AC GT3 @ Monza - Sunday 12th September 2021

[RasmusP]

I came into the pits about 20cm too far

Also I got to enjoy Godzilla's wet-dream (I had to lift... "Bart, do you want me to push you?")

 

[Kek700]

Another terrible start, did my absolute best to keep out of trouble, I was buggered really,
stuck in a car funnel with no alternatives, totally innocent, bang away I went only to be hit by every man and his dog. did not even have the good fortune of being punted straight.

It is getting so that I am not practising anymore, it all seems pointless, I cannot start at the front, going to get punted, start at the back and it is now impossible to make any headway, having said that if I wanted it or not in this race I was going to start from the back.

That aside I had a great race, no spins, some hairy moments, got constantly clobbered by backmarkers. it is getting as if the fat controller has it in for me.
Every time I got in striking distance of Rasmus, I ended losing 1,2 or 3 seconds, off I would go again, along comes another backmarker. it got a bit monotonous in the end.

 

[adie_the_badie]

Great race! Congrats to the podiums! As always thanks @Interslice for organizing.

Made it through the inevitable Monza T1 carnage and was able to make up quite a few positions. Alas, Lesmo 2 decided to enter the race and let me take a nose-dive into the barriers. The rest of my first stint was just holding out against @Marko77 on the hunt behind me. I knew my pace was not enough to catch @hape but, damn it, I tried.

The second stint was much like the first including a couple of trips into Lesmo 2's warm embrace. Managed to hold onto p15 for the rest of the race. Overall a pleasant race at one of my favorite tracks with a great group of drivers.

Apologies to a new face (sorry I don't remember your name) I was crowding you during quali and you disconnected...I hope I didn't cause this. This was not my intent but I shouldn't have done what I did...I've had the role switched on me and it really sucks. Again, sorry about that. I hope to see you next Sunday.

My move on Steve through T-1

 

[gearwhine]

Yeah, i screwed up coming out of parabolica, lost a lot of speed and then it was all over for me trying to hold Logan off down the straight. Good pass by the way. A good race for me, spun once and made the wrong tyre choice but loved every bit of it. Thanks to everyone who raced and it was a pleasure to of been beaten by 15 of you

 

[Interslice]

Thanks for a good race folks! Really happy with P2 as there was alot of fast gtrs and lambo's out there.
...I could feel a possible upset on the cards all week, that if the aliens had a bad day and I had a really good one I could possibly do a number on them.. Bad day as in they would all take each out in turn 1 and give me a big head start!

@pattikins let his clutch slip or selected first? and teleported to pit. One down but there went my bottas But seriously it was a pity, I always look forward to seeing the SCG motoring.

A strange turn 1 incident followed after I missed the braking point by a big bit... Not that I had one planned but I was way too late on the anchors regardless. Aborted and went straight through the sausages. Had to give @demetri his position back but he had unfortunately got wide into T1 and in a tangle with the rest of the cars behind. My lambo whistling past might have distracted him, not sure.

Had to give him the position back but he was now in P3... It didn't really effect the outcome and it all had returned to as it was at the start of lap 2.

T1 was the only opportunity really! He was on the ball for the rest of the race. I knew early on with the gt-r it would probably need a big moment with a back marker to make it spin, and even then they are fairly robust!

Contrats to @demetri for the win and @random2k4 for a podium on return.

Hope everyone else enjoyed it. See you next week

 

[demetri]

First of all, thanks to Brian for organizing this race. We had all 26 spots booked, though not everybody showed up.

After snatching the pole from Patrick by less than a tenth, I was hoping for a good start and then keeping him behind, but it looks like he moved too soon and got teleported back to the pits. I had an OK start for the Nissan, but coming into T1 saw a Lambo torpedo missing the braking point and aiming at where I would've been, so I delayed my turn-in as much as I could to let it fly past me. That resulted in a less than ideal line and a big loss of the cornering speed, so on exit from the chicane Ernie managed to get slightly ahead, but he took a bit tighter line than I think he should've given the unusual circumstances and clipped my front right corner which spun him right away. So sorry mate, I could not turn any tighter in this boat, but I blame all this on the torpedo attack.

Anyway, after all that, I found myself in P3, but with the Lambo and a Z4 which also cut the T1 (smart move, I probably should've done the same seeing what was about to unravel) both slowing down to return the position, I got back in the lead before the end of the first lap. I then managed to keep Brian behind before he had to pit and that made the job pretty easy as I now had essentially a 20 seconds handicap against him with my splash-and-dash strategy. I delayed my stop as much as I could trying to have fewer backmarkers to pass again after it, but ultimately went in with about 2 minutes left in the window. Pit crew did a terrific 1 liter refuel job and off I was still in P1 with a comfortable 15 seconds gap. Brian managed to cut it down to less than 9 by the end, but that was it. My left rear tire got worn out to 0 with maybe two laps left, but the car still felt good enough to pump out 1:49.x laps and not kill me in the process. That's the GT-R way!

 

[adie_the_badie]

Yeah, i screwed up coming out of parabolica, lost a lot of speed and then it was all over for me trying to hold Logan off down the straight. Good pass by the way. A good race for me, spun once and made the wrong tyre choice but loved every bit of it. Thanks to everyone who raced and it was a pleasure to of been beaten by 15 of you

Thanks! That was a great run down to T-1. I wasn’t sure who’d brake first but I channeled my inner Honey Badger and took the risk. Hope to see you next week!

 

[Interslice]

First of all, thanks to Brian for organizing this race. We had all 26 spots booked, though not everybody showed up.

After snatching the pole from Patrick by less than a tenth, I was hoping for a good start and then keeping him behind, but it looks like he moved too soon and got teleported back to the pits. I had an OK start for the Nissan, but coming into T1 saw a Lambo torpedo missing the braking point and aiming at where I would've been, so I delayed my turn-in as much as I could to let it fly past me. That resulted in a less than ideal line and a big loss of the cornering speed, so on exit from the chicane Ernie managed to get slightly ahead, but he took a bit tighter line than I think he should've given the unusual circumstances and clipped my front right corner which spun him right away. So sorry mate, I could not turn any tighter in this boat, but I blame all this on the torpedo attack.

Anyway, after all that, I found myself in P3, but with the Lambo and a Z4 which also cut the T1 (smart move, I probably should've done the same seeing what was about to unravel) both slowing down to return the position, I got back in the lead before the end of the first lap. I then managed to keep Brian behind before he had to pit and that made the job pretty easy as I now had essentially a 20 seconds handicap against him with my splash-and-dash strategy. I delayed my stop as much as I could trying to have fewer backmarkers to pass again after it, but ultimately went in with about 2 minutes left in the window. Pit crew did a terrific 1 liter refuel job and off I was still in P1 with a comfortable 15 seconds gap. Brian managed to cut it down to less than 9 by the end, but that was it. My left rear tire got worn out to 0 with maybe two laps left, but the car still felt good enough to pump out 1:49.x laps and not kill me in the process. That's the GT-R way!

Sorry for torpedo! My brain wasn't fully dialled into the sim racing world at that point! An outlap and hotlap just isn't enough I confused the 100 and 150 so braked at 75 instead of a nice safe 125 Moved over to defend against ernie's charge so wasn't really watching the marker boards all the way down.

 

[beginer]

What I was, not very well trying to say, the car is not that important, certain cars are much better for starting out, the Z4 is a good example. ( but it really does not matter )

Not to look for some sort of miracle answer , it really is massively in the favor of your driving skills, not in the car, not in setup, it is in you. North is always looking in the wrong direction.

Put you efforts into getting yourself correct instead wasting efforts of looking everywhere but at your ability to make whatever GT3 car you choose to go as quickly as you can. South.

I picked the Nissan, easy to drive, got one setup, kept it for a couple of years, concentrated on learning how to drive fast. Only looking South.

Observing everybody , everyone does something very well, I learnt from Aliens , people same as me , faster, slower, everyone helps you if you look or ask.

I seem to be under the strange illusion that I do quite well for an Arthritic old git, never been anywhere as fast as most, I do mean most, I generally did not waste effort in looking North, just totally concentrated on getting a 100% from my, at best, mediocre abilities. South

As I said before if you get a 100% from yourself, then that is every bit an equal of a champion.

Probably another bad attempt on explaining how to get competitive at this malarkey.

I was going to delete that post as I thought as it was rather a spur of the moment , not very well thought out Pointless waffle.
Looks though I was right.

Im glad you didnt delete the post, and thank you for clarifying.
i like that you drove the nissan for a few years before switching it up. The last two races i selected different cars and things went poorly. While it was fun to take a break from the Nissan and play with a few mid engine cars, its obvious that im the most in-synch with Godzilla.
You, @JamKart22 , and like, EVERYONE else have advised the same thing: stick with one car. Thats exactly ywhat im gonna do.

Side note, thank you for helping me with a basic setup! The car now stays in control much better then it did before and the mid corner understeer is greatly reduced.

 

[beginer]

In real life you wouldn't just jump into a GT3 as a starter car. These are very fast difficult machines and drivers take years to work up to a car of this complexity.

I have more success being on the pace in the Wednesday multi class races because the TT car is less difficult to drive and I can focus on learning track and not worry so much about setup.

I stick with the GT-R for the GT3 races as it seems a bit more forgiving and predictable. It's probably not the best for all tracks but it does mean I don't have to try and learn a new car. I've far from learnt the GT-R but I can at least start to try a few more setup options.

As a fellow newbie I'd suggest you stick with one car and try and get the best out of that and work on a consistent lap time.

Looking like a good sized grid today so we should all find someone to race with. At the end of the day we all love a good wheel to wheel dice with someone close to our own pace

Im definitely going to stick with the nissan and focus on the basics and consistent laps. I wish i could join in the wednsday racing but, sadly, its in the middle of a work day.
Idid , however, join the vintage 60s series. The car is slow and slippery ( especially compared to a gt3). Ive already learned from driving the old car.
today i could feel the balance of the nissan more than usual. I think that helped minimize my mistakes

btw: excellent racing today! I was having a great time trying to keep up with your pace. I was really worried i was gonna smack into you in the breaking zones. But instead, i got to have fun putting the pressure on and watching for mistakes. (Which you didnt make many of). Good stuff!

 

[demetri]

My POV of this event:

 

[beginer]

Today was cool for a few reasons:

I got to hear your voices for the first time.
(Finally figured out discord)

I got to spend a lot of time battling with some excellent racers @JamKart22 and @Shed 17, two people usually outside my league. That was really fun, guys! I can only describe the experience as nerve-racking, but in a good way.

Today was also cool because monza was the first track i raced with this group. (~7 months ago). Im sure for the drivers around me it was nerve-racking, but in a bad way!

Before getting into sim racing I had never been a racing fan. Never watched it and had NO idea what most of the rules were. I remember hearing "blue flag" over and over and had no clue wtf that meant. All i knew was some one was trying to pass me on one of the straits (blue flag) and kept flashing their lights in my mirror. I thought they were just trying to race me, so i drove as hard as i could! I was so proud that i didnt let him pass me, only to find out that i was being a d%ck! Poor @Chris Down had to give me a little talking to after the race.

...but jimmy broadbent made it look so easy! You lied, jimmy! Back to the shed with you!

I've had my sim rig for just over a year now and i couldnt be happier. I dont buy a lot of things and tend to research endlessly before a big purchase. I watched endless equipment reviews (barry rowland is awesome!) and slowly saved money in a mason jar. I researched sim equipment for well over a year before diving in.

...i researched what kind of computer to buy to run a sim with VR. I had never owned a gaming computer before and had no idea what a graphics card was and which one was fast enough. Again, many weeks of research to get that sorted.

... i watched countless sim racing instructional videos and started listening to something called "the race department podcast". I had researched so much that by the time i bought my equipment i was 100% certain that i was going to love racing. I was right.

...fast forward to my first race at monza. I had learned about computers and graphics cards. I had learned about VR headsets. I had learned about force feedback wheels, pedals, shifters. I had learned what an apex was and why i should care about hitting it.

All my preparation and i still had no clue what a f%#king blue flag was!

cheers!

 

[beginer]

My POV of this event:

You are so fast and precise. Inspirational to watch, really.

 

[Shed 17]

That has to go down as one of the most action packed races I have seen, no, I not talking about the real F1 race but my own view of yet another great race here in the AC Club!

There were too many things to mention but the stand outs were Rasmus’s start (or non start) that backed up the cars behind and led to an interesting T1, avoiding spinning cars out of the second Lesmo, the battles with Colin and Hans-Peter, but mostly the race with Chis after the pit stop, fantastic sim racing!

It left me with a huge smile and thinking how brilliant this technology is that lets us compete with like minded drivers from all over the planet in such a realistic way.

Well done to the podium and thanks to Brian for organising, especially liked the drivers briefing with tips on where to brake for T1 and then watching the replay .

 

[demetri]

You are so fast and precise. Inspirational to watch, really.

Thank you, but honestly it looks much better on this video than I felt it during the race braking a bit too late into one of the chicanes and compromising the exit every other lap or so

I also realized that my Crew Chief failed me not warning about Ernie on my right and deciding to tell me about a stinking yellow flag instead. I saw him in front when it was already too late

 

[demetri]

especially liked the drivers briefing with tips on where to brake for T1 and then watching the replay .

That was golden

 

[demetri]

...but jimmy broadbent made it look so easy! You lied, jimmy! Back to the shed with you!

Jimmer is very good on camera, I'll give him that

 

[random2k4]

Interesting race for me an a prime example that consistency is key.

Monza is definitely not one of my fastest tracks and I didnt had much time to practice, so I was already in the mindset of settling in the midfield for some nice racing. Quali underlined my self estimation with a decent P10.

Then the start happened. Rasmus forgot to feed his Japanese Monster and was giving me the opportunity to turn over to the left side immediately. Also George didnt had the greatest start and I was alongside him going into T1. Seeing the first car flying into the corner, I made the quick adjustment and took the corner pretty wide, resulting in hitting the sausage curb and further move left. Lucky me! Just chaos on my right side and in the back. Was suddenly in P1 but gave the position back to Dimitry at the next straight right away. I was mentioning it over Discord, just to find out after the race that my mic was muted

On the start finish line I was going almost 3 wide into T1 with Brian and Thomas, but braked a little earlier. Back in P4, with Han directly at my bumper. I quickly realized that Thomas seemed to had some issues at Parabolica, and just a couple laps later, I was close enough to make a move out of T1 into the second chicane. Han also made his move and he was again closing in.
Unfortunately, he made a little mistake in T1 and lost a couple of seconds and I had Thomas behind me again. Just to see him in my rear mirror going wide into Lesmo 1. Next car behind was Richard. At that point I got a more or less comfortable 3 second gap. Brian and Dimitry were just to fast for me to catch up, so I settled in and activated clock work mode. Repeating lap after lap in basically the same time. Richard made a quit early pit and the gap to the next car, Rasmus, was even bigger.

Made my pit to settle back in P3, just to see Rasmus coming out of the pits 2 laps later on my right side. That bugger didnt change tires. Luckily for me I could keep him behind with a 3-4 sec gap until the end of the race.

Only a few little mistakes, once or twice going a little wide, but nothing major.
Started P10 finished P3, nothing more I could have asked for.
Also, at least from my side, kudos the blue flags. Had 0 issues overtaking, and never lost a significant amount of time,
even if the overtaking was not on a straight. Good job guys!

Had a look at the results and realized I only had the 8th fastest lap in the race. But did it matter? No!
I had not only the best consistency in the race by quite a bit, but also the best consistency in all of my races so far.

Its what I am always telling new drivers searching for ways to get fast quick. Work on consistency. I was almost half a sec off the best racing lap times of all drivers behind be, but if they spin, make a mistake and lose 10 secs, they need at least 20 perfect laps to catch up again. Some races would already be over at this point. So just cant stretch this enough, dont get in this hotlap mentality that speed and lap times are everything. Consistency is the real deal. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

See you all next week!

 

[Interslice]

especially liked the drivers briefing with tips on where to brake for T1 and then watching the replay .

Haha, every Gt3 race I learn something new!

 

[Shed 17]

Haha, every Gt3 race I learn something new!

Me too Brian, every race is a new learning experience!.