SimRacing.org.uk

Season 37 - Fun Race 55GP - Aintree
The Soggy Bottom Racers are itching to give the 1955 Grand Prix cars a run out so they've challenged everyone to a race with a difference around Aintree.  First there will be a short heat in which the drivers will score half points followed by a longer race in which the drivers will score full points. For the second race the drivers will line up in reverse order. The winner of the heat will be last on the grid for the main race, and the last driver in the heat will be on pole position for the main race. The points from both races will be added up to determine the overall winner.

Aintree is located in the outskirts of Liverpool in the north of England. It is where Stirling Moss, driving a Mercedes, won his first British Grand Prix in 1955.  After a race of 90 laps, Stirling finished in a time of 3h 7m 21.2s, just 0.2 seconds head of his illustrious Argentine teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. Mercedes dominated the race with a 1–2–3–4 finish with Karl Kling and Piero Taruffi driving the other two Mercedes cars. The first British driver / British car victory in a British Grand Prix was also at Aintree in 1957, when Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks shared a Vanwall.
 
Please note: Aintree has generous run-off areas so please respect the track limits and try not to put more than 2 wheels on the grass at any one time.

Race list	iGOR
Server	UKGPL_4
IP address	77.102.28.179
Date	09-08-2020
Track	aintree (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=1284#entry8476)
Mod	55GP with 60fpsV2newmod
Damage	Intermediate
Qualifying	21:00 UK time - 10 minutes
Heat Race time	~ 21:10 UK time
Main Race time	~ 21:30 UK time
Heat length	8 laps
Race length	16 laps
Replay	here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/19eub_5N6PLV2TFceF8lzkBdiG3Pa27SW/view?usp=sharing)
TeamSpeak Server	see above (#post_event_password)

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

Password: see above (#post_event_password) (ask in IGOR chat if you have trouble seeing the password)

Let's hope that people have long enough to get their 55mod heads on!

Well the 55s are a good choice in this hot weather. Can't beat driving in a T-shirt and a polo helmet in these temperatures!

Better yet if we were racing for half and full Pints instead of Points ( or is Point an Irish Pint ? )  ;D

It is a tad warm!

I think that we will have a password but that should be advised in the chat room before the race.  Could you please add that to the race announcement Phil?

Stray people joining the event will cause havoc.

The main race can run on the standard UKGPL points system 50,43,37,.......
The points awarded for the "heat" would be 25,21,18,14,12,11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0
5pts for pole position and 5pts for the fastest lap across both races.

Should only take me a week to work out who has won!  ::)

Not that it looks like anyone will enter.

I have created my Pit Marshal persona on iGOR so all we need now is some sign that someone beyond Phil, Bernie and me might turn up!

Having returned my daughter's delinquent dog today and just returned home to a ( now) quiet house, I am contemplating a quiet jaunt around Aintree in an open topped car.  ;D

Jolly good.  That should be most relaxing!   ::)

Well, that is a blow. Got myself all psyched up for my first race back in about 100 years and found that I haven't properly installed the mod :(

Hope you boys had fun

Well I think that everybody who took part enjoyed that.   ::)

The results are as follows, with Evil sneaking a narrow win over Phil and with Fredric in third:-

1st   Evil         68 pts 
2nd  Phil         67 pts
3rd   Fredric    51 pts
4th   Me         47 pts
5th   Lance     44 pts
6th   Andreas  39 pts
7th   Paul       32 pts

Now I know why he is called Evil!!!!!  :devil:

Unlucky Paul. You obviously haven't tried these cars yet, they are fun. Perhaps we could do another 55GP fun race before the season resumes in September.

Yes, that was fun and well worth the effort.  The heat + feature format worked very well and could be adopted again in the future.

Knowing that it was grossly overweight on a circuit where you can burn out the brakes in a heartbeat didn't phase me from choosing the Streamliner Merc.  I found it surprisingly quick on the main straight being able to gun down Paul's Vanwall on a couple of occasions.  This car has great top end potential but I never thought to see it here.  This event was about fun so why not select something a little 'off the wall'.

Thanks to Phil for organizing.  Grats to Evil for emerging our Champion.

Thanks to Clive for organising this twin event.

I had not really considered the points etc, as it was a fun event. I dragged out the old Connaught. after briefly considering the Maserati, hoping to enjoy some close racing.


Race 1
With a compact grid the start was exciting as we approached T1 3 abreast :scared: The biggest issue was avoiding contact on either side and negotiating T1 safely, which we all managed.
The Connaught is a little down on power but makes up for that with great handling and eventually the cars in front explored the grass until I took the lead. A few errors in the chasing pack left me well clear and able to cruise to the flag...and a back row start in race 2!!  :-\

Race 2
After a small admin kerfuffle organising the grid  ::) we got things rolling and I was grateful for the small grid, as it did not put me too far behind Clive and Phil. They had cunningly contrived to finish last in the first race, so that they got front row slots in the more lucrative 2nd race  :shifty: Something I might have contemplated if my mental maths was good enough...and it was a league race lol.
I had a magic start and was into 4th before T1 right behind Fred, with Phil and Clive disputing the lead just ahead. I managed to outbrake Fred and move up to 3rd spot but then threw it all away again at the end of the lap  :-\.
I recovered and slowly reeled in the 3 leaders gaining places when Fred and Clive had spins...then there was Phil. I suspect that Phil has been taking performance enhancing drugs lately and his track speed is notably quicker. I chased him for a few laps before I made a small error and he escaped. I chased him down again and this time it was Phil who made the error and I took the lead, but Phil was now chasing hard and I had to push quite hard to maintain the gap.
I could not get my brakes under control and rarely saw a green light ( I would normally expect to see green at 3 points around Aintree!!) so I was never able to go for fast laps and stretch my lead. Then Phil dropped back and I could relax a little. With 5 laps to go I wondered if I could squeeze a 2:01 lap which Pribluda was promising.........bad move!
A couple of near misses should have warned me to just take the win, but instead I pushed and exceeded the safe braking point and hit the hay bales. No prob, I had a big lead and could easily regain the track before Phil caught me...except that the bales would not let go!! Phil and Fred swept past before I struggled free.
Fred ran wide and i regained 2nd, but Phil was just too far ahead to catch..and going far too quickly ;), so 2nd it was for me. But, it appears that I made the result more exciting by arranging a close finish in the points table...quite deliberate on my part of course  ::)

My Sunday Funday !

Got home from Wales , had me dinner , decided watch Grand Prix on't telly , fell asleep in't chair !

Woke up just in time to miss the race at my home track   :-\

We missed you Bernie!

I did wonder where Bernie was hiding?  :-\

Yes I can see how you would miss me with no backmarker to lap  ;D

The way that I was driving, I would have been better off asleep as well!

I meant that I missed the random abuse and derogatory comments....I felt quite ignored and lonely  :(. Especially as your fellow SBRC teammate  was having a bad day at the office, or in this case the Connaught!!  ::)