AC FWD vs RWD: Abarth500/Swift/MX5@Albert Park, Wed 3rd April 2024

[eN1xes]

Great combo alot of fun at one point i saw the chance for p1 and with some help with Thomas fighting Allan i was able to take that, well done to every1 for the clean battles atleast on my side. Congratz to the podium , Hank you owe me a speedtrap record . Thank you Han as always . Edit : forgot to say we ended with 4 Ferrari skins in the top4 p1 n55 /p2 n55 /p3 n16 /p4 n16

 

[H_Belane]

4 Ferrari skins in the top4 p1 n55 /p2 n55 /p3 n16 /p4 n16

Yes, strange. Maybe Haas needs a German driver again

 

[Kek700]

That was my best worst race, a momentary loss of concentration, which caused me to have to wait for the whole field to trundle by did not help.
I had the pace, but the poor old Suzuki was for most part incapable of passing anyone except another Suzuki.
And as there were only three of us, options were few and far between.
And as for overtaking Kimi, I was waiting for a miracle, I waited in vain. And the more I tried I then seemed to go back places, frustrating but really a very enjoyable race. I hope others in our wee group enjoyed it as much as me.
Even though the Suzuki here was not in a positive place I enjoyed the hope it gave me, I was always in with a chance.
There is hope and there is Bob Hope unfortunately today was all Bob Hope
I really enjoyed that..

 

[a_murel]

Nice field of drivers today, very international

The race was great too. Very intense at the beginning. Due to an unfortunate incident (thanks for waiting Andre) I fell behind. I was hoping to maybe be able to compete for the podium, I had the knife between my teeth. But after the accident that was no longer an issue.

It was still a lot of fun!

Very nice race, we matched the pace Hank. And we were gaining ... but then... Sorry for just really verrry soft tapping you at the back in a wrong angle. It also destroyed my race but had a lot of fun. Came back from 11th to 5th. Really hard to follow at a short range.

Good racing guys!

 

[Shed 17]

I got caught up in the T2 kerfuffle and by the time I got going I was dead last in P22. An early pitstop didn't help much as several others had the same idea but I got my head down and made up several places as others stopped for fuel.
A short battle with Ernie mid race was good fun but he soon disappeared as I couldn't find my practice pace. Then in the last 5 minutes, I caught up to the Doug, Ernie, Rob, and Kimi battle. Ernie and Rob both had a go at the flying Finn but the straight line speed of the Abarth kept them away. Then I got past Doug, Ernie and Rob and it was left to me to have a go at the Black Abarth. As we all know, you have more chance of getting a response from Fanatic support than passing Kimi but I had a go and on the last two slower corners I got by with a pass around the outside but,...........if only the finish line wasn't on a straight I would have got him! But I am well happy with P8 and some great racing along the way.

So well done all, superb fun, well done podium and as always thanks to Han for setting up another successful format.
If you fancy some open wheel action then sign up for tonight and the F3's at Suzuka.

AC - Rd 4 of the F3 Championship -Japanese GP 4th April 2024.

Welcome to the AC Racing Club F3 Championship. We are at the halfway stage of the Q1 Championship and despite a late start in Melbourne, Fulvio still heads the leaderboard, ahead of Allard and Thomas with three more races to go in this quarter. 1 Fulvio Fenix 64 2 Allard van den Hoeven 55...

www.overtake.gg

 

[davejevons]

That was a race of tough lessons!

Lesson 1: Sign up Having not signed up there were no MX5s left so I was left with a choice of Suzuki or Abarth. I took the Suzuki having struggled with the Abarth before. 30mins of practice was enough to get roughly comfortable with it and @Shed 17 's advice to not lift anywhere was very helpful in finding valuable time. The noise is much better when you're driving it than when racing against it.

Lesson 2: Practice starting Having qualified a surprisingly reaosnable 13th with little practice in the little buzz box, I knew it would be slow off the line. Not being used to it, I fumbled the gear change at the start and made a jump start . I managed to get it stationary again and moved onto the grass to allow the pack through at the start.

Lesson 3: If you suspect you might have a penalty, you probably do. I was expecting a drive through penalty but I never saw it pop up and I was having great fun driving round the mazdas in the corners and fighting them on the straights. Eventually, I wondered if maybe the penalties weren't turned on or perhaps I had caught it in time? A few laps in, it must be fine, right? WRONG. Teleported to the pits and disqualified for not serving the penalty. Fair cop.

I had great fun for the few laps I did though. The difference in capabilities between the Mazda and Suzuki made racing a very tactical game. The Suzuki was much easier to drive than expected and I may even give it another go.

 

[Shed 17]

Hi Dave,
No matter what you do the Swift is slow off the line and slow on the straights but mighty quick through the corners, which does cause problems if there is another car on the apex!
You can change the sound, most people do, I have the Ginetta Junior as a replacement which seems to works well.
I can share my set up next time we are on the server if you like, it’s not the quickest but is consistent. The car goes round corners like it is on rails and you have to recalibrate your brain to get on the throttle much earlier in a turn.

I was also wondering if the cuts were active, crew chief said I had a cut but there was no warning on the screen. I can see that’s cuts were enabled but no-one seemed to have any recorded so not sure why you got sent to the sin bin.

Give it another go, it does grow on you and I find it more fun than the Mazda and Abarth, even though you do get mugged off the line and on anything that resembles a straight!

 

[stigs2cousin]

Maybe if you find somebody to mod the car into having a higher gearing?
if everybody gets it it would be fair game, wouldnßt it?

 

[gearwhine]

Maybe if you find somebody to mod the car into having a higher gearing?
if everybody gets it it would be fair game, wouldnßt it?

No! so much quicker on the corners and just as fast up the straight. The Mazda might as well go home or we all start driving the Suzuki and i for one don't want to spend an hour with that boring guy sat along side of me taking notes

 

[gearwhine]

Hi Dave,
No matter what you do the Swift is slow off the line and slow on the straights but mighty quick through the corners, which does cause problems if there is another car on the apex!
You can change the sound, most people do, I have the Ginetta Junior as a replacement which seems to works well.
I can share my set up next time we are on the server if you like, it’s not the quickest but is consistent. The car goes round corners like it is on rails and you have to recalibrate your brain to get on the throttle much earlier in a turn.

I was also wondering if the cuts were active, crew chief said I had a cut but there was no warning on the screen. I can see that’s cuts were enabled but no-one seemed to have any recorded so not sure why you got sent to the sin bin.

Give it another go, it does grow on you and I find it more fun than the Mazda and Abarth, even though you do get mugged off the line and on anything that resembles a straight!

Dave jumped the lights Paul and didn't do his pit drive through. We were having a fight and he just vanished out of my mirror. I thought he pitted but I was wrong. Only way to stop that car is to hold them up and make you brake. We all feel like bad losers though and let you through suffering all the noise and the grinning co pilot lol

 

[stigs2cousin]

No! so much quicker on the corners and just as fast up the straight. The Mazda might as well go home or we all start driving the Suzuki and i for one don't want to spend an hour with that boring guy sat along side of me taking notes

So you can´t perform under (peer) pressure

 

[HF2000]

Thanks all for racing! It's great to have 20+ drivers again. I hope you will all join for the next one: https://www.overtake.gg/threads/fwd...-bay-raceway-park-wed-10th-april-2024.270756/

Note: this is the first race in Q2 2024 so make sure you select the correct championship for registering.

 

[Kek700]

No! so much quicker on the corners and just as fast up the straight. The Mazda might as well go home or we all start driving the Suzuki and i for one don't want to spend an hour with that boring guy sat along side of me taking notes

That is not so true as you suggest.
1) The Suzuki wiii on the start generally loose about 5 places and on longer start line start even more. Us Suzukist hope for a short start straight.
2) The Suzuki will lose a stack of time getting out of the pits.
3) The Mazdas are not easy to pass, generally quicker out of the corners and even if you get a helping tow that may put you half way past only then to be out top speed by the Mazda.
4) The Abarth is most vulnerable to the Suzuki, but as the Abarth always beats the Suzuki, generally to the first corner, overtaking is mostly impossible to achieve, with out a sizable mistake.
Strategically the Suzuki is very handicapoed, especially as the aliens have really mastered the Mazda, along with most drivers now who are also quicker in the Mazda.
Try overtaking Kimi in the Suzuki!!!!

To whom it may concern ( no body )
“As I am on a roll”, I have had one clean race, the rest have relied heavily on strategy And a LOT of luck, as Paul said you can have all your performance totally removed by one person coming out of the pits in front of you.
In the Abarth on certain circuits you care not one jot that a Mazda is catching you, you can happily let them overtake, next straight you sail past.
Plus in the Abarth, once on a straight you can relax.
The Suzuki is not actually capable of overtaking either the Abarth or Mazda with out a big risk or a mistake on either the Mazda or Abarth part.
I like the Suzuki because it panders to all my modest plus points, but with that come all the cars negative points.
I have noticed that even Jason with all his skills and pace is sometimes snookered by the Suzuki.
You go for an early pit stop, come out behind a Mazda who’s pace is less than you, now you are stuck at sometimes -2 seconds of a lap, quite rightly he is not going to let you past.
You have no way of overtaking and the only hope you see is when he pits, you bet it will be close to the last 10 min.
Everyone is quick and reliably fast now on our forum so you just sit there and patiently wait for a mistake.
I just have to basically try and stay out on track for as long as I can and personally not make a mistake, there is no option of rejoining like Allan, catching and overtaking, a mistake in the Suzuki means that the mistake ( without a sizeable chunk of luck ) you may have to live with for the whole race distance.
Most tracks are narrow so unlike old tracks generally you cannot use your cornering speed on an empty part of the track to get past, because the car you want to overtake is in the way.
The first thing I do is look for that on a track, so that is my overtake point, unfortunately they are some where, always , at a point we’re you have lost time on the Mazda or Abarth getting there. So you are again mostly snookered.

I mainly drive the Suzuki cause it suits me and I really like it a lot. Most cars I am in a situation where my short comings are very evident, the Suzuki I like.
If the Suzuki did not have those short coming a) everyone would drive it, or b) it would be removed.
The end of a boring monologue.