AC Multiclass Abarth500/Mazda Mx5@Sandown, Wed 19th July 2023

[HF2000]

Welcome to the RD Racing Club.

From New Zealand to Australia is just a short journey. As we enter the holiday season, the grid will be smaller. So to get enough action we visit some of the shorter circuits. To start with Sandown International Raceway. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its "drag strip" front and rear straights measuring 899m and 910m respectively. This mod has great natural track limits, so be careful when going for the best exit.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS is essential for clean and respectful driving in our community. You should therefore use tools like Helicorsa or CarRadar and CrewChief. The links for these apps are on the bottom of this post.

DISCORD. It's important that you also join us during the event on Discord for additional information and instructions. Link is below.

Sign up:
Go to https://acsm.racedepartment.com/championship/f1a4f789-f306-4bd7-9466-ce2334fa4106?server=0 using the Emperor account you have been given and register with your steamID.

If you don't have an Emperor account yet, ask for one by posting in this thread (only for premium members).

Especially the new and inexperienced drivers are recommended to participate. There are a lot of learning opportunities but without the intensity and stress of the GT3/4 cars or the endurance multiclass cars. It's also good step up for those kind of events.

Server information:

• Server: Racedepartment Server 1 Password: standard password, if you don't know that, ask for it in this thread and it will be send in a PM.
• 20:00 CEST, 19:00 BST (18:00 UTC) | 60 minutes - Official Practice
• 21:05 CEST, 20:05 BST (19:05 UTC) | 20 minutes - Qualification
• 21:30 CEST, 20:30 BST (19:30 UTC) | 60 minutes - Race
• Practiceserver available during the week. Same password.

Event details:

• Cars: Abarth 500 Assetto Corse/Mazda MX5 Cup
  • Country skins for Abarth: https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/abarth_world_series_2k.10401/
  • RaceDepartment skin for Abarth: https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/abarth-500-assetto-corse-race-department-skin-00.13916/
  • F1 skins for MX5: https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/skinpack-mazda-mx5-cup-f1-2023-teams-drivers.56935/
• Track: Sandown International Raceway, Australia https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/sandown-raceway.51061/
• Pit stop: Mandatory (at least 1 liter of fuel)
• Tyre blankets: Yes
• Track Road temperature: 30 Celsius
• Track grip: 100%
• Track limits: No more than 2 wheels over the white/yellow line without a lift of the gas please. You will be penalized if you break this rule.
• Damage: 10%
• Fuel Consumption: 40%
• Tyre wear: 10%

Useful Links:

• RaceDepartment Discord: click here
• Sync Accounts: click here
• Recommended apps: Helicorsa + CarRadar+ Top/Centre Flags or AC_Flags + CrewChief
• Tracks, Cars, Apps Installation Guide: click here (Handy guide to install non AC content)
• Racing Club Rules: click here
• Incident Reporting: click here

Entry list:

• https://acsm.racedepartment.com/championship/f1a4f789-f306-4bd7-9466-ce2334fa4106?server=0 Tab Entrants

 

[RS242]

I might have to skip this one...
My shifting problems from last week were not caused by a bent cable. They are persisting even after everything has been properly re-connected.

After some testing I can't come up with a root cause yet.
Here are my findings so far:
- It does not seem to be related to the USB plug, connecting to a different port yields the same results.
- It's not Assetto Corsa, the problems are also present in other games.

Next steps/theories:
- If I shift slowly things seem to go fine (but I lose time and it's not always a given). If the gear skips mid acceleration releasing the accelerator pedal and re-engaging seems to get it running in gear again - without touching the shifter or the clutch. This leads me to think there may be some sort of strange interaction with the pedals happening. Pedals are running in a separate USB port through a Leo Bodnar cable. I still want to test reconnecting the pedals back into the wheel base and see what happens.
- Contacts within the shifter it-self may be dirty, but that would not explain the interaction with the pedals... Still I intend to open the shifter up and inspect the interior.
- Replacing the shifter at this moment is going to be a hard sell with the upper management. I've just busted this year's budget on a VR headset.

Unless I manage to get everything back in order before Wednesday it's a skip for me unfortunately. I will keep you guys posted on my progress.

 

[HF2000]

I might have to skip this one...
My shifting problems from last week were not caused by a bent cable. They are persisting even after everything has been properly re-connected.

After some testing I can't come up with a root cause yet.
Here are my findings so far:
- It does not seem to be related to the USB plug, connecting to a different port yields the same results.
- It's not Assetto Corsa, the problems are also present in other games.

Next steps/theories:
- If I shift slowly things seem to go fine (but I lose time and it's not always a given). If the gear skips mid acceleration releasing the accelerator pedal and re-engaging seems to get it running in gear again - without touching the shifter or the clutch. This leads me to think there may be some sort of strange interaction with the pedals happening. Pedals are running in a separate USB port through a Leo Bodnar cable. I still want to test reconnecting the pedals back into the wheel base and see what happens.
- Contacts within the shifter it-self may be dirty, but that would not explain the interaction with the pedals... Still I intend to open the shifter up and inspect the interior.
- Replacing the shifter at this moment is going to be a hard sell with the upper management. I've just busted this year's budget on a VR headset.

Unless I manage to get everything back in order before Wednesday it's a skip for me unfortunately. I will keep you guys posted on my progress.

Did you update firmware/drivers? Or reinstall it? And calibration?

 

[RS242]

Did you update firmware/drivers? Or reinstall it? And calibration?

Nope, nothing has changed (that I am aware of) since last week Saturday when I installed the track and prepared the car for the race on Wednesday. Not even a shutdown/restart happen.

 

[HF2000]

Nope, nothing has changed (that I am aware of) since last week Saturday when I installed the track and prepared the car for the race on Wednesday. Not even a shutdown/restart happen.

Yes but these are things you can try.
I just did a software update for my pedals for which I also had to update the firmware.

 

[stigs2cousin]

I don´t agree with you ,Han, that this concrete ramps which punish track limit violators really don´t have anything natural on them , this things are straight up mean.
( but powerfull there will be no embarrassing "point adjustments" later on.)

BTW, which year do we travel to, Doc?

 

[Kek700]

Nope, nothing has changed (that I am aware of) since last week Saturday when I installed the track and prepared the car for the race on Wednesday. Not even a shutdown/restart happen.

I only use Flappy paddles, but have a look at your de bounce settings, in controls , shifter settings. Mine is at 80ms, worth a look, as you may have by accident set it to something silly.

 

[Dzul]

Finally some practice. Track's short but fun. It's going to be a good race!

 

[RS242]

The spirit haunting my shifter has been exorcised!
After recalibrating the pedals and confirming the issue persisted I've moved forward with the disassembling of the shifter.
The connections inside have all been hot-glued so that's where my expedition stopped, but I did notice a few hard bents on the internal cables so I loosened and shaken everything.
After this I gave it a quick test and to my surprise everything was working fine!
So I've gotten everything back together and properly fastened into the cockpit and onward to some practice!

I have to admit, that left-hander on top of the hill scares me... just a few km/h above the limit and the car just goes loose all the way to the bottom. That small downhill stretch of road is certainly bound to produce some interesting incidents tomorrow night.

I'll see you tomorrow!
- Ricardo

 

[pcmoreno]

Hey, after trying out the track yesterday for the first time, I must say I quite liked it. Looking forward to it and hoping for a big starting grid.
Also those curbs(mounds, hills, walls?) sure make following track limits easy.

that left-hander on top of the hill scares me

Can you imagine if we would be doing this one at night?

 

[HF2000]

Guys,

I know that there are some participants who sign up late.
But I would like to ask all of you to sign up as soon as possible, especially in the upcoming holiday period. If there are not so much drivers, I might make changes to the combo to make it more attractive with a small grid. But I have to know that at least 3 days in advance.

So please sign up as soon a possible.
I prefer early sign ups and late sign outs rather then late sign ups.

Thanks!

 

[pcmoreno]

But I have to know that at least 3 days in advance.

That's a good point. I already knew I was going to join this week in but only signed up yesterday. Will pay better attention to this in the future.

 

[Kek700]

Difficult track for the Abarth, never been bumped of the circuit before and been on the racing line , approximately, I don't know if this effects the Mazda.??

 

[Captain Condescending]

Can I sign up for this? Been a while since I raced at RD so never used the new ACSM sign up. How do I get a login?

 

[HF2000]

Can I sign up for this? Been a while since I raced at RD so never used the new ACSM sign up. How do I get a login?

Hi Joseph,

Great you want to join! I will send you a PM now with the necessary information.

 

[Medilloni]

Still getting stuttering, think it's my prob, will quit if it carries on, please let me know if I'm flying
edit.... still not fixed, my apologies if I affected anyone.

 

[Boukâh]

Results are in:

Result 230719-L0k - sandown_raceway_2012-2012 - Unknown or offline - Assetto Corsa - Simresults

Result 230719-L0k - sandown_raceway_2012-2012 - Unknown or offline - Assetto Corsa - Simresults - The results viewer for your favorite race sims.

simresults.net

 

[Kek700]

Still getting stuttering, think it's my prob, will quit if it carries on, please let me know if I'm flying
edit.... still not fixed, my apologies if I affected anyone.

From my perspective following you John, I saw no problems.

 

[Kek700]

Night mare track for me, I really struggle at these circuits. But only managed one serious off, so I have to pleased about that small mercy.
Well done all that finished, and podiums too.
I am still sometime surprise at the close racing with these cars although the Mazda had the edge, just.

 

[RS242]

Had so much fun!
After a bad spell of lonely races in the past 2 months I finally caught a break!

Rough start after getting hypnotized by Han's bouncy Abarth on the downslope I didn't realize I was going too fast and ended up in the gravel, behind everyone but Jose (what happened to you man?).
Picked my self up and then the race really started, with a nice fight with David and Steve, and I actually got to perform an overtake!
Then the pit dance begun and the people around me kept changing, but somehow I kept climbing places.
And once things stabilized the blue flags started going through so there was always something to keep me busy.

Personally I felt quite consistent and I'm very happy with the pace I achieved.
I'm sorry for those that had some connectivity problems, that is always a party pooper.
The choice for shorter tracks for smaller grids is indeed a good one!

Congratulations to the podiums, great racing all-around and thanks Han for hosting.
Next week I will begin my vacations and eventually drive the 2500km route to Portugal for some nice time off. I don't have a departure date yet, so it's uncertain if I will be able to attend next week's race. So I will catch you in (my) next one!

Cheers!
- Ricardo