UKGPL Season 20 (2010-2011) Novices Trophy (65) - Anderstorp (GP) - Feb 8

[miner2049er]

We've raced it before so you can see the times.

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5966#event1689

[Ronniepeterson]

Don't be put off by those times in the link Paul. Aim for 1.20 and if you can lap consistantly at or just below that, in my opinion, you will be competitive. Never raced here myself Paul and if it helps even in the Lotus I'm only down to just below 1.19 so some setup work and practice will be needed nearer the time for me too to get anywher near the 1.16's in that race.

[Ross Neilson]

Don't be put off by those times in the link Paul. Aim for 1.20 and if you can lap consistantly at or just below that, in my opinion, you will be competitive. Never raced here myself Paul and if it helps even in the Lotus I'm only down to just below 1.19 so some setup work and practice will be needed nearer the time for me too to get anywher near the 1.16's in that race.

Crikey you guys are practicing already!! No wonder it is getting tougher and tougher this season

[Ronniepeterson]

No such luck Ross. Practice for this one will have to wait for now but a guideline for Paul I hope it helps. Great drive last night in that crate of car you have to use.

[Billy Nobrakes]

Good choice of track ~ awesome in the 69 Spec Race & fun in the 65’s last night. Enjoyed some good midfield battles, other than one rear end tap from Fabio’s Ferrari.. For the second half of the race I had Rog’s Cooper attached to my tail pipes on a piece of elastic. The BT11 could pull away maybe 50 yards on the airstrip but the Cooper was back again, particularly on the hair-pin into the pit straight. Rog dropped back a bit with a couple of laps to go & I’d settled for 6th place only to find another Cooper idling on the verge just before the very last corner. I’m guessing Maddog short fuelled again which gave me a rather undeserved 5th place.

[BadBlood]

Aim for 1.20 and if you can lap consistantly at or just below that, in my opinion, you will be competitive.

Looks like I'm not going to be competetive then 

Thanks for the advice guys gives me something to aim for. I'd settle for 1:20, 1:21.3 at the moment but 1:22 consistently so I might be able to get into the 19's.

As a general question is it better to gear it so that you take the corners in lower gear/higher revs or is avoiding a gear change at the expense of some revs a better approach or is it just down to personal style?

[NHance]

A disapointing qually in view of my pb but the race was really good. For the first few laps I was 4th with Maddog close behind using everything to get past, like, the kerb, the grass, but he must have felt he needed reinforcements because he went to pick up some armco to use . I got  a gap to break the tow. Inherited 2nd when Ross & Ronnie had a spin & I think I started to very slowly pull away from Ross. I'll repeat that I STARTED TO PULL AWAY FROM ROSS . Uummm sounds nice!

I need points now not heroics, so when Ronnie got to 3rd he closed up & was obviously faster so I let him through. Trouble is he brought Ross with him. We were fairly even although he is in truth faster than me. I hatched a cunning plan .I would give him room to pass at the end of the straight IF he could make it but not slow down myself so it was up to him to take the chance. I would only do this once. The plan was ok but I was so busy watching the mirrors to see what he would do I outbraked myself & went off. By the time I was back on he had a 4 sec gap. I did close it a bit once but suspect we were both just strolling it home for the remaining laps.

All in all a good result as I held off Maddog & played a tactical game with two faster drivers to pick up good points. Engine lasted as well. Well done the podium it was the right result & Attilio just gets faster with that amazing qually lap.

Norm H

[BadBlood]

Stop going on about what a good race this was! I'm already gutted I had to miss it! Sounds like a belter...

[Artiglietti]

  If H did a few laps to get down to that time, I bet it took me a few more, in the hundreds more than the tens...so, I think he can stop quaking wherever it is that he lives, he still has his boots firmly resting on UKGPL table for the foreseeable future..

As for my race, not much to say. I am not sure what happened here, but I found myself with a massive performance advantage, and since the first ten mins in practice it was all for me to lose. Luckily, the layout of the track helped the underpowereds, with a short run to T1 and a long twisty section to make up some margin before the straight. I spent the race just trying to avoid mistakes and counting the laps, with just a little scare during a rather rocambolesque lapping of Mikes cooper. At the end, I couldnt see the chequered flag, so kept going for another lap just to make sure, I suspect the other podium boys had the same doubt, or they were following me around just for inertia...

See you at the next one, which I suspect is going to be rather tough for the lightly equipped..

[Ronniepeterson]

Great race Attilio and a  brilliant qualifying lap. Poor Ross did not stand a chance in that BT7. Norm next time feel free to battle it out. At the time I suspected you had either missed a gear, let me through or fallen off your chair! But I was not waiting to find out with Ross in close attention. If Kyalami was in your mind forget it, we both know we were just racing for the same bit of tarmac and sometimes the mods have to sought the mess out. Like I think Ross mentioned above, this was the first race where I really had to pay attention to the tyres overheating but Attilio was never in any danger from me. Well done again your championship battle with Ross will go down to the wire.

[Hristo Itchov]

As a general question is it better to gear it so that you take the corners in lower gear/higher revs or is avoiding a gear change at the expense of some revs a better approach or is it just down to personal style?

Gear it so you keep the revs in the maximum torque range inside the corner and thus have maximum acceleration. Usually you should reach maximum revs at the exit or just after the exit of the corner, then shift up. If you find it difficult to avoid spinning the rear wheels under throttle, make the gear longer so the revs drop a bit.

[BadBlood]

Thanks for a third time  I'll try it.

[Artiglietti]

Thanks Ronnie, well done to you for lapping in the race at your qually pace or there about, while keeping an eye on the tires temps. I really needed you there to keep my hopes alive! The first laps when you guys where battling behind me,  each time I was passing by the start and checking the board it was all a 'Oh yes', 'Oh no', 'Oh yes'!

I am interested about this thing of the temps. When I first started practising I noticed my right front going up to the 100+, which never happens to me. But after a while, I could easily keep it at a little above 90 for a whole race. Especially if you have a spin, it takes a while for the tires to come back to lower temps, I think. Would be interesting to know what kind of temperatures did you guys have. Also, in pretty much all the other circuits if I exceed the 80 its pretty high for me, but I am starting wondering if this is actually too low a number for optimum tire temps?

[blito]

Stop going on about what a good race this was! I'm already gutted I had to miss it! Sounds like a belter...

a belter? i didnt think so.
you missed nothing except for another demonstration that the rear half of the novices grid needs more practise at close running.
I think normally we all do our practise off-line, just chasing laptimes and that "ideal" setup, never thinking about how we actually go about the business of racing each other! As a result, i think some of us are little more than hotlappers (me included judging by recent performances).
To try and combat this I suggest that next tuesday, at 9pm, we have an official Albi test session so we can get some meaningful practise at lapping together and passing each other cleanly. If we do i think we will all benefit from having better races, with fewer errors and some closer racing!
Thoughts please guys....

[Hristo Itchov]

Yes, AA, the optimum seems to be around 100, just like with 67 cars. On must tracks I find it impossible to reach that number in the 65s though, it's usually around 70-90. The next AM round at Sodegaura is going to be a different story though, it's next to impossible to prevent the right tires from overheating excessively. Never seen another track having such extreme effect on the 65 tires!