SimRacing.org.uk

Season 34 – 1955 Grand Prix – Round 10 – Silverstone

The final round in the 1955 Grand Prix series is at Silverstone, England. The venue for the 1954 British Grand Prix (the 1955 British Grand Prix was held at Aintree) the circuit is built on a disused airfield and comprises a mixture of sections of peri track and sections of runway. Silverstone was first used for motorsport by an ad hoc group of friends who, in September 1947, set up an impromptu race up and down the runway. The next year the Royal Automobile Club took a lease on the airfield and set out a more formal racing circuit. Their first two races were held on the runways themselves, with long straights separated by tight hairpin corners, the track was demarcated by hay bales. However, for the 1949 International Trophy meeting, it was decided to switch to the perimeter track. This arrangement was used for the 1950 and 1951 Grands Prix. In 1952 the start line was moved from the Farm Straight to the straight linking Woodcote and Copse corners, this layout remained largely unaltered for the following 38 years and will be the layout that we will be using tonight.
 
Please read the championship specific rules on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=664&theme=6).

Race list	iGOR
Server	UKGPL_4
IP address	46.69.108.137
Date	09-06-2019
Track	Papyrus Original
Mod	55GP with 60fpsV2newmod
Damage	PRO long
Race time	~ 21:30 UK time (BST, GMT + 1)
Qualifying	45 minutes @ 20:45 UK time (BST, GMT + 1)
Race length	27 laps
Replay	here (ftp://ftp.ukgpl9.co.uk:32122/Season34/55GP)

If the official replay site is unavailable, the server replay can be downloaded from this temporary location (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oynQ_fH33ntKKJh4qFe5OsxTpnM-S-z4/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.

Password: see above (#post_event_password)
Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=664&theme=6)

Handicapping and chassis allocation.
This season the 1955 Grand Prix cars will again be using a token system which allows drivers to purchase any chassis of their choice for a given number of tokens as published on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=664&theme=6). Drivers classed as Amateurs will be allocated an additional 10 tokens.  The token allocation will not be managed in SRou this season so (unlike the 67F1 Works and 67F1 Privateer divisions) the tokens available to each driver will not appear in the championship table (when the mouse pointer is hovered over the driver's total).  Rather, the available tokens will be published in the race announcement. See table below.

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
Alessandro Isacchini	13	Pro
bagrupp	10	Pro
Clive Loynes	8	Pro
Cookie	12	Pro
DLogan	5	Pro
EvilClive	26	Pro
fpolicardi	0	Pro
Gareth	5	Pro
Jeep	0	Pro
uli	6	Pro
francesco	20	Am
Phil Thornton	10	Am
Rich Welsh	18	Am
tagomago	100	Am

There will be no Team Orders from SBRC as Fran and Tago do battle to determine the Amateur honours.   ;D


I think that Tago could buy a Merc each for all of us!   ::)

My season and here,the 9-06 i'm not at home.

That's a shame.

Practice server is up. Please test your connections.

I hope to find some time to "dial in" for these cars p.m. Sunday, as they require a different approach from anything else that we drive.

 But it looks like Team SBRC with the season champ Mr Loynes are going to using the W196 and the Gordini, as Fran is on vacation. I'm sure that Uli will be fired up for the last round, Tim is likely to be in there and a lot of other people like Silverstone.

Not sure which car to use as I have plenty of T$'s. Using the Merc, which should be fast, would mean developing a setup from zero, I might see what I can do with the Connaught, but Silvy does not have enough corners for that car to be a threat.............decisions, decisions???  :-\

Not had much chance to practice for this one but you are dead right about the cars Evil!  ;-)

My accounts department have skillfully left me with just the right amount of Thornton Dollars to take the Merc.


EDIT:  Just done a little practice on the server and can't get anywhere near my previous times.  ;-(  And I can't face any more practice!

I'm having some computer issues ATM. I can't get my race PC to connect to my server, I get a "time out message". Very frustrating when I am 3 feet from the server and it won't connect.  I couldn't reboot my router because it would have disconnected everyone.

Hope the race is going well!

Big SORRY Fulvio, that was not not my intention.
I didn't plan to overtake you and was good on my braking point but not able to avoid you :(
That's why I hate this 55 cars - breaking is very difficult out branking nearly impossible - that's no fun to me.
So I stopped my race, probably my last 55 mod race.
I missed more than a second of speed to my last year pole. Hope it was my low preparing and not the getting older ;)
After the start my fps rate break down (with only 5 cars on the grid!?!?), I couldn't hear my engine, wrong gear ...
It's a pity to finish the season (THX Admins!) this why but I'll never forget the nice moments :).
THX for racing with you all, have a nice summerbreak.

 
Late for me to sell or give away my tokens ;D ... happy with my 3rd here at silverstone ... a pity that we have been few ... an enjoyment on track with you ... thanks for letting me participate and thanks to Clive for his help with setups and replays ;)

Hope to see you again  ;)

It's been a pleasure Tago.

I think that may have given you the Amateur Championship.

I forgot to take a replay so I can't update GPLWeekly until the server replay appears.  It's an age thing.  ;-)

Yes, grats Tago Mago!!!!

Temp link in race announcement now points to server replay.

Well done Tago  :clap: Getting the Gordini to the top of the Ams table was no mean feat, and finishing 3rd at Silverstone last night deserves some acclaim. It takes a certain degree of masochism to climb into the Gordini for each race, and keep it going to the flag.  :notworthy:

My misfortunes early in the season left me too far adrift to be a problem for Clive who had already secured this season's championship, grats to Clive on staying out of trouble and getting those valuable points.  ;)

I was hoping for a decent grid for the final race of the season and some fun racing, but 5 cars was a little disappointing. I had looked at the times from the last 55 race at Silvy and tried a few different cars offline during the afternoon. I had enough T$ to take any car I desired but taking the Merc felt like cheating, and my favourite Connaught was not going to be fast enough on the straights... so which car would give me a chance of dicing at the front?

I remembered that I had used the 250F Maserati at Silvy, so I gave that a run and immediately found that the setup needed some adjustment...either I have changed or the car has??
All of the gear ratios had to be increased, I totally changed the diff, the brake bias was too far rearward and the roll bars were just wrong. Then I reasoned that Clive in his Merc and Uli, if he took the Lancia again, would be in fast cars I needed to allow for slipstreaming in my Maserati so upped 4th and 5th even more to protect the engine.
Great planning and preparation .....................and then I somehow pulled a really good lap to take pole position, which was a worry because I thought I would be a sitting duck on the straights for Clive and Uli with my high top gear. Well, I would just have to get my head down and go for it.

It was sad to see Fulvio and Uli out on lap 1, leaving just 3 cars running, and at first I suspected Clive was sandbagging in his Merc or being careful with his tyres?...he ought to be faster, and closer??!!!
But gradually I eased away and TBH I was cruising for a most of the laps just watching the gap back to Clive, just in case he found some extra pace.  I suspect that he was also cruising to get to the finish  ;)
Quite pleased to find the sweet spot in the Maserati, as on previous outings I always felt that there was hidden pace in that chassis. A shame that we won't be running these cars next season ( I might have to moonlight in another league to get my fix!), but I know that the 55's are  Marmite, you either love them or hate them. maybe we can get them back in the future?

Thx Uli, I know that you aren't a kamikaze  ;)
At start I was surprised by your slow start and I was reluctant to pass you at T2, but went for it hoping for some fun trying to defend a little, knowing well you would have passed me soon, but not so soon  ;D
Anyway no change in standing I think.
About this season it was a pleasure with many good results, I wouldn't have hoped a third, but I managed bad my choice of car in the first part of season so I was stuck in the Fezza for the rest of season and couldn't try to battle in a faster car.
I'm looking forward for the new Sport cars season.
Ciao

Too right!  I didn't kow that.

I'll say my goodbyes now.

The UKGPL series has been the final leg of my '55 Tripple Crown.  I'm now the current champion in the 55mod for GPLRACER, PDLR and UKGPL.  I am particularly proud of the PDLR crown as this league operates a self handicapping system whereby you take a car that lets you fight with the majority of the field.  They have some good drivers and I used the Connaught.

It is the difficulty of the brake fade that attracts me to this mod.  I finished with the others a long time ago but this mod just adds another dimension that I haven't seen anywhere else.  Sat on a swivel office chair my poor old brain cannot come to terms with high grip sims and just don't want to know about wings.

I accept that the brake fade model is probably more servere than they had to cope with in 1955 but they had other issues to contend with, such as being dead if they got it wrong.  So I don't feel that the mod builders have been wrong to make the brake fade more pronounced.  We need something to challenge us!  To me the other mods are all variations on the same fantastic original and you can skip from one to the other with little change of mindset and technique.  The 55mod is different.

My speed at Silverstone was not good.  This is probably because I have been "filling-in" with 67 races at PDLR and it is difficult to mix them unless you are very good at it, like Evil!  Keeping tabs on my left foot is a problem when I have been doing 67mod races.  To that end, I wait until two hours before the 67mod races are due to start before I go to look for a setup.  That way I don't get back into the habit of steering with the brakes!  I've found that the old 25T setups, modified where available by Dave Wilkinson, suit me best.  He was my original Guru in SBRC when I first started to race and that is about where I have sunk to in 67mod.

In the race I found that I was over heating my left rear tyre and that was giving me a problem with a number of near-spins.  I was just about holding Evil when it was going well but every now and then, when the tyres got hot, I would have a slow corner nearly sideways and he galloped off into the distance.  That is another aspect of the 55mod.  The Mercs have lots of power but they are heavy and take a lot of stopping.  They can be great over one lap but a real challenge over a race distance.  The Lancia may actually be a better bet sometimes.

So that's it then.  Looks like I shall be champion for longer than I thought.   :(

Congratulations to Tago for the Amateur Crown and to Uli and Fulvio for second and third.

Congratulations to Evil also for his emphatic win.

See you next time you run 55s.

If I can find :- 
a) the time   
 and 
  b) the log in details for the league,
 
then I might make an appearance in PDLR if that is the only way to continue to enjoy these 55 cars  ;). Like Clive L I really enjoy that extra dimension of controlling the brake fade ( or not ) and keeping the tyres in the workable zone.

UKGPL are running the new SCX  ( Sports Car ) mod in the coming season, so that is something else I will have to learn  :-\. All this stuff to master when one is getting older is just not fair lol!