AC FAT-ALFIE Championship Classic race#6@Fonteny, Tue 20th December 2022

[cerebralvortex]

Yeah but it is a lot easier with the TVR.. Most corners are not flat out in the Ferrari and you have to be exactly on the right line. I expect a really tough race here and will be happy with a top 10 finish tonight.

 

[HF2000]

I only have a few drivers to worry about, Han especially

Not me this time. I have had zero practice for this one.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Circuito Stradale del Mugello????!!!!!!!

 

[Kek700]

Yeah but it is a lot easier with the TVR.. Most corners are not flat out in the Ferrari and you have to be exactly on the right line. I expect a really tough race here and will be happy with a top 10 finish tonight.

Cannot argue with that, was going to mention it, but as I have not driven the Ferrari here, you have just said what I suspected.

 

[gearwhine]

Unless i have the TVR setup wrong, i think what Ernie meant by driving flat out was the straight bits. I have yet to take a corner flat out or full throttle in the TVR.

 

[cerebralvortex]

Unless i have the TVR setup wrong, i think what Ernie meant by driving flat out was the straight bits. I have yet to take a corner flat out or full throttle in the TVR.

The straights are also flat out in the Ferrari luckily

 

[Denis Betty]

I can't get on the server. Wrong PW.
Need to get a bit of praccy.

 

[HF2000]

I can't get on the server. Wrong PW.
Need to get a bit of praccy.

New password sent!

 

[Alfred Wayne]

Im hoping the right music choice cuts 10s off my time

 

[Fat-Alfie]

PW please, @HF2000

- EDIT - oops, I forgot you don't need one - sorry

 

[H_Belane]

That was a fitting end to this championship. What a marathon. Started sixth, finished sixth. So all good. Although I actually started to like the car at some point, I'm a little glad now that I don't have to drive it anymore.

Great championship, great organization. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Was a great trip with you all. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

 

[Dani Martinez(Chechum)]

A pleasure to have driven in these wonderful tracks by the genius @Fat-Alfie !! I've planned to driven around some of them in the near future with a real car.

And big thanks to @HF2000 for his effort and his ideas, what we would do without him here

To be honest, I'm not sure if I'd join another championship with so many long tracks. For sure I'm one of the drivers who must practice the least (not enough time) and this is a clear disadvantage. Most drivers of my expected level had been quite faster than me and, besides their skills (all credits for them, of course), I'm sure it's because of the dedicated time. That's absolutely important for these tracks and I've missed fighting with them Sometimes after race I do a couple of laps and it turns out I'm 2-3 seconds faster in a 4-min track.
And not to mention the Mazda/Abarth league with the same tracks. That was my mistake because taking part of that would have helped me massively.

Congrats to the top two UFOs (amazing skills, mates, I admire you) and also to @gearwhine (one of those drivers with my expected level, but in this league he's been so fantastic that I'll probably not follow him in any manner) and @Kek700 (the oldest man here but younger than me, who I'm 30, big memory and a superb skilled driver!!).

 

[Dani Martinez(Chechum)]

In terms of results, not a good season for me. In the first race , the shortest track so 100% learnt, I finished 2nd. I was lucky, p4 was what I had deserved to be honest (and Fulvio wasn't there, so p5). In the rest of races, far from the drivers of my expected level. I haven't had enough time unfortunately. Tonight the gap was expected to be even bigger. There was a big initial disadvantage in comparison with the drivers who had already driven here last week or even earlier. I know I'm just whining by saying it but it was important for my results and my fun (but I've had a lot of fun anyway, uh ).

In the two last laps I've learnt the full track, not looking the map. Still a lot to reach my optimal pace, though. In the first laps, I still didn't know many fast turns until the right uphill with the bridge. Curiously, the last sector was the one I had learnt the most.
Sadly, my little mistakes in every one of the first 3 laps condemned me. I haven't finished far from p8. And p10 was at 0.2 seconds, as Dennis Betty suffered in last lap. I regret a bit that I didn't want to force the overtake until 3 turns left to finish. But it was a bit risky to do it as he was in the race line when he did the mistske. Well done, Dennis, it wasn't easy and you resisted very well!

Tomorrow we have the festive GP, right? I hope to see you all there, guys!! This time I'll try to be in the voice chat
If not, merry Christmas to all of you, eat a lot so that you lose a bit of skills hahaha joking, I want you to be as fast as now, amazing consistency you all have had!!
PD: sorry for my long messages, I enjoy commenting here and also reading your stories

 

[Alfred Wayne]

You beat me in the overall by a few points Dani, and I practiced a fair bit. I wouldn't knock your pace too much! This was hard, even if you knew the corner ahead

Thanks Han for putting this together, David for the tracks, and everyone else for the great wheel to wheel racing! It's the closest I'll ever get to flying through the European countryside in a vintage car

Had some good battles today with Colin and Dennis. This track and the last seemed to suit the Ferrari well. No hairpins!

Never had the pace to challenge too many people this championship, but I learned so much about this car, and driving in general. It was my first real "season " in classic cars and I've really been enjoying seeing the throttle control I have to work on here (to stay alive) come in handy in faster more modern cars too. Same with judging a corner and braking.

Thanks again all for the racing, congrats to the top spots. Well deserved in these.

 

[eN1xes]

i was having prob with the clutch/gear and with a small headache i decided to gv up not a good way to end but really enjoyed all the tracks . congratz to Reik, Lars and Richard for podium

 

[Kek700]

Worked out perfectly for me, threw myself off the track on the second corner from the start.
So all I had to do was chase all I came across, which was most enjoyable.
And as everyone was very fair, had a hoot.
Not much I could have done about the podiums anyway, so all’s well that ends well.
Great championship Han, well done podiums.
Not sure what happened to Fulvio, I put it down to not wanting me to catch up and overtake.


Well perhaps not.

Look forward to what 2023 brings with our new server.
No limit on cars and tracks from what I heard on Discord.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

 

[gearwhine]

For me it all went to plan. After the agreed paypal payment from Ernie i hung around for a painfully long time for him to catch and pass me and then followed him home.
No seriously, that was very intense from the first corner till the last. I chose maybe the wrong tyre pressures that made the car a little more agile at the cost of not going the whole distance without degrading. Lost concentration once and crashed into one of those lovely green boxes. Unfortunately i took out Hank also, sorry Hank. The only other action with other drivers was Ernie who i was keeping in my mirror for a few laps until he pitted. Fully expecting to be behind him after i pitted was surprised to find him a little red dot way back in my mirror. Of course, when it comes to Ernie i know he aint gonna stay there and he did not disappoint me. He has a knack of always making me feel under pressure when i see his name above the car filling my mirror and although i was getting a little untidy, felt i was holding him off. I could see he had an edge on me on the fast downhill straight through the woods where he somehow takes a faster line through the kink when i am trying to stay on track. He came past me and i could not stay with him such was his pace. Well done Ernie again!
Thanks to everyone who drove in this championship. It has been a blast.
Thanks of course to Han who screwed it all together for us and, Yes i would love to do it all again next year with you guys.

 

[cerebralvortex]

Humm, well.. I didn't manage a clean qualifying lap, but that is entirely my fault. I didn't feel confident in pushing the car yet as I still had some doubts about the upcoming corners here and there.

I went for a quick bathroom brake right before race start, got back aaaaaand my mouse was completely stuck. I tried a bunch of things but didn't work, so since I wasn't able to get on the grid in time I got teleported back to the pits with controls locked. But my mouse did work now... So start from the pits and waiting for about 10-15 seconds after the whole field was gone already, I think the last one was at T1 when I pulled out of the pits.. meh. I did manage to make up some places, as the race got on I found more pace just because I knew the track a bit better. Until I crashed against the church on lap 3 with David chasing me. Totally my fault, I had the idea I slowed down too much there on the previous laps and it being an uphill turn with some camber I thought I would try going in faster but got sideways and lost control and crashed hard against the church and tree. That seemed to have broken my suspension as well, I wasn't able to drive after that and my wheel FFB was very strong. So I had to DNF. I was a bit frustrated I didn't go a bit slower there but yeah..

For the championship having a DNF here, didn't participate at Thomson Road and flying over the fence by hitting a crashed car at Battenberg it wasn't great. The TVR was mighty as well but I don't like that car much. The Ferrari feels better to me physics wise and more rewarding to drive.

Thanks to Fat-Alfie for all these wonderful tracks! It's been nice revisiting some.

Thanks Han for organizing it!

Best wishes and happy new year to all

 

[ltnordb]

This championship has been a bit of hit and miss, a few DNS's due to work, a DNF due to lack of skill/practice time and couple of good races. Fonteny is one of my absolute favourite tracks and I guess it paid off yesterday

Was maybe too cautious at the start because Richard got right beside me after turn 1, then I got lucky and didn't get caught up when Ernie spun out in the dip right after. Unlucky for him though.

I had softened the rear sway bar to try and keep the rear from stepping out over the myriad bumps and surface changes, and I paid the price for that halfway through lap one when I understeered off the road and into one of Fat Alfies strategically placed benches. Got spun around but luckily didn't take anyone else out. Rejoined in position six or seven I think, and and actually had a very enjoyable race after that trying to regain lost ground (after I had said a few choice norwegian curse words to myself for pushing too hard on the opening lap ofcourse ).

Had a really good battle with Richard, first catching up to him and then defending after making a pass with two wheels on the grass

Big thanks to Fat Alfie for the amazing tracks, thanks to Han for organizing and Merry Xmas to you all!

 

[HF2000]

Next week a fun event on Tuesday: https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...lp-santa-claus-tue-27th-december-2022.253206/