AC Abarth 500/Mazda MX5@Portimao, Wednesday 4th May 2022

[pcmoreno]

I was really looking forward to this one but I'll have to withdraw this week. Got other appointments that take priority over sim-racing(yes, weird, I know). See you at Bathurst then!

 

[stigs2cousin]

Dang,

I really managed to supress my dismay with "Curva Portimao"
I think I have not hit the same line twice today.

Really have to do more research how to tame that sucker.

Oh, and I managed to put the "real car" in front of the "crabwalking shitbox" again. #sorelieved

Good Night everyone Carsten

 

[Douglas Aird]

I'm way off the pace and limited practice time.

 

[stigs2cousin]

Damn,

this track stays difficult. I can´t get to grips with the tyres today ( pun intended )

I´m frustrated and will go to bed now

MFG Carsten

 

[Alfred Wayne]

I'm way off the pace and limited practice time.

Looks like I'll have company then

 

[maxilogan]

Looks like I'll have company then

Don't worry about pace guys.. I switched to the Abarth and have yet to practice 1 lap. Thus, I guess there is a designated last place already
There are 5 Abarths at the moment and the rest is Mazdas, are we going to do switch to a single car or given that Han is not here and that the cars have similar pace, the cars remain unchanged?

 

[HF2000]

Don't worry about pace guys.. I switched to the Abarth and have yet to practice 1 lap. Thus, I guess there is a designated last place already
There are 5 Abarths at the moment and the rest is Mazdas, are we going to do switch to a single car or given that Han is not here and that the cars have similar pace, the cars remain unchanged?

Please keep the Abarth. I'm very interested in how humans perform in it compared to the MX5. The AI is in general about 1s faster in the Mazda except on tracks with large straights like Monza. But we now know that the AI is better with some cars than with others. That's why I would like this two events to see how it turns out.

 

[Kek700]

Yes I am delusional enough



to have hopes that the Abarth can give the Rotter Mazda's a run for their money.
At least no more disappearing dots with me in the Mazda.

 

[maxilogan]

Please keep the Abarth. I'm very interested in how humans perform in it compared to the MX5. The AI is in general about 1s faster in the Mazda except on tracks with large straights like Monza. But we now know that the AI is better with some cars than with others. That's why I would like this two events to see how it turns out.

No worries! Will try the Abarth without problems.
It wasn't my intention to change, had no time to practice and since last race in Portimao with you, my only other experience there was with F1 2021 so I relatively know the track but either I don't remember anything from the last MX5 run or I totally do not know it from the Abarth point of view, so it's a tie for me. Let's see if I manage to spin the 500
As I don't have time to join the practice at 20.00, but I may find some time around 17.30/18, my fear was that if I was practicing with the Abarth and then the race was sudden changed to Mazda only, even than little slot of time would have been wasted time

Oh, and thank you for putting me in the human category I'm no an alien for sure!

 

[stigs2cousin]

At least no more disappearing dots with me in the Mazda.

Challenge accepted

Rotter2 out

 

[stigs2cousin]

At least no more disappearing dots with me in the Mazda.

Challenge accepted

Rotter2out

(WTF happened here??
How can I post the same **** twice??)

 

[danny26]

Every time I enter Portimao corner in this Abarth I feel like I'm in a bar fight - it's utter chaos

I'm managing similar times in both cars, with the Mazda being a much more comfortable and enjoying drive, so naturally I'm sticking with the Abarth for the learning experience, and as an excuse for when I finish dead last 3 laps down. I'm also terrible at setting a car up, so from the laps I've done in practice I'm fully expecting my left front tyre to hit silly temperatures before falling apart completely

A change of shift pattern at work means I'll be online towards the end of the practice session, but I'll see you all there tonight!

 

[stigs2cousin]

Yeah Portimao corner is the one whose memories I managed to suppress.

What works for me (half of the time tbh) is a double apex approach.
With that I can avoid too much coasting and pick up the throttle earlier.
(Or beam myself into the gravel desert to the left )

See you tonight

Carsten

 

[Dzul]

I just ran an AI race to get accquainted with traffic... but the way the AI takes the first corner can only be described as... kamikaze. I hope we keep it more civil and remember that the kerbs there are part of Elon Musk's space program.

 

[stigs2cousin]

Yeah,

the approach of the AI barths to the BYSC ( Big Yellow Sausage Curbs) is quite "HitnMiss"

MFG Carsten

 

[Kek700]

What a disappointment, still disappearing Mazdas, they certainly shafted me, it was a steady 1 second a lap gain.
Plus both tyres were in the yellow in the last 6 laps, which did not help the impossible either.
Oh well onwards and upwards to Bathurst.
well done podiums.

 

[danny26]

Thanks for the race guys!

I was thinking I might actually be part of the pack after a couple of laps, my pace wasn't terrible! Omar caught me napping with a lovely move into Torre Vip, and I lost all composure trying to strike back into Samsung. Once I'd climbed out the gravel into last place it was time for a long stint of "apexes and braking points" as Crew Chief calls it. Eventually the gap closed up, but the tyres started to fall away and I began making one too many little mistakes. I still thoroughly enjoyed it - concentrating on closing a gap tenth-by-tenth was a great learning experience. I just need to learn not to panic so much when going wheel-to-wheel

 

[HF2000]

What a disappointment, still disappearing Mazdas, they certainly shafted me, it was a steady 1 second a lap gain.
Plus both tyres were in the yellow in the last 6 laps, which did not help the impossible either.
Oh well onwards and upwards to Bathurst.
well done podiums.

I just saw the race results (from my hotelroom about 25km from the circuit) and it wasn't that bad for the Abarths I think. Looking forward to see what you can do on Bathurst.

 

[Douglas Aird]

With limited practice and a track that doesn't suit me I had a surprisingly entertaining race, up to the last 15 minutes or so.

Improved my best in free practice and put in a decent qualifying lap to land P10 but close to the cars ahead.

3rd corner at the start was an issue. Afonso had got up the inside at T2 and Robert was around the outside. Heading up the hill into T3 I found myself the meat in the sandwich as we started to move towards the apex. I decided to get out of the throttle and not fight so early but then both Robert and Afonso tried to get into the same space ahead of me and collided. I suspect neither driver was aware of the other until it was too late.

As the race settled I was in an extended battle with Richard in the Abarth. I got past a couple of times but could not stay ahead. We were catching up with a Raul/Allan/Simon battle ahead but being caught by Richard and Andre.

I was thinking it was shaping up for a 7 car scrap for the last third of the race when it all went wrong for me. Towards the end of the lap I was caught up in Allan's spin which took me right out of contention.

Apologies to @stigs2cousin for my unsafe rejoin and collision. I was completely disoriented and actually thought I was on the tarmac runoff at that point.

Last laps were a fight to catch up with Afonso. He had decent pace but made some mistakes that allowed me past, I then made a gap and held p11 to the end.

On this track the car mix was fun.

Congratulations to the podiums and well done @Dzul for a really competitive drive and well deserved p4.

 

[stigs2cousin]

They say:

"a bad day at the track beats a good day at work"

but today I call bullshit on that.

Put myself on Q5 with a last lap effort and PB, lost some ground to quicker guys (deservedly ), than managed to anoy Andre for two laps with my "tank tactics" .

After a little "Oopsie" found myself on P12 and outpaced by the midfield I´d hoped to scrap with.
Two freebies later came home sweaty and pissed and denied my self the "debrief beer"

Tomorrow I´ll have to crack open my PC and find the reason for my underwhelming performance
Have a new GPU on the bench which of course will solve all my problems

MFG Carsten