AC GT3 @ Road Atlanta GP - Sunday 8th August 2021

[HF2000]

Guys,

I hope you enjoyed your race tonight.

This Tuesday we have a mystery event that doesn't require you to practice. Simply because it is not possible. You don't know the track and you don't know what car. Only that the car has few setup options. Everyone has basically the same car. You can't register now as the event will not be on S.GP until 15 minutes before qualifying starts.

Interested? See here for more information and time details:
https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/secret-fun-event-2-tuesday-10th-august-2021.206124/

 

[Kek700]

Race report.

Same old problem, still on the accelerator, then trying to brake, a pedal dead zone seems to be of little use to me. Eventually got to telling myself every corner to remove your insistent plate of bleeding meat from the accelerator pedal.
Really enjoyed chasing Thomas then Brian, then Rasmus, but Rasmus was a bridge too far in the end.
Great to see John back, and our Patrick was in a class of his own.
A very good race for me on a circuit I really cannot get to like at all. The stability of the Nissan was my saving grace, did think about the Hurrcan, glad I did not, off would have been a certainty.
Many thanks to @HF2000 Han for the event, really expected you to be in the mix, well-done podiums. and everyone I came across.

 

[Interslice]

I enjoyed the first 20 minutes! Got a good start and P1 for the first lap. All downhill form there Thought I managed the tyres OK. Didn't fight much with @pattikins or @RasmusP. Ernie was slowly reeling me in however, almost matching my slowing pace through the esses. I defended P3, just about successfully, the once into the chicane but I was unfortunately left having to go up the inside of 2 or 3 back markers in T1 straight away afterwards. The tyres gave way in typical ferrari fashion. A tricky situation, not sure if the backmarkers were lifting off on the racing line or commited to the corner. Looked to be in a bit of a battle themselves.

Decided to pit straight away and try for a fresh set of tyres a bit early... A bad a call in hindsighy. I came out behind another gt-r... hit the kerb on the inside of the last trying to put pressure on them and wrecked my nice new tyres spining 4 or 5 times the whole way down the straight. Ended up going way down the field as the tyres were done in the last 15. Needed to pit a second time but didn't.

Probably should have went for mediums on the ferrari or the lambo and had a solid race but decided to risk it for a biscuit and try and podium the ferrari with the red softs! Wasn't to be.

Congrats to the podium and @pattikins who made it look easy !

See you all next week.

 

[HF2000]

Race report.

Same old problem, still on the accelerator, then trying to brake, a pedal dead zone seems to be of little use to me. Eventually got to telling myself every corner to remove your insistent plate of bleeding meat from the accelerator pedal.
Really enjoyed chasing Thomas then Brian, then Rasmus, but Rasmus was a bridge too far in the end.
Great to see John back, and our Patrick was in a class of his own.
A very good race for me on a circuit I really cannot get to like at all. The stability of the Nissan was my saving grace, did think about the Hurrcan, glad I did not, off would have been a certainty.
Many thanks to @HF2000 Han for the event, really expected you to be in the mix, well-done podiums. and everyone I came across.

Ernie, credits go to Brian. He has taking over the GT3 events.

And for my race, I got hit in lap 2 in the fast right handler towards the finishline and went off, ending at position 20. I could forget a good result after that. Had some nice battles catching up and 8th was the best I could do.

Thanks everyone for racing! Congrats to the podium and thanks Brian for organizing.

@Medilloni and @Minotauro I think you both left after you lost the car on a kerb. But catching up and overtaking is also fun. So I want to ask you to stay in the race next time.

 

[Medilloni]

@Medilloni and @Minotauro I think you both left after you lost the car on a kerb. But catching up and overtaking is also fun. So I want to ask you to stay in the race next time.

You don't have to tell me about 'the fun of catching up' Han, I'm aware of that, my arthritis was bad, crash wrecked my thumbs, sorry.

 

[beginer]

That was a fun race! First, congrats to the winers and thanks to everyone for going easy on turn one and through the esses. We all avoided the turn one ckusterf#!k.

I miscalculated the amount of fuel i would need for the first half of the race and had to pit after 20 min or so. This meant i had to try and be gentle on the soft tyres for the rest of the race. Oops

At the start of the race the pack was tight. Pretty quickly things settled in a bit to a comfortable pace. I was having a good time running hard right behind @JamKart22 when i slipped a tire off the track right before going under the bridge on the last turn. Spun around pretty good and stopped sideways right in front of someone coming around the bend. The crash was unavoidable. BAM! Right in the side! So sorry to whoever that was!

Later on i had another spin right after the esseys. I got a little greedy with the gas pedal as i was coming into turn 5. Again, i managed to land right in some poor guys path. I tried to scramble out of the way, but it was too late. BAM! Sorry to whoever that was, too.

After that, it was a matter of trying to save the tyres, getting out of the way of blue flags, and gaining an occasional position as someone ahead of me made a mistake and spun.

that was a difficult and rewarding race! Its amazing how fast some of you are! Special thanks to @Interslice for hosting and @Kek700 for helping me with setup advice. See you next week for another fun time!

 

[random2k4]

Interesting race. Seeing all the fast drivers around me on a track were overtaking in a Z4 is kind of an impossible task on the straight, I thought this will be an intense race or just plain disaster

Qualified P5 with a time that was just about 3 thousands of my PB.
At the start I guess Rasmus forgot were his throttle pedal was, luckily for him and unfortunate for me, my start wasnt great as well. Steered right to avoid any contact and bring some space between us two, just finding myself back in a left and right sandwich between Ernie and Hape. Before going 3 wide into T1, I yielded back, but lost two positions.
Down to P7.

With Hape right in front of me on lap 2 we went down in T10 after the back straight. Although I already braked earlier, I still had too much speed in that corner. Banged Hapes doors a little, but I went off throttle immediately and let him get the control back of his car. As a result, I lost too much speed on the down hill right hander and to overtaken by John. While steering into the last corner I got a hit in the back making me basically drift down the corner. Luckily Paul could avoid me, but I lost too much speed so Marko also took advantageg and over took me. Down to P10.

Trying to get into a rhythm, it was obvious that overtaking would be quite challenging, so I settled back an waited for errors from the drivers in front, that I could use for my advantage. A slow T5 exit from Marko made me closing the gap and driving side by side into T6 and T7. Getting the better exit on the inside of T7 I could pull along side him. I relied on the better brakes of the Z4 into T10. Back into P9. Actually P8 as someone in front had a little moment.

Needed over 6 laps behind Paul to also capitalize on a small mistake from him. Making an attempt on the straight was just not possible, but I realized, I was carrying more speed though the Esses. Now back in P7.

Over the next couple of laps, I could close the gap to Hape. Again 0 chance to get him on the back straight. But my first sector through the Esses also seemed to be a little quicker. So I tried to relax a little managed tires and waited for an opportunity. While shadowing Hape T1 took its toll, Brian sideways on track. Now P6.
After about 10 laps following Hape, I could capitalize on a bad exit out of the Esses on his side. Now back to the start point on the grid, P5.

I could manage to keep in front of Hape after my pit, although I almost spun at the entry. Maybe should practice that the next time

Comming out of the Pits, Hape was closely behind me and Thomas more or less too far in front to catch. But then also the Esses wanted to get paid. Thomas slow on the side of the track. Was a pitty would rather have had a nice battle for P4.

Now in P4 I just tried to manage my tires and keep my pace.

Blue flags were something of a hit and miss on this track. Most were not a problem at all, if happend on the straight. When following backmarkers into the Esses thing could get hairy. At some point I got Tajinder in front of me out of the Esses. Wanted to overtake on the outside, but unfortunately he spun right in front of me making me touch his rear end.
Really sorry Tajinder, I just coulndt avoid you at all. Also Colin, I dont get why you blocked me at the end of the Esses, and didnt let me pass either on the straight nor the start/finish straight and basically slowed me down for more then 1 1/2 laps?
Fortunate, I had enough space between me and Hape behind. I tried to tell you that over Discord, just realizing after the race your sound and mic were muted.

After all finished P4 on a track that I dont really like. So lets see what the next week will bring to the table.

 

[beginer]

Interesting race. Seeing all the fast drivers around me on a track were overtaking in a Z4 is kind of an impossible task on the straight, I thought this will be an intense race or just plain disaster

Qualified P5 with a time that was just about 3 thousands of my PB.
At the start I guess Rasmus forgot were his throttle pedal was, luckily for him and unfortunate for me, my start wasnt great as well. Steered right to avoid any contact and bring some space between us two, just finding myself back in a left and right sandwich between Ernie and Hape. Before going 3 wide into T1, I yielded back, but lost two positions.
Down to P7.

With Hape right in front of me on lap 2 we went down in T10 after the back straight. Although I already braked earlier, I still had too much speed in that corner. Banged Hapes doors a little, but I went off throttle immediately and let him get the control back of his car. As a result, I lost too much speed on the down hill right hander and to overtaken by John. While steering into the last corner I got a hit in the back making me basically drift down the corner. Luckily Paul could avoid me, but I lost too much speed so Marko also took advantageg and over took me. Down to P10.

Trying to get into a rhythm, it was obvious that overtaking would be quite challenging, so I settled back an waited for errors from the drivers in front, that I could use for my advantage. A slow T5 exit from Marko made me closing the gap and driving side by side into T6 and T7. Getting the better exit on the inside of T7 I could pull along side him. I relied on the better brakes of the Z4 into T10. Back into P9. Actually P8 as someone in front had a little moment.

Needed over 6 laps behind Paul to also capitalize on a small mistake from him. Making an attempt on the straight was just not possible, but I realized, I was carrying more speed though the Esses. Now back in P7.

Over the next couple of laps, I could close the gap to Hape. Again 0 chance to get him on the back straight. But my first sector through the Esses also seemed to be a little quicker. So I tried to relax a little managed tires and waited for an opportunity. While shadowing Hape T1 took its toll, Brian sideways on track. Now P6.
After about 10 laps following Hape, I could capitalize on a bad exit out of the Esses on his side. Now back to the start point on the grid, P5.

I could manage to keep in front of Hape after my pit, although I almost spun at the entry. Maybe should practice that the next time

Comming out of the Pits, Hape was closely behind me and Thomas more or less too far in front to catch. But then also the Esses wanted to get paid. Thomas slow on the side of the track. Was a pitty would rather have had a nice battle for P4.

Now in P4 I just tried to manage my tires and keep my pace.

Blue flags were something of a hit and miss on this track. Most were not a problem at all, if happend on the straight. When following backmarkers into the Esses thing could get hairy. At some point I got Tajinder in front of me out of the Esses. Wanted to overtake on the outside, but unfortunately he spun right in front of me making me touch his rear end.
Really sorry Tajinder, I just coulndt avoid you at all. Also Colin, I dont get why you blocked me at the end of the Esses, and didnt let me pass either on the straight nor the start/finish straight and basically slowed me down for more then 1 1/2 laps?
Fortunate, I had enough space between me and Hape behind. I tried to tell you that over Discord, just realizing after the race your sound and mic were muted.

After all finished P4 on a track that I dont really like. So lets see what the next week will bring to the table.

I love the play by play of your race. Its like being a passenger in your car, zipping through the track. I especially like how you plan each overtake. You look for opportunity or patterns in someones driving and then make your move. Im going to try to think more strategically in overtaking.
Now to get consistent enough follow someone closely without tapping them.

 

[random2k4]

I love the play by play of your race. Its like being a passenger in your car, zipping through the track. I especially like how you plan each overtake. You look for opportunity or patterns in someones driving and then make your move. Im going to try to think more strategically in overtaking.
Now to get consistent enough follow someone closely without tapping them.

Thanks! I just want to always give a little insight from my perspective right after the race.

I am still learning how to make proper overtakes and drive side by side with others. More then once, I also learned the hard way by others following me closely, just waiting for me to make a minor mistake or tires to wore out, to get an easy overtaking opportunity. Also, dont underestimate the pressure factor, leading into making mistakes. You just have to make less mistakes than the driver you follow

For some tracks you can make more aggressive attempts in overtaking, but I felt that especially this one was very hard to get by. Most of the drivers in front of me had nearly the same pace and starting to battle early in the race would just have lead into loosing time on both ends.

 

[JamKart22]

Interesting race. Seeing all the fast drivers around me on a track were overtaking in a Z4 is kind of an impossible task on the straight, I thought this will be an intense race or just plain disaster

Qualified P5 with a time that was just about 3 thousands of my PB.
At the start I guess Rasmus forgot were his throttle pedal was, luckily for him and unfortunate for me, my start wasnt great as well. Steered right to avoid any contact and bring some space between us two, just finding myself back in a left and right sandwich between Ernie and Hape. Before going 3 wide into T1, I yielded back, but lost two positions.
Down to P7.

With Hape right in front of me on lap 2 we went down in T10 after the back straight. Although I already braked earlier, I still had too much speed in that corner. Banged Hapes doors a little, but I went off throttle immediately and let him get the control back of his car. As a result, I lost too much speed on the down hill right hander and to overtaken by John. While steering into the last corner I got a hit in the back making me basically drift down the corner. Luckily Paul could avoid me, but I lost too much speed so Marko also took advantageg and over took me. Down to P10.

Trying to get into a rhythm, it was obvious that overtaking would be quite challenging, so I settled back an waited for errors from the drivers in front, that I could use for my advantage. A slow T5 exit from Marko made me closing the gap and driving side by side into T6 and T7. Getting the better exit on the inside of T7 I could pull along side him. I relied on the better brakes of the Z4 into T10. Back into P9. Actually P8 as someone in front had a little moment.

Needed over 6 laps behind Paul to also capitalize on a small mistake from him. Making an attempt on the straight was just not possible, but I realized, I was carrying more speed though the Esses. Now back in P7.

Over the next couple of laps, I could close the gap to Hape. Again 0 chance to get him on the back straight. But my first sector through the Esses also seemed to be a little quicker. So I tried to relax a little managed tires and waited for an opportunity. While shadowing Hape T1 took its toll, Brian sideways on track. Now P6.
After about 10 laps following Hape, I could capitalize on a bad exit out of the Esses on his side. Now back to the start point on the grid, P5.

I could manage to keep in front of Hape after my pit, although I almost spun at the entry. Maybe should practice that the next time

Comming out of the Pits, Hape was closely behind me and Thomas more or less too far in front to catch. But then also the Esses wanted to get paid. Thomas slow on the side of the track. Was a pitty would rather have had a nice battle for P4.

Now in P4 I just tried to manage my tires and keep my pace.

Blue flags were something of a hit and miss on this track. Most were not a problem at all, if happend on the straight. When following backmarkers into the Esses thing could get hairy. At some point I got Tajinder in front of me out of the Esses. Wanted to overtake on the outside, but unfortunately he spun right in front of me making me touch his rear end.
Really sorry Tajinder, I just coulndt avoid you at all. Also Colin, I dont get why you blocked me at the end of the Esses, and didnt let me pass either on the straight nor the start/finish straight and basically slowed me down for more then 1 1/2 laps?
Fortunate, I had enough space between me and Hape behind. I tried to tell you that over Discord, just realizing after the race your sound and mic were muted.

After all finished P4 on a track that I dont really like. So lets see what the next week will bring to the table.

Apologies for the blue flag incident. I saw you behind me but you seemed some way back so I was waiting for you to get closer. I don't have discord on during the race so I didn't hear you request to be let by sooner. I'll look at having it on in the race in the future. Glad it didn't affect your race.

I'm normally very respectfully of the blue flag and in fact got out the way straight away as I saw Hape and Ramus racing behind me.

 

[HF2000]

@Medilloni and @Minotauro I think you both left after you lost the car on a kerb. But catching up and overtaking is also fun. So I want to ask you to stay in the race next time.

You don't have to tell me about 'the fun of catching up' Han, I'm aware of that, my arthritis was bad, crash wrecked my thumbs, sorry.

I'm sorry to hear that, John. Sorry I thought it was because you were disappointed.

I have to say I was very impressed with your speed after not racing with us for so long . And that in the 488, while you were always a McLaren driver, wasn't it?

 

[Shed 17]

A tenth of a second off my PB in qualifying had me starting in P9 and looking forward to some mid-field battles. I lit up the rear tyres off the start and Han got by into T1 but settled in for the first stint.

A big incident on the last downhill sweep between Stefan and Han and I was up to P7. The race set up was not as good as the practice and I struggled to get consistent laps in and soon had Stefan all over my rear bumper. The GTR was always going to be strong on the straights but Stefan and the Z4 were nimble on the turns and while I bumped of every kerb and managed to kept him at bay for five or six laps, he eventually went through at T5 when I went wide and clipped the wall.

No dramas at the pit stop, and back into the race for seventh but I had a spin at the last chicane when, and this might sound like the lamest driver excuse ever, a huge moth got into the room and took a liking to my face and landed on my glasses!! Marko went through, but the big surprise was to see Han right in my mirror as I rejoined. Where did he come from? A couple frantic drag races down the long straight and a touch into the T10 chicane saw us both go lawn mowing but three laps later Han got the job done again at that last chicane as I tried to brake later but went off.....again!

So I finished where I started, happy to have survived amongst some very quick company. Learnings from this one; tyre management ( need to manage them better!) race set up on heavy fuel loads and keep the windows shut to avoid insect distractions!

Thanks to all the back markers for your courtesy when I was coming through, well done to Patrick and the podium guys and thanks Han for organising and for the entertainment down that back straight. You must have been the driver of the day with that drive from 20 to 8th!

 

[HF2000]

a huge moth got into the room and took a liking to my face and landed on my glasses!!

Wahahahahaha......

 

[Shed 17]

Wahahahahaha......

It absolutely true!!! Makes a change from F1 drivers complaint about tyres going off a cliff!

 

[Medilloni]

I'm sorry to hear that, John. Sorry I thought it was because you were disappointed.

I have to say I was very impressed with your speed after not racing with us for so long . And that in the 488, while you were always a McLaren driver, wasn't it?

Oops, I just read my reply from last night Han, I didn't mean to sound so rude, my sincere apologies for that! ....caught the knuckle of my thumb in the wheel as I spun, and with arthritis the pain was..... multiple-swear-word-inducing I stayed in the pits so I could watch the race, there were some great battles going on

I got into using the 488 in some GT3 races where the 650S was given BoP, I enjoyed learning how to get some speed out of it, but I don't enjoy it as much as much as the Macca. I lost all my setups for the Macca when my pc crashed some months ago, but will definitely try it again soon.

 

[The Almighty Snark]

This was a fun race!

Qualified last which was fine with me, I knew I could go a bit faster but I figured it would be a nice practice to slowly work my way up front and go for a steady race!

So in lap 2 there was a major crash and I ended up P10... I managed to stick to that for a few laps until I made errors(I don't deal with pressure very well yet...). I spun out and well, that was it. Then I had to pit for fuel even though I was positive I had selected the right amount, so also swapped the tires. Turns out that the added fuel also wasn't enough so had to do a second stop later on.

was having a good time running hard right behind @JamKart22 when i slipped a tire off the track right before going under the bridge on the last turn.

I was right behind you at that point, slowly catching up! I was hopeing to make a move at the esses... Alas!

Anyway, it was a good race, thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[RasmusP]

Doing some quoting, nicely filling my race report haha

I had 3 setups to choose from.. The one I raced with the last time here at Road Atlanta, which was proven to be quite good but not that sophisticated.
One I built together with someone who knows a lot about aerodynamics. Very fast setup but it can snap on you..
And one that I put together from the first 2 setups and some work with Ernie. Felt good but I had a massive wipe out with it in qualy after setting my time.

In the end I adjusted the 3rd one a little bit, lowered the suspension travel from 75mm to 35mm to keep the floor from bottoming out over the snake kerbs.
And hoped for the best. No risk, no fun

I really had to pee but due to the experimenting I barely had time. I'm in an office chair on wheels, which I stop from rolling back with some folded papers behind the 3 rear wheels.

I put 2 papers behind the wheels and then hit "race" at 11s to go. At 9s, you start from the pits!!!
Then put in the last folded paper, pressed the clutch, reved up, put in 1st gear and the lights went off

Yeah...:

At the start I guess Rasmus forgot were his throttle pedal was, luckily for him and unfortunate for me, my start wasnt great as well. Steered right to avoid any contact and bring some space between us two, just finding myself back in a left and right sandwich between Ernie and Hape. Before going 3 wide into T1, I yielded back, but lost two positions.

I didn't have the best start haha! I was very happy about your move to the right, blocking the others from overtaking me
Only Thomas slipped past but his McLaren was easy prey on the straight. I had the wing set to 3 so Godzilla simply flew by.

Got a good start and P1 for the first lap. All downhill form there Thought I managed the tyres OK. Didn't fight much with @pattikins or @RasmusP

Patrick and Brian battled at the front, Thomas and the rest dropped back sector after sector by a tiny bit.
I tried to catch up with the two and the front and due to the battle going on, I managed to get close. Patrick re-took Brian and from there the Nissan powered past with the help of some slipstream

Then I thought my gf was coming into my room, turned my head around on the long straight and missed the braking point
Some little offroad moment later, Brian was in my mirrors again and got closer and closer.. Definitively more pace at this moment and I was expecting a fierce battle in some laps.

Sadly he dropped off completely, I didn't see what had happened. I only saw Ernie getting closer and closer from that moment onwards...

Really enjoyed chasing Thomas then Brian, then Rasmus, but Rasmus was a bridge too far in the end.
Great to see John back, and our Patrick was in a class of his own.

Ernie got up to within 2s and when I thought the battle would start due to a little mistake, he dropped back about 5-6s.

Time for pitting...

I almost spun at the entry. Maybe should practice that the next time

Same mate haha. I went into the pits quite carefully as I didn't want to risk anything. Came out of the pits with Ernie 2.5s behind me again.
The pressure was real...

Blue flags were something of a hit and miss on this track. Most were not a problem at all, if happend on the straight. When following backmarkers into the Esses thing could get hairy.

I luckily didn't have problems at all. I had to remember: "While you can't push blue flaggers that don't let you past actively off the road, you can race them like any other opponent within the normal rules of racing".
I did some intense overtakes

Ernie got caught up again I think. He dropped back to 6s and then started to crawl up to my rear again... That was really intense throughout the last 10 minutes!

Managed to come home in P2. Best result ever in the RD clubs apart from the one premiere win in ACC while it was in early access.
After my first podium in years just recently at the Nordschleife, which is my strongest track.

Super happy and Road Atlanta definitely has a special place in my heart! Already really liked it as a kid in Sports Car GT but never drove there until the AC clubracing used it!
The not-blue kerbs still irritate me though!

Almost the same layout:

I'm normally very respectfully of the blue flag and in fact got out the way straight away as I saw Hape and Ramus racing behind me.

I don't think it was Hape, but yep. I'm always looking forward to see you on track no matter if battling, blue flags or whatever

 

[RasmusP]

Oh, results!

Result 210808-1Vs - road_atlanta2018-grandprix - Unknown or offline - Assetto Corsa - Simresults

Result 210808-1Vs - road_atlanta2018-grandprix - Unknown or offline - Assetto Corsa - Simresults - The results viewer for your favorite race sims.

simresults.net

Look at the "Race gaps"! You can see how Ernie pressured me 3x during the race!

And damn Ernie.. You're talking about your pedal inputs being a bit messy but look at this:

P3 with THAT consistency and probably P2 if the race would've been 10-15 minutes longer tells a different story.

 

[Kek700]

Those pesky GTR’s, when a Nissan driver blue flag obviously pulled over for me, I really struggled to even get along side. ( luckily there were no Lamborghini’s to worry about )
I was waiting for a mistake, especially as in the latter stages, you had a lot of blue flags to deal with. Unfortunately I then had the same problem.
But the problem still existed of trying to over take on the back straight.
It just was not going to happen, I had sort of resigned my self to my final place, but with my fingers crossed.
Really enjoyed the fruitless struggle though, made the race time go very quickly for me.
We need Chris back, Patrick was in his own class, when they are battling there is always a chance of a off.
But in this race first was certainly out of the question. Come to think of it an off for both of them, first was still not going to happen.

 

[HF2000]

We need Chris back, Patrick was in his own class,

Or Dmitry Oss or Henri Sinik or Enzo Fazzi or Joel Kuismin or Aki Bjorksten. What happened to those aliens? If they all came back, they could have a blast battling each other. And for us humans would a top ten result feel like a victory!

Also; wrong thread, Ernie !