UKGPL Season 37 (2020) 1967 F1 Sprint - Solitude - Oct 25

[Billy Nobrakes]

I did a fair bit of practice as I'm still playing around with setups & the new pedals. As has been mentioned by several drivers it's all to easy to make a tiny error that ends in disaster. During practice I thought I had found all the possible places where you can crash.

During qually I found a rhythm that allowed to lap around 3,38. Two secs down on my best but keeping the car on the grey stuff. Attrition rate was high & I found myself in 6th place following Pepe. Could have stayed there but for a couple of off track moments which fortunately didn't do any long term damage to the car. I swapped places  & accidents with Dave Curtis a couple of times. Should have been a safe  P5 but I lost concentration after one of the kinks in the long straight & needed a reset. That will cost me a time penalty after moderation.

Well done to Markus for exceptional pace & Bastian for taking the win in his home race.

Also, my compliments to the faster drivers on the grid who are voluntarily taking the BRM. Whilst you are still taking the podium places it makes the racing more entertaining.

[Phil Thornton]

I think it might be the 60 fps - sometimes the screen update gets very juddery and the frame rate suddenly drops awfully. I suspect it might be something to do with the anti-vitrus. I have a new Graphics card which is due to be deployed. Might help.

You can normally set the antivirus to ignore specific directories. If you set it not to dynamically virus check your GPL directory, it won't check files as they write to disk during a race. The other thing to check is that you have a graphics profile set up for each GPL executable. GPL is an old game so the graphics settings have to be done manually. Both of these potential solutions depend on the antivirus and graphics vendor you are using but the principle is the same. The final thing to do is reduce the detail setting in GPL. It is important to get a solid 58-60 FPS, anything less and you will struggle.

What is a competitive time for Mexico btw. At least I don't have to learn that track. I just went and tried and was getting 1:57 in the BRM Brabham  . Not in the 1:40's is it?

If you click on the circuits tab (in blue above), the track list will popup. Find Mexico and click on that and it will list all the UKGPL races at Mexico (you should get this). Scrolling back through the list to find the last "Privateers" race (don't look at the Works, it is scary) and you will find S31 Round 10. If you can get down to a 1:54 in the Brabham you will be competitive.

[AnGex]

Sorry Andreas, not quite sure what happened there. Coming down towards Schaetten I braked well before when I'd usually do so, conscious it was L1 and I was faster than usual because of your draft... from Baab's cockpit I see that my front left locked and smoked coming over the crest of the hill and after that I was a passenger. I think Phil got taken out as well, apologies.

...

Another Race with no fun...

[Baab]

Not sure what happened to Bob but it looked like a very good race from him as well. It would be a real pity if he just suffered a disconnect. He would have deserved the victory as well!

No disconnect just a spin which sent me down a very steep banking that I couldn't re-emerge from, my mistake.  Race was alright from my perspective but I was trying the cockpit view for the first time so I could react quicker in some downhill sections where the car obscures the view...  Anyways, took a bit of adjusting to but I was almost as quick and seemed to crash less.  I didn't seem to settle down in the race though and constantly felt on edge right up until my crash.  I did a bit of praccy and expected to qualify in the 32s but crashed soo many times that only at the death did I manage a reasonable time in the 34s to put me 6th. 

I made a reasonable start and was conscious not to be too aggressive into T1.  Markus' brush against the bales livened things up and I managed to move up a position or two.  Arf then lost it on the brakes in spectacular fashion unfortunately taking Andreas out.  That put me P2 which became P1 when Bastian took the escape road.  I was keeping an eye on prib since I knew Markus was still in the hunt and had plenty of pace to burn ( I watched one of your qual laps, super smooth and impressively quick!).  Bastian and Markus caught me after a few laps with the gap yo-yoing a bit but the fight was cut short by my exit.

Cheers for the racing, see you in Mexico, where I may take a slightly quicker chassis!

[Rainier]

Moderation posted.

Thanks Billy to have reported you made a shift-R in the last lap.

Thanks to all drivers for your clean race.

[Doni Yourth]

'Cordial' is not a word I'd describe my interactions with Bastian over the last several seasons with the UKGPL.  In fact, after being trashed by him a number of times in Season 33 in 2018, I left this board in disgust for a time.  Be that as it may, I must give him credit for a fine drive to the win at this very difficult circuit.  It takes no prisoners.  Full marks on the victory, Bas.

Markus must be thanking his lucky stars for a P2 finish as he sampled the German forest several times but came away in one piece...more or less...to take up P2 in the standings.  Great pace in the BRM making me look rather pedestrian, in fact.

A P3 for me was looking pretty solid but with just over a lap to go, I had my life flash in front of my eyes as a careless exit off a corner had a wheel in the grass and the resulting wheelspin under power had me dash across the road and drill a guardrail HARD.  How I didn't have a wheel...or two...sheared off could only be put down to the race being run under advanced damage mode instead of full pro.  Otherwise...

Of course, the race was a gift for some places as the Lap01 shunt at the end of the back straight eliminated no less than three top guns.  Geeezzz...  Poor Phil had the misfortune of banging wheels with me as we each searched for way 'round two inverted cars and that contact had him turn turtle.  WTF?  At little more than a trotting pace, he was flipped over.  That can only be put down to GPL vastly over-reacting to the collision.

Escaping with my skin still intact, I found myself well up and as ever at this venue, the object was two-fold.   #1. finish; #2. score no 64's.  That last is a personal goal to avoid the obvious time-saving but somewhat dubious ethical tactic of running through the grass at many places here.  With the obvious off-track laps scored on Lap01 and the near-disaster of Lap13, I managed only one '64'.

Baab was nicely placed and set for a good score but a minor slide turned into a race-ending retirement as he got stuck in a ditch at the Chalet.  Bad luck indeed, there, Baab.

Kudos to Pepe for keeping it all together for a P4 finish and scoring only four 64's.  Ditto to Syd for hanging in there for a finish in the Red Ball Special.