ACC British GT Series - Test Race @ Silverstone 24.04.23

[SgtMahone]

It was nice and close paced for the first 20 mins or so, bodes well for the next races

 

[McFlunch]

Radar and crew chief needed

Yep, and a bunch of airbags

 

[SwannyUK]

If I'm honest I was dreading tonight. New tyre / physics update combined with new cars and drivers who haven't got to know each others pace and styles could have ended in a T1 car park but on the whole it went well and a good starting point to learn from.

I'll be looking through the results and lap times to make any tweaks to Pro-Am classifications.

Started p7, had some great battling until my tyres started to complain so pitted early for the undercut which worked well and finished P2 but only just. I came to lap two battling cars on the last lap. One had a drive through and the other was a few places ahead so it wasn't for position. Not sure why I got blocked there.

 

[RicardoJorge92]

Had an unpleasant race, but only myself to blame.

Qualifying went, ok, but a bit far from my PB during practice on the new tire model.

Managed to get into P3 at the start and got behind Johann.
Had a blast trying everything to get past, but was too evenly paced. Had a good couple of battles and I was pacing myself hoping for a mistake.
That mistake then came from me. Thought I was far enough behind to use my normal braking marker and could not avoid a collision with Johann. Sorry for ruining your race!

Came out in P10, I think. Finished stint 1 not too much out of the pace, but fumbled with the buttons and for a DT, first time that happens to me after 150+h of this game. It was my Christian heritage making me atone for my sins.
By the end of the race I was falling behind over 2s with tire issues. Hoping to sort that out soon!

Hopefully I got the bad race out of the system now and I'll gave a better series.

Thank you all for racing!
Congrats to Andrew, Chris and Will!
Sorry again Johann, happy that one didn't count for scoring!

 

[ssc2211]

I'm not crazy... I knew something slightly touched me

Please @Piero Maffi don't do this again on the next race

Can you tell who span me at club on lap 1 or instruct me on how to avoid it in future. Ty

 

[McFlunch]

Can you tell who span me at club on lap 1 or instruct me on how to avoid it in future. Ty

I will look this evening if nobody does it before me

 

[akephoe]

Nice race yesterday, great to see so many cars on the grid.
Hopefully this continues on for the next races.

Thanks to @SwannyUK and RD for organizing and hosting! Great to have such people to make things happen and running
Also thanks to @JohannS for the livery deliver service

In the end it was a good evening for myself.
I focused the last days on understanding the 1.9 update and specially tyrewear for different cars. I did a lot of long and longer runs with full tank. In the end i ended up in the new Ferrari and was pleased with the overall performance.
My quali was not very good. I didn' get a really fast lap togther, here and there some minor errors. In the end P9, maybe more low fuels runs in the future?

The start of the race could have been better. I was very caution and lost 3 places in the first lap. from lap 3 on i found a good rhythm and made up some places the next lap.
with more laps the car felt better and better and i got a very consitent and fast pace. The pitstop after 20laps i guess went good and i rejoined in 5th place. Needed that 2 laps to get the tyres work but after i could close the gap to @Magnus Dahlgren in the last laps and wished the race had one or two more laps.
So, in the end i was very pleased with my racepace. I had no big tyredrop and could manage to hold a steady pace. Work has to be done on overall pace and even more on one lap pace.

Congrats to @sebastalona for the win and to @SwannyUK and @Trox for the podium, well done!

Will see if i stay with the Ferrari. Normally i take a car that is not that common on grid, like the Lexus. And i really missed the old RCF a bit. But the overall speed and even more the tyre and fuel wear with the Lexus is a bit frustrating.
On the other side, the Ferrari feels so nice to drive, with a great view while racing and without an engine sound that stays in the ears for more than the race time itself.

 

[Magnus Dahlgren]

The start of the race could have been better. I was very caution and lost 3 places in the first lap. from lap 3 on i found a good rhythm and made up some places the next lap.
with more laps the car felt better and better and i got a very consitent and fast pace. The pitstop after 20laps i guess went good and i rejoined in 5th place. Needed that 2 laps to get the tyres work but after i could close the gap to @Magnus Dahlgren in the last laps and wished the race had one or two more laps.
So, in the end i was very pleased with my racepace. I had no big tyredrop and could manage to hold a steady pace. Work has to be done on overall pace and even more on one lap pace.

I’m happy the race ended when it did!

I’ve done minimal practise with the new tyre model so how to manage the tyres was a bit new to me, but it was a fun learning experience, when and what you do to affect the tyre life is much more obvious now. I also like that cold tyres really needs to be driven with caution unlike before where at least I felt I could gun it just half a lap after a pit stop.

For the race I felt like I was glued to the back of @SwannyUK for the whole first stint as whenever he made up positions I followed suit, hade major tyre performance loss two laps before I pitted. Tried to be more conservative on the second stint but managed a few corner entry drifts here and there as I had stupidly moved my pedals to close to my seat before the event which gave me leg cramps. So I burned out the tyres quicker and the drop off was more severe then what I would have liked, this of course allowed @akephoe to close in on me fast in the closing stages! After a few intense last laps I just about prevailed over the finish line by half a car length ahead only!

Will see if i stay with the Ferrari. Normally i take a car that is not that common on grid, like the Lexus. And i really missed the old RCF a bit. But the overall speed and even more the tyre and fuel wear with the Lexus is a bit frustrating.
On the other side, the Ferrari feels so nice to drive, with a great view while racing and without an engine sound that stays in the ears for more than the race time itself.

I realise I’m part of the ‘problem’ as well as I too was in the new 296, it was a shame to see half the field(9 out of 20)in the same car, the beauty of GT3 is the diversity in the cars.
So maybe I’ll change down the line as a more diverse field would be nice to see however this might delay my skin even further, tough choice..

Anyways!
A great race overall, many new drivers to me with perhaps one slight nerve racking moment from another driver it still was a very clean race and with good on track conduct.
I hope this is indicative of the coming season, can’t wait!

 

[Smidgey]

Cheers for running it Chris. Had a lot of fun until the incident. (Need to review that on my part as might have been a bit optimistic.)

Pace was a lot better than I expected but hopefully still slow enough to keep me in AM

 

[SwannyUK]

I’m happy the race ended when it did!

I’ve done minimal practise with the new tyre model so how to manage the tyres was a bit new to me, but it was a fun learning experience, when and what you do to affect the tyre life is much more obvious now. I also like that cold tyres really needs to be driven with caution unlike before where at least I felt I could gun it just half a lap after a pit stop.

For the race I felt like I was glued to the back of @SwannyUK for the whole first stint as whenever he made up positions I followed suit, hade major tyre performance loss two laps before I pitted. Tried to be more conservative on the second stint but managed a few corner entry drifts here and there as I had stupidly moved my pedals to close to my seat before the event which gave me leg cramps. So I burned out the tyres quicker and the drop off was more severe then what I would have liked, this of course allowed @akephoe to close in on me fast in the closing stages! After a few intense last laps I just about prevailed over the finish line by half a car length ahead only!


I realise I’m part of the ‘problem’ as well as I too was in the new 296, it was a shame to see half the field(9 out of 20)in the same car, the beauty of GT3 is the diversity in cars.
So maybe I’ll change down the line as a more diverse field would be nice to see however this might delay my skin even further, tough choice..

Anyways!
A great race overall, many new drivers to me with perhaps one slight nerve racking moment from another driver it still was a very clean race and with good on track conduct.
I hope this is indicative of the coming season, can’t wait!

Really enjoyed our battle, I felt like the cork in the bottle though holding you guys up lol. Drive whatever you are comfortable with

 

[Trox]

My race was a bit harsh at the start, slightly pinched in the early stages but I decided to hit the grass to prevent a collision in which I lost around 4 places.

Back in 8th I had to claw my way back, it was excellent though had a good race with @SgtMahone and then @Magnus Dahlgren who I noticed was losing quite a bit of traction which I took advantage of. Hopefully didn’t come off as being too aggressive!

From there I had an unfortunately pit entry with another car going in at the same time, I lost a few seconds which meant Swanny pulled an 8 second lead as I was exiting the pit. It happens!

I did manage to close the gap to 2 seconds then on the last lap Swanny got caught up in traffic, @ssc2211 forgot to respect the blue flag and almost cost Swanny his place (cheques in the post).

Great race overall Grats to @sebastalona on the win!

Roll on the series!

 

[SgtMahone]

Liveries looked great by the way, thanks Johann I’ll try to get mine sorted for next week

 

[Andrew Sebastian]

Good race last night. Was worried going into at as the 1.9 cars all looked rapid in the practice sessions I took part in.

However, qualifying went well and beat my personal best post 1.9 when it mattered.

Really went for it on my final flying lap, only for Johann to nonchalantly pull out another tenth on me! Great lap mate.

Start went well, good launch off the line and hung on around the outside to take the lead. I think Johann just briefly clipped the kerb on the exit which unsettled his car and compromised his exit.

After that, the first stint went really well, and managed to pull out a 6-7 second gap before the pits.

I was keeping an eye on what was happening behind and missed Chris in P2 going into the pits. I would have covered that off normally. Pit went well, and Chris had managed to close a second and a half on me from the undercut.

Got the gap to 6 seconds again, which fluctuated as back markers came into play.

Overall happy with the pace, although it tailed off towards the end, but think that’s a natural thing when you approach the end, easing off to avoid any catastrophic mistakes. Both sets of tyres were in good shape, only light graining on front right.

Good win for Rowe Racing to follow up their win at Monza at the weekend!

 

[RasmusP]

These race reports are really nice to read!
My German community is racing on Monday evenings too currently, so I can't race with you
But the last race will be on the 22nd May, then I'll join you again. Can't wait to see how fast you all got. I think I also improved a bit

Gonna save the results and try to match your times. We did Silverstone 2 weeks ago, so I'm still "warmed up" hehe

Could be. I came in early - picked up damage when someone spun me at club on lap 1 - so ran second set for 40 mins.

The new tyres are dropping off a cliff after 30 minutes. We had people taking 2x new tyres in 90 minutes and being faster overall.
A second 1L stop is mandatory, which takes 3-4 seconds. So they were able to gain 27 seconds by only driving 30 minutes with each tyre set vs 45 minutes!

I had stupidly moved my pedals to close to my seat before the event which gave me leg cramps.

Urgh, I did that once and that race was a nightmare

 

[ssc2211]

My race was a bit harsh at the start, slightly pinched in the early stages but I decided to hit the grass to prevent a collision in which I lost around 4 places.

Back in 8th I had to claw my way back, it was excellent though had a good race with @SgtMahone and then @Magnus Dahlgren who I noticed was losing quite a bit of traction which I took advantage of. Hopefully didn’t come off as being too aggressive!

From there I had an unfortunately pit entry with another car going in at the same time, I lost a few seconds which meant Swanny pulled an 8 second lead as I was exiting the pit. It happens!

I did manage to close the gap to 2 seconds then on the last lap Swanny got caught up in traffic, @ssc2211 forgot to respect the blue flag and almost cost Swanny his place (cheques in the post).

Great race overall Grats to @sebastalona on the win!

Roll on the series!

blue flag doesnt mean dive out of the way or lift, not in real racing anyway. faster Cars have to pass safely. i moved off the line safely and in good time. happy to be shown/told otherwise.

 

[Trox]

blue flag doesnt mean dive out of the way or lift, not in real racing anyway. faster Cars have to pass safely. i moved off the line safely and in good time. happy to be shown/told otherwise.

Yea indeed but you did have plenty of time I feel, it looked like you were racing him down the straight

I’ve yet to see the replay so I’m only commenting on what I seen happen up in front

 

[ssc2211]

Yea indeed but you did have plenty of time I feel, it looked like you were racing him down the straight

I’ve yet to see the replay so I’m only commenting on what I seen happen up in front

OK mate. Blue flags come up when the car behind is a second behind, so i figure i have a couple of corners before you’re in a position to overtake.
i like the real version of the rules because the approaching cars know that the car in front is going to drive around on the line. And can make amends.
Anyway, next time i won’t be in this position because i’ll be leading from lights to flag.. lol

 

[Trox]

OK mate. Blue flags come up when the car behind is a second behind, so i figure i have a couple of corners before you’re in a position to overtake.
i like the real version of the rules because the approaching cars know that the car in front is going to drive around on the line. And can make amends.
Anyway, next time i won’t be in this position because i’ll be leading from lights to flag.. lol

No worries, I didn’t post to cause an argument it’s not like you were racing anyone for position at that point.

It only benefited me

 

[ssc2211]

No worries, I didn’t post to cause an argument it’s not like you were racing anyone for position at that point.

It only benefited me

No problem at all buddy. Take care.

 

[SwannyUK]

Can I just say, as the bloke that has to run this circus, take the above chat between ssc2211 and Trox as an example of the grown up kind of dialogue I desperately want in this age of internet armchair warriors. Well played chaps - great to see!