Season 44 - 1955GP (Works) - Round 6 – Roy Hesketh
The sixth race in the 1955 Grand Prix series takes us to the Roy Hesketh circuit in South Africa. Located on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, the circuit was named after a South African racing driver, the late Roy Hesketh who died in in an aircraft collision 1944. Doug Aldridge, Colin Dove, Ossie Fisher, George Finch and George Shrives got together as a Consortium from Pietermaritzburg in the early nineteen fifties to first build and then maintain and improve the circuit.

During its period of operation (1953-1981) the circuit hosted rounds of the South African National Drivers Championship, and national Formula Atlantic races. The South African National Drivers Championship was a Formula One motor racing championship which generally fielded cars recently retired from the world championship although there was also a healthy selection of locally built or modified machines, and from the late 60s Formula 5000 was added to grids with Formula Two cars joining in 1973.

The circuit also hosted the Easter races - a festival of motorcycle racing over three days. Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini, Barry Sheene, Kork Ballington, Jim Redman, Paddy Driver, Mick Grant, Rod Gray and Syd Stacy were regular competitors at the circuit.

Race list	=	iGOR
Server	=	UKGPL05_60fps
IP address	=	146.90.202.150:32666
Password	=	see above
GPL Mod	=	55GP
Damage model	=	PRO
60fps Patch	=	60fpsV2newmod
Track download	=	Roy Hesketh
Track directory	=	rhesketh
Qualifying starts	=	20:45 UK time - 45 minutes
Race starts	=	~ 21:30 UK time
Race length	=	35 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.

Delete the rec55.ini file from the tracks/rhesketh directory

Hey gents, can I fix this?
https://ibb.co/wWNSBk7

A bit of a disappointing race for me despite making no big mistakes. After 3 of  the leaders had a shunt early on I found myself in P3 with Dimi ahead in P2. We had a great battle, I was looking for a way past whilst preserving my brakes. I was confident that I could stay with Dimi but I needed to wait for an opportunity. Unfortunately I got tagged in the rear and spun around. It was only a minor tap but enough to make me spin. I had to wait for another 3 cars to pass before I could try to re-join. I got going again with no damage to the car.

I caught JonnyO and we had a great tussle over a several laps before I finally got past. Great driving JonnyO, we were side by side through several corners, not easy in these cars 

I caught Fulvio and I started to think about how I might get past when he spun in front of me. I managed to slow enough to avoid heavy contact but then I got rear ended and my car was catapulted into the air. Luckily it landed on its wheels and I could continue. However it became obvious all was not well. The car was crabbing on the straights and was prone to oversteer on the left handers. Judging by the tyre temps I suspected a left rear puncture. Anyway with 12 laps to go I decided to try to make it to the finish. I only got lapped by Clive and I made sure I was well out of the way when he sailed past. 

A fun track in these cars IMO, a different challenge to the fast tracks.

I'm so sorry Phil, the first touch was my fault, I couldn't brake enough and I gave you a police coup against thieves, I upset your car and because of me you lost 5 positions... ...
   The same with my teammate Clive who also gave him a touch, unseating him, although I tried to enter on the innermost side of that curve, I couldn't stop the car enough to avoid that hit.....
    There were 2 hits and both were my fault, and I don't like that to happen, therefore, I am going to start last in the next race as a form of penalty for these 2 incidents that I generated today.
   On the other hand, an interesting track and a spectacular race of unreachable evil that masseratti. very well handled.
   See you at the next race and I reiterate my apologies to Phil and Clive

Grats to all finishers on a tricky circuit that places a great load on the brakes.
 This was not a race where I expected to be in contention. I had spent the previous 3 days staying with my grand daughter  and that is exhausting, then there was the 4hr drive home on Sunday afternoon. TBH I did not think I would stay focused or even awake for the whole race.
I guess that I was lucky because I had saved tokens in earlier races and could take the sweet handling 250F, but I was still up against some very fast drivers. This proved true during qualifying as faster and faster times were being posted and the competition for pole was intense. Also the usual problem of finding a clear road, especially with the braking problems.
Then Enrique turned on his turbo and posted a lap that showed up on my screen as 1:12!!!.  Not satisfied with that, he later posted a 4sec lap, just to prove how much faster he was lol.
Like a true gentleman he allowed me to take the lead off the grid and I was able to get a clear run into T1. For the first lap I was able to pull a small lead and then something happened behind and I was on my own and in the lead.
Given my tiredness I was amazed that I ran an almost perfect, incident free, race. But of course, I was not under any pressure  . The only moment that caused me some concern was when Prib showed that Enrique had made his way up to 2nd spot, so for a few laps I was intently watching the gap and pushing just slightly, until I could see that I was still easing ahead.
LIke I have said, not the race that I was expecting but hey!, I will take the win and be grateful.  

I am more than proud with my consistency here. I cannot remember a single small inaccuracy or an outbreak here. I was in a perfect shape from start to finish.

The start was good, I was in P6 but was able to overtake 2 cars with 2 wheels on the dirt so the fans can have their show.

Then Hristo and Enrique both went off and it was me and Phil once again, this time for P2. I was careful not to outbreak myself here with lots of fuel in the tank and was braking earlier than needed. However, my power on the straights kept me in front of Phil and we battled for 9 laps without a single contact, even though we were close in so many moments.

Then, unfortunately Phil and Enrique had a contact, and I was driving lonely in P2.

I knew Enrique is far faster than me, so I did not fight much when he approached to overtake me. P3 was my spot now and with less fuel I started taking a little bit more risks.

Exactly here I started driving like an AI, lap after lap within 1 second from fastest lap to slowest for the remainder of the race with later braking and more speed in the middle of the corners. That's how I kept going with the same pace as P4 and P5 - Doni and Fulvio and was able to keep my 5 second lead. At the end I pushed even more, as Doni shifted to 6th and started flying in the final 5 laps. Fortunately, at the end the gap was 3 second in my favor.

I had a few test wins, some more podiums here in UKGPL, and a P2 and Indy with the 55s, but this is my proudest podium here because of the consistency and concentration I kept from start to finish. I am very happy and proud.

Gratts to evilClive and Enrique.

My stream replay (+ an AC event if we have fans in the house ) : https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2119810862

This was such an up and down race for me, that despite it being quite entertaining and exciting, left me disappointed as I had pace to finish at least 3rd in the Gordini. Qualifying went really well, with a new PB, and I was happy with the setup.

At the start I realized I had much lower fps with more cars around, for whatever reason (I suspect because I had switched to Direct3D for this one), down to about 25-30. It made judging the speed difficult and I was getting distracted by that and talking on the stream, which in turn led to my mistake on lap 2 under braking for T3. Enrique went off ahead of me in exactly the same manner, so I just bumped into him as we slid off the road into the fence. It helped him straighten his car so he could continue immediately, but I dropped all the way to last (or about).

From then on it was quite interesting catching up to people and trying to figure out where and how to overtake them, as it seemed I was braking earliest than everyone else, even others in the Gordini. The fps issue was ever present, going down when more cars were closer to me and/or in my mirrors, but I almost managed to adapt to it.

I had some nice battles with Clive, and after half distance I was now chasing a pack of 3 cars in 4th to 6th place, with Dimi in 3rd not too far ahead. Unfortunately Fulvio span around, Phil slowed down to avoid him and I couldn't avoid making contact with him from behind, which sent me sideways into the grass.

With a few laps left I managed to recover somewhat and overtake Jonny with 2 to go, but then almost lost it completely coming out of the last corner on the penultimate lap. He got ahead of me going into T2, but I took back the position on the inside and finished in 6th.

Congrats to Evil for the amazing pace! I remember him lapping me and was thinking what is this Gordini suddenly flying like that (because of the similar coloring), but it turned out it was a Maserati!  Congrats to Enrique and Dimi for 2nd and 3rd respectively!