RDHGP S5 - Round 1 - Circuit de la Neuveville - 29th April 2010

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Stuart Thomson

The Stoat Without Fear ™
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Welcome to Season 5 of the RD Historic Grand Prix

A very warm welcome from the RDHGP staff to all drivers - some new, some returning - to Race 1 of the 2010 RDHGP Season 5.

I am heartened to see the continued interest in this League, with a plethora of grizzled veteran drivers returning for yet another campaign, alongside RDHGP novices who (presumably) are joining after seeing, reading and hearing about the previous seasons' enjoyment.




The contrast in moving from some of the quickest and unruliest cars in the game to some of the most docile and driveable has many more knock-on effects than just lap times:-
  • Some drivers prefer the lower power / higher momentum cars to the high power / torque management style of the quicker cars
  • The lower power cars throw open the track choices - bringing tracks back into contention that would be all but unbearably frustrating in the high power cars, and allowing for more extremes of performance balancing
  • Driving mistakes tend to be at far lower speeds, and therefore tend to either a) result in fewer wall impacts, or b) get corrected and gathered up without excursions
All of the above are positives, in my opinion, contributing to the appeal of this class of vehicle, and as we’ve seen in multiple events in the past, some of the best and closest racing available anywhere.

While by its 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 carry this tradition of clean, fun and considerate racing over into a League environment. I would expect people to wait for someone they have taken off, even if it was accidental. In addition, if anyone has a problem with another driver, I will be just as hard on the person with the grievance if they do not adhere to the guidelines.

As with last season, discussions about laptimes - even if it is to say what has been achieved with an uploaded setup - is forbidden. Turning up last season and seeing roughly who you would be battling against only added to the anticipation, so we will keep this rule in place for Season 5.

Additionally, I’ve tried to not to choose tracks that I think will work, but rather tracks that I know will work from previous event experience. I’m looking at Season 5 as being almost a “Greatest Hits” season – the best cars on the best tracks.


Season 5 is also breaking new ground for us in League terms on a few fronts:-
  • First use of mod cars in a GTL league
  • First use of a fictional track in a GTL league
  • First use of a personalised skinpack in a GTL league
As it is now a tried and tested format, we will again have 7 rounds of 100km races, run on alternating Thursdays and commencing on Thu 29th April, and a 200km finale run on Saturday 31st July.

This season we will defy any and all volcanic clouds to continue with our policy of travelling the globe to some of the world’s finest circuits, keeping to a strict one race per country policy. We will be driving in 8 countries across 3 continents, including 4 countries making their RDHGP event hosting debut.

Including the venue for Race 1 – Circuit de la Neuveville in Switzerland.

neuveville.jpg



Circuit Notes

Circuit de la Neuveville is a fictional track, set in Switzerland, and is generally better know by it’s nickname “jops”. It was originally created for Grand Prix Legends as a tribute to a Swiss GPL League admin who went by the alias “Jops” and who died at the young age of 40. His friends and colleagues decided that the best way to create a memorial for him and his was to build a virtual track in his name. I have to agree with their decision and think that they have created a superb driver’s circuit and a fitting memorial.

The track itself, especially in plan view looks quite a simple circuit, but as in so many cases, the lateral map only gives half of the story, with the vertical component adding complexity and degrees of difficulty that the plan does not show.

The track starts with a good length run up to Toulo, the fast and uphill T1L, where the cars that can carry speed (and avoid the bumps) without drifting off onto the outside grass will get a good advantage into the subsequent straight, and an ideal line into the braking zone for T2R, Surer.

The next straight leads into T3R, Reggazzoni, a 90 degree left hander that is important for the entire lap. Getting the correct line through Reggazzoni allows you to attack T4L, Hirt, with it’s grandstand and haybale armco on the inside apex and the subsequent double climb straight.

That straight comes to a blind crest, and suddenly drops away and right in T5R, May. This crested turn is a real test of skill, and just how brave you can be depends on your vehicle as much as anything else.

The lightweight cars may take off here without the correct preparation and cost you time getting back into shape after landing, the heavy and powerful cars may ride the crest well, but have too many revs on for such a sudden lessening of load and grip. As you may have guessed, T5R is an extremely challenging corner, made especially more so as T6L Scherrer is lurking at the foot of the hill.

After the short blast from Scherrer, we come to the Jops Esses T7aR, T7bL & T7cR, again with some hazards on the outsides of the corners for unwary drivers, and once negotiated there’s a short sprint to T8R, Moser.

Moser is a climbing and bumpy turn that can easily flip your car round if you are careless on throttle application, and it opens into the final curve, T9L Kessel, which you hit at full power into the S/F straight, completing your lap.

jops_lod_vT9.jpg









The Race Director has some notes for drivers. Please see the track map above for location of Race Direction note:-
  • All Corners Without Exception – The kerbs are not deemed as track, therefore 2 wheels must be within the white lines, on the tarmac, At All Times. Again, there are NO exceptions to this rule at any point on the circuit. Any exception to this rule is deemed illegal, any advantage gained by this method must be ceded immediately. Report people deliberately and excessively cutting.
  • T1L – Toulo. The corner is quite generously wide, and so people could easily think that they have enough room to go into the corner on the outside of another driver. Be aware though that the camber and bumps will push or throw you wide. The outside of the corner is a grassy slope, so if you go on there, you will have limited control, so care is needed when re-entering track.
  • T3R & T4L – Reggazzoni & Hirt. Reggazzoni in and of itself is not dangerous, but some exit lines will cause problems when entering Hirt. Hirt has a haybale Armco barrier and a grandstand on the apex, so people behind need to be aware of the potential of emergency avoidance measures being taken by drivers in front once they realise they are in trouble.
  • T5R – May. Be prepared for some violent manouevering here after the landings as people get out of shape and try to recover.
  • T8R – Moser. The bumpy exit may get people unstable under acceleration, so be aware that there may be the odd spin on what looks like a simple straight.
  • All points on the track – One thing I’ve seen in some recent club events is that people who have left the track are re-entering the track unsafely, getting straight onto the racing line at slow speeds and/or trying to defend a position by obstruction. If anyone is the victim of such behaviour please report it.
Incidents, Investigations and Penalties
As we are at the Season Premiere, there are no Incident Reports outstanding, and any and all infractions being carried at the close of last season have been expunged. Everyone starts with a lovely new clean slate.

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, 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.)

Any accusations or complaints aired in the Chat during or after a race will mean a penalty levied on the person complaining or making the accusations, even if a subsequent official complaint gets found in their favour. I simply will NOT tolerate any post race finger pointing.

Liveries

You have chosen your car and livery already, and you must only drive your chosen car at any time during an RDHGP event. Every driver has a unique livery in this season of RDHGP.

Scoring System

As per last season the points distribution method is extended down to P20 (75% distance completion required) so people can fight for some points no matter where they are on the track, and hopefully have a season long battle with people around them in the League.
The Distribution is as follows for 100km events :

P1 - 25 pts
P2 - 22
P3 - 20
P4 - 18
P5 - 16
P6 - 15
P7 - 14
P8 - 13
P9 - 12
P10 - 11
P11 - 10
P12 - 9
P13 - 8
P14 - 7
P15 - 6
P16 - 5
P17 - 4
P18 - 3
P19 - 2
P20 - 1

1 point for fastest race lap
1 point for qualifying on Pole
 
Q: Found myself in p18 which was a little bit further down the field than I expected.

R: Start made a few places, avoided spinning NSU then had a lovely 24 laps battle with Alfas of Jakub "groovy", Jakub "dodgers", Steve and Kris spoiled by few TCR's making his way up the field.
I had a problem of entering T1 in first few lap, but then my laptimes were pretty even except one when I hit recovering Jakub and made him spin - sorry m8 fors this - I waited for him to give up my place to him, and we battled again. After his spin I tried to run my best, because everytime I looked behind no mather it was lap 1 or 12 there was always Steve waiting for my mistakes and pushing me :) Then Jakub made a big come back and took me over in sublast lap, I was tying to push him but he was simply quicker. Finished 13th.

Great race! Lot of fighting/defending. I'm looking forward to next race!

Shame for Krzysztof ending his race like this - man you were awesome quick :(

Circuit choice - excellent!

Grats for Top3!
 
Well i made a total backside of qualifying :redface: hoped to be around mid table but instead i was just too slow and could not get three good sectors together in the same lap.

I missed the start lights so i was soon last but within a lap or so i think i made up maybe 6 or 7 places only to end up flying through the air and landing on my roof, i could see there was a pretty solid bunch in front battling away and turn one looked like it could be trouble but they made it round turn one but i guess there was contact or someone went wide as i could see the smoke in front and at least one car spinning so i slowed to avoid a collision but the car behind had other ideas and tail ended me :mad:
After such a hard hit it was a nice surprise to find the car was still drivable but i was down to around last place again with i think a 17 or 18 second gap to the car in front. Not much to report after that, i caught and past a couple of cars and made a few places as others spun out, had a nice little fight with Bob for the last couple of laps which went some way to making it some fun.

I did however hit one car, i made contact with Ondrej Kapal as he lost it a bit in one of the corners and i could not avoid him, so sorry for that.
 
Very proud of my qually lap that put me on 8th,a rather ballsy "all or nothing" effort ,even if i do say so myself :)

The start didnt go how i had imagined,no big glorious swish down to T1 in first place at all :(,in fact a rather iffy start,fine initial launch,but major bog when i shifted to 2nd gear :/,by no means a disaster but 2 places lost for T1,but one claimed back again for T2,then another place gained and a gift or 2 and i settle in 6th,but soon get joined by a right squabble in Alfas,soon joined by straggling TCR's,one Abarthie simply arrives-passes-pulls away,another stays in this mental group behind,i lost count of how many times i was passed by that yellow Tina,but every time i could blast past in front again at the straight :D,it really was happy days with this level of fantastic racing,man those guys behind were amazing with no rush job pass attempts that must have looked so inviting at some turns in my lumbering wallowing drifting lump.....unfortunately about lap 15?...i get a little knock in the middle of hay bails "Esses" and it puts me off track and down to 10th,and well truly out of the battle i was in,had real fun battle to the finish line with a red Alfa (sorry forgot name ).
I have decided not to report my incident and therefor it shouldnt even get looked at,but now i think everyone should read all the info regarding all the rules that govern this series :).

Congrats to Peter & Podiums and well done all who finish.

Huge Thanks Stu T. & RD
 
It was a shame Andreas - was looking forward to a good dice - you scared the crap outta me too!

Report:

'Pre-season'

Was really looking forward to this season and the challenges ahead. In testing I got myself comfortable with the track and it's flow, with a best of 40.8, but usually 41s.

Pre/Practice

Saw that I could compete against some of the Abarths surprisingly. I had set myself a target of 6th. I felt I could definitely challenge for top five if I get my nose clean after practice though. Was struggling under braking and exiting for/out of the hairpin in comparison to the Abarths - other wise I could match their speed with faster cornering. Andreas and myself constantly vied for 4/5/6th postion it seemed. I would sneak in front, he would sneak back and so on - was an interesting little duel. 6th was still my aim but I knew something more was possible now, rather than the 6-10th I was looking at, it was more 3-8th.

Qualifying

Put in a good lap early on, a .4. From there I constantly seemed to be making it to a 40 flat but couldn't quite manage it. Lined up 4th with a low .3 eventually. Peter with a fantastic lap, Andreas also.

Race


Off the grid: Carlos smuggled some nitrous on to the grid somehow and shot off into the lead from 6th on the grid. Myself I got a good start, especially against the Abarths and gained a little on Andreas in the row ahead, but lost a place to Amir in the Abarth still. David was having a good run up the inside into turn 1, so I let him have a little room. Unfortunately he tags Amir, who spins sideways on track - I only see this at the last second but manage to come through pretty unscathed. Back ahead of DC after this and heading into T3/4 his power allows him alongside. I try to let him through lol - but he tries to give me room on the outside, which results in neither of us going anywhere quickly - and I get a little sideways on exit, with a little contact my right rear to his left front. I keep the position.

Now, Peter, Andreas and Carlos had pulled away a little - Carlos runs a little wide and Andreas and Peter immediately take advantage down the inside. This allows me to close right up on them, with DC still up my chuff.

Lap 2: Carlos simply drives past Andreas, while I get a little sideways into T2, trying to push to get way from DC in the pesky Abarth. I close riiiight in behind Andreas in turn two - we spend almost the whole lap from T2 absolutely nose to tail, the Cortina has a little more grunt than the Alfa. Carlos and Andreas go side by side into the hairpin, but Carlos drags away.

Lap 3:
As we come on to the straight i'm desperately trying to get a tow off Andreas to evade DC's Abarth driving past. I do that, just, but then disaster in front - into Turn 1, the wall-end is lined by tyres which are slightly wider than the wall itself - Andreas clips these and spins at top speed. I just manage to shave through his wildly spinning car (another close call), and held off DC as a bonus. Over the rest of the lap I close on Carlos, while DC drops back slightly.

Lap 4: Again, maximum attack in T1, Carlos goes slightly wide in T2 and I knew this was the time to pressure come the end of the lap. DC clips the inside wall at T3 and this leaves a big gap back to Gregorz L. I gain rapidly on Carlos through the slightly twistier section and show the nose of my Alfa - not intending to pass but just doing a Lowndsey and being menacing. To my delight, Carlos goes slightly wide, allowing room up the inside to the hairpin. I keep the Alfa on the inside for the last little kink and Carlos can't power back through.

Lap 5:
Over the next half-lap I have to defend a little but I pull away from Carlos in the rest of the lap. Now to put some feelers out as to where I am with pace to Peter and try to make a little gap to Carlos.

Lap 6-12:
As I thought - even with perfect laps all I was doing was keeping up with Peter, let alone catch him. So it was about keeping Peter honest and hoping to take advantage of any mistake and keeping a nice cushion to Carlos. Peter around 7 seconds ahead at this stage, Carlos around 4 seconds behind.

Lap 13: A small mistake loses me two seconds and Carlos can smell blood.

Lap 14: My front tyres were going (too aggressive on camber) and it was taking me a couple of laps to adjust my lines to the new grip levels - Carlos closes in further.

Lap 15: A slightly scary moment lapping Manny, but I get through ok.

Lap 16-19:
The pressure is really on now, and on a couple of occasions Carlos has half a sniff of diving past in T1 but quite rightly pulls out. T1 is not really a pssing place unless fully alongside and as the GTA can corner faster there it was not a wise option. I am driving the wheels off the GTA - I don't think I could have driven it any harder, was a really intense battle without the Hollywood overtakes - a real drivers battle.

Lap 20-22: Carlos makes a couple of small mistakes and that is all I need to gap him by a couple of seconds.

Lap 23-24:
Had a few nerves lapping a few people but Carlos' challenge had faded (thank God - I wasn't sure I could have held on much longer!). Brought it home second.


Many, many thanks to Stu - not just for organisation and the track choice, which was a splendid find, but also for my skin - I've always wanted a Villeneuve Player's skin - and now I have one :). Glad I could get a good result in it.

Congrats to Peter for a near faultless drive and to Carlos for the other podium slot. Commiserations to Andreas and Krzystof.
 
Very much a night of ups and downs for me.

Practice - PB, top 10 time, pleasantly surprised.

Quali - Monumental shocker, couldn't get within 2 sec of my Prac time, ended up 21st

Start - Blinding, was up in the top 10 within half a lap, but then over T5 it was back to shocker again, instead of dropping to 4th, I hit 6th (which doesn't exist on these cars) and then when I eventually found 4th, it slewed me out onto the grass around T6. That basically undid the great first half of the lap I'd had, but I managed to not hit anything and carry on so no panics.

Then I was caught up in the accident that Neil was talking about, I saw the accident in front of me, tried and hoped to miss it but then his unfortunate, stricken and airborne Alfa smahing into my car and landing on the roof at one point. Not that he could do anything about it of course :), but an Abarth using an Alfa as a hood ornament must have cut quite the dash in fashionable circles.

Unfortunately though, that smack must have damaged my steering and/or front suspension, as from then on, I was struggling with some industrial strength understeer. I could combat that to some degree by altering my lines when there was no one around me, but as soon as I hit traffic, those adjusted lines became dangerous to the other drivers and so I had to resort to either much harder braking, or winding on more and more lock, both of which aren't the recommended course of action in the Tyre Manufacturer's Handbook of Rubber Preservation.

The upshot was a few more offs when trying to actually have a race with people, mostly because I was having to take avoiding measures and/or compromise my lines when the car started to misbehave.

That was actually the most frustrating thing, because the racing could have been so good, but I couldn't really get my teeth into it because of the way the car compromised me.

Ah well.
 
Qualified 19th out of 27.
Race:
The opening lap with 27 drivers: exciting is the least to say. Not a real good start as Stuart flew by me like I was still standing.
I had to be carefully in T1 as I was on the outside and brave in T2 when Roman shut the door:
L1RomanDefending.jpg
In the chicane Jakob slipped by and then when Roman went wide things got a bit more relaxed. Krzysztof passed by in his flying Abarth and I reached a 13th position until lap 7. Here some fine moments with Steven, first chasing him then annoying him by going way to slow in some corners :D Here the result when David joined the fun:
StevenDavidMe.jpgA real miracle I was able to keep it straight here.
Then I had to smile as my everlasting RDHGP opponent appeared in my rear view mirror: Mr Thomson in his stylish (but bruised) Abarth. Unfortunately I couldn't keep with the pure speed of the Abarth on the straight. In the next lap the laugh on my face quickly dissapeared when I lost control in the fast part after T6 and I got stuck in the woods. It took me 30 seconds before I got out and was thinking of hitting the Esc key as the ride was, let's say adventurous. Still it was drivable and I recollected my courage and started aiming for Mr Drobac. Also passed Senad and hooked onto Knut in his Black Mini. It took me a few laps to see where I would make the pass and in the meanwhile Senad was approaching. I managed to pass and in the final laps Bob was comming pretty close. With 1,5 sec difference I finished 17th.

A big thank you to Stuart & RD and once again to Stuart for fixing my skin.
Thanks all for having 27 drivers on the field.
 
Alfa GTA #48, S1/R1 Jops.

As the season kicked off I was very much looking forward to seeing all the cars on the grid for the fist time, I was not disapointed. As quali got underway I set about the task to get myself as high up the grid as possible which resulted in me getting 9th position with a PB, 1:39.5xx, I was satisfied with the job I had done.

As we all sat on the grid for the race, what a sight, I was hoping we all get through T1 cleanly as I new from the quali times it was going to be a close race. I got an average start which resulted in me loosing a couple of places and a side by side race through T1 put me onto the grass which lost me another place. Now in 12th I told myself to settle down as there was a long way to go. As the opening laps went by and the car started to get into the groove I found myself picking up a couple of places as others had their misfortunes. By lap 6 I was holding a solid 9 place, back where I qualied in, and things were looking good.

This is were it started to go wrong. Lap 7, as I approched the last but one turn, the fast right hander, I drifted a bit wide and my left rear tyre just clipped the dirt on the outside of the track. This resulted in me loosing the back end and I found myself heading towards the right hand side of the track very fast. I didn't realise there was a barrier there as it looked like just grass and trees but I hit the barrier and flipped over it. Once I got my bearings back I tried to turn the car to get back on track but was halted by the barrier again. As I tried to reverse the car had no grip which led me to belive I was beached or something. I had to use very low revs to get the car to go backwards and finally got the car pointing in the right direction but I still had to find my out and back onto the track. As I followed the barrier it finally opened at the last turn and now I was back on track.

I wasn't sure at this time what damage I had sustained but thought I would see how the car felt to see if I could continue the race. As I got underway I was amazed the steering was still straight and the car felt ok although I was now down in 25th spot. As I got a few laps under my belt I noticed I was only a few tenths of my previous pace so I decided to push on and do the best I can for the rest of the race. As we headed into the final ten laps or so I was catching the guys infront and by the end I managed to get myself upto 18th position which I was happy with after nearly existing the race early on. All in all I had a good race and enjoyed myself which is the main thing. So now onto R2.

Grts to Peter for the win and welldone all podium finishers. Also welldone for all those that turned out for the first race of the season & I hope you will all be back for R2, see ya then.......

P.s. Thx to Stuart for all the hard work he put in & making this league one of the best on RD.
 
very good start to the season with a great cars/track combo :) I got a good start and quickly made 2 places before entering the first corner... then after a couple of laps I got into a great battle with Gary and Tom until I ended it with a stupid mistake (locked the rears under braking) and sent Gary into a spin... sorry again Gary for that and for not giving my position back (somehow I missed the info about this) :frown: lesson learnt for the future... then we battled it out with Tom till the end of the race and I brought it home 6th...

well done to Peter & podium finishers :) see you all at R2...
 
For me race was fantastically awful. I did not practice enough these days, and top of all I joined the server and the end of practice, and I was literally practising again durin the qualy, blah. I managed to start from 23rd place, was 21st after the first lap. Then in a second lap after T1 that famous incident. I thought just before "ok, this is not good, must be careful, oh no, oh nooooo, must avoid, nooooo!" BAAANG! I had no room at all to avoid the incident and smashed into Abarth (Stuart maybe?), had damage till the end of the race, but I managed to keep some acceptable pace for my standards. I ruined my race finally somehere around middle of the race when I pushed too hard in the last real turn (slowest turn on the track) and spun my alfa, ended in the green HELL... I was stuck between that damned tree and the fence, couldn't move my car backwards at all, I had only couple of meters to the fence, and it was almost a mission impossible to escape that, well I would call it A TRAP! :D I lost god know how much time there, was 2 laps behind after that agony. What can I say in the end? :D

Anyway, I'm not superstitious or something, but when the season start THAT BAD for me, I'm not optimistic at all, lol. :D

Congrats to all finisgers and especially podium, you guys rock.

thanks to Stuart for another wonderful league.
 
Don't no where to begin,I had hi hopes for this round,I like Jops it's a great track.

Practice went well an Quali was not bad for me start from p16 had a good start taking some places with Suart on my bumper but first corner everything went wrong get a big leg ,drop back to p26 an have to fight my way back with Knut an Stuart , but then a big crash in lap 2 first corner Neil strait in my line impossible to avoid hit Neil an he went over my had but I could continue after that great fights with Stu an Bjorn.

Do to my legging Bjorn drove of track an hit a tree race over, Sorry Bjorn my apology you where driving great .

So ended my race to, after 17 laps an on p 15 get a black screen an when I was back drove straight in the Grand stand an that was that race over for me to.

One very important sing do, the Fun is back after the last league I can smile again during the race an that is where it's all about I think.

So up to the next race, I hope my problems will be over by then.

Grats to Peter for a great win with a big lead,
Thanks to Stuart,
 
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