AC Multiclass Abarth500/Mazda MX5@TT Assen, Wed 7th December 2022

[eN1xes]

btw about collision dont remove points or u remove the fun of fighting wheel to wheel just remove points or give a penalty if there is an incident caused and reported by sm1

 

[Dzul]

Intense race. Quite. You just couldn't stop focussing...

I somehow managed P8 on Qualy had a good start and survived the first laps. Lost a few places trying to defend in a sea of Mazdas with incoming Abarths, that is quite a challenge on Assen's first sector... jeez! I was behind an "Alonso Train" following a white/yellow Mazda (sorry, can't remember who it was) when he went wide at the start of the last sector... I closed in and we went two wide on the last two corners before the chicane but I went off, touched the grass and spun heading for the pitlane... so I tried to pit but hit the armco at the wrong side. I managed to stop close to the pit entry and went for a quick refuel since I lost all concentration on that spin. I lost a lot of time but came back on track and put my head down. I kept consistent times and had a fun scrap with @maxilogan and @davejevons for some laps, managing to get through eventually and gaining a few more places when others pitted and keeping out of trouble. After all pitstops were done I was in no-man's land between Han and Colin and finished P13. Not what I expected but that's where I put myself with that one chunky mistake. I had a few chases with some of the new drivers, especially on the first laps and I must say it was good racing so well done guys! I hope you enjoyed as well and keep coming back.

Congratulations to the winners and podiums, and thank you for organising again Han, especially doing al manually with the new system. It's quite something to see the practical effect of all those off-tracks. I'm with @Boukâh on "AC and Jim don't seem to agree" where you go off, at least on this track... but it's only fair to hand in time penalties for infringing track limits... one of those got me into the 55's but it was quite a chunky cut so, can't flash that badge, hahaha! Still, thanks for the fun chaps!

Han @HF2000 ... I won't be able to race next wednesday as we have to travel to Fryslân for a wedding so please feel free to open up my spot for someone else (I'd like to keep the points though ) Gracias!

 

[Douglas Aird]

Interesting penalty outcome. I thought I went outside the lines more than 3 times (trying to hold control and not on the gas) but I guess the robot marshals could tell Shame they negated your last move through the chicane Doug

Great racing today everyone!

Lol, I think most of my off tracks were in sector 1, the chicane I was safe (and slow)!

 

[eN1xes]

anyway Congratz to Gerben Kelly amazing pace and Robert for 3rd place as always ty han for this event

 

[HF2000]

Good info Han , though I'd be interested to see how many 'wheels out' were allowed (it should be one imo ;-P ), and mod tracks are notoriously hard to stick with track limits - for example, at Battenbergring, every 2 wheels out is a cut on Emperor server (and eventual penalty), but always loses you time (and your life lol). Setting it on a race by race basis after experimenting is maybe the way to go? Happy to test/help you and Brian if you do.

Gutted I missed tonights race by 10mins ffs

It was 3 tyres out as allowed.

 

[HF2000]

Need to confirm with the boss that I'm not spoken for on Wednesday (lots of kids events at this time of year) but hopefully I can take one of those empty slots. Doesn't look like it will be an easy track to learn in 10mins though so I might be a liability.

Just let me know if you want a spot.

 

[gearwhine]

Damn it, i lost my VR headset connection AGAIN. Twice in two weeks. I use it every day and it has been fine. Maybe i need to move my light or something. Was enjoying my mid pack race slowly moving up a few places and then i am blind and have to crash off the track and reset from scratch. Continued for a while but got lonely out there so quit. Never mind, **** happens. See you next week guys

 

[johnny85ac]

was a fun race tonight although I had terrible troubles with my CPU load. I think I never raced with such a full grid before
I think I already figured out some issues and will be prepared for sunday. nice racing with omar & gery! well done gents!

 

[JOSEJ]

Hi, It was my first race. I was at my limit and spon twice in the first 20 minutes and I found all the first drivers passing me. So I push scape to not make trouble to them and decide to let the race go. Back a few minutes later, but not confortable at all, letting people pass as my race was in another level. Finally I was showed black flag because not stop at pits, again my mistake as I was thinking when I press scape and went to pits that's count
However a good experience but quite surprise how hight is the level compared with last rookie race. I think I do not disturbe anyone, sorry if I did, so I will try again but I really know now how much I need to learn.
Thank you Hans for all the effort preparing the race and to Bouke, whom gave me some very good advice that makes me save 4 seconds per lap.
I guess I was last, so I only can improbe.

 

[JOSEJ]

Is there anyway to see the race?.
I do not record in my computer as I need all resources for the game

 

[Dzul]

Is there anyway to see the race?.
I do not record in my computer as I need all resources for the game

Don Jose! Great that you participated. Don't worry about speed now, consistency first and speed will follow. I'm at work atm but I can share here the replay once I get home this afternoon.

 

[homer1007]

Hi, It was my first race. I was at my limit and spon twice in the first 20 minutes and I found all the first drivers passing me. So I push scape to not make trouble to them and decide to let the race go. Back a few minutes later, but not confortable at all, letting people pass as my race was in another level. Finally I was showed black flag because not stop at pits, again my mistake as I was thinking when I press scape and went to pits that's count
However a good experience but quite surprise how hight is the level compared with last rookie race. I think I do not disturbe anyone, sorry if I did, so I will try again but I really know now how much I need to learn.
Thank you Hans for all the effort preparing the race and to Bouke, whom gave me some very good advice that makes me save 4 seconds per lap.
I guess I was last, so I only can improbe.

Whilst no speed demon myself I found it helpful to spend sometime racing the AI but giving them the same respect I would a real person. I'd suggest starting at the back of the grid and setting the AI level to the point where you can make progress through the pack, you can also try the other way, start at the front and set the AI a little higher so they pass you. Should give you some more experience of racing around cars without accidents (its hard but you learn to use the radar, listen to spotter/chief and get a feel for what the cars will do). I found out lastnight that AC/Chief start blueflagging when the other car is about 2.5 seconds behind you so you have time to think, when they get within passing distance either lift gently off the gas and they will come past or if coming out of a corner just delay applying the gas briefly and again they will pass you without drama. Most important though, don't brake for them its unexpected and chances are they will slam into the back of you. Best tip though don't worry about your position because it doesn't matter, what matters is the fun of racing around other cars which happens all the way through the pack.

 

[HF2000]

Whilst no speed demon myself I found it helpful to spend sometime racing the AI but giving them the same respect I would a real person. I'd suggest starting at the back of the grid and setting the AI level to the point where you can make progress through the pack, you can also try the other way, start at the front and set the AI a little higher so they pass you. Should give you some more experience of racing around cars without accidents (its hard but you learn to use the radar, listen to spotter/chief and get a feel for what the cars will do). I found out lastnight that AC/Chief start blueflagging when the other car is about 2.5 seconds behind you so you have time to think, when they get within passing distance either lift gently off the gas and they will come past or if coming out of a corner just delay applying the gas briefly and again they will pass you without drama. Most important though, don't brake for them its unexpected and chances are they will slam into the back of you. Best tip though don't worry about your position because it doesn't matter, what matters is the fun of racing around other cars which happens all the way through the pack.

EXCELLENT POST!

 

[HF2000]

It was a great race with so many participants. And clean and respectful racing as far as I could tell. The low number of collisions confirms this.
These are the kind of events that we at RaceDepartment strive for.
I hope everyone had a good time.

I didn't try to set a fast time in qualifying because I wanted to start a bit further back to see how it would go and because for once I wanted to start behind someone else instead of Ernie
But that Rotter apparently knew that and did the same ! What have I ever done to you that you hate me so?

The race itself was fun with several battles with similar pace Mazdas. Also on this track, the dynamic is that the Abarths are faster on the straights and the Mazdas in the corners. Especially in the combination T3, T4, T5, the hairdresser is so much faster that the following driver could always close the gap. But overtaking an Abarth was very difficult for a Mazda, unless the driver made a mistake by turning in a little late and understeered more to allow the Mazda to go inside.

Later I had to fight with Ernie who had an incident in the first round but managed to catch up with me. He passed me when I missed my braking point in the last chicane, but his pace was better anyway.

The new guys fit in well and most of them were competitive right away.

Thanks all for joining and congrats to the podium, especially Gerben who managed to prevent another win of Fulvio.

Next week the last race in the Fat-Alfie championship at Fonteny. That track is 25 km so if you don't know it, start practicing on time. The server is available tonight.
Also keep an eye out for the Tuesday race. I'm planning an event featuring classic cars that have the same characteristics as the Abarth/Mazda combination.

 

[Gerben Kelly]

That was a nice race yesterday, surprisingly I had pace to go for the win. Well the last time that happened was a long long time ago.

I also took @Ruud Mulders & @Jeroen Jonckers with me, and we had great fun.
In practise I somehow got the speed to go for the topspots. I also like this track, I drive by it everyday on my way to work, and have been there many times. Even got the privilege to drive it a few years ago .

In quali I managed to do a 55. Very nice, and good enough for pole

At the start I did what I do best, $%&$ it up . Costed me 4 positions. But I had nice fights to get back to P1. I decided to stay out as long as possible, untill I came up to some backmarkers, then pitted and finished the race in P1! Woohoo

The 1 collision I have is with the tyre-stack in the first corner, oops. And the 2 cuts, is going wide twice in Stekkenwal corner. At least I think, didn't get a message or something in AC.

I enjoyed the race, and it's gonna be a while before this is going to happen again in terms of results haha.

Han thanks for organizing!

 

[a_murel]

What a race! I had a good start since a lonnnggg time and ended up 1st in the first laps, having a great fight with Kimmich! Then it happened, in some way I shifted back i a corner to 3rd but then my gearbox desided to shift back to 2nd and i lost it in the corner. Which resulted in Kimmich T-boning me... Sorry Thomas!

Later on rebooted myself and persuiting Gerben, which was a good fight in a distance keeping the 2nd place alive by keeping the same gap of 9 secs. After the pitstop I had a good fight with Fulvio and Thomas again, but made a minor mistake where Thomas could pass me again. Ending up 3rd of the Mazda's

Finally a "normal" track for me!

About the test for penalties with deduction of points in my opinion is not the best track to test this system, because crewchief and AC did not agree about on staying on track or not.

Thank you Han for all the trouble!

 

[Kek700]

Just my own personal point of view.
I just do not like any sort of mindless electronic intervention.

I do not see anyone using track limits in a way that makes me feel as though they are getting away with anything meaning full.

Tuesday race was an example of a car that I certainly did not know where it was going, let alone track limits.
But for these events I am sure they could be removed?

Invariably if some one in front exceeds the track limit it is nearly alway to the detriment of their lap times.
My heart was not in it tonight, I just do not get on with these types of circuits, so happy to start near the back, not that I had much of an option anyway, just one Rotter in a Mazda popped me into a spin ( yes I exceeded track limits )
But after a while got to enjoy it all with many battles, I imagine it was frustrating for the Mazda drivers.
So a special well Done to the fast podiums and another special Thankyou to all the great battles I had with all I came across.

PS a special Thankyou to John and his setup tweaks, that actually made some sense three quarters into the race.
Still not at ease with this circuit.

PS 2 and a well done to Han on another successful race event.

 

[Kek700]

Waffle number 2

I have been attempting ACC for a while now, with a lot of help from Rasmus, for which I am extremely grateful.
He has by some miracle made me reasonably competitive.

I have done six races and completed none of them, mainly due to all the little bits of things that need to be done, exactly right, remembered, completed, known about, or you are returned to the pits.
beginners failing. yes of course , but it does not take long to loose the will to live with this sim.

My point is AC has a real turn up and race, first race or one of many.
It is that simplicity that makes it fun, I cannot say the same about ACC.

I preferred AC to be a straight forward sim

As our forum is for every one and not just seasoned racers, I think it is best to keep it simple.
With AC I can be late in, jump in the rig and go.

ACC is an over complicated thing, full of small time consuming things to do and remember.
You do not want rookies to be constantly return to the pits, for a reason that is baffling, loose places at the end of the race for reasons that seem out of context with the race itself.

The end.

 

[maxilogan]

Next week Wednesday is the last race of the Fat-Alfie championship on Fonteny.
There are two spots left and I can free up two other places of guys that haven't joined once since the championship started.

As my work trip to Lyon has been confirmed, you can also use my spot as I won't be joining the race

 

[RasmusP]

Hey guys, just chiming in after having some fun reading through the thread during my break

how many 'wheels out' were allowed (it should be one imo ;-P )

No idea if you know this but I'm sure many others don't, so:
In AC, the wheels out detection is done via "touching the surface".
So if you'd go over a ramp in the middle of the track, you'd always get a cut, since all 4 wheels didn't touch the "part of the track surface".
Which is why all kerbs are "part of the track" on Kunos tracks.

If you set this setting to one and set the kerbs to "off track" - and then take the corner with your front left on the kerb and the rear left gets a bump:
Cut!

So on bumpy tracks or mod tracks where some kerbs aren't "track", you get a lot of "cuts".
I'm not sure why CrewChief is detecting cuts differently. I'd imagine it reads out the "Cut yes/no" from the SharedMemory in the RAM of AC.
But apparently it reads out the surface contacs and has a set "Allowed Wheels Out" setting..

There was a Penalties/Rolling Starts etc. plugin from Brioche a few years ago. Forgot the name...
There you could hit "record" and slowly roll around the track with your outside wheels on the white line. 2x, inside and outside.
The rest was done by reading out the car width and using the "GPS coordinates".
Wayyyyy better than the surface-contact-detection. But way too many hours needed to get it all running.

I have an old i5 8600k (overclocked to 4.9GHz

Well it's not "old" in performance though! 9th/10th/11th gen had basically identical performance, just higher stock-OC.
Only the 12th gen showed a massive jump forwards and the 13th gen builds a tiny bit on top of that.
So basically, since you can hit 4.9 GHz, your CPU is only "1 generation old"

was a fun race tonight although I had terrible troubles with my CPU load. I think I never raced with such a full grid before
I think I already figured out some issues and will be prepared for sunday. nice racing with omar & gery! well done gents!

If you want to further optimize things and happen to have Content Manager and CSP running anyway:
Search for the CSP performance app while on track. It lists everything that happens in the rendering pipeline.
So if one of your HUD apps takes 20% of your frame time, you instantly see it.
If your post processing takes a big chunk, try to play with these settings.

It's extremely helpful!