AC Battle of the Bimmers @Highlands Long, Tuesday 7th December 2021

[JamKart22]

You might have a point about circuit burnout. In the 74 RD races I've done on SGP I've raced on 41 different circuit! Learning a new circuit takes time and if you only race on it once for a year then its difficult to commit the time.
Throw in a new car and its even more time needed to practice.

For next weeks Fonteny race I've been practicing for a month to try and learn the track - not a hardship on this masterpiece but not everyone has the time.

 

[HF2000]

You might have a point about circuit burnout. In the 74 RD races I've done on SGP I've raced on 41 different circuit! Learning a new circuit takes time and if you only race on it once for a year then its difficult to commit the time.
Throw in a new car and its even more time needed to practice.

For next weeks Fonteny race I've been practicing for a month to try and learn the track - not a hardship on this masterpiece but not everyone has the time.

Point taken, Colin! No new tracks this year anymore!
Before I started racing online, I played offline for a year, so all Kunos tracks are familiar to me, but I don't think it's for everyone.

 

[Reik Major]

Point taken, Colin! No new tracks this year anymore!
Before I started racing online, I played offline for a year, so all Kunos tracks are familiar to me, but I don't think it's for everyone.

You "just" have to play sim racing for so long, you know each track of the world.

 

[JamKart22]

Being in this group has certainly turbo charged the learning curve with an incentive to try new cars and tracks. So thanks for that both Han and Brian

I bought ACC last week just to see how it compared (there was a steam offer last week) and was surprised not to see an active RD racing club. So I very much appreciate what we have on AC.

 

[HF2000]

Being in this group has certainly turbo charged the learning curve with an incentive to try new cars and tracks. So thanks for that both Han and Brian

I bought ACC last week just to see how it compared (there was a steam offer last week) and was surprised not to see an active RD racing club. So I very much appreciate what we have on AC.

I bought ACC two years ago, but I didn't like it that much. Somehow the cars felt less realistic to me than in AC and the limited choice of cars (only GT3s at the time), limited choice of tracks, emphasis on performance over fun, less clean racing (not hosted by RD staff) made me stop playing. Haven't touched it since.
Another thing was that I was just beginning to learn how to setup a car in AC and because the setup in ACC is different from AC I had to learn that too.

 

[The Almighty Snark]

I dropped out about an hour before the start. Woke up a bit early from my last night shift(to get back into a normal human rythm) and was a bit knackered in the evening. Tired enough to not want to learn a new and long track on such a short notice!

 

[HF2000]

I dropped out about an hour before the start. Woke up a bit early from my last night shift(to get back into a normal human rythm) and was a bit knackered in the evening. Tired enough to not want to learn a new and long track on such a short notice!

Casper, new chance for you on a well known track: https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/bimmertime-spa-tuesday-14th-december-2021.212305/

 

[Shed 17]

Well that was fun! I had a race long battle with Guido, he got past me on lap 1, I had an off after about 4 laps which allowed a gap of about 15 seconds to Guido but a splash and dash pit stop had me back in touch in the closing laps.
On the last lap I had a good run and could see that Guido’s M3 was sliding a lot, strange as I was on the same tyres as I started with and I guess he put new rubber on at the stop.
Then on the last fast right handed on the way down to the village Guido got sideways and clipped the barrier putting him into a spin. I tried to avoid him but clipped his front sending me into the wall on the right hand side but luckily I got back on the road without too much effort.
I really liked this format and think it would work with other makes as well. The M3 e30 was a bit of a handful at times but I think it would have been competitive in more skilled hands, a pity Allan couldn’t join us. Maybe in a similar race some of the faster guys could change into different models to see how fast they can be. The tyres lasted the whole race and I actually think they got better as the race went on.
Well done to Reik on the win and thanks to Han for the experiment, I hope it gave you some data for future events.

 

[Kek700]

Been giving this some thought, you don’t want to alienate the Aliens.
So….
Difficult that one, the trouble is with the Aliens is they can get so much more from a car, I had to run at 100% boost, admittedly I did not know it was going to blow the engine. Never done that before in any of the other classes I have ran in.
Any way my point is I managed to keep in with a shout till I popped my motor, even though both the Aliens were quicker, obviously, and the reason was the other 20% boost I had, I managed the gap quite well.
Enough so that, and it was on the cards, they had a coming together and especially if it was late in the race I could have stood a reasonable chance to get by with a reasonable gap and a faster car.
Did not know how the pit stop would go and how that would pan out, I went for not much fuel and a tyres. change.
So I think you have a good point there Paul, if I had been in another car, by the time the race was 3/4 done , even an off for them both, they would have had plenty of time to not bother with me or any of us and if by some miracle I had got by they would have easily picked me off.
I spent enough laps behind the M4 to see that I stood a modest chance of limiting an over take.
We certainly need a way of balancing the field in these events without , which we can in these events, alienating the aliens, could not resist saying that again.

 

[Shed 17]

Yep, agree Ernie, but the cream will always rise to the top and the aliens' (and you)could be on a ride on mower and still be faster than me !
I don't know how the aliens think..........................( perhaps like the Stig they don't ) but I would rather have a good race/battle ( like I had last night )at the back of the grid than be out front by miles/km's with no one to play with!

I know SGP can't do reverse grids but even if it did, the fast guys would be past most of the field by lap one so whatever balance you use would have to be a gentleman's agreement just for a bit of fun.

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

@HF2000
Sorry for the no show,work got in the way,was looking forward to throwing the E30 about,oohh well onwards and upwards..Get these around Cadwell Park,it would be a blast.

 

[HF2000]

@HF2000
Sorry for the no show,work got in the way,was looking forward to throwing the E30 about,oohh well onwards and upwards..Get these around Cadwell Park,it would be a blast.

New chance on Spa next week!

 

[Shed 17]

I bought ACC two years ago, but I didn't like it that much. Somehow the cars felt less realistic to me than in AC and the limited choice of cars (only GT3s at the time), limited choice of tracks, emphasis on performance over fun, less clean racing (not hosted by RD staff) made me stop playing. Haven't touched it since.
Another thing was that I was just beginning to learn how to setup a car in AC and because the setup in ACC is different from AC I had to learn that too.

I bought ACC about a year ago and even with the latest ffb update I can’t get excited about it.
Like you Han, it’s the feeling, or lack of feeling that I don’t particularly like compared with AC. ACC looks good and the clever bits with rolling starts and flag waving Marshall’s really add to the immersion, but it’s the seat of the pants feeling you get with AC that seems to be missing in ACC for me.
I have fiddled with various ffb settings but ACC just feels dead and the cars feel disconnected to the track. Raceroom’s ffb update improved an already great sim in my opinion but it’s the old graphics there that let it down compared with AC.
I do dip in to ACC now and then when I feel like a change but AC is still my ‘go to’ sim. It will be interesting what Kunos come up with in the proposed AC2 release.

 

[beginer]

Excelent race!
first off, u chose the M4 because it was the only car who's ass wasn't swinging all around the place. However, the stability came with a ton of understeer. I decided to lower the rear negative camber and remove much if the toe to slightly destabilize the rear. With the TC on 1 and the flatrer rear tires the platform could swing around enough to be fun but not so much to get me in trouble.

i focused on breaking slightly earlier and slightly gentler than normal. I wanted to have a little in reserve just in case i misjudged a corner. (Ive noticed that the biggest time loss comes from pushing harder than my skill can handle. Inevitably something goes wrong and there is often a crash.) The result was a confident ride through corners and fairly steady laptimes.

it cant be a coincidence that my best ever result (4th) came with my most consistent laptimes. Even though i wasnt even near the fastest driver.

i was able to keep up with Han for a while. I was riding pretty close behind for the first few laps, even doing a bit of door to door driving. During the long strait his car' s superior top speed pulled a decent gap. There was one lap where i managed to pull right behind him going into the long strait. With the draft his car created i was able to stay right on him down the entire strait! It was the one time his top speed advantage was defeated!
In (i think) lap 4 i had a poor exit to the turn before the long strait and Han pulled away. It was like watching a boat slowly drift further and further out. He wasnt That much faster but its a looong strait. By the end if it he was well ahead. The adrenaline of the close chase was gone and i settled into safe and predictable and rode the rest of the race out.
thanks for the rush, Han! Amazing control of that drift-mobille btw!

one last thing regarding learning so many new tracks: it is difficult to learn a new track every week. Like @JamKart22 , I have to learn most of the tracks we run each week. While its good practice improve track learning technique, it seems like a daunting task sometimes. I found it relieving when i joined the "back to the 60's" championchip because there were two weeks in between races, plenty of time to learn the new track.
So... what about alternating: one week have a "new" track (black cat) and the next week have an old favorite (spa). If the tracks are anounced with enough notice, there would be time to explore any new tracks. It could potentially keep races fuller while improving overall race quality.

once again: thank you all for being part of this amazing thing and much love to you!

 

[HF2000]

Excelent race!
first off, u chose the M4 because it was the only car who's ass wasn't swinging all around the place. However, the stability came with a ton of understeer. I decided to lower the rear negative camber and remove much if the toe to slightly destabilize the rear. With the TC on 1 and the flatrer rear tires the platform could swing around enough to be fun but not so much to get me in trouble.

i focused on breaking slightly earlier and slightly gentler than normal. I wanted to have a little in reserve just in case i misjudged a corner. (Ive noticed that the biggest time loss comes from pushing harder than my skill can handle. Inevitably something goes wrong and there is often a crash.) The result was a confident ride through corners and fairly steady laptimes.

it cant be a coincidence that my best ever result (4th) came with my most consistent laptimes. Even though i wasnt even near the fastest driver.View attachment 523729

i was able to keep up with Han for a while. I was riding pretty close behind for the first few laps, even doing a bit of door to door driving. During the long strait his car' s superior top speed pulled a decent gap. There was one lap where i managed to pull right behind him going into the long strait. With the draft his car created i was able to stay right on him down the entire strait! It was the one time his top speed advantage was defeated!
In (i think) lap 4 i had a poor exit to the turn before the long strait and Han pulled away. It was like watching a boat slowly drift further and further out. He wasnt That much faster but its a looong strait. By the end if it he was well ahead. The adrenaline of the close chase was gone and i settled into safe and predictable and rode the rest of the race out.
thanks for the rush, Han! Amazing control of that drift-mobille btw!

one last thing regarding learning so many new tracks: it is difficult to learn a new track every week. Like @JamKart22 , I have to learn most of the tracks we run each week. While its good practice improve track learning technique, it seems like a daunting task sometimes. I found it relieving when i joined the "back to the 60's" championchip because there were two weeks in between races, plenty of time to learn the new track.
So... what about alternating: one week have a "new" track (black cat) and the next week have an old favorite (spa). If the tracks are anounced with enough notice, there would be time to explore any new tracks. It could potentially keep races fuller while improving overall race quality.

once again: thank you all for being part of this amazing thing and much love to you!

Thanks Chris,

I really appreciate feedback like this!
I'll take your and Collins' advice to cut down on new tracks usage (although I had some great combos in mind but they will have to wait).