I wish you had told me that you had no brakes left John!! Maybe then I would not have panicked like I did at the end of the race.lol That sort of stress is not good for a person as old as me!!
I find the comments about the brake fade putting members off taking part in another series a little sad, because I find that dealing with the brakes actually makes these cars totally immersive.
FWIW my way of handling the brake fade in these cars .....
The Connaught is not great with the brakes, in fact I think that the Gordini is probably the only car that is worse? But, I find that I can outbrake other cars (which should not be possible) if i plan where I will do it maybe half a lap ahead?
First of all we have to accept that you cannot expect to brake as late or as hard as you would with the 67's. Also the narrow tyres do not provide as much grip, which can restrict both cornering speeds AND traction out of the corners.
We do not know if the physics that we have in these cars is anywhere near the reality of the 1955 era, but what we have, is what we have to deal with.
So, in order to get these cars into and out of corners as quickly as possible this is what I do ( at least I think this is what I do, because in the heat of battle things are a little instinctive and automatic).
Like all simracing ( and real life racing) it is EXIT speed from corners which is more valuable than ENTRY speed.
First of all, forget about the brakes.
. I set up the gearbox for each circuit so that I can use downshifts to scrub off speed at critical corners. It does require careful attention to the revs, so that you don't blow the engine by downshifting too soon. Then drive a lap without using the brakes, just the gearbox. Downshifting and coasting into the corners, so that you know where you have to back off to get through the corner when you have zero brakes left. Pick a trackside feature that gives you a safe deceleration point without brakes.....this will come in handy in the race
Next, I identify which corners will yield the most time if I use my brakes heavily and which corners I can use minimal or no brakes and still get through the corners. Ideally you will not expect to have 3 or 4 consecutive corners that require brakes. You might have to compromise at somewhere like Monaco, but don't worry about being slow at some parts because so will everyone else
. Ideally you will have 2 heavy braking zones and between those 2 points there will be time for the brakes to recover.
The other trick I find is to be prepared to drift/slide/opp lock these cars. I'm not sure if what I think is happening is what is actually working but....
If I am really pushing hard I find that stabs on the brakes ( rather than long braking zones ) are better, and definitely get OFF the brakes before the corner and allow the chassis/diff to rotate freely into the apex. Even allow the tail to step out ( and this is where I might stir up some different views!) so that you can use the gas and some drive/push to force the front of the car towards the inside of the bend a little like a Rally car? The trick is to balance the gas/slide so that from the apex to the exit you can pour on whatever power you have ( not much in the Connaught!), or as much as the narrow tyres will take to exit the corner as fast as possible.
One or two of the more observant of you might have spotted the occasional wild slide with smoking tyres from yours truly.
This is where ambition has exceeded ability/brakes/grip and is my "get out of jail" move. By throwing the car sideways I find that it is possible to scrub off speed very quickly, but it is not the optimum way through the corners!!
So a perfect lap at Silverstone for me in the Connaught is something like this..assuming we have already done several laps and tyres and brakes are at racing temp.
Across the S/F line accelerating hard in 3rd from Woodcote. 3rd gear will just red line before I need to slow for Copse ( sometimes I can get into 4th ). Off gas, heavy on dab brakes, Dshift to 2nd, Dab brakes twitch front end in to point car slightly too tight towards that inside wall ( inertia will cause the car to drift wide and miss the wall, hopefully) Stay off the brakes and use a little gas to balance the car until the car settles, and then ease on the gas as you pass the apex minimising wheelspin ( which will overheat the rear tyres).
Max revs in 2nd, up to 3rd max revs and take Maggots ( no brakes) up shift at apex to 4th full gas and get back to left hand side for Becketts.
Slow early for Becketts for a controlled entry, the brakes are probably still red from Copse!!! The exit here is critical, as it dictates your velocity all the way down Hangar straight. I take a very tight line here....don't know why but it suits me??
Dab brakes down through gearbox to 1st gear ( remember I was running a very high 1st gear ratio) to reduce speed. Once entry to Becketts is sorted get on the power and force as much as possible through those tyres on the exit. 2nd gear max revs which will take you to Chapel. Upshift to 3rd just before apex NO BRAKES or lifting, the upshift should have caused the nose to turn in slightly and allow you to power through in a 4 wheel drift. max revs in 3rd, upshift to 4th. Check brake colour on the straight, it should be yellow/green before that wall on the left.
If it is yellow as I am passing the wall I must back off and dab brakes at the end of the wall , if i have green I can risk another 10-20 mtrs before braking/downshifting to 2nd for Stowe. Use all the brakes available here.
Stowe is another critical corner. a smooth entry carrying as much speed as possible. Ideally a smooth 4 wheel drift with the front nearside wheel just missing the inside wall and a little opp lock, which allows me to balance the car on the gas as I accelerate out towards Club. Up into 3rd and possibly snatch 4th before braking.
The braking for Stowe has probably put the brakes into the red and they are not going to recover before Club, so this is where 1st gear is used again to scrub off speed. If brakes are red I back off at the group of people on the left. Use any braking that is available and down to 1st, cutting the apex a little with 2 wheels across the grass
. Wait until all 4 wheels are back on tarmac before nailing the gas, otherwise there could be an embarrassing spin onto the infield.
Hard acceleration in 1st, and 2nd up Farm Straight towards Abbey, which I take flat in 3rd gear, up to red line and snatch 4th going towards Woodcote. The secret here is not to use the brakes at all, I want all the braking I can muster for Copse. but I find this a difficult corner to get absolutely right because there is no definitive apex. D/shift to 3rd early and allow the car to coast towards the inside line and once the car is settled I apply power to provoke a slight drift. This allows me to exit Woodcote on full power across the line, and if I get it perfect, I might take 4th as we pass under the bridge, Hopefully brakes are back to green before heavy stabs on the brakes for Copse again.
For me driving like this, the brakes are OK and are predictably good/bad at the same points on each lap so I know what to expect. Even so, I still regularly check the light on the dashboard on each straight so that there are no surprises at the next corner!! Initially i found that the brakes never recovered at any point on a lap with the 55's. Then I made a conscious effort to watch what I was doing and I found that I had got into the habit of dabbling my foot on the brake pedal all the way through corners as I tried to balance the car against the gas. This was no problem in all the other mods, but was a really big problem in the 55's!! Now I am very positive about being ON or OFF the brakes and ensure that I only use them when and where I have to.
A bigger problem now is the outside rear tyre if I overdo the drifting/opp lock, and I find that I might have to ease back for the occasional lap to cool the tyres.
The cars with 5 speed gearboxes are a little easier because of the extra ratios, but I use them in much the same way.
This may or may not help some of you. I think the 55's are just great fun to drive and once you get your head around the fact that they are different and require a slightly different approach there is some great racing to be had. You cannot expect to have max brakes at every corner but neither can anyone else, so decide where you want to have brakes and where you will back off early to allow them to recover and things will work out.
OK lecture over, now you can pull my ideas apart.