AC Multiclass Abarth 500/Mazda MX5@Okayama, Wed 1st June 2022

[JamKart22]

I had high ping issues too towards the end of the race - wonder if there is something about this track that causes so many issues for people? I had to turn world detail down as well to keep a steady 60fps. Seem to remember ping issues last time I raced here.

 

[Alfred Wayne]

Sorry to hear about the connection issues Omar, those are a pain. Hope it gets worked out.

As for the race, that I think was my best finish with you all . Seems my time trying to manage the GT40 yesterday (on and offroad) with the gas pedal paid off. Kept myself on track today and surprisingly close enough to Allan's pace throughout the race that it came down to a sub 1s gap across the finish line

Oh and Fulvio passed us both doing 1:45s (and under) We need a group curve for todays race metrics

Thanks for racing everyone and for hosting Han. Also thank you regular MX5 drivers who took the abarth and opened up the MX5 field today

 

[Kek700]

Good race for me, so lucky, what with Han and his fuel only stop, and Carsten obligate with two well timed offs, and Han had some “trouble at mill” on the last lap.
Without that I would have not caught a soul.
I did wonder if you were in the slammed Abarth Carsten. Or do you prefer suspension.

 

[maxilogan]

I had high ping issues too towards the end of the race - wonder if there is something about this track that causes so many issues for people? I had to turn world detail down as well to keep a steady 60fps. Seem to remember ping issues last time I raced here.

Actually, I had problems throughout all day so the ping issue is not track related. However.. you are right in saying that there's something not ok in the track (or at least it seems so) as it happened to me as well that with so few cars on track I had moments of stuttering and FPS drop (even when my ping was steadily under the 50ms). I hadn't them in the last race where we were much more drivers on track.

 

[maxilogan]

The opening few laps had the added excitement of a yellow MX5 (possibly yourself Omar) spawning in and flying through the air at great speed every couple of seconds, and at one point appearing stationary in front of me half way through the braking zone, but that was about as interesting as it got.

The Aris Oil one, yes it was certainly me. I started the race in the 30-50ms range then all of a sudden it started to increase and in a few laps I was at more than 7k so it didn't make much sense to try and continue. I drove a few laps in the hope that it would normalize sooner or later but when I realized that I bumped someone two times already, I preferred not to cause any more trouble. Apologies Danny!

And thanks Han for organising and cheers to the podium finishers!

 

[stigs2cousin]

Chronologie of events:

before the race:

had a (very)big mouth
provoked some people intentionally

in the race:

off to a very good start, left Han sulking on the grid
Half a lap later Han completely overcooked a (desperate) passing attempt and was left sulking in the gravel trap

Led the race for 30min

Then Han pulled a glorious cheater move overcut with tyre managent and sneaked into the lead.

Crumbled under pressure, made stupid mistakes and pissed away 7sec lead on Ernie.
He might have caught me in the end but my devastating ineptitude allowed him to cruise by and even catch Han.

After the race:

threw helmet and gloves into the (oily) trash, fired Crew Chief, had the "car" crushed and went for nice, relaxing hike in the northern Himalayas.

I might be back Carsten

 

[pcmoreno]

and after having bumped Paulo a couple times I decided to quit. Sorry mate!

Don't worry, you did not really hit me at all (guess the collision was only on your system). But it was quite the exorcist experience seeing you all over the place

 

[pcmoreno]

As for the race:

I quite enjoyed this circuit with the very stable Abarth. I reused ernie's setup from barcelona here with minor adjustments and it was quite drivable. I was off pace on practice and quali but not by a lot so I knew this could be a nice race.

Start went ok but someone bumped into me during t2 I think. He spun off while it made no difference to me (stable abarth!). The milestone of lap 1 was that I managed not to get overtaken by fulvio until lap 2

A little tap from Han got me in the gravel on the last turn(the most difficult in this track imo) but he waited and then passed me a few turns ahead when I overshoot a corner.

Then I was so focused on chasing Colin that I forgot about my pit stop and saw the red icon on my top left and Ernie already had his pitstop(we had the same fuel amount). Engine turned off one turn before the pit lane entry and I still tried to just make it but my pit location was too far so I had to teleport to the pit forfeiting the current lap.

The overall race pace was ok from my part having learned how to use a bit of mid turn brake to corner more effectively, especially on the mid sector which allowed me to break into 1:47's

Really nice combo and great thanks to the organizers!

PS: would there be a settings combination where both the Abarth's and the Mazda's would need to have a pitstop? (maybe increasing tyre wear?)

 

[HF2000]

Again a nice race. Managed in qually to be the fasted Abarth, just before Carsten.
Despite his aversion of the crabwalking shithouse as he calls the Abarth, he must have had a lot of practice time invested to become that fast already.
Anyway, had a bad start where I lost a place to Carsten and I was forced to do a sliptstream/overtake on the straight. Well I had warned everyone for the low grip in the first lap but I was totally forgotten it myself and used my normal brakepoint at the end of the straight, causing me to go into the sand.
I had to let almost the whole field pass before I could return to the track.
It was nice to hunt the Abarths and Mazdas in front of me until I was back behind Ernie with a gap of about 10s. After our pitstops where I didn't change tyres I found myself as the leading Abarth with a gap to Ernie (who had passed Carsten) of about 4s.

That would have been enough for the win but when I was about to lap Karel he went off in the last turn before start/finish and I was so distracted by that I went into the sand with my left wheels there also. I guess that costed me 1,5 - 2s which was enough for Ernie to close the gap and overtake me with his fresh tyres.

But I managed to finish before Carsten which was my major goal for the race.

So a happy end to a race that began bad.
Congrats to the other podiums and thanks all for joining.

Next week we're going with these cars to LeMans as a kind of tribute for the 24h race that will be held there the following weekend.
This time the race length will be for once 60 minutes so the Mazda's will also have to do a pitstop.
It could well be that the Abarths will be faster here because of their higher top speed. But as they probably have to change tyres, the Mazda's can catch up for the 2nd stint.
I hope this will result in a lot of action on the track.

See you next week!

 

[HF2000]

PS: would there be a settings combination where both the Abarth's and the Mazda's would need to have a pitstop? (maybe increasing tyre wear?)

Next week will this be the case because of the length of the race.
But increasing tyre wear to force a pitstop for the Mazda will probably cause the Abarths to do multiple pitstops as their standard tyre wear is so much greater.
I can always force a pitstop by configuring it. But I can't force a tyre change so the Mazda's can get away with 1l refuel.

 

[stigs2cousin]

Oh,

on the subject of PC/track trouble, I had only one hickup which is most probably an incompatibility between the track and my current CSP. I had to untick two error messages about textures.

Apart from that the track and car where stable and stutterfree with fairly high framerates.
( my PC is a little "overbuild" for AC and my ping stays below 20 normaly)

As for Le Mans, that could be interesting.
maybe Han tries the overcut again by hypermiling??

If I manage to be there ( work looks troublesome on Wednesday) i´ll certainly not drive this:

 

[JamKart22]

Oh,

on the subject of PC/track trouble, I had only one hickup which is most probably an incompatibility between the track and my current CSP. I had to untick two error messages about textures.

Apart from that the track and car where stable and stutterfree with fairly high framerates.
( my PC is a little "overbuild" for AC and my ping stays below 20 normaly)

As for Le Mans, that could be interesting.
maybe Han tries the overcut again by hypermiling??

If I manage to be there ( work looks troublesome on Wednesday) i´ll certainly not drive this:

View attachment 571238

I had the same two error messages about textures. I edited the file and commented out the bits that were trying to load.

 

[Kek700]

Look forward to Le Mans, this circuit it is either very good or very bad to me.
I am assuming that it is the Le Mans with chicanes to help the Mazdas.

 

[HF2000]

I am assuming that it is the Le Mans with chicanes to help the Mazdas.

Yes.

 

[stigs2cousin]

How many laps to improve grip??

If we use the usual setting this will stay a "slide fest" for a long time

MFG Carsten

 

[Douglas Aird]

I should be ok for next week after a few races off. Likely to be in the Mazda. I don't know Le Mans so have to get some decent practice time to get up to speed.

 

[Kek700]

The Mazda is really good here, a lot of Mazda corners,
It will be interesting to see how it compares to the Abarth.
Hope to give Fulvio a run for his money, I don’t think, but there is no harm in hope.

 

[stigs2cousin]

Hope to give Fulvio a run for his money, I don’t think, but there is no harm in hope.
View attachment 571262

Man´s gotta have dreams

MFG Carsten

 

[HF2000]

How many laps to improve grip??

I'm always aiming for about 20 minutes to reach 100% when there are 16 participants.

 

[HF2000]

Next week: https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...00-maxda-mx5-lemans-wed-8th-june-2022.233845/