new proxy for Pre WW2 racecars...interested?

[Conti_rowland]

GP practice

In the hot afternoon sun of the Easter bank holiday, as the Voiturette race finished the GP class cars began to practice. The air was beginning to cool but the track was now super clean and remained hot and sticky.

The cars went out in random order and following the same format set the best single lap out of a 10 lap charge.

First out was Gerry Fitzsimons in his Bugatti T50B. The car looked more solid than in the first race but he was to comment "the tyres had too much grip this afternoon. I couldn't get the car to slide at all, it just dug in and that caused me to understeer at the corners". As a result he had a few spins and lock ups, not getting the maximum out of the car. The single lap time of 5.91s was at least comparable with the Voiturettes but would the overall time of 67.87s be sufficient for the race.

Next out was Thomas Dietrich. As he flew out of the pits in his Mercedes W125 it was clear he had the a free running car with strong acceleration. He ran well and was later to say "the only thing that limited my lap times was my tyres.... the thin tread and hard edge meant that I couldn't judge when they were going to slide which meant the car felt like it was going to tip over." In fact as he reached the limit of adhesion the car could be seen to be juddering under acceleration through and out of the corner. He also span a couple of times as a result. His time of 6.47s and a total for ten laps of 71.31s did not compare well to the Voiturettes and so he did not appear competitive although as first out it wasn't clear yet how the track was going to be for the rest of the session.

Third out was Keith Rollerston in his Mercedes W125. "The car felt great today" he said, "it ran smoothly and we had no scary moments at all!" Watching him slide effortlessly around the corners absolutely on the limit of adhesion it was clear he had the right level of grip for this circuit. A single lap of 5.97s and a total of 61.23s for the session looked reasonable for long run pace.

Monte Saager's Mercedes W154 was clearly not having such an easy time of it instead. His engine was down on power or his ratios were wrong for this circuit. Slightly annoyed he said "I wasn't able to accelerate well and at the end of the straights I had no brakes so I had to adopt a sort of 'rolling' style". A couple of spins late in the session meant the overall time was high as he also failed to get the car to drift. Over a single lap he could only muster 6.04s. At least the overall time of 66.77s was consistent.

After the three Mercedes the Auto Union A Type took to the track with Mike Dove at the wheel. The car felt light as it danced around. Mike seemed to have the opposite issue of insufficient grip. After practice his words were "it feels really consistent and not having any spins meant I could really understand the flow of the circuit. I could do with more weight to give me more grip but at least I didn't have understeer like most...". With a single lap time of 5.67s and a total of 59.59 he looked like a good contender at this stage.

What was clear was that given the tight turns of Manor Park these long wheelbase cars and powerful motors weren't necessarily going to yield faster lap times.

Next up was the stunning Delahaye of David Mitcham. He explained excitedly after the race " the car had great acceleration and braking, really what you need here, i'm really happy with my 5.67 to equal Mike D's time" however his long run pace of 63.6 was due to a couple of spins. He felt that "the track is a bit narrow for the weight so the car has a tendency to tip". A strong starting position should be guaranteed though with that single lap time.

Max Rossmassler had also entered his Auto Union A Type. However his engine was clearly underpowered and so he was lacking both acceleration and brakes. The car felt solid so it may run well in the race for consistency reasons. He did a 6.04s lap and overall ten laps took him 64.47s.

The second Bugatti, this time the T35B of Matt McDonough was next up. His gearbox sounded very rough from the outset but despite the mechanics poring over it they couldn't see anything wrong except excessive flex. It wasn't a happy car being somewhat underpowered but at least the brakes were strong. Second from last at this stage he managed a 6.44s single lap and 78.55 overall the longest time of the day so far.

At its home track Andi Rowland's Gulf Miller was met by the cheers of an expectant crowd. Naturally suited to the track on which it was designed the driver commented "it has super fast acceleration and all those gears meshing gives it strong brakes. The tyres were a little less grippy than I would have liked but at least it slides predictably". A lap time of 5.57s put him on provisional pole at this stage but more than that the 10 lap pace of 57.46s looked strong for the race ahead.

Peter Seager-Thomas's sparkling red Bugatti T59B was next out, fitted with the ling range tank in the cockpit next to the driver. It looked the part but a loose and shallow guide meant it had huge understeer, regularly going straight on at the hair pin. It was also fishtailing under both acceleration and deceleration which suggested an imbalance somewhere although the guide and tyres might have been the culprit. 6.44s was the fastest lap and the ten laps were achieved in 73.84s suggesting the race might be an arduous affair for this car.

Eleventh out was Steve Morrow in his Auto Union D Type. After the session he said "it feels quite heavy which impedes acceleration however it felt really consistent." The single lap pace was scintillating and he achieved a 5.54, finally outpacing the Voiturettes. However on longer run pace he had a couple of excursions at the hairpin and only achieved 60.33s.

One of the series favourites was next up, Mac in his Maserati 8CTF. The car felt "solid with decent acceleration" however it soon became clear that the solidity from its weight meant that "she had a complete lack of brakes so I had to accelerate at the start of the straight and then lift almost immediately with pot luck as to whether I would make it round the next bend!" The time of 5.87s and 62.63s overall was only good enough for mid field at this stage.

Penultimate was Dan Crowley in another Auto Union D Type. Slow acceleration low power and soft brakes caused him issues although the car had the right balance of weight to grip to form a smooth drive. Times were 6.17s and 65.17s.

Finally out came Dave Capelen in the third Auto Union D Type. He felt really good after the session, commenting that "the power to weight ration felt just right.... the car accelerates real well and slides just right through the corners". The car did however obviously have soft brakes as Dave couldn't quite brake late enough in some of the fast corners. As last man out he managed to grab third though with a 5.64s and 57.62s time.

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[Conti_rowland]

GP practice.jpg

[slothead]

Thanks for the in-depth report. I'm not involved with this proxy and don't know anything about pre-WWII Grand Prix racing, but this was a good early morning read as I watched the F1 race on ESPN.

It also led me to look up this:

Grands Prix during World War II - From Wikipedia

Grand Prix between 1940 and 1945 occurred during World War II and so were limited to a very small number of events. There was no organised championship in these years. The majority of Grand Prix races during this period were run in America. The 1945 Grand Prix was run in Paris, one week after the end of the war.

[BARC 1]

The Barc/ Auto Union team is hopeful that a steady consistent car will serve us well in the race.

“ We knew the car was not going to be fast enough to capture any qualifying accolades. The strategy is to run quiet and steady with a car that cannot be overdriven even after a few wobbly pops. We will have to see how this strategy pans out in race two “

Team Principal

Feathers McGraw

[kidvoltage]

"I wasn't able to accelerate well and at the end of the straights I had no brakes so I had to adopt a sort of 'rolling' style".

I'm thinking this wasn't an exact quote. 8-)

A sincere thank you for the efforts.

[Conti_rowland]

Well I had planned a lovely GP race report but sadly life has got right in the way and I just won't have the time over the next few weeks.

I enjoyed runnig the race very much on Sunday and would like to thank everyone who entered a car. It was soooo much fun to run them all, study them all and generally drool over them. I wish they were all mine.

So without further ado here are the results of the GP race at Manor Park! :D

GP race-1.jpg

And these are therefore the points after two rounds:

overall two rounds.jpg

I ran each car for 50 laps which seemed right for such an important race. That is about 5-6 minutes as you can see and about as much as I can do 'at the limit'.

And they were driven at the limit too! I believe that is how they should be driven. :)

There were no accidents although unfortunately one of the Bugattis had a DNF and won't be taking part in the rest of the series.

Thanks everyone!
Andi

[DavidMitcham]

Many, many thanks Andi for running your round and for the excellent report and photographs. Also thank you for keeping me in order at the Rockwell round - I couldn't have done it with out you. Congratulations to the GP podium three. Your predictions about rubber tyres being best on the Manor Park circuit came true - I think the Delahaye in 5th was the first urethane tyre car. Great to see the Miller doing so well.

See you at Gaydon when we can hand over the cars to Dave Wisdom for the Tyneside round.

Best Regards

David

[BARC 1]

Thanks for the run, and driving the BARC Auto Union fast enough to not lose a place in the over all standings

Congratulations to the top 3 and a big thanks to all who entered a big wheel skinny tired racer.

[Kevan]

4 Manxies in the top 3...looking forward to seeing them all on Ballayorkley (IoM)

[DavidMitcham]

Apologies for the lack of news of late. The cars are now on Tyneside and Dave Wisdom is sorting out a date so the next round should take place in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime here are photographs of the underside of the cars.

Best Regards

David

[DavidMitcham]

The cars are getting ready for Round 3 at Tyneside which will be held on 16 June. Here are some photographs, taken by Dave Wisdom, of the preparations. Clive Armstrong's Alfa 12c, in the first two photographs, has arrived from South Africa after journey of 3 months duration!

[CARacing]

Thank you David!
Better late than never...super to see she is still in good shape. I hope she will now perform well too.
Good luck to all the builders and racers. Your cars are looking super cool!!

[DavidMitcham]

The cars have practiced at Tyneside to set the grid order for tomorrows races. Each car ran for ten laps and fastest lap time set the grid position. Here are the results. The photo shows the cars in order of fastest time. Its notable that a number of the voiturettes are quicker than some of the GP cars.







The race results probably won't be available until Monday as I'm out at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb tomorrow.

Best Regards

David

[BARC 1]

Field of cars looks great.

Anxious to find out if the BARC /Auto Union 4c car can turn in a decent race result from this lower half qualifying run.

Thanks for the update

[DavidMitcham]