UKGPL Season 16 (2008) Novice \'65 - Mexico City - Oct 7

[happyal]

Hi Guys,

Thank you very much for a great race yesterday, by far my best result and more importantly I didn’t do anything stupid. I’ve got to admit that I didn’t expect to do so well.

I quite like Mexico, I seem to be able to get a really good rhythm going and also I didn’t seem too effected by other cars around me, unlike Watkins, where if I saw another car I seemed to fall off the road in short order.

Qualifying went well for me, and I set a time that I was happy with, and started 5th on the grid. At the start of the race I just tried to keep out of trouble and seemed to do that well. I think this is when Steve crashed out due to his pedal problems, sorry to see that Steve I hope you get them fixed.

I was chasing Norbert for the next 10 laps or so, I managed to get on his gearbox and stay there for a good number of laps until I made a small mistake and spun it. It cost me a few seconds but I was so happy where I was I didn’t mind. I go back onto keeping a steady pace, more than catching Norbert.

Norbert made a mistake a some point, I pasted him went he was high up on the guard rail and got a few seconds lead. That was pretty much it for me, I concentrated on keeping a good steady pace and not doing anything stupid. I found a nice rhytem and got the car home

I was having problems with my downshifts, when I was pressing the downshifter it wasn’t doing it in the game, I ended up having to hammer the downshifter in order to make it happen. I hope I don’t have a problem and I hope it was just a bad connection. It nearly made me spin a few times but once I was use to it I controlled it OK.

Well done to Sam and Asbjeurn, you two guys where in a class of your own, and I noticed that your average lap time of the race was higher than any of my laps.

I’m looking forward to East London.

[NickyIckx]

 
That again was big  fun  !!! Thx all !!

Congratulations to the podium ones : to the winner john Roberts , to 2nd natan Vix , (fastest driver in qualifying ! ) , to 3rd Tim Muttram , overtake me at the start and simply passed away then . big hand to Storm Cloud on 5th and fastest racelap , givin`me a real hard time to the end of the race.
And of course grats to all other drivers: Clive Loynes , Steve Bucket , Geoff Heard , Ian Stanley , bernie65 darwin , Paul Bird and peter maestro.

Earning 4th  in the race out of 3rd in qualy was more then I expected , coz damned cold still was playing tricks on my brain , lol.
e.c.  each time I tried to push a bit , let me ended up badly in the Armco of T1.  . So I decided to stop that and settle on more safety style instead.
Lucky me , it works out short off.


Havnt seen the results of  Novice`s race yet . But heard Asbjeurn did made it again ; grats !!!

b_1_rd  you get lost by again failing pedals ? damned hell`,pitty.
Maybe time for pure steel pedals ? http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v734/nickyickx/ickxtuned%20pedals/?action=view&current=05c0f8da.pbw



And thx Norbert !! your idear fixin a peace of paper to the PC screen as  a reminder to save replay after the race , did the trick !!

mexicoukgplamateurs65race.7z
Download: http://www.files.to/get/427899/0s1xczlpvz

See ya all at EastLondon
NickyIckx

[FullMetalGasket]

Great race! 

I'm really pleased with my result too, I've also grown somewhat more fond of Mexico too as I've 'got' the circuit so to speak (I other words I figured out T's 1 and 13  )
As Nicky says I took 3rd off the start from him - the replay shows him bogging down on the line, all I could hear from his driving seat was my car approaching at 13,000RPM like a chainsaw at full throttle before carrying on past at pretty much the same revs 

From there on he gave me a few scares on the first 2 laps when I'd run wide/brake too early only to find him looking very close in my mirrors
I very slowly pulled away from him until I assume he must have hit the armco in T1 as suddenly the gap doubled and I was clear

This left me concentrating on a balance between restraining myself from my more usual flatout loonacy, while still trying to chase down John and Natan. I managed to come close to John once or twice in the first 1/3 of the race but always managed to take a slightly bad line and loose the ground again....
Finally I caught him properly on lap 10 while he was locked in deadly combat with Natan 
He finally made it past and held it on lap 11, Natan made a mistake exiting the chicane after T1 while trying to get back at John - which very nearly gave me 2nd spot! 
I decided to pull in rather than go 2 wide into the T4/5 chicane as I felt (hoped) Natan would be able to reel John back in if I left him alone for long enough. Unfortunatly it rapidly became clear that he'd lost his pace (presumably melty tyres ) and was not only loosing John but was possibly slightly slower than me.
Sadly he was still fast enough not to let me manage to get further than side by side with him, a position I managed only a few times but never capitalised on   

Despite this I'm very happy as it was a flawless race for me, and aside from running over a tyre in T2 at some point I didn't set a wheel wrong 

Congrats to John and Natan, and thanks for a very challenging race 
The same to Nicky as you gave me ample incentive not to make a mistake through trying too hard, and you also started to worry me in the closing stages of the race as you started reeling me back in!   

Now I'd just like to thank Nicky's germs for keeping him off me , Clive for keeping Cloud at arms length , and everyone else who took part 

[norbert]

Big congrats to Alastair for this one!
You  really made a step forward since Watkins.
Just couldn´t come after ya  .
That was well done mate 
Lookin´forward to the african scene.
Of course big hand to the northern fjord-horses!
Those italian thorougbreds seems to thrive quiet well up there .
Sam ,of course, was running as good and fast as well.
Steve "the unlucky" Bird again did the trick and cheated himselv for a good place (not to tell of the race).
When he starts to finish i´m in real trouble .
But until then : see you all guys on stage East London somewhere between Potters Pass and Rifle Bend.

Cheers
Norbert

[Clive Loynes]

Amateur replay available here:

http://www.planet-venom.co.uk/gpl/

[Storm_Cloud]

Points wise that was a trifle disappointing only finishing 5th but I really enjoyed the race. Slightly stymied by poor qualifying I watched Clive swoop around the outside of T1 and take 5th from me. I had to follow him for a long time because although I was a smidge quicker overall I couldn't get close enough through the last two turns. Eventually I got it figured out and passed him. I then set off after Nicky and Tim and was suprised to be inching closer to them whilst gapping Clive. Just as I could smell the Nicky's Ferrari exhaust I overcooked it on T1, gently spun and was lucky to get going ahead of Clive - couldn't afford to get stuck behind him again! Lost 7 or 8 seconds I think but still got right up Nicky's chuff by the end.

East London next - I can't think of a flatter, more boring, slow corner addled track than East London  .

[FullMetalGasket]

Are you doing a Numpygraph for the Amature race aswell Clive?
I'm curious to see it is all 

[Clive Loynes]

No sooner done than said   

Same place as the other one.

[FullMetalGasket]

Cheers Clive - It's shows what I thought it would too.
Wish I'd made it past Natan as his Lotus was deffinatly off his ealier pace by lap 8, I should have pulled away if I'd made it 

[john roberts]

well i had a great race ... when you win it's always great

if natan's tyres hadn't gone on him i don't think that i would have been able to pass him , the cooper is pretty gutless and mex and it has not got the power down the straights , how i got 2nd in qually is beyond me ! (with a couple of mins to go i was pole.. but natan had it for 95% of the practice)

tim was always there just behind the front two and i was very happy to see he was bothering natan after i got in the lead . nice racing form everybody i saw on track ( also the back markers i passed) .

next race east london ... pass the sick bag ..

john

[bernie]

After recovering from a dodgy 1st lap my race with that Old Dog Ian Stanley turned into a cracker , I lost count of the times we passed then re passed each other Racing  2 abreast through T1,  the hairpin and Peralta.

Unfortunately I ran out of gas somewhere around half distance ! (dumb I know)  but then battle resumed after Ian had spun on the same lap I pitted , thus maintaining the status quo . At one stage Geoff Hurd's Honda joined in the fun but unfortunately I managed to tag him with an over ambitious move going into T2 (Sorry mate)

All in, a very enjoyable race with an "Old " adversary

Think I will be giving the next race a miss , not a fan of Eastenders its for trogs and old women   

[Jack O'Ferrall]

Thanks for hosting, Clive.  I noticed that Peter was (presumably) dropped from 3ukgpl again, does 3ukgpl use different settings than the ones you prefer?

If there's fewer drivers for East London we'll revert to a single grid.  I chose East London as its both historic and easy for novice drivers.  I'm surprised that it's more unpopular than two more usual UKGPL tracks, Albi or Snetterton, though...? 

After some work on my install, I wasn't dropped from the grid this time.  My race threatened to be enlivened as I approached the battling duo of Ian and Bernie, but they then made their excuses and resumed only after I was safely past.  John had a great race in the Cooper, well done.

The major problem with a chassis allocation system is that there's no handicapping to adjust it if the moderator gets it wrong.  However, drivers were known to change chassis once during the season (just not every race!), so there should be scope for some improvement to the rules, I'll consider it.  One chassis change for some drivers would retain the virtues of allocation, while making it less crude. 

[b_1_rd]

I quite like East London.  But then I can't say I particularly dislike any track.  There's just tracks I don't know very well.  I think 1 chassis change would be a good idea, I'll go with what ever anyway.

One thing I must add is I feel the 65's have been a great success, with beginners, novices and more experienced alike.  Thanks to Dave for setting it up and making it work.

[Clive Loynes]

No problem Dave, happy to be able to help.  Just remember a Christmas card for Gladys.

Good on yer Steve.  I don't think East London is so bad either but then I am a well known flat track fan.

Can't drive a car with its wheels in the air!

I find bits of East London quite a challenge but I might take advantage of Dave's offer of a few more horse power.  Looking at the tracks that are coming up I think that the BT7 will be dead in the water unless it's in the hands of Lorenzo or Hristo.  Perhaps I should change my name to Clivo and see if that makes me any quicker.

[NickyIckx]

  to me East London is a nice track to race too , tiny infield and one long straight serves the possibility to slipstream a bit , nevertheless at least three hard brakin zones.
so enough spots to leave the track by mistake or blow up th eengine or smell down the tyres ...