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An emphatic win at Road Atlanta by David drew a protest from Tim on the grounds of dangerous driving. The stewards upheld the protest, but the 20 sec penalty applied was not enough to alter the outcome and Frenchy holds on to his first win of the season. There was plenty of action through the field as pole sitter (1′17.94) and early leader Craig Leech came back through the field after an early engine change to finish in second. Tim took over the lead while Craig changed his engine, but only for half a lap before also blowing his Climax 2.5 to bits and making his way back through the field to finish third. Wayne was also battling for the lead early and did the fastest lap of 1′18.36. Tim’s podium brings him level with Wayne for the lead of the championship. Mike’s ‘DNS’ drops him to fourth behind Craig L. whose consistent results over the last four rounds (1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd) have vaulted him up to third despite missing the first two rounds.

We head across the Atlantic next week for what promises to be another exciting race at the Salzburgring 74 in Austria. This track layout is basically two long ’straights’ connected by two wide hairpins. The long straights provide excellent drafting opportunities but the track weaves in to the hairpins making braking difficult and passing a real challenge.

Head over to Sean’s alternative web site for Race Reports and Replays, more news and forums or to post/download some setups.

A large field was on the grid for the start of Round 5 at Zeltweg. Tim was the man with the pace, taking pole (1′49.44) and fastest lap (1′ 49.22) and he led the first five laps with Craig Leech hot on his tailpipes. An error halfway through the 6th lap let Craig through and he kept it too fast and steady for Tim to get him back. There were a number of good battles going on down the field but many were interrupted as no less than 5 drivers suffered screen freeze/discoes. Leon was one of the unfortunates, departing from an exciting battle with Mike at the halfway point and handing over third place. A shame that such a fun track will have to join the black list along with Brands. The championship leader failed to make it to the meeting at all after his train took the wrong siding at the border, and so the championship is very tight at the halfway point with only three points separating the top three and Craig’s win vaulting him up the ladder to be within one point of Leigh for fourth place.

Wayne is bound to be on fire next week but he is sure to have some stiff competition from his fellow contenders as well as other drivers who enjoy the fast flowing curves and undulations of Road Atlanta.

The selection of tracks for Season 17 are continuing to be fun to drive and provide close racing. Wayne had a bit of a lonely run at Hilltop in round 4 to lead the whole race and take the win from Craig L and Tim but the rest of the pack enjoyed some exciting battles. Wayne now has a good lead in the championship after a second at Urbanya and a third at Brands Hatch but Tim and Mike are showing good speed in the BT11’s and will be trying hard to close the gap. Practice sessions at next weeks venue, Zeltweg, have already indicated an exciting and intense battle will be fought again.

Make sure you bookmark Sean’s new site which is under development as the new MelbourneGPL.com for all the latest results, replays, reports and standings. Any comments or suggestions posted in the forum will be appreciated. A big thanks to Sean for all his efforts with the new site and for his excellent server duties.

A large field was on track for qualifying at the 1966 spec race season opener at Diamante. Wayne’s pole time (1′31.84) was well clear of the  tightly bunched chasing pack. Qualification was marred by server connection problems with some major lag spikes and three drivers missing the start of the race. Once down to 10 drivers the server ran well for the race. Wayne set off from the start and would have had a clear run but technical difficulties from his end saw him off the track mid-race. Wayne must have forgotten there were other drivers in the race and unfortunately took Mike out when rejoining. It did however, set up an exciting second half, with Wayne, Mike and Ron racing to the flag and finishing in that order. Diamante proved an exciting track to race on and the spec race format provided a lot of fun.

Next week we take our little Brabham BT11’s to Urbanya, one of the newest tracks in GPL that will be unfamiliar to most. The layout looks simple but none of the corners are as simple as they look, while some are just downright difficult. The track is wide enough that there are plenty of overtaking opportunities and it should be an exciting race. A big ‘Thank You’ to Sean Mahon who will now be taking over server duties and whose superior connection should accomodate a full field.

Server Replay

Race Report

After considerable discussion and testing, the schedule for Season 17 has been finalised.

All drivers will be issued with identical Brabham BT11 Climax 2.5l, 1966 F1 racing cars to be used in all 10 races of the season. Please make sure that you have your ‘66 mod updated to v2.0 to take advantage of the improved collision detection.

The democratic selection process has provided us with a list of tracks that are all exciting, challenging and sure to promote thrilling racing. Some of the tracks may be unfamiliar and extra practice will be rewarded but the low power of the cars mean that drafting and tactics will play a big part in being successful.

The tracks for the season, in order, are;

Diamante
Urbanya
Brands Hatch
Hilltop
Zeltweg
Road Atlanta
Salzburg 74
Snetterton 67
Jops Siffert
Imola

Click on the links to download each track from the Alt Track Database and don’t forget to click on the ‘SRMZ’ button (where available)  to get updates for the track. Check the schedule for dates and race lengths. Please note that most races have been extended beyond the default Int Long race length to ensure 35-40 min races.

There has been a lot of interest so far with new (but experienced) drivers joining and others coming out of retirement. This season promises to be very competitive so get lapping and we’ll see you on track.

Leigh again took pole (1′40.29) and FL (1′40.23) on his way to another victory and the championship win. It was not so simple this time though as he battled all race and only just scraped home in front of Ron and Tim. The championship was however a foregone conclusion due to the absence of the other two contenders. Congratulaions to Leigh for the championship win and to Sean and Leon for 2nd and 3rd in a successful season that allowed some different faces to bathe in the light of winner’s glory and severely tested the nerve and determination of the others. Well done everyone.

Next week it’s even ground for all as we turn the clock back to 1966 and take the BT11 2.5’s out for some spec race testing at Monza prior to the start of season 17.

Server Replay

Race Report

Leigh dominated at Watkins Glen, taking pole (1′ 1.07″), leading every lap (FL 1′ 1.57) and taking the chequered flag by over 5 secs to Sean. Leon again kept his BRM steady to complete the podium. Leigh takes his third win in a row and his fifth for the season and now leads the championship by 4 points from Sean, with Leon another 4 points further back. This sets up an exciting finish to the season but, in a controversial move, both Sean and Leon have declared their intention to boycott the last round due to prior commitments to their sponsors. With no other drivers within reach, Leigh doesn’t even need to start to claim the MGPL Season 16 Championship trophy.

Next week we continue south to Mexico, a fun track with a mix of varied, challenging corners and a long drafting straight.

Server Replay

Race Report