AC Alfa Romeo GTAm @ Goodwood - Mon 27 Jul 2020

[Sheashant L]

Quick clip of the impossible task of trying to pass @Sheashant L in race 1!

Well @Michael Murphy your video has inspired me to make a short prelude. Enjoy =)

 

[Kek700]

PS 2, used this to find the best gearing and change point for the Alfa Gtam.
I found the best rpm and gear ratio. For the best part always managed to take some time from all that I followed in the long straight, Admittedly it was maybe at most half a cars length. ????

 

[Neilski]

If you do that, you'll improve. Keeping it on track is the biggest single improvement you can make. Keep racing and concentrate on that, and you'll be having close battles for the whole race in no time. Well done for sticking with it. Keep it up.

Yes - well done indeed @Monkified. Another thing I'd recommend is to spectate some of the quick drivers so you can learn the lines and see where they hit the brakes and get the power back on. (Just be aware that AC will not show the true state of the brake pedal when you spectate another driver - I think it'll show either fully on or off.)

1st race, had a punt up the bum going into St Mary's - must take some blame, I was too cautious on cold tyres, start of the race and all that, and whoever it was kindly waited so all's good. Only problem with going off on the first lap is the field is so bunched together it's hard to rejoin safely, think I was next to last.

Yeah, that was me I'm afraid John. I had a suspicion you didn't hear me apologise on TS. You were so quick in qually that I thought you'd be closer to the limit and so I was a bit horrified to find myself tapping you

...to add to my confusion, I've checked all settings (so often I'm sick of it!), and even in hotlap/practice I can watch my speed delta (from personal best) on straights dropping away.

Weird. Was it happening in this race too, or more in the GT3s?

As for the races... Wow, an evening of mistake after mistake from me. I had the brake balance on 60, which maaaaay have been a bit too aggressive, because I wasn't very consistent! (OK, I was shockingly inconsistent.)

I actually suspect though that a bigger problem was that I was too reckless with the toe (-0.21). The brakes were actually almost always safe, once I got used to them, though the chicane required extreme care (and yeah I hit it multiple times). On reflection, 62 for brake balance would probably have been more prudent, but I'm intrigued to know what the front runners (or anyone who got a 27) were using. I just felt that the more forward balance was causing massive locking up at the front and making me understeer too much.

Also, the lines on this track are pretty hard to nail and I'm quite confident that I haven't done so yet!

I do think that this car rewards sidewaysness more than most - maybe the tyre slip angles are more forgiving... dunno really. I was exploring that theory rather a lot, and my delta was very green when I didn't lose it entirely

 

[Locoblade]

@Neilski I was doing mid to high 1:28s in the race pretty consistently using 75%, pretty sure Sheashant was using something similar with the amount of the smoke I saw going into Woodcote on most laps but might be wrong

 

[Kek700]

brake bias 68%.
Neil I was witness to your off, must rate as the biggest I have ever seen, it went on and on using every bit of grass and track available.

 

[Neilski]

brake bias 68%.
Neil I was witness to your off, must rate as the biggest I have ever seen, it went on and on using every bit of grass and track available.

You'll need to be more specific Ernie - I musta had a dozen offs

 

[Kek700]

You had me worried there, thought I had finally lost the plot, luckily not yet. Second race, Lap 5 first bend after the start finish line. poor Denis, I think copped it.
I remember looking back and being amazed no one else got involved.

 

[Neilski]

You had me worried there, thought I had finally lost the plot, luckily not yet. Second race, Lap 5 first bend after the start finish line. poor Denis, I think copped it.
I remember looking back and being amazed no one else got involved.

Ah yeah that was a particularly traumatic one. I thought I had controlled it and was trying to recover, and then had another lapse of concentration and things got even worse and then Denis had the worst luck to be caught up in it

PS: the grass seems stupendously slippery at that track tho

 

[Medilloni]

Sorry about a desire to fix every problem John. @Medilloni
Have you tried the drag strip at 2000m, the Ai is usually very competitive
on the drag strip. Don’t try the Alfa gtam ???
I will pick a car for you, then all you need to do is try your rig against mine. I used the McLaren 650S, I never touched any setup, as standard. did not anticipate the lights, use first run before it rubbers in.
Ai 53.94
me 54.03
the Ai should take about 3 car lengths, then you should almost catch up at 2000m.
I noticed Chris’s McLaren was chopping into my back straight lead on Okayama, I was in a McLaren too, unfortunately I could not remove corner speed and sooner application of throttle, setup, from it all.

Huge thanks Ernie, you're a gent

Trying to keep the waffle down.... everything in-game (both CM and AC interfaces) showed up pedals as OK, after @Locoblade Chris's comment went for one more try - the Thrustmaster panel showed the clutch still sticking/flickering. I am so embarrassed

Went to the local music shop today, got some pot cleaner musicians use for their amps and a can of compressed air, now fixed, but still added 15% to clutch freeplay!

Never having used the drag strip before, fired it up, didn't see any blokes in women's clothes, the run was:
AI: 53.235, me 53.378

Damn, you have good reactions!

 

[Denis Betty]

Denis had the worst luck to be caught up in it

Um, I think I got you back when we were 3 wide with Han though.
Sorry Han.

 

[Medilloni]

Yeah, that was me I'm afraid John. I had a suspicion you didn't hear me apologise on TS. You were so quick in qually that I thought you'd be closer to the limit and so I was a bit horrified to find myself tapping you

I heard someone, just didn't know who it was, and can't reach my ptt button without looking away from the screen No worries Neil, I always try to be predictable - though I know I wasn't in that moment, apologies from me too and huge thanks for waiting!

Weird. Was it happening in this race too, or more in the GT3s?

The more powerful the car, the worse it's been - hopefully it's fixed for now, re my major waffle in post #129

 

[HF2000]

Um, I think I got you back whe we were 3 wide with Han though.
Sorry Han.

No worries Denis, I know now how a hotdog should feel .

 

[Callum Hornby]

2nd Race, another nudge off, into the chicane which put me back, by then my body and mind were elsewhere Take away for me; I had some terrific battles trying to get back into it, all super-fair, managed a pass I was really proud of - round the outside of Woodcote... I think we both had to breath in

2nd race I believe was me John sorry about that, I think there was an accident up ahead that I didn't see and I was still going racing speed! Kicking myself after that, putting us both to the back of the field

 

[Medilloni]

2nd race I believe was me John sorry about that, I think there was an accident up ahead that I didn't see and I was still going racing speed! Kicking myself after that, putting us both to the back of the field

No problem Callum - and thanks for waiting With these era-cars incidents are always likely imo, very hard to keep on track