UKGPL Season 16 (2008) - Kyalami - GBGPL - Dec 7

[Napo]

Okay, this is a provisional team as we've got several drivers who might reinforce us.

Ken Lotus, Clive Eagle, Natan Ferrari, John and Hristo Brabham, Storm and Napo Cooper, me and Phil with the heavies.  I've put it on the first post.  If we get another fast driver I'll drop to Clubmans and Napo can move to the BRM!

Hristo, this race is at 2000GMT, the earlier time, an hour earlier.

Can I just take the BRM then and you take the cooper, I got a new wheel and havn't been racing in months so I need all the practice I can get or I'll suffer like I did at silverstone

[Jack O'Ferrall]

Okay, I've modified the allocations on the first post- hope we find another driver though!

[Jack O'Ferrall]

Neil has turned up, so I've handed over my Cooper, not a scratch on it- unlike my BRM!

[Napo]

Sorry guys! I qualified 7th altho I reckoned I could have outqualified Neil and the 2 gbgpl brabhams if I didn't get a bit on the grass in my final q lap. Started 7th and got a decent start but had to back off as Neil slid in front of me at the start. Then I decided to move in front of a cooper I see a bit back in my mirrors only to find a cooper beside me!
Luckily I stopped moving and he did everything to avoid me. Thank you cooper driver! Now the cooper guy still beside me but I can't see him so we go round side by side turn 1 and turn 2 until I get the inside at turn 3. After that I'm going to take on the 2 gbgpl brabhams which I know I have pace to challenge. Then I come in slightly too hot at turn 4 and bin it. Sorry for letting you guys down. 

4th place was definitely possible.

[Storm_Cloud]

So did we win? We won, then they filled the rest of the top five but we had 5 finishers to their 4 and Clive should get some points too.

[EvilClive]

Oh yes we won

In the post race interview EC was heard to say
"I only stuck it in the barriers to make the score look more competitive and encourage GBGPL to go for another try next year. Everything I do is carefully planned!" .

I should have settled for 4th place ( so the best you could have had was 5th Napo!!), after a mistake early on and a slow trip across the grass, left me chasing Bosse's Brabham for about 20 laps. I was quicker in places but could never quite get that clear passing opportunity, although I forced him wide at T1 a couple of times he just squeezed back on the power from the wide line to hold the place.

A small mistake about 4 laps from the end dropped me back by a second and in my efforts to get back on his tail ( and avoid being lapped ( again!!) the flying fez of Hristo) I cooked the rear tyres. So bright was the glow in my mirrors that I was temporarily blinded as i entered the Esses and clipped the Kerb sending me gently into the barriers where two wheels  just fell of .


It was a shame that so many cars vanished early on, I was never quite sure if Prib was getting selective about who it included or there were really only 6 or seven runners left??!!

Grats to those who made it to the finish and secured an historic second win over GBGPL. They are getting quicker and next time I suspect they will have developed into formidable opposition. If their Scandinavian "ringer" had taken his seat at the start, things may have been different!!

[petestenning]

And if i had not been that lap i would have scored , damn the chat before the race , i repectfully ask its not allowed next time please.

It was a good race despite my error , and i cant believe i got the BRM to the flag .

Sticks tongue out at Clive as he says the points should go to those who cross the finish line  .

Good effort by both teams , and we look forward to getting the final revenge somtime in the future.


Pete

[Ken Murray]

Sorry for no show guys. Got tied up in a decorating job and didn't realise it was an early kick off. Looks like you didn't need me anyway!

[Jack O'Ferrall]

Thanks to Pete for organising the GBGPL team and GBGPL for the race, congratulations to Hristo for the win and to Roo and Boose who completed the podium. Replay here: http://replays.cap35.net/sorted/2008-12-07/

GBGPL four finishers 17+16+15+14= 62 pts

UKGPL five finishers 18+13+12+11+10= 64 pts

It was very close at the end- GBGPL were one down and had Jens driving the same car as Will.  I advised Pete to start like that anyway, but it was a rush and while I got onto the grid Pete failed to.  Jens also made it but span before the start line and then quit...?  With Hristo in the Ferrari Pete was going to have to be careful to avoid being lapped for a fourth time, even had he got onto the grid, but his unfortunate start from the pits left his finish off the results.

UKGPL were two down as Ken and Natan hadn't made it, so enter modest Jack!  We still hoped that Ken might show, and the Brabham seemed a better option than the default setup for the Ferrari, though my Brabham setup was eight months old and hadn't done more than 12 laps of an AI race.  I poured only slightly less fuel into it than I would into a BRM on the basis that then I wouldn't have to worry about it, and was ready for 37 laps of Kyalami.  We had split the grid with GBGPL almost perfectly and it was going to be very tight, but we lost three of our faster drivers- John, Neil and Napo- early on, leaving only Hristo out in front and Clive to disrupt the GBGPL pack. 

I caught up to Phil and settled down to race behind him, disrupted only by Hristo's hair-raising passes on the grass after Barbeque, he claimed that he was bored. Then I passed Phil after he moved over for some other cars, and later returned the compliment.  However Phil must have got bored as well, because he moved over unexpectedly before Clubhouse, and then when he tucked in behind me he might have been caught out by my braking at the Esses.   He slid into the armco but only glanced it, and no harm done.  Meanwhile Leffa had a problem, and with Pete too far behind we were slightly in front- not even Clive's heroics at the end could stop us!

We ought to have a name for this particular contest... The 'Gold Cup' would be too dull?  The 'After Top Gear Finishes' Trophy perhaps?

I decided to have a parade lap to celebrate my finish, even with 1:23 laps, but this ended embarrassingly when I missed the pit entrance.  Worse was to follow as I joined up with the Reed mechanics, who had very bleak looks.  Sam had mechanical problems and couldn't start, and unbelievably Steve had won Clubmans.  I had to sit down by the trackside.  Loot was furious, without me there he had boasted about getting two spots on the podium...

[Clive Loynes]

So how come Pete fails to finish due to starting from the pits?

I thought that he completed the distance. 

[petestenning]

Allthough i took the flag i was not classified , ironically if i had taken the start i would have been one lap less down and scored .


In our league you have to do 3/4 distance to get a score , but we dont run Pro so its , my fault for not starting i must have been one second too late .

Pete

[Clive Loynes]

If you started from the pits, ahead of the start line, and thus your first lap was not counted then it surely should be reinstated?

If someone starts from the pits in real life they don't tell him he is a lap down as well!  The game gets its knickers in a twist but we can correct the results for things like that. 

Perhaps I have got hold of the wrong end of the stick.

[Jack O'Ferrall]

oh oh oh we want to learn 'ow to de-fend owerselves against against poin-ted sticks do we?  Gettin' all 'igh and mighty eh?

Tell the Soggies lead telemetry analyst, computer technician and stickman that the minimum number of laps to be counted as a finisher in this 'ere race was 34, as per the first post, under 'Race Length'.  Pete 'avin' completed only 32, the hadditional lap would not make hany difference.

The purpose of the rule is to prevent drivers finishing by simply driving slowly in pro races- Pete's BRM against Hristo was always going to be tricky, as Hristo was likely to lap Pete three times, and if Pete dropped a further lap as a result of being passed so frequently he'd be ruled out.  Leffa only completed one less lap than Pete, and based on finishing order GBGPL would have won anyway, as their problems were later in the race.

I'll add a consideration for drivers who have to start from the pit lane though, it might happen again.

[petestenning]

The rule was there and i except it .

But as you rightly say me in a BRM and Hristo in anything i am going to struggle to not get lapped  as i raced to hold the lump together . No good setting a blistering lap and the engine going pop inside 6 laps .

I am actually over the moon i even got it to the flag which for me is an achievement .

I would also like to point out i had to cede to everyone as i was a lap down and it would have been unfair to race anyone from that position , do we not agree?.

Pete

[Phil Thornton]

I too was pleased to finish, Hristo was flying and I agree that driving with one eye on the mirrors for most of the race does slow one down.  Your choice of venue and mod for the rematch I believe