RDHGP S3 - Merged Race Threads

[Stuart Thomson]

Welcome to the Race Department Historic Grand Prix (RDHGP)

The RDHGP League staff welcome you to the 2009 RDHGP season.

We are using a selected field of 5 cars conforming to the FIA GTC65 specifications & regulations. The season will run over 8 races, 7 races over a distance of 100km, plus the season finale over a distance of 200km. The 100km races will be run on alternating Thursdays commencing 7th May, with the season finale running on Saturday 8th August.

While by it’s very nature, the League environment is more competitive than the Club environment, please remember what makes the GTL Club so unique – our consideration for all other competitors at all times. Let’s try and carry this tradition of clean, fun and considerate racing over into a League environment.

Circuit Notes

Ireland’s Mondello Park was opened in 1968, the original 1.3km track being extended to 1.9km for the following season for what we know as the “National” circuit layout. The track was extended in 1998 to 3.5km – the “International” circuit.

The RDHGP, due it’s prestige, unique format and exotic blend of vehicle, will be using the 2.8km “Intermediate” layout, which has not been used for car racing since 2000. We thank Mondello Park for re-opening this rarely used layout for us.

The Race Director has some notes for drivers. Please see the track map above for location of Race Direction note:-

1. The Start / Finish straight is fairly narrow, and the pitlane exit can be quite tricky. It would be unreasonable and unfeasible to expect drivers at the race start to avoid the pitlane exit. Therefore, the Race Director has the following finding:
   The Pit Exit is usable only at the race start (defined by the Go signal until the completion of Corner 1, Lap 1 by the last runner) as normal racetrack and thereafter, for avoidance purposes only. Drivers using it as their habitual line will face penalty.
   
   
2. The Esses have a tyre wall that can, if impacted, throw the affected car across the track, potentially into the path of following cars. Other areas of the track tend to send you away from the track rather than back across it, which is why this one is being mentioned.
   
   
3. The Pitlane Entrance is immediately beyond a fast, accelerating turn. If you are intending to pit and you have a car close behind you who you think is not going to pit, you will need to be careful when and how you brake for the Pitlane. Similarly, if you are following a car closely through this turn, you will need to be aware of the possibility of them pitting.
   

Incidents, Investigations and Penalties

As this is round 1 there are no outstanding Incidents, Investigations nor Penalties.
Please remember, the League staff will only review incidents if they are reported to them.

No report = no review.

Please try and remember the incident reporting guidelines: review, 24 hour cool off, review again. Only after following the above process, and if you are convinced you still need to report it, should you let the League staff know. Please give as much information as possible during the report (time of incident, drivers involved etc.)

The RDHGP will not be running the virtual license format adopted by the RDTCC. Incidents will be treated on a case-by-case basis, and punishments dispensed on the merits (or not) of the complaint. The League Staff reserve the right to remove any driver from the league if a pattern of infringement becomes apparent. League Staff decisions on penalties are final and not subject to appeal.

Liveries

You have chosen your car and livery already, and you must only drive your chosen car at any time during an RDHGP event. We are using the default liveries only in RDHGP.

Competitors Summary

Attached to this briefing, you will find the summary for all competitors that have registered for this league. This reflects the driver registered in GPCOS, not the sign up thread. This will show their name, nationality, vehicle choice, number and livery. This is for reference only and will not change to reflect performance or attendance. As drivers register in GPCOS, the chart will be updated.

GPCOS will be the tool for defining attendance and record keeping.

 

[Bert Van Waes]

Man it was hot!!!!

But this race was it for me...

Great qualifying session followed up by a great start...

It felled very weird to experience a race like this in the front. There was almost no room for errors and the pace was fast... My god it was fun. Grats to Ben and Peter, and to everyone else too oc... It seems there were so much battles going on on the track.

I had crazy moments too with David and in the beginning with Peter. First laps we even could keep the pace up a bit with Ben. 50 meters away from us.

Truly stressfull at the last laps, battling it out like it was real with David, choosing different lines etc... Only once we hit eachother. Tx for the clean racing David and Peter.

I actually never had to battle against someone else then those two. And now i understand that a qualify lap is so important for the Ferrari...

Anyways, Loved it, report will be up this weekend, i have lots off time now, hehe :th_wink:

Tx RD and Stuart for yet another spectacular event!!!:skywalker::skywalker:

 

[Jari Vinnari]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ua7pStQey0[/ame]

peace
Jari

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

/me hit thanks button before even watching it. Super fast movie Jari, thanks!!

 

[Hans Sneep]

Did a race report that took me more then 1 our to write and when I hit Priview Post I get : your submission could not be proceed etc ,pusch back button and reload ,so I do ,bud it make no diff.the same message appear,and again.

Second, every time I have to login,check remember me, cookies are enabled
and that happens only on the Forum.
A solution fore this?

Hans

 

[Warren Dawes]

Second, every time I have to login,check remember me, cookies are enabled
and that happens only on the Forum.
A solution fore this?

Hans

Hans, you have to remove all of your cookies and browsing history, then log in again.
There is a thread somewhere about using a "cleaner" programme to remove the cookies etc somewhere here, just can't find it right now. I think it is called "ccleaner" or similar, but first just use your browser to remove it all.

Alternatively, when I had the problem, if I entered the homepage first, I remained logged into the forum without signing in again.

 

[Hans Sneep]

New York July 03,
I am on my way to Watkins Glen for a support race this weekend by the organization of the Indycar series for round 9 on Sunday .

We will race on Saturday evening 2 races with the Corvettes I hope we are there on time so we can do some training to setup the cars.

During my flight to New York I have some time to do my race report of the league race from yesterday held in Brazil on the Interlagos track.
We as Pro race drivers do have a fantastic job,last Tuesday we where in France on Paul Ricard on invitation bases to do some races with the faster cars out the series:BMW CSL-Porche's -Escort's-Cobra's,Men I love this job.

OK my race report, after the race in France we arrived on Wednesday late on the Interlagos race track bud the race director give us some time to do some training ,to get familiar with the track(never did a race there) and to make some setups with the mechanics.

After a short sleep we where ready for race day, good do some practice before the Qualification started,bud my time´s where not that good ,on my Pit Board ,a time 1,60 never seen that before.fastest time 1,58,2xx give me dead last place 18 on the grid.

Did a good start ,past Bob and Warren ,past Simon in the Esses so place15
Simon get back on me ,later Simon of track with Matt ,Matt suffers leg.

place 14 after I think 2or 3 laps going well,then Kris slips of place 13 wow,
not fore long Kris back on me.
Then T1 disaster,Steven slide in the middle of the track good not avoid him so hit him hard ,Warren close behind hit me so I am facing the fence ,back on track my Healey was damaged in the front bud everything was OK I hope.

Matt on my tail on the Reta Oposta ,try to brake late bud out braked my self so slip off, place 17 , past Bob again chasing Simon and Steven,Kris of track
and closing on Simon he get a big slide and hit Esc. place 14 .

The guys in front of me where to far away to catch up so I try to do some steady lap times , all in the 2,00 with 1 or 2 sec diff.

Reeling in Kris, pl 13 bud did a big slide and Kris back,he is going to the Pits so I am back on pl 13 fore the rest of the race,and get some points!

To round it up I must say My Healey and I are understanding each other better now,she get some time to fix the front,and then up to Mid Ohio

Thanks for a great race evening ,and I will see you on Wat Glen Saturday

Hans

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Blimey - @ 2:54 you see me get a big old smack from a Renault - don't even remember that happening

Please file any further race reports from me as "unreliable" :dance2:

 

[Kris Leeten]

Still no update on GPCOS? Not that it'll be that interesting after my failure in Interlagos, but you spoiled us with the fast updates the previous times

 

[Jari Vinnari]

I was slow as usual in qualifying and my time awarded me 7th place in the grid. My start was good but soon Bram and Amir just flew past me with their more powerfull cars.
I overtook Matt in slow part of the track but both Matt and Peter zoomed past me in the main sraight. I swear both I and my little Alpine shivered in fear when I heard the sound of those big engined bullies.
I was 9th place behind Amir and finally could overtake him in the slow part of the track. I tried to widen the cap to him but swear I saw a big smile and hand wawe when he overtook me at the main straight. At that point I was ready sacrifice to the gods to have more top speed.

Amir and Sam had a accident which resulted to a spin for Amir. I couldnt avoid touching Sam who rolled to grass and he decide to quit after that.

Later in the race I was behind Peter´s mighty Shelby. Once again the Alpine´s great speed in slow corner favoured me when I managed to slip past Peter. We had exciting drag race at the main sraight and we were sided by side coming to first corner. Peter´s Shelby got loose when braking to corner and I managed to keep my place. I thought Peter would overtake me in next straight but for some reason he didnt do that.
Later part of the race I was in 6th place catching 5th place man Bram. I gaught him eventually and for unknown reason Bram decided to let me pass without fighting.
Finished in 5th place with second fastest lap time of the race.

Congratulations to Ben and rest of the podium for excellent race. This round seemed to be very action packed for many drivers. As usual in this league driving and behauviour of the people have been excellent. Thank you all for that.

peace
Jari

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Results are parsed and up :good:

 

[Bert Van Waes]

It seems that the results are a bit mixed up because i thought i qualified 3th but GPCOS says 7th :sarcastic:
My lap was 01:55.274 and in gpcos it's around 1m22.... Strange

Lol

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Hmm
yes doesn't look right - I'll scrap it and redo

 

[Stuart Thomson]

:doh: sorry chaps - all sorted now

 

[Steven Palmer]

Interlagos - Round 5 - RDHGP

Interlagos always invokes a feeling of warm nostalgia for me. Scene of many a great battle in Formula 1 over the years, it's also the home track of the iconic Ayrton Senna, who along with Nigel Mansell in the 1990's provided me with endless hours of excitement around the 4.3Km circuit, set among the many lakes the track takes it's name from.

Thanks to all the participants agreement not to talk about lap times in the forum, it's always a tentative time entering the server and taking that first look at the time sheet to compare your lap times to those of you rivals, and naturally those of the drivers in the same machinery as your chosen ride.

To my pleasant surprise, the times I had been achieving throughout the week practising, were a match for the front runners.

Practice - My lap times were consistently getting better as the session progressed and as it wore on, amazingly I was top of the time sheet, which prompted a jovial Aussie to shout from the pitlane " Someone knock Steve of the top" Peter in his raucous Ferrari promptly did.

Qualifying - Buoyed by the good practice session, I was really looking forward to quali. Surely a top 10 start was achievable? The hugely powerful Ferrari's and Shelbys where bound to lock out the front few rows and leave the Healys and Alpines scrapping over the pieces. Practice was after all just that and now the serious times would start popping up on the board. But no it wasn't quite going that way. I decided on doing 2 flying laps at a time as I found the tyres,grip and handling where better after a couple of laps. At the end of my second run I was P2. What!! an Alpine on the front row. Wow. The end of the session was tense, my first flying lap was not good, then on the second I got a slide, so I quit back to the pit knowing another lap wouldn't be possible. As the chequered flag came down at the end it was a Healy and an Alpine on row 1. Ben and Me. Fantastic, my best qualifying to date and hugely satisfying. If only it could end now and I would be on cloud 9. :cloudy:

Trouble is there was still the small matter of 26 laps to complete before I could give myself a pat on the back, and some hungry looking opposition just behind me waiting to gobble me and my little Alpine up on the straights :drool: Nonetheless, I was looking forward to a good race and hopefully some good points.


The Race - Turn 1 was going to be tough, not far enough for the big engine cars to really get upto full speed but essential to get a good start then hold off those behind.

3-2-1- GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ben got bogged down and I shot of into the LEAD, for about 20 yards

Bert's Ferrari found its legs and went round the outside will Sam's Healy sneaked down the inside, and watching the replay, I must of thought contact was imminent because I suddenly took a little jink to the right, which lost me precious momentum and I was under pressure all the way round to Junção, losing position after position finally finishing the lap P8.

The next few laps were a nightmare and one's I wish to forget. On lap 3 while still on the tail end of the leading group, I went in slightly too hot for Descida do Lago and the rear end broke away, sending me on a little excursion over the grass and dropping me down to P12. The very next lap and still annoyed about the spin, the back broke away again going into the S do Senna complex of left rights. Unfortunately the following cars were blind to the fact I was stranded in the middle of the circuit. Kris squeezed through, but Hans wasn't able to and with nowhere to go, T-boned me. After waiting for Hans to rejoin I felt it just wasn't going to be the race I had hoped it would be only 6 and a half minuets ago! P16 and totally dejected I set off in the hope that I could at least get a rhythm going and bag a point.

The race melted by and by mid point I was able to claw myself back to P12, and in the distance could see 2 shimmering specks of silver on the horizon. A lap later and I was on the tail of the battling duo, Maurice and Warren in their elegant cruisers. For lap after lap I tried to find a way around those big briusers but as soon as I thought I had found a way through, the big Mercs engine would wind up and breeze past down the straights no matter how hard I tried to defend.

Laps melted into one another and I had huge fun annoying the hell out of Warren until I was finally able to make a pass stick up the inside at Junção and luckily kept enough momentum going to take me out of reach before the end of the straight. Then it was Maurice's turn to defend against the little blue mosquito and at the same place I slipped past Warren, I was able to slip past Maurice, only this time I didn't have the pace to keep the Stuttgart Mammoth at bay, I squeezed Maurice to the limits running up the hill, and gained the position, but the difference in horsepower was evident and with T1 looming it was time to go on the defence and cover the inside line. Maurice however had different ideas and pulled off an amazing late brake, a touch too late, because even though he went past, the momentum took him past the apex and gave me the opportunity to switch back and pull along the inside.

Again it was a drag down the Reta Oposta with Maurice and Warren coming up the inside. This really was going to be a case of who dared brake last :male-fighter2: and as I zipped past my braking point, I finally slammed on the anchors and watched as Maurice went by, but starting to lose the rear end in a half slide. That was all I needed and both I and Warren zoomed past in that order until the end of the lap and the race. Wow!!! 2 positions gained on the last lap and finishing P10.

An epic race and another reason why I love this league

I really do need to get some consistency in the opening laps, but that said, I would never of had this fantastic battle with Warren and Maurice otherwise.

Well done Ben for the win on track that surely favoured the bigger engined cars. Congrats also to Peter & Bert for the podium.

Thanks to all those who participated in tonight race and good luck to all at Mid Ohio, which I'll sadly miss because of a holiday, but I hope to resume battle in Renault's back garden, Magny-Cours :good:

Special thank you to Jari for the excellent video, it captures my battle with the Mercs superbly. :good:

Here's a few pics from the event, hopefully everyone has been captured


In the lead....for about 10 seconds

All safely through T1

Tusty taking the lead

Getting hassled

Team Shelby

Ferrari power

Closing in

1 down 1 to go ..... again!

round the outside

last lap ... finally a gap ... P10 to the end

 

[Bert Van Waes]

Wow Steven, tx for that detailed one!!
It was a joy to read mate. Have a great holiday

greets

 

[Hans Sneep]

Great story and very nice pictures , thanks Steven

Hans

 

[David Cuthill]

Yet again, it was a privilege to drive in this league.

Not a great qualifier, but once off the line I was quickly on the back of the Ferrari trio behind Bert. In fact that's the way it would stay for 3/4 of the race. A familiar pattern then developed where I would catch up through the winding corners and Bert would then put a big gap between us on the long home straight, leaving me struggling to get back on his tail for the rest of the lap. This was a bit confusing as I couldn't think of any reason for the difference in straight-line speed.

Eventually I had an opportunity two laps from the end and managed to take a tight line inside Bert to get ahead - but how could I hold this lead on the home straight? I couldn't, as he easily got by but I was braking better on the first turn and again managed to sneak ahead. Nothing between us into the last corner. I'm still in front as we head over the crest into the home straight but Bert is heading down the inside. For a split second, an evil thought crossed my mind to (legally) block the pass but it quickly passes, as does Bert - into a thoroughly deserved podium place a few tenths ahead - marvelous.


Postscript: After viewing the replay to write this up, I still couldn't understand why my Ferrari was so slow at top speed. I took a look at the set-up in case there was something wrong, but all looked fine - still no idea. Last night, It finally dawned on me what could be wrong. I bought Leo Bodnar's G25 USB box a few weeks ago, plugged it in, calibrated it in GTL and all seemed fine. Turns out I was only getting about 95% max on my throttle as it needed fully cleared then re-configured in the O.S. Note to self - read the instructions next time!

Until next time...

 

[Bert Van Waes]

Ouch David, it was great indeed

Shame of the throttle incident. Imagine what kind of a fight it would have been, probably the whole race long. I must say i was prepared for the blocking manoevre and a bit surprised it didn't came . Great racing from you there mate.

Actually i realised at the end of practice my G25 profile from the board here was messed up as i changed to much. That happend last race (worst result too) and i had forgotten to change it back yet. I quickly wne tout and copy pasted it again.
And suddenly laps went better. I used the Furry setup and maybe changed 0.1 camber in the rear, but i could 've changed it back. i was wondering too why you lost speed on the straights...

Greets and tx for the thrilling 50 mins

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Picture reporting time!! Thanks Steven & Co! I love the after race chat in this league almost as much as the racing itself! Muchos thanks!

 

[Stuart Thomson]

RDHGP S3 - Race 6 @ Mid Ohio Chicaned - 16th July 2009

Welcome to Round 6 of the RDHGP 2009

The RDHGP League staff welcomes you back to the 2009 RDHGP season.

As you will no doubt be aware, we are having some major to industrial strength connectivity issues with GTL, and ones that are completely out of my control, but I’m going to apologise anyway. After some deep thinking and weighty consideration, we are going summon up the London Blitz spirit and carry on with the League.

Edit: Late breaking news, our very own Wizard, Ramon Van Rijn has used his technical jiggery, and not forgetting pokery, to fix the lobby issue. Please go to the link below and follow his procedures, and you will not have to use the Anti-Disco patch.

http://forum.racedepartment.com/gt-legends/20841-gtl-lobby-fix.html

We continue our trip across the Americas, travelling north from Sao Paolo in Brazil, up to the eastern United States, sandwiched between Pennsylvania, Michigan & Lake Erie, to Lexington, OH and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The layout we are using is the one in the GTL Downloads section, and there is also a link below the track map in this briefing.

I suppose that, with only 3 races left including this one, we are entering the home stretch of the RDHGP2009.1. I hope you are all still enjoying it as much as I am, and that most of you will join us later in the year for the RDHGP2009.2 in a set of the 76 cars.

Again, I’m delighted to say that we have received no Official Incident Reports from Interlagos, but please see below for some further comment on this.

Croucher suffered again with the lag which is a real shame for him - best of luck this week Matt. In better news, Ben was able to schedule his toilet breaks better.

Circuit Notes

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was opened in 1962, and is an undulating 15 turn, 2.4 mile/ 3.86km course, full of gradients, on and off camber turns and with one of the longer straights in the RDHGP season, most of it being downhill, so some very high speeds get reached, and naturally with the heaviest braking zone at the end of it. There are some classic crested turns (that sounds like some sort of seagull) where too much enthusiasm to accelerate while the car is light on it’s tyres will cause some pirouettes, often leaving you stranded in the middle of the track as the rest of the pack bears down upon you.

That long back straight will be great fun, as the fastest cars in the RDHGP are also the heaviest, so I’d expect some late braking shenanigans going on down there with the lighter cars.

Track download


The Race Director has some notes for drivers. Please see the track map above for location of Race Direction note:-






Mid Ohio Chicaned is a clockwise track, with some potential for some great racing. The staff would like to just mention the following areas of the track.

• Turn 1 has the pit exit on the inside, always something to be aware of, but the separator for this is very highly kerbed, and taking liberties here can throw you across the track and onto the grassy infield.
• The Keyhole is crested and off camber, injudicious use of the throttle here will generally cause you to spin in the middle of the track, leaving you open to heavy impacts from people coming round the corner with not much warning of your turmoil, and little grip to use for avoidance.
• Turn 5 Left, the left hander after the back straight and T4R, is very similar in profile to the Keyhole, being crested and off camber. Again spinning here puts you at risk of serious impacts from drivers who are unsighted and scrabbling for grip themselves.
• The Carousel is a very difficult corner, with no real reference markings for braking and turning, in with the pitlane entrance on the outside if you start to drift. The pitlane wall can cause serious damage if impacted. It might be better, if you start to drift wide in Carousel and cannot regain the car in time, to take avoidance down the pitlane, remembering to put on your limiter. Yes, this will lose you quite a bit of time, but the pit wall is very unforgiving.

Incidents, Investigations and Penalties

As mentioned above there were no Incidents reported after Round 5.

Again lots of reports of clean and exciting battles, although some things were mentioned to me unofficially, something I’ve also experienced in recent events, League and non-League. I would ask everyone to please keep the standard of clean driving up as much as possible - including when going defensive, which is what I’m referring to in the passage above.

Please be aware of people looking to pass, that is what racing is about after all. We have lots of regulations about people trying to make a pass recklessly being penalised, but reckless or uncontrolled defence is just as bad. If someone is trying to pass you, and they get their nose next to you, sweeping across them is not what I would expect to see happen – I would expect to see respect being shown, lines being held and not swerved from, just enough room being given, without making any passes too easy. Cutting or sweeping across people’s noses is extremely aggressive, and propagates difficult to avoid impacts, so please have the decency to avoid doing it. Resorting to cutting or drifting across someone’s nose if they have a look is not what I expect from this group of drivers, and any reports of this will be treated the same as any other reckless driving.

Please remember, the League staff will only review incidents if they are reported to them, on an Incident Report form, with a video attached wherever possible.

No report = no review.

Please try and remember the incident reporting guidelines: review, 24 hour cool off, review again. Only after following the above process, and if you are convinced you still need to report it, should you let the League staff know. Please give as much information as possible during the report (time of incident, drivers involved etc.)

Liveries

You have chosen your car and livery already, and you must only drive your chosen car at any time during an RDHGP event. We are using the default liveries only in RDHGP.

Competitors Summary

Attached to this briefing, you will find the summary for all competitors that have registered for this league. This will show their name, nationality, vehicle choice, number and livery. This is for reference only and will not change to reflect performance or attendance.

We have had two official withdrawals from the League:-

Andrew Evans - 453 – Austin Healey 3000
Yoeri Gijsen – 450 – Austin Healey 3000

We have had another driver joining the League:-

Mark A. Warmington – 471 – Austin Healey 3000

GPCOS will be the tool for defining attendance and record keeping.

The Final Word

Thanks for reading this far, let's continue with the generally good spirit of the RDHGP as it remains a great (and easy) series to administer, and good fun for me to run in, thanks to the quality of the competitors.

Anyone who manages to join us for the race on Thursday by using the Anti Disco patch, my thanks go out to you. In this awkward time for GTL, all the support you give is very much appreciated. Please try and attend, once you get the Anti Disco patch applied, and you go through the troubleshooting points, it’s just as easy as using the lobby, so I’d hope to see quite a few of you there.