GPL 69 Ardmore server is ready to go for Tursday

[PinotNoir]

As per last week:

Qualifying starts at 8:45PM.
Race 1 starts at 9PM.
Race should be 16 laps if I did the sums right.
No AI cars.
Carset is 69s, either high or low wing.

There will be a second race immediately after the first has completed.
Each heat will be considered as a separate race with full points for each. No mucking about with complicated and controversial amalgamations!!

Zandvoort setups will do fine here if you haven't had a play yet. just lengthen top gear a bit or you'll blow your engine up after a number of laps!

[Pete G]

I just tried to connect without success

[Gordy]

I just tried to connect without success

I can connect without any problems

[PinotNoir]

Sorry folks,
I had the wrong password set and missed resetting the server at 8:30.
Check in at 8:45, but if you can't get in keep trying.
I have no idea how long a race with no cars takes . . . . . .

Anyway, please keep trying

[PinotNoir]

I've just been able to get in again and all is fine.
Its in practise mode now, and will still be there at 8:45.
I'll reset it at 8:45 and practise proper will commence.

Sorry for the disruption.

[famin]

keyboard was playing up. ran a few laps in race 1 with only being able to change gear randomly then pitted disconnected keyboard and tried again. was fine until I got stuck in a haybale and of course didnt have the Enter key to get out so flagged it until I could sort the keyboard.

seems OK now but too late for race 2...

Nice to see Keith a bit more circumspect in his passing now while I was runnin g!!!

[mctshirt]

Thanks guys from the moving chicane...I didn't bail the last race...it was a massive PC lockup caused by a very hot graphics card I suspect, poor little bugger reset button was the only option I'm afraid

[vandem]

You missed some fun Brett. Gordy and Keith and I had some nice dices. I even led race two for a while, until I got too busy watching Keith in my mirrors and missed a braking marker, ended up beaching on the hay bales.

Sorry to those I scared or hit at Cloverleaf in the 1st race first few laps. I blame early season over-enthusiasm. Or shitty driving.

We thought Geoff's grandma had turned up to race in 1st race - then he realised he was on default settings. He was closer to us in race two.

Roll on Levin.

[vandem]

Will there be a replay from the server? I forgot to save mine.

[PinotNoir]

Will there be a replay from the server? I forgot to save mine.

I am expecting replays to be available from the server. If they are not for some reason, I have them on my PC already, but as the thing only covers the nearest cars to mine at any given moment, it probably won't catch everyone.
So lets hope we get the server version

[Agent X20]

Once again working late and then out schmoosing customers at a restaurant. This is why I'm always very reluctant to commit to race leagues. Just dunno what's happening from one week to the next.

[PinotNoir]

keyboard was playing up. ran a few laps in race 1 with only being able to change gear randomly then pitted disconnected keyboard and tried again. was fine until I got stuck in a haybale and of course didnt have the Enter key to get out so flagged it until I could sort the keyboard.

seems OK now but too late for race 2...

Nice to see Keith a bit more circumspect in his passing now while I was runnin g!!!

I was a LOT more circumspect, but still got into a fair amount of trouble one way or another in race 1. A couple of times I tried passing different people who screwed up big time on the exit of corners, where I genuinely thought there was an entire motorway to drive through, only to tangle.

I guess as the pursuer its my fault each time, but all I can say is I wasn't being aggressive at all. Anyway, lets see the replays I suppose.

Then I had a real sucky time with turn 1. Gordon Bennett what a ghastly corner!! I kept on missing my braking marker, lap after lap after blasted lap. you'd think I was stealing hay to take back to a farm somewhere!!!

Slight mistake only doing 3 laps in total before practise . . . . . . Never did get the hang of Ardmore, right till the end. I only did enough to figure out that Zandvoort setups would be fine.

[PinotNoir]

Once again working late and then out schmoosing customers at a restaurant. This is why I'm always very reluctant to commit to race leagues. Just dunno what's happening from one week to the next.

Don't worry about commitment X20, just be there when you can and want to be.
You'll always be made welcome.

You'd have enjoyed tonight.
By and large very clean and sporting, especially off the line.
The grid for race 2 was I think the closest we have had since I started the online racing last year, and a reasonable number of racers too.

[PinotNoir]

You missed some fun Brett. Gordy and Keith and I had some nice dices. I even led race two for a while, until I got too busy watching Keith in my mirrors and missed a braking marker, ended up beaching on the hay bales.

Sorry to those I scared or hit at Cloverleaf in the 1st race first few laps. I blame early season over-enthusiasm. Or shitty driving.

We thought Geoff's grandma had turned up to race in 1st race - then he realised he was on default settings. He was closer to us in race two.

Roll on Levin.

You were terrific tonight Vandem, massively quicker than last time.

Weren't those haybales sods?
I couldn't help but think of poor Lorenzo Bandini every time I smacked one.

[PinotNoir]

Thanks guys from the moving chicane...I didn't bail the last race...it was a massive PC lockup caused by a very hot graphics card I suspect, poor little bugger reset button was the only option I'm afraid

What with you and Famin both having pc issues . . . . its a wonder anyone finished!

Am I right in thinking you made that track?
If so, you did a damned good job of it.
I can't say I like it because I keep missing my braking markers, but that's my problem. the track itself I think is really well done.

[mctshirt]

Am I right in thinking you made that track?
If so, you did a damned good job of it.
I can't say I like it because I keep missing my braking markers, but that's my problem. the track itself I think is really well done.

Sure did...now you can see why the AI is so sucky given I used one of my laps to make it Truth is I actually hardly ever drove it when making it...I just made a three lap replay at racing speed and looked at that everytime I needed to check something. Saved getting the wheel out for every minor adjustment and it's not that exciting by yourself.

[famin]

try it in a 65 lotus Keith. I reckon youd just love it then.

The damn enter key was the problem. It was stuck on somehow and I had to take a screwdriver to the key top to get it sorted. Bugger, I quite liked that track actually and was pretty reasonable in practise offline.

You never actually hit me Keith but I did see you scream down into T2 on my left once (I didnt move over) and I just braked normally and watched you zoom straight off into the haybales as I turned under you. Was the highlight of the night for me!!

[Pete G]

Thanks everyone for all those first lap incidents, it was a real thrill to find myself in the lead when we hit the main straight for the first time and to hang on to it for the first half of the race. I did wonder if maybe a first up win was on the cards but of course got gobbled up soon after More than happy with the podium and points however. Thanks, it was a blast.

[PinotNoir]

Ardmore replays will be made available, but not until Sunday night at the earliest.
It is more likely to be Tuesday sometime.

[PinotNoir]

Ardmore race 1

The front row was 4 wide
G Mitchell
K Findlay
M Vandem
B Young
The second was
P Arron
G Lewis

When the flag fell, Mitchell and Vandem got the best starts, but into turn one they were back into the grid order.
Exiting turn one Mitchell’s car did a commendable impression of a street walker, with its tail snaking wildly from side to side. In fact the Lotus swept all the way from the left side of the track to the right, and then all the way back to the left, completely unable to put the power down effectively. This gave Findlay an opportunity to pass down the right hand side, knowing that the length of straight was ample to be securely past before the next corner.
Unfortunately he didn’t move to the far right of the track, and Mitchell’s Lotus wasn’t finished its dance. The two cars collided in the middle of the track, and spun off to the left.

On this occasion, Findlay was deemed to be at fault as the passing car, and was penalised 20 seconds. However, the stewards advised that had he been at the far right of the track, it would have been deemed a racing accident and no penalty would have been incurred. The passing opportunity was reasonable and safe, but the execution was flawed.

Mitchell’s Lotus got bogged down on a hay bale, and Findlay waited for him to restart. The two were now at the back of the field, but Mitchell was determined not to be there for long!

Vandem was first to fall as he was recovering from an altercation with Young at Cloverleaf, Mitchell and Findlay sweeping past the Matra and into Club. Unfortunately the red mist was well and truly up and Mitchell braked way too late into Clevedon, and speared into the hay bales. This let Findlay by, and also Vandem, while the Lotus did a bit of reversing.

Mitchell’s red mist was now a blazing scarlet, and he thundered up towards the last turn, but on the left side of the track. When he tried to turn left, the Lotus’ nose just drifted wide and he thumped sideways into the hay bales near the entrance to the pits. The Lotus did a series of rolls, miraculously bouncing between some officials without hurting them, and landing on its wheels in the pits.

As he recovered, Mitchell saw Lewis’s Lotus sweep by and once more Mitchell was in last place. Now he really put his head down for a charge. In turn one he nearly over did it again, but managed to keep it off the bales. By the hairpin he was onto Lewis’s tail, and on the race down to Cloverleaf he was by, Lewis being very sporting about it.

It took him until the end of lap three to catch Young, Findlay and Vandem, all squabbling together.
As the four cars swept out of the final turn, something was amiss with Young’s Matra and Findlay was immediately past on the right, and Vandem to the left. Young staggered into the pits, and Mitchell was fifth, immediately behind Findlay and Vandem as they powered out of College.

At the end of Hanger Straight, Vandem’s car lurched suddenly to the right, and he glanced off the bales, before ricocheting across Mitchell’s nose to the left side of the track. Mitchell simply eased off the throttle, let him go past and then it was hammer down after Findlay.
He only had a lap to wait. Findlay was keeping the gap about the same, but missed his braking marker at the end of Hanger Straight and slammed into the bales. By the time he untangled himself Mitchell was past into second.

On lap 6, Arron had the full length of Hanger Straight. By lap 7, the two were together when they arrived at the hairpin.
Through Cloverleaf, Arron had a wee moment, and Mitchell thought there was a gap into Club.
The move was never really on, and the cars touched. Arron was punted 90 degrees left, but had room to turn around. Mitchell explored the oil drums . . . . .

Mitchell was not assessed a penalty because the two cars restarted in the original order, and no other car got through. However, it was touch and go.

At the start of lap 8, Mitchell was once more all over Arron as they arrived at College, but Arron laid a very clear claim to the inside line and left Mitchell to make do with the outside. All down Hanger Straight and the following curve, Arron defended cleanly.
On the approach to the hairpin he once more laid claim to the inside line, but failed to take into account that it would be a slower line. He arrived too fast and was into the bales. Mitchell couldn’t avoid the crashing McLaren, but was through into the lead with Findlay on his tail.

Findlay had has an exciting race up to that point.
On lap one after the hanger Straight tangle with Mitchell, he had followed Mitchell past Vandem, and then past Mitchell himself at Clevedon. By Hanger Straight on lap 2 he was on Young’s tail. On the run down to Cloverleaf, Findlay couldn’t believe how slow in a straight line the Matra was and simply drove past on the left. Unfortunately he was trying to see if he was cleanly past, and missed his braking point and bounced through the bales.

Young could hardly drive for laughing, but couldn’t ease up because Vandem was right on his tail.

It took Findlay until Hanger Straight to catch the two blue cars. Vandem was trying a pass down the left of Young, like Findlay not quite believing the speed of the other blue car. On the inside line, he had to brake earlier than normal and Findlay was past. Vandem’s behaviour at this point was very sporting indeed.

Findlay was now back on Young’s tail, and watching a very elaborate line through the hairpin by the Matra. The uncertainty caused by this meant that he wasn’t close enough to try anything on the run to Cloverleaf, but Vandem was!!

Findlay had been trapped by Young’s low speed and early braking into Cloverleaf, and when Vandem arrived he was travelling WAY quicker than either of them, sweeping past Findlay, and somehow managing to keep it on the track without hitting anyone. Unfortunately the other blue Matra’s low speed meant he had to lift off, and that compromised his exit allowing Findlay past once more.

It was at the end of that lap where Young had his odd pit moment, allowing Findlay into second place, but with Vandem right on his tail.
Into College he took the inside line and Vandem was all over him. The Matra’s exit was again compromised, and it took him until the end of Hanger Straight to get back onto his tail, only to lose it under brakes leaving Findlay alone, until he too lost it at that corner on lap 5 allowing Mitchell past.

Which brings us back to lap 8, where he and Mitchell were scrapping for the lead. The two cars were quite evenly matched, but stronger in different places. At the end of hanger Straight on lap 9, Mitchell braked unusually early and Findlay locked up his brakes trying to avoid him, and skated off into the bales. This gave Mitchell a couple of hundred yards lead and dropped the pressure of him. From there on it was an easy victory for Mitchell.

This was the signal for Findlay to completely lose it. The mist went from red, to scarlet, to crimson, to dark blood red. On the approach to College he missed his mark and parked on the bales. After bouncing off bales on a couple of other corners, he did the same thing on lap 11, crashed at the end of hanger Straight, On lap 12 he crashed again at College, and again on lap 13, letting Arron through and falling to fourth.

In the final corner, Arron’s Mclaren appeared to Findlay to crash into the bales at the start of the pits, but it was actually a major warp, not a crash, and Findlay was startled to find the McLaren reappear in front of him down the straight. The two were tied together from that point until the hairpin, where the McLaren made a balls of the exit onto the straight and let Findlay have a go up the left hand side. However, Lewis was half way down the straight, and Findlay never had a chance to have a go.

Into Club and Findlay tried the outside, down the start finish line he was close but not close enough. Into College and Arron took the defensive line, but spun the rear at the exit which flicked his car to the far right of the track. It looked as if he had lost control and Findlay simply drove up the left hand side. Unfortunately Arron’s car flicked back to the left side of the track, and the two tangled. Findlay stopped to let Arron retain his place, allowing Lewis past.

Findlay then compounded things by crashing yet again at the end of Hanger Straight. As a result, although he got close to Arron again, he wasn’t close enough at the finish, and he finished fourth, penalty not withstanding.

Vandem had started third, and should have taken the lead when Mitchell and Findlay had their altercation, but he had a confidence lift and Young swept past into the lead. Young looked to have the legs of Vandem, but braked incredibly early into Cloverleaf and really caught Vandem by surprise. The two Matras were into the bales in an instant, letting Arron into the lead.
No penalty was assessed against Vandem because he was not being aggressive. He was simply caught by surprise, and there was nothing he could do about it.

By the time Vandem had recovered, slowly it must be said, he was back in fifth place, which became fourth once Mitchell pranged at Clevedon, and third when Findlay pranged at Cloverleaf the following lap, bringing him once more onto Young’s tail.

Down the front straight Young took the inside line, and Vandem went right up alongside into the braking area, before conceding, trying again down Hanger Straight, only to let Findlay past under brakes, and then of course the move of the race into Cloverleaf.

Vandem already knew about Young’s speed into Cloverleaf, but Findlay didn’t, and as the Brabham was snarled up, Vandem swept down the inside to take back his place, even if for only a second before his exit issues allowed Findlay back into the spot.

Half a lap later he was on the Brabham’s tail when he lost it at the end of Hanger.

Like Findlay he then did a bit of hay baling in a variety of corners, before having a lonely few laps. Not until lap 9 did he catch up to Arron, finally getting past in the hairpin when Arron went off to collect paint samples off the tin drums that marked the inside of the corner . . . .

That third place became second on lap 11 when all he had to do was to drive past Findlay’s beached Brabham at College, and he kept that spot until the flag, where he and Mitchell celebrated by smacking their cars into oblivion!!

Young had a very exciting first few laps as we have seen, but there is more to tell.

On lap 6 he lost it under brakes at College, and became entangled in the bales there. Unfortunately he couldn’t get free, and a technical issue meant he could not use Shift-R to fix it.

Sadly, he was out for the night.

Arron too had an exciting race, thrilled to be in the lead at the end of lap one, and holding it untroubled until lap 8 where he crashed at the hairpin under pressure from Mitchell and Findlay, letting both past.

That became fourth at the same corner on lap 9, when he clipped the oil drums letting Vandem through.

On lap 12, he should have been back in third when Findlay crashed at College, but instead crashed in sympathy. A lap later though, and he was through when Findlay repeated his error, and that was it until the flag.

Lewis played safe at the start, passing Mitchell and Findlay’s dancing cars, and despite a warp of his own at the hairpin, finished lap 1 in 5th place.

On lap 2 Findlay went by on the run to Cloverleaf, and on lap 3 Lewis crashed at Club.
Lap 5 he did it again.
Lap 6 he was past Young’s stranded Matra, and back into fifth.
Lap 8 he crashed at College, like so many others had done.
Lap 9 he lost it at the end of hanger.
At the end of lap 9, Mitchell put him a lap down.
Lap 13 he was back in College.
Lap 15, his final lap, he spun once more at Club, and that was that for race 1.
Mystified that he should have been so far off the pace, Lewis did some investigation and discovered that his mechanic had not only failed to make the setup changes needed for this circuit, but had completely brimmed the tanks, AND set the wings to flat. Kind of a miracle he finished at all!!

So the final race order for Race 1 was:
Mitchell
Vandem
Arron
Findlay
Lewis
Young (DNF)

[PinotNoir]

Ardmore Race 2

The front row was 4 wide
G Mitchell
K Findlay
M Vandem
P Arron
The second was
G Lewis
(Young’s car was still dead from race 1 so he did not qualify)

When the flag fell, the grid was clean away, Findlay once more falling to third initially but back into second at the exit of College. Arron had smacked the bales on the exit of College, and Vandem took somewhat extreme avoiding action that led him to touch the grass on the right and clip a bale. In the meantime, Arron was accelerating away and moved back to the middle of the track, just as Vandem was struggling for control of his own car, and also moved to the centre of the track.

The resulting accident was spectacular, and in real life there is no question that it would have been fatal. As it was, Shift R was employed by both drivers, and they were off after Lewis who had snuck through the carnage.

The leaders too had another incident, this time at the hairpin when Mitchell lost it and went into the bales. Findlay took the inside line seeing him tangled up, but Mitchell was free quicker than expected and the two touched and spun. Both started in the same order and lost no places. Stewards ruled it a racing incident and no penalty assessed to either.
Lewis was at this point right on their tails

At the end of lap one, Mitchell had a slight lead over Findlay, who did Mitchell a favour by yet again stopping at College to collect more hay.

It looked like Mitchell had this race absolutely in the bag, but on the approach to the pits at the end of lap 3 his engine blew up. Immediately he did a Shift+R, and was placed on the left of the track. Findlay then arrived on the scene and didn’t know about the engine blow up. He tried to pass on the right, but worried about another accident, kept well clear of the apex. This meant he was off line and drifted into the bales. Now it was his turn to Shift+R!

Mitchell didn’t know there was no drive through penalty for shift+R so very sportingly stopped by the pits. This let both Findlay and Vandem through.

Mitchell immediately celebrated by smacking into the bales at College, and again into the bales at the end of Hanger Straight on lap 5 as he was closing down on Findlay, who had been passed by Vandem, after doing yet more hay collecting at College.

Lewis held third position until College on lap 3. By the time he had done a Shift+R, both Vandem and Arron had gone past.

On lap 6 it was Vandem’s turn to have a fright at College. In fact he didn’t hit anything, but Findlay was now a lot closer than before.

College also caught out Mitchell once more, but like Vandem, he hit nothing this time around. He then had a lonely and boring time until lap 8 where he buried himself into College once more, needing another Shift+R to get free. That meant another pit stop, followed by an off at the end of Hanger Straight on lap 9.

He then set a string of very fast laps before catching Lewis on the approach to Cloverleaf, dived down the inside and crashed into the bales. Poor Lewis who had trying to keep out of the way, found himself off line in the dirt and simply followed Mitchell into the bales. He was trapped so badly he needed to Shift+R to extract himself.

For Mitchell, that was the end of his excitement until the end of lap 15.
In the meantime, Findlay had spent 4 laps trying to close down the gap to Vandem. Each lap he would gradually close up, only to watch Vandem disappear down the straight towards Colverleaf. The Matra simply had far better traction out of the hairpin and there was nothing Findlay could do about it.

Then on lap 9, it was Vandem’s turn to make hay at College. He too needed a Shift+R to restart, but even before that, Findlay was by in a lead he would never lose.

Vandem settled down until lap 13, when he began to attack the occasional bale, and then settled down again.

By the start of lap 16 though, Mitchell had finally tracked him down, and exiting College only a couple of car lengths separated the two cars. By the time they arrived at Club, Vandem was having to be very defensive and claimed the inside line, and Mitchell coming right alongside on the left, but that was as close as he could get. Vandem had second place secured, finishing roughly three car lengths ahead at the line.

And what of the others?

After the first lap incidents, Arron drove cleanly until lap 5 when he lost it at the end of Hanger Straight, which allowed Lewis right back to him again.
When Arron then had a huge slide onto the front straight at the end of that lap, Lewis was past into fourth place. Sadly, Lewis smacked it into the bales at the hairpin that very lap, and Arron was past once more. Lewis compounded his error by using too much wellie and spinning the car out of the hairpin.

Arron was then trouble free until he spun backwards into College on lap 8 and lap 11.

As he was completing lap 13, he let the leader through, but had a wee smack at College yet again. Exiting the hairpin the McLaren did a vicious tail slide, something it had been prone to for the whole race, but this time the driver only just managed to hang on to it.
From then on though it was a smooth ride to finishing fourth.

Lewis continued to have adventures after lap 6, being another one to visit the College hay on lap 7, smashing through the bales at the end of Hanger Straight, back to College on lap 10 when the leader lapped him, through the bales again at the end of Hanger, to let Vandem by.

Then came the incident with Mitchell at Cloverleaf, on lap 12 of the race.

The car now heavy with fuel once more was a handful in Club, and again at College, followed by some nice clean laps until Cloverleaf on lap 14 when his car came to a final halt.

So, the final order for Ardmore Race 2 was:
Findlay
Vandem
Mitchell
Arron
Lewis
At the after race party, the drivers suggested that they had all spent quite enough time at College!!

[PinotNoir]

So after the first two races at Armore, the Tasman GPL series leader board is as follows:

Mitchell 13
Findlay 12 (Ahead because of 1 victory)
Vandem 12
Arron 7
Lewis 4

Onto Levin next week.

[mctshirt]

Fantastic report!!!

I had already blocked out the memory of what a nightmare R1 was...it was like sitting in an AI car

Well done all and we'll see you at Levin!

[PinotNoir]

Fantastic report!!!
Well done all and we'll see you at Levin!

Ta.

It was quite a lot of fun watching each person's race to see what they did.
It didn't take too long with that number of cars.

I just tried Levin . . . . . . . wouldn't it be easier if we just went to a REAL indoor go-kart track, and drove our own real life cars on it?

Gordon Bennett!!
We are going to have a huge number of prangs there.
At the start of the race they completely cover the track. There is NO way
we are going to get through turn 1 in one piece!!
And be very glad that we have a small grid. If you need to Shift+R there, you can wait forever until the track is clear. I did a couple of laps with 19 AI cars, and I swear I had to wait for the leader to go past twice before I could restart!!!

I want to keep the same carset throughout, so we'll stay with the full 69 cars. Those with throttle control will be just fine, those who don't . . . . . . .

[Pete G]

Speaking of throttle control, i'm still having problems with my pedal unit, I've cleaned all the hay out of it but still no joy . I'm hoping to have it fixed or replaced by thur for Levin.
Thanks for the great race report, i can't remember half those prangs I was involved in, selective memory I'm sure .