UKGTL Season 19 European GTC Cup - Zolder - Jan 2

[SpecialKS]

3 seconds slower than the second slowest driver. Made a last minute change of car from 300SL alloy to 300SL steel.

Could rejoin the game but not the grid - went on in a nirvana.

 

[EvilClive]

Grats to podium and all finishers.

Well that was a race from hell for me 

During qually, and race, I had the "Fulvio Policardi-joining" bar continually flashing across my screen. So I could not adjust setup or see the normal chat box. I had to stick with what I had in terms of setup 

Amazingly I got a good start and was into 3rd from middle of the pack?? Still not sure how that happened , coz I was peering around Fulvio's flshing name on my screen.

Things went OK for a few laps and I got used to the flashing message...until I hit that Healey that was stranded on the grid  quadruple somersault with 3 twists and pike for a score of 9.8 style and 10 for content.!!! Car stopped upright , but facing the wrong way and engine stalled. Gingerly I tried the starter and it spluttered into life swung it around and re-joined, expecting car to be a complete mess in the handling department...but it was OK.
Now I still had the flashing message but that was partially obscured by red mist!!!
Gradually picked off cars until I caught Fulvio...in an orange mini!!  lol, but at least I knew it was him because I had a constant reminder flashing on my screen!!
Damn but that Mini was quick and I just could not find a way past him.

Ok next prob was pitstops 
Lap 21 swung into pits.....hit pit limiter and car slowed...cruised down pitlane..........no crew chief???!!!  Still just enough fuel to do another slow lap.
So lap 22  we try again. Slow down...hit pit limiter...dash light flashes and car is slowed.....Dominick in front and I am closing on him rather quickly despite pit limiter??? lift off gas and car does not slow down like it is on cruise control, and I run straight into the rear of Dominick  Really sorry Dominick but even the brakes did not appear to work  ) . Not sure if my pit crew were there this time but I quit anyway.

[Dominick]

Ah, Clive, I was wondering what was going on. I thought you couldn't see me. It's not like you to run into someone (unless it's sideways  ). No harm done on my side, if anything I was worrying whether I somehow spoiled your race. Maybe there was something amiss on my side because the pit lane speed (with limiter) seemed very slow to me.

I only decided to join last minute. I'm still not feeling very great but I thought 'eff it, if it doesn't work I'll just retire'. Having had some experience driving the Gullwing (by mistake, lol) in the last series, I picked that one and it felt alright. Not fast, but I get rusty faster than a piece of 200 year old metal in a Venus atmosphere so that didn't bother me. The first few laps there were at least half a dozen of extra chicanes with cars doing the weirdest things, flying around all over the place. I don't have many racing qualities but avoiding mayhem is definitely one. Having done that I settled into a rhythm in P4 or 5, not sure. I had Clive and Coyote chasing me rather close by and decided to just let them pass when the opportunity arose, being rusty and all that. That worked fine for Clive but the first time it didn't for Coyote. I probably miscommunicated my intention and there was some contact and Coyote lost some speed and seconds. Sorry about that, I should have made it more obvious what I was doing. The second time went without a flaw and I managed to keep quite close for a while. After the rather unusual pit stop -see also Clive- however I was 25 seconds behind Coyote and behind me there was an even bigger gap so I just took it to the finish leisurely. I did however manage to have my only spin of the race in .... the last straight of the last lap. I ended up behind the pit cones. I had to drive back a bit to get back on track in the right direction and lane and was just muttering 'don't DQ me, please, don't DQ me'. And the game was magnanimous and, it didn't! So a very decent return to the grid in the end. Congrats to the podium 

[Wiltshire Tony]

Results and replay now posted.

Seems we had some problems tonight.

Ziu was on the start grid but the replay shows his car was halfway in the tarmac so I'm guessing he lost connection. I will not be counting his drive tonight in the car roster. Likewise Eifelblitz who failed to make the grid.

Roguk and Bob M. both had game ending crashes into Ziu's "dead" car. Please let me know if you want to a) count the drive and keep your points, or b) have this drive ignored on the car roster.

The replay shows everyone in the correct car so if drivers saw a wrong car it's either due to an internet problem of they have their own car set incorrectly installed.

PS I do not know why the Championship table doesn't show points for Roguk. As FAIK he should show as having 11 points. But I can fix this after I get his decision regarding the above.

EDIT: I think the reason why Roguk didn't show any points in the Champ table is because he failed to cross the line after his crash.

[EvilClive]

It would appear that I might have some car installation issues? I noticed that Matt was saying that myself and (Rog?) were in "wrong" cars just before last night's race  . Apologies if that was indeed the case, but it was difficult to offer a chat response because the only way I could get a message on screen and read responses was from "in car chat". The normal chat page was inaccessible because of the flashing message about "Fulvio Policardi-joining". If there was more time I might have tried exiting the game and re-loading, but the buttons for doing that were not responding either and I was afraid of crashing to desktop and missing the start.

I had assumed that as I had the Merc 300SL Gullwing already installed in my general GTL folder from last season, I would not need a fresh d/load?  I tested all 4 cars on the practice server and all appeared to run OK.
Everything worked fine for the first part of practice all cars appeared correct when I was still testing the DB4, which I felt was very quick, probably too quick to use at Zolder with a 1:42 looking possible.

Then I switched to the Merc to see what that would offer, and the problems started ( so maybe that is where my issues lie?). I had not realised that there are two versions for the Gullwing, steel and alloy, are we allowed either?? I think that I ran the steel (?) option but cannot be sure as I just opted for a dark coloured car ( coz darker colours are faster aren't they ?), maybe I will check the car number against the options later to be sure.

In my computer ignorance I am assuming that my issues with flashing messages and Minis are probably linked to a dodgy car file, but I'm still perplexed by the apparent lack of a pit crew?

[Wiltshire Tony]

It would appear that I might have some car installation issues? I noticed that Matt was saying that myself and (Rog?) were in "wrong" cars just before last night's race  . Apologies if that was indeed the case, but it was difficult to offer a chat response because the only way I could get a message on screen and read responses was from "in car chat". The normal chat page was inaccessible because of the flashing message about "Fulvio Policardi-joining". If there was more time I might have tried exiting the game and re-loading, but the buttons for doing that were not responding either and I was afraid of crashing to desktop and missing the start.

I had assumed that as I had the Merc 300SL Gullwing already installed in my general GTL folder from last season, I would not need a fresh d/load?  I tested all 4 cars on the practice server and all appeared to run OK.
Everything worked fine for the first part of practice all cars appeared correct when I was still testing the DB4, which I felt was very quick, probably too quick to use at Zolder with a 1:42 looking possible.

Then I switched to the Merc to see what that would offer, and the problems started ( so maybe that is where my issues lie?). I had not realised that there are two versions for the Gullwing, steel and alloy, are we allowed either?? I think that I ran the steel (?) option but cannot be sure as I just opted for a dark coloured car ( coz darker colours are faster aren't they ?), maybe I will check the car number against the options later to be sure.

In my computer ignorance I am assuming that my issues with flashing messages and Minis are probably linked to a dodgy car file, but I'm still perplexed by the apparent lack of a pit crew?

Hi Clive, as one of the problems appears to be with Fulvio's car (Ferrari) I would look there first. The Mercedes are exactly the same as we used in the Fifties series so if they worked fine in that, they should be Ok now. As the race announcement doesn't specify which Mercedes to use, you should assume that both types are applicable.
As to any other problems you suffered from, I'm afraid I cannot provide any answers.

[Geoffers]

Clive, as Tony said it's not your Merc that is causing the problem but the car of the driver that is continually flashing that is the problem. I would suggest that you (& Ziu) uninstall the Ferrari, download it again & reinstall it. You may have read in earlier posts on this thread that the installers for the Ferrari & Aston were not quite correct & Dave redid them, maybe you had downloaded before the rewrite & you had the car files in the wrong place. If you have a file 'GTL' within your main GTL install then that is the problem.

Back to the race, tested all the cars here & got remarkably similar lap times for all four but the Merc was just the quickest & also the easiest to drive so went with that. The race itself was rather uneventful, got ahead at the start & had Matt quite close behind for a few laps until he went off. Pitstop was fine with both fuel & tyres & well that was about it. I'm sure the rest of the year won't be like that & there will be plenty more exciting races to come.

Congrats to Fulvio & Erling on the podium.    Bad luck to all those who had various issues.  

[SpecialKS]

Result



Downloaded the replay and copied it to the replay folder but I'm not able to to watch it as it isn't shown in the game's replay chart.

 

[Wiltshire Tony]

Result



Downloaded the replay and copied it to the replay folder but I'm not able to to watch it as it isn't shown in the game's replay chart.

 

Thanks Kurt 
I copied mine into the replays folder and it did show up in game. Maybe try again?

[Erling G-P]

Quite a tumultuous race yesterday.

With all the confusion in qual and on joining the grid, I was distracted enough to forget putting the car in gear.  Thus nothing but fruitless revving happened when I let out the clutch     Dropped several places as people sped past, but reclaimed a couple on L1.  Just as I entered the start/finish straight, I was looking behind to see who was chasing me.  Thus didn't see Ziu's stationary car at all, and hit it while looking rearward.  Got going again, once the world had stopped spinning.  Strangely, later the pit selection board only showed body damage, but something was definitely 'off' with the car;  not keen on turning right after the shunt.

Didn't really register that I passed a recovering Clive, so to me he showed up behind seemingly out of nowhere. I was annoyingly easy pickings in my crippled car, so he was past effortlessly and next made short work of Dom (with some help from the latter I now learn).  I caught up to Dom and thought we were having a good scrap.  His corner entry speed (lack of  ) caught me out a couple of times, resulting in a bump one time - sorry about that.  Had not at all realized you were trying to let me past - also takes the glory off my presumed cheeky move on the inside a couple of laps later    Another time, just flash your lights and I will know your intentions (although you really shouldn't let me past in a race for positions  )

Pit on L20 for fuel only and exited in front of Tony.  Hadn't realized I was a lap ahead, so thought he might pass me in his faster car, especially with my tyres, which were way past their sell by date.  Didn't happen though, and I next caught and passed a recovering Dan.  IFF tags showed him in 5th, and pit board showed me 3rd, with some 20 secs to 4th, so I was apparently a lap ahead of him.  With all the earlier confusion, I didn't really trust the info given me, and thus tried to remain ahead.  On shredded tyres, it was proving too difficult and he slowly caught up.  Decided to take the chance and waved him past.  Fortunately the info was correct and I maintained my 3rd place.  I'm courteous enough not to mention how he spun off a few laps later  

Grats to Geoffers on a win that was not even slightly in question, and to Fulvio for 2nd.  Geoff claimed last year that his form curve was rising through a season.  If that's true, then the start to this one looks ominous for sure..  

Ziu my friend, once again you're overreacting. Is one race gone bad because of technical glitches really reason enough to drop GTL entirely ?   I think not, and I don't think you will either, once you've calmed down. You may have removed GTL, but it can be put back on   Fully expect you back next Wednesday - otherwise Geoffers will have his way all too easily..  

Clive btw (& Geoffers), your Merc sounds dull     Some of the others sound much more deliciously raw; both steel & alloy versions (although yours may be the fastest...  )

[Geoffers]

Grats to Geoffers on a win that was not even slightly in question, and to Fulvio for 2nd.  Geoff claimed last year that his form curve was rising through a season.  If that's true, then the start to this one looks ominous for sure..  

Ok I was pretty quick in the Merc but Matt was nearly keeping pace with me early on & Clive's best lap wasn't much slower than me & I'm sure Ziu would have been close too. Without several drivers having problems it would probably have been a much closer race.

It wasn't my form rising Erling, more to do with perfecting the various car setups due to not really doing any testing early in the year. This time I have got a bit of enthusiasm for practicing & have tested all these cars & the big V8s (love them!) for next week. This Merc is great to drive & I don't think there is much more I can do to improve the setup so unlikely to make it any faster.

I did notice that several people used the steel bodied car, why? Surely the aluminium bodied car is lighter so faster! 

[fpolicardi]

Sorry Clive for been flashing on your monitor and defending with a Mini :-)
Really I even leaved server at end of qualy and rejoined loosing my 4th place, but nothing changed for you. I hadn't any problem with other cars, apart Ziu's stationary that I missed for a hair at the end of lap1 and put me in 4th again after many crashed in, and a dark Merc that gave me much work to stay ahead of it 
I was very tired cause I am flooded and had to work all the holidays, but I managed to not do mistakes even on pressure by Clive. In the end I got a 2nd not hoped before the race.
Next one

[Erling G-P]

....I did notice that several people used the steel bodied car, why? Surely the aluminium bodied car is lighter so faster! 

It is lighter, but not by much; 20-30 kg IIRC.  I tested both versions and found my speed difference to be negligible, if present at all.  Thus went with my steel bodied version for pure aesthetic reasons.

[roguk]

Hi Tony
Roguk and Bob M. both had game ending crashes into Ziu's "dead" car. Please let me know if you want to a) count the drive and keep your points, or b) have this drive ignored on the car roster.

option B Please

[Erling G-P]

Btw Clive, I see you've found a car to advertise your preferred driving style...