AC Multiclass Abarth 500/Mazda MX5@Luccaring, Wednesday 25th May 2022

[Fabrizio]

Sign me up mates

 

[HF2000]

Sign me up mates

Password sent!

 

[Fabrizio]

Password sent!

I'm sorry Han, something came up tonight. Have a good one all

 

[abecede]

Oh well... hugged a tree when I was about two thirds into lap 1, and landed in the ditch beside the track. No way to get out. Restarting from pits was not fun. Had to give up. *sigh*

 

[Kek700]

Well, apart from a terrible couple of weeks in the sim racing world

( the gods are against me of late )

this circuit was the final straw.

Unless it is a low powered car, never racing here again.



i am most impressed if anyone stays on this circuit.

 

[HF2000]

Well, apart from a terrible couple of weeks in the sim racing world

( the gods are against me of late )
View attachment 569502
this circuit was the final straw.

Unless it is a low powered car, never racing here again.

View attachment 569501

i am most impressed if anyone stays on this circuit.

That a pity, Ernie.
I saw that you have withdrawn from the GT3 race also.
So the Ligier next time here?

 

[danny26]

Thanks again guys, regardless of the result I always enjoy race night

I had no pace on this absolute widow maker of a circuit, so my plan was simple - Don't. Take. Risks. I figured if I kept it out of the trees I'd at least threaten a top-10 finish. Thankfully I only had one little moment and stopped in time to avoid the oaks of doom, and the rest of the race was simply monitoring gaps and trying to squeeze a few tenths out of the slower, safer corners. The few times I came wheel-to-wheel with someone it was very "after you Claude" on my part - I figured a proper scrap on this circuit would likely end in tears!

Was gutted to hear that Markus was out in L1, we've had a good couple of battles recently so I was hoping we'd duel again. Also hard luck to Robert whose Abarth I watched glitch half way through a pole with just a few laps to go.

Concentration was a major component for me here - it's so easy to bin the lot that I panicked every time my mind drifted. Often on long races the 'flow' state kicks in and the muscle memory takes over while I casually peruse the map and leaderboard to see how everyone's doing, but I had to keep fully alert for this one. I'm knackered now!

 

[Kek700]

Shocked how competitive it was against the Mazda, I really had no problem keeping the Mazda behind, remove the stupid sausages, that would eliminate 80% of all of the circuits problems.
And that would help me massively, but I am interested to hear the Mazdas point of view on this.
I do not know how they dealt with the sausages, or how the circuit affected their pace.

But I must congratulate Han , not sure about the leader, I only think he was in a Abarth, so if so, well done to both of them.

Well beyond this old git, that’s for sure.

 

[AW939]

Well, apart from a terrible couple of weeks in the sim racing world

( the gods are against me of late )
View attachment 569502
this circuit was the final straw.

Unless it is a low powered car, never racing here again.

View attachment 569501

i am most impressed if anyone stays on this circuit.

Thanks either way for the bit of fighting we had in the first part of the race. You were quite consistently lapping there, making it hard for me to overtake.

I hoped to have a fight with Allan, but we both managed to make mistakes in the first lap. Luckily mine wasn't as bad. But if someone's interested I could make a guide on how to lose 5 places on a race start on your own.

In quali I couldn't get anywhere near my PB, and same for Allan I guess. Saw that he was at least within 0.1s of my pb in practice yesterday, maybe even better some other time.

Most of the race felt like hotlapping for me, except for the small encounters with Ernie and Karel. So the last few laps with a gap on Fulvio I pushed for PB again. Third and second last lap of the race I was halfway through the lap on sub 2:19 pace, but risked too much both times, so no improvement in the race as well.

Really liked the Mazda on this track though. But I simply like the Mazda, maybe that's the reason. Still not a fan of close walls and bumps on race circuits, but with this car it was fun! @HF2000 not sure if you did in the past, but racing Mazdas around the Nordschleife is quite fun. Though lapping someone within 45 minutes could get hard there. Thanks for organizing this race again!

 

[Dzul]

Knackered is the right word indeed! Same here, full focus and no time for a sip of water. My race was fun and eventful, a steady start delivered a good spot that I tried to keep on the first stint. I had a short cat-and-mouse game with Paul in his Abarth until he had to pit but the big fun were the numerous laps trying to keep Colin at bay. We had similar pace but with different sectors. I engineered my own demise with a bad exit at the last corner followed up with a "leaning" on the wall across the pits. Colin executed a clean pass and the game was on to catch up. I was following him close until we reached a spot where an orange Abarth had slowed down. I didn't see it until Colin swayed right to avoid him, at that point I had little to no space on either the left or the right and a gap between them seemed to be opening so I did a "hopeful Zonta" but the gap closed and I touched both cars putting us all in the wall (apologies once more). I waited a bit but nobody appeared so I drove again slowly, saw two Abarths go by and Colin's time climb like a rocket... I thought he had the same fate as Allan, reason why I asked if I should keep waiting. A true shame it happened because that was a funtastic scrap man! I owe you a big foamy pint.

Thanks for organising Han, it felt like an evening sweating at the gym but more fun Congrats to the winners and looking forward to the next one, hopefully not Monaco!

 

[Alfred Wayne]

I... did not survive the Luccaring

I thought what would get me were the walls and trees (which did later in the race), but it was me clipping the edge in that last chicane (not any of those hairpins ) which turned me around still on track, but facing the other way in a tight spot. Had to watch most the field go by, successfully managing the chicane I didn't till I could get going again.

Almost salvaged something from that, but it wasn't to be and as Danny mentioned, I ended the day taking the bus home

 

[JamKart22]

My most competitive race for ages. Keeping off the kerbs seems to the way to go around here. Avoiding the walls, ditches and trees also helps

Had a great scrap with Raul for the whole of the race. We had very similar times and it's so hard to get past in this situation. Shame it ended like it did but stuff like this happens. I could see the Abath has spun and was going slow so I'd already slowed down to avoid him. Raul obviously didn't see him and I ended up in the ditch. Managed to eventually get out but there was only one lap left.

So 43 mins of fun - I'll take that.

GT3s around here will be interesting...

 

[Shed 17]

It was good to be back racing on a Wednesday and my first adventure in the Abarth.
I was pleased with my pace in qualifying P6, behind the experienced Ernie, Han and Fulvio in similar equipment. A good start and I was ahead of Ernie then something happened with Arne and I was up to P4. A poor exit out of the fast T8 for me and Ernie and Arne went by but I was happy to settle into a rhythm and go at my own pace and try to stay way from those walls.
I managed this apart from one excursion onto the path after clipping the wall on the exit of T12 and Raul and Colin went by. Time for a pit stop and I came out just behind Ernie. Ernie was faster but we had a bit of a battle as first he went off and then I clipped the wall again letting him by again. Ernie predicted that he would go off again, and he did giving me some air but I could see him closing in but I guess he must have had another off as suddenly I was on my own and looking at a P6 finish with a couple of laps to go.
But as Raul and Colin have described above, they had an incident and I squeezed by to take the flag with an inherited P4 and third in class.
Despite it’s nature, I do like the Luccaring as it is very satisfying when you do get a clean lap but man, it does punish you hard when you make a small mistake, just like real street circuits.
As for the Abarth, well like Carsten, I do prefer the engine up front driving the rear wheels but after a while I did warm to this little FWD skateboard and when I learnt to not overdrive it, I quite enjoyed it.
Well done to the podiums and thanks to Han for organising. I think these cars are a good match as I could keep up with Raul here who usually is about my pace when I jump in the Mazda, and even with multi class set up it was good fun.

 

[HF2000]

Mixed feelings for me. I hoped that the midfield Mazda's would battle with the fastest Abarths and that after the pitstop from the Abarths the field would be mixed up with a lot of battles going on.
But I didn't think that was the case.
I had a reasonable start but not as good as Fulvio so after Allan went off I was 2nd and not able to close to gap to Fulvio. And basically that stayed the same for the whole race. Not much excitement although this track is indeed very unforgiven so you have to be concentrating on every turn.
In that aspect I think it's a good replacement for Monaco.

Thanks all for joining. Congrats to the podium. Next week I will give this format another go on a 'normal' circuit.
But first tonight Monaco in the Ligier championship!

 

[HF2000]

Next week we're going to Japan!

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/multiclass-abarth-550-mazda-mx5-okayama-wed-1st-june-2022.232989/

 

[HF2000]

As for the Abarth, well like Carsten, I do prefer the engine up front driving the rear wheels but after a while I did warm to this little FWD skateboard and when I learnt to not overdrive it, I quite enjoyed it.

Same here, Paul. I'm beginning to be fond of this little pain in the a..

 

[Kek700]

Just thought I would waffle on about this circuit as I have to kill 20 minutes.

I really like this circuit a lot.

The walls are not much of a problem for me, or most, even though I just do not have in me anymore that constant precision others have,

Walls I can deal with, ( just ) it is those stupid sausages and protrusions that appear on all or some corners.

I cannot see any reason for them at all.

It makes it a lottery for some, certain death for others, and some can succeed in not hitting them.

Hit a sausage and you have no way in knowing we’re you will end up, when I finally ended in the ditch, I had to concede to Cartens logic and throw the towel in.

This circuit without the totally pintless sausages, yes they are totally pointless.
It would be one of my favourites.

 

[stigs2cousin]

Pain in the Abarth

 

[stigs2cousin]

This circuit without the totally pintless sausages, yes they are totally pointless.
It would be one of my favourites.

With the Mazda one can make the suspension forgiving (complient) enough to cope with inside curbs.

The sausage hopping shitbox has not enough suspension travel for that. Especially with Ernies "slammed" Version which was riding ob the bumpstops from the beginning.

Later more, need to work now.

MFG Carsten

 

[danny26]

Walls I can deal with, ( just ) it is those stupid sausages and protrusions that appear on all or some corners.

You're absolutely right here Ernie, some of the sausages are so weirdly placed, especially the ones right on the inside of fast, wide turns. There's a barrier right behind them, that's surely enough to keep everyone from cutting the corner!

That right-hander in the first sector has the most confusing kerb layout - they're all over the middle of the road, giving you just about a car's width of racing line if you're not a fan of bouncing all the way into a swamp.

I don't know the first thing about suspension so I struggle like mad when it comes to taking the MX5 over kerbs, and avoiding them like the plague definitely held me back in terms of laptimes.