And they shall call me... "Dances with Lotus" :o)

Was it the beetles who sang the song... "it's getting better all the time...!" ?? Well, what a ride! :o) 4 days of hard practice at the Nurburgring in a (rookie, basic) Lotus Trainer and I so far have an 11:07 minute lap time! Okay, I still have around two spins a lap, but now my confidence is really beginning to build. On the fast turns, I have no problem dancing the car, right at the limits, on the edge... it's crazy! Three parts of the track stand outin particular... There is a downhill right-hander just before the first bridge you go under. This is where balencing the car is crucial because there is a fantastic downhill section, one of the few places you can reach maximum speed. You can clip the grass verges each side on the way down before you are suddenly launched backup a steep left hander - it's soooo great - and everytime you get it wrong the is a tree waiting on the outside at the top :o) Second, there is the section which is alll downhill with a steep hill up on your right and bushes to your left.... kind of like a green monaco :o) But the way the road 'cambers' is fantastic, you just point your car inwards and drift allll the way down. Right, brake.... left, on the throttle, brake... right again.... all the way to the bottom. Ahhh, brings tears to my eyes! :'o) I always hit that Mobil sign on the way down too... Finally, there is the extreeeeeeamly long straight, a few corners from the end of the lap. But it's not the straight I'm interested in... it's the right hander immediatly before it and the left hander immediatly after it. Oh, and that jump in the middle :o) These corners are very important parts of the lap... and you must be very delecate with the car. :o) Rob Eleve de Winfield'98

>Was it the beetles who sang the song... "it's getting better all the time...!" >?? No, it was the Beatles ;-) Dave Ewing

Dave, Oh the Beatles.... Who were the Beetles then? Dunno where I got that from... doesn't look or sound anything like the band I was thinking of(!) Rob :o)

Rob, Perhaps you are thinking of the Monkees. They were the ones with the double E. Bob

<stuff about the Ring snipped> Great, isn't it - I always find myself coming back to the Ring. All the other tracks are "Micky Mouse" compared to it. I even managed to beat Jim Clark the other day in a 2 lap race. Any more laps and I lose concentration. - Michael

Hey hey for the monkees, monke(y)ing all around..! Rob

Spa is "Mickey Mouse?" You have to be kiddin me! or else you don't use the same defintion as F1 racers use. Nurburgring is like a really big Zandvoort style circuit. With the exception of Kyalami all the tracks in GPL really have enjoyable parts to them for me. In fact shorter courses are more enjoyable for me cause I can try a lot more through certain sections, although at the Ring it does have that feel of tension at every corner for me unlike any other cicuit just because I know how much time I put in each time around.

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> <stuff about the Ring snipped> > Great, isn't it - I always find myself coming back to the Ring. All the > other tracks are "Micky Mouse" compared to it. I even managed to beat Jim > Clark the other day in a 2 lap race. Any more laps and I lose concentration. > - Michael

-- Jon Van Ginneken "I wrestled with an alligator, tussled with a whale, handcuffed lightning, threw thunder in jail...I'm a bad dude." - Muhammad Ali

Well, at least the Beatles could PLAY their instruments... ;) But, the band was originally called the Silver Beetles...so we can understand his mistake. <g> Eldred __ Put your message in a modem, and throw it in the ***-sea... remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

Err... Maybe I was being a bit hasty there - although I do find Spa a bit boring in practice, speeding down the long straights, waiting for the corners to come up. Much more exciting in the race though, with great slipstreaming battles. For the short circuits, Zandvoort is my favourite, followed by Rouen. - Michael

Michael wrote Rouen is a short circuit ??? ;-) Well, taking the Ring as a "normal" lenght circuit I will agree, but it's still the third biggest track in GPL ;-P p.s.: They are all great. There is no boring circuit in GPL. ;-) -= Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank> -= NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/ -= SimRacing Online http://www.simracing.com/ -= Official mentally retarded guy of r.a.s. -= May the Downforce be with you... "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Some of my most enjoyable online racing moments have come on that tight, uphill, 1st gear left hander...turn 5 I think, at Kyalami. If you get it right you can overtake nicely there, sliding the back end round to scrub off the overtaking speed and...usually going straight into the fence :-) But hey, my mission is to entertain, not win! Andrew McP

>>Spa is "Mickey Mouse?" >Err... Maybe I was being a bit hasty there - although I do find Spa a bit >boring in practice, speeding down the long straights, waiting for the >corners to come up. Much more exciting in the race though, with great >slipstreaming battles. You get close enough to *battle*? I'm JEALOUS, Sir! :) __ Put your message in a modem, and throw it in the ***-sea... remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

>p.s.: They are all great. There is no boring circuit in GPL. ;-) SURE there is. Whatever circuit you can't drive well that DAY... <g> __ Put your message in a modem, and throw it in the ***-sea... remove SPAM-OFF to reply.

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>> With the exception of Kyalami all the tracks in GPL really >> have enjoyable parts to them for me. >Some of my most enjoyable online racing moments have come on that tight, >uphill, 1st >gear left hander...turn 5 I think, at Kyalami. If you get it right you can >overtake nicely >there, sliding the back end round to scrub off the overtaking speed >and...usually going >straight into the fence :-) But hey, my mission is to entertain, not win!

My mission seems to be to cut the grass with my Eagle mower. I've done that so much, you could mistake it for a putting green... Eldred(Lawnmower Man) __ Put your message in a modem, and throw it in the ***-sea... remove SPAM-OFF to reply.