Moderator's Report
Summary
After leading the race from lap 2 until lap 15, Clive Loynes lost the lead which paved the way for a hectic final two laps. First Petr ran wide and Evil Clive took the lead, then Evil ran wide and Petr regained the lead. On the last lap Phil Thornton tangled with Clive Loynes and Petr ran wide again so Evil Clive crossed the line in first place. Petr recovered to finish in second place with Raoni Frizzo crossing the line in third. Following moderation, the podium places have been adjusted with Petr declared the winner, Raoni Frizzo in second place and JonnyO in third.
Post-Race Analysis and Recommendations
It is very difficult to take avoiding action in the 55GP cars but this is no reason to adopt a different set of rules. The same rules apply to this and every other mod; which is that the following driver is responsible for avoiding rear-end shunt incidents. Having a green light on the dashboard doesn’t mean the brakes are at their best, it takes time for the brakes to recover during the race. The brakes are only cool on the start line. This means the “safe gap” referred to in the penalty guidelines is larger with the 55GP cars than it is with any other car set.
Server replay time: 0h02m22s
Lap 1 – Dolphin Corner – Petr Romanov and Evil Clive
Evil Clive is pushing hard on the opening lap. He gets too close to Petr on the apex of Dolphin Corner and contact is made. Clive bounces into the sand and Petr is spun around. Both drivers can continue apparently unscathed, but they lose several places. Clive waited until Petr had rejoined the race before carefully continuing himself.
Petr did nothing wrong.
Clive was just too close and was unable to take avoiding action when he realised contact was inevitable. It is very difficult to take evasive action in these cars and allowance must be made for the car ahead being slower than expected. Unless a genuine overtaking attempt is being made, a driver must maintain a safe distance.
Lap 1 incidents attract an additional 1 place penalty.
- EvilClive (E vil55) — penalty — Blatant Rear End Shunt plus an additional 1 place penalty — 3 places lost
Server replay time: 0h44m40s
Lap 16 – Esso Bend – Phil Thornton and Clive Loynes
After leading for most of the race, Clive makes a mistake on lap 15 running wide at British Colonial Loop and drops back which allows Petr Romanov and Evil Clive to overtake him and for Phil Thornton to catch up. As Clive approaches Esso bend on the last lap, he is rear-ended by Phil. The GPL crash engine goes into overdrive and both cars are thrown into the air. Miraculously both drivers can continue but Clive loses a lot of time trying to extricate himself from the sand.
Clive did nothing wrong.
Phil approached Esso bend at exactly the same speed and line as on previous laps. But he didn’t realise Clive was slower than usual until it was too late to take evasive action. It isn’t easy to slow these cars down or make a quick change of direction once a driver has committed to a line. The contact was unintentional, but Phil must take responsibility for the incident. Having closed appreciably in one lap he should have realised Clive was slower than usual and Phil should have been more careful.
