Moderator's Report
After the summer break from last season, picking up from where he left last season, John Hammonds emerged victorious across the Styrian mountains of Zeltweg. Phil Thornton picked up a fine 2nd place after a strong drive and Dave Ranier rounded up the podium with a well deserved 3rd place.
It was great to see some old faces returning for this series. Hope to see you throughout the season gentlemen,
There were two incidents reported this race; both very similar, on the same corner, one lap after another. Unfortunately one of these was on the first lap, and that meant most of the field was involved. Time to dust off the Moderator's cap.....
Server replay time: 0h00m58s
Fran Molteni makes a great start and attempts to pass Billy Nobrakes on the approach to Hella Licht. Fran brakes later than Bill, and is alongside on corner entry, on the outside. Rather than leave room, Fran squeezes Bill and though they almost get away with it, the ensuing contact pitches them both into a spin, causing a roadblock and chaos ensues behind.
Fran was perfectly entitled to challenge Bill by passing on the outside, but he should have left much more room than he did. When overtaking on the outside you are most exposed to warp or lag contact so for self preservation's sake it's always best to leave plenty of space. Fran didn't do that and Bill, and the rest of the field behind, unfortunately fell victim to this error. The drivers behind did a commendable job in trying to avoid the pair of stricken Brabhams, but first lap incidents are always tricky to avoid.
Billy Nobrakes did nothing wrong. He was a constant distance from the inside kerb throughout the incident.
The following link is a good reference for learning where a fellow racer's car is visible from your own. Note the large blindspot!
https://www.ukgpl.com/index.php/rules/overlap
A simple side by side contact on Fran's part will be applied, with an additional penalty for a first lap incident.
Server replay time: 0h03m20s
In an eerily similar manner to the first incident. After serving his stop and go penalty, Fran emerges from the pits, getting up to speed on the inside line on the approach to Hella Licht. Geoff is catching rapidly and tries to overtake on the outside, but misjudges the speed differential between the two and ends up squeezing Fran, as Fran did to Bill a lap earlier, and contact is made.
The same advice can be applied as the first incident, as well as the penalty.