AC GT3 @ TT-Assen, Sunday 25th April 2021

[edo22]

Great race, very demanding.
I went with the medium and no change during pit and i think it was the right call as i gained a couple of positions but i couldn't manage to keep Han behind me in the last couple of laps as i was struggling too much with the tyres.

Looking forward to next week, i think that Portimao could be even harder than Assen (i'm pretty sure ).

Edit: i forgot, @Chris Down you could have avoided to lap me just for nine thousandths of second Just joking, impressive race!

 

[random2k4]

Great, but mostly uneventful race for me. This one seems to be one of those tracks thats super easy to learn but hard to get the last second and tenths out of it. Was quite surprised that I was almost 0.5 secs faster in the qualifying then my practice session yesterday.

So I started 5th. Again with a mediocre start. Was immediately pressured by Dean who was directly behind me. Patrick seemed to have messed up his start even more then me. So I could pull right alongside him on the inside for T1. Getting flashback to my last 4 T1 accidents, I decided to play it save this time and let him through. Banged a little doors but thats racing. Pulling to the inside. Oh Oh look who´s there. knock knock banged also doors with Dean. Now that I coulndt leave the car anymore without help, I started to find my rhythm. Constantly, pressured by Dean, I hit the grass in Lap 2 at De Bult. Luckily there was no gravel trap and I could just slide around the corner and hit the throttle again. Catching up To Patrick again at lap 3, I could get close at the start finish line again. With Dean directly behind, we went super close through the hairpin. Having a better exit and the better breaks I could successfully overtake him at the next corner. Looking in the mirror two corners later I just saw multiple cars sideways. From this point on I was more or less alone. Thomas had a great pace in front of me he was always 5-8 seconds in front. So I saw no need to push it super hard cause the tires were an issue at the end of each stint. With also 5-8 second of a gap behind me I was not really in danger the entire race. Lost a little time while overtaking blue flagged cars, but thats to be expected. Only had one issue with a blue flagged driver after the hairpin, already was alongside but he went full throttle and didnt let me get back to the racing line for the next corner. Maybe a little confusing cause he was battling with Pat so I was maybe just another BMW in his mirror

All in all finished 4th, and pretty happy to get a great result again after my last races were lets say sub-optimal.
See you all next week.

 

[HF2000]

Thanks everyone for racing tonight! I hope you all enjoyed it.
Congrats to the podium and to myself for not being lapped by Enzo !

Next week of course we will follow the F1 and our Wednesday multiclass to Portimao.
I will setup the practice server tomorrow. Hope to see you all on track there!

 

[Interslice]

That's a funny coincidence ernie...

Great track! Thanks to han for organising

I had a busy week on and off the rig so only got around to downloading the track this evening. Best i could do in the quali was 18th. I thought sure I'll tip along at the back here and learn the new track but, as per, half the grid binned it and i was in the top ten on the second lap. @640er was behind and i was forced into finding some speed! I settled in behind @HF2000 and he filled in the knowledge gaps for me. It worked well as i didn't have the pace to put him under pressure but could just keep up enough to start building some pace following his car... @640er had a spin earlier so it was a comfortable enough gap to @edo22 behind.

At the halfway, i tried a fast entry to the pit and ended up going in backwards and got stuck sideways! Now i know what happened @Kek700! Han eduardo and now @640er were long gone and i thought this could be boring now, but ernie popped up and was closing the 7 or 8 second gap pretty fast in his nissan.

By the time he caught me i had sort of figured out how to lap without a car to follow and we had a good battle! I had one eye on trying to catch andreas ahead. Tyres started to go off towards the end and i went sideway into the last chicane trying to dhake ernie's tail. Thanks for waiting ernie, i would have said to you to go ahead but i thought you were having the wobbles aswell! Nice of you to wait! We caught @640er on the last half lap. Another 2 or 3 laps would have been good for a fun 3 car battle!

Would do assen again

Congrats to the podium and to chris for the win! See yous at the next one

 

[Taj Johal]

My race report:

I was a mile of the pace at the back, even worse than usual. Decided after quali, not to even try to race into T1 but instead to hang back and then just follow.

Somehow ended up behind Mark in P14 I think. Mark was a 1s quicker than me but I was hanging on, knowing the quick guys behind would eventually catch up and overtake. I was have to work to hang on but I was doing it until on lap5 I went a bit wide on the exit of Stekkenwal, onto the curb, lost the back end and spun. The 2 behind me did well to avoid me
After that my race was but you only learn by finishing and taking part.

BTW, I've come to conclusion the 488 is not a fire breathing Italian thoroughbred but a diesel masquerading as one. You need to ride the flat torque curve, change up at 6.5k, not rev the nuts off. I blame my race engineer for getting the gearing wrong.

At least that's my excuse for being slow

 

[Marko77]

IMPORTANT: Due to instability problems with Simracing.gp we're going back to the RD servers for now. Sign up here with your choice of car. The event on s.gp is only to redirect to this thread. Please read the 3rd post in this thread for more information.

This week we are going to the Cathedral of Speed as the TT-circuit of the Dutch city of Assen is known. It's a new track for our GT3 events and it has four high speed curves that give this track it's nickname. It's mostly famous for the MotoGP series but there's also a lay out for cars which is quite challenging.
This event isn't even fictional because the DTM race with GT3 cars will pay Assen a visit in September this year. So come join us for 60 minutes of GT3 action!

On Wednesdays, there is a great opportunity to prepare yourself for this race by joining a multiclass Audi TT/Mazda MX5 Cup event on the same track. You can learn the racing lines, overtaking spots and even the braking points in a car that's less demanding than the GT3s -- and you can still have a lot of fun at the same time! Search for the multiclass Audi TT/Mazda MX5 event in the Calendar or on the RaceDepartment community on simracing.gp.

Join us
Not a premium member yet but interested to race with our group of friendly drivers? Click here for more information and learn how you can participate as well.

Server Password: click here
Tracks, Cars, Apps Installation Guide: click here (Handy guide to install non AC content)
Racing Club Rules: click here
Incident Reporting: click here

Server Name:

• Practice Server: #12
• Race Server: #13

Cars: DLC is required for this event

GT3:

• Audi R8 LMS 2016 GT3 (Ready to Race Pack DLC)
• BMW Z4 GT3
• Ferrari 488 GT3 (Red Pack DLC)
• Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Dream Pack #2 DLC)
• McLaren 650S GT3 (Dream Pack #3 DLC)
• Mercedes AMG GTR GT3 (Dream Pack #3 DLC)
• Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 (Dream Pack #1 DLC)
• Porsche 911 R 2016 GT3 (Porsche Pack #3 DLC)
• Glickenhaus SCG GT3 (Dream Pack #2 DLC)

Track: TT-Assen Autosport (download here: https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/tt-circuit-assen.4536/version/68714/download)
Pit stop: Mandatory
Track Temps: 20C air/26C track
Track Condition: Clear

Recommended App: Helicorsa (download here)
Recommended App: CrewChief(download here)

Voice chat: Discord (speakers obligated, microphone optional)

Free practice: server will be available throughout the week.
Official practice: 18:00 UTC (1 hour 20 minutes)
Qualifying: 19:20 UTC (20 minutes)
Race: 19:40 UTC (60 minutes)

Entry list:
1. @HF2000 - 488
2. @jackdyson31 - GT-R
3. @JamKart22 - GT-R
4. @Interslice - Lambo
5. @edo22 - Z4
6. @demetri - Audi
7. @Programmer_Rich - GT-R
8. @random2k4 - Z4
9. @Enzo Fazzi - Lambo
10. @640er - Lambo
11. @Taj Johal - 488
12. @Kek700 - GT-R
13. @pattikins - SGC
14. @uvraver - 650s
15. @Chris Down - 650s
16. @Fiberoptix - Lambo
17. @SOLO59 - R8
18. @Bart Snijders - 488
19. @Partick Eaton - Z4
20. @K_a_n_t_e - R8
21. @thom462 - 650s
22. @Marko77 - 650s

Fun track and had some great racing. @jackdyson31 did good work keeping in front of me and catching me when he needed. I had a tough time trying to run him down, but that made it fun. Was hoping to run with @Taj Johal more. See you guys back on the track soon.

 

[thom462]

Results: https://simresults.net/210425-6jW

First of all congrats to Enzo and Thomas on the podium. To Thomas: really impressed with how much you've progressed with us in the last year, you are definitely a clear demonstration that the "keep on practicing and you'll get there" talk is true -- great pace!

From my side, really nice race, no major mistakes (except for an absolutely massive code brown on lap one on the fast left hander) -- although the understeer is crazy on the mediums when they're cold, so the first lap and pit outlap were just shocking. I also had two massive grip drop offs at about 20 minutes left to go and 5 minutes left to go, which I've not experienced before, or maybe I just don't run the mediums as much as I used to.

I did a bit of practice trying to find the fastest race strategy and it seemed it was the softs, but I was a bit worried about the wear at the end, so opted for the mediums. It's definitely doable, but managing the softs requires constant tyre management and I would rather not have to worry so much about that, especially since I had no idea what other people's pace was going to be around here.

All in all a good race from my side, was a bit scared when I saw I joined and quali was already about to start, but surprisingly a more or less mistake free quali and race, which is always nice Have a great rest of your weekend folks, and thanks Han for organising!

Thanks Chris for your words. Actually did not expect too much today as I had only 15 minutes practice here with the GT3 short before qualy, was fatigue and just loaded my standard setup and did no changes. Also did no race practice with full fuel which I normally do so I had no idea about tyre wear and if softs would last. So I just went for 50/50 fuel strategy with softs.
Again had a good start but didn't want to risk anything but it turned out P3 after the first corners. Was surprised to be able to follow Enzo close, even tried to get him before the chicane but always was cautious not to risk my good position. I think he was on full fuel so I was able to follow close but I pitted after 30 minutes so no more battle with him. Missed my pitbox which never happens but in your best race....oh my, lost about seven seconds there.
Second stint was only looking that Stefan does not get too close which I could manage. As well tried to be not too hard with the softs which actually worked great, they were ok at each end of the stint.
So I am happy with the first podium in Sundays race and it was good fun .
Thanks Han for organizing, great track.

Cu next time.

 

[Chris Down]

My VR onboard, with a nice code brown on the fast left hander in lap 1 ;-)

 

[Taj Johal]

just hit 1.39.5, amazing what correct gearing can do.

Of course the race engineer said something about how being in the vicinity of the apex usually helps and consistency as well

Was hoping to run with @Taj Johal more. See you guys back on the track soon.

maybe next time mate

 

[SOLO59]

I really like the track, but found it difficult avoid track limits. Kept running wide at times. Lol

I got a great start, found myself in p6 after a couple corners. After a few laps, Pat, Stefan and I were battling for P4. I was right on Pat's bumper heading into a right hander (can't remember which turn), he swung wide to setup the turn instead of defending, and I jumped to the inside touching the curb, but Pat didn't expect the move and we collided. It wasn't a dive bomb as I was right there to make a move, but thinking it over, maybe I could have backed off and setup a move after. Or maybe a racing incident. It's all good and for fun though.

Managed some high 1.37's after pitting for tires. But still managed to mess up some laps, my goodness.

Sorry to Chris for the nuged while lapping me. I was just trying to point the car in the right direction and try to stay out your way too lol

 

[K_a_n_t_e]

Thanks for the race, guys! It was only my second race with the Audi and GT3s in general. I am slowly getting to know these tires compounds and am dialing in a driveable Setup at the Moment. I also experienced the sudden drop off in performance on mediums around 20 minutes into the stint, which caught me very much by surprise!
@Kek700 Sorry for the notch, when i tried my opportunistic pass, while you were held up lapping one of the ferraris.
In one of the last laps i unfortunatley bumped into the back of one z4, causing him to spin coming out of the first corner. It was a difficult situation, because he was batteling with a Nissan and i was maybe a bit impatient to lap them both in one go while i was trying to catch @random2k4. l look forward to the next one Thx for organizing this event!

 

[640er]

Thanks Han as always and congrats to the podium

I was enjoying the track as it presents some challenging combinations. The Lambo did a good job there as well and managed to do a decent qualy lap. Unfortunately I completely f*cked up my start and found myself in the mid-field. But I was running the 90L one set of mediums strategy so I was hoping to gain back some places during the pit-stops. Then I got caught by an accident in front of me, again resulting in the loss of a few positions. Found myself in traffic and planned to pit as early as possible to have some fresh air in front of me. The lap I wanted to pit, I spun at the last corner before pit entry, missing it and had to do another lap. On top of what already went wrong until that point, I exited the pits just behind the former last place and got stuck in traffic again :/ . While battling at the end of the field, I got pushed off the track in a not very gentleman like way and lost time again. To top it off, the mediums started to loose a lot of grip, especially at the front. Came home at the end of the field.

 

[HF2000]

Next week event: https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/gt3-portimao-sunday-2nd-may-2021.202286/

 

[random2k4]

Looking back at the results, I have to say I really like the spread of cars in the Top 5 and Top 10 during the last races.

 

[Marko77]

just hit 1.39.5, amazing what correct gearing can do.

Of course the race engineer said something about how being in the vicinity of the apex usually helps and consistency as well


maybe next time mate

I should have watched the Chris Down video first. . I had wrong gear too. Could have glided faster through some turns in a higher gear.