SimRacing.org.uk

Season 38 – 1955 Grand Prix – Round 2 – Works - Spa-Francorchamps

This race announcement is for the WORKS.

The second race in the 1955 Grand Prix series finds us in Belgium at Spa-Francorchamps. Designed in 1920 the original triangle-shaped course used public roads between the Belgian towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy, and Stavelot. The track was intended to have hosted its inaugural race in August 1921, however the first car race was held at the circuit in 1922. Spa was the fastest road circuit in Europe at the time, and it had a nasty reputation for being dangerous and very fast. It was a circuit known to be one for the brave, and most drivers were frightened of it. The old Spa circuit was unique in that speeds were consistently high with hardly any let-up at all for 3–4 minutes. This made it an extraordinarily difficult mental challenge (& ridiculously easy to crash).

Race list	=	iGOR
Server	=	UKGPL08_60fps
IP address Server	=	Look at iGOR
Password	=	see above (#post_event_password)
GPL Mod	=	55
60fps Patch	=	60fpsV2newmod
Track download	=	link (http://srmz.net/index.php?s=448c71de31d5af327ee46f7dfc1fde15&showtopic=10443)
Track directory	=	spa67
Qualifying starts	=	20:45 UK time - 45 minutes
Race starts	=	~ 21:30 UK time
Race length	=	11 laps
Replay	=	here (https://www.mediafire.com/file/75lqwha6u6k50fz/UKGPL+8__60fps.2021.01.31.23.22.rpy.7z/file)

Please restrict chat to emergency messages only including at the end of the race until ALL drivers still racing have crossed the line.

Driver lists and division specific rules can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=1272&theme=6).

Available Tokens:
Note: These are the tokens available to each driver before the 10 tokens are added for making the race start.

Driver	Tokens	Status
Alain Maurice	5	Works
bagrupp	10	Works
Carlos Cendejas	10	Works
Clive Loynes	15	Works
Doni Yourth	15	Works
Dulima	15	Works
Enrique Farina	20	Works
EvilClive	15	Works
fpolicardi	15	Works
Gaizka López C	10	Works
JonnyO	20	Works
Phil Thornton	15	Works
Raoni Frizzo	15	Works
romanov	8	Works
tagomago	10	Works
Cookie	10	Works

Race server details updated.

Sorry Phil for the push,
exactly what I said when tow is stronger than brakes...

My race endet at Stavelot when JJ had to brake much earlier and I did leave to not rear end...
For me just big fun  - the track!

I've loaded the chassis the drivers used into the token calculator spreadsheet.  For the next race the available tokens will be as declared in the table below (the table will also appear in the next race announcement).  The calculated values are automated but selecting the cars is a manual process so please check your tokens to make sure I haven't made a silly error.

Driver	Tokens	Status
Alain Maurice	0	Works
bagrupp	8	Works
Carlos Cendejas	10	Works
Clive Loynes	25	Works
Cookie	5	Works
Doni Yourth	20	Works
Dulima	15	Works
Enrique Farina	15	Works
EvilClive	13	Works
fpolicardi	7	Works
Gaizka López C	10	Works
JonnyO	10	Works
Phil Thornton	10	Works
Raoni Frizzo	13	Works
romanov	6	Works
tagomago	10	Works

I saw you had dropped back a long way in the braking zone so I was surprised by the contact. It wasn't a huge hit but enough to spin me around :(.

Yes I saw that. I was watching the end of the race after I'd crashed out (I was distracted for a millisecond trying to work out if I had a big enough gap over Petr and I missed the apex at the kink after Les Combes. A tiny mistake which was severely punished at this track :'(). You didn't do the usual trick of being embedded in the barrier, you disappeared off into the fields!

  Congrats Raoni!!!!
  without being able to practice to choose a correct car, and I think that going from SL is not the best option.
  Coming in second was not in my plans after realizing that I was not competitive.
  But after many pilots' mistakes the second place fell into my hands as a gift.
  Raoni was in the next galaxy and couldn't see him with the naked eye.
  About some accidents, it was very difficult to avoid Evil's mistake at Stavelot, it was very close. But my car got really bad after the slight scratch on Maurice's car that was running lost in the middle of the track, in fact, after seeing the replay, my car went away from him and yet I felt a little touch that left my car going out a lot facing.
   And I am sorry for Cookie, unfortunately he had not seen before where I was braking to do Stavelot, always in the same way, my car was too far ahead and needed to lighten up to make this turn.
  Congrats Doni for 5ª with Coneught .

too tired for racing...

Grats to the podium and all finishers.

A little miffed not to have finished this race as I was feeling very comfortable with my pace in the Maserati. I was easily keeping the front trio in sight and I thought I was playing it safe by hanging back by 50 mtrs to avoid anyone else's errors.  ::)

However, I did not allow for my own errors! It all went wrong when I missed a downshift to 1st for La Source on the H shift. Neutral does nothing to retard the car!! and although I managed to flick the car sideways the impact with the barriers clearly broke something important  :-\.

The car was a nightmare for the next half lap and I should apologise to all of those who were compromised by a wildly erratic 250F. The car did not want to turn left, but would snap to the right at every gear change and with even a breath of right lock, which is why it all went horribly wrong at Stavelot....sorry guys.
Although I recovered to the track at Stavelot, I deliberately launched the broken Maserati into the trees 30 seconds later in sheer frustration.

Having been married for close to 50 years I know all about frustration , I never connected it with driving before though  :laugh:

Good morning all  :)

Bravo Raoni for this victory, which does not surprise me considering your speed in training.
Congratulations also to JonnyO and Romanov

Let us give up for me on leaving the road, like last year on this same circuit, unable to finish the race.  :-\
My technical director in the team is starting to frown   :2guns:

In addition I have no more tockens in my pocket :)
Thank you for the organization and to all

Welcome to the world of H-Shifting Clive. I do this all too often and in the 55s it can be fatal. Missing an upshift over-revs the engine and risks damage, but apart from losing momentum it has little impact on the race. Downshifting is a different matter! I ran wide several times at Nassau because of bad downshifts. Thankfully I didn't do the same here, it is a much less forgiving track.

I hope you don't get despondent and go back to a sequential box. For me the H-Shifter is the only way to drive GPL, anything else isn't realistic enough for me.

Congratulations to Raoni, Jonny and Petr.

By taking the Gordini I was hoping to get a tow from the other cars to keep me in the hunt but I failed to find anyone to follow in qually and in the race the plan went into the shredder when I encountered Bastian, asleep at the wheel, on lap one.

By the time that I emerged from the field, all the other cars had gone.

On the up side, I did have Spa to myself, the way that I like it.  I plodded on for the rest of the race to finish 6th.  My best result of the season.

I am quite committed to getting to grips with the H shifter and when it ( but probably me ) works correctly it certainly adds some extra realism. But, there are moments like the one above when I curse the day that I thought it was a good idea and I have to remind myself that I race GPL for fun......no really I do  ::).

Moderation published. Please read the report prior to the race on Sunday. The next track is a difficult one so we will all have to be extra careful with the brakes (or lack of them  :o ).