19 replies to this topic

[lalb2001]

... This one hurts.

Qualified in P2, P1 was on the cards. Took the lead from Robert in lap 1, could grow a gap and managed it from on there, though I really had to be on it. Navigated Masta Kink seamlessly lap after lap, when in lap 9 I got slight understeer and turned in too early for the second part of the kink. Fortunately crashed into one of the posts and not one of the buldings, but my engine was dead nonetheless.
Leo lost his Ferrari as well in lap 1 and bounced back onto the track in the most unlucky fashion. Sorry to see that this ended up involving so many drivers...

Not the best of days for Team StickShifters, not to mention everyone else that was affected.

Hoping for a better D2 race, though Spa can wreck you anywhere in milliseconds...

Only 6 drivers still going in lap 15 btw.

Edited by lalb2001, 14 May 2022 - 09:52 AM.

[snafu]

I was one of the unfortunates who got caught up in the lap 1 incident, I saw Leo's Ferrari collide with an Eagle George? and also a Lotus? as it bounced back on track. I had nowhere to go and scrubbed off as much speed as I could before running into the aftermath but still ended up with an undrivable car with the steering wheel 30 degrees off centre.

Fed up doesn't even begin to cover it.

TTFN
John.

[cg7aa]

snafu, on 14 May 2022 - 10:04 AM, said:

I was one of the unfortunates who got caught up in the lap 1 incident, I saw Leo's Ferrari collide with an Eagle George? and also a Lotus? as it bounced back on track. I had nowhere to go and scrubbed off as much speed as I could before running into the aftermath but still ended up with an undrivable car with the steering wheel 30 degrees off centre.

Fed up doesn't even begin to cover it.

TTFN
John.

Hard luck, John; it just doesn't seem to be going your way at all.

[Robert Fleurke]

In my second run had a good lap, and ran a PB (Eagle WR) that was good enough for Pole. Not that it was obvious, as Lasse had the upper hand whole week while testing offline/online. And he still has the overall WR by a few 1/100s.

Start was solid, held on to the lead, but instantly had Lasse in my tow. I did expect him to be faster early race also due to the fuel load, and he had a good tow towards Masta Kink. After that I still had a good tow and overspeed, but did not want to force the issue towards Stavelot. Basically my plan was to try to contain the damage done on the first laps and then try to keep the pressure on; trying to close the gap bit by bit. And after a few laps I kept pace with Lasse, or marginally gained, before Lasse went mid17 and I made a mistake at Stavelot hitting the armco. Minor damage only luckily. But a lap later Lasse touched the inside armco at Masta Kink and spun out.

From then on could pace myself and control the race. But late race wanted to set a decent fast lap. Lucky win when Lasse was the guy to beat today. But I was happy the way I drove, I did not give in and tried to push as hard as possible without binning it. The pace we both had early race was quite astonishing. Despite your DNF congrats Lasse on your performance. I could have been the first to make that fatal mistake...

Well done Tris and Michael for podium, and well done finishers!

Sorry to see my teamleader suffer from an incident, missing out on a double podium. Unlucky Dag. Also bad luck to those caught up in that multicar crash at Stavelot....

Thanks all for racing, and thanks Michael for org!

Edited by Robert Fleurke, 14 May 2022 - 01:01 PM.

[cg7aa]

A very lucky 4th place for me. There I was practicing offline and thinking I was doing alright and might be only 3 seconds a lap slower than the aliens then you turn up and you realise you're nearly 6 seconds a lap slower! I have no idea how my Eagle was not destroyed in the lap 1 Stavelot carnage but by a miracle, all 4 wheels stayed on and the engine kept running! I nearly hit 'Esc' before realising the car could still run. It still handled like before so I continued in a lonely race. With a couple of cars dropping out ahead, I inherited 4th place. I'm grateful because it could have been so much worse.

[cg7aa]

cg7aa, on 14 May 2022 - 04:30 PM, said:

A very lucky 4th place for me. There I was practicing offline and thinking I was doing alright and might be only 3 seconds a lap slower than the aliens then you turn up and you realise you're nearly 6 seconds a lap slower! I have no idea how my Eagle was not destroyed in the lap 1 Stavelot carnage but by a miracle, all 4 wheels stayed on and the engine kept running! I nearly hit 'Esc' before realising the car could still run. It still handled like before so I continued in a lonely race. With a couple of cars dropping out ahead, I inherited 4th place. I'm grateful because it could have been so much worse.

Interesting to see these in the mechanical damage report:

George Cheeseman - spotters reporting:
minor problems with left rear tire.
severe problems with left rear suspension.
minor problems with right rear suspension.
the car has an engine problem.

I honestly didn't feel any handling issues, maybe that's a hint that I have a lot to learn in terms of feeling the car! I was puzzled by why I could hit 325kph before the kink in practice but wasn't getting anymore than 318kph max in the race. I put it down to heavier fuel load or not really pushing it before the straight. I guess the engine was a little sick but with no tell-tales signs and the the Eagle screaming away like normal, I didn't have a clue.

[Donnie Yourth]

A splendid result in the Cooper to take a P5 placing!    Of course, I profited from the misfortune of so many who started ahead of me.  Gosh!  Bad luck, fellas.

Another dominating performance from Robert after the tiniest of errors from Lasse in the Masta Kink.  To be sure, this place takes no prisoners.

Finding myself in a lofty P6 at the end of Lap01, I just knew that some would recover and pass.  That turned out to be very true as one by one, I fell back as I adopted a policy of finish no matter what the cost.  My pace was almost leisurely until Ricky passed in his Honda late in Lap07.  By Lap10, I noted that I was holding the gap reasonably well despite a moderated pace so decided to up the R's and see if I could close down on him.  After a few laps, I was definitely making progress to make myself a threat.  Lap15 proved fateful for Ricky, though, as he slid wide in Les Combes and tripped over the barrier to retire.  Bad luck there; I was looking forward to having a late-race spar.

From qualifying times, I was hoping to avoid being lapped but my early performance was hardly breathtaking so it was not a huge surprise to hear Robert's Eagle closing down with a lap and a bit to go.  17 of 18 laps survived.  Can't be bad.

[D_J]

Bit of a mixed day for us. Again a stellar performance by Robert and a great win for the team. 3 out of 3 possible wins with no damage is just marvelous. Thanks Robert , we literally couldnt ask for a better sub.

I was running P2 and with 7 laps to go I was pretty certain of landing another podium. That was up until the point where Tris ran me off the road into Le Carriere for no apparent reason.   The car was 1 measly damage point away from a total wreck. Thanks for that Tris. And because of the damage model he could continue like nothing happened and claim P2 just to add insult to injury. Wonderful.

See you all at Snetterton.

[MGL66]

That was a really bruising, brutal race. As Doni says, Spa takes no prisoners. Commiserations to all drivers and teams who felt Spa's wrath.

My qualifying time was a PB. Then off the start line I jumped Tristan for P4. It didn't take Tris long to get past me, and not much longer for both him and Dag to pull away and out of sight.

With a P3 finish and no damage to our new Eagle, I could not be happier. I needed luck to get a podium, but I also turned the best laps I could without making any big mistakes. I tapped two guardrails, earning just 1 damage point. I'll take that any time. I don't think I turned 5 straight training laps without catching fire.

When I write "turned the best laps I could," I mean that literally. Two days before the race, my G27 shifter started showing signs of wear. It would engage 2nd gear, but then wanted to pop out, especially on the downhill run from La Source through Eau Rouge. The server replay doesn't always show it, but check out my entry into Eau Rouge on Lap 12 for the most extreme example. That's not me manipulating the gear lever, that's the shifter not holding 2nd gear. (And yet it never did that while accelerating through Les Combes: also a 2nd gear bend. I have no idea why.)

By the closing 3 laps of the race, the problem had gotten so bad that I resorted to skipping 2nd gear altogether on that section of track, shifting straight from 1st to 3rd. The last thing I wanted was to blow the engine with the checkered flag in sight because it wasn't holding 2nd gear. I had a good gap to George, so I wasn't shy about bleeding it off.

The solution to this problem should arrive in the mail before Snetterton.

Michael

[Robert Fleurke]

Michael,

I think you need to look for a G27 H shifter adapter...

https://duckduckgo.c...mages&ia=images

PS: NVM, I suppose you already ordered a part

Edited by Robert Fleurke, 16 May 2022 - 07:07 AM.

[MGL66]

Robert Fleurke, on 16 May 2022 - 07:05 AM, said:

Michael,

I think you need to look for a G27 H shifter adapter...

https://duckduckgo.c...mages&ia=images

PS: NVM, I suppose you already ordered a part

I bought both the Logitech Gaming Driving Force Shifter For G29, G920 & G923 and the Leo Bodnar Shifter Adaptor USB Cable for Logitech G25 G27 G29 G920 Driving Force. As far as I can tell, that ought to work to extend the life of my G27.

I really only need a stopgap measure. My long term plan is to upgrade to a much more advanced system. I am considering going full Fanatec, but will investigate Heusinkveld pedals and possibly a non-Fanatec shifter (possibly Thrustmaster?). The changeover won't happen until the off season at the earliest, but I need the G27 to carry me through until then.

Does anyone have any advice regarding controllers?

I have to say that I am very pleased with the G27. Despite the plastic and the notchy gear drive, it has served me very well for about 10 years with little trouble. And the troubles were easily solved by either a quick cleaning or a simple workaround (like switching from paddle shifting to lever shifting, which I felt I should have been doing anyway). So I have no complaints with Logitech. I'm just ready to upgrade.

Michael

[D_J]

The thrustmaster shifter is very nice. T8 or whatever its called. Very sturdy as well. Well worth the money imo.

[Pepe Higdon]

Places like Spa, Brno, and Syracuse are GPL's way of telling us that we have too many good cars in the league. On Saturday there were three Lotuses, three Eagles, four Ferraris, and two Brabhams on the start line (with a Coop and a Honda thrown in for a laugh). When the dust settled, 40 koins were awarded to the 14 starting drivers, but if all the cars that were damaged during the event are repaired, the total cost will be 156 koins. Oops.

If the D2 race this coming Saturday produces a repeat scene from the Book of Revelations, the starting grid at Snetterton will probably show a starting grid of twelve BRMs, two Hondas, and a Royal Enfield motorcycle on loan.  

[Donnie Yourth]

Hi, Pepe.  It didn't escape my notice that not a single BRM took up a grid slot for our D1 go at Spa67.  For Snetterton, I plan to use the Cooper for my eighth consecutive race but am considering 'up-gunning' to the BRM after the Summer Break.

[singion]

156 koins ouch, Lasse has put the lotus Wheels in the Garage for me and i found a stick so i am ready for the D2 race now

[lalb2001]

Ironic, 39 koins of damage were produced by Team StickShifters, making it exactly 1/4 of the amount of overall damages produced. Also interesting to observe is that 156 koins of damage were produced with only 14 cars on the grid, resulting in an average of 11.14 koins of damage per driver...
Throughout the first 6 races, our team got itself into a position where we could afford a luxury garage, putting it among the best garages in the league. Now inside of two events (D2 Anderstorp Brabham heavy damage), much of our earnings have gone down the drain... Meanwhile Robert came out with 6 out of 7 hattricks... Kudos.  I really need to step up my game in the second half of the season. Luckily, something from the shambles that are our cars can be retrieved with some mechanical work.

Now it is going to be important to be careful at Daytona. For the entire league.

Edited by lalb2001, 16 May 2022 - 06:36 PM.

[MGL66]

There is no doubt about it, Spa is one of those places that can turn around a team's finances in a hurry. And as Lasse describes (with good grace, BTW), a team's circumstances can be flipped on its head in the course of one or two races. That is the biggest gamble in buying the more expensive chassis -- they're great if everything goes well, but can bite you if they don't.

I think that all of this serves to illustrate a couple basic truths of oAo. When you look back upon a completed season, you usually find a correlation between success in the Championships and a team's ability to avoid financially devastating damage. I imagine that you'd find that correlation in real life, too.
The inclusion of tracks like spa67, daytona, dundrod, sachsen67 and countless others to the schedule adds enormous additional pressure onto a driver. I think that Claudio/TSG do an excellent job of assembling a schedule that is balanced. There are tracks at which you are comfortable, and there are tracks that you approach with fear. But I would argue that that is appropriate. When you consider the real life-and-death pressures on the drivers of that time, we should embrace the non-life-and-death pressures in our virtual world. Perhaps it is odd to think this, but I regard this acceptance of pressure as a kind of tribute to those guys.

In a way, everything we do here is a tribute to those guys.

Michael

[Bob Simpson]

D_J, on 16 May 2022 - 09:41 AM, said:

The thrustmaster shifter is very nice. T8 or whatever its called. Very sturdy as well. Well worth the money imo.

I love my Thrustmaster TH8a shifter. I connect my G27 pedals with the Bodnar cable and the G27 and TH8a connect with their own USB connections.

[MGL66]

Do any of you use a direct drive wheel with GPL? If so, does force feedback work?

[lalb2001]

I have read threads on SRMZ discussing DD on GPL and those people got it to work successfully. There is some coverage when you google "SRMZ Direct Drive".

See a DD wheel in action here with Remco Hitman.

Edited by lalb2001, 25 May 2022 - 05:25 PM.