AC Try out vintage cars championship@Bremgarten, Tuesday 28th September 2021

[stigs2cousin]

At least we have real time data now why they considered these kind of tracks UNSAFE.

Race report:

Quite an interesting start, some lapping as usual, mimicked a spinning ( lapped) Porsche, threw P5 away.
Last but one lap did something stupid in the last corner, gave up P8.

got it handed back by someone stingy ( on fuel )

Han, this was great fun, please give us a championship with mixed tracks as said in the chat.

Going for a shower now, Carsten

 

[Chris Down]

Great race everyone. First of all I'd like to say sorry to @Allan Ramsbottom for the contact on lap 1, difficult situation because in the Skoda if you brake while turning you will spin, so I thought it's safer to try and get past since I came around the corner and found I'm carrying so much more speed. Hope that wasn't a contributing factor to you checking out.

Super tight finish with @Erik Axelsson, that was great fun

As always, simresults for those who like them: https://simresults.net/210928-6Ww

And my onboard:

In terms of car pace, when I tested GTA was clearly the fastest, followed by the Skoda and Porsche which are about equal here (but Porsche would be weaker than the Skoda on circuits with more turns), and then the Mini.

 

[Kek700]

Well, that was a race to complain about, managed 7th on the grid, the best I could hope for in the mini.

First, the server went down, really do not know what happened, ended up "last" pointing in the wrong direction.
Just got worse and worse, I think every man and his dog hit me, what with being stuck in gears and the engine dying on me, travelling around the fields, I must have got hit about 6 times, and always seemed to come off worse for it. In the end, resigned myself to just surviving.
Interestingly after I was lapped the little mini had no problem staying with the Porsche and Skoda, but as soon as a straight appeared the little mini was obviously on the back foot.
But I could quite often make some big chunks of time on them.
The biggest problem with the mini is it's gearing 4th is either too high or too low, needs a five-speed box or a better selection of gears.
Very interesting race, but for me and Denis Betty, i think, seemed to have more than our fair share of aggro.
Well done Han @HF2000 for the organisation of a really interesting race.

 

[Denis Betty]

Sorry for the bump in the last (ish) corner. I could brake very late there and gained a few places like that. Doesn't work if I'm still directly behind you when you start to brake though.

Yeh I had a few scrapes mate. Looking at the r3eplay, I think most could have been avoided if I'd braked a bit earlier for the accidents that seemed to keep happening in front of me. Lesson learned.... till the next time.

 

[Interslice]

The highlight of the race for me. For a short 2 minute period afterwards I felt invincible! I'm going to put it down as my only clean lap

Oh and sorry to all the people I scared with my pop up chicanes

 

[Chris Down]

Oh and of course, thanks @Fat-Alfie for the wonderful track!

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

Was looking forward to a good race tonight,qualified 3rd,which surprised me to say how quick the Skodas were in praccy..
Start of the race all red lights out,,everyone in front just vanished,so i kept on going,heard a few asking for a re-start so slightly slowed down then saw the field closing so i started to nail it ..Few corners later Chris caught up and got on the inside of me causing us to have a little rub,no big deal,i wont be as forgiving next time ..Had a black/white flag on screen,then got disqualified so that sums up my race for the evening..Onto my little MX-5 at Barc tomorrow so hope i will do better with that....

 

[HF2000]

First of all I would like to thank you all for participating in this try out event. Along with last week's event, it had given me valuable information to draw a conclusion. But I also hope you had a good time. My race in the Mini was very dynamic due to the top speed/corner speed difference with the 718. Also I was under the impression that the mid range acceleration of the Mini was better so the 718 needed quite a long straight to get the Mini. It led to several interesting battles which the Mini only lost on the flat out part before the final corner and on the start/finish straight

I don't know what happened to the server in the beginning. I'll report it to the S.GP guys so they can take a look.
As for the 'drive through' penalty that didn't seem to work, I'll try it out and report to @Fat-Alfie so he can check if it's track related in some way. If you had any other problems, please let me know.

As for the Skoda version, I'm sorry the practice server had a different version. Strange because apparently you get a checksum error on the S.GP server if you have the wrong version, but no error on the practice server in the same situation. Apparently both versions are accepted there as I had no problems.
Axel and Guido had a version that was faster than the one on the S.GP server, about 4 seconds (Axel, I saw you do a 2.33 on the practice server and in this race your best lap was a 2.37).

My conclusion for now is that the GTA, 718 and the S.GP version of the Skoda can be a fair match in a championship with a balanced choice of tracks. Erik did a 2.37.1 in the GTA last week, which isn't far off his best in the 718.
The Mini is too slow to be in the same class. Best lap was Ernie (2.41). I'll see if I can find a better match for it because it's a very fun car to drive.

In two weeks I will organize another try-out event at the Deutschlandring. That track has a sector with hairpins and generally more corners than Bremgarten, so let's see how that plays out. I hope you will all be there then.

By the way, did you notice that Bremgarten's designer @Fat-Alfie (David Pemberton) was among us tonight? He doesn't normally race online, so I'm very honored that he took part. He did very well finishing 7th in the Porsche!

David: I hope you liked it and that it left you wanting more!

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Thanks for letting me join you guys for the race last night. It was certainly an experience to remember!

Firstly, I couldn't find the Qualifying server, so only managed to get two laps in before the race (I was planning to try and start from the back anyway, to stay out of everyone else's way). I haven't raced using S.Gp before, but I'm sure that in the previous couple of RD races I have done there used to be a new server to join for the Quali session. I don't know how I managed it, but I did eventaully manage to join so I must have done something right.

I'm sorry to the person in the 718 that I touched, who then spun off into the bushes. I didn't know if I should have stopped and waited (new to online racing) - if I should have, please accept my apologies

I did hear on the voice chat that someone was given a drive-through penalty after the confusing start, but that the track didn't recognise when it was carried out. Sorry if this is a problem with the track. I'll try and do some testing today, offline. If this is something that can only be checked online, perhaps @HF2000 could set up a dummy server and I could take a look at it there.

Lastly, hats off to you guys! I was absolutely exhausted after the race! The level of concentration required to drive at the limit for 40 minutes is like nothing else! I am used to doing maybe 30mins, tops, against the AI, with no pressure of spoiling an AI's race, where you can press 'Escape' and restart the race whenever you want - last night was completely different, and I actually found it quite stressful. I'm not sure racing online regularly is for me, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

And today, it's back to the day job, and working on Battenbergring for you guys to enjoy

 

[HF2000]

And here's a finger-licking preview of David's work at the Battenbergring!

 

[Simon Swarbrick]

Glad to see it wasn't just me that had the confusing start and drive through, I took my DT on lap 2, driving through the pits was quite confusing as it isn't that well lined out, I just drove quite slow and right through my pit stop red markings, coming out the pits it didn't look like I had done the DT then suddenly the warning disappeared indicating I had performed my DT, just lucky I guess.

I did like the Skoda and if you'll have me I will probably drive it again in the future.

Thanks for the race y'all...

 

[Erik Axelsson]

The highlight of the race for me. For a short 2 minute period afterwards I felt invincible! I'm going to put it down as my only clean lap

Oh and sorry to all the people I scared with my pop up chicanes

Just kept going like that wasn't anything special

 

[Programmer_Rich]

Thanks for letting me join you guys for the race last night. It was certainly an experience to remember!

Firstly, I couldn't find the Qualifying server, so only managed to get two laps in before the race (I was planning to try and start from the back anyway, to stay out of everyone else's way). I haven't raced using S.Gp before, but I'm sure that in the previous couple of RD races I have done there used to be a new server to join for the Quali session. I don't know how I managed it, but I did eventaully manage to join so I must have done something right.

I'm sorry to the person in the 718 that I touched, who then spun off into the bushes. I didn't know if I should have stopped and waited (new to online racing) - if I should have, please accept my apologies

I did hear on the voice chat that someone was given a drive-through penalty after the confusing start, but that the track didn't recognise when it was carried out. Sorry if this is a problem with the track. I'll try and do some testing today, offline. If this is something that can only be checked online, perhaps @HF2000 could set up a dummy server and I could take a look at it there.

Lastly, hats off to you guys! I was absolutely exhausted after the race! The level of concentration required to drive at the limit for 40 minutes is like nothing else! I am used to doing maybe 30mins, tops, against the AI, with no pressure of spoiling an AI's race, where you can press 'Escape' and restart the race whenever you want - last night was completely different, and I actually found it quite stressful. I'm not sure racing online regularly is for me, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

And today, it's back to the day job, and working on Battenbergring for you guys to enjoy

David (@Fat-Alfie) and Han (@HF2000) it was me that didn't manage to serve my drive through in the race and got disqualified. Disappointing but one of those things and I did make a jump start as when I saw everyone disappear I instinctively floored it, although I'm not really sure why!

Watching the replay of someone else serving their drive through penalty and then watching mine I'm 90% sure I know why it didn't work. AC said I had three laps to serve it so I didn't attempt to at the end of lap one, thinking that I'd try to let the field spread a little first, so then attempted in on lap two. What I didn't do was keep on the right of the white pit line that starts and ends on the track and runs all the way through the pit area. The driver that did manage to serve his penalty stayed right. Seems obvious-ish in hindsight.

Frustratingly, when I had another go at the end of lap 3 (this time aiming for my pitbox) I did stay right but got disqualified on the 'start/finish' line because I assume the pits 'starts' after the start/finish line maybe?

David by the way this is a wonderful track, as are all your others we've raced on so far, so thank you very much for what must be a labour of love given the results. Obviously the 'car park' nature of this tracks pit area I'm sure makes all this tricky but perhaps it might be worth a quick look to see if you can expand the pit area which might also have the benefit of popping up your pit box markers earlier (they unusually appear at the last second here). Of course you don't want it triggering when you drive past the pits on track, so maybe your forced compromise here (I'm sure you know better than me!).

All the best, Rich

 

[Simon Swarbrick]

Did anyone manage to record the entire 40+ minutes of the race? If so, what are your AC settings? I have mine set at 1000mb and Ultra Quality but it only saved 39 minutes so missed out the start and my DT penalty.

 

[abecede]

I did hear on the voice chat that someone was given a drive-through penalty after the confusing start, but that the track didn't recognise when it was carried out.

I also had the drive through penalty at the start, and did my drive through at the end of lap 1. Everything worked fine for me. Although I really drove through the red marked pit stop box. Maybe it's possible to be in the pit lane at the far left and the game doesn't recognize it or something?
Just my 2c.

And it was a delight to see you on the track David! I hope you'll continue doing online races here!

 

[Fat-Alfie]

That makes sense, @Programmer_Rich, now you describe how you tried to serve the drive-through. If you take a look at the image below showing the physical objects that make up the pit area, it might explain the problem:

The area marked "2" is the pit lane, and must be driven through for AC to recognise that you have carried out your penalty.

Areas "1", "3" and "4" are simply tarmac areas that are neither valid track surface nor pit lane. If "4" was also pitlane, each time your wheels encroached on this area, the pit lane limiter kicks in and the pit menu appears on-screen. I guess I could add a row of hay bales or some red/white ticker-tape across the entrance to encourage you to stay to the right of the white line on pit entry.

The problem with the pit boxes not showing up until the last minute is related to the length of the pit lane. The red pit areas don't show up until you enter the pit lane marked "2", but the limiter kicks in as soon as you leave "3" and enter "2". If I made the pit deceleration section "3" shorter, you risk your wheels locking up as soon as you leave the racing line. I figured it would be better to give people the chance to decelerate in a controlled manner and have less time for their pit area to appear. It's not really an issue for the later pit boxes, but if you're in the first few boxes, I agree, you don't get much warning of where to pull up.

Thanks again for the kind words

 

[pattikins]

Did anyone manage to record the entire 40+ minutes of the race? If so, what are your AC settings? I have mine set at 1000mb and Ultra Quality but it only saved 39 minutes so missed out the start and my DT penalty.

You can edit the replay file size in ...\Documents\Assetto Corsa\cfg\replay.ini

Mine is set to 2.5gb... for no particular reason

 

[Simon Swarbrick]

You can edit the replay file size in ...\Documents\Assetto Corsa\cfg\replay.ini

Mine is set to 2.5gb... for no particular reason

Done, thank you Patrick.

 

[Shed 17]

Reading the above tales of woe, my race was unusually trouble free in comparison.

At the start I did notice that the cars in front of me were ‘sliding’ slowly sideways and looking at the replay it seems that the entire grid moved to some degree. Could this have been the problem with jump starts?

When everyone in front disappeared and the lights went out, I floored it as normal as was unsure if they had jumped the start and been teleported to the pits. Five seconds later cars appeared again and I had gained one place on my qualifying position.

I made up two more places on the way into Quarry and sat in fourth for several laps until Allan disappeared leaving me vainly trying to hang onto to a sliding Porsche in the hands of Erik ahead. I could see Axel was closing in, but I was quite pleased that it took him several laps to catch me. When he did catch up and passed me on the long uphill straight, he quickly disappeared as I concentrated on staying on track, as previous experience of going off meant loads of lost time in navigating back through the trees and hedges to find the track again.

So P4, no dramas but loads of fun and having tested all the cars, I agree with Han and others on the pros and cons of these historic cars. I think events of this type help form a solid base for future championships and cars could be added or removed in test events like this.

As usual thanks to Han for setting this up, well done to the podium and huge gratitude to David for all his work, not only producing this circuit but all the others that are simply top notch.

PS. Could we all check our microphones in Discord for future races as I think there may have been an open mic as I could hear gear changes and other background noises for most of the race.

 

[HF2000]

Reading the above tales of woe, my race was unusually trouble free in comparison.

At the start I did notice that the cars in front of me were ‘sliding’ slowly sideways and looking at the replay it seems that the entire grid moved to some degree. Could this have been the problem with jump starts?

When everyone in front disappeared and the lights went out, I floored it as normal as was unsure if they had jumped the start and been teleported to the pits. Five seconds later cars appeared again and I had gained one place on my qualifying position.

I made up two more places on the way into Quarry and sat in fourth for several laps until Allan disappeared leaving me vainly trying to hang onto to a sliding Porsche in the hands of Erik ahead. I could see Axel was closing in, but I was quite pleased that it took him several laps to catch me. When he did catch up and passed me on the long uphill straight, he quickly disappeared as I concentrated on staying on track, as previous experience of going off meant loads of lost time in navigating back through the trees and hedges to find the track again.

So P4, no dramas but loads of fun and having tested all the cars, I agree with Han and others on the pros and cons of these historic cars. I think events of this type help form a solid base for future championships and cars could be added or removed in test events like this.

As usual thanks to Han for setting this up, well done to the podium and huge gratitude to David for all his work, not only producing this circuit but all the others that are simply top notch.

PS. Could we all check our microphones in Discord for future races as I think there may have been an open mic as I could hear gear changes and other background noises for most of the race.

You're making steady progress, Paul. Very impressive ! Your recent results are now better than mine. For me you are a great example of what I was aiming for when I started organizing the Multiclass Wednesday events. To help new and inexperienced drivers in online racing get and stay excited so that they feel more confident and get better while still having fun. And now willing to try out other combo's to learn even more.