UKGPL Season 20 (2010-2011) Graduates Cup (67) - Edmonton - Feb 6

[Al Heller]

Delighted to be back on the podium - of course a rather undeserved 2nd but I would say I was entitled to 3rd after holding it from lap 1 & having to work so hard to keep it in the early stages . Got an OK start from 6th but thanks to Lotus power managed to get myself right onto the tail of the leading trio. Just watched the replay & seeing everyone barrelling down towards T1 side by side you just know that it's not going to be pretty!



Juha's misfortune at T2 promoted me to 3rd but I immediately came under intense pressure from Clive. I wasn't too sure of the limits of the Lotus on full tanks & cold tyres but Clive certainly indicated that I needed to learn them pretty quickly & he harried me mercilessly for 10 laps with my only salvation being the Lotus straightline speed. I clipped the tyres at the Esses trying to shake off his damn Waza & felt I was beginning to lose my rhythm but then Clive took pity on me & had an off at T1. Sadly no relief though for as soon as the white whale disppeared from my mirrors, FMG's brab appeared in its place. Once again I was relying on the Lotus to give me some breathing space on the straights but after about 6 or 7 laps FMG too suddenly disappeared (turned out to be blown engine). Both Tommie & H were miles ahead but Clive was ominously gaining ground albeit 15 seconds or so behind, so I just tried to maintain a good race pace. Mindful of the Lotus' propensity to self-destruct I also tried to preserve the engine as much as possible so was very relieved to see the flag. Didn't realise that H had crashed on the last lap until I saw the final results board - commiserations.

H & Tommie were in a different league here so congratulations to them both - championship looks like it will be an exciting showdown. 

[EvilClive]

At last I get to finish a Grads race after several DNF's.
Grats to Tommie and Hristo who were indeed in a class of their own around here, although Hristo put a large blemish on his record on the last lap!!


In qually I did not manage to get anywhere near my PB but still managed a 5th spot on the grid, which at least afforded me a clear view of the start flag. I bogged down slightly off the line and Al and swept past in that pesky Lotus.
Al was being a bit tentative in his Lotus on cold tyres and although I knew it took 2 laps around this track to bring the Waza Wheels up to working temp I felt that I could be going faster. The trouble was the darned acceleration and top speed of that green thing!! I was closing up under braking and backing off mid corner all around the circuit for the 1st 2-3 laps. As the tyres gave some grip I actually dropped back slightly to see if I could get a run at Al and carry some speed through a corner and pass on the next straight. The trouble was that by then FMG had dragged his Brabham ( another green thing!!) to within attacking distance.
I closed the gap up but Al went all defensive when all I wanted was for him to put his foot down so that we could drop Tim lol!! The result was a Waza filling in a green sandwich!!! For 10 laps I was looking for a way around Al but he closed off every attack line and relied on his acceleration and top speed to pull a gap on the straights so that I was unable to get alongside in the braking zones. Absolutely fair...just bloody irritating lol

I hate to dissillusion Tim, but far from pressuring me into a mistake at T2 I missed a down shift ( or to be more precise, my paddles failed to perform the downshift ) something that is becoming a more regular occurence with my wheel and will need investigating. As a result I lost the engine braking at a crucial moment and ran just wide enough to provoke a spin 

By the time I had recovered Al and Tim were way ahead and Bart was now a problem with his Cooper.

I think I sustained some minor damage in the spin because the Honda was not quite as solid in the corners after that and although I pulled away from Bart quite easily a further 2 spins allowed him to catch me again. I had to perform 2 extreme braking moves to regain my 4th spot and pass that Cooper all the while watching Hristo getting closer and closer to lap me.

Hristo went past with a few laps to go and I pushed hard to draw a gap from Bart. On what I thought was my last lap I saw a car on top of the bank at T2 and wondered who it was, it turns out that it was Hristo wrestling with the fencing!

By then I had Tommie looming in my mirrors and sort of lost track of the laps although I knew that the end was close. I saw the chequered flag and eased over assuming that my race was finished. It now transpires that there was another lap to go....But surely I should not have been able to see the chequered flag if it was meant for Tommie? just as one only sees blue flags that are being waved at oneself??

It made little difference as the Wazas would still have finished  3rd-4th so I am not too bothered.

Great racing and a nice track. The new server seemd OK, although I did experience a few frame stutters at T2-T3 when I was close to other cars.

[maddog]

At Kyalami, I'd had the advantage of faster machinery, in which to wend my way to victory. (What's a wend?)  But now the boot was on the other foot, and I faced the uncomfortable position of driving a slower car at Edmonton.  Hence, was happy to claim an early 4th on the grid, and thereafter, contentedly pottered about the track on full tanks, while noting how, much of the scenery became deranged during each absence. It was with some surprise, I later noted how a couple of scalawags, had pipped my spot, in the final moments of practice.  Some people have no manners!
 
Everyone had the audacity of making a good start, which left the track a tad busy, approaching the first complex.  I decided a late apex would be the safest route, and proceeded to explore some new territory.  It was therefore, a somewhat happy reunion, to rediscover the track, and still pointing in my direction.  Happier still, when third became 2nd, at the end of the first lap.  There was only a rapid Ronnie ahead, who's tail I tried to cling to, but in vain.

It was apparent, I was no match for the Italian protege, but at least I'd opened a large gap, back to 3rd.  Except all this changed, when the motor let go unexpectedly, on the back straight, while approaching that fiendish right, left hander.  This meant third, and struggling to match Bernie's pace.  Then the tyres let go, on the back straight, while entering that fiendish right, left hander.  Which meant . . . precipitously, not only a nasty scratch on my helmet, but also a scratch from the race!

I wonder if anyone has managed to model a nice powerful digger, for Gpl?  I wonder if I could borrow it for for a slight spot of remodeling, before we race here again!?    

[il_lupo_mannaro]

This track will never become one of my favourites...

I learnt it on Saturday evening but I wasn't able to get a good race pace.

Yesterday, I found a good pace with race fuel instead so, in the last qualify minutes with almost empty tank, I shaved 5/10 on my Saturday evening PB.

Grats to Ronnie for his impressive pole time: I just found he would have started from 5th place on Works grid!!

At race start I wasn't able to jump in front of him and I immediately had a disturbing Maserati noise on my ears instead: beacuse of this on last turn I spun, so I ended the first lap on last position...

Unfortunately I didn't found the right concentration to climb as much drivers as I could and I made several errors instead, the biggest one a second shift+r that will lead to a DQ

Grats to the podium, to everybody raced and to the race organization.

See you all in Jarama!

PS
Last but not least, good luck to Bernie and Ronnie that will fight alone for the Privateers crown on the last two races!

[Ronniepeterson]

I had planned a long recap of my race victory but realised it was only full of self praise so sod that. Suffice to say after Kyalami I did not breathe a sigh of relief until the chequered flag. Nice drive with the championship in mind Bernie and commiserations to Fabio and Martin who both clearly had their problems. Congrats to the rest of the podium and all who survived the hell of 32 right/lefts through that submerged polo mint section. A big thank you to everyone for some extremely courteous driving making lapping, when it occurred, comfortable on a tricky circuit. This chivalrous behaviour seemed even to extend to qualifying where I am sure some people may have sacrificed their own laps allowing me to achieve a PB. Special mention for Paul and your post above. It was ages before I realised tyre temperatures changed colour in prib. Get the laps in and keep pushing mate.

Regarding the chat at the end of the race in game and in the ukgpl chatroom where a fellow driver repeatedly accused me of rear end shunting him, identifying me by name/car/number and demanding a 2 place penalty be imposed. I resisted the temptation to get involved in a no I didn't/yes you did pantomime debate at the time, even though I knew the accusations against me were baseless. I'm assuming the driver concerned has now looked at the Edmonton race replay and realises their mistake and that I was not involved in any such incident. An apology would be nice, but then I was hoping for one from the same driver after the last race at Kyalami, so I'm not holding my breath.

Let me quickly add, apology or no apology, I have no issues with the driver concerned or anyone I race with and will aim to treat everyone with the same courtesy when racing for position, lapping or being lapped.

Sorry about that lot, I really just want to race, so even though I'm sure we all hate the place, roll on Jarama.

[BadBlood]

roll on Jarama.

We certainly will - it is one BIG DIPPER

Well done Ronnie and well driven - your qually was amazing. I felt I did well to get within ten secs of your race pace lol.

PS Fabio - led you for half a lap hehe enjoyed that... See you Friday team mate.

[Baab]

Mediocre race from me, but then I wasn't expecting much more.  Did little praccy and found the esses a challenge.

First turn was interesting, I was cautious but then a honda (Pedro?) came across the grass then across the track and into me at the far side. This put me almost last. Have to hold my hand up here as I got under way again as others were still coming, I thought everyone had gone past.  Some may have spun trying to avoid me (Steve?), I haven't seen the replay.

I had numerous other incidents on my own and finally rolled over at the 3rd last corner, game over.  I should have been much more cautious and played it turtle, I was in the BRM after all.

May try a bit more practice at Jarama, never even seen that circuit.

Bob.

[EvilClive]

oh dear!! is Bob in for a shock

[Hristo Itchov]

May try a bit more practice at Jarama, never even seen that circuit.

You better, it's much more trickier than this one. 

[bernie]

May try a bit more practice at Jarama, never even seen that circuit.

You better, it's much more trickier than this one. 

Tell me about it 

[il_lupo_mannaro]

PS Fabio - led you for half a lap hehe enjoyed that... See you Friday team mate.

I will be happier when you will be able to fight with me on every race!
Unfortunately I have to miss Rouen in the GTs...

[BadBlood]

Jason - my wife is an English teacher and told me that you necessarily have one Collar and two Socks. One 'c', two 's'. I've never forgotten how to spell it since!

Fabio - pity about Friday we'll just have to go 1-2-3 at your home track.

I shaved 5/10 on my Saturday evening PB.

That's nothing! I took five seconds off my best in the race - still eight seconds back of you though   lol

[Tom van Ostade]

Hi all,

What an ending to that one! Since I knew Clive was in front of me and Pelle had retired I knew who it was stuck in that fence, also because I seemed to recognise '6' written on the side of the tub... Woohoo!

Even though I knew the track beforehand, it was a different game in the Ferrari 312. Hadn't done any practice before Sunday night so decided to see if there was a practice server up before the race so I could figure out how to drive the track. There was, and at first I started lapping 1:32's but soon the times went down and I was doing sub 30's. I reckoned it wouldn't be enough to be really competitive but at least fast enough to follow the fast guys around.

In Quali I suffered from a lot of traffic in the beginning, but I had one or two clear laps later on which were quite good and I even took pole from Hristo for a while. Juha came close in the Brabham which was very competitive here but my time was enough for second place on the grid.

My start was good, after practicing on it after the Kyalami disaster, but Hristo had started just as well so no chance of taking 1st there. Suddenly Juha appeared to the side of Hristo taking over the lead! I kinda suspected the Brabham to start well but I didn't expect Juha to take 1st going into Turn 1! Unfortunately he went into T3 slightly too fast and beached himself on the embankment. Bad luck Juha!

So now it was just me and Hristo because it seems like Al was a little preoccupied trying to salvage 3rd. I really had a good pace in the early stages, feeling faster than Hristo, but unfortunately I made some little and not so little mistakes later on and lost a second or two. Then, after about 2/3rd, I missed my braking point and spun. I lost 8 seconds in the process so from that moment on I was just trying to survive the thread of blowing engines and screen freezes. I had the quiet hope of snatching 1st by virtue of a mistake/mechanical failure on Hristo's side, but had pretty much given up on that, when I saw a Honda stuck in the scenery at T4...

Next couple of races are going to be tough. I could win the championship on my own regardless of what Hristo does, if I finish at least second in both races. That will be very tricky to accomplish since I'm out of tokens at the moment. I've decided to stick with Italian V12's for Jarama and pick the Cooper, before hopefully steering the Ferrari to victory at it's home track! But it's still very much undecided for me, there's some stiff opposition for sure.

Tom.

[fpolicardi]

Back to business results uploaded, any Incident Reports by close of play Friday please. You may have noticed we used a different server for Works (UKGPL_Gpg) which is a tried and tested one kindly being provided via Fulvio for the rest of the season. All results/replays for Works will now automatically be posted here: http://grandprix.xs4all.nl/ (just click on current for UKGPL) with Privateers continuing to be posted in the usual place.

Please have a look at the timetable of other races in the quoted webpage to not download replays during a race.
Ciao

[Tom van Ostade]

Hi all,

For the next race at Jarama, does somebody have the replay of the season 17 Division 1 race? Would be interested to look at it and look at people's lines, what's the most likely place to go off, how to build up my own race etc.

S17 Jarama thread here:

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6395.msg111569#msg111569

Tommie.