UKGPL Season 18 (2009) Amateurs Trophy (65) - Zandvoort (1967) - Dec 1

[Ken Murray]

I didn't even complete one lap. I could not drive with that much warp and dissapearing cars. When I entered the second hairpin all three cars ahead vanished. Then as I crested the rise on the exit Hristo re-appeared and I was virtually on top of him. He and the others continued to blink on and off ahead of me causing me to run off through the dunes. I didn't bother rejoining, I wasn't enjoying driving in those conditions.

[Clutch4]

Enjoyed this one.

Hope i didn't touch anyone into the first corner. literally every car disappeared in front of me, and it was that way for the first 2 laps so i drove cautiously. Eventually though, everything sorted out, Pribluda kicked in and everything was ok.

First 25 laps was me and James Rye lapping almost identical times. It ws great fun. The circuit is such that demands total concentration, so to have someone to follow was even better. Great Racing Jim.

Unfortunately, Jim made a mistake on the back part of the circuit with about 15 laps to go. Appraching the fast right hander i hit him. I didn't want to rub off too much speed but as i apprached i was unsure which way he was going to move, or if he would. I backed out at the last minute but it was too late. A clumsy collision caused by me. Big apologies James. It always spoils it for me if i make contact with anyone, especially after such a great battle.

I let James by again, but then the engine starting smoking.

I did a couple more laps but decided i might do more harm than good as people apprached me and my Smoking Brabham on this sort of track, so decided to pit in.

Great fun on a great flowing track - but do Amateur races have to be this long??

Thanks all, and apologies James.

[JamesRye]

@Clutch: I too enjoyed the battle and you were very fast. I made an error by putting a wheel on the grass on the back straight and tried to stay left, I put this down to a racing incident. Probably I deserved it after the Silverstone race where I was the culprit for inflicting a similar crash on you. I note that we have both had a tough time (results wise) after the last few races and like me you were probably thinking this was a good chance for a lucky P4. Sorry you retired.

PB in qualy which was (I thought) a monumental time, only to start p8. First lap was mental with the warp and I thought about quitting. Two cars blasted into the air in front of me, but I dont think I was involved, the replay I saved at the end of the race shows a car seeming not to brake at all into T1? who was that?

slogged by way through and ran in p5 for ages, barely able to keep Clutch at bay. clutch crashes with me in incident and I end up upside down but car rights itself and nothing is damaged!!! Got real tired about half way through and I forgot to put a pillow on my chair and so was in some discomfort. Started to make mistakes and Anto made a sucker out of me by staying left into Turn1 and I spun on acceleration on the apex. schoolboy error.

Still, a bad run for me comes to an end as I finish a race distance, albeit 1 lap down and score a reasonable haul of points. That race was long. Too long.

Jim

[Clutch4]

Thanks Jim, very sporting comments.

I don't care too much where i finish this season. Its my first Amateur Season so came in with the attitude of just watching from the back and seeing what the score is. Had i known the Amateur Division seems to have even more "Move over i'm coming through whatever the outcome' Lap 1 incidents than the Novices i might have been more aggressive this season. But treating this year as one to work out how people drive, who the front runners are..etc.

Personally, if i ever hit anyone i feel like parking the thing and retiring anyway, as any result after that i feel i've got by cheating so glad i didn't finish this one.

Made a silly mistake letting you through anyway by missing 3rd Gear and finding Neutral which made me spin wide. (I'm one of the slower H Shifter GearBox / Clutch Control Brigade  - as opposed to the paddle shifter / left foot brakers)

[EvilClive]

I didn't even complete one lap. I could not drive with that much warp and dissapearing cars. When I entered the second hairpin all three cars ahead vanished. Then as I crested the rise on the exit Hristo re-appeared and I was virtually on top of him. He and the others continued to blink on and off ahead of me causing me to run off through the dunes. I didn't bother rejoining, I wasn't enjoying driving in those conditions.

Yes Ken the first couple of laps were horrendous with warp but, just as I was about to throw the towel in myself, things started to improve and eventually there was very little disruption.
From the start I had a good run on Bartosz who posted an excellent pole and I had Hristo in his BT7 screamer behind me. The warp made any attempt at passing, or even following closely suicidal as the gap between myself and Bartoz would go from 25mtrs to zero and from left to right. In fact there were a couple of occasions when I was convinced that he had made a mistake and gone into the dunes, only to re-materialise exactly where I thought I was going to sail through!!! I think Hristo was experiencing similar problems behind me, as he appeared to take some dramatic avoiding action at a couple of points.
It was not until the warping subsided and the field spread out that I could start to pressure for the pass which eventually happened at tarzan ( where else??). bart left the inside line open and I gratefully shoved my Honda into the gap and held it tight to take the lead.

For the next 10 laps I had Hristo's BT7 in close attendance and it was only the power of the Honda that offset the BT7's superior handling around the back of the circuit. ( I would say that it was H's superior driving that made the difference, but his head is big enough already!! )

I was just thinking to myself, having pulled a 1 second breathing space that maybe I could do hold onto 1st spot......but.......that momentary wandering of the brain cell was my downfall and I ran wide at Tarzan and h was through...bugger!!!! .........and Tim ............double bugger!!!!

I chased Tim down and pressured him gently until he made room for me to slip through  .
The gap to Hristo was about 15 secs by now but I settled into a fast rythm and marginally closed the gap until we got amongst the lappees and then the gap see-sawed.
I thought I had escaped the punishment of a couple of very dodgy downshifts, that sent the whizzy red thing on the dashboard wild but, just as I was about to lap a Fezza on the straight there was a "clunk!..pop!." and silence from behind me, so I entered the pits at Mach 2 and retired. 

Until then it had been a good race.... but ...................

[miner2049er]

Not my best circuit and probably my worst setup as my bubbling front tyres will confirm. It wasn't my highest Ams finish but was the first time I haven't been last of the runners which was a nice change.

Early on it looked like a battle between Phil, Steve and myself for the coveted 10th with a close watch being kept by API but Phil decided he would rather follow us from a distance and threw it off a couple of times.

Normal proceedings were interrupted by the arrival in the mirrors of John Roberts who went off into the distance and Bartosz who stopped by to visit us twice but as he was out of position following a great pole I let him go by both times. My patience was wearing thin though and I would have knocked him off had he shown up a 3rd time.

I wanted to push harder than I did but my front tyres would not let me and were giving me horrendous understeer so I had to just keep it on the island and try to outpace Steve which I just about managed though he closed a few times as the lappers came through or I messed up an exit.

The last 3 or so laps got interesting as Asbjeurn was recovering which allowed me to close right in but I didn't have the pace to make a pass and a couple of errors by me gave him some breathing space at the finish.

Glad it's over and looking forward to Adelaide.

[FullMetalGasket]

try softening your front springs and maybe stiffening the rear ARB Mike  
That should move you more towards oversteer, you may also want to tighten up the diff depending what you run..

I love racing here so was suprised at my comparativly slow practice time.
Didn't qualify too well for me, was in 4th when I decided to switch to the race setup for final testing - only for 2 people to then pip me  
Got a good start and passed Fulvio (I think) off the line, was thinking of taking the inside line to try and pass the car infront of me but then all hell broke loose on the connection and I had to throttle right back to leave a safe space around me. Thankfully Fulvio did the same rather than trying to take advantage and pass me back  

After Ken retired in the Dunes I found myself in 4th, and set about speeding up again now the leaders were slightly further away.
First Bartosz, and then Evil binned it to grant me passage - giving me 2nd by about 1/3rd distance I think. Evil eventually caught me back up and started staring at me in my mirrors, I made a small mistake into the 2nd hairpin and in catching the slide Clive dived through on the inside  .
I took to chasing him with Bartosz (I think) only a second or so behind, eventually Evil stopped making silly mistakes and started to pull away. Bartosz stopped for some reason behind me despite still holding at about a second behind?
I then had Fulvio bringing up the rear some 4 seconds back with Clive very slowly edging into the distance.
Choosing to ensure a finish rather than risk it all to try and catch him (my rears were both yellow by this point, and wern't going to cool any time soon even at my more relaxed pace), I perservered at my current pace (1:29.5-1:30 laps) hoping he'd spin it or something - it was looking good for a Waza 1-2-3 at that point  

Aside from lapping backmarkers who all left plenty of room   I had a quite race from there on, only realising Clive had retired some 2 laps after the event!
Happy with 2nd, and hoping I can keep this up as the championship is looking a posibility again this season  


Well done to all finishers 

[Podkrecony_Ziutek]

That could go better.

In practise I've improved my PB by over half second. That gave me pole position.

Beginning of race was very difficult because of that warp. Luckily I've managed to stay on P1.

Afther few laps Evil was close enough to made pass in Tarzan. I've hold outside line, but because of warp I went into sand.

I didn't lost to much time and only Hristo got pass me, but my concentration changed into desperation and I lost it again in last turn letting Tim(FMG) pass me.
From that my race was getting worst, I've made lots of stupid mistakes witch cost me few precious points.

Thanks to my teammates(they let me go twice) and few DNF I've managed to finish in 6 place.

Think I need to apologise Phil for my rejoin. I've let you go, but still that could cost you a race

[fpolicardi]

I got a flying lap on the last qualy lap with flag dropped that put me from 7th to 5th on the grid in between Ken and Tim, but when the green flag dropped all the cars disappeared and I started not at the right speed so when the cars reappeared after a couple of seconds Tim had passed me and John was on my left side. At turning point all the cars disappeared again and I close my eyes and kept the inside hoping all went well. At the end of Tarzan the cars reappeared again with no problems in front of me, but I lost trace of John that second the server replay had passed me on entry turn but was punted by me while I was driving in the dark. Sorry John, I wasn't aware of that. During the rest of the first lap all the cars disappeared and reappeared till someone wrote something in chat and went out the server.
From then on I could make a gap from the BRM that was following me and tried to stay in sight of the Honda guys that battling between them were gifting me some dec. here and there. At some point I passed Bart recovering from an off and later Clive blew the engine leaving me a third place unhoped.
I didn't make big mistakes for all the race, infact I had the best consistence on GPLRA report, but the track is very demanding about concentration and at mid race it was very difficult to keep the right line around. I had to turn my eyes around while on the straight cause my brain was falling off. 
Ciao

[john roberts]

when the green flag dropped all the cars disappeared and I started not at the right speed so when the cars reappeared after a couple of seconds Tim had passed me and John was on my left side. At turning point all the cars disappeared again and I close my eyes and kept the inside hoping all went well. At the end of Tarzan the cars reappeared again with no problems in front of me, but I lost trace of John that second the server replay had passed me on entry turn but was punted by me while I was driving in the dark. Sorry John, I wasn't aware of that.

No problem Fulvio , there was nothing you could have done about that and hopefully we will get to race some other time .

john

[b_1_rd]

Hmm, well

Lag for 2 laps - Lacklustre performance - got lapped - followed Mike to the finish

Just about rounds that one up.

Got to the finish though so that was something.

[Hristo Itchov]

I thought I could challenge for pole, but my potential best lap was compromised by a slower car in the last minute of Qualifying, so 3rd was the best I could get. I had good confidence for the race though and with it being so long there was a good chance to put pressure on the leaders, even if passing was going to be next to impossible.

The warp after the start was horrible and I have no idea how I we avoided contact, but eventually it stabilized and the real racing began.

I was just trying to stay within the tow from Clive's car while he was putting pressure on Bartoz, until the latter got passed, ran wide and that allowed me to pass as well.

Clive was throwing the car all around, with the rear stepping out all the time, so it was impossible to keep close to him for long as the risk of contact was too big. Instead I just tried to keep him under pressure but not too much too early on so he wouldn't make too big of a mistake (being a teammate and stuff...). 

Finally he had a mild spin and I was through, then focused on putting as much gap as possible to Tim in 2nd place. Evil made his way back to 2nd and even started reducing the gap slightly, which was good motivation to try harder and stabilize the gap.

There were some very risky moments with backmarkers, especially a Ferrari (I think) that spun right in front of me and I jumped completely on the brakes to avoid it. Somehow we just avoided contact as the Ferrari was spinning off the track in the last corner.

In the end I was just starting to run out of fuel on the last 2 laps, so it was well measured fuel quantity to last the race.

Grats to Tim for 2nd and sorry to Evil for retiring after having a very strong run.

-=Hristo=-

[JamesRye]

Anyone know which version of Adelaide to use for the next one?

back to the back for me as I haven't raced here before.

[miner2049er]

I've posted the race announcements so drivers can get the correct version and practise.

[miner2049er]

A clean race?

Surely not!

I will declare this a result tomorrow if no incidents are reported.