AC Multiclass Abarth 500/Mazda MX5@Kemora, Wed 15th June 2022

[Douglas Aird]

P8 in my only good lap in a tight qualifying, just pipping Dave by 0.02.

Lost a bit of ground in the first few corners then braked too late on the inside of the first left hander, bumped into Robert, spun and ended up at the back about 10 seconds down. Apologies Robert, hopefully I didn't compromise you too much.

Got my head down and gained a few places back through mistakes ahead of me. Slowly started reeling in Robert and got the gap down to a second or so and thought about how I might get past. However, I got too greedy on the exit of the last corner, clipped the gravel and spun.

Back to recovery mode and I thought I was secure but a few slow laps and Danny almost caught me. Refocused and started to get my best times and pulled away. Was relieved when I saw I had a decent gap again. Did you make a mistake, Danny?

Held 8th to end and survived low fuel worries on the last lap.

Thanks, Han, sorry for your connection issues. Well done to the rest of the racers.

 

[Alfred Wayne]

No worries Doug, I managed to hang on pointing straight. All in a days work in the MX5 . I saw you closing in for a while after that. All of a sudden you were only a couple seconds back

 

[Douglas Aird]

No worries Doug, I managed to hang on pointing straight. All in a days work in the MX5 . I saw you closing in for a while after that. All of a sudden you were only a couple seconds back

Pity I made the second mistake as it would have been an interesting battle.

 

[HF2000]

I'm not very kind to tires so I also changed them. Did you too? @HF2000

Yes, Front left became yellow in lap20 and caused me noticable understeer. So another 26 laps on those tyres was not really an option.

 

[HF2000]

In practice I thought I could challenge the Mazda's but in qually I was only 6th. In the first stint I had a very nice battle with Colin mostly me chasing him. Also interesting because I used some different racelines. The Abarth on this track has trouble taking speed through the corners, you get a lot of understeer and when you try to correct that, the back of the car starts to slide. so my lines were more tight than the Mazdas. This was especially the case in T3 where I needed the inside line. Colin probably thought I did an overtake attempt there every lap but it was simply for this reason.
Anyway, after a lot of laps I could finally get close enough on the straight to have a little slipstream and I could pass Colin on the inside of T2 and T3. The gap grew to a comfortable 2s but then my front tyres became worn and my lap times dropped. I saw a small train of 3 Mazdas closing the gap but before they could battle me, it was halftime and I went into the pits for fuel and fresh tyres. Apparently this action caused confusion amongst the Mazda. I have to watch the replay for that.
Second stint I was mostly in nomansland only slowly closing the 10s gap to Danny but when my connection got lost it was game over. I returned because I knew I would finish 2nd in the Abarth class even with 2 laps behind. That looks better in the stats than a DNF.

Thanks all for joining and congrats to the podiums. Yes that goes also for Paulo and Karel because the Abarth was a very brave choice for this track.

Next week we're going to the Feldbergring for several reasons:

• it's a track with a very long full throttle sector so the Abarths probably will be a better match for the Mazdas
• to warm you up for the coming Fat-Alfie championships
• so Carsten @stigs2cousin can't ignore this as it's a home game for him and I will have the opportunity to pass him (again!)
• because it's in my top 3 of favorite tracks and I simply love to drive it.

 

[danny26]

Thanks for the race everyone, and thanks again to Han for continuing to organise this series.

I really, really struggled with this circuit. For the opening laps I was keeping pace with the midfield, but mistakes eventually came - I ended up in the grass once or twice at T1 and lost something like 20 seconds. I made it past Karel's 500 after a few laps (those Abarths looked a right handful) and eventually found a good rhythm and a tiny bit of consistency. Next up the road was Douglas, who I spent a good portion of the race attempting to close down.

Back to recovery mode and I thought I was secure but a few slow laps and Danny almost caught me. Refocused and started to get my best times and pulled away. Was relieved when I saw I had a decent gap again. Did you make a mistake, Danny?

I did - our little chase was by far my favourite part of the race, so I was gutted to throw it away with some silly errors late on! Every lap I was watching the leaderboard to compare lap times and we were taking a couple of tenths off of one another for ages, but before I could get within striking distance I started losing composure (around the 45min mark) and found myself catching snaps of oversteer. From this point on I was just annoyed with myself for throwing my progress away and my times never really recovered.

General note - I've only been racing with RD for a couple of months and it's been brilliant and I continue to learn a lot, but I feel that the most 'rookie-friendly' series have moved on from where they were in the spring. I really like the progression of this series from the old MX5/TT with reduced effects to MX5/Abarth with fuel and tyre strategies to consider, but I have to admit that some of the latest circuits have been genuinely nightmarish at my low skill level (particularly Kemora and that long street circuit with the deadly trees). I'm probably feeling the frustration a bit more because the Friday night AMS2 rookie events have also ended for now. This isn't a complaint at all, and I hugely appreciate the hosts for organising these series for us, I guess I'm just at that stage in learning where I feel a bit of a lull in my progress and it's coinciding with some of the 'easier' events moving towards something more challenging.

I'm probably the only one that thinks this, so I would never ask that one back-marker's woes be taken into account when arranging these races, but it would be interesting to know if other racers have experienced this frustration before and whether it's all part of the learning process.

 

[HF2000]

Next week (can't wait myself).

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/multiclass-abarth-500-mazda-mx5-feldbergring-wed-22nd-june-2022.238174/

 

[pcmoreno]

Next week (can't wait myself).

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/multiclass-abarth-500-mazda-mx5-feldbergring-wed-22nd-june-2022.238174/

oh no, it's like Luccaring and LeMans had a baby and it hates me

 

[HF2000]

Thanks for the race everyone, and thanks again to Han for continuing to organise this series.

I really, really struggled with this circuit. For the opening laps I was keeping pace with the midfield, but mistakes eventually came - I ended up in the grass once or twice at T1 and lost something like 20 seconds. I made it past Karel's 500 after a few laps (those Abarths looked a right handful) and eventually found a good rhythm and a tiny bit of consistency. Next up the road was Douglas, who I spent a good portion of the race attempting to close down.



I did - our little chase was by far my favourite part of the race, so I was gutted to throw it away with some silly errors late on! Every lap I was watching the leaderboard to compare lap times and we were taking a couple of tenths off of one another for ages, but before I could get within striking distance I started losing composure (around the 45min mark) and found myself catching snaps of oversteer. From this point on I was just annoyed with myself for throwing my progress away and my times never really recovered.

General note - I've only been racing with RD for a couple of months and it's been brilliant and I continue to learn a lot, but I feel that the most 'rookie-friendly' series have moved on from where they were in the spring. I really like the progression of this series from the old MX5/TT with reduced effects to MX5/Abarth with fuel and tyre strategies to consider, but I have to admit that some of the latest circuits have been genuinely nightmarish at my low skill level (particularly Kemora and that long street circuit with the deadly trees). I'm probably feeling the frustration a bit more because the Friday night AMS2 rookie events have also ended for now. This isn't a complaint at all, and I hugely appreciate the hosts for organising these series for us, I guess I'm just at that stage in learning where I feel a bit of a lull in my progress and it's coinciding with some of the 'easier' events moving towards something more challenging.

I'm probably the only one that thinks this, so I would never ask that one back-marker's woes be taken into account when arranging these races, but it would be interesting to know if other racers have experienced this frustration before and whether it's all part of the learning process.

Hi Danny,

Don't worry. What you are experiencing now, is quite common. A lineair growing path is seldom the case. I had similar feelings and still have now that I'm not progressing anymore.
But last night after my pitstop I was behind you and you impressed me with your laptimes because I wasn't able to close the gap. Sure you had probably some bad moments but for about I think 10 laps you were fast and consistent. And that's very encouraging and I hope you can feel it also that way. In this fase of your progress it's also even more important to learn from what did do right than from what went wrong. Based on your performance in the laps I was behind you, I'm convinced you will get there!

The Feldbergring will be a challenge for sure but also a good opportunity to learn. I hope you will have time to practice enough because with 12km we all will need that. But please try it because it's such a great track!

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

My favourite Fat Alfie track .Defo make sure im signed up for that 1..

 

[HF2000]

My favourite Fat Alfie track .Defo make sure im signed up for that 1..

@maxilogan and Allan: I prefer early sign ups even if you're not sure you can join. Filled grids attract more participants.

 

[Shed 17]

General note - I've only been racing with RD for a couple of months and it's been brilliant and I continue to learn a lot, but I feel that the most 'rookie-friendly' series have moved on from where they were in the spring. I really like the progression of this series from the old MX5/TT with reduced effects to MX5/Abarth with fuel and tyre strategies to consider, but I have to admit that some of the latest circuits have been genuinely nightmarish at my low skill level (particularly Kemora and that long street circuit with the deadly trees). I'm probably feeling the frustration a bit more because the Friday night AMS2 rookie events have also ended for now. This isn't a complaint at all, and I hugely appreciate the hosts for organising these series for us, I guess I'm just at that stage in learning where I feel a bit of a lull in my progress and it's coinciding with some of the 'easier' events moving towards something more challenging.

Hi Danny,
As Han has alluded to above, this sim racing pastime is not an exact science.
I have been racing here for about 16 months and have been through most emotions and frustrations as I try to come to grips with the different cars and tracks.
What I have learnt over this time is learning to be consistent will eventually bring results. Like you, I was at the back of the grid when I started here ( still am sometimes), but this community is very helpful and friendly and encourage new inexperienced drivers to have a go.
Now I’m getting on a bit in age like one or two others here, and with dodgy eyesight and bones, some races can be a struggle but while I like to be competitive, what is more important to me is to have a good race and to have fun.
I didn’t race last night as I was busy outside plus Kemora was a new track to me that I had never driven on and I couldn’t spare the time to practice. From what I saw of it it looked like MX5 heaven with those curves.
Like any challenge in life it can be good practice to break things down into smaller bite size sections and learn tracks a bit at a time, especially true of the Fat Alfie tracks.
But you are in good company and to get the Mazda 787 around Le Mans is a credit to you. Just stick at it, run you own race, try to stay on track and the results will come.

 

[Douglas Aird]

@danny26 I am the same, going through some peaks and troughs but learning more with every lap and race.

I am trying to make a breakthrough that would get me near the front. It may never come but it's fun and challenging to try. I'm a far better racer than when I started racing on RD months ago (after decades of offline laps).

 

[Douglas Aird]

@Shed 17

There's probably a bit of a wide age range racing but these Wednesday ones may be towards the upper end. For the record, I am 55.

 

[Shed 17]

65 here later this autumn Doug, I know Ernie is mid 70’s+, old guys can still do it now and then but my back goes out more than I do!

 

[danny26]

@HF2000 @Shed 17 @Douglas Aird

Thanks so much for the kind and reassuring words guys, I really appreciate all your advice. I'll keep working at it and I'll remember to focus on the more positive aspects of my races. It's a genuine pleasure to join these events and spend a bit of time on track with good people regardless of my performance, so in the grand scheme of things, I'm still having a great time

Anyway the Amazon fairy just dropped off two more monitors, so next week I'll be able to really appreciate the scenery of the Feldbergring with my new triple-screen setup

 

[Shed 17]

I went to triples earlier this year Danny, what an improvement, not only can I see the lovely scenery but I can wave at Han out of the side window as he speeds by.........

 

[HF2000]

be able to really appreciate the scenery of the Feldbergring with my new triple-screen setup

Oh so jealous!!!

 

[Shed 17]

Triples under blackout curtains in my man cave, had to sell a motorcycle and my soul to get this far but lockdown helped. I can spend way too much time in here!

 

[HF2000]

Triples under blackout curtains in my man cave, had to sell a motorcycle and my soul to get this far but lockdown helped. I can spend way too much time in here!

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That looks so great!!! Even more jealous now! And intimidated next time I'm battling you!