AC Round 17 of 23 Formula Agile@Suzuka Thu, 21st Sept 2023

[Boukâh]

Although I really like Suzuka, I called it a day mid race. Never quit a race before like this, but due to lack of practice and therefore some lack of consistency and safety, due to being pissed at myself for screwing up again (luckily just for myself) in lap 1 after a pretty okay start, and due to an involuntary warp back to the pit after I got stuck on something just next to the track… I did put my head down and kept trying a few times, but lost concentration, made a few more off road sessions. Not my day, both irl and in the sim.

About the agile… it’s a great car the moments you’re in control, but I’m not that much in control . I was on full aero 14-10, but my right foot was on full weight . Switching from the Mazda to the Agile is a thing each and everytime. So I need to put in lots of practice laps, which I couldn’t the last few races.

Still it is good racing in these cars and with you guys on actual F1 tracks, so I’ll keep going, keep trying. Setup matters, but my input to the pedals and wheel matters way more… (slow learner unfortunately).

So, sorry for bailing out yesterday! Especially with the shrinking grid, this championship deserves more drivers.

On to the next one!

 

[KFMaster]

About the agile… it’s a great car the moments you’re in control, but I’m not that much in control . I was on full aero 14-10, but my right foot was on full weight . Switching from the Mazda to the Agile is a thing each and everytime. So I need to put in lots of practice laps, which I couldn’t the last few races.

Yeah, I found out exactly the same thing when I mixed FA with the GT races in a week. I ended up giving up the GT races
The FA seems to require a very high degree of hand / foot coordination, other wise it will loop at the blink of an eye coming out of slow corners and once it gets started, it seems impossible to catch unless you are alien. But if one can get the coordination right, that thing can charge out of a slow corner like no tomorrow.

On to the next one!

 

[KFMaster]

High speed oversteer wasn't my problem in this one, aero was at 14 - 10 and the car felt fine in general i am just not enjoying the car which leads me to getting annoyed with it faster and then making more mistakes. also that was the worst race start i have done in these, the car turned right so fast on the launch i almost took out axel, so from the start line it pissed me off.

We have been driving these for a few months now and i feel like iv never been control.

I hope you don't leave
I am still benefiting from the advices you gave me for the Baku race!

 

[KFMaster]

Hey Dai, you were flying and well on the pace. When i started the race you nipped past me on the 1st curve and our pace was very similar as i followed you and thinking to myself "how am i going to keep this up for an hour". Well done mate, very intense race for all except Axel who just left us to it.

Thanks Steve. Yes, this circuit and FA is such a challenging and fun combination. Something different at every corner, no place to relax. For me, the spoon was a particular challenging corner. Everywhere else I know what to do (thanks to Carsten for some tips though) to get better even though I can't execute precisely every time. But Spoon I still haven't figured out how I should drive to get the best exit speed. What I thought I could do from looking at Motec data just does not work once I am on the track (this is the only case so far). This was made ample clear when both your and Thomas blown by me at 130R.

Would your or Thomas have data log of a fast lap that I can do a compare?

 

[gearwhine]

Data log, what the f is that. I personally don't do any of that, sorry mate

 

[KFMaster]

Data log, what the f is that. I personally don't do any of that, sorry mate

I should use the proper term, telemetry data
No worries!

 

[Kek700]

I can do a MoTeC lap for you at at this circuit Dia.
With a bit of practice I can get a 1-47 for you to compare.
If you want me to do that of course.

PS
some very kind person gave me a cracking setup too.

 

[KFMaster]

I can do a MoTeC lap for you at at this circuit Dia.
With a bit of practice I can get a 1-47 for you to compare.
If you want me to do that of course.

Hi Erie,

Yeah, absolutely, that would be super swell! Could you?
And to my puzzled mind, how can a 1-47 not be sufficiently redeeming for the FA to you?

PS
some very kind person gave me a cracking setup too.

Haha, this would be perfect, because I am using that same setup We are all getting the nice shade under the same tree as the Chinese saying goes

Thanks!
Dai

 

[Kek700]

@KFMaster

MoTeC
I have posted some laps at Suzuka for you, on your circuit creation thingy,
( Dropbox )we appear to have a similar setup so no need to go into that. I run a bit more rear wing for some corners plus I run more rear ARB. ( 10,000 )
Apart from that your all good to go.

PS We must thank @gearwhine for a cracking setup.

 

[KFMaster]

@KFMaster

MoTeC
I have posted some laps at Suzuka for you, on your circuit creation thingy,
( Dropbox )we appear to have a similar setup so no need to go into that. I run a bit more rear wing for some corners plus I run more rear ARB. ( 10,000 )
Apart from that your all good to go.

PS We must thank @gearwhine for a cracking setup.

Thanks Erie!
I compared it with my lap in MoTec and it tells me clearly what to work on
I was actually using the setup that Rasmus shared for Albert Park, I misunderstood for you were doing the same. So thanks to Steve for giving you the setup that you can use to make the fast lap data for me

 

[maxilogan]

Just for the record.. terrible race. I had zero practice and couldn't complete more than a few laps (at snail pace) without errors, in all the others either I spun (or started to) at many corners, or braked too late and went straight into the gravel trap. I was under the impression that the curbs were slippery as hell and as soon as I tried using a little bit more of the track I started deviating from my line. Plus, exiting from off track was hard as well.

At least, differently from @Boukâh (I feel your frustration mate! ) my day was great; lack of practice was due to having to prepare the launch of a new product to our colleagues and that day I had two webinars, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon, and they were both received with very good feedbacks so I accepted that not all could go well

 

[Kek700]

@maxilogan

Unfortunately as I have found to my cost, these cars require a lot of practice. Mainly based on what you can or cannot get away with.
So starting a race without a good setup and not knowing where and how to use curbs, as just one example, in a race is a big receipt for disaster.
Having to race sometimes 4 races a week is difficult to.
That is mainly why of late I have been critical of the cars we have migrated to these last 12 months.
Once we had cars that had TC and ABS as the norm.
Now we only have very difficult cars, apart from Wednesday of course,
I spend most of my time making the unmanagable manageable.( and usually failing at it )
Once I just delt with these cars on an occasional one off basis, like the Primera BTCC car.
Rant over.

 

[KFMaster]

@maxilogan

Unfortunately as I have found to my cost, these cars require a lot of practice. Mainly based on what you can or cannot get away with.
So starting a race without a good setup and not knowing where and how to use curbs, as just one example, in a race is a big receipt for disaster.
Having to race sometimes 4 races a week is difficult to.
That is mainly why of late I have been critical of the cars we have migrated to these last 12 months.
Once we had cars that had TC and ABS as the norm.
Now we only have very difficult cars, apart from Wednesday of course,
I spend most of my time making the unmanagable manageable.( and usually failing at it )
Once I just delt with these cars on an occasional one off basis, like the Primera BTCC car.
Rant over.

And it seems we are switching cars way too often.

When I first started, there was the GT races with Ginetta and Porsche. The Ginetta was a pretty friendly car for a new drivers, but still took me 4 races and the many hours of practices that went with each race to get to grip with. Just then we moved over to GTM cars. So reset for me and another 4 races later just as I got a bit competitive with my GTM Bayer, we are going to the BTTC cars.

Reading Omar's race report made me thinking stabbing my own finger was blessing in disguise. Had I not, I would be doing that BTTC race yesterday with the same frustration on track and with out the off track success to compensate

I am really happy for our FA series, we have the continuity of driving the same, albeit challenging car for 23 races, where I can can continue to build on each race's experience instead of reset every two or three months

BTW, I don't know if it is just my imagination, but this BTTC car (the Beemer in my case) seems very deceptive in that when I first drove it, it feel like a car I can get up to speed pretty quick. But then the last two or one second becomes exponentially more difficult to track down like the FA. The other thing I feel is that switching between the Ginetta/GTM and FA were much easier than between the BTTC and the FA, again, could be just my imagination.

 

[Kek700]

I was going to flog a dead horse, but I will leave what you rightly said intact.
BTCC Is difficult, it has taken me many hours to find a set up that works, it is highly likely that it will not work at Thruxton.

 

[Medilloni]

And it seems we are switching cars way too often.

Interesting you say that Dai, there's far less switching of cars now compared to 2-3 years ago , by a huge margin. At the moment, combo's run for a very long time in comparison to how it used to be. Not saying that's good or bad of course. <need a shrug emoticon>

Regular-ish car combinations would be used for a while, but interspersed with other combo's, for example, this combo would be a 2 - 4 week occurrence (still regular, just not weekly), so you've still got your setups and practise to get in knowing it's coming up again, but then you've other combo's to run for ppl that prefer something else.

If a 'series' is run for a long time it'll have it's followers, though it'll also have ppl that avoid that type of combo too. I guess

 

[KFMaster]

Interesting you say that Dai, there's far less switching of cars now compared to 2-3 years ago , by a huge margin. At the moment, combo's run for a very long time in comparison to how it used to be. Not saying that's good or bad of course. <need a shrug emoticon>

Oh boy, I can't image what that would have been like.

Regular-ish car combinations would be used for a while, but interspersed with other combo's, for example, this combo would be a 2 - 4 week occurrence (still regular, just not weekly), so you've still got your setups and practise to get in knowing it's coming up again, but then you've other combo's to run for ppl that prefer something else.

If a 'series' is run for a long time it'll have it's followers, though it'll also have ppl that avoid that type of combo too. I guess

Agree everyone will have their own preference. I was just sharing how I feel as a still inexperienced sim racer, what helps me, what not. I hope I am not offending anyone

 

[gearwhine]

As someone who has only been racing around 3 years i feel the different combinations help me gain experience. It has helped me discover that i usually prefer classic cars than modern assisted cars plus driving the Mazda for so long made me stale with that car and i needed a brake from it. I like the change personally.

 

[Shed 17]

I’m with Steve on this one, I like the variety and choice options although it does, for me, mean that there is the real danger of becoming “a Jack of all trades and a master of none”.
I have also only been driving online for about three years and jumping in different cars has widened my experience and helped to learn about car control and setups. From the Ligier bread van to the Le Mans prototypes, from classic cars with no electronics to cars with all the bells and whistles, I enjoy the challenge of trying to find a setup that at first keeps me on the track, and then able to have a race with someone.

But all of these events and the wide choice does impact the ability to find time to practice, so I have to pick and chose which events to enter.
I also find it good to have a bit of ‘downtime’ now and then to recover my mojo as banging away lap after lap with no improvement can take its toll. As Steve mentioned, the MX5 is a great little car but I too became stale and not getting anymore performance out of it, so switched to the Abarth, ( for better or worse)
So it’s horses for courses and you don’t have to race in all the great events we now have, but it is very tempting to test yourself when a new car/track combo pops up.

 

[KFMaster]

Thanks to John, Steve, and Paul for some very good points. These made me to reflect some more on my comment about "switching way too often" which was clearly (that now I see) biased by what I decided to participate due to my schedule limitations. Had not been the schedule limitation, I would have picked the MX5/Abarth and FA series, both have very stable car selections. So there is indeed a very good balance for people who wish to race with stability and those who wish to race with variety. My bad for only focusing on what was immediate to me.

I am actually very attracted to variety too. But at my level of experience there is no way for me to effectively jump back and forth. If I kept doing that, I would hardly improve, so I am making a point to not dip into too many different cars. I hope I am on the right strategy so I can dive deep in my learnings. And in 2 and half years time, I would be looking for more varieties like you guys are