Moderator's Report

Summary
A brilliant victory for Clive Loynes, storming through the field from last place on lap one to win in emphatic style. He made the most of the awesome speed of the Mercedes 196 SL. Tom Johnson drove very well, avoiding all the mayhem and grabbed second spot in his Maserati. Following moderation, Pete Bennett inherited the final place on the podium in his Vanwall.

Server replay time: 0h05m07s

Lap 2 - Parabolica – Phil Thornton and Evil Clive
Phil is leading into Parabolica with Clive and Cookie in pursuit. Phil’s SL is making a big hole in the air and is dragging Clive’s Vanwall along at a rapid pace. As Phil brakes, Clive closes in but he doesn’t slow down enough and he rear-ends Phil causing both cars to spin off into the gravel trap. Fortunately both cars could continue apparently unharmed.

Phil did nothing wrong.

Clive’s Vanwall is nimbler than the heavy SL and so he can brake later but given the extra tow it is not possible to brake in the normal place. Clive needed to brake earlier. The overhead camera view shows the distance between first and third doesn’t change appreciably under braking whereas the gap between first and second closes considerably. So, Phil didn’t brake early, it was simply that Clive misjudged the tow and left his braking too late. Consequently Clive must shoulder the responsibility for the incident.

• EvilClive (E vil55) — penalty — Blatant Rear End Shunt — 2 places lost

Server replay time: 0h10m57s

Lap 4 - Parabolica – Fulvio Policardi, Pete Bennett, Doni Yourth, Bob Simpson, Phil Thornton and Dave Rainier
Fulvio is leading Francesco Molteni and Pete Bennett along the straight towards Parabolica. Fulvio brakes quite late and runs wide giving Francesco, who judged his braking perfectly, the opportunity execute a very clean overtake on the inside. Fulvio’s wide line also gives Pete the opportunity to overtake. Pete hugs the inside grass verge and gets alongside as Fulvio applies the gas. Fulvio’s car slews sideways into Pete and a massive impact is registered which throws both cars into the air. Doni is very close and cannot avoid the wreckage. Bob is next along and he manages to slow down a lot but Doni’s car lands on him. Phil tries to brake but can’t come to a stop before hitting Bob. Finally Dave rounds the curve and cannot stop either but fortunately for the following cars, the impact blasts a gap in the wreckage for the rest of the field to pass through. Fulvio, Doni and Dave were out. Bob, Pete and Phil could continue albeit with damaged cars.

Pete, Doni, Bob, Phil and Dave did nothing wrong.

Fulvio accelerated too hard and this caused his rear wheels to lose traction and slew his car into Pete. It is quite possible that Fulvio’s late braking and subsequent slide overheated the tyres and so when he tried to apply the power and accelerate out of the corner, there was much less grip than he expected. Regardless of the circumstance, when fighting for position it is important to maintain control of the car at all times.

• fpolicardi (Fulvio Policardi-55) — warning — Marginal Side by Side contact

Server replay time: 0h11m42s

Lap 4 - Curva Nord – Bernie Darwin and Leo Menegucci
Bernie is in a Maserati and is leading Leo in a Ferrari 555 past the pits with Clive Loynes close behind. As they enter the Curva Nord (replay time 0h11m30s), Bernie takes the low racing line (below the yellow centre line marker) and Leo takes the high racing line. Clive decides to stay low. At about a quarter of the way into the turn (replay time 0h11m38s), Bernie moves to a higher line just above the yellow centre line marking. By this time Leo had gained on Bernie and was along side with about a 50% overlap. The cars continue around the banking with Leo and Bernie side-by-side and with Clive a few metres back. After further 4 seconds contact is made. Both Leo and Bernie fly off the track and are out of the race. Clive is unaffected and can continue in his Mercedes W196 SL.

Leo did nothing wrong. Having seen Bernie go low, Leo went high and maintained a racing line quite close to the armco barrier. From entering the curve until Leo had gained the overlap, Bernie’s Maserati was not visible from Leo's cockpit view. It was reasonable for Leo to assume Bernie had remained on the low racing line.

Bernie moved from just below the yellow centre line marker, to just above it as the Mercedes loomed large in his mirrors. Leo’s Ferrari had disappeared from Bernie’s mirrors as soon as they had entered the curve. Bernie should have realised where Leo was and left enough room, which he did (just). But expecting two cars to race side-by-side above the yellow centre line marking is rather optimistic. Bernie’s move left didn’t result in immediate contact. In fact, both cars continued for another 4 seconds before contact was made. Examination of the server replay and Bernie’s client replay reveals that there was warp contact.

Bernie drove his higher line as straight as could be expected and the final contact was due to warp. However, it would have been prudent for Bernie to have ignored the Mercedes and maintained the low racing line throughout the entire turn (including the exit). It is possible to drive three abreast on the banking but all drivers need good connections because the cars bounce about on the bumps making warp contact more likely.

• bernie (bernie darwin55) — advice — Always take a high or low racing line on the banking and stick to it.