AC GT3 @ Nürburgring Nordschleife - Sunday 18th December 2022

[Shed 17]

“Gefeliciteerd” Han and family, marvellous news and just before Christmas too!

 

[johnny85ac]

Hi Brian,

I have to sign out because this little female future simracing champion was born!
View attachment 624307

Awesome! welcome sweet little champ

 

[RasmusP]

Getting my first pole ever on the Nords? Check!
Doing probably my second jump start ever? Check!

Had Hank breathing down my neck and during the full-throttle-part I thought too much about letting him through or not, since I had to take a drive-thru within the first 3 laps anyway.
Lost concentration, hit the barrier very slightly at the outside of Mutkurve and had some mild damage at the front.

It didn't really slow me down but I had some very nuanced understeer at seemingly random spots so I hit the barrier in the last corner before the straight, in the right corner before the Karussell and then had some awesome off-road action through Schwedenkreuz where I thought my race would be over, lol.

Sorry @demetri for not giving you a proper fight. I wanted to use you to get back at Brian, since you would've overtaken me anyway

But even though I had some slight offs, Brian's softs seemed to drop a bit more than my mediums so I came realllly close at the end.

Got into the slipstream for some awesome battle down the wire and got right at his rear at halfway down the straight.
I lifted a tiny bit to make the pass a little bit later on so Brian couldn't get back at me but that didn't really work and we went side by side into the little bend before the braking zone.

Since we had a big enough gap behind us, I thought there was little risk in trying to get the pass done and of course we touched....
We all love AC's collision physics so Brian almost puked due to VR and I tested the motion clarity of my monitor, lol

Luckily he could still see more or less straight and continued. Ofc I let him go in front and we finished 3rd and 4th.

Congrats to Hank for the win, Dmitry for that mega pace while shooting through the field and Brian for the podium spot!

That was some really fun evening for me! Thanks everyone for making this possible

Next time I'll hopefully think less and won't let the clutch slip

 

[H_Belane]

Great race. I can't believe I won. Ok, Rasmus had a jump start I think, and Dmitry must have done an experiment (if I look at his practice time). I'm happy anyway.
As I said at the last Mazda race: I've learned a lot since I've been in this group.

Thanks to all drivers for that.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

[johnny85ac]

Congrats to the podium and to these awesome laptimes of you guys!

For me it was a reeeeally bad race. Did not manage to finish a clean lap in qualifying and started I think 12th or so, altough I would have had the pace for 8-9th place I think.

My start was great then and also the first half lap, was on 7th place soon, but then it went south somehow. pushed to hard and spun a first time. pushed harder and crashed. pushed even harder and spun again. didn't get better when I tried to calm down to be honest, so I spun multiple times again .
In the end a got some positions back because I did not have to fuel up and did 2-3 clean laps then. Altough I knew the track already it was my first race here and I did a new personal best. thats the good thing I can take away.
It's such a demanding track, was a really tough race.

Thanks for organizing another great evening, Brian! See you on track soon!

 

[RasmusP]

Congrats to the podium and to these awesome laptimes of you guys!

For me it was a reeeeally bad race. Did not manage to finish a clean lap in qualifying and started I think 12th or so, altough I would have had the pace for 8-9th place I think.

My start was great then and also the first half lap, was on 7th place soon, but then it went south somehow. pushed to hard and spun a first time. pushed harder and crashed. pushed even harder and spun again. didn't get better when I tried to calm down to be honest, so I spun multiple times again .
In the end a got some positions back because I did not have to fuel up and did 2-3 clean laps then. Altough I knew the track already it was my first race here and I did a new personal best. thats the good thing I can take away.
It's such a demanding track, was a really tough race.

Thanks for organizing another great evening, Brian! See you on track soon!

The first few times, racing the Nordschleife isn't about the position. It's about bringen the car home at the finish line!
And you achieved that!

 

[RasmusP]

Beautiful shot, sadly Brian didn't want to turn in.....

Here's the video of the final battle:

 

[Boukâh]

Wow, this past week (kinda) was quite an experience: made my maiden laps at the Nordschleife! Heard a few things about it, never been there irl or sim wise.

What I’ve learned? How to fold a 911, how to ehm… redo the styling of two or three BMW’s and finally I stayed true to crashing Nissan’s at all barriers I could possibly find at the Nordschleife! How frustrating it is to learn this track! I only managed to do a handful of laps not scoring red numbers. I even managed to get a legal 08:3x (not shure about the value of x, have to check). That’s how I entered tonight sessions.

You guys are fast! And way more steady at this track (most tracks probably).

Managed to get 1 clean lap in qualifying, kinda proud of that!

Made a burnout at the start, but that’s better than my jump start at TT Assen last week. Made sure not to get in the way, so let everybody pass as clean as possible, I hope. Here to learn, learned a lot!

It’s a great track to drive, and when one manages to keep the car on the track, it feels great. Used ffb-settings Rasmuss posted somewhere out there and that felt way better than my old settings!

Despite of the fact of not being in your guys’ league, I really enjoyed this one.

Thanks Brian!

Now, off to the stewards of the meeting to discuss all my track limits!

 

[t6mek]

As an F1 guy (I'm ashamed to even admit that) until very recently I'm proud that I haven't been lapped by you guys. Looking just at cars behavioir and not even taking pace into account I now see, that making your own setup is far better idea than just downloading and tweaking some aliens TT setup . I've got much to learn and I hope that part of my learning process didn't hurt anyone of you. Hope I managed to get away from stewards when they were busy with you Bouke, because I ain't paying for all those barriers!

 

[RasmusP]

Managed to get 1 clean lap in qualifying, kinda proud of that!

And you can be! During my "warm up after almost a year not driving the Nordschleife", I only managed to do 2 clean laps out of 10 or 12!

How frustrating it is to learn this track!

Might not be of much help, but I did a guide for the Nordschleife. Basically the more links and bridges about something you get into your head, the easier it becomes to remember.
Here's the link:

Nordschleife Guide

Hey guys, since over 2 years I wanted to create a little guide for the Nordschleife but could never be bothered to actually do it. Now I copy+pasted all my posts I wrote about this track and finally created two videos about this awesome track. Here we go :) Changelog, so you know if there's...

www.racedepartment.com

Used ffb-settings Rasmuss posted somewhere out there and that felt way better than my old settings!

Oh wow haha! Thanks for the comment!

I really enjoyed this one.

That's what it's all about! The speed comes (and goes sometimes, lol), but the important thing is to enjoy the events!

 

[Kek700]

The 99% threw me, and Thomas, I think too, if it had been at a 100% then all would have still been equal, that I just do not know. I was 5 seconds off my pace. My theory is that the McLaren and BMW are all about grip, with that removed there was nothing left in the pot.
I was about 8kph down on the straights, and the McLaren even more, that I know chasing the McLaren.
But really pleased that is all over,
But a really well done to podiums and to Hank on his well deserved victory, would have been interesting if Rasmus had fought for first too. Perhaps Brian could have got some mileage out of that. But Dmitry was always going to be there or there abouts. Probably our coming together was a bonus to Hank, Dmitry certainly lost a lot of time.
Just in case I was somewhat at fault, next time I let Dmitry have an easy pass.

 

[Interslice]

The 99% threw me...

Sorry Ernie, I tried a few times this week to fix it, fixed it, but it came back. Not sure why, but the server just isn't bothering to improve the grip this week

 

[Alfred Wayne]

I think this was my first full race at this track with this group. Makes it so much better when you know the drivers around you see your car and don't want to hit it

Gained some free spots at the start, then found myself in a train with Richard in front and Ernie close behind for the whole first lap. that was great guys! After that cars started to separate, and I got Richards place, then gave it to Ernie. Then by the end, Richard, who I'm guessing didn't change tires? Beat me out of the pits, giving me something to chase till the end.

Congrats to the winners and finishers. To those newer drivers, great job sticking it out! You'll never get faster or do a clean lap if you don't try. And even once you can, you still might end up pulling a Ross Chastain Martinsville wall ride somewhere along the way. I know I did

Thanks as always for hosting Brian. See you all next race

 

[Interslice]

https://simresults.net/221219-2dp

Sim results are up!

That was intense! Qualy went ok. Luckily brought 3 laps of fuel, as i went off in the Schumacher S and had a second outlap of shame to complete

Bad launch at the lights had, I think it was, thomas in front before he got hit by a missile from the back! Sorry to Richard for the little door bang. The exit of the t1 chicane was giving me front bounce understeer all week. Somehow held onto P3. Could have been p5 or 6.

@H_Belane and @RasmusP were a few seconds faster in qualy and the same in the race.
Your pace is your pace here, pushing harder just makes bad things happen. Had lost the slip stream early so just tried to forget about others as best i could..
I was half keeping up hoping they would slow each other, but also thinking they had really good pace for medium tyres. Hank was on softs too maybe? Wasn't too hopefull of catching either of them. Just focused on making a safety gap/pit stop buffer to ernie and the other behind. Rasmus disappear and popped up behind. Didn't know why!

I was surprised not to loose any places at the pits. I expected a few behind to be in mediums and 1 litre strats. Held P2 somehow! Dmitri was slowly chipping away at me though. I defended for a bit but left the door open at bergwerk and he nipped through there asy enough. Don't have that corner well sorted.

Last lap, last sector rasmus somehow closed a 3 second gap. I was taking it a little easy, as back of the car was getting sketchy. The temps are at their highest there too, but still... into the second carousel he was right behind me all of a sudden.

Battle commenced down the dottinger i just stuck it down the left wing and held the slow lane! The biggest crash I've had. 295+km/hr. I didn't know where i was when the car settled. Just happy to still be on right side of the track! and not looking at pit straight and T1 of the nordschleife! Car stayed on the ground luckily


View attachment 624415

Car was pretty slidey so I tried to get a bit of an angle at the turn to try and leave space for you at the outside... Didn't work out


Thanks to all for racing. Congrats to Hank for the win and Dmitri for P2.

There have been some great nights racing this year. This is right up there for me. Some super racing and battles! Everyone keeps pushing and improving too which makes each week really interesting. Never know who's going to have the pace each week!

Going to take 2 slightly forced sundays off, just with how they fall on christmas and new years day, number would be low Back on Sunday 8th with something a bit more relaxing We should be all recovered by then!

 

[Alfred Wayne]

There have been some great nights racing this year. This is right up there for me. Some super racing and battles! Everyone keeps pushing and improving too which makes each week really interesting. Never know who's going to have the pace each week!

I've only been here for the last year, so I can't speak to previous "seasons", but I've had a blast this year, and found some pace along the way thanks in big part to the racing quality of others here and their help.

The clean driving of those here really allows you to learn and focus on how to race better and not just hotlap

Thanks for all you do Brian. Looking forward to many more wheel to wheel moments in the future with you all. Happy holidays and new year everyone. See you on the otherside

 

[demetri]

https://simresults.net/221219-2dp

Sim results are up!

Ha-ha, simresults got it wrong. There was no way for me to do that practice time in the Nissan after not driving it for many months, it was in the Audi

 

[Partick Eaton]

Fun race. Had few good battles. This is the first time I felt confident at Nords.

Thanks for setting this up Brian. Congrats to the winners!

 

[eN1xes]

D: F

 

[Programmer_Rich]

Hi Brian,

I have to sign out because this little female future simracing champion was born!
View attachment 624307

She's beautiful Han, many congratulations:

 

[Programmer_Rich]

I think this was my first full race at this track with this group. Makes it so much better when you know the drivers around you see your car and don't want to hit it

Gained some free spots at the start, then found myself in a train with Richard in front and Ernie close behind for the whole first lap. that was great guys! After that cars started to separate, and I got Richards place, then gave it to Ernie. Then by the end, Richard, who I'm guessing didn't change tires? Beat me out of the pits, giving me something to chase till the end.

Congrats to the winners and finishers. To those newer drivers, great job sticking it out! You'll never get faster or do a clean lap if you don't try. And even once you can, you still might end up pulling a Ross Chastain Martinsville wall ride somewhere along the way. I know I did

Thanks as always for hosting Brian. See you all next race

Yeah great battle Robert. I'm never sure what the optimum strategy is with the McLaren but I went with one set of mediums (to I assume your two sets of softs although different cars obviously).

In hindsight I probably battled too hard with you on lap two and with a compromised line went across the grass and lost a place to Ernie (but with his pace I think that was always inevitable!).

When I came out in front of you after the pitstops I also assumed we were on a different strategy and it just became a question of whether I could nurse my fading mediums to the end, which i just about managed to! But exciting watching that gap go up and down (mostly down!).

Congrats again to the podium finishers, Brian for organising, and you all for great clean racing. See you next time.