SimRacing.org.uk

Season 36 – 1955 Grand Prix – Round 8 – Aintree
The eighth race in the 1955 Grand Prix series finds us at Aintree.  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 read the championship specific rules on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=872&theme=6).

Please note: Aintree has generous run-off areas so please respect the track limits. Please check the rules regarding corner cutting (see last bullet point under the General section on the Racing Etiquette (https://www.ukgpl.com/index.php/rules/etiquette) page) and the Penalty Guidelines for a bad rejoin (https://www.ukgpl.com/index.php/rules/bad_rejoin).

Race list	iGOR
Server	UKGPL_4
IP address	77.102.28.179
Date	17-05-2020
Track	aintree (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=1284#entry8476)
Mod	55GP with 60fpsV2newmod
Damage	PRO long
Race time	~ 21:30 UK time
Qualifying	20:45 UK time - 45 minutes
Race length	23 laps
Replay	here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HcvcCKN41rVTCwnWutUODMbxTBNDuE6d/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)
Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=872&theme=6)

Handicapping and chassis allocation.
The 1955 Grand Prix cars will 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=872&theme=6). Drivers classed as Juniors will be allocated an additional 10 tokens.  The tokens available to each driver 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
bagrupp	15	Senior
Clive Loynes	7	Senior
Cookie	10	Senior
Doni Yourth	12	Senior
Dulima	10	Senior
EvilClive	9	Senior
fpolicardi	10	Senior
GregT	18	Senior
JonnyO	20	Senior
Leon Forst	8	Senior
Oly9	5	Senior
Raoni Frizzo	0	Senior
Ziu Bacubacu	10	Senior
5117sebas	10	Junior
Alex Gromoff	10	Junior
bernie	10	Junior
Durval Becho	20	Junior
enrique farina	30	Junior
francesco	6	Junior
Gareth	10	Junior
luiz covisi	25	Junior
PaulV	13	Junior
Phil Thornton	12	Junior
Ricardo Valim da Silva	0	Junior
tagomago	20	Junior

Can't see Bernie on the list?

Thanks for spotting that Clive, he's there now  ;)

Practice server is up now and I'll leave on 24/7 until race day. Sometimes it gets stuck when looping, I'll check it regularly but if you notice it is down, please post something here.

I had my pacemaker fitted yesterday and I'm a bit sore and tired, but otherwise OK. Thanks for all the messages of support guys.

I'm hoping that the discomfort will ease before Sunday and I can join in the hostilities...the next few days will decide that. If I think that I am not functioning anywhere near my usual level of ineptitude, I will give the race a miss. At least I know the track and won't need to do too any practice until the race.  :-\

I note that Clive Loynes and SBRC have drafted in extra reserves in the form of Bernie, to take advantage of my weakened state lol  ::)

You may remember when we met , I had just had my pm installed . My advise would be to be very careful Clive ,  you don't want to cause any damage , I have since had 2 more encounters with the surgeons knife 1st was for  an "upgrade " as the first one fitted wasn't doing the job ,  2nd time for a faulty wire to be replaced , I was due in again to have a defibrulator type fitted after being diagnose heart failure , but this got postponed due to the covid stuff.
I often wonder if all this was a result of my doing too much too soon .

So take it easy !

(N.B. Mr Loynes ) (That should slow him down a bit  )  ;D 

LOL

Nice one Bernie!   ::)

Get well soon Evil.  But not too soon.   :P

Great to see you back in UKGPL Bernie, still kicking. Your insight and humour has been missed  ;)

I surely do remember our meet up along with Andy Livingston and your team supremo Mr Loynes ( I am told he likes the formal titles  :P ) As I recall you had just had your pm changed and were only 50/50 to join us, but so glad that you did my friend.  I find it amusing that, until we met and with absolutely no evidence to base it on, I had a mental image of Bernie Darwin every time I read one of your posts on the forum. I will just say that you turned out to be much taller, more hirsute ( facially ) and had mislaid your hat somewhere. Perhaps you left on the deckchair in the loft??  ;) I won't say anything about my preconceived image of Clive  ::)
My op went OK and I am just a little sore around my left shoulder. The big worry is, as you mention, what amounts to doing too much? Dislodging those wires before they get anchored is the biggest worry, but how do you know until the 6 week checkup  :-\ ??

I had occasion to fire up my PC yesterday and accidentally turned on GPL ( no idea how that happened, I told the wife!!). Out of curiosity I tried a 1/2 lap of Aintree and my fears were confirmed. As things stand I cannot handle the FF ( I have it set quite high for realism ) and my aggressive setup requires far too much arm work.
So, unless the soreness reduces over the next few days, or I somehow find the time and energy to reduce the FF and develop a soft setup that is still quick enough to not be a hazard to others, Sunday's race is in doubt for me.

In the interim I have posted several bulky plain brown envelopes to various friendly drivers and pointed out that the Gordini ( sans freins ) make a pretty good replacement for an Exocet...………………..just a simple observation on my part  ::)

You could try driving with the one good arm,  ( "bad" arm taped securely across your chest , like a one armed man in a coffin  ) ifuswim

But No!  Do Not try it !

 I can picture the scene . You enter the race with the idea of driving a nice safe steady pace . then after a few laps you are drawn into the race , you are going well , very well , you become involved in a battle and very soon get consumed by the red mist , you start to chuck the car around in the usual fashion , you have abandoned all fear , telling yourself  " I Am A RACING GOD " what can I possibly do wrong ! but its doomed to failure , the damage and pain is lies unnoticed, blanked out by Adrenalin , until that is , post race,  when the adrenalin wears off .

My sincere advice,  take it easy , follow your head , not your heart  . there will always be another race to look forward to !

signed

Dr. Bernie  aka Shipman the Ships Surgeon  ;D

 

You've got to drop a score Clive so you can afford to sit this one out. It's great that your op went well but Bernie has posted some wise words.

I know that Bernie is right ( despite his allegiance to SBRC  :P ) and common sense tells me that it should not matter as it is only a game and I do have to drop another score.
 But I have been thoroughly enjoying the close battle in the championship for the top spot. I find that these 55 cars with the brake fade have to be raced right on the limit of the physics and every race is an adventure. The competition at the top of the table is so close and the last few rounds are going to be intense.

I might just roll across the line and complete one lap,  to pick up the tokens and then try with all my might, to resist the urge to actually race. lol :-\

That way, I can collect the tokens and open some extra options for the last few races.  ;)

Maybe I will stay and watch the race unfold from the pits.

Sounds like a good plan.

I know it's difficult but you are just going to have to be sensible!   ::)

"sensible" is not something that I have practiced in my life. This could be a novel experience, does anyone know if it is fun??  ::)

Hi Clive,

Hope you are doing Ok mate.

I tried that "sensible" once. Nope.......definitely not fun.

Paul.

 I hope you heal well Clive. I hope you take it easy too. The Gordini at no faster than 70mph might not be too dangerous. I drove a few races last year only using 1 arm after I had broken my other arm. I'll be very angry with you if you hurt yourself.

I will be around at the start, but I am not intending to do anything but claim my tokens and retire to the bar, maybe watching the race from the paddock  ;)

A wise desisio  decisson choice !

a gaming day to forget....engine blow on lap 11 on 3thrd.

not fair...

But the worst race is mine.Half lap and problem with the camshaft.What a fantastic season.

Very unlucky you were driving very well.

didnt go to bad.. at least I finished.

sorry to hear that bagrupp and francesco were out. because other than seeing Greg in trouble It seemed as though most of us stayed on the server.

no lag at all tonight for me and a good connection.... well, a good connection with the server,a crap connection with the tarmac !!

Francesco, Im so sorry to keep seeing you getting these engine problems. are the shifters and shifter swithces clean on your wheel

or the switches on your gear shift if you "H" shift.  I cant see how this keeps happening.  I think you already said that you do NOT speedshift,
because speedshifting with a fully open throttle will blow engines. especially if racing on "PRO"

otherwise I have known it to be switches.  it makes the game think you are multi-shifting or creating false neutrals.

a lot of newer games give you the ability to add a delay to your shifts to stop this happening.  just trying to think of ways to help.

What wheel and shifter do you use?

Paul V.

Shame that Aintree has fallen off the results table.   ???

I blew an engine in qually whilst on a race pace simulation run and that put the wind up me for the race.  With the 55s we all use the gearbox for braking but it is necessary to watch what happens to the revs when we shift down.  I was delaying my downshifts as much as I could.  It was hurting me on pace but I made it to the end.

Very hard luck for Greg but I will eagerly grab the 50 points.   ;D

Hope that Evil is back to his anoying self for the next one.

Very well done to Bernie.  Finishing your first 55mod race is a feather in your cap!

Grats to Tago for getting to the finish on this difficult venue.  I love it!

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. There was no token overspend for this round so no one is disqualified.

Driver	Tokens	Status
bagrupp	10	Senior
Clive Loynes	5	Senior
Cookie	10	Senior
Doni Yourth	17	Senior
Dulima	15	Senior
EvilClive	19	Senior
fpolicardi	2	Senior
GregT	13	Senior
JonnyO	20	Senior
Leon Forst	8	Senior
Raoni Frizzo	5	Senior
Ziu Bacubacu	10	Senior
5117sebas	10	Junior
Alex Gromoff	10	Junior
bernie	8	Junior
Durval Becho	20	Junior
enrique farina	25	Junior
francesco	6	Junior
Gareth	10	Junior
luiz covisi	25	Junior
Oly9	20	Junior
PaulV	13	Junior
Phil Thornton	12	Junior
Ricardo Valim da Silva	10	Junior
tagomago	25	Junior

You're a bit keen Clive ;D. The championship table doesn't show the race during the import process. I've done the import, the table is up-to-date now.

Looks like you've got a small but significant lead in the championship.

After me scoring one of my best ever billiards break off's at the start I was glad to finish mid field and in one piece , Apologies to Doni ? and whoever else got involved . I was running pretty slow following the pack but when those in front started to brake (earlier than I thought they would ) I got caught out , stood on the brakes but instead of slowing the Maseratti slid into Doni ( I think it was him anyway ) or whoever so apologies for that one hope I didnt ruin anyones race completely . other than that I tried to run a steady race pace with one eye on the brake O meter .  On the very last lap I did run completely out of brakes after recovering from a mistake , almost losing out to Paul.
Looking forward to the next meet .
Grats to the Podium and thanks for organising the fun  :)
 

Is only bad luck.I have a Fanatec Steering wheel and pedals with a thrustmaster H gear box and i use the clutch.
If your theory is correct in which way you explain 21 laps during the qualifications without respect for the engine but also without problem?
The half lap was done very quiet since i was worried to not finish the race for an incident.
If i'm not wrong,in GPL exist also the random mechanical problem.During the qualifications ,sometime, i have used the downshift for breaking help ,so with possible high rev but i have seen any problem.I challenge anyone to break the camshaft in half lap.

Grats to Clive Loynes, and commiserations to Greg who looked like he had the race in his pocket.

I was only there for the beer ( and the tokens  ;) ) so I took the zero cost Gordini. During quali I was simply playing with the petit escargot and trying not to impede those with more intent.
Because I was not intending to do more than cross the start line and collect the tokens, I gave no attention to what laptimes I was posting, assuming that with all of the mistakes and backing off to allow faster cars a clean pass, I was sure to be at the back of the grid. So, I must apologise for popping up in the middle of the grid for the start, I had never intended to be that involved.  Fortunately, I was able to pull into the pit lane and allow the field to pass before trundling around the first lap and pulling off.
I watched the rest of the race from the paddock as Greg steadily eased away from Clive until his engine expired. I think I was as disappointed as Greg that Clive was about to take max points  ::) But it does add some extra spice for the last 2 races  ;D.

Also well done Bernie for his first race in the 55's and a solid finish and result, there are a great many drivers who struggled to get these cars to the flag.  I did watch some of your progress Bernie, and thought that you displayed a very smooth and controlled style, you have obviously lost none of your old skill !!

I am hoping that I will be fighting fit for the last 2 rounds...after all Clive would not want to win the championship without a fight would he  ::).

Congrats Clive! Nice job!

Until this race I was very impressed by the durability of the engines. I destroyed one quickly in practice shifting to 5th on the back straight. That had me a little worried. That was on my mind throughout the first half of the race. I had almost forgot about it when my camshaft finally failed. I wanted to use a longer 1st gear but I figured my brakes wouldn't allow it. I made a few horrible downshifts during the race and ran the engine to 8500 rpms more than I liked. I didn't think I was especially abusive but obviously I wasn't as careful as I needed to be.

I'm glad I got some points. :) I had guessed I wouldn't get any when my race ended. I'm disappointed I didn't get to pressure the two Clives to the end of the season. Which Clive is the evil one? If I were more superstitious, I might think Mr. Loynes is practicing voodoo on me. :)

Thanks for the fun guys. And congrats again Clive. And my apologies to the other Clive. I tried to reduce Mr. Loynes point total.

I'll just keep sticking the pins in these two little dolls then! 

I've looked at the replay and Greg was really unlucky.  On the part that I watched, his gear changes were textbook quality.  It must have been a really weak engine.

 "Is only bad luck.I have a Fanatec Steering wheel and pedals with a thrustmaster H gear box and i use the clutch."

well i guess with the decent wheel and shifter you have that one can rule out my thoughts.

I just wish you much better luck for next few races and especially for next season.  


on another note,  welcome back to UKGPL bernie, and I did nearly snag your place and another car just in front of you but I had been having the usual 55 car issues of dodgy handling and dodgy driving on my part and just felt as though it may have gone terribly wrong for all of us if I made the lunge for the position.  

you were just rejoining and I felt the usual lack of sight for each other in that position it could have all gone awfully wrong...

the few times we were a bit closer, was enjoyable. you were just driving a little too tidy and steady for me.. just couldnt quite match your pace. nice drive mate.

and welcome also to Ollie..  we had a few decent laps. some nice racing between us.

I also will lament the loss of Aintree...  I like the place.   its the only time and place I have ever overtaken Greg, well other than in the pits. I wonder what i need to sabotage next race, he will be keeping an eye on camshafts from now on LOL.

Paul V.

firs:
  my apologies for policardi for a litlle push than I make it in turn 2 , my mistake,  :( I tried to stop by all means and try to avoid you but I couldn't .. maybe you brake to early and and i couldn't help hitting you, so sorry buddy
   I punish myself in next race and start in last place for this action...
   in race, first congratulation clive for your victory and to bad luck for greg, for loose that race for engine problems  :(
  great race I have whit raoni frizzo, he in a lower car, fight so strong for the podium..and he do that :-)
  cya next race

Finally, the first time I see the checkered flag with the 55s this season ;D

Without any tokens available, I opted to reduce my options to the Gordini and Connaught.
After a few laps on the practice server last Friday, I was scared about how quickly I managed to be completely with no brakes. At first I thought it was something very wrong with my setup or even something I had missed for the mod (an update, patch, etc...).

Then I read some reports and realised it was totally normal. So I had to get used to being gentle with the brakes, which driving on a keyboard means tapping them, and using to gears to help slowing the car. I had much more confidence with the Connaught, so that was the chosen one. At Grenzlandring and Monza I couldn't notice this freature because of the totally different aspect of the track, with their long straight and less braking.

After 6th on the grid, I lost a place to Phil but managed to recover it on the first laps after a battle with Farina, also. Back to 6th, then I found my pace and was chasing Farina, who was speeding up his pace every lap. So we got closer to Fulvio and Bastian, who were battling for 3rd.

Bastian had some hard luck and retired. Right after that, Farina and Fulvio had a spin and I was surprisingly promoted to 3rd, which obviously didn't last very long, once Farina's speed was much quicker than mine. My Connaught was no match for his Lancia on the back straight.

My only serious mistake was on the second half of the race, when I went too wide on the last corner and crashed on the stands. I was extremely lucky not to lose a wheel or destroy my car. But I stopped with half of my car on the track and half outside. Fulvio came and Iguess he managed to avoid me, but he also spun. Sorry for scaring you, Fulvio. I decided to stay where I was instead of having a risky return to the track.

Still 4th, but now Farina a long way ahead of me, my only goal was to finish the race without any other mistake. Then I saw that Greg had been out when his name dropped on pribluda. Hard luck, mate. You really had the race on our hands and deserved the win :(

One of my luckiest podiums ever in GPL. Without Bastian and Greg's retirements, and without Fulvio's spin, I should have ended the way I started: 6th. But I was so happy to manage to find a nice race pace and quickly adapt this new driving style. It certainly brings a whole new approach to my GPL experience, being much more cautious rather than aggressive.

Congrats Clive, for the great win! Farina, for the podium. And to everyone who managed to finish!
See ya next race!

With not much else to do I thought that I would prepare all of the tracks etc for the remainder of the seasons as I lost most of them when I had to re-install Win10 and GPL.

All was going OK until I tried Hockenheim??? the next race for the 55's.
Downloaded the zip file from SRMZ via the Track Database
Extracted the contents
used the usual "Install Track" button
I was asked for the directory as usual and entered the correct address.
Hockenheim 67 shows up in the 55 Season folder
Hockenheim 67 shows in the list of available tracks within GEM
I used the normal process to copy Hockenheim to the 55 Season list and it shows as one of the circuits.
Launch GPL and when I get the track screen it is not Hockenheim, and scrolling through the tracks, it is not available???

I have done this process 3 times now, deleting each of the previous failed attempts, but still no joy  ???
Any suggestions guys???

Hey I'm living nearby...

This is my hockenhm folder with all updates, as save as possible!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/8p7j3y4fyyw8j71/hockenhm.7z/file

This has to be in the 55season.ini

Shame we do not have the real 1955 Hockenheim track,
as this was about the first time when I was there...

Last Sunday I was there and made a picture of a leftover piece of tarmac from the pre 1962 track:

(https://i.ibb.co/T1c5Pzh/IMG-20200517-155355.jpg) (https://ibb.co/3v1HSth)

Thank you Axel that worked perfectly. I cannot understand why the download did not install correctly, it appeared to be routine and normal  :-\

Nice photo Axel, what part of the circuit was that from?

Damn!

Another plan thwarted.   ::)

lol, I bet those dolls are becoming rather perforated lately ???   ::) But, at least you can order more pins from Amazon  ;D

It's  where 1967 ~ the Nordkurve was ,
but they drove in reverse direction, so it was middle of the backstraight down to the Stadtkurve.

I try to get a pic of the track from Ospata @ srmz, the guy who makes these great old track sketches ;)

better here today, it's ouside the Nordkurve where the little roundabout is to the back entrance in my pic,
a line goes to the old Wald Straight and other direction across the (now) Autobahn
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Hockenheimring%2C_April_29%2C_2018_SkySat_%28cropped%29.jpg)

Well it wasn't a spin self inducted, I saw you locked at the outside and tried to avoid you, and I thought to have done it but GPL gremlins decided for a collision between your nose and my LR wheel even if no contact it seen in my replay, only sparks, so my car rebounded in pit area and when I could restart you were too far ahead. After this and the previous crash with Enrique I was a bit upset and lost the concentration to try to catch you.
Next time I'll be in a slower car so I wont risk to be in the path of faster drivers.  ;)

Edit: about 55 collision box, isn't the first time that I find that it's wider than the apparent lenght of nose.

No problem Enrique, ir was a racing incident. I am a well known early brakers, after 21 years of GPL I haven't mastered this ability  ;D
Anyway with the Merc I was out of brake even before to brake for T3 and after my wide at L2, that costed me the place on Bastian, I was over cautious there.
Please don't punish yourself in next race, there is a judging system for that  :)