AC Mazda MX5 Cup @ Road America, Wednesday 31th March 2021

[Goblin616]

I signed up, but may be late starting. I'll be in a programme until 2:30 or later. I hope to make it.

 

[Morne Du Plooy]

I'm joining!!

 

[stribbeck]

What a race that was intense, does anyone have a saved file of the reply?
Thanks for organising and all the hard clean battles on track

 

[Shed 17]

If you don't mind seeing a DNF in your stats, you can register anyhow. We don't sanction no showing up yet as long as you don't prevent others to join.

Thanks to every one for the good clean side by side racing tonight, really enjoyed the racing, well done Ernie and thanks to Han for setting it up.

 

[edo22]

Good race, i had some nice battles while slowly going to the back of the grid

 

[adie_the_badie]

Yowza! That was a great race!

Managed to reclaim my quali position after a bump in T1 and kept it clean throughout. Thanks for the great racing @Morne Du Plooy , @edo22 , and @Gary Blumhagen

Congrats @HF2000 for the maiden pole in quali and thanks for hosting such quality events. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[HF2000]

Great race! Thanks everyone for joining!
Congrats to @Kek700 and @Fiberoptix for 1 and 2!

Thomas, I watched the replay and I consider it my fault. Although there was still room left for you on the outside, you were about 1m in front of me and thus I should have lifted. I'm very sorry that I took the opportunity for the win away from you.

Everybody: I'm going to try something new next Wednesday which, I think, can be even more fun especially with a full grid. So I would really appreciate it if you will join again to help to try it out.

 

[Fiberoptix]

Great race. Fluffed my start completely too much wheelspin and lost 4 places before T1. Great racing with @stribbeck , Paul and Thomas. Congratulations on the win @Kek700, I could just about match your pace but not gain any time on you once I got into 2nd. @HF2000 you were reeling me in slowly but surely. Would have got interesting with an extra few laps. Thanks for organising, look forward to next week's surprise event.

 

[davejevons]

Thanks @HF2000 for organising and congrats on your pole!

I was super chuffed with a qualifying position of 11th. Unfortunately, I got taken out at T1 sending me back to 16th but then made several unforced errors later on meaning I went round in last place (17th) for most of the race. I'm glad I persevered though as I ended up 13th just by keeping going!

I've had quite a few hit from behind in the first few corners recently so I'm inclined to think I might be being overly cautious braking into busy corners and those behind are not expecting me to brake that early.

 

[thom462]

Great race! Thanks everyone for joining!
Congrats to @Kek700 and @Fiberoptix for 1 and 2!

Thomas, I watched the replay and I consider it my fault. Although there was still room left for you on the outside, you were about 1m in front of me and thus I should have lifted. I'm very sorry that I took the opportunity for the win away from you.

Everybody: I'm going to try something new next Wednesday which, I think, can be even more fun especially with a full grid. So I would really appreciate it if you will join again to help to try it out.

Han, no problem, that's racing. You went for the gap which is ok but two sideways through the kink is hard to master for both even in these slower cars. Tried to stay on the left to give you enough room but it was not enough, was afraid ending on the grass on the exit.

I am totally happy with my pace, did the fastest race lap by three tenths so that keeps me motivated for future races as I didnt expect to have this great pace compared to all the other guys.

Thanks Han for organizing. Looking forward to the next battles on track.

 

[Kek700]

Third, it was for me, left a gap to the two up front, could see Thomas and Han battling for the whole race, with just one of them, he would have been long gone.

So with two battling, I could easily stay with them, Then the accident, enough time and room to fiddle my way through the spinning cars.
Then because of that, I had a gap of 2 seconds, with the eventual battle between Manel, Frank, Simon, Tim, Thomas and Han going on, you had to get through all of that to get to me, He He, talk about having some good fortune. Eventually it gave me a once in a lifetime comfortable gap.

So it was a lonely race of 38 minutes for me, worried about my fuel till the last lap, occasionally tried to conserve the fuel, which proved not to be effective. Just had to keep an eye on Tim eventually, by then the margins for these cars was big enough not to worry too much about that.
Really do not like the grip levels on this new Road America circuit.
I am way slower here for Gt3, sort of takes the fun out of it.

Well done podiums. and to @HF2000 for the organisation for this event, I wonder what is next.

 

[pattikins]

'Really do not like the grip levels on this new Road America circuit.
I am way slower here for Gt3, sort of takes the fun out of it.'

I thought I was the only one that felt that way about the new version. To add insult to injury, the old version was one of my favourite tracks.

 

[Morne Du Plooy]

Yowza! That was a great race!

Managed to reclaim my quali position after a bump in T1 and kept it clean throughout. Thanks for the great racing @Morne Du Plooy , @edo22 , and @Gary Blumhagen

Congrats @HF2000 for the maiden pole in quali and thanks for hosting such quality events. Looking forward to the next one.

It was an awesome race! Think borderline the best one on RD yet!
Great racecraft from everyone I encountered on track!

It's been a while since I've raced on AC and unfortunately forgot to hold the brake when I had the clutch in at the start! ‍Rolled back and got sent to the pits, from P4 . Was a lot of fun fighting through the pack!

I personally think this version of the track is great. Especially the yellow lights on track for yellow flags .

Thanks for organising!
See you next week!

 

[Kek700]

I know I am not going to be the quickest here, so the time is irrelevant for me, but the circuit looses its flow, just always struggling for grip, there is just no fun in the circuit for G3 cars.
I was lucky that last night Rasmus told me which track, had done a bit of practice on the old circuit, would have been a shock for me to turned up Sunday faced with this circuit.

 

[maxilogan]

Thanks @HF2000 for organising and congrats on your pole!

I was super chuffed with a qualifying position of 11th. Unfortunately, I got taken out at T1 sending me back to 16th but then made several unforced errors later on meaning I went round in last place (17th) for most of the race. I'm glad I persevered though as I ended up 13th just by keeping going!

I've had quite a few hit from behind in the first few corners recently so I'm inclined to think I might be being overly cautious braking into busy corners and those behind are not expecting me to brake that early.

Actually, it was me that bumped you in T1. I can't say whether you were overly cautious, as I'm not sure how far we were from T1, but in fact I didn't expect to need to brake so hard as I barely braked in T1 during quali and practice (ok I'm exaggerating but I wasn't even fully depressing the pedal).

I'm sorry for the bump, had you recover your position (or at least pass me) only to then see you spinning at T14 few laps later. Happy to know that you managed to finish 13th.

As for me, I wasn't able to repeat the high 2.36 I made in offline practice during neither the quali nor the race, and after having bumped you and spun a few times, I decided to retire halfway through the race.

We picked up my wife's new car in the afternoon and had a beer to celebrate, and I don't seem to have learned the very basic rule: don't drink and drive!

 

[Kek700]

Difficult that one, over caution meets go for it, never a good combination. Difficult to blame anyone.
I know when I get punted , I can see my over caution approach did not help.

 

[Chris Down]

'Really do not like the grip levels on this new Road America circuit.
I am way slower here for Gt3, sort of takes the fun out of it.'

I thought I was the only one that felt that way about the new version. To add insult to injury, the old version was one of my favourite tracks.

Hmm, I don't feel any difference in grip at all -- just the track is way thinner, so you have tighter turns, no? I went over that somewhat at release:

 

[Interslice]

Hmm, I don't feel any difference in grip at all -- just the track is way thinner, so you have tighter turns, no? I went over that somewhat at release:

My first impressions yesterday was that it got narrower and maybe a bit bumpier in parts. The actual surface grip feels the same.

 

[Goblin616]

Hmm, I don't feel any difference in grip at all -- just the track is way thinner, so you have tighter turns, no? I went over that somewhat at release:

TEACH ME!

Honestly, the tiny less you gave me after Nurburgring made me a better already. You could teach so much!

 

[Kek700]

Maybe it is a problem for the Nissan, went two seconds slower in the Nissan
back to back.
Much slower at the new Road America. Or perhaps it's driving style that it affects time here, I am a bit of point and shoot driver, finesse, I am not.