SimRacing.org.uk

Season 41 – 1955 Grand Prix – Round 2 – Works - Boreham Airfield

The second race in the 1955 Grand Prix series finds us at Boreham Airfield in the UK. RAF Boreham closed in 1946 and subsequently the West Essex Car Club developed the 2.95 mile perimeter track into a motor racing circuit. Although not on the official Grand Prix calendar, Boreham Circuit hosted competitive races between 1949 and 1952. Among the teams that raced at Boreham were BRM, Connaught, Frazer Nash, and Talbot-Lago. Among the drivers who raced there were Mike Hawthorn, Stirling Moss, and Ken Wharton. In 1955 the Ford Motor Company bought the airfield to use as a test facility for trucks, as well as the base for their Competitions Department where they prepared their cars.

Race list	=	iGOR
Server	=	UKGPL_07
IP address Server	=	See iGOR
Password	=	see above (#post_event_password)
GPL Mod	=	55
60fps Patch	=	60fpsV2newmod
Track download	=	Link (http://srmz.net/index.php?showtopic=14674)
Track directory	=	boreham
Qualifying starts	=	20:45 UK time - 45 minutes
Race starts	=	~ 21:30 UK time
Race length	=	27 laps
Replay	=	here (https://antipastiracing.org.uk/antipastiracing/UKGPL_Replays/index.php?dir=Season%2041)

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=1911&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
bagrupp	10	Works
Claudio Navonne	10	Works
Clive Loynes	8	Works
Doni Yourth	10	Works
Enrique Farina	8	Works
EvilClive	10	Works
fpolicardi	12	Works
GrandPrixYannick	10	Works
JonnyO	20	Works
Leo Menegucci	8	Works
Pete Bennett	8	Works
Phil Thornton	5	Works
Victor Torino	8	Works

  Crazy race!!!!! Yannick  problems engine in last 200m the finish !!!!! Leo desconected ! and Pete in great recovery !!!!!

 

No end of dramas in this round!

Pete, our winner, off the road comprehensively on Lap01 to the point that he mounted a haybale and got stuck.  How he managed to reverse down off it, carry on and charge back through the field like a man possessed, I'll never know.

Yannick, scoring P2, being the gentleman and sportsman, allowing Pete to come through for the win.  I expect that he felt a bit guilty for the contact on Lap01 that had Pete off.

Fulvio prevailing for the final podium place despite my best efforts to steal it from him.  Got close but the Old Fox had something in reserve, I'm sure.

Bad luck indeed for Ricky with a blown engine and especially, Leo, who appeared to suffer a disco from a comfortable lead.  Groan...

I had a few tense moments with running deep and wide in Railway a couple of times.  Touch wood.  Managed to save it.

I had precious little time to relax and cruise as something was on the boil for virtually the entire race.  Initially, I had Jonny breathing down my neck so I had to be on my game to hold him off.  Later, got into a royal punch-up with Clive and Victor while chasing Fulvio.  Had a heart-stopper when I drifted off the road in Waltham in an effort to avoid pranging Fulvio.  Moments later, Victor had an unfortunate and highly unusual exit from the race when he got hung up on some track geometry that held him fast.  Curious, that.  He was staying tight to the right in Waltham to avoid me and I knew he was there so stayed high.  That was an undeserved DNF.  My dice with Clive was nerve-wracking as he was almost certainly faster and after passing, it looked like he was away but a serious off in Orchard late on let me go.  Spent the last laps attacking Fulvio but he had me covered.

Quite pleased if a little lucky to score a P4.  Fun track and a great ride in the GP55's.  :)

Unfortunately, that's not how it went.

At lap 1, I carried too much speed in the second corner and -despite my efforts to swing wide- I collected Pete's Mercedes and which put us on the back of the field. I feared I got him stuck in a haybale but later on the lap 1 I saw he escaped.

Afterwards it was a matter of catching up as much as I could. I got up to P2 where I saw catching Leo would be impossible. But then he disco'd and suddenly I led the race

At the exit of the final corner my engine exploded which seriously jeopardised not only winning, but also reaching the finish line. Pete, by karma's work, went past me to take the flag, but I still held on to second with less than 15 mph spare.

I don't think I have ever seen a finish like this in GPL. It was a very bittersweet one, for lack of better term.

Yannick, I felt your pain :(

I was more than satisfied to go sub 1:40 to get pole position but I'm terrible at starting in the 55 cars so I was soon dropping back as we headed to T1. I knew that I had the pace to be a front runner so I was not in any rush to get back up to the front. The bump at T2 which stranded me on the haybale should have ended my evening but somehow the Mercedes' rear tyres had just enough grip on the grass to let me reverse off after a bit of rocking back and forth. I even got the revs to over 9.5k and yet the motor survived another 45 minutes.

The red mist had descended and I was over 20 seconds from the back of the grid when I rejoined the track at Waltham. The next four laps were spent regaining my compusure and working out if my car was broken. All seemed good so I started to charge. This was fun :)

Leo was the clear winner but I could see that a podium was possible given my pace and the number of laps ahead of me. Leo, you had this one in the bag, what happened? Your demise was probably more painful and frustrating that Yannick's. With four laps to go I was in 2nd and some 14 seconds behind Yannick. I almost decided to ease right off and settle for 2nd in order to preserve the Merc's engine but I'm glad I didn't. Imagine my surprise on the last lap as I saw the numbers on Pribluda tumbling as I approached Railway Corner. I couldn't believe my luck as I whooshed past the ailing Connaught.

Very happy with the win, albeit undeserved and more by luck and others' misfortunes. Sometimes the GPL Gods are on us... more frequently though, not so. As Yannick says, a bittersweet victory but I guess this is what racing is all about. It also proves that you should NEVER GIVE UP.

See you next time.