info might help.

It looked like GPL quit scoring him with about 2 or 3 laps to go, maybe 4. It quit scoring me with about 7 laps to go.

[DLogan]

Can anyone shed any light on why Clive is shown as a DQ. I will review the replay and adjust the results but any 'on track' info might help.

From my replay, he was waaaay to the inside into T1 most laps. Is there "no go" line there he may have crossed? From what I remember from the track building pages I read way back when, they can be put in (usually on the inside of corners the track maker doesn't want people to cut too badly) and if you cross them, it's black flag time [and good luck stopping exactly in your pitbox to clear it]).

Server doesn't register him starting final lap (his indicator still says "lap 24 of 25" 'til the end). He did complete all the laps.

[BadBlood]

Thanks guys. I'll correct the results tonight.

[Ronniepeterson]

Just one of those nights on a tough track with with cars with variable performance on different sections. However this resulted in some great battles with Dave and Bernie although it was  tough avoiding each other at times. I certainly gave Dave an extra push from behind at one point and me and Bernie seemed determined to scrap over the same bit of tarmac with inevitable paint swapping. Sorry guys but don't misunderstand me when I say it was fun. One spin too may left me with no place to go and my race was over. Looking at the results some others clearly ran into trouble as well. Better luck next time.

Grats to Robert, Jethro and Phil.

[Piero Mercaldo]

Grats Robert!

For me Disco 2 corners from the finish line

Ciao !!

[Turkey Machine]

Hoping it's just my view, but it looks like Jops dropped off the calendar. Seems unfortunate for such a good result!

[Robert Fleurke]

Grats Robert!

For me Disco 2 corners from the finish line

Ciao !!

Thanks Piero, I was bummed for you, you deserved the win, not me...don't like to win like that, even though a win is a win...sorry to see you disconnect Hope you have better luck next time, and I'm sure you will win a few races if your connection holds

Ciao amico

[BadBlood]

Results updated. Let me know if there are any other issues.

[Roberto Teso]

Only a few notes, to be precise Phil doesn't goes a little but quite a lot sideways, so to finish with his left rear in front of my front right about millimeters.

His speed drop significantly during his drift, if I wasn't careful, nota bene the opposite of distracted, and do a lock brake, I ended up to strike him.

My manouver was be the consequence of Phil so-said clean pass, all this is clearly observable from server replay and from any perspective.

Obviously, I accept any judgment but it would be more polite if you avoided to comments behavior without presenting evidence.