AC Multiclass Abarth 500/Mazda MX5@Thruxton, Wed 26th October 2022

[HF2000]

A really nice race. Both cars are very competitive here and it also has the features with these cars that if you miss the apex you can be severely penalized afterwards with loss of time on the part afterwards. Those were ingredients for exciting fights tonight.

I was a little disappointed with my qualifying (10th) as I thought I had done a near perfect lap with a new PB. I hope this shows how much better you have all gotten, otherwise I'll have to conclude that I'm getting worse.

I managed to avoid the mess in T3, although I hit Paul when he suddenly came in front of me under braking. I took that as a racing incident and moved on. That was lucky as I read from Paul's post that he had to teleport back to the pits so I would have waited a long time for him.

This mess put me in 6th place and I had no cars close behind me and the cars in front were just too fast. But then first Fulvio quickly came in and then John. I tried to give them a good fight, but as a human you can only do so much. After that I was cruising in Nomansland with the risk of losing my concentration and I decided to have some fun by getting into the pits very early and getting back behind some midfielders.

A very good choice because I had a nice battle with a Mazda that I won and a very long battle with Kimi who defended very fiercely. I think it was all legal, but it was also very risky because we had a lot of near misses, especially in Cobb. I think you should be renamed 'Kevin' as a reflection of your driving style, @KDiesel. But everything went well and we had a lot of fun (at least I did). Finally I managed to pass him and he immediately made his pit stop. But the fight that must have lasted half the race cost me a lot of time and Andre was able to close the gap. His pace was better and in the last laps he got next to me and together we went side by side through Seagrave, Noble and Goodwood but then Andre came out onto the grass which was a shame as he really deserved that 6th place.

So a very nice race for me, good result after starting 10th.

Congratulations on the podium. Great pace guys! Got to watch John's replay of how he can be so fast with the Abarth. unbelievable! But it's also nice to see that the front runners also have their battles.

I'm really looking forward to next week at the Deutschlandring with these cars and all of you. On Tuesdays, I'm organizing something that we've only done once. A race with SUVs and this time on the Nordschleife.
https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/suv-battle-nordschleife-tue-1st-november-2022.250999/ Please have a look.

See you next week on track!

 

[a_murel]

After discovering I had 40% travel in my pedal which was a deadzone while braking, I took the whole assembly apart and managed to fix it prior of the race.

What a world of difference specially having to tap the brake sometimes on this track, where my speed suddenly was back!

After the start I was cruising behind Thomas in 2nd after Allan's blistering start and he went off for a brief moment ending up behind me. We were going on for 2 laps and were stable the laps, but then I made a mistake and went of in the last chicane, after that it was catching up time.

Later on, after I was pushed off, (won't go into that) I was taking it easy which was the fastest way for me to go around this track. Making no mistakes and chased Han after the pitstop. and closed a gap of 8 secs. Overtook Han and ended up on the straight right behind him being faster on the straights. But being so close I coudnt see the corner and went off again....

Good race, I luckily had the pace to be at the front, but have to be focussing more.

Thanx Han for organizing.!

 

[Kek700]

Yes, everyone is going quicker, it is the actual race that now makes the difference. That mix of where you are in the pack, what happens, your luck or lack of it.
I really expected the Abarth to dominate, not so at all, Allan after his off was hot on my heels, it was only time that thwarted him. But I think that getting past the Abarth would have been difficult. As I said, position, in front he would have been long gone.

 

[gearwhine]

All this talk of getting faster. I am not feeling it myself. I could not at the beginning of the race find 2 seconds with a car that is easy to drive and on a track that is straightforward apart from the chicane at the end which i did not appear to be losing the 2 seconds on. Although my times did come down later on i still don't know where you all got your early pace from. Nevertheless, i did enjoy it from beginning to end, even being last on road was ok. I think Andre may of felt i squeezed him out at one point but despite radar on i did not see him, focusing on the fact i was hanging in there with quicker drivers and as i said at the time was just sticking to my race line. Anyway, sorry if i caused an issue Andre. Thanks again Han, yet another great combo and am really enjoying driving with a great bunch of guys every week. Just wish you would all slow down a little

 

[HF2000]

All this talk of getting faster. I am not feeling it myself. I could not at the beginning of the race find 2 seconds with a car that is easy to drive and on a track that is straightforward apart from the chicane at the end which i did not appear to be losing the 2 seconds on. Although my times did come down later on i still don't know where you all got your early pace from. Nevertheless, i did enjoy it from beginning to end, even being last on road was ok. I think Andre may of felt i squeezed him out at one point but despite radar on i did not see him, focusing on the fact i was hanging in there with quicker drivers and as i said at the time was just sticking to my race line. Anyway, sorry if i caused an issue Andre. Thanks again Han, yet another great combo and am really enjoying driving with a great bunch of guys every week. Just wish you would all slow down a little

Well Steve, I'm pretty sure your pace has gotten closer to mine when I look at the last races. But that goes for almost anyone who was slower. So you might think I've slowed down, but the gap with Ernie who I've been racing with for 2 1/2 years is still the same as it was a year ago. So I think (almost) everyone has improved, but the upper midfielders less than the lower midfielders and the backmarkers. Have you also noticed that there are fewer blue flags? That is also an indication that the members of this community have improved.

 

[KDiesel]

A very good choice because I had a nice battle with a Mazda that I won and a very long battle with Kimi who defended very fiercely. I think it was all legal, but it was also very risky because we had a lot of near misses, especially in Cobb. I think you should be renamed 'Kevin' as a reflection of your driving style, @KDiesel. But everything went well and we had a lot of fun (at least I did).

Yeah, that was intence battle. Funny that you braked Campell very late and I took early approach to Cobb in my mind, totally different lines but both gives almost same time loss/gain...

 

[a_murel]

All this talk of getting faster. I am not feeling it myself. I could not at the beginning of the race find 2 seconds with a car that is easy to drive and on a track that is straightforward apart from the chicane at the end which i did not appear to be losing the 2 seconds on. Although my times did come down later on i still don't know where you all got your early pace from. Nevertheless, i did enjoy it from beginning to end, even being last on road was ok. I think Andre may of felt i squeezed him out at one point but despite radar on i did not see him, focusing on the fact i was hanging in there with quicker drivers and as i said at the time was just sticking to my race line. Anyway, sorry if i caused an issue Andre. Thanks again Han, yet another great combo and am really enjoying driving with a great bunch of guys every week. Just wish you would all slow down a little

Ow, that explaines why you just let you car run wide towards the outside of the corner while I was there. To me it felt like you just drove I was not there, but this explanes why. I was not angry and never will be because these things can happen. No worries!

It was great fun though!

 

[Douglas Aird]

All this talk of getting faster. I am not feeling it myself. I could not at the beginning of the race find 2 seconds with a car that is easy to drive and on a track that is straightforward apart from the chicane at the end which i did not appear to be losing the 2 seconds on. Although my times did come down later on i still don't know where you all got your early pace from. Nevertheless, i did enjoy it from beginning to end, even being last on road was ok. I think Andre may of felt i squeezed him out at one point but despite radar on i did not see him, focusing on the fact i was hanging in there with quicker drivers and as i said at the time was just sticking to my race line. Anyway, sorry if i caused an issue Andre. Thanks again Han, yet another great combo and am really enjoying driving with a great bunch of guys every week. Just wish you would all slow down a little

Steve, you were losing out a lot in the T1 /T2 complex, I could see that when I was behind you.

In T1 you need to slow more so you can come over to the right of the track to take T2 quicker. If you get it right you can go flat through T2 and keep the foot down all the way to the approach of the chicane.

I was 1.7 seconds quicker than my previous best and that's where I found most of the time.

 

[Medilloni]

@gearwhine Steve, re your post above - if it's any help to you, I always have a look for YT vids on track guides before an event (where they exist!), it seems to help get into the groove if you're not familiar with the track.

An example of Thruxton one here:

I used his line for the Club chicane, maybe not fastest, but safest and most consistent in fwd cars (imo).

.......and this one was excellent re the Campbell/Cobb complex and the importance of not running too wide out of Cobb, so that you're then flat through Seagrave (and not scrubbing speed off!), which gives huge gains all the way to Noble - the 10th or 2 lost by keeping it tighter gives you 4-5 tenths in return

 

[eN1xes]

Thruxton its a **** ass track :'D

 

[gearwhine]

Thanks guys, i get it. I was taking Campbell much faster than Doug almost coming alongside him at cob only to find i am scrubbing off speed when he was applying it and hence, he was down the road while i was trying to take the bend with brakes applied. The stupid part was, i could see this happening lap after lap and was too dumb to recognise what i was doing. Focusing on my faster pace through Campbell like i was getting it right at that point. I get it. Yet another case of slow in, fast out. Wins every time but is so hard to see at times and the option to over drive the car can be very appealing sometimes. Again, thanks Doug and John for pointing out what is now obvious to me. Hey Han! can we do that race again please

 

[HF2000]

Hey Han! can we do that race again please

 

[Douglas Aird]

Thanks guys, i get it. I was taking Campbell much faster than Doug almost coming alongside him at cob only to find i am scrubbing off speed when he was applying it and hence, he was down the road while i was trying to take the bend with brakes applied. The stupid part was, i could see this happening lap after lap and was too dumb to recognise what i was doing. Focusing on my faster pace through Campbell like i was getting it right at that point. I get it. Yet another case of slow in, fast out. Wins every time but is so hard to see at times and the option to over drive the car can be very appealing sometimes. Again, thanks Doug and John for pointing out what is now obvious to me. Hey Han! can we do that race again please

No problem, Steve, we are all learning. I certainly have a bit to go, yet, as I'm only a year and a bit into taking this sim racing thing (semi) seriously.

I've learned a lot by watching the onboards of the fast guys but I hear you, knowing what you should be doing and doing it are very different things.

Also, it's risky to try something in a race that you have not done in practice so my practice is spent trying as many things as I can to find out what works for me and I can pull off consistently.