UKGTL Season 18 Auto Tuner Cup - Castle Combe - Nov 28

[SpecialKS]

Out of work tonight ? 

First race was a nice surprise.
For race two I chose the Mini without having practiced in it because I wasn't able to improve my bad laptimes in the Imp.
Result was adequate. 
Had problems to rejoin for race three (no ping in the lobby) but eventually I went in just before the start. As expected cruising in last place.
Fortunately for me Roguk went out of fuel during last lap and I could climb up a place. 

[Wiltshire Tony]

Replays now available for all three races

[SpecialKS]

Result_Race1

[Geoffers]

Enjoyable nights racing, especially battling Dan's Anglia in the Mini, great fun. Results though not so good, I did best in my worst car, the Imp.

Congrats to Ziu on winning all 3 races & to the other podium finishers. 

Also congrats to Ziu on sewing up the championship, well deserved. 

[fpolicardi]

Out of work tonight ? 

First race was a nice surprise.
For race two I chose the Mini without having practiced in it because I wasn't able to improve my bad laptimes in the Imp.
Result was adequate. 
Had problems to rejoin for race three (no ping in the lobby) but eventually I went in just before the start. As expected cruising in last place.
Fortunately for me Roguk went out of fuel during last lap and I could climb up a place. 

Sorry for the contact at hairpin race2 
Ciao

[Dominick]

Weird night.
As soon as I loaded up the track I had a feeling it was going to be 'one of those nights'. The track was one of those where I get FPS over 400, in this case over 600 in fact, and my G27 skips downshifts in that case. A weird issue only a few people experience and for which I've never found an explanation, let alone a solution. So I could choose between skipping a race night or using the paddles. I really hate using those for GTL cars but I was keen on racing so I decided to give it a go. But it was going to be one of those nights anyway because when joining the server I realized I had practiced on the wrong version of the track, viz. the chicaned one. Still, my setups are usually rubbish to start with so maybe it wouldn't make that much difference. So, off to the start and....nothing happened when I switched from 1st to 2nd. RPM's dropped to zero and took about a week to pick up. Last place it was. I got up to 6th mostly by other people's mishaps and then..... wrong paddle -> downshift instead of upshift and Boom went the engine. Race 2 just went wrong from the start and never got better.

By that time my mood was, erm, less than sunny and I almost threw in the towel for race 3, especially since I really dislike the Anglia. But on the other hand, how much worse than two last places could it be? So I entered without qualifying with the intention of mostly watching the mostly absent scenery. And lo and behold, now things went well from the get go. I got smart and used the H-shifter just for the start and had a decent start for once. During the course of the race I kept passing people -including a very reluctant Dan- but I hadn't kept track of positions so after the finish I just jotted my usual 'Grats Pod' in the chat. Turns out I congratulated myself as I was apparently third. How did that happen? 

Oh, and what was all that LM sim-salabim or something about? Something wrong with my install? Pleeeeease don't tell me I need a seperate install for the LM cars. No room on HD, no time, can't be arsed, lol

[Erling G-P]

Race 1: Probably my worst race to date.  Started swimmingly, with pole and 1st retained at the start.  After a few laps, I had a comfy gap of around 3 secs to Ziu, when the rear broke loose at the hairpin, starting one of those agonizing slides which no amount of opposite lock can catch.  Let Ziu and a couple more past, and then thought I had enough time to swing round to the inside, but still managed to get in the way of Marco - sorry about that.  Collision spun me round again, and I was very much last when I could rejoin.

Dan must have been laughing, as I passed him several times, only to go off again.  Tried a pass on Marco on the outside approaching the hairpin, but lost control, went off and clouted the barrier. Marco waited, which he absolutely shouldn't have, at it was not his fault, so I wouldn't overtake him.  Later got past and past Dan too I think. Could swear I saw XD's lap counter read 13, did another lap, and could swear I saw the 'Race finished' message at the top of the screen, only to find everyone else still going, and me classified as 'DNF' after I had stopped. Dunno what on earth happened there    Meant throwing away those couple of very hard earned places  

Race 2: Retained 4th at the start surprisingly - very rarely do I not loose places when starting in a Mini.  Expected the lead trio to do a quick getaway, but apparently their battle slowed them down, and I was able to keep up. Even got past both Dan and then Geoffers, when the former went wide at the hairpin.  Contact with Dan at the fast right kink sent me onto the grass, losing both places again - and one more to a lurking Clive, who zipped past.  Spent several laps getting closer and trying to harass him, before getting past on the inside in the hairpin. Rest of the race was one intense fight to keep the position, as he seemed very keen on stealing it again   - Took all the Nordic cool I could muster to remain unperturbed by his advances.  Our struggle for 4th became for 2nd in the final few 100 meters of the race, when Dan & Geoffers tangled.

Race 3: Difficult in the Imp, against a horde of Anglias. Swapped places with a few early on, having fun passing them on the outside in one curve, but they were so much quicker in a straight line, that they easily reclaimed the positions.  Tony had gone off on L1, and was gaining on me in the 2nd half. Did the math in my head with the remaining laps, and could see it would be very close if he kept it up - and he stubbornly refused to go off again...  Had to go as fast as I possibly could, which had the unexpected side effect of me reeling in Dan. He was cruising around up ahead, minding his own business.  Initially didn't see it as an opportunity but rather a frustration, as I was completely focused on staying ahead of Tony, and catching Dan would surely slow me down, playing right into Tony's hands.  Ended up gaining a place when I passed him - twice before I made it stick.  Sorry Dan; didn't mean to make you a victim - I was really only trying to escape from Tony...  

Grats to Zui on the hattrick - and the Championship, and grats to all other podium finishers.

Dom: That's quite an insane framerate. If you're on AMD based videocards, I'd suggest setting AA method to 'Supersampling' and level to 8xEQ - that should result in a hefty impact on FPS (If you're not already doing that, in which case I wouldn't mind hearing how many video cards you've crammed into your machine..   )

[Wiltshire Tony]

Oh, and what was all that LM sim-salabim or something about? Something wrong with my install? Pleeeeease don't tell me I need a seperate install for the LM cars. No room on HD, no time, can't be arsed, lol

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=14692.msg277789#msg277789

[EvilClive]

Grats to Ziu on the championship, proving himself quick in all 3 cars throughout the series.

Geoffers had obviously done his homework and commented on Castle Combe being my "home" circuit lol. It is in fact about a 30 minute drive from my house and let's just say that "I know it well" from a spectator's point of view, although I have been taken around, in the rain, in a Ferrari 365? ( full race spec ) by a friend of mine.....that was very educational!! I guess that in Weds races we all found Avon Rise into Quarry corner the trickiest part of the track? I have driven this circuit in GPL and GTL hundreds of times and thought I knew where the braking zones were.
My chauffeur in the Fezza had obviously not read the track guide!! because we crested Avon Rise ( in the rain) with his right foot still welded to the floor and just when I thought that the entry to Quarry would be the last place that I would ever see in this world, he calmly dabbed the brakes and powered through the apex without the slightest hint of any wheel locking or slide   . The right, left flick through the chicane ( something that we did not have to contend with in our races ) actually was violent enough to hurt my neck  . When we returned to the paddock, I asked my mate Dan about driving the same Ferrari in the dry, he replied that it was physically brutal on full race slicks, because the aero package developed 150kgs of downforce that glued the car to the tarmac and it was his ability to take G force in the corner  that limited the performance, not the car . I believe him!!

Our races were a little less physical and more gentlemanly affairs....most of the time  

Race 1 in the Imp. I was surprised that the Imp was so much slower than the Anglia, as on other tracks it had performed quite well? Basically I got lucky and just followed Ziu benefitting when Erling practised his donuts at quarry about 12 laps too soon   "nd place was way better than I had hoped for and as there was no chance of catching Ziu I just ticked off the laps to come home 2nd.

Race 2 aaaaargh!! a Mini   Still I had to use it in one of the races  . I recalled that I had a setup at Oulton that had made the little beast almost driveable so I dragged that across and gave it a shot. previously I had noticed that over exuberance on the downshifts in the Mini would trash the engine very quickly so I concentrated on being nice to the mechanicals. As the race progressed I began to get the habit of keeping some gas on, going into the corners and that made a huge difference Got lucky again because Dan and Geoffers were busy fighting over the lead and somehow I slipped through the pack to 4th, from where I could see that Erling in 3rd was being held up. A couple of banzai laps I was in Erling's slipstream. The rest of the race was a fun battle between 2 Minis for what we both thought was the last podium step, until Dan went into the boondocks near the end.
 I did get ahead of Erling for a couple of laps, and he will be pleased to know that I was kicking and cursing myself for leaving the door open when he retook the place. With the cars so evenly matched it was a chance to steal a position from him that I threw away lol.  

Race 3 and the Anglebox. The previous races had demonstrated that this car was the fastest around the Combe...not that it meant I would be!!!
For the 1 lap qually I just wanted a decent time and grid slot so that I might be able to pick off a place or two on the straights. I honestly did not think that my lap was "hot" and was stunned to log a 1:09 and pole. Like I said in chat, "I have no idea where that came from?".
Then Arnolds preparation screwed things at the start. He had been so intent on turning out the best looking car on the grid that he had polished everything with a pair of Mabel's old bloomers...even the pedals!!!
Adrenaline was flowing as the countdown dropped to Zero.
3.....depress clutch, engage 1st gear 2.....raise the revs to 75%, must get a good start to fend off Geoffers....nerves tensed, muscle ready to respond and left sock slithers half off the ruddy clutch pedal and car lurches forward   Nooooooooo!!!!!!..........Yessssss!!  "False start Stop and GO"   "B*ll*cks!!!"

Maybe in a longer race I might have reclaimed a few more places, but after a 15 sec dwell in the pits + in and out I was 20+ secs behind the field after 1 lap   Ok have some fun and just throw the car around for the next 13 laps. Discovered that I could clock 1:09 laps quite easily if I concentrated  and managed to reel in a couple of cars but just ran out of laps to really get into the points.

All great fun guys and for any who might be interested below is a link showing my friend Dan taking quarry in his Lotus Cortina #46....actually I think he was just showing off!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJfYO4qKAso

and incidentally his 70 yr old dad was racing the blue topped A40#45!! sideways runs in the family??

[Dominick]

Oh, and what was all that LM sim-salabim or something about? Something wrong with my install? Pleeeeease don't tell me I need a seperate install for the LM cars. No room on HD, no time, can't be arsed, lol

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=14692.msg277789#msg277789

Ah, great, that's easy enough 
Thanks!

[Dominick]

Dom: That's quite an insane framerate. If you're on AMD based videocards, I'd suggest setting AA method to 'Supersampling' and level to 8xEQ - that should result in a hefty impact on FPS (If you're not already doing that, in which case I wouldn't mind hearing how many video cards you've crammed into your machine..   )

Cap7, who organized most of our NG races, had peaks of 900 fps. While my rig was top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art when I got it, that's now five years ago. And it has only the one solitary GeForce GTX770 serving three monitors. I think the high number comes from two things: my monitors are rather mediocre because the rig was mostly meant for things like GTL, P&G and games such as Europa Universalis, none of which have high demands graphically, at least not in this timeframe. Besides that, the very first thing I always do with a new Windows is strip it down to essentials. http://www.blackviper.com/ is an invaluable resource for that. Every .exe, every gadget, every service, anything which isn't strictly necessary to run what I run gets the boot. My poor Win7 can't even update itself  While it requires some knowledge and understanding of an OS it's not that hard and the reward is more than worth it. I ran a Vista PC for more than ten years and I got 1 (one) BSOD in that whole time.

[Erling G-P]

Dom: That's quite an insane framerate. If you're on AMD based videocards, I'd suggest setting AA method to 'Supersampling' and level to 8xEQ - that should result in a hefty impact on FPS (If you're not already doing that, in which case I wouldn't mind hearing how many video cards you've crammed into your machine..   )

Cap7, who organized most of our NG races, had peaks of 900 fps. While my rig was top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art when I got it, that's now five years ago. And it has only the one solitary GeForce GTX770 serving three monitors. I think the high number comes from two things: my monitors are rather mediocre because the rig was mostly meant for things like GTL, P&G and games such as Europa Universalis, none of which have high demands graphically, at least not in this timeframe. Besides that, the very first thing I always do with a new Windows is strip it down to essentials. http://www.blackviper.com/ is an invaluable resource for that. Every .exe, every gadget, every service, anything which isn't strictly necessary to run what I run gets the boot. My poor Win7 can't even update itself  While it requires some knowledge and understanding of an OS it's not that hard and the reward is more than worth it. I ran a Vista PC for more than ten years and I got 1 (one) BSOD in that whole time.

You should get a medal for putting up with Vista for 10 years...

[phspok]

Almost made these, hurtled back from Brum, only to get stuck in a jam for a back smash on the M62, took more than an hour to get
past the 2 lane closure