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.

 

[Matt Crouch]

usual story. Drove around at the back for a few laps trying not to overtake anyone. Someone reset the router on lap 4. le end. I haven't had any lag for a month since my other housemate moved out, hoping this was a one off.

 

[David Cuthill]

A day to forget for me. I was in the totally wrong frame of mind from the start as I'd had a real **** day and was in a real bad mood.

Got up to speed for qualy in 4th and off the grid I was behind Peter D's Shelby and couldn't find a way around the big fat back end of his car. Made a mistake and lost a few places which I soon made back up and could see Peter D up ahead. Pushed hard and got closer but had wrecked the tyres by the last few laps and Ben got by on the last lap for what I thought was 5th place. Nope, was put back to 11th as I didn't spot the stop and go collected on the last corner. Sort of summed up my day really.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

results up

 

[Warren Dawes]

My least enjoyable race for the League.
Qualy P9, quite happy with that time in the Merc.

I even managed a reasonable start for once and held P9 after lap1. Steven went off track giving me another spot in lap 2. Lap 3, disaster :boom: . I could see Ben closing up behind so I started planning where to let him past, but it was taken out of my hands. Entering the second high speed chicane, I went too wide on entry and upset the balance making my exit slower. This must have caught Ben unawares (or he was impatient :behindsofa: ), as he drove into the back of me, spinning me around. I then became a pin-ball for the following cars, sorry guys :sorry: . All this resulted in a damaged car (steering) and no headlights. Ben was badly affected too, and spun off. :sad:
The rest of the race was a solo affair, made more difficult because I couldn't see much in the gloom, especially brake markers, many of which seemed to have been taken out anyway.
After a totally lonely, unenjoyable twenty odd laps, I finished P13.

I'll be glad to hand the keys of the Merc back as soon as possible, and get out of everyone's way. :mad-tongue: :yield:

 

[Kris Leeten]

I've got almost the same story as Warren: lonely race.
Didn't have any practice in advance here so I was happy to see my times drop during the practice session to a 2.06 in qualy with Hans & Bob behind me.
Race:
Had some enjoyable laps in the beginning (where Matt was making an effort not to overtake me) Started from p15 I managed to hold pos 12 untill lap 8, then the downfall began. Warren stumbled out of the dust in front of me and while trying desperately to keep up with him I made spin after spin untill the Alpine felt like it was driving on ice Finally end up with Hans with whom I had the best fun in this event (passing each other in allmost every corner ) He got me in the final lap: well done Hans, epic fail for me (again

Be sure I'll be better prepared for the next round with double points!

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

Had a good race last night. I've only done a couple of GTL races this summer and last League race was race 4 for me. I was a little out of shape but very happy with the results. Qualified 12th.

Had a good time chasing Stuart for the first half of the race. Love your two-wheeling man!:rofl:

The rest of the race I felt the pressure from Amir. I think the gap was 2.5s mid-race, after I had a pirouette in my Alpine. At the finish line it was down to 1s I think. There was no room for mistakes... Finished 8th

Thanks to Stuart, Amir and RD for good race.

 

[Harald Schneller]

So this was my first "to the end" - race ...
I was quite satisfied with my quali-time and a little surprised to get beyond the 2.04 with the alpine... then i saw Jari's time which was a 2.02 :freaked-out:... sensational
In the race I could keep up with the field in front of me - but just for some laps than I had to do a quite lonely race... but it was great fun and I hope to take place in the next - which seems to be the last - race...

btw: one thing which keeps me interested is that my fastest lap time which I did in Quali isn't shown in my best laps ... anyone knows why ???

 

[Matt Crouch]

The Fastest Lap in the race results only includes your race laps... Your qualifying time 2:03.875 is listed below in the qualifying results

 

[Jari Vinnari]

I did what I could but the others were bigger, meaner and faster.
Conratulations to Peter. Thanks again Stuart and the rest of the Racedepartment crew.

eace2:
Jari

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn9z6KRkBdI[/ame]

 

[Kris Leeten]

Said it before but have to say it again: in HD these movies look so great! Thanks Jari!

 

[Harald Schneller]

The Fastest Lap in the race results only includes your race laps... Your qualifying time 2:03.875 is listed below in the qualifying results

Thx for the info Matt - I use the gplrank (in this case gtlrank) and there when I upload my laptimes just the race-time is shown ... the tool can't upload my quali-time, which just appears in GTL-Multiplayerraces ... when I do offline-races my best quali and race times are uploaded... so it just seems to happen in Online-races ... any idea thatfore ??? :disapointed:

 

[Bert Van Waes]

I would use the league ranking above, the tab, to check all my times. There's a part there road to the grid i think it's called. Shows me everything i need to know. Qualify, practice, everything.

greets

 

[Stuart Thomson]

RDHGP S3 - Race 8 @ Spa-Franchorchamps - 8th August 2009

Welcome to Round 8 of the RDHGP 2009

The RDHGP League staff welcomes you to Round 8 - the finale - of the RDHGP season 3.

I can’t believe we’re at the last round already, it seems just a couple of weeks ago that I was pulling the entries together and assigning liveries. Please remember that this race breaks with format and schedule so we have a 200km event, run on a Saturday. Although I’ve mentioned the reason before, I’ll state it again – this is a double length race, so to prevent some timezones from running very late into a Friday morning when people have to get up for work the next day, it’s moved to a Saturday.

As it is a 200km event, a pitstop will be required. It’s a default track, so there will be no occurrence of the “pitcrew ignoring you” bug. None of the cars in the League can do a full race length. Even if they could, I personally wouldn’t fancy trying to navigate Spa on 20+ lap old tyres.

From the Garage, the maximum lapcounts of a full tank of petrol is as follows:-

Austin Healey – 24 laps
Ferrari 275 GTB – 19 laps
Mercedes 300SL – 21 laps
Renault Alpine A110 – 22 laps
Shelby GT250 – 23 laps

Please go here for a GTL pitstop guide, written by our own Warren Dawes.

This is more of an endurance style event, so please be prepared for the possibility that it might not be nose to nose racing for the approx 90 minutes. The very best of luck to all competitors.

On a slightly less upbeat note, the League Staff couldn’t help but notice that some of the lap times in practice stopped improving after there was a question and clarification on cutting rules, and that we urged anyone witnessing excessive cutting to raise an incident report. I myself witnessed a couple of bits of outrageous cutting, both by the same person, who resorted to these ridiculous lines to prevent a passing attempt being made upon them.

This is NOT the attitude I want to see in the RDHGP, and any further breaches of that type will result in penalties, and possible exclusion from future leagues.

Circuit Notes

Circuit Spa-Francorchamps is one of the most famous tracks in motor racing history. Situated between the towns of Francorchamps, Stevlot & Malmedy, it originally used public roads, hence some of the corner names. In 1979 it was brutally cut from its previous 14km layout, losing some of the most famous (and most dangerous) corners. Les Combes was a left hander back then, rather than a right hander, leading out to the high speed sections past the village of Burnenville, through the dramatic downhill twisting drop away of Malmedy (the current corner called Malmedy is so called because it is closest to the town of Malmedy, but has no relation to its fearsome forebear), downhill to the infamous Masta Kink, where Jackie Stewart once found himself upside down in a farmhouse cellar with petrol pouring over him.

Spa also houses the famous Eau Rouge corner, a downhill/uphill, right/left/right complex where bravery can be rewarded with either a great lap time, or an intimate knowledge of the barriers.

The track cut did not affect one of the more idiosyncratic features of Spa, in that the Ardennes climate can often mean one end of the track is dry, while the other is experiencing rain.

Among its many prestigious events, it hold the Historic Touring Car Spa 6 hour race. This is our homage to that great event.

The Race Director has some notes for drivers. Please see the track map above for location of Race Direction note:-
1. Eau Rouge - is lined on the left hand side by very a solid tyre wall, and on the left by what looks like tarmac, but is incredibly slippery, the other side of which is the pit exit. Impacts on the left could easily throw the affected into the path of following cars, especially as the Eue Rouge exit/Radillion entrance is blind. Going wide right can cause erratic rejoinings of the track.

2. Blancimont also has that tarmac looking, but actually very slick surface on the run off area, with a tyre wall on the outside that closes into the run off area, so straying onto here at what will be high speed is dangerous.

Incidents, Investigations and Penalties

There are no outstanding Incidents, Investigations nor Penalties from Round 7.

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.)

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.

The Final Word

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

I hope to see you all in the 76ers later in the year.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Thread open

 

[Peter Duivelaar]

I already want to thank Stuart for this league and let's make this last race as good as all the other ones.

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

Indeed Peter. Great job Stuart:good:

I can’t believe we’re at the last round already, it seems just a couple of weeks ago that I was pulling the entries together and assigning liveries.

Totally agree. Suddenly its grand finale. Allthough I havn't had the chance to participate as much as I wanted to this summer. Next league will be better timing for me. Looking forward!

 

[Jari Vinnari]

Almost forgot that last race is on Saturday evening.

eace2:
Jari

 

[Warren Dawes]

Sorry, I can't make the final round due to a rearrangement of my next RL Mini Club outing. Hope you all have a great finale to a top league.

Congratulations and thanks to Stuart for organizing this and to all competitors over the past couple of months. :handshake:


Mercedes Benz have also fired me as a future driver for their cars. :snail:

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Big chance ill be home in time to join this grand finale. Looking forward to my first long GTL race at Spa!

Agreed with all the kudos to Stu.. Excellent organisation man!

 

[Ivo Simons]

I always watch the recap of the race. And my teammatie David always makes a nice report on our site. Very nice event it is and i am considering to be there next season.
Just a quick thought i got. Live Broadcast?. That will be a nice ending to the season especially on Spa with alot of people watching you. :wink2: