UKGTL Season 17 Ford Asia Endurance Cup - Suzuka - Dec 11

[Wiltshire Tony]

Sorry guys - Autosimanalyzer cannot find/import a log file from the file posted in the replays section.
So - I fear - no results to be posted this time. 

@ Tony: could that be because your results "proved problematic"?

I think so. If I have time tonight I will try to find a "good" file

[Bob M.]

Not much to report on the race at all.  The pre-race was a mess though.  Got on the track no problem, but just as Qual. was starting had a loss of power to the house for about 5 minutes or so.  The wind was blowing at 35MPH with gusts to almost 50MPH so that caused the problem with the power lines.  Started at the back but didn't have a lot of focus by then.  Had some good racing with Clive for awhile but he was faster than I, but he was fighting a very bad handling car, could tell he just couldn't get the power down on exit from the corners. I Was just happy to make it to the finish myself, after about 18 laps or so the tires were shredded.  Glad to see it end, but this was the best track for these cars in the series and would have enjoyed the race more I think if I didn't have the pre race problem.  Sorry my team mate Ziu had the arm trouble, but Grats to the series podium and the race podium.  Hated these cars at the start of the series and the F1 type tracks but I think they could be very fun on nice flowing type tracks.
Thanks to Tony for organizing as usual.........On to Brands in the Z28!!

Bob M.

 

[Jeep]

Well after the debacle of Stardust I was at my wits end as far as the goings on with my GTL Install, I have 4 installs, a vanilla Steam original with the "Loadsa Money patch and the G27 LED fix, altbeirbude (Both of which run faultlessly) and my UKGTL and a "master" install which is a combination of everything plus any downloads I fancy from evo modding, nogrip etc.

Both the master copy and the UKGTL install stutter and wobble their way through a session so obviously there is something embedded in those which is my problem. Over the last week I have tried everything from really low settings through to everything maxed I've used "runaff" to set processer affinity but still the problem persisted. Finally last weekend i decided to delete the UKGTL install and start afresh with a copy of the vanilla Steam install. So far I have nothing other than the Suzuka circuit and the Capri's and all seems good. I'm still running at comparatively low settings but other than a problem I've had with both GTL and GPL since the beginning (Chat messages cause a momentary freeze) it seems to be looking good.

Had a really good race, with some really close racing with Roguk for around 20 laps I think, He was faster on certain parts of the track while I was able to reel him back in others. I could see it was going to take either a mistake by him or a desperate lunge by me to make any move stick. As the race wound down I began to think the mistake was never going to come so I went for the "Lunge" on the exit of 130 R. Unfortunately I left my braking a little too late and overshot the Casio Triangle so had to give the place back and battle resumed. It all began to get a little untidy as the tyres cried enough but eventually my harassment paid off when Roguk went sideways at Spoon Curve and I was through. At this point I discovered how much harder it is to have someone up my chuff rather than me doing the chasing. Eventually it all went quiet and I saw Roguk spin on the exit from the Hairpin.

The last 6 laps or so were spent trying to keep the thing on the black stuff and out of the kitty litter as the tyres went completely off while keeping a watchful eye on the gap back to Roguk.

So very pleased with 4th running what was basically the default set up with a gearing adjustment.

Congrats to the Podium and winners and podium spots in the various classes overall.

I really like these cars and would love to see them make a return at some different tracks (Although Suzuka really suits these) but only with the Div1 or Div2 not both. I just don't think we have a big enough grid to run both at the same time over a season.

TTFN
John.

[Geoffers]

Not too much to report from this race.

Qualified 3rd behind Ziu & Erling's Div 1 cars. Was a bit puzzled at the start, the lights changed & Ziu's car jumped forward about 20m & then disappeared leaving Erling on his own ahead. Predictably Erling soon pulled away leaving me to keep Matt at bay. The one problem I had was fuel, if I drove flat out I was not going to get to the end without a splash & dash, so I had to take it a bit easy & take some of the corners a gear higher than ideal. My speed was just fast enough to keep Matt at about 3s behind & fuel consumption low enough to be able to speed up near the end if needed.

As it happened I didn't need to go any faster as Matt made a mistake just after half distance & the gap jumped to around 15s. So I came home a fairly comfortable 2nd.

Congrats to Erling on winning the race & the championship & to Ziu & Clive on the class wins. 

[EvilClive]

 The one problem I had was fuel, if I drove flat out I was not going to get to the end without a splash & dash, so I had to take it a bit easy & take some of the corners a gear higher than ideal. My speed was just fast enough to keep Matt at about 3s behind & fuel consumption low enough to be able to speed up near the end if needed.

Intrigued by your comments about fuel consumption Geoffers. Am I to assume that you calculated the minimum fuel load that would get you to the end of the race? or that even when loaded to the max available your consumption was marginal??
Because.... In all of these races with the Div 2 cars, whenever I have finished a race I usually have plenty of spare fuel if I fill to the max ( anything to avoid a pit stop!!) Which might indicate that I am driving too conservatively and should be using a lower gear through some corners??
Tyres are another matter and I seem to chew up those within a few laps and then have to tip toe around the rest of the race 

All sort of academic, as we won't be driving these again for a while.............well almost 6 months if Tony's veiled threat is to be believed!!

[Geoffers]

 The one problem I had was fuel, if I drove flat out I was not going to get to the end without a splash & dash, so I had to take it a bit easy & take some of the corners a gear higher than ideal. My speed was just fast enough to keep Matt at about 3s behind & fuel consumption low enough to be able to speed up near the end if needed.

Intrigued by your comments about fuel consumption Geoffers. Am I to assume that you calculated the minimum fuel load that would get you to the end of the race? or that even when loaded to the max available your consumption was marginal??
Because.... In all of these races with the Div 2 cars, whenever I have finished a race I usually have plenty of spare fuel if I fill to the max ( anything to avoid a pit stop!!) Which might indicate that I am driving too conservatively and should be using a lower gear through some corners??

Clive, if I drove the car hard all race I was about 3/4 of a lap short on fuel with the tank full, obviously the slow pace lap helped, most of which I drove in 3rd & 4th gears, but I erred on the side of caution & found that by taking the string of esses in 3rd gear instead of some parts in 2nd I could make the fuel last. I was actually a bit too cautious & had nearly a laps worth of fuel left at the end. I had the same problem at the Sepang race, where I did have to stop for fuel.

Bear in mind that I was using the 1980 car, which may be different to the 1981 car in terms of fuel tank size & fuel consumption.

[EvilClive]

aha!!  thanks for that Geoffers, Had not thought about cars having different fuel capacities. FWIW I found that taking the Esses in 3rd was much more controllable and therefore slightly quicker, but again I guess that all depends onn gear ratios???