SimRacing.org.uk

Season 38 – 1955 Grand Prix – Round 5 – Works - Tripoli

This race announcement is for the WORKS.

The fifth race in the 1955 Grand Prix series finds us in Libya. We visit the very fast circuit at Mellaha Lake, Tripoli. The track was a 13.140 kilometre (8.165 mi) long affair situated in a salt basin between Tripoli, Suq al Jum'ah and Tajura and around the Mellaha Air Base. The track's most distinctive landmark was a brilliant white concrete tower situated across from a large front stretch grandstand that could hold up to ten thousand people. Mellaha Lake was equipped with starting lights, an innovation, and the additional amenities rivalled the best that continental European circuits had to offer. Back in the late thirties this was the fastest track of the world.

Race list	=	iGOR
Server	=	UKGPL05_60fps
IP address Server	=	86.6.125.152:32666
Password	=	see above (#post_event_password)
GPL Mod	=	55
Damage model	=	PRO
60fps Patch	=	60fpsV2newmod
Track download	=	link (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=616)
Track directory	=	tripoli
Qualifying starts	=	20:45 UK time - 45 minutes
Race starts	=	~ 21:30 UK time
Race length	=	13 laps
Replay	=	here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qyGaRUqqGberUo1xbSM4xNU69t0Q3LOi/view?usp=sharing)

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	0	Works
bagrupp	18	Works
Carlos Cendejas	10	Works
Clive Loynes	18	Works
Cookie	5	Works
Doni Yourth	25	Works
Dulima	15	Works
Enrique Farina	20	Works
EvilClive	13	Works
fpolicardi	12	Works
Gaizka López C	10	Works
JonnyO	30	Works
Phil Thornton	13	Works
Raoni Frizzo	23	Works
romanov	9	Works
tagomago	10	Works

If you slipstream a MercSL into the braking zone then you are going to hit it.

Try pulling out of the slipstream beforehand , as wind resistance should help to slow you.  Test first with Ambulance standing nearby, as you do still have to make the turn.

Yep, that for me is correct practice no matter what you are driving/following. But the SL takes everyone into uncharted territory from the point of the rate that you cover the ground.

This race could be over before half a lap is done.

Practice server is up on iGOR. Please test your connections.

I cannot join any UK server, although I can join any other European server, did you have any changes?

No exactly the same as usual. Whatever is happening, it's outside our control. I'll restart the server with lower latency limit.

game crashed after qualifyng. no time to reconnect

  Congrats podium!

  Here freeze :(

Hard luck Jonny

Amazing speed from Raoni!!!  Congratulations.

And Phil, bit close that.  In fact 0.006 seconds!

Yes it was! Very close between P4 and P5 too:
P2 and  P3
(https://i.ibb.co/TmbPR3f/gplc55-exe-Screenshot-2021-03-14-22-20-04-25.png) (https://ibb.co/cDC2tnB)
P4 and P5
(https://i.ibb.co/J3JXXT6/gplc55-exe-Screenshot-2021-03-14-22-21-02-56.png) (https://ibb.co/NTBwwqD)

Grats Raoni, your pace was unbelievable. Super quick!

amazing race guys, congratulation don, for that amazing race. In fact, he deserves that position since he put the grass through the sand, better said anywhere, and he achieved that thousandth of a second to stay with the 4 position, what a race for God.
   the same thing happened between phill and clive for second place, wowwwww
   raoni on another planet, spectacular race  teami,  and congratulations
   this is what I look for in the gpl, a nice competition without underestimating the opponent and trying to run as clean as possible. What a nice race, that's why I love the GPL.
  thanks guys, for thios race  :smartass:

Hearty congratulations to Raoni. Amazing speed. I must look at the replay to see how it's done.

I spent the race in a battle for second place. The end result was probably down to slight differences in gear ratios. Phil didn't seem to be able to easily draft past me, whereas I could blast straight past him whenever he got his nose in front.

In the end it was decided in my favour by 0.006 sec. However, I was close to quitting a couple of times over the last two laps.  I've suffered with a water infection for just over a week and despite draining the sump just as the race started, the last two laps were agony.  As soon as we crossed the line I needed a tree to stop the car against and dash for the loo.

I thought the thoughtful MB team had a hole in the floor on the drivers side for such emergencies  ::)

If things don't improve I may need a length of rubber tube and a milk bottle!

................or a stout rubber band and some paracetemol for the resultant backpressure and headache?  ::)

Just the thought is making my eyes water!

A ripper of a round at Tripoli!  Never a dull moment.

Congratulations to Ray on a walkaway win.  How ever does he manage it?  Clive scoring P2 a scant 6/1000s ahead of Phil.  WOWZER!  And if that wasn't close enough, I thiefed P4 off Ricky by 5/1000s at the flag.  Heart in my throat as we dashed to the line I can tell you as I misjudged my line and was well and truly off in the dirt.

Evil Clive had the great misfortune to clip a barrier on the last lap and cost him speed otherwise he would most definitely been right there in the mix as Ricky and I headed for the line.  He drove superbly in the Lancia keeping pace with me for the entire race.  Indeed, following a gaffe on my part by getting enormously sideways in one bend, he was nicely ahead.  Only the top end advantage of the Slipstreamer Merc saved the day for me.

Sorry to see that we had some fallers...Alain & Axel...and some discos/freezes...Eddie & Jonny...and poor Bas never even had a chance to get back to the grid after a CTD late in qualifying.  Bad luck for all there.

Yep I had my first disco for a long time, I suspect my provider to have reset my IP mid first lap...

It seems that this is one of those races when you everything goes right at the same time. Luck, car, speed and track. After two disappointing races, it was great to finish one and win it.

I had no idea how driving the SL would be. It was myfirst realcontact with this car, since I've driven mostly the Maserati, Ferrari and Connaught in this mod.
Qualy was very exciting. Jonny set a very fast time and I could beat him only in the final minutes, with a high 3:17.

At the start I lost a place to Clive, as I expected, but then rejoined 1st place at the slow right corner. To be honest, overtaking there wasn't even much my intention. I put my car in the inside line because was afraid of following his slipstream and rear ending him trying to brake. I'm still not so confident with those cars under these circumnstances.

I thought we would have a long battle until the end of the race swapping the lead, maybe with 3 or 4 cars involved. But after I opened a 200m gap, I realised that I had enough speed to escape and try to have a more "comfortable" race. Without making any mistakes and finding a good pace, I was just worried about making the engine survive until the end. Luckily, everything went well!

Congrats to all finishers! I must have a look at the replay to watch the exciting battles for P2 and P4. Amazing job, guys!

I think you might be right there Clive. I hadn't practiced with a tow until the server test just before the race with Ricardo and your good self. I thought the gears were OK because I could draft past Ricardo. But in the race your pace was just that bit hotter and so my Merc was gasping for breath at top speed. I could have done with another notch on the final drive.

I thought the track was perfect for the SL. The straights were long enough so that the brake fade was not an issue for the whole race. I was careful under braking so as to avoid repeat of the Nassau fiasco but I wasn't confident enough to give you a really big safe gap in case I lost the tow. I think I was probably a bit too cautious, the draft was pretty strong and I could afford to give you a 60 yard gap and still make up the ground on the long straights.

In the early laps I was content to stay behind you so that we could try to stay with Raoni but when he broke away there was no point in trying to work together to bridge the gap, he was just too quick. We had a decent gap back to P4 so it was an opportunity to fight for P2 without risking too much. It was fun :). Great racing  :thumbup1:

I've not got the acute problem you had Clive but I definitely need to be careful how much caffeine loaded drinks I have in the hours before a race. It is the main reason I haven't tried the Grand Prix length races. I'd have to be practically dehydrated to last 90mins without a "pit stop"  ;D

It was great racing Phil.

I have looked at Raoni's fast laps and can see how it's done.  I have altered my gearbox accordingly.  But I just can't do it!   >:(

Maybe I should have opted for the Merc SL too, but thus far I have never driven the SL in serious competition and have no baseline setup to work from. On the handful of occasions that I have driven the Mercedes aircraft carrier offline, it has felt heavy and ungainly, but if anywhere was going to be the right place, this circuit was it.

So, when I joined the server, I opted for the Lancia, and was sorely disappointed at the difference in non-slipstream lap times which was around 6 secs!!
Qualifying was spent trying to find a suitable tow truck and adjusting gear ratios, but I think I only had one lap behind a Merc and that was Clive's, which netted a reasonable lap, but still nowhere near Raoni and Co on the front of the grid.

My race plan was therefore quite simple. Mabel said, " get off the grid quickly and attach this length of industrial strength knicker elastic to the back of an SL on lap 1 and just sit there and wait for developments".
Hmmm, easier said than done with the road ahead fully occupied by big flat silver things!! Apologies for the rather erratic turn 1 moves, but I had taken the outside line to be in clear air, only to find my forward vision partially obscured by yet another SL  :-\. As a result I allowed my Lancia to run a few centimetres too wide and got a fractional clip on the end of the wall.
If folks behind were momentarily scared by the red thing weaving around for the next 200mtrs as I did my utmost to avoid a spin and the guaranteed crashfest that would follow, I would refer you to Arnold who said after the race " ...we might get the stain out of the seat with the pressure washer, but your racing overalls will either need to be replaced, or we dye them brown and claim that as your new team colours"
At the slow T4 I was able to outbrake one or two SL's and I think I was up to 4th/5th and close behind the group of fast boys. If I could just attach that elastic tow rope I should be able to stay with them. I discovered that good as any plan might be, there is always a flaw! Sure, my Lancia was better on the brakes and this track required zero "brake management", plus I could carry more speed through a few corners but, as I found out on lap 1  that did not prevent large silver things blowing past me on the straights and then baulking my progress at the next corner  :(.
By the end of Lap 1 I was down to my starting position  of 7th. Doni had started cautiously but was easily able to ease past on the long fast sections and gain just enough ground so that I could not exploit my superior braking/cornering speed, because the road was fully occupied by silver.
My team mate Doni provided an excellent tow truck and I soon discovered that I had only just got the ratio of 5th gear high enough. The red line comes in a 8k for the Lancia and there were times when I was glancing nervously at readings of 8.2-8.4K in the draft  :scared:
I did manage a pass on Doni to relieve the boredom when he ran wide, but his re-take was inevitable and I just picked up the tow again. On the one occasion when I made a big mistake and allowed a 100mtr gap to develop was when Doni decided to pick up the draft from Enrique's Merc, which I thought was ill timed to say the least!
For two laps  was wringing every kph out of that Lancia engine and leaving more rubber in Tripoli than an abandoned condom factory. But, I just held on to the outermost limits of the slipstream effect and posted a 3:19 lap as I closed up, whereas laps behind Doni were in the 3:21/3.22 region. The time was gained in the braking zones and the speed through the slower corners, but I doubt if I could have held onto Clive and Phil if I had been behind them as their straight line speed was just too great.
And yes, I tried too hard on the last lap to get myself in the optimum place for a draft past on the finishing line and huge adulation by running wide and scraping my wheels along a wall, just when I needed a clean run through the corner.
Still impressed by Raoni's pace and the fact that he was able to break away and get beyond slipstream range so early, when the likes of Clive Loynes and Co were in similar machinery. Some great close finishes too.

You needed to be in 67mode for this one, something that I should have realised when Axel appeared in our midst.


Having lost out on my usual amount of practice, due to health reasons, I did not make the leap of faith to abandon 55mode in time for the race.

In fresh air I was seeing 281kph and early on, when following Raoni, I saw 286kph.

Hard luck Evil but it serves you right , only an idiot would take the Lancia  :beta1:

...............................a role for which I feel over qualified  :-\

I'm already fed up with crashing at Bremgarten and have been for about a week!

Moderation published.