UKGPL Season 21 (2011) Grads (67) - Silverstone (GP 1952-73) - Jun 19

[b_1_rd]

another early bath!

Went off a T1 and had to reset, waiting for people to go past at race pace and got ran into; should have just floored the thing and got in everyones way cos being nice doesn't seem to work.

Teach me for going off in the first place I guess. 

[bernie]

After running GPL all affy , thought the grafix problem had blown away but sadly dyring qually it started to play up again , thinking it was a cooling problem a quick dash to the garage to obtain a ruddy great fan rigged to blow cold air onto said carrd , back into Igor for the dying minutes of qually but sadly the old radeon GTO gave up the ghost on lap1 giving me a black screen  

Hope I didnt spoil anyones race , couldnt see if I was stationary on track or not so pulled the plug to leave  

looks like the season is over for me now  :'( :'( :'(

[Arf Arf Arf]

Well, I did 9 laps tonight, more than I've done in all other races put together. Got past Evil off the grid, but he was straight back on my tail, and I thought he'd overtake me going into to Stowe, but he seemed to back off. Coming into Club he had the opportunity but wasn't sure if he'd try again or wait fro the tyres to warm up. I deliberately tried to take the corner wide just in case, but got bumped and span. The remaining 8 laps were lonely although I could see a group of three cars getting closer and closer before my engine went. Again.

Both tonight and in PSC on Friday, I had done a lot of laps in practice (in full damage mode) without any mechanical gremlins at all. I don't rev the engine as high in the actual races, and yet the engine expires. I don't know if its my setup or my driving style. As such, can I check if I'm approaching a race the right way;

I was in the Cooper tonight. For my RACE setup I used Dark's '67v1 Silverstone 1m27s982' setup as a starting point (from Alt Track Database). Is this a good start point, or is this a hotlapping setup unsuitable for a race? In any case I lengthened top gear in the belief this would protect the engine. I also lengthened 2nd one increment because it was too twitchy for me coming out of Copse and Becketts. After running for 7/8 laps in this setup I saw the the rear temps were in very high 200s, and fronts were in 230s, so I reduced all pressures 1 psi, which got the rears down to 220s and fronts to 190s. (My qually setup was same without pressure changes)

Thanks

Arf

[blito]

Well what a productive day I've had! My OH was at work for most of it and the children were elsewhere so I got out my guitar and spent 4 hours learning to play "the chain" by Fleetwood Mac....  It may be more familiar to you guys as the BBC F1 theme........
Also this morning I actually did some pre-race practice, just 30 minutes to sort out a setup for the Eagle... I had intended to do another "qualify last and storm through the field" type of race but even on full tanks I was near the front of the grid so I did what I hardly ever do - I drained the tanks and went for it! Result - 3rd on the grid!
My start was smooth and thanks to the Ross/Ronnie T1 fun I slipped straight into a lead which I held all race. Only problem (apart from grass-tracking a couple of times) was that I had short fueld the car and had to cruise home for the last 10 laps... literally coasting down the straights going 3 to 4 secs slower than i could but with such a huge lead it mattered not.. I rossed the line with just over half a gallon left and half a minute in hand over Ross..
All in all, I was lucky. Everyone else had problems and I just cruised home to my first UKGPL win....

Bernie - hope you can find a replacement card soon m8.

[BadBlood]

BIG CONGRATS M8. Well done.

No more Mr Midfield.

Bernie, might have a spare card. Let me know what you need by PM and I'll see if I have something.

[miner2049er]

Hmmm, race prep included a Father's Day barbecue with about half a barbecued pig, some lamb and a bottle of Rioja.

Was fully prepared to quit if the alcohol affected me but I was surprisingly stable and have since ordered some more Rioja for the other races.

Qually was average and I planned a slow and steady start after blowing my engine on the grid last time out.

Things changed when a sneaky Cooper from Wigan shot up the inside and I intended to follow him nutil he was headed for danger and I emerged from T1 in second, so all I had to do was follow Blito to the flag.

that went OK for a few laps until I ran wide at Chapel and dropped down then got into a nice battle with Vos behind me who was quicker on the first half of the circuit but fell away on the back half. Then the same thing happened to me that happened at Westwood, my tyres seemed to heat at the rear and I couldn't get the power down and got into a tank slapper exiting Copse. it will look like somebody just driving up a bank but I was fighting the car like crazy.

I emerged from my SnG in 9th and set about climbing back up the field where I got stuck at 5th after some synchronised spinning with DikiWaza. I had the pace to catch Michael in 5th but when I started to push the tyres would heat and the car became unpredictable causing a few small issues so i drive it home to 5th which at 9 o'clock seemed a long way away.

BTW Tim, I gave the corner to you at Club but you were too much of a gentleman to take it. i don't think I would have been so understanding LOL. good battle while it lasted though.

[bernie]

Thanks chaps its a Radion X800GTO AGP now more or less redundant  

Spotted this on fleebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250838986792&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Any good for replacement ?

[bernie]

Things changed when a sneaky Cooper from Wigan shot up the inside and I intended to follow him nutil he was headed for danger and I emerged from T1 in second, so all I had to do was follow Blito to the flag.

So frustrated with qually so abandoned my usual delicate tippy toe start and was determined to head the pack of jackels into T1 ,

Now left wondering what might have been the outcome 

[BadBlood]

Bernie, you almost certainly have a PCI slot free so you don't have to get AGP. That would do though if you can trust the seller.

As for the race. OOPS. I forgot about the token cost and took the Eagle as it is the only car I had a setup for. Sadly I only had thirteen tokens. So DQ for me. Sorry to waste everybody's time. Forgot that you have to take the start to get the tokens and I abandoned Valentino because I was a positive danger

What a waste of two hours

[Michael Turner]

Thanks chaps its a Radion X800GTO AGP now more or less redundant  

Spotted this on fleebay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250838986792&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Any good for replacement ?

The 9600XT will be fine Bernie - I used to have one myself and it was perfect for GPL. The asking price does seem quite steep for what is now an old card - a quick search on EBay found several other examples that are  much cheaper.

[Hristo Itchov]

Bernie, you almost certainly have a PCI slot free so you don't have to get AGP. That would do though if you can trust the seller.

As for the race. OOPS. I forgot about the token cost and took the Eagle as it is the only car I had a setup for. Sadly I only had thirteen tokens. So DQ for me. Sorry to waste everybody's time. Forgot that you have to take the start to get the tokens and I abandoned Valentino because I was a positive danger

What a waste of two hours

At least you got some more experience. 

[vosblod]

Well done Jason and Tom.
Good race for me, my first silverware in a while so pleased. Qually was tough as there was lots of traffic and was down on my PB. It put me in 4th (I think), after Joe's faux pas, but I figured I could possibly go quicker and hence have a remote shout for golden balls.

Off we go ho ho ho and I see fire ahead and cars astruddel then wham bham thankyou maam and I'm a spinner. Stopping to direct the oncoming traffic I then jumped back in and headed off last thinking this will be a lonely one. Lo and behold there seemed to be a second lap one contretemps, which I avoided, and bumped me back up a few spots (don't envy the moderator - oh it's me )
Anyway highlight one is I'm 4th or 5th and right in Mike's pipes. Two Lotii head to head but for lap after lap I couldn't get a run on him nor could he completely shake me. However a little known fact about my teammate is he's also a closet myrmecologist and, fortunately for me, he spotted an Acanthomyops claviger on the side of the track and was compelled to take a closer look.
After that I had a series of solo laps, in second, and started to feel a bit comfy although Prib insisted on playing mindtricks by telling me I was passing Blito only to dash my hopes a few seconds later.
The penultimate stage was noticing that Ross was consistently showing at 680 yards behind, and closing, with a bakers dozen or more laps to go. A man to be reckoned with I started thinking strategies at which point I spun and let him straight past
Off my stride after that the final stage became engine protection and a cruise into third.

A big thanks to those I lapped who were gents. Also well pleased with a team two three so well done Ross.

BTW Tim, I gave the corner to you at Club but you were too much of a gentleman to take it. i don't think I would have been so understanding LOL. good battle while it lasted though.

I thought you had spotted a lesser known Mycocepurus Smithii

BTW Arf I do think sometimes those engine blow-outs can sometimes crop up randomly. That said I used to blow them all the time, especially 67's, when I started but found things improved by completely lifting off for a change up and being careful when I changed down not to let it overrev. Apprarently GPL keeps a 'score' over a race or so I was told.

[bernie]

Dont think I have any PCI slots,  my puter is now an OAP too 

[Hristo Itchov]

Dont think I have any PCI slots,  my puter is now an OAP too 

This is a great card and can still rival many of the current PCI-E cards in pure performance, although it doesn't support the latest shaders and stuff, but you don't need that for GPL anyway:

http://cgi.ebay.com/nVIDIA-GeForce-7950-GT-512-MB-AGP-3D-Video-Card-7950GT-/280687487552?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item415a472a40#ht_2530wt_950

[Cookie]

BIG CONGRATS M8. Well done.

No more Mr Midfield.

My special Congrats too Jason you deserve it!

Cheeeeers