AC GT Multiclass @ Laguna Seca - Sunday 13th February 2022

[Interslice]

Thanks to all who took part tonight! It's a tricky multi class track! Hope most enjoyed the challenge

I had a decent race apart from one corner, ten laps or so in, where my brain wandered. I braked at the turn in point of t6 and went on into the sand... Cooked the tires and so spun again at turn 9 after the corkscrew. 30 seconds lost just like that
Happy with the recovery back into the podium without further drama.

@Kek700 Ye it's not everyones favorite track, maybe didn't help the numbers. I do like it, I'll admit, but it is tricky to race on. I had a solid start and was right up the exhaust of @thom462 for the first lap or so but decided to back off. It seemed like there was a good chance of a punting or spinning incident between the dirty air and poor visibility. As you were saying it's about mistakes/undercuts if the pace of the two cars is similar, which i can understand isn't everyone cup of tea.

Congrats to @Kek700 and @thom462 for the wins. Good to see some new faces @L4de and @KDiesel on track. Hope you both had fun!

See you all next week

 

[davejevons]

Can you ever be happy with last place ? Let me have a go at explaining and you can decide if I’m justifying or not.

I had three goals for the race. First to improve my race craft and keep out of trouble in the first lap after a few too many lap 1 off tracks recently. Second, to drive within myself and prioritise consistency over hot laps. Third, to dip into the 1:29s and not be a whole second behind my ten year old boy.

Qualifying was a bit of a shock as everyone seemed to be able to up their pace and I was stuck firmly in the mid 1:30 somethings. The first lap was great, I think everyone got round cleanly. First objective fulfilled. Richard made an error in the last turn and I was able to sneak by. It was a hollow victory though as he was always going to get back past eventually. A few laps later he made his move into t1 with a decisive lunge. Once Richard came past I held onto his tail and just managed to dip into the 1:29s, albeit only a tenth.

The rest of the race was a back and forth battle with Colin. i should have be able to hold him off but when I pitted I realised I’d left my third risk averse ‘tyres and fuel’ strategy selected rather than the splash and dash I’d intended. I came out behind Colin, caught him, had a big moment, caught him again but couldn’t get past in the lap and a half left.

So, three process goals achieved and i’m happy with my last place. A big thank you to @Interslice for organising.

 

[Kek700]

It is difficult to be objective about a race, I have never been bothered about the first two laps. But that does not mean I am unaware of the way a race can go by being in an unlucky placing on the first two or three corners, people coming off, getting elbowed out of another position, having to fight to get a place back, while in the mean time those in front sail away trouble free.
Then you find by lap three the leading group have a 30 second lead, you end up getting clobbered by the GT3 cars, trying too hard to get back on terms means another off, and another 10 seconds given away.
While the front group merrily go lap after lap with their now 60 seconds lead.
At this point you are at a third of the race, you have a situation where you need to lap 2 seconds of a lap faster that the fastest front leader, let alone add that to your fastest time, and not have a single problem for the next 27 laps.
It is so easy to get into a hopeless place, and then luck seems to conspire against you to add insult to injury.
So what you have written has happened to me countless times, irrispective to the pace I have with respect to the front runners.

It sort of feels like the picture below.

 

[thom462]

Happy with the victory. Unfortunately not that many turned up today. Actually I like the track, know this one for such a long time looking Indy car races and playing Indycar racing 2 long ago. Always getting little nostalgic driving here. Remember good Indycar moments, especially the legendary Alex Zanardi pass at the cork screw. Unfortunately sad memories as well, as Gonzalo Rodriguez lost his life at that corner in 1999.

Was starting from pole and had an ok start but Brian was just right behind. Hit the inside left sausage kerb slightly at lap 1 before the uphill section to corkscrew so it got very close approaching the corner.
Unfortunately Brian and Stefan had a spin early on so I had a big gap pretty early.

Thanks @Interslice Brian for organizing, all thx for racing and hope to see a better turnout next time. cu there

Some impressions:

Lap1:

watch them sausage kerbs!, lap 1.....

Cork screw, lap1:

Being nostalgic, man, this game was just a milestone, thanks papyrus:

The pass, 1996:

Laguna Seca 1996: The Pass - IndyCar Videos

Videos zu IndyCar. Die letzte Runde in Laguna Seca 1996: Alessandro 'Alex' Zanardi überholt Bryan Herta in der 'Corkscrew'-Passage spektakulär und siegt! Das Manöver geht als 'The Pass' in die Motorsport-Geschichte ein!

de.motorsport.com

 

[random2k4]

I have to say, after Zolder this is my least favorite track, I had the displeasure to drive on
Cause I was/am still recovering from a wisdom tooth surgery, I couldnt practice much. My time in quali was somewhat OKish. Just could not get a good lap together.

The race started with an OK pace. Stayed behind Brian in the 1 sec region. After he unfortunately spun twice in one lap. I knew there was basically not treat from behind. To spice things up a little and establish a small feeling of pressure, my Z4 decided that turning just a little too much to the left in the corkscrew is making the rear going faster then the front. Luckily I didnt lost too much time, but Jari could sneak up a position on me.

I had the better acceleration out of the last turn and was able to get the place back right at the long straight.
From that moment on it was more or less a fight from me against every freaking turn on this track. First stint was underwhelming, but I managed to get some decent lap times in my second stint. After I got into a rhythm, I could chain some good laps together. At that point it was enough to keep Brian behind but not fast enough to make any improvements towards Thomas.

Surly, it was a pitty that we had a little less drivers this weekend, but on the other hand it is a damn tricky track to overtake GT4s without risking too much. Needed some time to really find a good spot and figure out what corner to go for the outside or inside. If I made any unappropriated attempts please let me know, I was just trying to keep my sluggish Z4 on the track

See you all next week.

 

[JamKart22]

Happy with the victory. Unfortunately not that many turned up today. Actually I like the track, know this one for such a long time looking Indy car races and playing Indycar racing 2 long ago. Always getting little nostalgic driving here. Remember good Indycar moments, especially the legendary Alex Zanardi pass at the cork screw. Unfortunately sad memories as well, as Gonzalo Rodriguez lost his life at that corner in 1999.

Was starting from pole and had an ok start but Brian was just right behind. Hit the inside left sausage kerb slightly at lap 1 before the uphill section to corkscrew so it got very close approaching the corner.
Unfortunately Brian and Stefan had a spin early on so I had a big gap pretty early.

Thanks @Interslice Brian for organizing, all thx for racing and hope to see a better turnout next time. cu there

Some impressions:

Lap1:
View attachment 541015


watch them sausage kerbs!, lap 1.....
View attachment 541016


Cork screw, lap1:
View attachment 541017

Being nostalgic, man, this game was just a milestone, thanks papyrus:
View attachment 541019


The pass, 1996:

Laguna Seca 1996: The Pass - IndyCar Videos

Videos zu IndyCar. Die letzte Runde in Laguna Seca 1996: Alessandro 'Alex' Zanardi überholt Bryan Herta in der 'Corkscrew'-Passage spektakulär und siegt! Das Manöver geht als 'The Pass' in die Motorsport-Geschichte ein!

de.motorsport.com

View attachment 541023

Be interesting to know if Alex would have been allowed to keep that place now given that he had to leave the track to make the corner. Looks a bit dodgy to me

 

[Interslice]

Be interesting to know if Alex would have been allowed to keep that place now given that he had to leave the track to make the corner. Looks a bit dodgy to me

Haha I had to look that up

Apparently the cart rules at the time allowed you to go off track if you were already ahead of the driver.. or something to that effect.

 

[JamKart22]

My aim this race was not to finish last again! I've really not got on with the GT4 car but I keep hoping things will improve.

Pleased to get P2 in quali but it didn't take long for Ernie to get past (lap 1 T1 ) but I was able to stick with the pace of P1/P2 for some time. However, for whatever reason, I started to fall back into the clutches of David and Richard.

A slight moment as they caught me up saw me dive into the pits for the splash and dash.

It was a bit quite for a while until David closed up on the final laps. I could see that last place looming again but just managed to hold him off.

Need to work on my concentration levels as I clearly can get a fast time but keeping it going for an hour is hard work!

 

[Goldtop]

Nice racing with you fellas again last night and enjoyed battling with my racing buddies from another league.....as all three of us were off the pace of the front runners

Took the Ferrari which I don't think I've raced before and because I thought the mid engine handling might suit a tight circuit like Laguna....not my favourite track with the corkscrew being a lottery every lap with my FOV.

I went with stock setup except for gear ratios and tyre pressures and medium tyres for a splash/dash pitstop. I think my ratios were a bit short because the Ferrari seemed to be losing power at the top of its rev range, which seems strange for a Ferrari All went to plan chosing to pit just as I was catching the GT4 cars so as to not lose time and for once my pitcrew got me in and out with minimum fuss. Tyres held up pretty well until the last quarter but then started to hurt my laptimes quite badly towards the end.

Race was pretty uneventful until the closing laps when different strategies started to play out, together with lapping GT4 cars which all got pretty exciting......the reason I love these multiclass races. Almost managed to grab 4th but didn't have the pace to hold off Jari in the end.

Congrats to pody and well done to all for some nice racing

I'm in a championship at my other league next week and alternate weeks but I'll try to make as many of these multiclass races as I can

 

[Kek700]

@Goldtop
I hope you do not mind me saying, really need to ask brian, but the Ferrari rev limit is about 6000rpm, reving it to its limit is very counterproductive.
It is one reason I do not like this car, the engine feels dead, but it is far from that. I much prefer the GT2 variant.

 

[Goldtop]

You're right Ernie, I eventually realised but by then my tyres were suffering. I remember racing the GT2 in another championship last year and it being similar, just didn't remember in time. Still seems odd for a Ferrari

 

[Interslice]

@Goldtop
I hope you do not mind me saying, really need to ask brian, but the Ferrari rev limit is about 6000rpm, reving it to its limit is very counterproductive.
It is one reason I do not like this car, the engine feels dead, but it is far from that. I much prefer the GT2 variant.

Ye @Goldtop the engine is restricted electronically, which makes it a bit odd. Using the sidekick app and setting up the optimal shift lights is the way go. It's roughly 6600 rpm alright or when the shift lights on the dash turn red. Ball parks, my top speed in 6th was 270-280 in theory but I was only hitting 230 at the end of the main straight.

The corkscrew I found it easier the closer i was to tracks limits. See @thom462 pics. There is a weird shape to the middle of the road that will spin you around so the traditional middle of the road chicane approach will get you jn trouble. One of those that if you are in the 488 and it goes it's gone. That's the thing with her, you need to know in advance all the ways that the track will spin you around so you can avoid them! Then there is always the new ones you find in the race when you go off the racing line for an overtake or a slight mistake. The McLaren is a much simpler MR engined option from this pov.

 

[Goldtop]

Yes Brian, the corkscrew caught me out exactly like that on my outlap in quali and again towards the end of the race, which in the end cost me 4th place. I've raced the 330 P4 and the DP Corvette at Laguna recently and not been caught out by that.....one for the memory banks

 

[Interslice]

Ginetta fans, FYI

Since the last championship was good fun we'll go again.

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/ginetta-gt4-championship-registration.220344/

We'll be at sebring next sunday with the usual multiclass. I'll get that setup tomorrow and wednesday. Hope to see you all there.