UKGTL Season 16 Mini's -v- Skoda's - Zandvoort - Aug 22

[BillThomas]

What a disastrous night's racing  and I thought I could drive Minis! 

After trying out the two remaining cars to chose from I settled on the Abarth with a download from zandvoort but ran out of time to set it up to my driving it was too under geared hence my magic start.  It was hiting the rev limiter out of the last right hand kink onto main straight.  Then found out it doesn't like kerbs and was flipped into the infield with no  way to get back on track.  :'(

[Erling G-P]

Not sure I could make these races, as real life threatened to interfere.  None too worried though, as I've had nothing but bad luck so far in this series.  Glad I made it though, as last night's two races turned out to be the best yet and very enjoyable.

Race 1:
Skoda was the fastest of my two options here.  Had a nasty tendency to break the rear end free under full power up the hill, even in 4th. Once the pendulum motions started, I would invariably spin off.  Softening the rear fast bump & rebound settings helped though, and I could drive it with confidence.  Like Clive in race 2, I had the pleasure of jumping a few Minis at the start.  Had to brake for a wayward Mini through the first turns, and one of the jumped ones seized the opportunity to slip back in front of me.

Held Roger behind me for most of L1, but once we reached the main straight, there was little I could do against his Mini, and he streamed past. Next he ran wide at T1 though, allowing me a classic dive under to regain the position. Couple of turns later, we passed Geoffers & Ziu coming together and I was up to 4th.  Roger repeated his move down the straight, and this time he held it a T1. I gave chase as hard as I could, but he built a small gap over the following laps, only to toss it all away when he took an excursion to the dunes, giving me back 4th.

Drove as concentrated and fast as I could for the remainder of the race.  While the cars behind me were gaining, I was surprised they didn't do it at a faster rate, as they included Geoffers & Ziu.  Maybe the threeway struggle with Roger's Mini served to slow them a little. Position held to the end, but I was lucky the race ended when it did, as they were getting close by then.  Grats to the podium.

Race 2:
Qualified 4th, but as usual lost a couple of places at the start - one to Clive's Skoda.  Followed him closely and when his car suddenly veered out of control up the hill, I was worried there had been contact, even though I didn't feel anything.  Replay seems to confirm it fortunately, as there's a fair gap between us as Clive goes off track.  L1 much a repeat of L1 in the first race, with Roger's red Mini chasing me.  Better armed myself this time, in another Mini, so able to stay in front.

Roger overshot a bit at T1 on L2, giving me a small breather.  That allowed me to focus on chasing John, who had jumped me at the start.  My 5th place became 4th, with Ziu's unfortunate disconnect.  Worked my way close to John over a few laps, and could try a slipstream manoeuvre up the inside towards T1.  Succeeded in getting in front, and now the pressure was on me, with John very close behind.

Went on for a fair few laps, and then late in the race, I noticed Bob's Mini rejoining, after checking the view from one of the high dunes. I streaked past before he could regain momentum, but John got caught.  Wonderful; with a little luck, the two gents could keep each other occupied, while I slipped away   More or less played out, and I finished a most unexpected 2nd.  Grats to Geoffers for the win, and to John for the final podium.   Commiserations to Clive & Ziu for their disconnects.

Cheers,
Erling

[roguk]

Nice to be back, Race 1 had some great racing with Erling Geoffers and Ziu, Race 2 apologies to Tony for the tap on lap 3.

Grats to EvilClive and Geoffers on wins

Grats to Podiums

[EvilClive]

Finally able to join these races and enjoy what I had been missing in this series.

Did quite a few runs on the practice server with each of the cars over the weekend, just to convince myself that everything was working OK.  I had just one setup for the Skoda as mentioned previously and it seemed to work for me around this track. ( Did anyone else find it useful, or was it a case of "how the hell do you drive that??!!" )

Once I was happy that the Mini was finally available to me, I downloaded Pelle's setup and began some serious driving lessons. It took me a while to reprogramme my brain to keep some power on at all times and use the ( obvious) advantage of front wheel drive to generate oversteer. I kept wanting to lift, in order to bring the nose back onto the racing line and as you all know...that doesn't work!
I did play with a few settings and tweaked Pelle's setup to give me a bit more of what I wanted and slowly the times came down until I was comfortably into the 1:40's.
Qually for race 1 was a gift because all of the usual suspects took Skodas or Abarths, leaving me with a rather unfair advantage. When I lost 2 places off the grid I was not too worried, because I knew the Mini was a faster car and I was prepared to wait for the main straight and an easy pass. As it happened Ziu got a little screwed up out of the 2nd hairpin and I was able to pass him up the hill into 2nd place. Geoffers was pedalling that little Fiat as fast as he could and his feet were a blur as they scooted against the tarmac. But even using his running spikes, he could not hold off the mini when we reached the straight at the end of lap1 and I breezed past.
When Ziu and Geoffers tangled I was glad that I had got ahead, otherwise I would surely have been involved. From then on the race was a case of watching the gap. Tony did a sterling job in holding back Navin for a few laps allowing me to ease away. I think I backed off too soon, because once Navin had made the pass on Tony he started to close at an alarming rate. I opted for a safety first strategy, and decided I would only go as fast as I needed to to get to the flag first.
I think Navin was definitely better into Tarzan where he gained a couple of tenths on each lap, but I could regain that later in the lap. Maybe different gearing? Kept the gap at around 1.5 secs for many laps and just played safe on the last lap and eased off.

Race 2
I was looking forward to trying the Skoda in the 2nd race, but we know what happened there............maybe more fun next time.

[SpecialKS]

I'll have to ask around about the dials problem some driver's reported last night. Last night's GTL race was run from a separate install to the '67 F1 one so I don't think that's to blame. I may have to do fresh installs on the server but I'll seek further advice before I make that decision.

I posted this over at EVO-Modding earlier this day:

"although I never had that particular problem (yesterday I exclusively drove the Skoda   ) so I can't imagine the problem.
But I do remember one thing: concerning the Abarth there exists a HUD Speedometer Calibration Fix
over at NG ( http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=15661 ).
Just an idea.

Concerning the Mini: is it definitely the standard one, as it's Pelle's optic modification using the standard physics "

Hope this helps.

[SpecialKS]

Results: Race1
         Race2

 

Great fun - track and Skoda in my opinion are a perfect match. And I had a suitable setup too - no idea were I found it (thanks Clive for posting your setup anyway - similar times but a little bit too nervous for my style of driving).
Unfortunately the car is a little bit too slow (the more as in my hands   ) compared with the competitors.
Was faster through the bends than the Abarth but on the straights the Abarth was stronger and always went away.

Still thinking and working (from time to time   ) on a modified version of the Skoda (5-gears, 143 hp/8.500 rpm instead 134hp/7.800 rpm, some physics changes (front wing, rear wing), ABS (like Abarth and Mini)) but up to now only negative results (malicious behaviour, caused by the higher revving engine when shifting down - I assume, and therefore slower laptimes).

Watched Clive during quali (R2) stuttering around the track which let me already think of connection problems whereas Navin was ok (both driving the Skoda).

Hey Ziu, cheer up - it's just a game  

CU next week  

[Geoffers]

Couple of fun races, the first one actually more exciting than winning the second race.

Got a demon start in the Abarth in the first race & grabbed the lead from 5th on the grid, although I had to put a couple of wheels on the grass to get enough room to squeeze past Clive. Held on until the main straight when Clive breezed past, just could not move my legs any faster Clive!  Had a tangle with Ziu on lap 2 & dropped to the back of the field which led to a great race battling back to 5th, particularly the last few laps with Roger & Ziu.

Second race looked to be shaping up into another titanic struggle with Ziu, but he disappeared at the start of lap 2. Bad luck Ziu (& Clive), just one of those things but still annoying when a good race is shaping up  . After that I had a comfortable lead over first John & later Erling, trouble is when I'm in that position I always get this temptation to try & go faster & faster & end up overdoing it. So I was rather relieved when a roll at Gerlachbocht ended up with the car on its wheels facing the right direction & only losing 4s. Took it a bit steadier after that 

Congrats to both podiums, cya at VIR.

[Wiltshire Tony]

I'll have to ask around about the dials problem some driver's reported last night. Last night's GTL race was run from a separate install to the '67 F1 one so I don't think that's to blame. I may have to do fresh installs on the server but I'll seek further advice before I make that decision.

I posted this over at EVO-Modding earlier this day:

"although I never had that particular problem (yesterday I exclusively drove the Skoda   ) so I can't imagine the problem.
But I do remember one thing: concerning the Abarth there exists a HUD Speedometer Calibration Fix
over at NG ( http://www.nogripracing.com/details.php?filenr=15661 ).
Just an idea.

Concerning the Mini: is it definitely the standard one, as it's Pelle's optic modification using the standard physics "

Hope this helps.

I did see your reply at Evo. Your quite right, the mini files are different to the standard Mini's one's. Think I'll see what happens in the future before making any rash decisions.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Thanks for the results Kurt 

[Erling G-P]

Thanks for the results Kurt 

Hmmm, there's something decidedly fishy about the ones from race 2:

Lap 3 shows a gap of just under a sec from John to me. Lap 4 it's increased to just under 5 secs and lap 5 to just under 7 secs.  Then on lap 6 I'm in front with a gap of 0.6 secs.  This suggests that first I should have had a moment, and then later John, for me to gain 7 secs in one lap.  However, at no point in the early parts of the race was the gap between us this large.  As I wrote in my report, I worked my way closer over a few laps, till I could try making a (successful) pass.  Quite puzzled by this, as the results normally seem quite accurate 

Cheers,
Erling

[Wiltshire Tony]

Erling, I did notice in the race that according to XD your position fluctuated from your rightful position to behind me in 6th (I think). It seemed to depend where we were on the track. Most odd.

[Erling G-P]

Erling, I did notice in the race that according to XD your position fluctuated from your rightful position to behind me in 6th (I think). It seemed to depend where we were on the track. Most odd.

Certainly strange; I noticed in the replay that at one point I was shown to be in 8th position, although I was never so far down.  Then when I crossed the start/finish, it jumped to 4th, which was correct.  I wonder if it's the 2nd hairpin, which is very close to the main straight, that causes this confusion - if the game can't tell if a car is in the hairpin or on the main straight ?

Cheers,
Erling

[Jeep]

Race 1 didn't go according to plan at alI tried the Skoda and the Abarth and although my best lap times were in the Skoda the chances of me keeping it on track for more than 2 laps in succession were slim so I went with the Abarth. Didn't even get close to my PB and ended up lining up 10th on the grid.

Got a really great start and stole a few places on the run down to T1 and found myself 8th by the end of the 1st lap. Things got even better with Geoffers and Ziu tangling and by the end of lap 2 I was in the heady position of 6th. Maintained the position until the start of lap 4 when Geoffers outdragged me down into T1 and then a lap later Ziu followed him through and I was back to 8th. I should have remembered my place in the food chain and tried to sit being Ziu and learn something instead of which I somehow outdragged him down to T1 for the start of Lap 6 was really untidy into the turn and Ziu nudged me up the kerb and the little Fiat was beached. Spent the next 15 seconds alternating between 1st and Reverse trying to shake it free. Finally I lurched back on track just as Bob went past right in front of Kurt. Emotions running high I set off after Bob but had no answer and he slowly eeked out the odd 10th per lap over the remainder of the race.

So 9th. I cant complain, 1 place up on my starting position and a less than tidy race for the most part

Onto race 2 and like many others switched to the Mini. Hadn't really put in many laps around here in the Mini but I knew for sure I was faster in it than the Skoda or Abarth and was rewarded with a PB which put me 5th on the grid. Somehow managed to get another blistering start and jump Erling down to T1 and by the end of lap 1 was 4th... No wait 3rd??? Noticed Ziu had disappeared so I was chasing Geoffers and Bob. Geoffers just buggered off into the distance but I managed to keep Bob in sight for the most part while trying for the next 5 laps to keep Erling at bay. Eventually he carried more speed than me off the final turn and I had to concede the position into T1 at the start of lap 6. By way of offering an answer to the strange gaps appearing on Erling's race report I saw a lot of warping once I was trying to stay glued to his rear bumper. I wanted to check the server replay to make sure it wasn't me before commenting on it but I think there was some very bad "Internet Weather" out there. Several times I hit the brakes as he came back towards me at an alarming rate only to reappear again 50yds or so ahead. Anyway, chased him around for the next 3 or 4 laps trying to make myself large in his mirrors and then Bob joined the fray recovering from a quick trip to the carpark. Erling was through as he recovered and I thought I would follow him but completely misjudged my approach. I had planned on a slingshot past him on the exit from Hondenvlak but was carrying too much speed and was up his a$$ before the straight so had to hit the brakes and take to the grass to avoid a collision. Stayed glued to his bumper until the start of the final lap and managed to grab the position into T1 at the start of the final lap. (A bit too easily I thought but never 1 to refuse an invitation)..  Held the position until the flag so was well pleased with 3rd, another PB during the race so a complete contrast to race 1 where if there was a choice to be made I chose the wrong one.

TTFN
John.

[Navin R Johnson]

Great to be back racing again . Been way too long. Race one started out with me in neutral  . Found the gear and was on the way. Good fun trying to get past Tony. Got him once in turn one but also went in way to deep and Tony did a perfect over and under re-pass out of turn 1. Then we had some good side by side for a few more corners before I finally got past. After that I was hoping Clive wasn't paying attention to the gap as it seemed I was making up time. Then it seemed to stabilize and I just couldn't get closer. Race two I jump into the Skoda and good grief Charlie Brown what a crazy difference from the Mini. Some more fun with Tony from mid-late in the race but this time with Tony in the Mini. Tony got through but I started to figure out the Skoda's peculiar handling traits and was able to hang on to the back of the boss keeping him honest Once again, good fun to be racing with you all. Will be back. Cheers

[Erling G-P]

Sorry about the warping John.  Don't know what may have caused it, as my connection is usually stable - at least to the best of my knowledge.  Didn't register any problems myself, and it doesn't show in my own replay, but will take a look at the server replay instead.

Cheers,
Erling