AC Multiclass Cup Audi TT/Mazda MX5 @Imola, Wednesday 14th April 2021

[Kek700]

Good race for me, spent most of it, if not all of it battling Han, funny thing racing. Han had his off at the worst time and place, that was what it came down between us in the end.
My off was in the best place, and best time in the race, so it just lost me a couple of unimportant seconds.
Thomas had some just plain bad luck, so that gave Han and I a gift place each, that was it really, front three long gone.
Difficult circuit, which I am sure is going to repeat itself for the GT3 race sunday.
Must say @HF2000 a very good combination, and cheers for the organisation of it.

 

[davejevons]

Could barely complete one lap in qualify due to being late (yesterday was a mess of a day for me ) and setting a wrong fuel quantity, but I don't think that I would have had a better position if I could complete a couple more laps.
The race was challenging and interesting at the beginning, got a little hit at the chicane but didn't lost too much time despite ending up in the gravel. The Mazda pack was relatively tight and I was chasing @boomRoasted up until I spun somewhere and as my pace was not on par with the others, I couldn't catch up the pack. Some interesting battle with David Jevons (how could I find his username here to tag him?), as both of us did some errors and were exchanging our positions (last and penultimate.. ) up until I lost control at the Acque Minerali at the last lap and he hit me one on side. Sorry for that, if you read here.

The multiclass does give the race that bit of a thrill for us backmarkers which otherwise would have very lonely races (except for this one). However I'm starting to feel the bitterness of not being able to progress and I'm starting to see the border between being a backmarker in progress and feeling the race as a frustration approaching faster and faster.

No problem @maxilogan, it was 50:50 and I was very glad to have someone to race with at the back. I agree and recognise all of that. Not my finest race as I made a lot of small errors which compounded to end up being last. I need to work on being smoother and more consistent.

 

[K_a_n_t_e]

Thanks for the race, guys. I had to fight for 8th place, thanks for the clean battles, especially Colin.

Almost totally clean race for me, I was very careful trying to pass the Mazdas but I went up the inside of Felix on a left hander a bit too close and we had a slight touch. I don't think any harm was done but apologies, anyway.

No worries, can happen!

 

[stigs2cousin]

It was my first multiclass experience in the faster car and I must say that it was harder than I thought.
To estimate if you can do the overtake before the next turn was often difficult. I think I have divebombed a few Mazda's unintentionally, especially when in battle with Ernie or Thomas. I don't think it causes the Mazda go off but maybe the driver lost quite some time. My apologies for that.

Your right, it causes the Mazda Pilot ( at least for me ) to loose between 0.8 to 1.5 sec per overtake because we are forced of line. If it happens twice or three times a lap it "stirs up some feelings."
Makes you think about defending against the Audis because that causes less timeloss.

Its part of the multiclass experience., so this is no complaint, just the feelings of a lowly Mixer Pilot.

MFG Carsten

 

[pattikins]

...
The multiclass does give the race that bit of a thrill for us backmarkers which otherwise would have very lonely races (except for this one). However I'm starting to feel the bitterness of not being able to progress and I'm starting to see the border between being a backmarker in progress and feeling the race as a frustration approaching faster and faster.

I like Han's multi-class races. The only downside is that the field gets split & as a consequence, there is a decreased chance of racing against a competitor of similar ability/experience. So much so, that there seemed to be a sizable gap between the Mazdas, so that sense of isolation would've been felt by all - myself included.

Try not to get too disheartened by your performances. Some of us get more practice time than others, & therefore have a starting advantage. I've had a quick look @ a few of your laps & my tip would be not to brake too late, especially T1.

 

[Interslice]

Can't get to grips with these mx-5 at all. Had another shocker. I think i prefer cars with too much power and no brakes One of these days i'll figure them out. I had a crap setup, that old excuse, i tried in a rush to set it up to go over kerbs at kyalami and again here but failed. They have that sticky vacuum magnet feeling when you touch them. Add to that a sprinkle of body roll snap oversteer... Need to start from scratch or find a good base setup from the internet.

 

[pattikins]

Can't get to grips with these mx-5 at all. Had another shocker. I think i prefer cars with too much power and no brakes One of these days i'll figure them out. I had a crap setup, that old excuse, i tried in a rush to set it up to go over kerbs at kyalami and again here but failed. They have that sticky vacuum magnet feeling when you touch them. Add to that a sprinkle of body roll snap oversteer... Need to start from scratch or find a good base setup from the internet.

'cars with too much power and no brakes' scare the hell out me .

 

[stigs2cousin]

'cars with too much power and no brakes' scare the hell out me .

Because mostly they are heavy as a Tank, too.

+1

MFG Carsten

 

[Interslice]

'cars with too much power and no brakes' scare the hell out me .

I have to to get my kicks from somewhere these days

 

[pattikins]

I have to to get my kicks from somewhere these days

Have you ever tried one of Denis' Thursday night rfactor2 races?

 

[Interslice]

Have you ever tried one of Denis' Thursday night rfactor2 races?

Only the once! Some mad slidey yolk around bridgehampton. I wish i had more time for other sims. can barely keep up with 2 ac races a week!

 

[maxilogan]

Try not to get too disheartened by your performances. Some of us get more practice time than others, & therefore have a starting advantage. I've had a quick look @ a few of your laps & my tip would be not to brake too late, especially T1.

it's a bad, bad, bad habit of mine. I have to practice trail braking and also eventually realize that late braking is not (or not always) good. I found out in the last laps that I made some where I trail braked, and braked earlier than others, in T1 and definitely saw the delta turning green and lots of.
One very important thing that I still had no time to care about is the driving position since I changed my pedals from the T3PA with barely 2cm of stroke (I had a DIY load cell mod) to the T-LCM; I find trail braking (something I had little habit to do already) much harder on the T-LCM because of the longer pedal stroke: while before it was almost just a matter of muscles, it is also now a matter of joints because I actually have to release the pedal more. In addition the pedals themselves are higher than the T3PA ones. As I have them on a DIYd wood support, it's not that easy to quickly adjust the position, because it involves a support modification rather than an adjustment.

 

[Dzul]

One very important thing that I still had no time to care about is the driving position since I changed my pedals from the T3PA with barely 2cm of stroke (I had a DIY load cell mod) to the T-LCM; I find trail braking (something I had little habit to do already) much harder on the T-LCM because of the longer pedal stroke: while before it was almost just a matter of muscles, it is also now a matter of joints because I actually have to release the pedal more.

Same here, I upgraded from my G25 pedals (attached to the T300 through a mod) to the T-LCM and adjusting is still ongoing... it's not travel but force what your muscles (and joints) have to do indeed and that demands a different thinking / technique to get trail braking done right. I'm already happy I can do it properly, with the G25 pedals was as good as a guess but with the load-cell pedals I feel more confident, at least on the easy corners.

 

[Kek700]

Yes, I do try and understand the problems with mx5 and tt cup, I must say that I use the mx5 cars to support a lack of race pace. It has now become a strategy for me, but in my defence, I try my best not to impede the mx5 races, but although I think that, that may not always be the case.
I always try and pinch the space that they are not using, so by the time I am in their space, I am going quicker and does not affect them. But is that true, and not a group of meaningless words, only the mx5 drivers can answer that, so far not been in that situation of an mx5 driver, may see it differently..

I can talk about GTE, GT3 and Lmp1 cars, but the reality of those is the massive difference in ability between gt3 and lmp1. There seem to be a better match with mx5 and TT

I think all TT drivers should bow and pay homage before the race to all mx5 drivers.

 

[HF2000]

Guys, the new event for next Wednesday is ready to register on s.gp.

The new thread is: https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...x5-tt-assen-wednesday-21st-april-2021.201726/

 

[maxilogan]

Yes, I do try and understand the problems with mx5 and tt cup, I must say that I use the mx5 cars to support a lack of race pace. It has now become a strategy for me, but in my defence, I try my best not to impede the mx5 races, but although I think that, that may not always be the case.
I always try and pinch the space that they are not using, so by the time I am in their space, I am going quicker and does not affect them. But is that true, and not a group of meaningless words, only the mx5 drivers can answer that, so far not been in that situation of an mx5 driver, may see it differently..

I actually wanted to thank you for your clean overtake at the Rivazza 2, but then forgot about it in the rush to keep Dave at a reasonable distance

 

[RasmusP]

Han, yes I've installed the app. I wanted to find out if the volume settings for input/output were roughly in the correct position.

In your Screenshot you can see the "test" button.
Put your speaker volume to 100%, put Discord to the same volume as a music player (YouTube, Spotify, whatever) in the windows mixer (right click on the speaker symbol in the task bar).
Now play a modern pop song. Katy perry, Adriana Grande, something massively produced and with a beat to party.

This gives you a "calibrated volume".

Now go back to Discord and use the test function. You should hear yourself I guess.
Try to match the level of your voice to the pop song volume.
But stop when your voice gets distorted. Without processing you won't get close to the pop song. But my university lectures for example are often not even detectable by ear in comparison

Btw I'm always open for some test calls. I'm a hobby audio engineer and rather spend a few minutes to get people to sound okay instead of getting triggered

Hi guys,

I actually had an issue with my setups for this event. When i was practicing by myself in the few days prior, i had no issue and made changes to my car's setup which i felt comfortable with. However, once i joined the event today, i noticed that the setups i saved suddenly gave very weird live values (as per the pit setup screen). For example, the ride height was way off, showing i had ~125mm in the front and ~140mm in the rear when i was sure it was more like 132/135mm. Also, i noticed the camber and toe values to be off as well, the left and right sides giving wild values even though the setting is the same. I drove a bit, reloaded the setups, even re entered the server but it was the same, so i ended up redoing it and saving it under new filenames. This worked, however, to make the live values to what i want them to be, the settings ended up being asymmetrical. Just wondering if this applied to anyone else?

Cheers

2 things instantly come to my mind :

1. Tyre blankets. Did you activate them for offline and for the server?

2. Position in the pits. Depending which garage you have, the car will stand differently on the ground!

(3. Track temperatures during practice and on the server. Similar influence to blankets. Hot tyres = higher ride height)

 

[VinillaIce82]

In your Screenshot you can see the "test" button.
Put your speaker volume to 100%, put Discord to the same volume as a music player (YouTube, Spotify, whatever) in the windows mixer (right click on the speaker symbol in the task bar).
Now play a modern pop song. Katy perry, Adriana Grande, something massively produced and with a beat to party.

This gives you a "calibrated volume".

Now go back to Discord and use the test function. You should hear yourself I guess.
Try to match the level of your voice to the pop song volume.
But stop when your voice gets distorted. Without processing you won't get close to the pop song. But my university lectures for example are often not even detectable by ear in comparison

Btw I'm always open for some test calls. I'm a hobby audio engineer and rather spend a few minutes to get people to sound okay instead of getting triggered

2 things instantly come to my mind :

1. Tyre blankets. Did you activate them for offline and for the server?

2. Position in the pits. Depending which garage you have, the car will stand differently on the ground!

(3. Track temperatures during practice and on the server. Similar influence to blankets. Hot tyres = higher ride height)

wow really? i did not know that your vehicle position (and other factors) in the pits would cause variations in your setup. So to truly create a setup that would be "ideal" for a particular track and car combo, how would one do this? I went back to my offline practice mode and loaded the setup that i made during the event, and sure enough, it no longer 'works'. My 'practice mode' setups all work fine just like they did. I will play around with the blankets and temps in the server and see. However, knowing this it makes preparing for events even harder

THanks for the response!

 

[RasmusP]

wow really? i did not know that your vehicle position (and other factors) in the pits would cause variations in your setup. So to truly create a setup that would be "ideal" for a particular track and car combo, how would one do this? I went back to my offline practice mode and loaded the setup that i made during the event, and sure enough, it no longer 'works'. My 'practice mode' setups all work fine just like they did. I will play around with the blankets and temps in the server and see. However, knowing this it makes preparing for events even harder

THanks for the response!

The temperature is listed on the sgp event configuration, so you can just copy them.
Then you can select the starting position for practice: hotlap start, race start or pits.

I would recommend to check the live values at a position that is flat. If the pits are flat, it's all good. But sometimes it has quite some bumps or is uphill /downhill. Then you can get weird values...

However imola should be pretty flat around the main straight so I think it's a temperature or blankets issue

 

[Mr Chip]

Another great fun race for me. Plenty of action at the back of the TT grid, and had some great battles with a few drivers. Managed to improve throughout the race to finish 7th.
I’ve been trying the Streaming sweet app on replays lately, and it does give mixed results. If anyone is familiar with it and knows any tweaks or improvements that can be made easily I would be eager to learn!