UKGPL Season 32 (2017-18) 1955 Grand Prix - Aintree - Dec 5

[miner2049er]

I broke mine. Blew 2 engines in fact, having never blown one in practise. The second time I expected it as I dropped it to 1st as I was about to go into a wall anyway.

Qualified OK and the early race was good, getting up to 4th, but I made too many mistakes and blew 2 engines which dropped me right down the field. Had the pace to do much better but it wasn't to be.

I do like the Vanwall but I struggled with the brakes, particularly at Cottage where I collected Fran and later Billy. I almost took Evil out as he lapped me as well but I headed towards the outside so I would have my own accident and not collect him if it went wrong.

The problem with races in this mod is that you know where you can brake but not where anybody else can brake as you don't know how their brakes are which makes it tricky to start a pass under braking.

It's fun but I'm still getting used to it.

Monza will be a very different prospect.

[FullMetalGasket]

Utterly gutted for you Clive. That was an epic battle for the first 10 laps or so 
I'm not sure how much of your brain fade was entirely self inflicted though - I'd been saving my brakes in a lot of spots so I could lunge at you in others and keep you on your toes
When you ran wide and had to check up entering the S/F straight it was like a gift from the gods!
I'd been running steadily enough that I could push you hard for a few corners before returning to my normal brake preservation, and you fought back just as hard as I'd hoped 

A few corners later and all that extra heat got you.

Once you'd dropped way back I returned to full brake management. It looks like I was lapping in the 2:03, and sometimes 2:02's.
Yet again I let ego get in the way of what should have become an easy win and decided to go for a FL. Cue doing a lap and a half gently without using the brakes before going hell for leather to see what I could manage! Unfortunatly I dropped a good 6 or 7 seconds back towards Clive while performing the cool down...
The shocking part is that Clive's fastest lap was a few tenths slower and was done at normal race pace
Had you been driving at that pace earlier you'd have dropped me like a stone - 2:02 is the absolute limit for the 625 here I think, and would have left me with no brakes to fight with had the opportunity arisen.

I'm impressed at Sam's climb back up the order after his record attempt at trackside parking.

Well done to everyone that made it to the end - Aintree is probably the most difficult track we race at for the 55's IMO

Hopefully Clive will finally have his Win10 installation excised by the next round 

[Clive Loynes]

Monza will be a very different prospect.

It is but you still have to preserve brakes for Parabolica.

[GregT]

Congrats Tim, Sam, and Will!

I'm glad that's finished. I'd call it uneventful for me, except multiple spins.

You'd think I might be good at this mod since I have a road car that needs it's brake fluid replaced more often than it's brake pads. I can run a decent lap occasionally and I can run a decent pace sometimes. But any variation and I start struggling. If I set the cruise control, I'm good. If I try to increase my speed a little, I usually spin.

I'm glad to see Sam recover well from an early mistake. It's sad to see Clive suffer such misfortune. I'm glad Clive L managed to avoid me when I spun in front of him. I moved right to get off the track for him but he was passing me on the right in the grass. I was very relieved you made it by without me wrecking you. I guess you left me a car's width of room off the side of the track.

I think I've amassed enough tokens to finish the season in an open wheel Mercedes. I'll try to practice more for the remaining races. For other's sake, I need to have better control of my car. I could/should be closer to Tim, Clive, and Sam?

Tim, I'm surprised you took another chance at throwing away a win. Clive and Sam might be the only ones that would argue that you're not the fastest.

Thank guys. I hope to see you next time.

[Will Tway]

I can't ever recall a disco on the last lap. So sorry Evil. The ultimate evil of gpl or the worst of two evils. lol

Glad to be back after a short recess. Super fun circuit which requires massive concentration. Smooth race in Connaught. I had no chance against Sam so I just cruised along happy to take 4th...

Hope to be back in Italy in a few weeks with plenty of tokens in my pocket.....

Cheers,

Will

[FullMetalGasket]

Tim, I'm surprised you took another chance at throwing away a win. Clive and Sam might be the only ones that would argue that you're not the fastest.

It's not me trying to argue I'm fastest, it's me trying to put under-powered cars on the lap record boards 
If I'd continued at a normal safe race pace then my best lap would have been a second or more slower than Sam and Clive - I think a high 2:01 somehow squeaked in on one of my normal laps.

I'd judged it to be a safe gamble as Clive was 13 seconds back when I started my cooldown lap. I really didn't expect him to find the secret Waza brake bucket under his seat and to start putting in consistant 2:01's and 2:00s!

If anything that was the worst part of Clive's disco for me. I was a couple of seconds clear entering the last lap and just catching a pair of backmarkers who were 2 wide and fighting, the last lap was likely to be incredibly intense had it not been rudely cancelled

[Samb]

Congrats to Tim for a fine win! Commiserations to Clive for that last lap disco. That was especially cruel given your PC troubles recently.

My race was a case of what if. I used my previous setup from a fun race in the Maserati and the 'improvements' I made, made the car worse frankly  . It was only when I reverted the changes at the end of quali allowed me to vault up to third on the grid.

Made a good start to pass Clive into second on the first lap, but threw it all away with a silly spin and overheating brakes..... Rejoined the circuit plum last, but it did set the scene for a fun recovery drive. Apologies to anyone whom I passed somewhat desperately. It was overheating brakes and avoiding action more than anything! About a third of the way through the race I experimented with engine braking into the hairpins, shifting down into first gear. It worked a treat lap time wise, and the poor Maserati motor held tough despite the mistreatment I was giving it. If only I could have figured that out before the race started, but of well.

Ended up in 3rd, despite a late spin, but that became an undeserved 2nd after Clive's demise. Had I not binned it on the first lap, perhaps I could have joined Tim & Clive's battle up front but it was not to be.

Has anyone had the issue of a more rearward brake bias, the quicker the brakes seem to overheat?! Maybe it's just me...

[Doni Yourth]

Grats on the fine win, Tim!  Splendid recovery from the Lap01 spin, Sam.  Great run by Will for a podium.  Dave a good job for P6.

Oh, Clive!  Robbed hardly describes it.    So sad to learn this but even so, you still finished ahead of me!  LOL!

I had a good run with a terrific duel with Fran.  I chased him closely for 15 laps or so til he slid wide in T1 and spun.  He recovered quickly to give me concerns over the last couple of laps.  And poor Ray...  A gift and clearly just not your day.

I had a couple of incidents.  On Lap01, I thought that Dave was leaving the door opening for me at T2 but no, he arced down for the apex and I had skip over the grass on the inside to miss him.  On Lap03, Dean gave me a fright with a jam up the arse going into the Melling complex which cost a ton of time.  Lucky to be able to continue without apparent damage.

As a comentary to our two events here in just three days, I present the following stats and ask...

What's wrong with this?

------------------------------------------------------
GP55's
Track: Aintree             Tue Dec 05 16:33:46 2017
ON TRACK LAPS
Driver                           Laps/Total    Percent
 Doni55                             (21/23)      91.30
Will Tway55                         (15/24)      62.50
fran55 Molteni                      (15/23)      65.22
Dave Rainier55                      (14/24)      58.33
Tim Muttram55                       (12/24)      50.00
Sam Blood                            (8/24)      33.33
Clive Loynes55                       (7/24)      29.17
Ronnie Peterson                      (7/23)      30.43
Reiver Ecosse                        (7/22)      31.82
Billy Nobrakes55                     (6/22)      27.27
Mike James55                         (6/22)      27.27
Greg 55 Taber                        (5/24)      20.83
Dean Logan 55                        (3/23)      13.04
Axel Cookie                           (1/1)     100.00
Bastian Grupp                        (1/23)       4.34
 55evil                              (0/23)       0.00

------------------------------------------------------
GP 66's Historic
Track: Aintree             Sun Dec 03 18:06:20 2017
ON TRACK LAPS
Driver                           Laps/Total    Percent
 Doni66                             (25/25)     100.00
Tim Muttram66                       (18/25)      72.00
Dave Rainier66                      (16/20)      80.00
Alessandro Isacchini                (15/25)      60.00
Andreas Gebhardt                    (14/25)      56.00
Dean Logan 66                       (11/25)      44.00
Bastian Grupp                       (11/25)      44.00
Phil Thornton66                      (8/19)      42.11
Arf ArfArf66                         (4/25)      16.00
Axel Cookie                          (4/11)      36.36
Fulvio Policardi-66                  (3/25)      12.00
J. JonnyO                             (1/9)      11.11

[Clive Loynes]

Has anyone had the issue of a more rearward brake bias, the quicker the brakes seem to overheat?! Maybe it's just me...

It appears to me that the front and rear brake fade are independent but when I voiced this opinion I was told that it was all in my head!

With a forward brake bias the fronts fade quicker.  Then you find that the rears lock up, because they are still working, and you are offski!

[FullMetalGasket]

I tend to run a higher rear bias - this seems to help when brake fase starts as I have enough rear braking to at least initiate a slide.
It's not too great for an actual braking power point of view, but outside of qualifying that seems irrelevant here 

[EvilClive]

All my quali was done on race fuel, so to be second on the grid was a confidence boost and I was looking forward to giving Tim something to worry about  as he is definitely "the man to beat" IMHO with these cars.

FWIW Tim, I had no need to preserve my brakes if I drove the car as the setup required. It did require that my downshifts/braking points and lines were correct for each lap. I could maintain 2:01 laps with brakes only going red at one point and that was just before the turn onto the straight...which is where I screwed up in front of Tim. All I had to do was be careful there.......simples!!
As the chase after Tim proved, I did not need "cool down" laps as my brakes fully recovered within the length of the straight, and I could push on for lap after lap.

This makes the the Windows 10 crash all the more annoying 

[francesco]

I had a good run with a terrific duel with Fran.

Yes was a battle but without my error ,probably,i was the winner.The Fer 625 is not the best car(and also the pilot)but your Gordini don't give you good chance for an overtake .I have suffered with the brakes,was the same for you?
My compliments to all that have done times under 2,05,a dream for me.

[Clive Loynes]

All my quali was done on race fuel, so to be second on the grid was a confidence boost and I was looking forward to giving Tim something to worry about  as he is definitely "the man to beat" IMHO with these cars.

FWIW Tim, I had no need to preserve my brakes if I drove the car as the setup required. It did require that my downshifts/braking points and lines were correct for each lap. I could maintain 2:01 laps with brakes only going red at one point and that was just before the turn onto the straight...which is where I screwed up in front of Tim. All I had to do was be careful there.......simples!!
As the chase after Tim proved, I did not need "cool down" laps as my brakes fully recovered within the length of the straight, and I could push on for lap after lap.

This makes the the Windows 10 crash all the more annoying 

Hard luck about the Windows10 crash.

Your brake management sounds interesting though.  I don't have any brakes to use on Canal Curve and I don't use any at Waterway either.  My brakes were stable so long as I wasn't following anyone closely as that causes my left foot to keep dabbing the brakes on when I sense that I'm going to hit him.

I must look at the replay to see what you are up to.  These beasts require me to drive in an entirely different manner to my usual approach.  To me, they seem to require "chucking" into corners sideways.  This caused one of my "offs" as when I was trying to recover my brakes after passing someone I backed off and forgot to chuck.  So I ran out of road.

[EvilClive]

Probably I am chucking my car at the corner in a far more sideways manner than I think I do.  (I rarely watch replays, especially my own!! Far too scary!   ).

There are a few corners at Aintree where I try and avoid using any brakes ( or just a single quick dab to be sure ), relying on a downshift and a sideways flick to lose enough speed to get through the corner.
I did notice that my 250F was much quicker through the hedges and the Esses at the end of the straight than Tim's Fezza, perhaps the Maserati is just more balanced?? I was dropping to 4th just after the first white marker board before the hedge and keeping some power on to force some oversteer until I was straightened up for the Esses. A quick downshift to 3rd ( no brakes)  and a squirt through the right/left before a drop to 2nd and a good stomp on the barkes to hook up the inside line around the final corner.

Yes Clive, I do find that these cars require a different approach/style to extract the quickest lap times. There is definitely a need to scrub off speed either with the gearbox or the tyres and I find that it I have to be almost nail my braking foot to the leg of the desk to avoid the temptation to dab the brakes just to balance the car like I do in the other mods. Those tiny touches on the brake pedal can just destroy any chance of preserving brakes for when you really need them. I think it is that restriction which dictates a change in driving style.
 For me that means picking my braking points, and sticking to them, but always with an eye on that dashboard in case the light has turned red for whatever reason and then giving myself an extra 10 metres to slow the beast. Also, unlike my usual style, I try and avoid braking deep into corners and rather get off the brakes to allow the car to almost coast into the corner? before picking up the gas and balancing the power on oversteer to pull the car around and get a quick exit.

I should really spend more time with these cars and develop some base setups. The only cars that I have seriously worked with so far are the Connaught, Mazza 250F and the Lancia. I am hoping that a similar approach to setups and driving might work well with most of the other cars with the possible exception of the Gordini?

[Clive Loynes]

Probably I am chucking my car at the corner in a far more sideways manner than I think I do.  (I rarely watch replays, especially my own!! Far too scary!   ).

I tried to watch but it made me feel ill!