UKAC Season 6 Lotus 25 - Longford - Nov 29

[spanner]

Wow, this isn't a thread I've ever read here before!

[ChrisR]

Sort of enjoyed this one, had done lots of practice, mostly to get a setup that wouldn't spin me
off into the bush at every braking area. Seriously embarrassed by spearing Sutol... phone lit
up with a txt, which distracted me, and I counted the wrong 2 marker posts after the guy with
the red flag approaching the last corner.......... result - I had no chance of stopping, thought
I would just miss everyone and fly down the excape road, but sadly did make contact.

Entirely my fault of course,   Having driven 3 hrs to get home for this I may not have been
at my best anyway... I have grown to like these cars very much, they are awkward
but with a safe setup, are a load of fun. IMHO.

BTW, people talk about esc to pits for repairs and then continuing. I GTL if you esc, you esc out
of the race, and can't get back in. Last night I got caught up in some trackside furniture
and bent the steering so badly that I had to quit, how do you esc for repairs and then continue?

Esc > return to pits > wait x seconds until you gain control > carry on your merry way.

[ChrisR]

A restart was the only sensible option last night, hours of practice for nothing, some of us do put the time in contrary to what's said on here, is it a rule we have to do our praccy on the server

I disagree, i dont think a restart is ever the answer, whats happens if you restart and the same happens again? Another restart? Then another? I think if over 75% vote to restart within lap 1 then by order of the masses a restart is probably warrentied... i think first and foremost, we need to discourage careless driving, some people last night were just oblivious to their surrounding or were too eager for the first lap.. some people put many laps in to practise and were wiped out, unfortunatly, thats the nature of the beast when it comes to racing.

I’ve had ideas about rolling starts where you are not allowed to overtake and the leader effectively starts the race from lap2.. how this would work in reality is unknown. But it may reduce some of that initial eagerness which leads to incidents.

[Fabri Fibra]

Wow, this isn't a thread I've ever read here before!

Sincerely, all these controversies do not make much sense.
As mentioned by Chris, the incident under the bridge is not only 1 but at least 2 or more.

I was in 6th position at that time (I started very bad), I saw the accident ahead of me, and I managed to avoid it. So I don't understand how the pilots behind me (that were already away from me) might have not seen and had trouble with this incident.

These tights were at Donington and Monaco, and roughly involved the same pilots, maybe it's just a case ...

I'm not sure if it is allowed spamming the restart-vote. With "spamm" i intend to request it for about 2-3 laps. Pretty shameful.

If we are doing sim racing, the races are these,
if you do an accident, or if you go at wall, you're out, simple.

Unnecessary and rather sad polemics.

[picnic]

I’ve had ideas about rolling starts where you are not allowed to overtake and the leader effectively starts the race from lap2.. how this would work in reality is unknown. But it may reduce some of that initial eagerness which leads to incidents.

We used rolling starts quite a lot in GTR2 and we're using them n some of the current RRE events. It certainly seems to help cut down 1st laps issues. Helps more when the cars have a pit limiter to ensure everyone is at the same speed.

[Bob]

Still of the opinion a restart would have been best last night. I completely understand the point of view of the fast drivers who are very rarely involved in the first lap incidents, they are more than not ever involved. Having said that, what went on last night really does not give us " incompetent" drivers much incentive to carry on with Wed night racing. Sometimes common sense has to prevail.

[Felix Simoes]

That was not a good race and I have to apologise for the pile up I created inadvertently.

I got caught up in the first incident under the bridge. I saw two cars spinning in front of me and I tried to brake to avoid it. But unfortunately I got bumped from behind and I was thrown into the wall under the bridge. That damaged my car and in the next corner I turned the wheel but the car went straight into a pole. That made my car stop perpendicular to the race track and the guys behind could not avoid me.

After that my car was thrown into the fence and I got stuck with lots of red and yellow parts on the car status graphic. I had to go back to pits and start again... and wait for 74 seconds. It seemed like an eternity. Not much I could do after that. I tried to push to see if I could catch someone, but this races are quite short and I only gain places when other people gave up or had to go to pits after crashing. 6th place was not that bad, in championship terms, after such a bad start.

Regarding the starts and restarts, I also think we should restart because of racing incidents. Those are part of racing and we should have to learn to drive so that we try to avoid them. I for one still have a lot to learn 

One thing we could do is have practice starts. I saw that in other competitions where everybody knew that the first (or first two) start(s) were test ones and the race would be restarted after half a lap, or a full lap. At least this can be used for everyone to test how the car behaves and what brake distances are needed with full race fuel in the middle of the pack. Just an idea

[Jeffrey]

If I'm honest, from what I saw, it was just 1 big unfortunate event. Due to the narrow nature of the track and the place where the incidents happened, it quickly became a lot worst than it would have been somewhere else.

But if people see others make the same mistake over and over again, please report it. If nobody bothers to report, I don't see the real severity of it.

[ChrisR]

Still of the opinion a restart would have been best last night. I completely understand the point of view of the fast drivers who are very rarely involved in the first lap incidents, they are more than not ever involved. Having said that, what went on last night really does not give us " incompetent" drivers much incentive to carry on with Wed night racing. Sometimes common sense has to prevail.

It was a blanket statement and no way directed at you personally.

You was a victim of incompetance in this race bob, i dont recall you doing anything incompetant anyway. But you have got to understand that just because im a fast driver it doesnt mean i dont see the situation for what it is,  But there does seem to be a trend that the faster drivers tend to cause less accidents regardless of starting position on the grid. Be it down to experience, awareness or a 6th sense, i dont know. Im not saying it never happens of cause, ive had some doosies with jeffery myself.. some myfault, some his (mostly his ) (joke jeffery!!) and i have made some poor judgements too, but that is the nature of the beast when there is a big skill gap between drivers..

We have discussed this before in that if a skilled driver has one car and a lower skilled driver has another you are bunched up into respective classes and you can be surrounded by people of your own skill level. How you determine the skillset of a player can be done multiple ways; on GTPlanet we used a star system, gold, silver and bronze and you had to complete several timed events and your time from the WR dictated your class.

Anyway, regardless of mine, yours or anyones opinion on the restarts, the rules clearly state that in this instance the race did not meet the criteria for a restart.

[FullMetalGasket]

In my opinion (and based on series I've racing in and/or managed in GPL), Rolling starts and no passing zones just move the accident on a few corners and make the race feel scripted.
If a track is dangerous and you have a red zone, then you can still have no-fault accidents in the red zone just because someone puts a wheel wrong. We've never restarted races for that and are almost certain never to do so at GPL, we abandoned the no passing rule after trying it for this exact reason.

Also these old cars are fragile and dangerous - one of my biggest draws to GPL is that you have to drive with respect or you won't see the flag.
Half the challenge of this type of car is keeping it on the track and out of the scenery and opponents.
The mentality of 'I can crash heavily trying something unwise because we'll just restart' can and often will surface if you throw them for any old reason - no, it's not fair on the innocent victims but it is motor racing.

I disagree with any suggestion of people having to run x amount of laps in practice though. Most of us have more important things in real life stopping us, or like me, practice offline for the most part.

If a race really does need restarting that should be judged afterwards and the event re-run after the season - calling for restarted seasons mid-race helps no-one, especially those who kept their noses clean and are now in an unusually good spot.

[Manteos]

If we sum up the driver involved in the 2 big crashes, we arrive at more than 50% of the field involved, so I guess that my request was out of the rules about chatting during race, but surely in line with a pileup that involved more than 50% of the field. I remain of my opinion that for once in the life even here at SROUK we could have restarted the race.

My request was surely due to my totally destroyed car after I could make no other thing that recollect on my way Felix's car two times in the round of 200 meters, WITHOUT ANY FAULT BY MY SIDE in both the episodes, I wanted to make it clear. Even if I did not make 50 laps but only 26, I was SURELY CAPABLE to stay safely on track this time, so I find the proposal of a minimum limit of laps pretty useless.
My only fault was to take part at the Monaco race without any training just to fill up the grid, and I deeply apologized to whom I ruined the race, Simon for instance, that usually prepare the race with ZERO laps.
Watching by the replay this time all started with the crash of the faster drivers racing in this champ and I see no fault by the people on the back of the pack, especially to those involved in my second crash with Felix after he hit a light pole. He is a human. Humans do mistake.

This car on these tracks it's simply too difficult for people that do not have time to have some proper training. The only interesting race for me so far has been on a modern track, Brands Hatch for instance. I don't see the point to continue discussing about things that people who race here should already know. I just invite you to watch the starts of the first three rounds of the Eurogamer Assetto Corsa Championship with the Lotus 98T, in which participated a lot of fast people all around the world. Guess what? They had to restart the race at least two times every event due to a huge amount of crashes even before the back marker managed to cross the start/finish line. And we are talking about people that is considered at PRO level on this game. There are cars not well suited for online races, and there are aswell track suited for online races. Jeffrey has been brave with the choice of the tracks, but the results are clear.
17 drivers managed to see the checkered flag at Brands Hatch and 12 at Zandvoort. Than we have an average of 8 people for the rest of the races. I do like statistics and numbers often are clearer than words.

I will come back for the 599XX Champ, hope you will enjoy the rest of the champ

[Mark J]

I don’t understand why several of you would just give up the series because you had a bad race?    It was just a tough combination this week and there was unfortunately a series of incidents that caused mayhem too early...but it’s just one round, move on and enjoy the rest of the races.  .
I think it’s been a great and challenging series and I’ve enjoyed plenty of racing in most rounds so far. Better than I expected it to be tbh.
This round was particularly tricky as I’ll wager 75% of have never raced at Longford and a lot of us get a bit busy this time of year, denying us more practise time.

If you can race then race, bigger grids are more fun 

[Manteos]

I don’t understand why several of you would just give up the series because you had a bad race? 

The right answer for my case is 4 races in row during which I managed to complete a sum of 5 laps.

bigger grids are more fun 

I was thinking the same before joining Monaco race. Than I torpedoed Simon and changed opinion.

[Jeffrey]

Jeffrey has been brave with the choice of the tracks, but the results are clear.

Next season we will go ovals only 

[spanner]

Its a bit telling when the guy organizing it doesnt want to run it anymore!