Moderator's Report
SUMMARY
Another impressive win for Tim with Jack O’Ferrall claiming a well deserved second place in the BRM. Tim and Jack were the only drivers to have a clean race with the rest of the field experiencing problems of one sort or another. Eventually Bernie emerged from the melee to stand on the final place on the podium.
Server replay time: 0
Lap 1 – Nouveau Monde – Phil Thornton and Jack O’Ferrall
Phil Thornton gets caught out on cold tyres under braking for Nouveau Monde and hits the tyre wall coming to a stop at the side of the track. Instead of keeping the clutch in and brakes on until the track is clear, he fumbles around with the gears and ends up reversing into Jack O’Ferrall. The whole field is backed up while the mess is sorted out.
Although Phil’s car was still on the track it was off the racing line and the best option here was to remain stationary until there was a suitable gap. Phil was having trouble selecting the right gear but that is no excuse for reversing into the rest of the field. This incident occurred on the first lap and consequently attracts a further place penalty.
Server replay time: 0h02m09s
Lap 1 – Sanson - Vlad Vosblod – Graham Poole
Graham is under pressure from Vlad Vosblod and in an effort to get a good drive out of Sanson he applies a little too much throttle and the back end of the Eagle steps out. Graham manages to avoid a spin by putting in masses of opposite lock but this has the effect of slewing the car round the other way towards the right hand side of the track. Vlad sees the Eagle veering off to the left and accelerates away from Sanson keeping to the right hand edge of the track. Unfortunately contact is made.
Graham’s loss of control was obviously a major factor in this incident. The exit of this corner is more like a standing start than a controlled accelerating slide from a fast bend. The differential settings are critical for ensuring a clean get away from a standing start.
Server replay time: 0h20m07s
Lap 10 – Six Freres – Phil Thornton and Michael Turner
Thornton spins and is clipped by Michael Turner.
There was nothing Michael could do to avoid Phil’s spinning Ferrari.
Server replay time: 0h24m25s
Lap 11 – Paradis – Geoff Heard and Michael Turner
Michael makes a mistake exiting Paradis and ends up on the grass on the inside of the circuit. He tries to rejoin but instead of easing back onto the edge of the track he drives into the middle of the track just as Geoff is approaching at speed. Despite a valiant effort to avoid contact, Geoff cannot prevent a massive collision.
Michael should have carefully eased back onto the side of the track and kept to the edge of the tarmac whilst he built up speed. Michael was straddling the white centre lines doing 23 mph whilst Geoff was doing 131 mph when contact was made. Geoff had managed to slow down a little but he had no chance of avoiding Michael. Consequently Michael must shoulder all the responsibility for this incident.
Server replay time: 0h24m31s
Lap 11 – Paradis –Michael Turner
The incident that resulted in Michael making a shift-R was not the sole responsibility of another driver consequently Michael should have done a Stop & Go.
Server replay time: 0h24m40s
Lap 11 – Main Straight – Geoff Heard and Graham Poole
Having just run into Michael, Geoff executed a similarly lamentable rejoin. He drove straight back onto the racing line just as Graham Poole was approaching on full chat. Thankfully Graham had just enough room to enable him to take avoiding action.
Geoff should have tried to join carefully on the right hand side of the track rather than driving straight onto the racing line.
Server replay time: 0h27m50s
Lap 13 – Sanson - Geoff Heard and Graham Poole
Geoff is quicker than Graham on the approach to Sanson but at the 100 metre board his is still about half a dozen car lengths behind. Geoff’s Lotus clips the kerb which unsettles the car somewhat, nevertheless he brakes much later than Graham and makes up the deficit in the braking zone. Graham makes it to the corner first and begins to turn in; he is almost at the apex when contact is made and he is catapulted over the hay bales.
Geoff was not going for a pass, he had not achieved any overlap at turn in anyway and consequently Graham was entitled to take the normal racing line. Geoff was simply trying to position himself as close as possible to Graham in order to mount an attack on the way up to Scierie. The rather dramatic crash was caused by GPL’s over zealous collision engine rather than any drastic difference in speed between Graham and Geoff. However there was definite contact on the server replay.
In the real world Geoff would probably have got away with nudging Graham’s Eagle but not in the virtual world of GPL. It is just not possible to drive that close in the braking zone. Consequently the responsibility for the incident must reside with Geoff. Graham is entitled to a no fault shift R.
Server replay time: 0h30m21s
Lap 14 – Paradis – Steve Bird and Bernie Darwin
Earlier in the lap Bernie had made a complete mess of Nouveau Monde and needed to take a shift R. Later in the lap on the approach to Paradis, Bernie is struggling with cold tyres and a full fuel load and is concentrating on heading for the pits to execute a Stop & Go. He is a good 10 to 15 mph slower through Paradis than normal. Steve fails to notice this and he rear ends Bernie.
Steve was catching Bernie hand over fist and he should have realized something was wrong. He should have anticipated that Bernie would be travelling slower than usual and he should have driven accordingly.
Advice: Take care when approaching driver you have been catching at a rapid rate of knots. If he normally drives at your pace then you must assume something is wrong he is likely to do something unexpected.