AC Multiclass Abarth 500/Mazda MX5@Feldbergring, Wed 22nd June 2022

[stigs2cousin]

Walter

This track has several corners where you have to carry a lot of speed or you will loose seconds.
Overdo it and loose even more when reversing back into the race

Stay at it, you'll get it soon


MFG Carsten

 

[Douglas Aird]

( Doug has a little oopsie on the corner into the "isn´t straight" and I t-boned him. sorry for that.)

Totally my fault, Carsten, you couldn't avoid it and I deserved a little tap. My only consolation is that I actually got past you, if only briefly and on less fuel.

Unluck on the strategy, at least I am not the only one to f* that up.

 

[thom462]

The pant´s got filled up completely when Thomas spectacularly commited suicide on the outside of T1 and again offered his codriver door for a T-bone.

Luckily I could deploy some evasion technics and avoid killing him.

Actually not a suicide attempt but sheer stupidity as I cut the first right hander too much and hit the fence on the right side. Glad you could avoid the mega crash, was a good fight until then. Lost about twelve seconds there. Did another mistake later at pit entry which again cost me lots of time, didnt practice that.
Pace was actually better than expected, but still dont know how Allan can do a low 4.28. Have to look deeper into this.

Congrats to Allan and thx Han, amazing pace from both of you.
Cu next time

 

[Dzul]

Well that was something... Feldbergring did not dissappoint as I had a very busy but equally fun race. I had a good start and grabbed a few places straight away. I was following the cars in front of me very closely when they bumped into each other and I managed to get through. This happened once more a few laps later between an Abarth and a Mazda... on this track both cars were pretty much on equal footing but overtaking is quite difficult so waiting for mistakes is the way to go.

Like Doug mentioned, a few of us spent a good chunk of the race chasing and racing each other closely and that made for a ton of fun. The group (Colin, Robert, Dani, Steve, Doug and myself) started to fall apart due to mistakes but some recovered well to keep up the chase. I was comfortably on 9th. place until the very last lap, where I had a bad exit in the middle of the twisty sector, I touched turf and spun... this allowed Robert and Dani to get past me. I recovered quickly and immediately set the chase on behind Dani's green Mazda but I couldn't do much in the half a lap that was left...

Despite this "loss" I enjoyed the race a lot. Hopefully the new Fat-Alfie Championship falls on a day I can participate... in the meantime, I will see you at the next one chaps. Thank you for organising once more Han and congratulations with the podiums guys, blistering pace!

 

[AW939]

First of all, thanks for the organization @HF2000 and congratulations to the podium again. @Allan Ramsbottom what did you do with the setup? Sum of best sectors was a 4:29.X for me, but a full lap was 4:31.337. Actually quite pleased since I really drove my first laps today (after 2 laps on the controller yesterday).

In the race I decided to play roadblock in lap 2, standing 90° sideways in the middle of the road, of course getting hit straight on by the second car passing by (@Dani Martinez(Chechum)). Sorry for that, lost it on the dirt and after the first car wanted to pass me right I tried to get out of the way when I saw a lot of cars arriving on that side of the track. When I saw you changing directions it was too late. Really sorry, I thought everyone would stay on the outside there

First lap I was already tumbling down the order. Business as usual for me. It's not even the missing grip, it's just me being out of the rhythm with a lot of cars around me.
The second lap sealed the deal then, after me being a roadblock I found a second roadblock half a lap later which I decided to try to hit back into position (Steve Hayward, sorry for the straight on hit, the car just rolled really awkardly over). Wasn't so successful... well actually he was straight again afterwards, but most likely with a lot of additional damage.

Afterwards I was mostly lapping for myself in the 4:31s, so made up some ground. Until I found @Dani Martinez(Chechum) again who wanted to check out the position I crashed in on lap 2, or just wanted to make a lot of space

I saw @Shed 17 quite often on track but the really late pit stop on my side seems to have skipped a few others on the way.

Was definitely fun, without the carnage I caused (sorry everyone for that) it might have been more successful on my side, but at some point I might get there.

 

[Dani Martinez(Chechum)]

First of all, thanks for the organization @HF2000 and congratulations to the podium again. @Allan Ramsbottom what did you do with the setup? Sum of best sectors was a 4:29.X for me, but a full lap was 4:31.337. Actually quite pleased since I really drove my first laps today (after 2 laps on the controller yesterday).

In the race I decided to play roadblock in lap 2, standing 90° sideways in the middle of the road, of course getting hit straight on by the second car passing by (@Dani Martinez(Chechum)). Sorry for that, lost it on the dirt and after the first car wanted to pass me right I tried to get out of the way when I saw a lot of cars arriving on that side of the track. When I saw you changing directions it was too late. Really sorry, I thought everyone would stay on the outside there
First laps I was already tumbling down the order. Business as usual for me. It's not even the missing grip, it's just me being out of the rhythm with a lot of cars around me.

The second lap sealed the deal then, after me being a roadblock I found a second roadblock half a lap later which I decided to try to hit back into position (Steve Hayward, sorry for the straight on hit, the car just rolled really awkardly over). Wasn't so successful... well actually he was straight again afterwards, but most likely with a lot of additional damage.
View attachment 576272

Afterwards I was mostly lapping for myself in the 4:31s, so made up some ground. Until I found @Dani Martinez(Chechum) again who wanted to check out the position I crashed in on lap 2, or just wanted to make a lot of space
View attachment 576271

I saw @Shed 17 quite often on track but the really late pit stop on my side seems to have skipped a few others on the way.

Was definitely fun, without the carnage I caused (sorry everyone for that) it might have been more successful on my side, but at some point I might get there.

Hahaha definitely I verified that path wasn't optimal! You were flying, I guess I wanted to find 1-2 magic seconds
Thank you very much for the apologies for the incident, I didn't choose the best direction either.
See you!

 

[AW939]

Oh and btw, can someone upload the race results/statistics somehow? My Content Manager just displayed "Race Aborted" and does not list it in the results, so I cannot really check laptimes or the actual result standings, I only have the replay that states "Practice"

 

[stigs2cousin]

Standings and times are on S.GP

 

[Shed 17]

Paul let me by. From the leaderboard I take it he still had to pit so cheers mate, fair move

I was fuel saving Carsten although I might as well have just kept pushing and run out for the good it did me!!. This is the second 60 minute race I’ve done in the Abarth and the second time I have ****ed up the fuel calculation when in a strong position.
Same with Arne, he was on to me as I cruised around enjoying the scenery but not enjoying the second half of the race. The first half was good with Lauri keeping me honest until I pitted a lap too early.
Oh well, third time lucky but thanks to Han for organising and well done to the podiums.

 

[AW939]

I was fuel saving Carsten although I might as well have just kept pushing and run out for the good it did me!!. This is the second 60 minute race I’ve done in the Abarth and the second time I have ****ed up the fuel calculation when in a strong position.
Same with Arne, he was on to me as I cruised around enjoying the scenery but not enjoying the second half of the race. The first half was good with Lauri keeping me honest until I pitted a lap too early.
Oh well, third time lucky but thanks to Han for organising and well done to the podiums.

Oooohhh that makes sense, was wondering why you were so slow on the straights. Still thanks for also making the space to let me by.
Fuel calculator apps are really helpful I must say (in addition to a rough estimation before the race of course), that might have told you that you need to refuel more than possible

 

[Shed 17]

Yes, thanks Arne, I have the fuel app but I was influenced by that same crew chief that Carsten had bother with who kept telling me to pit.
I pitted a lap too early, then trying to only one stop had me dropping back into the Mazda gang battles. Live and learn, there’s always a next time ( if only the Abarth had a bigger fuel tank)

 

[Mikke73]

First things first: thank you for organizing this, and thanks to everyone who participated!

Preparing for the race was interesting, because I'm not used to having almost no idea about the pace of the other drivers. But it was also refreshing. During the practice session I was thinking I'd be happy if I can get into top-10, and getting P7 in the quali didn't really change that. I have a habit of losing several places in the first lap because I'm too cautious, and I expected the same here.
However, when the race started I had no problem keeping my position, and I managed to get past Arne Westphal when he had one bad corner exit. So, I was P6 after lap 1, and the rest of the race was pretty much just hotlapping.
The guys in front of me were running away, and I managed to keep the ones behind me a safe distance away. With just a few seconds of gap there was not much room for errors, so I just tried to drive cleanly while controlling the gap. This time it really worked out, I had only one incident in the race when I took one right-hander a bit too close to the fence.

I got P5 when Paul Fairweather made a pitstop, and something must have happened between his stop and mine, because he was still behind me after my pitstop.

I kept my 5th place all the way to the finish, and I'm very happy about that position. I certainly wasn't anywhere that fast if you look at the best laps, but since I didn't have to battle with anyone I was able to be very consistent, and that was the key.

Now I'm really looking forward to the Championship with these cars, this was so relaxing compared to the last two championships I've just finished (1975 F1 cars and Audi 90 GTO are quite different beasts to a Mazda MX5).
I also hope I'll have time for the Sunday race with the 911 Singer.

And congratulations to the podium!

P.S. It was nice hearing all those "are you ok" questions on voice chat, it was something new to me and made me smile.

 

[HF2000]

Great track, great grid, great race!
Really enjoyed that. Very happy to do a lap I knew that was possible in qually in resulting the pole.

Unfortunately the RWD Mazda is the better car to start with and Allan could take the lead. I knew I must stay close enough until the straight to get a change to get it back. Very difficult because the Abarth suffers from understeer from the low grip in the first laps.
I managed to overtake him but only at start/finish which made T1 very scary.
Hank in 3rd did a great job by staying close to us and he even could pass Allan. I found my pace and the gap grew slowly to about 12 seconds. After my pitstop (only fuel), I had twice contact with the barrier and both times it made me do a 180. In total that has cost me about 25second and also the overall win.
Surprised to see that even on worn tyres and with lift and coast for fuel savings, my laptimes were equal or faster than those of Allan.

So I'm confident I will have my revenge in de Fat-Alfie championship when we will visit Feldbergring again!

Thanks all for joining, congrats to to podium and hope to see you all next week which will be a complete Silverstone week with 4 races:

• Tuesday: MFT01 Kart
• Wednesday: Abarth/Mazda
• Thursday: Ligier JS8
• Sunday: GT's

 

[stigs2cousin]

Silverstone?? Örks

 

[HF2000]

Silverstone?? Örks

When the Abarth can follow the MX5 through Maggotts and Becketts it will have to chance to overtake on the part between Chapel and Stowe!
But I'm afraid of the tyre wear of the left front causing massive understeer and the need to lift in Copse.

 

[Partasuti]

Thank you for the organizers for the race.

Hank Belane, sorry I smashed into you in pit lane. I was all out of fuel and tried to maintain momentum. And I didn't expect you to slow down.

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

A few words before my take on the Race..
21 guys on track...WOW...
Our Glorious Leader ( more on him in a bit). ..Awesome combo,and doing a mighty fine job as usual....
Now on to the Nitty Gritty..
All thru praccy Han was setting the pace...Then i was setting the pace,back and forth so on so on...Mind games,tactics,words,all part of the fun..But the Bugger saved the best for last....
Han pulled an Awesome quali time,i,ve been in the 27,s once,but my cherished little Mazda suffered terribly so i was content with 28,s...
I knew i would get him off the line,and if i could get at least a 5 sec gap before the long straight,i might have a better chance...But was,nt to be..Abarths strength is long straights,Mazda is cornering albeit keeping it smooth...
So im back in second...and then.. @H_Belane was on my Ass..,he overtook me,now in third...Both Abarths were slowly pulling away and victory was slipping thru my fingers..Midway Hank is slowing, taking corners more cautiously, is he fuel saving this early,has he got a problem??now im on his Ass..Side by side thru the twisty bits i just get past and he spins off..
NOW to hunt down THE ONE....He pits, i fly past,give him the BIRD,i,ve got 2 laps of fuel to increase my gap, so i nail it...
Im in the pits..I did a 35-20 ltr pit stop..Crew Chief telling me i,ve got this ( Damn Right) ..I come out in front, still by a good 6 or so seconds with about 12 mins to go..
Han is slowly gaining and as he gets to within a couple of secs,he spins,hits the barrierwhatever..Now i wont lie....but...WHOO HOO,im jumping about in my seat,fist in the air,shouting,you would have thought i had won an F1 race ..
Me,my gorgeous little Mazda, in total harmony, drove the pants off for an Hr to victory...I did,nt expect to win,Hans pace was sheer brilliance,but if you keep pushing anything can happen in racing...
And so a challenge has been thrown down,i accept..Another Classic Fat Alfie Championship..The guys who were in it last time know what to expect..The new Boys,dont miss it..1 of the best little Comps imo there is..Until next time Guys, see you on track and keep safe..

 

[HF2000]

Sometimes something weird happens in a positive way.

Last week the Abarth was a disaster on Kemora and I struggled a lot with it and I had to work really hard to be a bit competitive so I wasn't looking forward to another hour on the crabwalker.

But already on the first practice lap at the Feldbergring it was clear to me that the little Italian loved this track and really came to life.

Rarely have I enjoyed a car/track combination like this. It was as if the guys in Turin designed the car with the Feldbergring in mind.

I hope this applies to all Fat-Alfies tracks.

 

[Alfred Wayne]

whew, what a race.

I always find it hard to practice on circuits like these with each corner repeating only coming every 4 min or so, but the race is another story. Perfect speed cars too I think. Actually allowed for some overtaking and going through turns and straights 2 wide.

Regretted turning my graphics smoke settings back up after Kimi* took a little spin a bit ahead of me and all I saw going through was white smoke Thanks for all those tows you gave me on the back straight

Otherwise, after starting down in p17, the rest of the race for me was between 9th-14th place. Very happy to slide into the top 10 after some really great driving from everyone around me. First race in a long time where I had a mistake that set me back some time, but managed to hold on mentally and push myself to get back in the scrap.

Me and Raul I think were within a couple seconds the entire race, except the very last time on the back straight. Even with our pit stops at the same time, neither gained the edge. Great stuff

Daniel, I hope my pass wasn't too aggressive when you came out of the pits. Most races I probably wouldn't have pushed it, but I was on mission to reclaim my former position and making good time. Was happy to see you join the fray later on Not sure Doug, Raul, and Colin were happy I brought a friend though

Thanks for putting this together Han and everyone for showing up! Lets see if this weekends outing here in a faster car ends as well

 

[Mikke73]

Regretted turning my graphics smoke settings back up after Mika took a little spin a bit ahead of me and all I saw going through was white smoke Thanks for all those tows you gave me on the back straight

I have no idea about what spin you're talking about...
Maybe you meant Kimi?