33 replies to this topic

[MK3424]

Last race of the season!

I'll start with posting the livestream link:

https://youtu.be/gHqlT0bdxKU

Come join us if you're interested.

[Don Dodge]

High speeds on a sidewalk with dirt shoulders!  

[Ronnie Nilsson]

...in a BRM!

[zzbusch1]

Please be careful leaving the pits during practice/qualifying.
I think there should be points for the most ontrack laps here.
How many times are we allowed all four off before penalties?
This is like running the Tour de France on a sidewalk.

[bobho-in]

ZZ
           There is no limit for having all 4 wheels off track.  BUT you are not allowed to have all 4 wheels off AND improve your lap time.  If it is determined that any driver is cutting corners with all 4 wheels in order to gain time  THEN his actions will be reviewed and possibly penalized.

[Ronnie Nilsson]

Yes, on leaving the pits, stay to the right. It's difficult to see slow cars when you're doing 170mph.

[lalb2001]

Just came home to see iGor saying 28 laps left, says enough about my season, not in a good mood rn

[Bo Bruce]

i started 10th
at the end of lap 1 was p6
pole sitter Pete L.. disco?   and at least 1 contact that caused multiple off's... i overtook no one except for whatever happened.

then on lap2 someone went off... tried to comeback, we touched i continued but behind me someone tried to overtake my slow car and went off... slid and from there i'm not sure -
had a car on top of me, while i was spinning.... long story short i was able to continue, but now last (?)
so.. end of lap2 i'm back to p9!  what?
don't ask me how
figured ok, i'll just finish for K's... lap 5 (or 6?) i slid off and got stuck in the hay ~

[Claudio Pablo Navonne]

The monitor was disconnected, and I went blind. Goodbye race. There are very anxious people in the first lap. Calm down guys, the race is 28 laps long.

[MK3424]

2 firs laps were a mess... avoided a lot of crashes and then drove in no man's land.... untill the last couple of laps, battle with alex gpl.

P4

[bobho-in]

Hours of practice did pay off.  As usual didn't plan on being real fast. except for a real bone head move in Qually I was satisfied with my day at the track. .  Started last on the grid.  Stayed out of trouble for most of the race. Very happy with 6th

[Ronnie Nilsson]

Yes, the first two laps were a mess. Twice I was forced off by other people crashing and spinning, and I lost a lot of time. Ended up 7th, the last runner. Good riddance to the BRM.

[Peter Lohmar]

(Pauses from repeatedly pounding head on desk to write this brief note): We knew we had a chance to advance to 3rd in overall team standings if we qualified well, survived the 1st couple of laps, and more or less kept the cars on the track for the duration of the race. First job mission accomplished (and a pole and a PB!). Race start: lost the engine. Fortunately, Tim once again came through to put up the points!

[Pepe Higdon]

Like everything else that has rained down during this Miserable Year of Our Lord 2020, my oAo season ended in regret, irritation, and disappointment. I was caught up in five different incidents in the first couple of laps, all the while hoping that people (including myself) would be patient enough to let the field spread out a little before beginning their way cool moves on even way cooler tires. Well, that doesn't happen in D2 and I doubt it ever will. I managed to avoid the customary L1/T1 weirdness, only later to ding Claudio when he was coming back onto the track from an off-course diversion at the start of the back straight. A moment later I then created a new problem for Bob Simpson when I tried to recover from Claudio. Maybe that would be it, I thought. Yeah, good luck.

The Mother of All Pile Ups was waiting for me at turn #1 on the second lap. Simpson appeared to be trying to make a hard left approaching T1 at the start of L2. I guessed he was getting even with me for my mistake on the first lap, but I slowed in time to avoid Bob and Bo exchanging paint right in front of me. I escaped with only a minor tag from Claudio behind me --- another payback, I thought --- but the incident eventually collected eight different drivers and produced sixteen of the twenty-six collision reports on the day. At that point the green flag had not even been put away and already I'd had two clean hits (though minor ones) and two more near misses. Is it over yet? Nope, later in the same damned lap I went off and collided with Kayo when I attempted to recover the asphalt. Bye bye, Pepe, but fortunately I hadn't finished off Kayo's race.

I'm not in the habit of blaming tracks for being what they are. They're inanimate, they're free of original sin, and they don't give a shit what we think about them. But this one has features that make it utterly unrealistic for racing anything but bicycles. It would be one thing if there were some sort of penalty for going into the sand or hitting any of those brown bales, but there's not. The bales are invisible, as are the buildings, towers, groups of people, and trees. And the sand isn't anything like the sand at Zandvoort, Bridgehampton, or Parabolica. You get stuck in that sand and you'll remember it. I don't mind that it's narrow; I mind that the narrowness is the only realistic part about this unfinished, depressing place.

[Aljones]

I trained about 3 hours last week especially starts against AI with 30 laps of fuel, consistent in the 2.12, what surprised me was my speed with 5 laps of fuel, I could have been on pole but ran out of time; (of course George would probably have got it, starting the session on time lol )

At the start I did not see the flag so I lost 2 positions, (I think that Peter blew his engine before turn one ?) but was second at the end of lap 2, I was very fast early on, faster than Folkard who was leading;

I followed him for 2 laps then Cheeseman was gaining on us so I wanted to pass Tim quickly to still have a chance to win (I thought I could maybe hold the Lotus behind but not sure about keeping the pace behind it); he went a little wide on turn 3 so I was preparing to move on his right side for turn 4 but I barely touch the sand and went sideways, we hit and I ended upside down.....

Game over till next season...

Claudio, I am very sorry that I hit you, before turn 4; your braking point surprised me, I was not even trying to pass !  Sorry that your monitor quit on you...

Edited by Aljones, 21 November 2020 - 03:45 PM.

[timbo]

Hello all, so this race was always going to be difficult, and I would have thought that the better drivers in D2 would have made allowances for that, seems that was just wishful thinking, the first few laps were just chaotic, but the one thing that sticks out in my mind is the driving of Alain, I was following when he collided with Claudio, now wether that was an accident or not is hard to determine, but it was at the very least clumsy, so go on a few more laps and he is right behind me, now I’m not stupid, I can quite easily see he is faster than me, but racing is not about moving over to let a guy go past, it’s about him finding the safe way past, with patience, and race craft, not just bashing your way through, well luckily for me Alain ended up on his head, and I was able to carry on, I enjoy racing, not just with oAo, but in the past with racing karts, and formula ford, from age 30 until 10 years ago, as already said this was a very difficult track, narrow with very little overtaking places, but they are there, one just has to wait for the opportunity to present its self, and if it’s not there well it will most likely end in regret, and embarrassment.

So the last race of this season, this year has been great for me personally, had lots of fun, some good results, but more than anything else teaming up with Huayra, Mati and Marcos were very helpful, but have to say Peter and I seemed to hit it off together, we were passing setups between us and getting better and better, this is what being in a team is all about, just pure fun, will I be back next year? You bet I will.

Congratulations to George, and Pepe, look out next year mate, there’s a whole bunch of us looking for that top spot now.

                                                  Regards Tim.

Edited by timbo, 21 November 2020 - 04:44 PM.

[Aljones]

Tim, I was not expecting you to let me pass; you made a mistake in turn 3 then you brake early towards turn 4; I saw an opportunity and I took it; it did not end well for me, luckily you were able to resume and finish 2nd.

As for Claudio and me, i already apologized; if you take the time to look at the replay, his braking point is very cautious, I should have expected it, all my fault...what else do you want from me ?

Edited by Aljones, 21 November 2020 - 07:04 PM.

[timbo]

Absolutely nothing mate it’s all been said.

Regards Tim.

Edited by timbo, 21 November 2020 - 06:54 PM.

[cg7aa]

Aljones, on 21 November 2020 - 02:20 PM, said:

...of course George would probably have got it, starting the session on time lol )
...

I was late in joining the sessions but it wasn't out of choice. I managed a pretty good lap time in server practice just before the official session so I was looking forward to qualifying but things didn't work out too well on the out lap and I had to wait for the last five mins of the session. When I did get out, I was trying too hard on cold tyres and just couldn't put a clean lap together. Perhaps starting from the back was better given the chaos which ensued in front of me!

Edited by cg7aa, 21 November 2020 - 06:17 PM.

[timbo]

Hi guys, so the last post my myself above was made after several hours, not a good idea to just lash out and say things you might regret later on.

By the time the last race comes around most of the results are settled, D2 champion, done, championship winners, Smokey stampede also done, but there were a couple of things, one for team Huayra, and one for me personally, we wanted to finish third, we were three points behind Heavy Metal, so needed at least one of us to finish, and finish quite well.

Peters pace put him on pole, he was there by right, the engine blowing after just a few hundred yards is one of the most frustrating aspects of GPL, but it would seem there is nothing can be done about that.

For me personally, I wanted to finish 4 points clear of Bob Simpson and pinch 4th spot in the D2 standings, that was achieved in the end but not by skill or race craft, but by luck, and in equal amount by bad luck.

No body wins by skill or pace alone, there is always an element of luck involved, it’s just a question of how much LUCK you, me and all of us are prepared to except in this GPL addiction that we all suffer from, and yet we all seem to want more.

Alain, sorry if I upset you, but make no mistake I meant every word I said, but I know how it is when we race, the rush of blood, the adrenaline rushes, mistakes are made, there are split seconds to make a decision, and once made there is no going back, we have all been there, myself properly more than most, coming home after a weekend racing with broken engines, karts and various bit hanging off, but you just go out get it all repaired and before you know it your out there again doing it all over, just for thar one result, that one race where it all comes together, there is absolutely nothing better, we all want that, you me all of us, if we don’t then we shouldn’t be out there.

                                       Regards Tim.

Edited by timbo, 22 November 2020 - 03:59 AM.