AC Multiclass Abarth500/Mazda MX5@Sydney Motorsports Park, Wed 8th November 2023

[HF2000]

Welcome to the RD Racing Club.

In between the Fat-Alfie tracks this time a track of another great mod maker, RMi_wood. The Sydney Motorsport Park (known until May 2012 as Eastern Creek International Raceway) is a circuit located some 40-kilometres west of Sydney.

It has several lay-outs but we will be using the Gardner GP version on which the Abarth should be able to come close to the Mazda laptimes.

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/939eccef-a6f6-4f28-8a1b-8376e37a8fcd?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/Suzuki Swift R3 Sport
  • 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/
  • Suzuki Swift mod: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12Nvr375tWuFgo5mPE8mNNQz0KK4L0Vr-/view
• Track: Sydney Motorsports Park - GardnerGP lay out: https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/sydney-motorsport-park-eastern-creek.51174/
• Pit stop: Mandatory (at least 1 liter of fuel)
• Tyre blankets: Yes
• Track Road temperature: 37 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/939eccef-a6f6-4f28-8a1b-8376e37a8fcd?server=0 Tab Entrants

 

[RS242]

Which cars will be available for this race?
The Event Details section might need a quick revision.

 

[HF2000]

Which cars will be available for this race?
The Event Details section might need a quick revision.

Corrected! Even added a nice picture! Thanks.

 

[Medilloni]

@HF2000 Lovely track Han, as Paul said on the server yesterday, it has a great flow to it

Didn't realise it was a still-functioning track tbh.... I'll be taking a trip for this, with my lottery win

Fastrack V8 Race Experience

Get behind the wheel of a powerful V8 race car, with a professional race driver sitting alongside showing you how to get the best out of yourself, the car and the circuit.Don’t want to drive, but still have the need for speed? Jump into the passenger seat and let one of our experienced drivers...

www.sydneymotorsportpark.com.au

 

[Alfred Wayne]

Some Time Attack cars ripping around here a couple months ago

 

[HF2000]

Guys,


I've found a rwd car that could be an alternative for the Mazda. If you have time, please check it out and let me know if it's a good option.

lot_340r_00_1.0

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.

www.mediafire.com

 

[Elmar3rd]

Guys,


I've found a rwd car that could be an alternative for the Mazda. If you have time, please check it out and let me know if it's a good option.

lot_340r_00_1.0

MediaFire is a simple to use free service that lets you put all your photos, documents, music, and video in a single place so you can access them anywhere and share them everywhere.

www.mediafire.com

This morning, I practiced with the Mazda at Sydney Motorsports Park and completed around 20 laps. Afterward, I switched to the Lotus. I noticed that the acceleration and gears felt quite similar between the two cars. However, the main issue with the Lotus is its tires. They perform decently in slower corners, but they have significantly less grip in faster corners. I can't accelerate fully through the first corner, unlike with the MX5 Cup where this isn't a problem. Unfortunately, it's not possible to adjust the camber of the wheels, and reducing the PSI doesn't help either. As a result, I am about 3 seconds slower with the Lotus.

 

[HF2000]

This morning, I practiced with the Mazda at Sydney Motorsports Park and completed around 20 laps. Afterward, I switched to the Lotus. I noticed that the acceleration and gears felt quite similar between the two cars. However, the main issue with the Lotus is its tires. They perform decently in slower corners, but they have significantly less grip in faster corners. I can't accelerate fully through the first corner, unlike with the MX5 Cup where this isn't a problem. Unfortunately, it's not possible to adjust the camber of the wheels, and reducing the PSI doesn't help either. As a result, I am about 3 seconds slower with the Lotus.

I've tested the car at Watkins.
But on Sydney was also seconds slower than my PB with the Mazda.
After I added the Mazda tyres as an option, I came close to my PB.

 

[Kek700]

Any idea why i get this with the lotus 340 ?? when i load it, either through vanilla AC or CM

Error might have something to do with:

AC\carbrakelights.cpp (473): CarBrakeLights::update
AC\game.cpp (261): Game::update
AC\game.cpp (261): Game::update
AC\game.cpp (261): Game::update
AC\game.cpp (261): Game::update
AC\game.cpp (112): Game::onIdle
AC\game.cpp (210): Game::run
AC\acs.cpp (477): wWinMain
f:\dd\vctools\crt\crtw32\dllstuff\crtexe.c (618): __tmainCRTStartup

 

[Elmar3rd]

I've tested the car at Watkins.
But on Sydney was also seconds slower than my PB with the Mazda.
After I added the Mazda tyres as an option, I came close to my PB.

Changin tires would be a solution. But on the test server, changing tires was a little bit confusing and we had checksum problems.

I tried another thing and adjusted the power-curve of the great Ginetta G40 GT5 and made a tuned version of the car. With a reduction to 88pc over the whole curve it is equal with the MX5 Cup at Watkins Glen (max. 145HP now, instead of 165HP).
My idea was to publish it on RD, but sadly we cannot ask the creator of the Ginetta G40 GT5 Mod for permission anymore.

 

[Shed 17]

I just did a back to back test at Deutschlandring ot the Mazda, Lotus, Abarth, Suzuki and another possible RWD contender ( in my opinion), the Caterham 420R. (available download on RD with loads of skins.).
All cars on default set up with 30 litres. Best time after 3 laps.
I won't post the overall laptimes but for comparison;

Fastest was the Abarth
Suzuki Swift R3 +0.5s
Catherham 420R + 0.9s
Mazda MX5 Cup+ 1.3s
Lotus 340+ 4.0s

The Suzuki and Lotus have the lowest top speed and run out of steam on the long straights found on the Fat Alfie circuits but have nice handing in the curves. Personally I really enjoyed the Caterham for the feedback and overall drving experiece.

Now this is me driving, normally a midfield finisher and only over three laps. How tyres will perform over a longer stint and how much the really fast guys can extract is all open to testing. I am sure there is more to come from the newer cars here. Also, as we know different tracks suit different cars but I thought the Fat Alfie tracks give a good mix of corners/straights.
I did consider the Caterham Acadamy but that is very slow compared to the above. Also the Ginetta's are a nice drive but seem to be out of scope of these times in default trim.

Could a test server be set up and or a test race maybe with the above five cars??

Hope this helps.

 

[HF2000]

Could a test server be set up and or a test race maybe with the above five cars??

I will do that on Server 2 after the Rookie event on Thursday.
The Lotus Elise SC Step 2 may also be promising.

 

[Shed 17]

Thanks for reminding me Han, must sign up for Thursday.

 

[pcmoreno]

Unfortunately I have to pull out of this week's race too. Pity, it looks like such a nice track.

 

[HF2000]

Thanks for reminding me Han, must sign up for Thursday.

Well I need Rookies for that. No one signed up yet. If it stays that way, I will cancel the event.

 

[Kek700]

I have been trying other RWD Mazda equivalents. It is a hard act to follow and I don’t like the Mazda, so unless there is an advantage for the equivalent car??? most seem a pain to drive, even I would go for the MX5.
The lotus cars are a pain with their rear roll oversteer, again I would go for the Mazda, at least for most parts it is easy to drive.
Just my 10cents worth.

 

[HF2000]

The lotus cars are a pain with their rear roll oversteer

It's a lot better if you use the Mazda tyres on these cars. Those slicks slide less and you have better traction. In general, replacing the semislicks with those slicks will gain you 2 -3 seconds.

 

[Alfred Wayne]

Han, I "fear" you are in search of something that just might not exist at this class level

There's a Reason Why Everyone Loves the MX-5 Cup

The MX-5 makes the perfect race car platform, approachable for a beginner and rewarding for a pro. Truly wonderful.

www.roadandtrack.com

 

[HF2000]

And it's also time for your vote for the Track of the Month: https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/voting-for-track-of-the-month-november-2023.265272/

 

[stigs2cousin]

Han, I "fear" you are in search of something that just might not exist at this class level

There's a Reason Why Everyone Loves the MX-5 Cup

The MX-5 makes the perfect race car platform, approachable for a beginner and rewarding for a pro. Truly wonderful.

www.roadandtrack.com

Let´s hope he listens to you