AC Multiclass Abarth 500/Mazda MX5@Sebring, Wed 28th September 2022

[HF2000]

Hahaha, if Fulvio wins with us, he loses ranking points!

 

[eN1xes]

i lose points anyway

 

[Shed 17]

I wondered where you went Paul, you were chasing me for what seemed like an age and then you disappeared from my mirror. Your race sounds like a normal race for me

As I was at the back Steve, I decided to pit and try some set up changes but it only made it worse. Strange, because at Donnington last week the car was going well. I think the problem may have been the nut holding the steering wheel........................................!!

 

[Kek700]

clock speeds, temps all good, just sat there at 100% load?

 

[HF2000]

Guys,

If you have time next Tuesday, you can help me getting data for a future championship. Please have a look.

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/group-c-cars-spa-tue-4th-october-2022.249797/

 

[Medilloni]

Thanks for organising @HF2000 Han, enjoyed tonight's race

Thought I'd get jumped at the start by the hairdresser's cars, but I made it worse with too much wheelspin.

Great few laps of great, fair racing with Thomas and Andre (sorry guys, don't know your handle), and my apologies to Andre, I don't think we touched, but at one point Helicorsa was only showing Thomas, not you directly alongside, eek! ....might try that other proximity app, not the 1st time it's happened

Congrats to the class podium guys, and to Fulvio for the win

EDIT: Simresults.net here.... https://simresults.net/220928-3hD

 

[eN1xes]

Congratz John on ur p1 class , ty han as always for hosting this , and sry even if i dont think was on me the fault for the contact on Andre Murel

 

[Douglas Aird]

First ever Assetto corsa crash at the start of qualifying. Reset pc and rejoined with 15 minutes left. Was a bit flustered so didn't put my fastest lap in and ended up 8th.

Avoided incidents and was keeping pace with the lead group.

Last corner of lap 2 I half spun and lost time. I ended up close to the pitlane where I made the fateful decision to pit there and then.

On the pitlane exit I realised my mistake, the pit window was not open!

I wasn't sure what would happen so, thinking I would just be disqualified at the finish, I decided that, f*ck it, I wouldn't do another stop and see where I ended up.

Had some good pace and caught up and started to pass the tail of the field. Then people started to pit and suddenly I was on the back of Han with Robert right behind in p5, p6 and P7.

Had the pace to harass Han but not pass so I figured I would keep that up for a few laps to see if I could get by on a mistake.

However, the pit window closed and I was teleported to the pits, retired with 10 minutes left.

Lesson learned, but a big positive was I had the pace to possibly finish P5, probably no worse than P7.

Well done to all the racers, great turnout. Great P4 for Allan in the Abarth, P2 in class.

Thanks, Han, for organising.

Hopefully next week my Fanatec gear will be up and running and I am somewhat dialled in. However, I will have limited practice time so maybe set my expectations low for that one. Hoping it's a track I know. How about Brands Hatch gp, Han. @HF2000

 

[Medilloni]

Guys,

If you have time next Tuesday, you can help me getting data for a future championship. Please have a look.

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/group-c-cars-spa-tue-4th-october-2022.249797/

What do you need Han?
The cars can be unevenly matched either way dependent on track - and will we need to stick with the same car throughout the championship?

I have time to lend a hand, but I'm crap with the Mazda or Merc anyway

 

[stigs2cousin]

For me this race sucked royally once again

It started really nicely, I liked my pace and car control, went from Q11 to P7, mostly by greedily collecting freebies .

The in L7 everything went to crap when my pedals froze and I careened straight.

Teleporting to pits safed me from a crash, but to get going again I had to restart my PC.
Another time rage quitting was on my mind but was too stubborn to do it.

So for the final laps I followed people and kept out of the way though I really wanted to do battle with them ( and in half of the cases also had the pace to do so)

They say "a bad day at the track is better than a good day on the job."
But what if they are both shitty?

MFG Carsten

Han:

Thanks for organizing,
a firm " naughty boy" for not conveying that you can cheat yourself back into the race after being dqed for missing the pit window (surprise race)
and a suggestion:
If one has to restart the PC, could it at least be counted as pitstop??

 

[HF2000]

What do you need Han?
The cars can be unevenly matched either way dependent on track - and will we need to stick with the same car throughout the championship?

I have time to lend a hand, but I'm crap with the Mazda or Merc anyway

Thanks John. I would like to know how the fuel consumption and the tyre wear is on all cars. I don't want the situation that one of the cars has a disadvantage that it needs significant more pitstoptime. If that's the case, I can mitigate it with the setting like I've done for the Abarth.

So I hope that every type is at least chosen once.

 

[Kek700]

That was just plain difficult, none of it was easy, how I got were I did is a mystery to me, struggled from lap one still struggling at the end.
That Rotter Robert did not even let me past on the last corner.
Well done to all the front fliers and podiums, it is nice to see the old order changing, it was getting a wee bit predictable. it bodes well for the up and coming championship.
I still cannot get my head around the “chief” Rotter Allan in an Abarth, just does not seem right.

 

[Alfred Wayne]

After yesterday's outing in the GTO, the Mazda handled like a modern F1 car with the down force turned to max I felt fast today

Had a surprisingly good quali and got off the line well. Which led to some great opening laps. Shame about that run through the esses Andre.

A bit later I was stuck behind @Allan Ramsbottom in an abarth for what felt like an eternity (20 min ). I had the pace, but not room to pass in the esses, and then the room but not the pace into and out of the hairpin. Not sure if you noticed me back there

Finished the race hot on Hans tail after Doug unfortunately got DQ'd for pit issues and I got caught up in a bit of a traffic incident. At least on my end @Shed 17 , you did everything right when I came by. I got a little to focused on the surprise of seeing you facing me head on as I came into the turn and I could have lifted more with the yellow flag

Sorry to disappoint Ernie. I've been passed in the last lap by you and your liger enough and I've tried to pick up a thing or two following you to the line

Great racing today all, and thanks for hosting Han, looking forward to the championship

 

[JamKart22]

Fairly quite race. Ended up last after L1 due to an incident but plugged away and benefitted from everyone elses bad fortune to eventually finish 11th. Improved my fastest lap too so that's also progress.

Thanks as ever Han for organising.

 

[HF2000]

What a great race! So nice to drive the Abarth here after the struggle with the TVR. Qualified with a new PB as 4th but of course the Mazdas behind had a better start. So I was 7th after the esses. Nice that all went well in T1 this time (I think). I had a nice battle with Allan and Jari which I won to my surprise. Now behind Andre and Robert (John was pulling away) and when they had a bit of a bad exit in the Tower Turn I could pass them three wide with me in the middle on the Flying Fortress straight (great name btw!).
Now 2nd but Fulvio was already closing in and passed me in the last turn where the Abarth really has a disadvantage with the understeer.
Jari had great pace and closed the gap. Again a nice battle but this time he won. After my pitstop I was again close behind Jari and Steve who didn't pitted yet but in the last turn Paul was standing still on my raceline. I could avoid him but through this action I hit the barrier and did half a spin. So I lost a few places including Allan who now was 2nd in the Abarth class.
With first Douglas and later Robert behind me at 1-2s I controlled the pace and finished 5th after a very enjoyable race without big mistakes from my side.

Thanks all for joining. Congrats to the podium.
Our debutant @32chainshard Matija did allright as far as I could see. I hope he liked it.

Next week the first race in the Fat-Alfie championship. Don't forget to sign up if you haven't already.
And if you have time, you can help me to gather data for new championship in the Tuesday event. It's also a nice opportunity to get some experience with the exciting Group C cars.

 

[gearwhine]

Excellent race for me with no incidents, spins, crashes, or any grief whatsoever. Quali near the back and finished 9th due to who i passed off the road rather than on mostly. I used default setup with TC off and it never put a foot wrong for me. My pace was not too far off the quicker guys until it was time to hit the brakes. that is where i need to improve as they all brake later and harder than me and now i can see where my 2 sec. go out the window. With the Mazda being so simple to drive it helped me realise where my time is lost. I have my load cell set quite hard and would probably benefit from it being a tad softer but then the learning curve might take some time. For now i will just try pressing harder and later. In other words, i can from now on be found in the gravel trap on any given corner

 

[HF2000]

I have my load cell set quite hard and would probably benefit from it being a tad softer but then the learning curve might take some time.

Last week I replaced my old rubbers with the new Heusinkveld elastomerkit rubbers for the brake pedal. It has a progressive effect that feels much more natural. But indeed there's the muscle memory that has to be reset.
On the TVR Tuesday it was no problem because I never raced it before.
With the Abarth yesterday I think it went quite well. But last Sunday with the GT3 I struggled a lot and didn't came near my usual pace.

 

[gearwhine]

Last week I replaced my old rubbers with the new Heusinkveld elastomerkit rubbers for the brake pedal. It has a progressive effect that feels much more natural. But indeed there's the muscle memory that has to be reset.
On the TVR Tuesday it was no problem because I never raced it before.
With the Abarth yesterday I think it went quite well. But last Sunday with the GT3 I struggled a lot and didn't came near my usual pace.

I have a set of clubsport V3 pedals which are great and i also have the brake rubber upgrade kit which i originally set quite hard to stop locking wheels. Maybe now i can soften the feel a little and find some time somewhere

 

[HF2000]

I have a set of clubsport V3 pedals which are great and i also have the brake rubber upgrade kit which i originally set quite hard to stop locking wheels. Maybe now i can soften the feel a little and find some time somewhere

The elastomerkit made it possible for me to have a more progressive feel in using the brake pedal without increasing the travel. I think it's a very nice solution which also contributes to the immersion of simracing.

 

[Douglas Aird]

Adapting to load cell will be the biggest challenge for me in my new setup.