Ten Tenths Friendly Racing League (TTFRL) for GPL - Season 3

[pirenzo]

Really, Ayse, that's a much better pic of you on there than in your 10-10ths profile
So I take it your side is the Lymington Shadows, in which case, get a move on an get into 1st in the U15 and U19 tables!

Does look quite cool though, thanks for sharing

[Spudgun]

The replay for Solitude is now available on the TTFRL website.

[pirenzo]

Thanks for that Spud

From the replay I make my twelfth lap to a 3m38.518, subtracting this from my race time gives a result as follows (assuming my mental arithmetic is correct)

1    12    William Campbell	39m33.203
2    10    Gil Abobeleira	39m42.504	+9.301
3     8     Aysedasi		42m31.173	+2m57.970
4     4     Spudgun		42m55.173	+3m21.970

Just helps confirm the result after 11 laps.

[Aysedasi]

I see it the same and will, formally confirm at the weekend.

I think it's time now to register my acute disappointment at the turnouts we are getting. Four of us (the same four) have now turned out (and stuck with the race) for the last two events. Myself, Spud and pirenzo are diehards anyway, and its just as well that Gil has joined us recently to boost the numbers.

I understand that many of you are unable to commit to race every other Tuesday, but it is quite clear that, for whatever reason, a number of you who have raced during the earlier part of the season have lost interest. I think the time has come as we move into the last phase of Season 3 to start asking why.

If you have raced this season but have decided not to continue, perhaps you could post your reasons here. Personally, I will be thinking quite hard as to whether a Season 4 is actually viable if we only have 3/4 people who want to turn out for a couple of hours every two weeks........

[Aysedasi]

As for my race, I think the words are disappointing and expected......I knew before we started that I wouldn't see pirenzo or Gil for dust, having not got within 7 seconds of them in practice. My best practice lap before last night (and I only did 4.....) was 3m44. I got down to a 3m40, but I haven't beaten the times p and Gil were doing in a Lotus, let alone a BRM......

As predicted, the two of them were over the hills and far away before I had even blinked and I knew that my battle was to beat Spud. I got past him when he dropped it, but then I did the same at the first of the nasty left-handers. I then made a succession of mistakes over the next 4-5 laps, so much so that with 3 laps to go, GPL was showing a gap of over a minute to Spud in 3rd. I plugged away though and (I thought) drove quite well, so that by the time I started the last lap, I was only a second or two down on Spud (who presumably had problems of his own?). I inherited 3rd when Spud dropped it just before the long downhill run and then promptly stuffed it into the hales bales when Gil asked if the race was over.......

Most of my race was done with nearly full fuel because of 4-5 shift-Rs, so it would have been nice to see how much quicker I could have gone with a lighter fuel load. As it was, I was disappointed with my fastest lap (another 3m40) - I felt sure I had got easily into the 30s.....

So, off to Rouen in two weeks. See you there.

[ozywoodwards]

sorry i didnt race last nite - but as expected i left my essay to the last minute. its the only way, trust me!

in general i am not racing for a variety of reasons at the moment - some coz my internet wasnt working/wasnt installed yet, others coz i was going out for a drink. i must admit that that last reason is the big change for me compared to last season, i now prioratise going out for a drink above the TTFRL. sorry guys, but its gonna continue in that vain. all i can say is that i dont always drink on a tuesday - so its quite possible that i'll be able to race all the remaining events. but i cant promise it.

[Gil Abobeleira]

First of all, sorry ayse for the chat in the last lap, but i got really bugged seeing that i had completed the 11 laps of the race and the server listed me as "accident".

As for the race, well, I was a little bit dissapointed. The setup Pirenzo gave me was really good (excpet those damn 30/85 ) and i just nailed it at he qualifying with a very good (for my driving) 3.32 and thought that I would get the pole. Ofcourse, on the last lap, Pirenzo got it with a excelent 3.31 .p (envy envy ).
Then, at the race, I just did too many small errors. But, still, it would be very difficult to batlle with Pirenzo as he is way faster than me and because he sometimes dissapeared from my screen

As for the TT league, well, i'll be very sorry if it ends at the end of this season. Even though I've only raced with you a coupple of times (as before was completely impossible for me to race at the time we race), it has always been very good...
Maybe changing the champ a little could bring back former/conquer new drivers (well, driving a BRM at solitude is a bit n*ts ). IMHO, having a smaller champ (say, 10 races, every 3 weeks) and allowing people to choose freely their cars could be better to new drivers...

[pirenzo]

I tend to agree with Gil here Ayse.

Its time we dropped this one car per race thing.

I've had three ideas:

EITHER

1) We get to choose whatever car we want. This isn't preferable obviously as everyone will just pick the Lotus.

2) We are allowed to choose any car, but we must drive every car at least once over 10 races (I also agree 14 is too many) and not more that twice. I like this because it means whilst for tracks like Monza the obvious choice is the Lotus, it does allow scope for perhaps some people to wait for later in the season to use the Lotus, perhaps when the championship is getting to a more crucial stage.

3) And finally, my favorite idea:
We set up teams of two or three, where each team is allocated a car by the moderator which they must drive all season at every race. There will be a drivers championship but also a team championship. Teams would also have to pair faster drivers with slower drivers so that no one team has a huge advantage in skill, and also this would encourage the faster drivers to help the slower drivers learn. I think this would also make the league 'friendlier'. The only drawbacks I can think of are problems of non-attendance of a team member, or one team being dumped with the BRM all season!

I also think there are more tracks than papy tracks.
I vote to keep Nurby and Monza, for the greatest possible contrast, but then base the other 8 races in addon tracks, of varying from the Monza-esque to the Nurby-esque.

[Aysedasi]

Some good ideas there. Keep those in mind.

BTW, I did say it was daft to run the BRM at Solitude........

[pirenzo]

By the way Ayse, you only need to finish in the top 3 for the rest of the season to win overall...
Unless I race on my 18th Birthday at CF.

[Aysedasi]

I had reckoned on it being harder than that..... in fact, I had made you a definite favourite now........

[pirenzo]

Nope, assuming that I win Rouen, Brands and Albi, and you finish 3rd behind Gil in all of those plus second in CF in my absence, you win overall by 4 points.

[Aysedasi]

I hadn't taken into account the fact that you might miss another race......

And I wouldn't want it taken for granted that I'm content to sit behind Gil for the rest of the season either. I need to do some driving! Need to raise my game. My performances at Bathurst and Solitude in particular were very poor. I can do a lot better than that.

[pirenzo]

Yeah, but I was thinking bare minimums.
Even on your current form, you're still odds-on. I think it would be best to finish in style though

[d-b]

hi there

if someone can help me with my computers install problem (see the I've just bought GPL thread for details) i will join you racing,when work allows (shifts)

by the way here's a thought

your saying about teams & fast drivers with slow ones,well why not handicap the fast drivers to give the slower ones a chance
ie the slower drivers have the better cars & the faster drivers have the not so good cars to hopefully even it out a bit

hope i haven't set the cat amongst the pigeons with that one

see you later

d-b

[pirenzo]

That would work if there wasn't such a wide spread of times.
When you get started you lap times will be a good 10-15 seconds slower than mine even if I drive the BRM and you drive the Lotus.
Obviously, you'll improve very rapidly at first, and then gradually less and less as you get better, but really around your average track you'd have to be within 2-3 seconds of our times for you really to have a hope in even in that scenario.
I don't want to put you off or anything, I'm not trying to say you'll never be quick enough, but given over 11 tracks I'm now 275 seconds faster than I was when I started you can see my point!

[d-b]

ah well,just a thought

by the way,i generally just race for fun
i play Gran turismo 3 on the PS,usually with the least suitable car possible (ie turbo challenge with a mini) for a laugh or a rotten handling car with all power & nothing else so i know i'd never win but i will be there one day

d-b

[Gil Abobeleira]

Handicap is just bullsh*t for me.... How can we compare different drivers? By GPLrank? By GPLRacerank? By their current positions on the championship? By their positions at prior championships?????

[Spudgun]

Originally posted by pirenzo

2) We are allowed to choose any car, but we must drive every car at least once over 10 races (I also agree 14 is too many) and not more that twice. I like this because it means whilst for tracks like Monza the obvious choice is the Lotus, it does allow scope for perhaps some people to wait for later in the season to use the Lotus, perhaps when the championship is getting to a more crucial stage.

Now this idea I really like. It adds a tactical element along with compromise. I like it, I like it alot.

I for one would do anything to keep the league alive, being a GPL die-hard even though time constraints make it difficult to improve!

After three seasons of pretty much the same format, perhaps it is time for a shake-up of the rules and there are some great ideas being suggested.

Also the league has it's own domain name and we don't want it to go to waste do we? I'm also working on a new website with bells and whistles and all that for the league with a planned launch for the beginning of season 4 (I hadn't even told Ayse yet, so this is hot off the press) which I'm sure WILL happen.

[pirenzo]

I personally prefer the teams idea, though perhaps we could mix my suggestion 2 and 3 together, so you get to choose what car you race as a team, where everyone in the team has to stick by their team's choice, and the same use each car once but not more than twice thingy.

[petestenning]

Reasons for not racing ,
1, Bad attitude of certain drivers
2, Trailing round last is not fun
3, Running my own more exiting league
4, Racing in GTR on same night


Pete

[Aysedasi]

The other reasons I guess I can accept, but "bad attitude", Pete? No, I don't think I can buy that one.

[pirenzo]

Me neither :confused:

The other 3 though I accept, in fact I saw your league's message on the GPL Rank front page yesterday.

[petestenning]

The first reason i will not discuss publicly but to say its not the regular 3 of you.

But it is no fun running at the back and taking advantage of others equipement failure, or the games failure in Ayse case at Sachs, i can cope with driver errors giving me a place however.
This is made worse by a small grid.

My leagues smallest grid in the first season has been 13 so even if i am slowest i still have a race.

GTR is going to knock a hole in GPL i fear when its bugs are sorted and its availible in the UK.

Pete
PS
I would still like to race with you if its not Cr cars on CR track

[Aysedasi]

We know we have to sort something out between now and the start of season 4 Pete, I think we all accept that. I for one am not prepared to race in a league where everyone drifts away (for good or bad reasons) leaving only 3-4 diehards left to complete the season. Its not fair and it devalues the experience for all of us. Either we want to race or we dont. If eberyone who has raced (or indicated a wish to race) over the last year or so came back and did so, we would have grids of 10-12 drivers, of mixed ability.

We have some good ideas for next season which as league mod I will put out for discussion when this season is over. IMO GTR will never replace GPL. Its good (yes, I have sort of got it working) but it hasn't got anything like GPLs realism - IMO. Besides, without prototypes they'll never really get me on board.......