AC GT3 @ Spa - Sunday 29th August 2021

[Interslice]

Hi guys. @Interslice, something came up tonight and I won't be able to join. So sorry about that. If I had known earlier I would have deregistered before the event started. Have a good one everybody.

No problem Richard. See you again

 

[Fiberoptix]

Thanks Brian, a good event. Got a bit lonely in 7th. Paul was a way behind and I didn't have the pace to catch Thomas even when he had an off. The usual thing with me, one blistering lap the next 7 tenths down and so on..

Congratulations to the top drivers!

 

[Kek700]

race report.
Yipeee I did not spin, did not mess my pit stop up, all looked good.

All I suffered was that bleeding great GT-R grill breathing down my neck for half the race and then for some of the next half Of the race.
plus the indignity of being overtake on the straight, yes, that bleeding GT-r again.
We had a fair old battle going Han and I, I sort of enjoyed it very much, but it was very stressful.
Luckily the McLaren had the edge on the twisty bits, which helped.
Tried to catch Brian, became pretty obvious that he was on one stop mediums, was catching at rate that I should not have been.
in the end ran out of laps.
Well done podiums , and a thank-you to @Interslice Brian for the organisation.

 

[boomRoasted]

What a splendid race and a nice p10 finish without being lapped. Highest I think I've achieved since joining, although, it wasn't easy.

Decided to let my mind wander and read up on the F1 race while letting the 'wait time' tick down after qualifying. Heard the pre-race brief but thought nothing of it...then...the revving of engines caught my attention. "Oh sh**!" (hurry up, hurry up! put on your gloves...come on!!!) Three seconds...two....lights out! Heart racing, legs are wiggly.

Had a great jump off the line and managed to make a few places into T1. Kept it clean and managed to avoid contact up Eau Rouge. First laps were good and close with @Taj Johal had a good battle going and managed to overtake after a close tailing through Eau Rouge in the middle of the first stint. On to a fallen back @UHF79 , I did not have the pace to overtake but knew I stood a chance if I pitted right behind.

Took my pit at about 31min left on the race and came out, to my surprise, p14. "Alright! Got the undercut!" Pat on the back...alright...get your head down. Taj was again in front but was slipping on old tires so I bided my time and waited for a mistake. Next lap it happens in Les Fagnes and I make a clean overtake and start pushing. Gain a couple of places over those in the pits and I'm into P9! Quick glance at 'realtime' and I can see Hans (@hape ?) cutting up the through field...another glance...they're p10. 20mins left at this point...Hans is 10sec behind... @Shed 17 10sec in front. "Just hold p9" I say aloud....alas...no dice. Decided to give the throttle a little too much exiting Les Combes and ended up with my nose in the wall. "NO!" Hans flies by with Richard B. not far behind. Manage to get it back on the road with a mere 10mins left...Richard is right on me now. It's come down to these last laps for p10. "No mistakes and it's yours." Somehow managed to keep it clean and keep Richard back by at least 2secs for the remainder of the race.

Thanks as always to @Interslice for organizing. Congrats to the podiums!

Cheers, everyone! Looking forward to Zandvoort!

 

[Kek700]

@Goblin616

Here are your MoTeC files for the AMG Mercedes GT3, hope you find it useful.

 

[Goblin616]

Sorry I didn't show up. I cancelled this time though. I was invited to go social gaming. Remember social gaming? Table-top and board games? Those things some of us did before the pandemic? Yeah, I couldn't pass that up!

 

[beginer]

Frank, to become a faster driver you might try this:

SGP - Back to the sixties! A vintage car/track championship

Welcome to the RD Racing Club. The 1960s were a very interesting period in our history: politically, musically, socially, well in almost every aspect of our society. But it was also the era when the evolution of cars and car racing got a boost. Without the modern techniques such as ABS or...

www.racedepartment.com

Im going to try to join this event. Im curious, why will running in this event make you faster? Is it because the cars are harder to drive smoothly?

once again ill say how much i love doing these races with yall. Everyone here are phenominal drivers. Its so bad ass that people from across the world can come togerther a few hours a week and have a great time in clean competition.

i might not be great (yet), but i love this so much! Everything else disappears as soon as the gloves go on.

 

[Goblin616]

I think I'm going to stop comparing my times with others, and just try to have fun.

 

[beginer]

I think I'm going to stop comparing my times with others, and just try to have fun.

The last two races i started and finished last. I made a few dumb mistakes, did a little spinning, but thats ok. Its part of learning. My lap times at spa were on par with my personal best in any gt3 car, but i was still way off race pace. Thats ok, too.

That being said, it can be frustrating when I watch some alien blow my doors off and i think "why cant i do that? I practice, i watch videos, replays, etc. why am i not faster?"
The truth is that every time i race, i learn a little more, get a tiny bit better. Maybe i see someone take a faster racing line. Maybe someone ends up right behind me and i get a little practice defending. Theres always some little thing to pick up every time i race here.
Ironically, i learn because others here are so much better than i am. Ive driven in public rooms where i am the top driver and while it feels great for my ego, there isnt much to learn or improve on.
Therefore, i have to learn to love the frustration. Its where the growth and improvement live.
Im well aware that my laps are much slower than others, but its ok because if i keep at it i will become a better racer, even if it is 0.00.001 at a time.
That was my long way of saying don't worry about lap times, just have fun.

 

[HF2000]

m curious, why will running in this event make you faster? Is it because the cars are harder to drive smoothly?

Hi Chris,

These cars have more understeer and oversteer than modern cars, but that is relatively easy to control. So you not only practice to react to under/oversteer, but with these relatively low-powered cars you also learn to avoid drifting. These cars are a joy to drive because you can easily drift with them without losing control, but you will lose a lot of time if you do that in most cases. However, sometimes a little drift is faster like with the MX5. You learn how to assess those situations.

But this is my humble opinion based on my own (limited) experience. We have some vintage experts (@Kek700 ,@Denis Betty , @Allan Ramsbottom , @Medilloni )in our community who maybe have a different take on this.

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

@HF2000 @beginer dont ask me,i cant tell which car is front or rear wheel drive when i try and help....
Might start and get back into this GT3 Racing again...Hmmm,the mind ponders..

 

[Interslice]

Quite race for me. Got a really good start and exit from T1 which gave me some breathing room straight away, while the few cars behind battled and pressured each other. Survived an R8 missile overtake who missed his braking point the first time through the bus stop! Seen him in my mirror re-enter the track like a plonk to give me further space to the cars behind. Looked like a white maccer got the worst of it @hape ?

Didn't change tyres so had a big gap to the cars behind starting the second stint, but my pace took a hit with the tank of fuel added. @Kek700 got to within a few seconds by the chequered flag using his pro tyre strategy but luckily I wasn't under too much pressure to go fast on my worn mediums. Crazy pace from him and @HF2000 at the end, but my early good fortunes and good laps mid first stint made it too big an ask for them

Thank to all who took part and congrats to @demetri and @pattikins for the podiums.

See you all next week

Stats! https://simresults.net/210830-8zR

 

[Interslice]

Next weeks event is up

SGP - GT3 @ Zandvoort - Sunday 5th September 2021

Welcome to the RD Assetto Corsa Racing Club. On Sunday 5th of September we're off to Zandvoort in the Netherlands for some GT3 racing action and you are invited to join!! Join us! This is the place to be for relaxed, friendly racing and our events are open to everybody from rookies to the...

www.racedepartment.com

 

[Kek700]

I was a shocled when I found out how fast humans are at this sim racing thing. I was miles off the pace, I think at Silverstone it was more than six seconds a lap from the front runners.
Now people are generally much more consistent and their average lap times are much closer
So starting out now you are faced solely with lap times. qualifying has become more important.
I used to start at the back of the field, expecting most to come off , those days are long gone,
unless you go on public servers.

always found being at the front for the race nerve racking, now I am used to it.
For most of us the learning curve is long and slow, there is just so much to learn, even now I am on that constant learning curve.

Old cars, I used to be happy with understeer, dreaded oversteer, ( when it happened I used to freeze ) started to find that it limited my ability to make speed around the circuits.
Then I discovered the RS1600, this was a game changer for me, racing against Denis and John
and seeing them control, from my perspective a totally unstable car, it was like magic.

I persevered, now oversteer is the same as understeer to me, and sometimes I can give Denis and John a run for their money.

I will say it again, a lot to learn, and for most of us a very rewarding and long curve.
When I see people starting out now there is always some envy going on, they don’t know it, but these are the best times, the fun of studying, learning and trying to go faster.

The true reality is in life, all you have to do is beat yourself, everyone one else is just a marker of your success.

The old cars are a bit of a short circuit to this goal.

Oh? yes and they are the best fun you can have in simracing, most do not realise that.

When I race the Porsche 962 LT, there is always a sense of achievement if I can stay on the circuit and not come off.

I miss the old silverstone and donington circuits, we don’t use them much now, drifting the RS1600, chasing John flat out in a 200 meter drifts, you just cannot do that in modern machinery.

The End.

 

[Medilloni]

This from Ernie says it all...

I will say it again, a lot to learn, and for most of us a very rewarding and long curve.
When I see people starting out now there is always some envy going on, they don’t know it, but these are the best times, the fun of studying, learning and trying to go faster.

The true reality is in life, all you have to do is beat yourself, everyone one else is just a marker of your success.

....I guess we're all competitive to different degrees, so it's natural we compare and try to match, but if the frustration of 'failing' (you never fail, 'till you give up!) takes away enjoyment of what we do, maybe it's time to review why you do it.

So, as Ernie says, try to beat yourself, get thirsty for knowledge on driving techniques (Driver61 is a good start), how to adjust the car so you feel good with it (not always faster, but more fun and consistency), and practice. Lots.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

(From the poem 'Desiderata', hung above my desk, in case I forget to chill the feck out on being beaten)

 

[Interslice]

@HF2000 @beginer dont ask me,i cant tell which car is front or rear wheel drive when i try and help....
Might start and get back into this GT3 Racing again...Hmmm,the mind ponders..

The more the merrier Allan!

 

[Shed 17]

In the mid field battle of the Z4’s, Tim had found some impressive pace and was a second quicker in practice and qualifying, so I just settled into to making it to the finish without any drama and finishing ahead of my start position.

Apart from a bit of side contact with David on the Kemmel straight and inheriting places when others went off, it was a quiet race and I achieved my objective with no major mistakes.

I would completely agree with Chris, Ernie and John over their comments, you can learn so much by just joining in, you will find someone to race against even if it is yourself and the clock. As Ernie and John pointed out, being consistent is the basis of starting to reduce lap times and while I have had my moments and a few successes, I am still on that steep learning curve and for me is more fun to have a good clean race trying to chase someone down rather than being super quick over one lap.

I have been sim racing for about three years now, mostly in Raceroom in the first two years, but since joining this club six months ago, this community has taught me so much and while I am in awe of the aliens and the speed of the likes of Han, Brian and Ernie, it is the fun of clean competition within a relaxed and friendly environment that attracts me, no matter where I finish.

 

[Kek700]

GT3 is like ballroom dancing, everything is exactly regimented, dress perfectly, stand perfectly, every move choreographed to perfection and then repeated lap after lap.
Old sixties cars are like heavy metal head banging dancing, no one has a clue what’s going on , even the person dancing.

 

[demetri]

Tried something different this time seeing that the mighty Lambo didn't get any love, so switched my usual R8 to it. I had a decent hotlap setup that I was able to match my R8 laptimes with, but it turned out that one wasn't good enough for the race. The car felt absolutely fine for about 27 minutes and then out-of-nowhere I spun like a noob in Bruxelles. Rear went slightly loose, the car started to over-rotate slowly and despite my best efforts I just couldn't stop it until it stopped by itself 90 degrees across the track right there on the apex. Felt really weird, normally a steeting correction along with a slight application of throttle is enough to correct such slides in a mid-engine car, but somehow that just didn't work. Felt like I was suddenly in iRacing. I still don't really understand what happened, it's like the rear tires overheated and lost all the grip, but that was not the case.

Being perplexed by that surprise, I spent too much time figuring out how to best get back into the race and that allowed Patrick to take the lead. Knowing that I will have to battle him in the second stint, I decided to do one more lap to have a fresher set of tires for that battle and hoping that I could push them for all remaining 12 laps without any fear of the car losing control again. Even with a big top speed and almost 1s laptime advantage, passing was not a given as you can't follow the opponent close enough in Eau Rouge-Raidillon due to dirty air that makes the car behind to lose quite a bit of aero. The most realistic option would be passing in the third sector into the Bus Stop chicane. But I got lucky with a backmarker who likely caused Patrick to experience that dirty air himself and get understeery losing some speed and momentum due to his sub-optimal line, so I was able to get into his slipstream on Kemmel and make an easy pass into Les Combes. Hit the limiter at 280 km/h for a couple of seconds while doing that. This car is an absolute beast on the straights!

After that, I just had to do a few fast laps growing a decent gap and then took it easy on the final lap to avoid yet another embarrassment.

Thanks to Brian for organizing this event. It had been a while since I raced at Spa on RD.

 

[Goblin616]

Tried something different this time seeing that the mighty Lambo didn't get any love, so switched my usual R8 to it. I had a decent hotlap setup that I was able to match my R8 laptimes with, but it turned out that one wasn't good enough for the race. The car felt absolutely fine for about 27 minutes and then out-of-nowhere I spun like a noob in Bruxelles. Rear went slightly loose, the car started to over-rotate slowly and despite my best efforts I just couldn't stop it until it stopped by itself 90 degrees across the track right there on the apex. Felt really weird, normally a steeting correction along with a slight application of throttle is enough to correct such slides in a mid-engine car, but somehow that just didn't work. Felt like I was suddenly in iRacing. I still don't really understand what happened, it's like the rear tires overheated and lost all the grip, but that was not the case.

Being perplexed by that surprise, I spent too much time figuring out how to best get back into the race and that allowed Patrick to take the lead. Knowing that I will have to battle him in the second stint, I decided to do one more lap to have a fresher set of tires for that battle and hoping that I could push them for all remaining 12 laps without any fear of the car losing control again. Even with a big top speed and almost 1s laptime advantage, passing was not a given as you can't follow the opponent close enough in Eau Rouge-Raidillon due to dirty air that makes the car behind to lose quite a bit of aero. The most realistic option would be passing in the third sector into the Bus Stop chicane. But I got lucky with a backmarker who likely caused Patrick to experience that dirty air himself and get understeery losing some speed and momentum due to his sub-optimal line, so I was able to get into his slipstream on Kemmel and make an easy pass into Les Combes. Hit the limiter at 280 km/h for a couple of seconds while doing that. This car is an absolute beast on the straights!

After that, I just had to do a few fast laps growing a decent gap and then took it easy on the final lap to avoid yet another embarrassment.

Thanks to Brian for organizing this event. It had been a while since I raced at Spa on RD.

Must have Pirelli tyres fitted.