AC 2024 F3 Championship warm up race @Portimao, Thurs 25th Jan 2024

[ThreeLionz]

Sorry guys I'm also going to have to pull out. Good luck all

 

[Shed 17]

That's a pity Joe and Dai but thanks for letting me know.
We will be announcing the details of the Championship very soon so hopefully you will be able to make some dates.

 

[ThreeLionz]

That's a pity Joe and Dai but thanks for letting me know.
We will be announcing the details of the Championship very soon so hopefully you will be able to make some dates.

Yes definitely should be a good Championship

 

[KFMaster]

That's a pity Joe and Dai but thanks for letting me know.
We will be announcing the details of the Championship very soon so hopefully you will be able to make some dates.

Yes, I will be joining for as many as I can! Thanks Paul for keeping this great series going!

 

[H_Belane]

That was intense! A really good vehicle with open wheels. Feels good. I used Jason's safe setup only with adjusted tire pressure (thanks for that ). Now it's probably about doing something with the wing settings. This will be a great championship.

I'm looking forward to.

 

[cerebralvortex]

I hadn't practiced at all for this one and I don't know this track very well. Race 1 I didn't have much pace, caught Hank but locked my wheel trying to overtake and spun. I could have been more patient there, but I thought it was the last lap.

Race 2 I got caught up in that T1 incident, and later on my screen froze for a second or two (which is a bothersome) and next thing I saw I was in the gravel. But I did find better lines and was on the same pace as Thomas in the end. If we would do it again I think I would be able to fight with Thomas.

The car feels great and the track grew on me. Looking forward to it!

I still had about 3 cars at least without skins including mine, I'll look into that.

The championship races will be full race length isn't it? Still in favor of not going 100% grip though.

 

[Shed 17]

Thanks Hank.
It was my first attempt at setting up a race and that side of it worked out well thanks to the advice I have had from Dominic and Han.

We had track temperature at a steamy 36deg and I chose Portimao for this test as it has most of the extreme sort of corners we are likely to encounter during the championship.
As we learnt today, the medium tyres struggled in this heat and after 20 minutes were well past their best, but that’s what the test was for.
With the three tyre options it will be interesting to see how strategies work out.
I know the skins have been a bit of a problem and I hope to get these sorted before the first race in Bahrain.
On that note I hope to get the details of how the Championship is going to work out to you in a few days time.
In the meantime, thank you all for entering and for the feedback. There is a long way to go but I am open to learning and all constructive feedback is welcome.

 

[dbx71]

great race--really good fun. must say, modern day open wheelers are not normally my thing, but that car was really rookie friendly, and a pleasure to drive. especially on that track, with all the whoop-dee-doos (sorry for the sophisticated technical term ).

honestly, I had mixed feelings about committing to this championship, but now that I've had a taste, do look forward to making it to as many races as possible.

took me a while to get used to the DRS thing (new to me), and still need to work on my controller set up for these types of events. seems that the sequential shifter I've been using up to now is not really suited for these types of cars. add to that fact that i mapped a button for DRS that was difficult to find again on my wheel with VR headset on when i took my hand off to shift, and yeah, well i need to work on that... especially that first DRS zone that occurs right at the top of a curving hill exactly where I was shifting.

as for tangle at turn 1 on race 2, not sure if that was my fault or not but i'll just preemptively apologize just in case. looks like everyone got pointed in the right direction and back into the action without too much lost time.

thanks guys, again that was fun!

 

[thom462]

Had a blast, was racing in VR with the Quest 2 with no problems. Great close racing with Hank and Laurent in race 2, that was fun.
Did practice an hour but was pretty much on standard setup so I dont know if there is much time to find there. Main problem for me currently is losing the back end too fast if entering a slow corner with momentum, but maybe thats the characteristics of this car. Didn't spin in both races so apparently that's manageable.
Great that times were fairly close.

looking forward to more races, will do those in VR as well.

thx for organizing and cu all

 

[Shed 17]

Main problem for me currently is losing the back end too fast if entering a slow corner with momentum, but maybe thats the characteristics of this car.

I had a similar feeling Thomas, especially in turns 8 and 13 where the back end would seem to come round on corner exit. It felt to me like the front end was maybe too grippy but I’m sure this can be dialled out with all the adjustments available.
Other than that the car went well, I did a ‘Han’ and forgot to check my set up before race start because I was talking and set off with qualifying fuel load, I had to stop for a top up and probably had too much aero but was playing it safe while watching how others were going.
Well done on the win, hopefully we can attract more entrants for the first race.

 

[gearwhine]

That was a success i believe Paul. Looking at the lap times and we were all very close running and it was not easy even for the quick guys to make massive inroads into the pace of us slower drivers. Not the easiest track to race on and was very impressed how the guys who did not know the car or track were able to get up to speed quickly. I think on the tracks we will be using it might be possible to keep those gaps even tighter as the car is quite forgiving and easy to set up.
Dominic, i checked the replay and you tapped my rear wheel sending me into a spin on turn 1. I may never forgive you for that mistake .
I think the size of the grid will depend on drivers feeling they will be in with the fight and some may find the cars a little intimidating so i was wondering how much of an option it would be to add ballast penalty to leading cars like they do with touring cars? Even the quick guys get bored if they are out there on thier own with no challenge for them. Just a thought and not really given much time to the idea. What do you think Paul?

 

[Shed 17]

I think the size of the grid will depend on drivers feeling they will be in with the fight and some may find the cars a little intimidating so i was wondering how much of an option it would be to add ballast penalty to leading cars like they do with touring cars? Even the quick guys get bored if they are out there on thier own with no challenge for them. Just a thought and not really given much time to the idea. What do you think Paul?

This has been raised before in other series here Steve, and while it works IRL I think the general view amongst this community in the past has been a no thank you, but what do the really fast guys think? Would you still drive in a series where your success was penailsed for the next race?
Brian uses restrictors and ballast in the BTCC Super Tourers (Volvo S40), GTE (RSR) and GT3 (BMW M4) but this is applied to all of those cars, not the drivers. This hurts drivers like me more that the faster drivers and for me it makes the cars feel sluggish, plus with my low skill levels, I cannot extract the maximum from them. But that the way it is and I still enjoy the racing.
We have some ideas to keep interest throughout the year with F3 and these will be annouced very soon but in the meantime if anyone has views on this please feel free to express them here.

 

[cerebralvortex]

My 2 cents about how I wish the series would be..

I'm all about realism. The closer we can get, the more I would like it. That means :

- matching track and air temp
- trying to match weather conditions
- trying to match grip levels
- matching race time
- DRS rules as per F3 rules
- Tyre compound usage as per F3 rules

I don't know much about Formula 3 actually. But I might try to watch some races now we are doing this.

The DRS rules can be enforced by using this app : https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/rare-rules-and-race-enhancements.52534/

Not sure if anyone ever tried it or has experience with it.

As for tyre compounds, I'm not sure whether you need to run different compounds during the race like in F1.

Maybe a bit too hardcore for some, but for me this is what makes it fun

 

[dbx71]

Dominic, i checked the replay and you tapped my rear wheel sending me into a spin on turn 1. I may never forgive you for that mistake .

Funny, when I looked at the replay, it appeared that you dove in front of me and cut me off.,!
J/k. ;-0. Yes you’re right I think I was carrying too much speed and went wide…. Oops sorries….

 

[dbx71]

This has been raised before in other series here Steve, and while it works IRL I think the general view amongst this community in the past has been a no thank you, but what do the really fast guys think? Would you still drive in a series where your success was penailsed for the next race?
Brian uses restrictors and ballast in the BTCC Super Tourers (Volvo S40), GTE (RSR) and GT3 (BMW M4) but this is applied to all of those cars, not the drivers. This hurts drivers like me more that the faster drivers and for me it makes the cars feel sluggish, plus with my low skill levels, I cannot extract the maximum from them. But that the way it is and I still enjoy the racing.
We have some ideas to keep interest throughout the year with F3 and these will be annouced very soon but in the meantime if anyone has views on this please feel free to express them here.

Being penalized for being fast feels inherently wrong to me. I personally think it’s best that everyone drives the same car under the same conditions…. My two cents.

 

[dbx71]

Just one more comment: outside of a few test laps, this was my first time really driving/racing this car. Yes, I was a few seconds off from the pack at these two races, but I didn’t get lapped and I didn’t spin once in either race. And somehow I didn’t finish last in either race! All with 0 practice except for session before the race.
So like I say this car is really easy for anyone to jump in and drive at a decent pace which should lead to some good racing.
If I can do it, anyone can!

 

[gearwhine]

Just one more comment: outside of a few test laps, this was my first time really driving/racing this car. Yes, I was a few seconds off from the pack at these two races, but I didn’t get lapped and I didn’t spin once in either race. And somehow I didn’t finish last in either race! All with 0 practice except for session before the race.
So like I say this car is really easy for anyone to jump in and drive at a decent pace which should lead to some good racing.
If I can do it, anyone can!

Yeah, i spun off with some help
I completely get it about winning and then being punished being wrong. The only reason it is done in the real world is to promote closer racing. I just put it out there to see what you all thought.
Please dont ban me for it or i will have to go over to that new American site i have been hearing so much about

 

[dbx71]

Yeah, i spun off with some help
I completely get it about winning and then being punished being wrong. The only reason it is done in the real world is to promote closer racing. I just put it out there to see what you all thought.
Please dont ban me for it or i will have to go over to that new American site i have been hearing so much about

oh yeah, i forgot about THAT spin! i stand corrected, and take full responsibility hey, good thing it was a test race!
definitely all ideas are worth consideration and i'm all for whatever is decided to make it fun and fair for all, without turning off the fast guys.
as for that cool new american site, sounds awesome. i'll have to look into that

 

[Shed 17]

Yeah, i spun off with some help
I completely get it about winning and then being punished being wrong. The only reason it is done in the real world is to promote closer racing. I just put it out there to see what you all thought.
Please dont ban me for it or i will have to go over to that new American site i have been hearing so much about

I like the idea of ballast Steve as it can even out the field but it takes another level of admin to keep up with. It can also turn people off if they think it is too harsh. The ethos here is casual 'Gentlemenly' club racing and making too many rules can complicate things, however it is something to look at going forward.
P.S. We wouldn't ban you, who would keep us entertained during pre and post race chats?

My 2 cents about how I wish the series would be..

I'm all about realism. The closer we can get, the more I would like it. That means :

- matching track and air temp
- trying to match weather conditions
- trying to match grip levels
- matching race time
- DRS rules as per F3 rules
- Tyre compound usage as per F3 rules

I don't know much about Formula 3 actually. But I might try to watch some races now we are doing this.

The DRS rules can be enforced by using this app : https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/rare-rules-and-race-enhancements.52534/

Not sure if anyone ever tried it or has experience with it.

As for tyre compounds, I'm not sure whether you need to run different compounds during the race like in F1.

Maybe a bit too hardcore for some, but for me this is what makes it fun

We will try to match real life weather conditions as close as possible Laurent, bearing in mind the server is set up several days in advance of the event.

As for DRS, the system does allow for a sort of DRS use similar to F1 but it has not been tested and as far as I can see it is not automatic but down to the driver to apply. All sounds good but there are penalties if the DRS is activated when it shouldn't be and that in itself can be a big turn off for people. I don't know if anyone has tried it in AC?

Personally, I like realism but as this is my first attempt at hosting races, I want to use ‘KIS’, Keep it Simple!

But these are all great ideas and something to move towards if we can grow this event. Lets see how things run to start with and then try some ideas out during the gaps in races.

 

[HF2000]

For next Thursday a very nice street challenge! https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...dragon-trail-seaside-thu-1st-february.268070/