UKGTL Season 15 Fifties Sprints - Grenzlandring - Jun 1

[SpecialKS]

  - Thanks José

[Erling G-P]

Finally a track where the Jag could shine a little.. 

Early looks at the track suggested it would be well suited for the D-Type. With only one gear used for the entire lap, its 4-speed transmission would be less of a disadvantage, and the minimal braking meant that its tendencies to dart left or right at random under braking, wouldn't be as much of an issue.

Early testing went well, but things really clicked when I tried vintage tyres. Haven't liked them on the Jag before, and they did make the handling more tricky, being much more prone to locking up under braking, so you ploughed straight on. That's mostly fatal on this track. Thus had to be very delicate with the brakes, but I was substantially quicker on them, and as they're harder wearing, using them clearly was a no-brainer.

Online the car weered right every time I touched the brakes, which it strangely hadn't done offline.  Couldn't fix it in setup, so simply had to compensate with the steering.  Did a new pb in qual, but still very surprised to be on pole, with all the fast drivers attending.  Start was simple: max revs and dump clutch  - that made for a clean getaway without wheelspin or too much bogging down. Surprisingly I stayed ahead of the pack, which was a clear advantage - couldn't get caught by another driver's misfortune.

Slowly built a gap of about 4 secs to Doni, but then he left and the gap jumped to 10 secs.  Very lonely race from then on, but can't call it boring - had to stay 100% focused at all times, to avoid the fate that befell so many other drivers.

Tried hard to reclaim fastest lap, when I realised someone else had nicked it (grats Kurt)    Couldn't quite do it though; with a potential win within reach, it would have been exceedingly stupid to lose all in a vain attempt to claim this honor.

Extremely chuffed with the result of course - never in my wildest dreams had I imagined I could bag a win in the Jag 

Grats to all who finished, and commiserations to all those who suffered (spectacular) exits prematurely.

Thanks to Tony for setting it up, and for the unusual track selection.

Cheers,
Erling

[Erling G-P]

Damn,damn damn, I was having  a great race with senyorlobo  when my game crashed out of GTL to the main desktop screen with GTL showing on my task bar. I could hear the engine and the sound of crashing but could see nothing. Very very frustrating. I think I had my best ever set up for the Merc and was probably having my best race of the series.

Misnoimis, could it perhaps be your anti-virus, or would you happen to have a Citrix client or similar running?

I have to use Citrix when I work from home, and in a race last year, where I had been working earlier, I still had the Citrix client running in the tray, although the connection was closed.  Twice during the race; once in qualifying, and once in the race, I was yanked to the desktop, with GTL still running in the task bar, much like you describe.  I was luckier though, in that I only ended up in a big gravel pit and could continue.

Cheers,
Erling

[misnoimis]

My race was good until my problem half way through. I was a bit slow off the line probably due to high gearing but had fun gradually working my way up the field into third place and was enjoying some close slipstreaming with senyorlobo when the game suddenly minimized to my desktop taskbar. Not a disconnection or an error that crashed the game.  I realised now that my car was still in the race but I was unable to steer the car from the desktop screen. I guess I need a cockpit view.

Having hit the escape key a couple of times then clicked on the minimized GTL icon on the task bar I was back in the car. The replay showed it had a bit of an adventure while I was puzzling over why I was looking at my desktop. It may have been drivable but I could only think of hitting the escape key and making sure I was off the track.

I thought this was a very interesting and different challenge set by Tony. It probably suited me as I think I stumbled on a good setup and just having to concentrate on smooth steering and throttle control considerably reduced the amount of multi-tasking required. I see the next track requires breaking and gear changing as well so that’s me scuppered.

It is a complete mystery to me what caused my problem. I suspect it is a corrupt file I downloaded with a line in the programme saying something like “ If the driver has not made an error or loaded the wrong setup or has shot tyres and has not suffered any malfunction with his G27 steering wheel, shifter or peddle unit then his game will minimize.” It’s just a matter of finding what folder it’s in.

Edit Thanks Erling, I‘ll look into it.

[Wiltshire Tony]

My experience of similar CTD's is when another program pops up, usually informing of a pending update or similar. That's why I always use a program that turns all un-necessary software off before each race.

[misnoimis]

I use Game Booster, but I suspect you’re right.

[Bill Grewcock]

Early practice for this event demonstrated my inability to keep the D-Type on the track so I settled for the Merc. Qualifying was nothing special and I ended up with P8 on the grid. When the lights turned green I had a good start and had an interesting  slipstreaming tussle with Hayman, Clive and Jose for P3. This lasted for a couple of laps until I managed to creep ahead and break the tow. Things settled down and Erling and Doni were pulling away up front while I was able to consistently increase the gap to P4 by a couple of tenths per lap. After a few laps I saw a cloud of smoke ahead and noticed Doni's car upsidedown so P2 was mine ! Erling was still pulling away so I remained in a lonely P2 to the chequered flag. Congrats to Erling and Jose for their podium places and thanks to Tony for giving us something completely different 

[Wiltshire Tony]

It has been bought to my attention that the results, as published, do not accurately reflect the final standings. I will of course investigate and make changes if found necessary.

[hayman3131]

Hi all

I had some exciting laps with Senorlobo (Jose).............and made a little video of that nice stuff.

go there>>>>>>>>>>>>>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vgrgp_3MYc&feature=youtu.be

greets hayman

[Erling G-P]

Hi all

I had some exciting laps with Senorlobo (Jose).............and made a little video of that nice stuff.

go there>>>>>>>>>>>>>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vgrgp_3MYc&feature=youtu.be

greets hayman

That's a nice video Hayman; shame about the ending  :'(

Is it you playing the guitar ? - if so, I'm impressed! 

Cheers,
Erling

[Wiltshire Tony]

Sweet film Hayman. And is that you playing on the soundtrack?

[BillThomas]

My experience of similar CTD's is when another program pops up, usually informing of a pending update or similar. That's why I always use a program that turns all un-necessary software off before each race.

Alternatively, PC is an open system with different mother boards, CPUs, RAM suppliers, GPUs, graphic card manufacturers, monitors etc.  Hence there are hundreds (at least) of different build standards available, which could be used by our drivers, so it doesn't surprise me that PCs, connected to a server occasionally pick up "noise" which causes interference which causes dropouts!

Having spent a number of years on aircraft integrated electronic systems it is impossible to test all possible variations that the aircraft might encounter during service.

Our integrated system is far simpler but in my view is similarly affected by other users in the "system". 

[Bill Grewcock]

Thanks for sharing the video with us, Hayman. Fantastic driving by you guys.
Awesome soundtrack too ... reminded me of the late, great Gary Moore 

[hayman3131]

hi

jep, I played the guitar over a backingtrack...............

I´m glad you like the vid

greets hayman

[Bob M.]

Yes great racing and great playing Hayman.  Enjoyed the race a lot myself.  Had a battle with Bill T. at the start.  A couple of septuagenairian ( I googled 70+ old farts) living a dream.  Most of the rest of the race was just racing the track and surviving.  Ran up on Mr E Clive and followed for a while  looking for a place to pass.  Finally was close enough at the start finish line to let the Jag unwind and pass him before the bad corner for me.  Jose was ahead of me by 30+ seconds so knew that was hopeless so just cruised home.  I cheated a little and used the bonnet view, used the big tach to regulate my speed through the two places I had to back it down a little.  5K through the first slow down and 5.3 to 5.5K through the second.  Kept me on the track the whole race.    Anyway good fun and track selection for these old bombs Tony....

Bob M.