SimRacing.org.uk

S31 - 55 F1 - Fun Race – Spa67

Next Fun event with the 55s takes place at THE classic Grand Prix circuit, the original triangular shaped course was designed in 1920 by Jules de Their and Henri Langlois Van Ophem. It used public roads between the towns of Spa, Malmedy and Stavelot.  The course was extremely fast and was made even faster in 1939 with the introduction of the famous Eau Rouge section.  The circuit was completely revised and shortened for the 1981 Belgian Grand Prix but it is the classic 60's 8.761 mile version of the track that we will use for this race.

This version of the circuit was used between 1946 and 1970 and corners like Eau Rouge, Burnenville and particularly Masta presented the drivers with exceptional challenges. Due to the combination of high speed, length and lack of any possible run off, the circuit was very dangerous and claimed the lives of many drivers.

The event is unmoderated – but the usual high standards are expected.

Works/Pro drivers should not use a silver car
 
Unlimited Shift R is allowed & there are no Stop & Go’s. But please be carefull...

Race list	iGOR
Server	UKGPL_8
IP address	look at IGOR
Date	10-09-2017
Track	Spa67 (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=11803)
Mod	55F1 with 60fpsV2newmod
Damage	INT long
Race time	~ 21:30 UK time
Qualifying	20:45 UK time - 45 minutes
Race length	11 laps
Replay	get here (ftp://ftp.ukgpl9.co.uk:32122/Season31/Fun Races/)

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

GLA and FUN

Championship tracks from 1955, are great for driving the same cars, around the same corners as Fangio's, and Moss's.  But don't forget non-Championship tracks, where some, but not all F1's raced that year.  8)

I had a League race at Torino55 this week, where there's a lot to learn.  And Crystal Palace tests both brakes, and handling, with a 60 second lap possible.

And there are many tracks, 55's should have raced on.  Dessaur R. is perfect for brake testing - Sachsenring is pure fun, with many more to choose from.  All candidates for an official UKGPL Season.  :o :laugh:

Guess I'd better take something that isn't Maserati powered....

I'm hoping that my pc will be up to this one but had a couple of blue screen exits when I tried some practice.

Make sure you are running the light graphics, Clive.  Not much difference in quality, unless you plan to cruise around and sightsee.  ???

I think that I am.   ???  I downloaded and extracted both the LITE package and the lowres graphics and then lobbed them into the Spa67 folder.  Since there were no other instructions I couldn't see what else I could do with them.

I still ended up with the blue screen of death unless I went through all my usual pre-race procedures and switched off everything in sight!  However, I did see 60fps at one point and gained a new PB.  ;-)

The battle for 2nd was the best bit of sim racing that I have ever watched.

WD Tim.


EDIT:  Well done all 4 of you really!

That was really good figthing. Sorry for that double damage carnage in Lap 1

The Fight for seond went great, until I oversaw John and went off.

@John: I couldn't read you answer in online server chat anymore, the server went away.

Grats to Axel on the win.
I finally found a setup that felt Ok for the Mazza ( after previous races where it just did not work ) and was running quite happily in 1st place, after Axel had twice tried ploughing fields with his Ferrari and allowed me an easy pass.
At half distance it all looked good, I was not at 100% pace and at Spa there is no brake fade issue, so perhaps my concentration was not perfect. In fact I was already watching the battle on Prib as Tim made his way up through the field in that Gordini.  I put a rear wheel on the grass just before La Source and everything went wrong very quickly!! The car stopped across the track nose into the barriers with Axel coming up quickly and I instinctively hit the Escape key, instead of Shift/R.

I then watched the epic battle between Tim in his Gordini, against 2 Mercs and a Lancia. I recommend that everyone downloads the replay and watches this because it shows that maybe that little Gordini can compete against the faster cars? I was laughing out loud as Tim was backing off behind those Mercs on the straights to avoid passing them!!!! Go take a look guys! Tim finished second, but maybe with a few more laps even Axel would have been under pressure??

Link no worky for me.

Ok, link is fixed now ;)

Thanks to the early mayhem, I was third when I binned it at Stavelot and had had Andreas breathing down my neck for most of the time.  I had been able to draft past him early on but he didn't seem to have the gears to do the same to me.

I may have to avoid Spa67 online as Masta at below 20fps is not fun.  On a fast circuit it just doesn't help when the pc wants to draw every damn tree in Belgium!

I was doing Masta more from memory than what was actually on the screen and at Stavelot the frame rate contributed to a slightly late downshift which resulted in a wheel being wiped off on the end of a wall.

Decided that a shift-R would probably plant me right in front of the next bunch and so decided not to continue my wait for the next blue screen of death.  However it did mean that I could watch the race.

I watched Evil's exit from the lead on the same lap and then settled down to watch the two Mercs and a Gordini close down Andreas in his Lancia.

It was fantastic racing.

Congrats to Axel on the win but the if it had been shown on TV we would never have seen him as the battle for second was so captivating.

I had to watch that all again just to remember everything that happened in the race!

First up, apologies to Fran - I thought I'd slowed early enough to deal with anything unexpected. I didn't and couldn't avoid your car as a result, hence my waiting for you afterwards :(

Secondly, I don't think we should quite be lauding the Gordini to the extent Evil would like to suggest. Due to the very narrow power band and 4 speed gearbox the Gordini really isn't very fast here without draft. (I had to gear 1st to 70mph to have a chance of decent acceleration elsewhere, hence dropping about 5 spots by the time I reached Eau Rouge!).
I'm reckoning around a 2:05, maybe 2:06 on race fuel for a good lap without drafting anyone, my qualifying lap was done with some assistance from Clive L's recently spun car about 300yds ahead giving me a slight tow for roughly half the lap.
I only made the sustained progress I did in the race as a result of being able to leapfrog my way up the field and draft the Mercs until in range of the lead group. Without Bastian, Andreas, Tristian and John I would have been dropped like a stone!

That said I absolutely loved the challenge that race presented, everyone gave it their all in a no holds barred fight but still did all they could to leave room where needed. That was a proper top class scuffle  :angel:

I had actually intended to take the Vanwall as I thought it should fair better here due to the slightly better top speed and higher power - but then decided to try the T16 for fun, before promptly running out of time to tune the Vanwall for the race  ::)

As a final note - Bastian, you really needed longer gears for your Merc. Out of the draft you were only about 1mph faster than the Gordini down the run to Masta. I think I may actually have had a better top speed than you when we were both drafting people.
You were revving to about 9,500rpm or more when drafting people and topping out at about 170mph, the SL should be capable of those speeds out of draft here I'd have thought. In draft you should have been a rocket!  ;D

Well, I had to go and sit in a darkened room with a single malt to calm down after that one.

Amazed to finish where I did having had to take a shift-r after being hit by Doni trying to unhook myself from the barrier after avoiding Bastian at Les Combes (Track not clear - rinse and repeat)... So rejoined stone last. But others desire to throw there cars at the scenery meant I had made most of the places back by the end of lap 2 that I lost initially.

I don't think I have ever driven so close with so many for so long. Stunning drive Tim I have nothing but admiration. Really sorry Bastian I could see you were drifting wide  while I had just the right amount of power on oversteer to hug the inside line all the way through Burnenville I knew you would go for a late Apex so had to stick my Merc there 1st. Really sorry it ended the way it did. :(

3 abreast on the run down to Blanchimont on the last lap was scary, Tim had the inside line and no one was going to bully him out of it, I tried to go around the outside but that was never going to work so had to be content with following him home, I knew there was a small chance he might be slow out of La Source if he lost too much speed but he was too good for such a rookie error so I had to be content with the final podium spot.

That ranks as the most enjoyable GPL experience I have had for a very long time. Really close racing with no prisoners but always leaving room, and so nice to drive these cars on a track where the condition of the brakes aren't such a major consideration.

Thanks guys.

TTFN
John.



 

np


Damn, I should have copied the Monza 10k Setup, but I ran out of time in Qualyfing. At leat it made the fights closer and better !

Sorry you lost it at Stavelot. After it was real good Racing.  :fencing: Very good stuff!