UKGPL Season 27 (2014) Works Trophy (67) - Monaco - Oct 26

[AndyL]

To be clear on Robert's point, this was the 20th consecutive finish (including the 3 Joe Shaw memorial races) of the  Pro races I have started in UKGPL in the 67's (I was at Goodwood when the Charade race was on).
I failed to finish a number of races in Season 25, mostly my own fault. The last failure was at Montjuic last November. Most non finishers either speedshift or make bad choices in the first 3 laps, so I've been trying hard not to do that.

At Monaco I thought the start was very civilised. From my view it looked like a procession with no rash moves. Drivers looked happy to let things settle down before getting racy. I just held my position (apart from getting ahead of Tom alongside into T1) until the flag. Sometimes qualifying puts the faster drivers ahead of you and the slower drivers behind ! All that happened in this race was attrition.

Congratulations to Tommie on the pole, FL and win hat trick, and to all finishers, commiserations to non finishers.

I race 60 fps elsewhere and prefer it. I did, however, see some fps drop last night at Monaco in qualy and at the start.

Now I've jinxed myself, be aware that I'm bound to crash hard and take out half the field at Road Atlanta lap1.

[Phil Thornton]

Had a quick look through the replay to check for any incidents of note.  So far only found one which I've reported so the drivers involved will be notified.  Please note, this is not a witch hunt, I'm just letting the drivers involved know the incident has been spotted.  If you want to comment on the incident using the court system please do so.  However at the risk of pre-empting the report I doubt anyone has anything to worry about.  Overall it was a pretty clean race punctuated by some self inflicted crashes and a few engine blow-ups.

[ivandjj]

A question for Works Admins ~
Points table says i have 15 tokens, but according to the rules i should have 10 since i didnt start first five races.
So i protest 


Monaco~
Happy to have lasted the race minus last 2 turns.
Which means i crashed in the chicane on the last lap and dropped from 7th to 9th.

Also had a spin in the chicane on L1, but if you are gpl rusty chicane is a place where you'll feel it.
No way i would've survived the race without a big lift before the crest on each lap.

If there is a my problem, its my focus, nothing external like fps, imo.
You wouldn't believe it, but i had severe problems keeping the car straight on the straight in my first practice laps after a long break.
Mindset needed for gpl is indeed a wildly different beast from the mindset needed for the #normal# life.
Need meditation before the start 

[Robert Fleurke]

A question for Works Admins ~
Points table says i have 15 tokens, but according to the rules i should have 10 since i didnt start first five races.
So i protest 

Thanks Ivan, we will look into it. Good job at your comeback despite the last lap mishap.

[Tom van Ostade]

Woohoo, a Grads win!

Not much to say really, I ran a one lap wonder early on in quali which put me safely in the front. Didn't get away too well at the start, but it was enough to keep P1 in front of Iestyn, who was really hustling that BRM around like it was a Brabham! Amazing pace Iestyn! Must be really close to WR pace! Also a joy to watch in the replay. After the first lap I managed to get my nerves under control and pull away considerably, then it was just a case of consolidating the lead and not crash.

Amazed by the number of sudden, non-speedshift related blowups in the race. Felt particularely bad for Iestyn who was driving a wonderful race. It reminds me of Sebring S21, where because of the runway bumps the attrition rate because of mechanical failures was high.

Got back in the championship race now, but Tim will be tough to catch!

[FullMetalGasket]

Thoroughly enjoyed that race - I was generally close to/catching/battling someone from the drop of the flag up until somewhere around Lap 20 where I messed up my braking into the final turn while continuing to chase Clive - After that I made a few silly errors and made contact with the Armco for no real reason a couple of times and fell back

The first 11 laps stand out for me as some of the best racing I've had in a 67 for yonks, especially the exchange of 4th with Clive on laps 9/10 and the running battle one either side of those moves.
Gutted I out braked myself and half span only half a lap after passing Clive - an equal shame he didn't see me along side a couple of laps later when I took advantage of one of his mistakes and tried to pass on the hill, It's a good thing they still had the pavement as runoff back in '67!

Tom: It's not that much of a lead so I'd say you have a pretty good chance at the championship still  :'(

[Phil Thornton]

Mod report published.