UKGPL Season 42 (Spring 2023) 1955 GP - Spa - Feb 7

[Phil Thornton]

Season 42 - 1955GP – Round 2 – Spa-Francorchamps

The second race in the 1955 Grand Prix series finds us in Belgium at Spa-Francorchamps. Designed in 1920 the original triangle-shaped course used public roads between the Belgian towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy, and Stavelot. The track was intended to have hosted its inaugural race in August 1921, however the first car race was held at the circuit in 1922. Spa was the fastest road circuit in Europe at the time, and it had a nasty reputation for being dangerous and very fast. It was a circuit known to be one for the brave, and most drivers were frightened of it. The old Spa circuit was unique in that speeds were consistently high with hardly any let-up at all for 3–4 minutes. This made it an extraordinarily difficult mental challenge (& ridiculously easy to crash).

Reminder:
Overtaking at L'Eau Rouge is very dangerous especially on lap 1. If you get a better start than the car ahead, you are entitled to try to overtake but make sure you have cleared the car (i.e. you can see them in you mirrors) before you move over. If you make a bad start and there are cars alongside, be prepared to concede the place. It is a long race and there will be plenty of opportunities to slipstream and take the place back. Drivers should be prepared to leave sufficient room for each other and be able go through L'Eau Rouge side by side if necessary.

Race list	=	iGOR
Server	=	UKGPL04_60fps
IP address	=	146.200.244.218:32766
Password	=	see above
GPL Mod	=	55GP
Damage model	=	PRO
60fps Patch	=	60fpsV2newmod
Track download	=	link
Track directory	=	spa67
Qualifying starts	=	20:45 UK time - 45 minutes
Race starts	=	~ 21:30 UK time
Race length	=	11 laps
Replay	=	HERE

Please do NOT post chat messages during qualifying or racing until ALL drivers still qualifying or racing have crossed the line.

Driver lists and division specific rules can be found on the championship standings page.

[Clive Loynes]

There are 19 drivers registered so Reserve Drivers should wait until just 30 mins of qually are left before joining?

[Phil Thornton]

Reserve drivers can join at any time.

[Clive Loynes]

Thank you.

[francesco]

Satisfied with my race,a fourth position with all the GPL monster on the track it's all too much.

[Phil Thornton]

Got involved in a pile-up at L'Eau Rouge on lap 1. Incident report submitted so nothing more to say apart from the fact that I could continue and so could everyone else that was affected.

I tried to settle down and started to catch the cars ahead (my second flying race lap was faster than my qually time) but just as I got close to a bunch of 4 cars ahead I crashed out at Les Combes. I was having a few framerate issues which didn't help, not sure what caused that. Hopefully it has gone away by itself 

[Leo Menegucci]

Sorry Phil, in the run to Leau Rouge some cars disapeared in front of me. I thoght you were disconected. You can see in the replay how I go through you and nothing hapens with my car. Shame

[Doni Yourth]

Nice job by our podium men!  Well done, chaps! 

A grim event for me.  I was fresh......off a GPLRacer GP65 event that, it seems, knocked the stuffings out me.  The moment that race finished, it was off to the UKGPL server for the GP55's at Spa.  Almost certainly, a recipe for disaster.  A shunt on my outlap of qualifying should have pointed the way to things to come.  Moments after getting the green, I spun in Eau Rouge avoiding Phil but most likely, that was down to me being anything but sharp.  Recovered from that way down the order and was making some headway til a mistake at the Kink put me well and truly off into the weeds.  The steering was badly damaged with my having to put in 20° of left lock just to keep it straight.  A couple of more dodgey laps before I binned it in Stavelot.

I doubt very much that I'll attempt to do a double-header again.  I was just too tired.  Vision was OK...not great but OK...but I was lacking in strength and concentration.

[Phil Thornton]

Sorry Phil, in the run to Leau Rouge some cars disapeared in front of me. I thoght you were disconected. You can see in the replay how I go through you and nothing hapens with my car. Shame

On my client replay you just drove through me like I wasn't there and you had a perfect line through the right hand part and up the hill. You appear to be totally unaffected so it looks like warp was a factor. I've not looked at the server replay yet but the important one is your client replay, I hope you saved it. If you did please upload a clip of the incident using the link in the PM you will have from the court system. The moderators will then be able to look at the incident from your perspective via your replay. I've not seen many examples of warp like this so it will be interesting to look at it.

[EvilClive]

What started off with a lot of promise for me, ended in a mess.

Grats to the podium and all finishers.

Apologies to Fulvio for ending his race. I just did not expect ( or see) you coming alongside at that point. My car was flat out in 4th at that point and I am still amazed that you had enough extra speed to make a challenge !!  I need to watch my mirrors more carefully. 

[Clive Loynes]

Well done to Fran and Bernie for upholding SBRC honours.

I spent most of the race following Fran but after a moment at Eau Rouge, where I was desperate not to hit him, I lost ground.

That meant that I could drive at my own speed, and that was fatal.  I lost the back end at the kink and it was game over.

Congratulations to Axel, Leo and Pete.

[Leo Menegucci]

Sorry Phil, in the run to Leau Rouge some cars disapeared in front of me. I thoght you were disconected. You can see in the replay how I go through you and nothing hapens with my car. Shame

On my client replay you just drove through me like I wasn't there and you had a perfect line through the right hand part and up the hill. You appear to be totally unaffected so it looks like warp was a factor. I've not looked at the server replay yet but the important one is your client replay, I hope you saved it. If you did please upload a clip of the incident using the link in the PM you will have from the court system. The moderators will then be able to look at the incident from your perspective via your replay. I've not seen many examples of warp like this so it will be interesting to look at it.

Sadly I didn't save the replay as I don't usually do it if I'm not involved in any event. From my side I thought the car in front had disconnected and never saw you again in Pribluda, but when I read your report I checked the server replay and saw that bizarre thing, me driving through you like nothing.

Again, sorry for that. Any warp problem is my responsibility, so, no contest to the moderation of the incident.

[Phil Thornton]

Sadly I didn't save the replay.....

OK never mind, it would have been useful.

Again, sorry for that. Any warp problem is my responsibility, so, no contest to the moderation of the incident.

Don't worry, this isn't a witch hunt; we just need to understand what happened so we can try to mitigate against it in future. Without prejudicing the moderator's report, we have some guidelines about warp incidents (see here).

[Pete Bennett]

Hey, it's good to be back  

Thank you to Cookie for help with re-vitalising my GPL Linux machine. Got it up and running just in time for this race. I dodged the mess at Eau Rouge and then chased down that little blue car of Leo's. I'm not sure what engine he's runnign in it but it's certainly not the original one Gordini fitted. Great dirve there for 3rd place.

I beneifted from Tom's lack of fuel and I'm more than pleased to get a podium in this series.

All I have to do now is sort out UKGPL07. I should have time before next week.

[francesco]

Well done to Fran and Bernie for upholding SBRC honours.

Thank you Clive.I know that you are of another category but you was very fast with the Gordini.Frankly speaking i think to do at least 5 sec more at lap with your car.