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.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Woooh first race of the season is over, and what a race it was :thumb: Thanks guys for this event, cause it was bloody brilliant!

Tried the track and car for the first time this afternoon and man i was scared, laptimes were nowhere and the handling of the Shelby on this track describes the best as driving a NASCAR on ice :woop:

Practice went ok with a full tank, qualy i was nowhere with an empty one (1+1=2?)

Good start of the race, climbed from 16 to 9 i guess, nice rubbin' with the tiny little Alpine of Jari for a few laps until he realized he was from Finland and took off

Jay was always around a second or two from me the entire race and suddenly he overtook me and froze up and was gone (yeah right).. Had a lonely 2nd part of the race where the sun was annoying the hell out of me (can we put start time a little more earlier?) and a Trulli-moment without concentration the Shelby spun and i had to pull a donut on the last corner to get going again.
In this phase of the race i was getting worried, everybody was making a pitstop and i couldn't remember if it was mandatory or not, decided to gamble and didn't pit and just followed my way!
3rd part of the race the grip was gone, but you hardly notice it in the handling, because the Shelby was a PITA the whole race D) only the laptimes were dropping and Jay Adgie was catching up. Race winner Ben lapped me two laps for the finish and in the last lap i gave it away, was a little bit too pushy trying to maintain the gap towards Jay and i spun, resulting in a 9th position at the finish.

Thanks Stu for this awesome league and thanks to the rest for showing up in big numbers!! :thumb:

Grats to the podium and see you all next time!

Regards,

Jock Opposite Lock

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

Awasome race! About 500 heal and toes accomplished, but most of them with pedals 20cm away from where they should have been! Lap times quickly deteriorated...

To my surprise i managed 2nd in qualy. With the rear engined car I could blast to 1st in the race. Benny boy quickly reeled me in though and overtook me. Then on I was 2nd until i did a pitstop. A pitstop i shouldn't have done Got back out in 7th and made my way up to 5th. Was really strugling with my pedals and some stiff muscles at this point. Spent some time behind Patrick Dievelaar and couldn't risk an overtake. Had some fun laps driving behind you! That mustang is quite a beast Finally on second(?) last lap I managed to take 4th in race. VERY happy with that


AMazing event Stuart! Thanks RD. Good to have some time for restitution before next event By then I should have some metal fabrication for my pedals...

 

[Bert Van Waes]

Forgot to ask but can anybody upload the replay file? My GTl didn't record it, atleast, something was recorded, but lol, it's like 30 seconds...

Again TX RD!!!

Greets

 

[Matt Crouch]

Forgot to ask but can anybody upload the replay file? My GTl didn't record it, atleast, something was recorded, but lol, it's like 30 seconds...

Again TX RD!!!

Greets

you can stop this happening in future with a plr change:
http://forum.racedepartment.com/243325-post85.html


Unsurprisingly I don't have a full replay of this race

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

you can stop this happening in future with a plr change:
http://forum.racedepartment.com/243325-post85.html


Unsurprisingly I don't have a full replay of this race

Thank you. Was just about to ask about this!

 

[Steven Palmer]

If all the races go like that this is gonna be a great season:dance2:

Was good to get to the event without anyone spilling any lap times in the forum, so it was a real nice surprise when the times started coming in, and I saw that I was at least near the pace.

Quali went very well with a PB for me:dance2: and position P8(?)

Race: Nice start, think I lost out 1 place to a Ferrari into T1 and had a steady opening couple of laps. Think it was lap 3 when Sam in front of me had a slower exit from the sweeping right hander an I was able to get a good run on him down to Tarzan. Knowing the little Alpine was pretty good on the brakes I sent a little cheeky move up the inside and squeezed past, unfortunately I got the slightest of taps exiting the second part of Tarzan,and once the little French lady starts to go there's not a lot you can do until she calms down. Anyway's down to P18 and the start of a fantastic run through the positions back up to P9(?) by the finish (Bram I'm sure you were ahead of me) Fantastic Race :skywalker:

Thanks guys for a great evening, and a great start to the league. arty2:

Grats to Ben for the win and to the rest of the podium. Well Done guys

 

[Amir Margalit]

are pit stops mandatory in the league?

 

[Steven Palmer]

are pit stops mandatory in the league?

No mate

 

[Ben Tusting]

Amir have a read of this
http://forum.racedepartment.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1010

and to your question Pitstops aren't mandatory

 

[Amir Margalit]

No mate

oh no so i lost at least 4 places then.
never mind it was a bad race for me tonight anyway.
sorry for the incidents between us stuart.

 

[Bert Van Waes]

Aha tx to clear that out for me. Now the next ones will be recorded

What i do have is the hotlap off the race.

 

[David Cuthill]

What a great start to the season. Good, clean driving all around me, the sort we've come to expect.

Starting from 10th, I managed to pull up a few places in the first few laps and was riding in 8th when Sam had his accident up ahead. I just managed to squeeze around the cars, leaving me in 5th. After a few battles, I settled into 6th place, slowly catching the two cars ahead ahead. It was around lap 18 when my tyres lost grip very quickly and heading into the second last turn I had a tank-slapping moment, reeling from side-to-side and eventually ending in the wall. No real damage done but a few places lost and a strong warning to keep it smooth.

I had fuelled up for the full race distance, as much for the experience of trying to get it home with no new tyres so made some places back as others pitted. From then on in, it was a matter of keeping the car on the road with bald tyres. The amount of concentration and physical effort was draining but I managed to bring it home in 6th place.

Thanks Stu.

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

Two from hot lap for me aswell. This car is an absolute gem:skywalker:

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Thanks for the race reports guys. To the rest please keep them coming because it is really nice to read how your experience was. Thanks for those screenshots as well!

 

[Steven Palmer]

Mighty Migets

Vrooooooooooommmmm :skywalker::laugh2:

 

[Glenn Morris]

Looks like you blokes had a blast! Pity mid-week is a no no for me.

How was the general attitude from the group? Regular racing club boys may be able to give a general impression... Was it as friendly as COTM and weekday sprint racing, or a bit more on the serious side?

Still, I betcha GTL has the best league going round!

 

[Jari Vinnari]

Sadly my replay file was overwritten and I must remember to fix it before next race.

It was very nice race and I wish to say thanks to Stuart and the rest of RD crew for this great event.
Bram...Im sure you will have your revenge next time we race. That roaring Mustang was wickedly fast at the straigh. Im just glad that it corners worse than the first T-model Ford from year 1908. :rotfl:

peace
Jari

 

[Kris Leeten]

Newsflash: The wider region of Antwerp, Belgium got disturbed yesterday evening by very loud screams. The police went out for investigation and found a possessed simracer, entangled in the wires of his G25, with the shifter in his hand. At that moment his screen showed an Alpine in the grid after 4 laps, where he had to give room to 12 other drivers, and rejoin the field completely at the back of the pack. The police understood there was no violence present and decided to leave it for what is was. When they entered their car they heard more yelling, but couldn't be bothered by the frustration of this enthusiastic simracer. (Once again the shifter released)


Ok, serious now. Qualified 5th with a low 1.31.5 (new PB )
Start: Completely messed up the first 2 corners (I wanted to keep it safe) and
Patrick was able to pass me. That big red ship was blocking the entire width of the track (driftstyle )
Tried to follow, but was hunted by Sam (I think). A bit after I lost track of him in my rearmirror the nightmare started in the fast right downhill corner. The stupid shifter released from my desk and my attempt to corner it in 5th gear failed flagrantly :loser:. As the newsflash already stated, I had to wait for the entire pack to pass by. Frustration all around me, even more because the shifter wasn't reinstalled as it should be. This resulted in another spin 2 corners later.
Then I tried converting frustration into concentration, which seemed to work out. Comming back from 18/19th to 14th in a few laps where I took 2 seconds/lap on the drivers up front. Then I encountered Mr. Schmick. I had a very difficult time trying to pass without crashing the both of us. Dozens of times when I got side by side at the exit of the corner the Benz easily pulled away.
At the end I was driving in 10th position, but was overtaken by Amir in the final laps.

Great race, damned G25 shifter, and gratz to Ben and the podium.

I will check if I have the replay for some screenies or a little movie. (but I think I disabled replays ) It would be nice if someone can upload the replay.

 

[Andrew Evans]

driving gtl is like having bi-polar disorder.... one race, euphoric mania... next race, crushing black depression....

and how the dark embraces meeeeeee!

never turned a wheel at mondello until just before the start of prac... but that doesn't make much diffs since it only takes a few laps to know whether yer gonna go left or right at the next corner...

healey was a piece of crap - not the joy machine i experienced during the group test...

hoping for a flip to the mania pole for the next one.....

 

[Sam J Simpson]

Had a terrible race, twice I spun someone and waited until they rejoined, bog last after first time with Simon, got back to 12th at end, unhappy with my miserable driving, not like me but **it happens so what can you do, think I'll join Mr Evans in his black depths.

Sam