AC FWD vs RWD: FWD vs RWD: Abarth500/Swift/MX5@Grobnik, Wed 21st February 2024

[H_Belane]

That was fun. Qualified in midfield. Satisfactory for an hour of training. Was hit in the first lap of the race and fell back to the end. Then fought back to my starting position. Next, twenty minutes of pushing to reach Rico. I was even able to overtake him. Shortly before the end I had a brief misfire from either the game or the steering wheel, which sent me into the gravel trap and cost me a position. It's a shame, but whatever.

Great track, great event!

 

[Boukâh]

joined just before qualy, missed the 'getting in the zone'-part...

Okay qualy P10. Race start I was cautious not to hit swifts, but I left too little room for Carsten on the right, sorry man! (even with car radar on ). Managed to avoid wrecking fest in turn two, could pass some spinned cars, but left too much room/speed, got sandwiched next few seconds, others to pass from behind. No problem, long race ahead. Some nice close racing in the beginning, but again I gave too much and that doesn't result in the fast times. Pitted early (this week only 1,5 lap behind Kimi ) and got into a more relaxed mode. Spun one time on them killer tyres last corner, that costed me my race. From that point I kept doing quick laps, trying to catch up with the guys ahead. Last laps closing in on Ricardo (great pace btw!!) and put all I had in the (what I thought) last lap. I needed a few more metres, did a nice PB again, but Ricardo took the line first. And then he mentioned '1 more lap to go' . Unfortunately lost just too much time in next T1 and couldn't get that back the rest of the lap.

Apart from my first (too cautious, but not sharp enough) first lap(s) I enjoyed this track a lot. Nice flow!

Congrats podium! Thanks Han! Sorry Carsten!

 

[Boukâh]

Can someone else put the results on simresults? I don't have the results file.

 

[Reik Major]

I want to apologize to Thomas for the contact into T1, Lap 1. I had no idea another Mazda had mangaged to pass the Suzuki on the inside there, so I thought I was alone, when entering it. After the contact I didn't see anyone spinning so I went on, because I didn't know who I had touched, so no idea whom to wait for.

Another apologize goes to Jason for the crash in T3 after a few laps. I knew I had you on the outside and was prepared to leave you some space. Unfortunately I touched the inside curbe which unsettled my car for a moment. Before regaining grip to hold the inside line we already touched. So sorry mate!

Very bad race craft from me tonight.

 

[stigs2cousin]

The first half lap was "interesting" and "intense" (bang, bang) but it´s called close racing for a reason.

Next laps found me winding in some more positions, redacted.

Here stood a rant that didn´t belong in public.

 

[JamKart22]

Can someone else put the results on simresults? I don't have the results file.

Result 240222-9TA - grobnik - Unknown - Assetto Corsa - Simresults

Result 240222-9TA - grobnik - Unknown - Assetto Corsa - Simresults - The results viewer for your favorite race sims.

simresults.net

 

[Dzul]

Fun but tough race. Concentration galore, if that can make a logical sentence, that's how it felt to me. Full focus, put the car on rails and make no mistakes. My wrists ached at the end and although my race had an unfortunate end I really enjoyed it.

Practice did good to my pace as did watching the front driver's lines to refine my own. My setup was not very tweaked so I had to take it a tad easier at a few corners where others dared to attack those treacherous kerbs... but I found a good rhythm and reached solid consistent times. Found a few tenths on qualy on less fuel but so did everyone else and I got to start mid-pack.

I had a good launch though and nabbed a few places until a carambole ensued between T1 and T3... managed to dodge most of it, slightly scraped but still facing forward at speed so I carried on and put my head down chasing Colin. I kept him in my sights but then Hank, Fulvio and Carsten showed up in my rear mirrors. Hank was ahead of the three and caught up swiftly, he was clearly faster so I gave him space and prepared for the other two Mazdas, fighting each other. They caught up at the last turn and we had a Zonta moment at the straight. We did manage a clean first sector close together but they clearly had more pace so I lifted a bit at the hairpin before the dwindly second sector to avoid a moment of tears and off they went. After that it was a bit of a lonely race until Han showed up in his beehive. We had a few close turns together until I went a tad wide at a bend where he clearly had more grip. After some laps I pitted and had another solitary period until Ricardo's beehive closed in. We had a fun scrap for a few laps until my right rear went on one of those treacherous kerbs at the second sector. For the record, we didn't touch at that point Ricardo so it was a racing incident. It was a risky place for a move but you had a lot of momentum and I think if you had stepped on the brakes we would have collided so, I think we both did the best we could... I'm blaming the kerbstones.

My car swiveled atop of it and my DD wheel decided to perform an abrupt circus act to communicate the loss of control. I instinctively let it go to avoid hurting my wrists. The wheel went limp for a few seconds but the FFB came back when the car stopped. I was deep in the sand facing the wrong way so I had to reverse to turn and get back on track safely... by that time I had lost several places. I had one final lap with Allan and Han on my rear mirrors so I just brought the car home while watching those two go at it... it was a true photo-finish!

Once more, great choice of track for this combo, thanks Han! Congratulations to the winners and podium finishers. I'm off to Fryslân for a mini-holiday but will be back for next week's race. See you then chaps!

 

[HF2000]

I'm off to Fryslân for a mini-holiday

Nice!

I had a good race without mistakes and with a pace good enough to come close to the podium.

The track needs full concentration indeed. The raceline has a small margin and if you don't get it right, you loose a lot of speed.
The Suzuki was very suited for this track. By the way guys: I do the testing of all tracks in the MX5 so I only see when a track favors the Swift or the Abarth in the official practice session on raceday.

I had some nice battles in which I could overtake the Mazda's by using the grip and fwd accelleration to pass on the inside in the tight turns.
The last turn for the start/finish straight was the best one to do that but with the power and topspeed of the Mazda and the slipstream the driver could easily get the position back.

Voting for the track next week is at the moment for Road America usual format.
Tonight after the Radical race (great car! Join if you can, you won't regret it) I will setup up next weeks event so you can vote or change your vote until then.

Congrats to the podium and thanks all for racing.

 

[maxilogan]

I went to pits and manage to get stuck between barrier and tyres stack, welldone Dr. Martikainen....

Same for me, and that is the reason because I left the race beforehand. I spun and finished stuck in the barrier a lá Romain Grosjean
It took me so much time to get out of there that I decided to left, and for a reason: at the beginning I had not a very good ping (around 200) plus terrible, almost unbearable stuttering with FPS drops that prevented me to take the corners the right way. Therefore, I wanted to take the chance of having scr##ed the race to reenter and experiment with settings (unfortunately this problem seems to happen only when I'm racing online..), but to add insult to injury, the pit window was closed after I rejoined so I basically saw that yes, the FPS seemed to be much better, but I couldn't drive onto the track as I was disqualified

I would be also super grateful to anyone which would be so kind to share the replay, as I don't seem to have the one of the race. At the beginning I had a scratch with @thom462 but as he had a better pace I wanted to let him pass on the pit "straight". I tried to warn about the bad ping and asked to be careful but (despite not having heard / felt any bump) I saw him going a little off track then disconnecting from the server. I just would like to see how things went in the replay but I want to apologise in advance, regardless of what I'll see in the replay. In the rush of the moment I continued the race then I realized that it could have been my fault if you disconnected..

Last but not least.. after the race, a started an offline race again to check performance, and I realized that in our race I couldn't see any livery except the Kunos ones. Most of the Mazdas were ruby red, Jose had the Arisoil livery, Steve the blue and white one, but I doubt that nobody is using any of the additional liveries (e.g. on the acsm site I see @Boukâh is using a Ferrari livery). On the other hand, in the offline race I could see that one of the MX 5 had the Alpine livery so it seems that they are correctly installed and working.

 

[maxilogan]

I want to apologize to Thomas for the contact into T1, Lap 1. I had no idea another Mazda had mangaged to pass the Suzuki on the inside there, so I thought I was alone, when entering it. After the contact I didn't see anyone spinning so I went on, because I didn't know who I had touched, so no idea whom to wait for.

It could have been me if I remember correctly. No worries!

 

[maxilogan]

Result 240222-9TA - grobnik - Unknown - Assetto Corsa - Simresults

Result 240222-9TA - grobnik - Unknown - Assetto Corsa - Simresults - The results viewer for your favorite race sims.

simresults.net

When your arm hurts, and you don't even run the whole race, yet you have the best time of them all @Twoddle

 

[maxilogan]

I would be also super grateful to anyone which would be so kind to share the replay, as I don't seem to have the one of the race. At the beginning I had a scratch with @thom462 but as he had a better pace I wanted to let him pass on the pit "straight". I tried to warn about the bad ping and asked to be careful but (despite not having heard / felt any bump) I saw him going a little off track then disconnecting from the server. I just would like to see how things went in the replay but I want to apologise in advance, regardless of what I'll see in the replay. In the rush of the moment I continued the race then I realized that it could have been my fault if you disconnected..

 

[stigs2cousin]

AC_210224-223023_R_ks_mazda_mx5_cup_grobnik_.acreplay

drive.google.com

Here´s the replay.

 

[maxilogan]

AC_210224-223023_R_ks_mazda_mx5_cup_grobnik_.acreplay

drive.google.com

Here´s the replay.

Thanks Carsten, I'll download it at home this evening

 

[HF2000]

Next week: Zolder 1967 https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...t-mx5-zolder67-wed-28th-february-2024.269183/

 

[thom462]

I want to apologize to Thomas for the contact into T1, Lap 1. I had no idea another Mazda had mangaged to pass the Suzuki on the inside there, so I thought I was alone, when entering it. After the contact I didn't see anyone spinning so I went on, because I didn't know who I had touched, so no idea whom to wait for.

Another apologize goes to Jason for the crash in T3 after a few laps. I knew I had you on the outside and was prepared to leave you some space. Unfortunately I touched the inside curbe which unsettled my car for a moment. Before regaining grip to hold the inside line we already touched. So sorry mate!

Very bad race craft from me tonight.

Guess that happens from time to time that one gets the bad race luck. I could not do more, I stayed at the very right. Actually lost "only" few positions but there was another crash in front of me which I had to avoid and collided with Ernie. That sent me in a spin and I was last. At least could do some quick laps after regaining focus.
No worries, cu next time

 

[RS242]

Late report, but better late than never.

Mixed race from me this week.
I felt I had an ok pace and I enjoyed the track rhythm quite a lot.

Then race begun and I was collected on T1 by a spinning Mazda, putting me at the back of the pack.
I knew I had pace so I pushed, and in not time I had caught up to 3 fighting Mazdas and threw myself into the mix. Good fun but I felt the fighting was holding me back so after hearing Jim mention something about pit window I decided on the last minute to pull into an early pit stop to try undercutting. That was not smart... the pit window was not yet open and the message from Jim was probably something like "X minutes for pit window". Pitted the very next lap and I was once again in the back.
A few laps later had a nice fight with Steve, then kept pushing until I caught up with Raul.
After getting close I made a mistake which cost me the recently gained position and overheated my tires, so I kept making mistakes for a full lap.
Then in the last laps I finally caught up again, and when I decided to make my move I ended-up a bit more off-line that expected and did not give the room I should've. Once again apologies Raul.
And finally it ended with a stressed defense from Bouke, who was getting bigger and bigger in my rear-view mirrors.

Overall I am happy with the pace, I feel I am improving week after week. I feel quite connected with the Swift and that gives me more confidence to go faster. I think there is still room to improve the set-up but that will come with time.
On the other hand I made a few silly mistakes in this race which cost me a lot of time. Between the early pit and a couple of momentary lack of focus there is still a lot of room to improve.

Thanks Han for hosting another great event, congrats to the podiums and I will see you next week!
- Ricardo

 

[zn1zn2c]

That was an awesome race at a great track! Not a single comfortable corner so it was a great test of concentration.

Had a pretty good qualy and ended up with a Mazda in front and a Suzuki next to me so the start was pretty easy too. Other's misfortune at the start gave me P3 after the first few corners with Reik right behind me. I don't think I've raced with him before so wasn't sure what to expect. I was surprised he didn't dive into one of the corners on the first lap because I was pretty slow. He waited for his chance and overtook me on the very next lap.

After some laps Han was right behind me and made a move into the last corner. It caught me off guard and made me get on the gas too early and I ended up on the grass. I think I lost 3 places there.

Now that I was on my own again I started losing focus and lapped 5-8 tenths slower than I should for a couple laps. I saw Hank getting closer on the relative and right when he was 1.5s behind me my concentration snapped back into place. For the next few laps I was pushing as hard as I could, going at qualy pace. I could keep Hank behind me for a good while until I messed up one of the corners which gave him an overtaking opportunity in the last corner. Now that the roles were reversed I knew I had to put the pressure on him, trying to force an error.

After some laps I think my strategy was starting to work because I was getting closer and had a chance to overtake him in the last corner. It was the same situation as with Han and it seems I'm a slow learner as I just made the same mistake again, going on the grass. With about 5 laps to go and a 2 second gap between us I was losing hope. Then his braking issue happened and I could regain the position again. After that it was a pretty easy cruise towards the finish line. You definitely should've ended up higher, Hank! But I'm not complaining That was a very enjoyable fight; hope to repeat this again sometime.

Thanks all! I'm looking forward to the next one in Zolder.