UKGPL Season 19 (2010) Spec Challenge - Goodwood (Circuit) - Mar 28

[D-Rock]

Had a very bad connection so decided to sit out race 2. Pretty much the worst start to a season ever.

[Phil Thornton]

Got screen freeze in race 1 whilst in P2 with 1 lap to go 

Turned graphics down in race 2 (set detail bias to 25%) and that helped, no screen freeze.  Could only manage third place Steve and Nigel were too quick, WD gents.

[Billy Nobrakes]

Thanks to all those who turned up tonight - what a great circuit for racing!
Importing the race results into SROU is a bit complicated as there are 4 races & this is all a bit new to me.
Please be patient & hang on to your incident reports until the results come through.
... Bill

[bernie]

Was pleased to get on line and my connection was OK after the PC re- build  

Big Ta to all them what helped  


As for the race , I spent both quallies trying to find decent set ups , using most of the basic de-fault set ups with a quickly cobbled gear box .

Race 1 was good but I crashed a lot cos I tried too hard . Race 2 was bad cos I crashed a lot cos i didnt try hard enough  

Note to self

Must try harder next time and / or take it easy ?  

 

[FullMetalGasket]

Awesome races - despite my silly mistake which took me from 2nd to last ( ) I enjoyed race 1 massively 
Still can't decide myself if my rejoin on lap 4 was bad or merely unlucky (I span on entering the track and Jethro had no-where to go!) so I'll leave that to you to call Jethro as you were the only one involved 
From that mistake onwards it was great fun, battled my way upto 6th only to have to pit for my SnG after beeing flipped by Jethro, rejoined dead last again and fought my way back up to 5th when I slightly messed my line into Woodcote and then could only choose the kitty litter and tire wall when I discovered a spun al in the middle of the second apex! 
Back to last again! 
Managed to get back up to 6th and spun it (again) partly because I was too close to Nicky (Woodcote again) and partly because I was convinced Jethro was about to rear end me so tryed to drift out a little to slow down - fishtailed instead and lost another place in the sand 
Eventually scored 4th curtesy of Jethro spinning on the last lap at Lavant 

Race 2 was looking even better, My practice times were getting very close to Hristo's - or the sectors were at least, I never managed to link them all together and span on the final practice lap with 3 fastest sectors 
Come the start I didn't quite get as big a jump on Hristo this time but at least managed to keep John behind me.
The 3 of us circulated fairly closely for several laps until John decided it was only fair if he took a trip into the scenery - which left myself and H clear of threats.
As I was slowly dropping back having lost the draft I decided to start short shifting and taking it more steadily due to engine temps of over 230 degrees F! 
Kept it tidy and with 3 to go was rewarded as I passed Hristo's BRM on the outside of T1 where he'd been practicing Ballet.
I threw my engine preservation plan in the bin and gave it hell hoping to make it to the flag first - nearly made it but entering the chicane at the end of the final lap H dives up alongside me 
I'd have been very interested to have known who'd win the drag race to the line but H set his tame Lag monster on me and I was clouted into the wall as he passed 

The replay shows he left as much room as physically possible so well done on the fair win H - Maybe I'll get you next time 

[vosblod]

RACE 1- BRM
Qually got 23.53 so pleased - big sorry to Graham for the mammoth rear end. I got a default setup for the race, saw loads pass as I played slug then span a lot so left.

RACE 2 - BT7
Qually 23.35 but didn't seem to register, guess passed the flag too late. A much better start marred by a couple of solo spins early on. Got into the swing of it and had to keep Billy pinned at 200 yards behind. He closed when I mowed the grass but think he must have mowed too as all ended well. Think I got 5th or 6th.

Anyway congrats to Big (Steve) Bird on winning both and Nigel was looking good. He might worry me in Nov's but think I am going to miss the next one re Mrs wants to see Leo Di Caprio film on Tuesday...

[Al Heller]

Loved the fact that all but one of us ended up in the same car. After a scrappy start to my season with way too many spins my first aim was to just keep it on track for these races. Was all going to plan nicely in race 1 as I just about hung on to the back of the leading group but unfortunately Natan spun right in front of me & I had nowhere to go. Had to take a (no fault) shift-R & resumed plum last but then had great fun scrapping at the back & attempting (unsuccessfully) to keep a rocket-powered FMG at bay. Managed a couple more spins on my own but after a few discos ahead & JW's last corner incident just managed to sneak ahead for a richly-undeserved 5th. Much happier with race 2 - quallied 4th, got 4th fastest lap and finished... 4th. At least I actually managed to avoid spinning for the first time this season. WD to H & the podium.   

[Clutch4]

Not really a fan of Goodwood, but started to get into a bit of a groove with it to an extent.

Viewed this one as damage limitation, so was happy to collect any points.

Avoided various spinners in race 1 to find myself fighting for 3rd with 2 to go, but then - Screen Freeze, so had to abandon the game. Bit of a shame, but these things happen i guess.

Race 2 was Ok. Tried hanging onto Al Heller, but a slight mistake led to him getting away and so it was a case of lapping until the finish for a 5th (? I think).

Good fun, despite the freezes.

[il_lupo_mannaro]

Such a bad night!

Race 1 (BT7): CTD on qualify, accident, shift+r, stop'n'go, CTD again...

Race 2 (BRM): I suddendly got sick when in p2 and I had to left the race on first laps... :'(

cu you next time.

[Hristo Itchov]

I didn't have many battles in the two races, but there was some fun non the less.

In the first race most of us took the BT7 and having driven it for so long I didn't have a problem putting it 1st on the grid. I thought I had a good start, but Tim passed me and JR nearly did the same, but I managed to hold him off.

After going around the outside of Tim who was playing it a bit too safe, I was back in first on the backstraight and never looked back.

In the second race with the BRM, it took me some time to come up with a decent setup for a car that I've only driven once long ago, at Rouen. It was tricky to get used to the abundance of power the car had and cope with the understeering when you floor it too early.

I had a good lap in Qualifying though and it was enough for pole after Tim made a mistake on his fastest lap. My start was good this time, but I couldn't quite escape Tim who was dragging along in my slipstream for a couple of laps. After finally breaking away from him, I was struggling to take T1 properly for a number of laps, suffering from understeer on its exit.

Eventually that led to a spin with 3 laps to go and Tim went by just as I managed to recover. I tried my best to close up on him as soon as possible, and just when I was within a good distance for an attack, I touched the wall at the chicane and lost ground to him again.

On the last lap I closed up the gap, but the time was running out and we were already on the backstraight, going into the final 3 corners. He had a bit of a slower exit of the 2nd right hander so I went for it on the inside of the chicane and did my best to keep the inside and leave him room. Apparently some warp contact bumped him a bit into the wall and he lost speed, so I emerged first and won the race! 

It was an exciting end to the race, so I'm looking forward to the next one.

-=Hristo=-

[Billy Nobrakes]

Many thanks to Phil T who has sorted out how to import the results into the system

Anyhow, the bit you might  (or might not) have been waiting for here is the "Spec Challenge" result.
Driver   BRM   BT7   Delta
HEAVY BRIGADE         
Hristo   78.334   79.416   -1.082
John Roberts   79.643   81.27   -1.627
Nicky Ickx   82.618   83.163   -0.545
FMG   79.168   80.664   -1.496
Al Hellar   81.034   81.3   -0.266
Turkey Machine   81.679   82.925   -1.246
Natan   81.431   81.872   -0.441
Clutch   81.121   82.294   -1.173
         -7.876
Average Difference         -0.9845
LIGHT BRIGADE         
Steve Bird   81.804   82.227   -0.423
Nigel Smith   81.294   83.588   -2.294
Phil Thornton   81.785   82.872   -1.087
N Hance   83.677   84.263   -0.586
Billy Nobrakes   84.497   84.106   0.391
Norbert   83.963   85.216   -1.253
Graham Poole   85.374   89.061   -3.687
Bookie   85.673   84.837   0.836
Maddog   82.3   85.448   -3.148
         -11.251
Average Difference         -1.250
All drivers av. Diff         -1.125

[Billy Nobrakes]

Accidentally posted that one too early ...
Apart from the text formatting the summary would; have read "General conclusion seems to be the BRM is quicker but the BT7 more fun to drive. Keeping up with the Statmeister I've thrown in a couple of extra stats - showing each drivers comparative fastest lap, the average difference between chassis for the Heavy & Light Brigades & average difference for all drivers. This is based on fastest race lap for every driver who completes more than half race distance in both cars.

[Statmeister]

Hi Billy,

Are the replays for these races available anywhere?

[Billy Nobrakes]

Hi Billy,

Are the replays for these races available anywhere?

Haven't organised that Statto - but I have got GPL Replay Analyser reports for all 4 races. PM me an e-mail address.

[Statmeister]

Here's the Statmeister tables from the first pair of Heavy Brigade Spec races. (Thanks to Billy for supplying the replay information). Like the normal championship points table, each competitor will drop their 2 worst scores at the end of the season to allow for the odd hiccup.

Steve Bird marked his 100th UKGPL race in style by claiming his first triple of pole, fastest lap and win. Steve also won the Consistency prize for both races while Billy NoBrakes & Graham Poole share the lead of the Climber table. Billy's 8-place rise in the first race is also the highest climb across all divisions so far.



Edit: my apologies, some clown here at Statmeister control made an error in their calculations. Correct table now posted