AC Multiclass Abarth500/Mazda MX5@Donington1938, Wed 21st September 2022

[HF2000]

I think everyone knows i love my little Mazda..I,ve raced Donnington 38 a lot..Out of curiosity i gave the Crab-walking Shitbox a go..Absolute terrible,but after quite a few laps on default, i started tweeking,more laps, more tweeking,many hrs,DAYS,more tweeking, to the point i was in the low 2.00 minutes and actually starting to like the thing...soooo i thought for a laugh, for a surprise,for a shock, at the last min swap to the Abarth,give the Abarth Top Dogs a run for there money.Well....come to start the nights racing i found myself in a Mazda???,not even my racing colours either.Han i believe, for him to be a laugh switched me back to the mazda at the last min....Im more pissed at the lost time i spent on it, and i drove a long boring race on my own,when in fact i probably could have had a good battle with the top 5..Iknow its not personal,i accept Hans apology, of course i do,was just so looking forward to a good scrap...Rant Over..

Thanks for accepting my apologies, Allan. Now I am very curious which car you will choose for the Fat-Alfie Championship?
So for this choice, all your exercise and tweeking have not been for nothing, fortunately.

And for other Mazda drivers who read this. Allans experience with the Abarth (first terrible but later going to like it) is not unique.
It just takes quite some time to get to know the car.

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

Now I am very curious which car you will choose for the Fat-Alfie Championship?

At this moment in time...Im not saying anything.

 

[HF2000]

At this moment in time...Im not saying anything.

Ok. Then I won't tell you that I will put Ernie in the Skippy next time

 

[Kek700]

 

[stigs2cousin]

Han turned into a bully, sad days ahead.

Maybe time to move on to greener pastures.....


MFG Carsten

( time will tell if this is humouristic piece or the beginning of the end )

 

[HF2000]

Han turned into a bully, sad days ahead.

Ok Carsten. Abarth595 for you!

Anyone else complaining? Remember, there's always the baguette delivery car left!

 

[stigs2cousin]

Signing out,

have to prep my Kettcar for Kindergarten Championship...

By By Carsten

 

[nepal roade]

Just saw the replay. For a laugh, look at my car in lap 28.

I also watched the race from Fulvio's car and now I'm seriously doubting my knowledge of the English language.
Apparently nobody understands my call for being very careful in turn 1 .

Can one of the UK guys please translate it next time?

being at the back I watched that all happen. the biggest difference that anyone can make is to keep their line, sideways movement of any kind in that situation must be considered a no no. I don't think any human is capable of monitoring so many objects around them so keep your line.

 

[Kek700]

I agree, unfortunately that is easier said than done. One person changes their line, that can be for many reasons. Then the domino effect starts, when so many cars are so tightly crammed onto one corner, everyone gets there bit of the action, all tightly wrapped up in the very limited space and time.
I slowed down, the car now in front uses that space to get the nose more onto the corner, that takes away the space from the car on his right, who does the same, the car on his right overshoots his braking in an attempt to compensate for the ground and space he thought he had. One car gets clipped that passed onto the car in the middle, he hits me harder that expected, my car gets turned I hit the car in front, he gets spun around knocking me straight.
Now just maybe, I had not been so careful, there may have been a chance none of the above would have happened, maybe it would have been worse, who knows.
This time I got away lightly, next time maybe not.
As long as no one does anything purposefully, then that is as much as I can expect and hope for. In the end that is how I saw this incident.
Although I moan more than most when I get the wrong end of the stick, I really quite enjoy the lottery, it makes it exciting, allowing some to get high up the field and some to be pushed back.

Then the enjoyment of a real race.

That is what Fulvio gets by starting at the back, pretty sure he does not want the boredom of knocking out 30 uneventful laps race after race.
He knows he will have to run the race from the back with all the variation of different drivers and their foibles.
Sometimes easy sometimes not.

On a side note, I really enjoy battling Han , we are two very different drivers with completely different approach’s to racing,
We are not short of coming together and have pretty much the same pace, he is always fair and I know he is not going to hit me on purpose.
I find no joy in it being all very predictable, every encounter with Han is always exciting and unpredictable, that is the way I like it.

And so to starts, makes for excitement, as long as everyone at least tries to be careful with respect to their driving styles. Some are go for it, with that racing flare, some like me have a more of a Germanic approach, think it through carefully approach.

We are not all the same, thank heavens for that, it would be dull if everyone was like me.
You go first, no you go, no I preferred it if you went in front , all pretty dull.

You can tell I cannot get to sleep again.

 

[nepal roade]

I agree, unfortunately that is easier said than done. One person changes their line, that can be for many reasons. Then the domino effect starts, when so many cars are so tightly crammed onto one corner, everyone gets there bit of the action, all tightly wrapped up in the very limited space and time.

I had a similar reply from you the last time I complained about starts on one of Fat Alfie's tracks. Sure it is fun for you as you have the pace to compensate for early misfortune. As for someone of my pace any incident at the start invariably means I usually then spend the rest of the race on my own as was the case at Donington. Although I managed to miss the first turn melee, further on around a blind corner someone had spun and was across the road and unavoidable, after that all I saw was dust for 60mins.

 

[Kek700]

Ha Ha it was a sort of an apology, because somewhere in that I was to blame, but because of the numbers involved it seemed pointless to say anything.
Plus it helped me to get to sleep last night, I waffled my way to sleep.

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

As for someone of my pace any incident at the start invariably means I usually then spend the rest of the race on my own as was the case at Donington.

We need to see you more on track Nepal..Practice is the key with many tracks..Turning up out of the blue now and again is,nt the way forward,if you need any help theres a lot of guys here willing to help..

 

[HF2000]

We need to see you more on track Nepal..Practice is the key with many tracks..Turning up out of the blue now and again is,nt the way forward,if you need any help theres a lot of guys here willing to help..

Hi Neal,

I agree with Allan here. You haven't been around for a while but a lot of the guys from Wednesday have been attending my events all year round and I believe they all got 1-2 seconds faster on an average track.
Done through practice and sometimes with help from others, but mostly by racing with us.

My personal benchmark is Ernie. A year ago I was about 1 second slower per lap. Now it is about 0.3 or 0.4 seconds. And he has improved too.
Paul Fairweather is another example. He was about 0.5s slower than me, but he's at the same pace now and beats me regularly in qualifying.

Both Ernie and Paul rarely miss a race.

 

[nepal roade]

I appreciate your comments guys and understand all about practise. I do but generally offline. I'm at a stage/age in my life where I am not getting faster, but getting slower if anything and no amount of practise will solve that unfortunately so my interest is never in winning a race although I will always take it if it comes but in taking part. Up to quite recently I have been competing with another club using Caterhams but never had the speed to get into their top tier, so it's not like I'm not used to AC, far from it.

My personal benchmark is Ernie. A year ago I was about 1 second slower per lap. Now it is about 0.3 or 0.4 seconds. And he has improved too.

yes, you see my difference is more 2+ seconds slower and in all my racing life I've never been better than about 1 seconds slower at my very best. Someone has to be the slow driver and it seems to be meeeeeeee.

 

[JamKart22]

Hi Neal

The nice thing about this club is the spread of ability. There is generally always someone to race with and I find it's just as much fun racing for any position. My last 20min race with Douglas and Wayne was enjoyable - even though I was pipped on the line for a position. However, I feel your frustration of having a first lap crash and having a lonely race at the back. It's happened to me on more than one occasion!

In this race I qualified OK and then was pretty much near the back after the first corner carnage. I had done a few AI races so was not surprised by the tight grid formation - didn't help me in the end because there were just too many cars trying to win the race at the first corner

In the end we do this for fun and it's what you get out of it that matters. So join a few more races and we can hopefully have a race at the back

 

[Kek700]

I also race with you on AMS2, so I know for sure that you are a quick driver. So Allan comment from my point of view is spot on.

Plus racing against you in AMS2 I know you are a proper gentleman when you race.
Double whammy what’s not to like.

 

[eN1xes]

Dont forget this are meant to be fun race's clean race good fights alot of fun , practice is less important , better is when u have time to play sims jump on online servers this is better practice even if is not the same car

 

[nepal roade]

In the end we do this for fun and it's what you get out of it that matters. So join a few more races and we can hopefully have a race at the back

Oh I will be, I'm already signed up for the Fat Alfie bonanza on tues & weds.

My last 20min race with Douglas and Wayne was enjoyable - even though I was pipped on the line for a position.

see I'm really not bothered about what position I finish either, in fact all position means is the race and fun is over... like you hint at above, for me my pleasure is in a good close battle with another one or more racers and I enjoy a great passing move on me just as much as when I make one too. Also trying to chase down another car ahead, putting consistent lap after lap and slowly closing the gap is something I also really enjoy. I did some of that on thursdays AMS2 race at Hockenheim with the GT1s.

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

I'm at a stage/age in my life where I am not getting faster, but getting slower if anything

You cant be as old as our resident "Old Bugger" @Kek700.. and he,s pretty darn quick...We have all age rangers, but mostly i think the average age for us all is about 50-55....Apart from racing there is always playful banter, i know im usually in the firing line for it..but i love it,and above all else its great fun..Dont practice off line someone is usually around ugh-um me on a night,great to have a little battle and learn more race craft...Got to go now my 26oz steak is ready and im hungry..

 

[nepal roade]

You cant be as old as our resident "Old Bugger" @Kek700

true, he's got 4 years on me. Maybe he's aging like a fine wine whereas I'm aging like an old potato.