UKGTL Season 16 Old Geezer's 1960's Trans-Am - Brainerd - Jul 25

[Wiltshire Tony]

Hi Tony,
 Do you mean they are always visible at the highest settings or only with the headlights on? I have everything maxed out and still can't see them unless I put the lights on.  (Maxed out to the extent of manually setting everything to the highest quality - which gives me a "Custom" setting).

Yes Donny is a great track, (In GPL as well). It's a blast in the Can Am's

TTFN
John.

Hmm, odd. I meant with everything maxed out and no headlights.

[Erling G-P]

I get the ghostcars too, but only with headlights on.

Details maxed out, except for shadows and trackside characters, so listed as 'custom'.

Cheers,
Erling

[BillThomas]

I get the ghostcars too, but only with headlights on.

Details maxed out, except for shadows and trackside characters, so listed as 'custom'.

Cheers,
Erling

Custom Also, similar to Erling. Yes there only with headlights!

[Wiltshire Tony]

Replay and results now posted

[BillThomas]

I must really learn to read - I seem to be sounding a stuck gramophone record! 

Having practiced in the wrong version of the Mustang I just couldn't stay on the black stuff, it just wouldn't turn!

[SpecialKS]

I must really learn to read - I seem to be sounding a stuck gramophone record! 

Having practiced in the wrong version of the Mustang I just couldn't stay on the black stuff, it just wouldn't turn!

Had the same issues with the Mustang (best just under 2:00,00) - I would be very interested in a driveable setup for the car) and changed to the Frirebird.
Could improve to 1:52,.. during the race but dropped to last due to considerably weakening tyres and some of my usual mistakes.

Results to be posted tonight.

[Ziu Bacubacu]

It s nice to see Attila return , with him these races get a top level, just now I m waiting Jose return, we hope.

I begin to say grats Clive, yesterday it has been impossible beat him. Clive and Mercury were too strong and for the first time i felt the weight of the  car restriction. For sure, without limitation i never choice Mustang TA on these track. Clive was very very fast on the first part, i think 0,5 second, i could keep him on mixed zone and maybe i was some better on the corner under the bridge. But also if him could get some mistake, I sure he recover and pass me before to arrive on the third corner.

Qualy fun yesterday but only for second place. I could beat Geoffers and Attila but on my best lap i did a mistake and my T1 was more slow 0,2 second of the lap before. I recover on T2 until start line, so my ideal lap time could be 1:48,4. However Geoffers and me were with the same car and with the same performance, Attila with Pontiac was not so fast on the staright but on the mixed he had more traction such that compensate me and Geoffers.

Race the same thing among three us, impossible to pass Clive. The only problem has been what happened on the third corner when Jeep has rammed Geoffers so Geoffers lost his car and he passed between me and Attila here we risked really a disaster !!!!! It s a pity because could be a great battle between me and Geoffers during the race..........and Attila is go out too quickly of the race, so we dont got any battle, very sad. About me and Clive i already talked, ran closed but not battle, just at 3 laps to go i was more closed to him so we finished with 2 second only. I think that Clive had some problem with tyres in the ending, me also but my car was enough balanced so to keep stability also with consumed tyres, particularly rear tyres.

[EvilClive]

Pleased that I finally had a problem free entry to the server and no gremlins, other than those ghostly cars!!

Very surprised to be competitive, as most of my efforts had been spent on sorting out the technical issues with my GTL install, and double checking that cars, tracks etc were in the right places.
I tried the server on Sunday evening and Ziu dropped in for a few laps. He was lapping at a similar pace to my best efforts, but I assumed that he would probably knock 2 secs off of that come race time on Monday. It looked like the best I would manage would be a low 1:49 on race fuel, but I just wanted to successfully join a race!!

I arrived early and breathed a huge sigh of relief when all went well as I joined the race last night. Maybe it was the fact that I could relax and enjoy the race for a change, but I suddenly found myself posting times in practice that were at the sharp end.

All my runs had been done on race fuel, so I guessed that everyone else must also be running heavy and they would surely "go light" for qually. I did my first 2 runs with full tanks and posted a possible pole position time. Then Geoffers, Ati and Ziu got their act together and things got closer. So I put in 3 laps worth of gas and went for one banzai lap, just for the hell of it. Very chuffed to post a 1:47 lap as I had never thought that I could get that fast.

Now I had my first real stress since joining the server, I was on pole with at least 3 aliens on my tail. Practice runs had shown that running at anything like a low 1:48 pace was not good for the tyres, so as I was not in the hunt for the overall championship and was doing the ret of the season for fun, I decided on a risky strategy.  
Maybe I had the pace to contest this race against the fast brigade, but if I had to drive aggressively for the whole race the tyres would never last the distance. So I was going nail the start, blitz the first laps on cold tyres and hope to build a safe gap that would allow me to drive smoothly and protect the tyres.
That might have been my plan, but Geoffers, Ati and Ziu clearly had an alternative agenda and I was really at 101% for those first laps. Geoffers dropped away first and was replaced by Ati who was worryingly quick until he too vanished from my mirrors. Ziu took up the chase but I now had a 2 second lead, which was just enough to allow me to focus on clean smooth braking and hitting apexes and progressive acceleration without spinning p those precious rear tyres.
Gradually, tenth by tenth the gap extended , but Ziu refused to give up and I never had more than  a 4 second gap throughout the whole race. Certainly not enough to allow any mistake and recover!! I eased down on the last 3 laps, but watched the gap in my mirrors to be sure I did not give Ziu too much encouragement!

Grat to Ziu who would have taken the win if I had made any errors, and to Erling for his usual consistent drive to take 3rd.
I'm not sure what happened to Geoffers and Ati? If they had survived my race would not have ben so easy I am sure.

I still need to join a few more races to be confident that ny GTL install is now OK, but last night was encouraging.  





So I reduced the fuel level to about 3 laps worth

[Ziu Bacubacu]

I'm not sure what happened to Geoffers and Ati? If they had survived my race would not have ben so easy I am sure.

If Geoffers and Attila had survived, I sure it was more easy for you becasue me and them breaks our bones with beattle while you go away

[Erling G-P]

Quite liked the track, once I got to know it 

Offline, my pb was a 1:50.6, so my qual time of 1:49.7 was a fairly massive improvement.  Still only got me 5th on the grid in this impossible crowd, and how Clive could go almost 2 secs quicker in the same car is quite beyond me 

Start was reasonably ok, but still lost a place to an insistent John on the run to T1. Gained 2 places at T3 however, when he took Geoffers out.  Tony was making advances, but shrugged him off and retained 4th.  Slowly built on the gap to Bob, who had replaced Tony behind me.  4th got converted to 3rd, when Atilla went to the pits (stop'n'go ?).  Had expected him to come charging back through the field, but it never happened. Maintained visual contact with Ziu for the first 7 laps or so.

Halfways through, the race had settled into a steady form, where gaps front & back increased with roughly a sec each lap. Thus a lonely race became lonelier and lonelier with each lap, as other cars moved further and further away.  Kept the pace up as best I could, for the off chance of cashing in on a (big) mistake from any of the front runners.  Never happened of course, and can't be unhappy with 3rd in this company 

Grats to Clive & Ziu on unbeatable pace, and commiserations to those that met with misfortune.  Thanks to Tony and Bob for putting it together.

Cheers,
Erling

[Geoffers]

Never driven this track before, & to be honest I'm not too bothered about driving it again, didn't like it at all.

Couldn't get below 1.50 in testing & when I joined & saw people were in the 1.48s I wasn't expecting to be near the front, so totally amazed to go 2s faster in qually. Start was appalling, too few revs, apologies to Ziu for getting in the way!   Then at T3 I got thumped from behind & went off into the trees, luckily missing Ati & Ziu. Did a few more laps & somehow managed to get a S/G, track cutting I guess. Went to the pits & could not get the pitboard to come up (wrong positioning I suspect) so retired, not too disappointed, to the bar. 

Congrats to Clive, Ziu & Erling.  Nice to see Ati back.

[Wiltshire Tony]

What a disappointing night's racing that was. I had taken the Plymouth because in initial testing it was the fastest of my remaining choices. After quite a few laps of testing and tweaking (and twerking but that's another story) I was confident that I had a car capable of challenging the fast boys. Imagine my suprise on race night when I entered the track only to spot not one other driver in a Plymouth. Not a good sign. But I ignored this omen thinking that I had now an unbelievable advantage and would surely grab silverware at the evening's end. Oh my goodness, how wrong could I be. Turned out I was considerably slower than most and only bothered a couple of other drivers all night. Only made up places due to misfortune of others. Liked the circuit tho but sorry to see that it is not universally popular.
Good to see Attila back again but sad that his first race on his return was short lived. I only have the choice of two makes now so hope their competitive at the remaining circuits 

[Erling G-P]

What a disappointing night's racing that was. I had taken the Plymouth because in initial testing it was the fastest of my remaining choices. After quite a few laps of testing and tweaking (and twerking but that's another story) I was confident that I had a car capable of challenging the fast boys. Imagine my suprise on race night when I entered the track only to spot not one other driver in a Plymouth. Not a good sign. But I ignored this omen thinking that I had now an unbelievable advantage and would surely grab silverware at the evening's end. Oh my goodness, how wrong could I be. Turned out I was considerably slower than most and only bothered a couple of other drivers all night. Only made up places due to misfortune of others. Liked the circuit tho but sorry to see that it is not universally popular.
Good to see Attila back again but sad that his first race on his return was short lived. I only have the choice of two makes now so hope their competitive at the remaining circuits 

Sorry to hear about your disappointment Tony, after such high expectations.  The Barracuda is held in high regard, but I've never quite understood what the fuss is about. It has rarely, if ever, been the fastest option for me (but probably just me who don't know how to exploit it..  ).  On yesterday's track, I found its gearing ill suited; the tallest was too tall, and the 2nd tallest was too low.

Cheers,
Erling

[Erling G-P]

Forgot to mention; yesterday online, I had real, solid cars, without headlights on - no ghostcars at all. 

Was my first time online on this track, so maybe it's just an offline phenomenon, or has anyone else seen these online earlier ?

Cheers,
Erling

[EvilClive]

 I cannot explain why I was faster than Erling, as he is usually right on the pace, well certainly right on my pace!!!

The choice of the Cougar was scientifically based upon the fact that I had one of each of the other cars available, but I had 2 Cougars. So, it made sense to use a Cougar and leave myself with a headache about which of the 5 cars to choose for the last 2 races!!  

I did get on the server on Saturday for 30 mins or so,  just to prove that I could join with each car and that the server recognised everything.

TBH without pushing to the absolute max, as I was more interested in knowing that all the cars worked, and to learn the new circuit, I think the slowest car was high 1:50's, maybe low 51's and that was without any serious work on the setups.
From memory, which is often unreliable at my age, I think the Barracuda was extremely heavy on rear tyres and although I was getting the lap times into the same bracket as the other cars, I mentally discounted it as likely to run out of rubber, or require major surgery to the setup and driving style. Being basically lazy I decided that presented too much work, and anyway joining the race was the priority not having the fastest car.

One of the cars, again I can't remember which one would take T1 and T2 flat without lifting, but was not so good around the twisty bits. But, the Cougar was the sensible choice not only because I had no idea that it would be as quick as it was, but because it left me with a full deck to choose from for the last 2 races.

Sunday evening I had settled on the Cougar and tweaked the setup to go sub 1:50 into the low 1:49's and I honestly thought that I had totally nailed the perfect lap and that was as good as it would get.