AC LMP1/GTE @ Mugello - Sunday 26th February 2023

[shugsgirls]

Thank you all! Good times.... Can't wait for Sebring!

 

[Kek700]

Well plugged away on hards, kept a steady pace only to be knocked off the circuit by LMP1 number 1. Time lost , about 10 seconds pointlessly, never mind, plugged away for about 25 laps then in for a pit stop. Came out just behind the two fighting leaders. An LMP2 tried to slip through three racing GT2 racing for 1st 2nd and third for absolutely no reason, why.
Don’t these guys realise they have about 1000 kg of downforce when we have 350kg of down force at the speed we were going.
Lost loads of valuable time, lost the will to live as well. Would I have won, very likely, but two pointless over takes buggered all that effort up.
I enjoyed the psychological battle on hards, most were all very accommodating, I have no criticisms of anyone, just why???

Thankyou to Brian for the organisation.

 

[Shed 17]

Thank you all for the race! It was my first multi class race ever and it was more exciting than I anticipated! I hope it was mostly clean driving on my side, but as I am learning - if you have any insights for me what could've been done better, tell me please. Also, I only crashed once today, and that's a big win for me

As far as I was concerned you did a great job Tomek as did all of the GT2 drivers. It must have been a nightmare when the LMP1 cars came up behind you with blue flags and constantly watching your mirrors wondering which way to go, I know how it feels as have been there myself and it’s not much fun.
The one observation I would have is for the slower class to be consistent and to stay on the racing line or make it obvious what you are going to do, being on Discord is a help and really is a must for these type of events. I had a couple of code brown moments when a slower car moved away from the line I thought they were taking.

But overall I had great fun, the strategy of when and where to use the electric made for some good battles and if I did crowd anyone into a turn, my apologies.

Thanks to Brian for organising this, well done to everyone and I’m looking forward to the championship, although I’m not sure the oil burner will have as much of a grip advantage on some of the other tracks.

 

[Enzo Fazzi]

I had a couple of code brown moments when a slower car moved away from the line I thought they were taking.

For me this was probably the first multiclass race at RD for me where I didn't have a moment like that, everyone was very predictable.

Interested to see how strategy is gonna play out with the LMP1s in the longer races.

 

[davejevons]

Well that was more exciting than it should have been. Simracing met real life in a not so great way this evening. Contrary to how it might have appeared, I didn't rage quit having being tagged by an LMP1.

The start was very clean and there were some good battles with Jason, Pat and Ernie - whose 911 looked like it had 150 litres of fuel in it at the start.

Having settled in a bit, the LMP1s started coming past. Mostly it was fine but after a while I fell into the trap of trying to pre-empt them rather than driving my own race and had a few close calls. Eventually I tangled with Laurent and while recovering heard shouts from upstairs. Our youngest had decided to be sick EVERYWHERE I teleported to the pits and ran up stairs to help out. Came back 15mins later expecting to carry on but the computer was completely dead

After much internet research this evening it turns out as I ran upstairs I must have caught the PC with my foot and disloged one of the banks of RAM After a quick faff, reseating the RAM and a hoover out it seems to be back running again.

Really enjoyed preparing for this one. Mugello is such a great track. I need to practice holding my line when the LMP1s are bearing down on me. Thanks for organising Brian and apologies for having to bail.

 

[shugsgirls]

Is there a pit speed infraction? On many AC races, you can just blast into the pits and the limiter slows you down. Other times, you have to be slowed down prior to entry, or get a drive through..
Which approach will be used in the championship?

Thanks again!

 

[Alfred Wayne]

@shugsgirls drive in as fast as you can and the limiter will slow you down, no need to do anything else. Also, just curious, did you change tires today during your pit, or just go with fuel? You seemed to make good time with your pit, coming out ahead of me. Led to some good laps between us in the second half (and a very tight 3 wide when Ernie left the pits )

As for the rest of the race today, it was my first time in the slower class around LMPs, but I really enjoyed it. Despite being the slower car, I liked the job of "managing" the LPM1s passing Speaking of, my LMP encounters went about as smoothly as they could today! I found letting them pass sooner than later ended up being faster for both (ie breaking a little earlier into a turn if possible). There were some nicely timed overtakes by LMPs into T1 and others coming out of T3 Hopefully the faster drivers felt the same.

Really looking forward to the longer races. Will be hard work, but I think the "pressure" of needing to pass or needing to let someone by might ease up a little with a longer run time and more fuel saving strategies in play. Plus it'll be fun to play pretend WEC racing driver on the "official" schedule

Thanks for putting in the time to set this up Brian, see you all next race!

 

[cerebralvortex]

Oh well, that was something!

First off, I saw how many laps Colin put in in practice and his times kept improving, so I expected it to be close with him. I wasn't aware of the extra qualifying sessions (should be in OP) but was just able to pip him to P2 with only 2 fast laps in qualy (botched two others of the 7 mins by spinning in the last turn).. but I ended up lapping him which surprised me, hopefully not too much incidents after all that practice time for him.

Start went well, built quite a comfortable gap to P3 (10+ seconds) in the early laps. I had a strange incident with David Jevons while trying to overtake. I went to the inside of the turn but I wasn't sure he was aware that I was there. When I accelerated out of the turn he seemed to cut into my line, so I braked but he then warped into me and it sent me in the barriers. Attached is a video how it looked from my end. That pushed me back into 3 LMP's battling it out.

At some point Edward overtook me after I was being careful when passing a GTE. I was losing time behind him so I decided to pit. I exited the pits a few seconds behind Brian, closed the gap and overtook him on the main straight. From there on he was pushing behind me. The time you referred to after the race on discord (I had no button mapped..) I had no battery left going into the main straight. I used the battery to overtake GTE's cleanly. So I went on the button crossing the finish line. As for the gearing, I was pretty much on default setup, so whatever is default.

This was one of my first multi-class races. I must admit I was quite nervous with the overtaking bit, but apart from the strange incident with David it went quite well. But still, I am not aggressive enough overtaking the GTE's. I noticed this as the LMP's behind often caught up to me when lapping GTE's. So, I'm not sure if this championship is really for me but it was certainly fun to experience it.

All in all it was much cleaner than expected!

Thanks Brian for organizing it, glad the server tech worked out in the end

 

[JamKart22]

First time racing with the LMP1 so was pleased to get a decent lap time in the various qualifying sessions. I should have perhaps spent a bit more time on heavy fuel, medium tyre running as my race pace was way off. I couldn't get to grips with the KERS system and was generally getting mugged down the main straight. I was also perhaps a bit to slow getting past the GT2 cars. Can't help feeling GT3 cars would be a better match - what do others thinlk?

Anyway, please I managed a hour with these machines and kept it mainly on the track.

 

[Interslice]

Very enjoyable race. Thanks to everyone who took part. No drama or incidents lapping the GT cars. Everyone seemed to be aware of what was happening which was nice

Nice racing with @Programmer_Rich and @Jimlaad43 in the first half. I Battled up as far as P3 but needed a longer 7th gear to have a chance to pass or stay ahead of @cerebralvortex up into T1.

Looking forward to the 2 races at Sebring. See you there

 

[shugsgirls]

@shugsgirls drive in as fast as you can and the limiter will slow you down, no need to do anything else. Also, just curious, did you change tires today during your pit, or just go with fuel? You seemed to make good time with your pit, coming out ahead of me. Led to some good laps between us in the second half (and a very tight 3 wide when Ernie left the pits )

I took fuel only at pitstop. I gained about 10 secs, but you quicky ate that up!

 

[dbx71]

Thank you all! Good times.... Can't wait for Sebring!

my sincerest apologies weston for knocking you off at the chicane... that race was a tough one for me as i was too distracted with things going on in the house and also constantly checking my mirror was throwing me off. overall, concentration wasn't there.
as much as i hated to do it, finally decided to bail out of race.

 

[shugsgirls]

my sincerest apologies weston for knocking you off at the chicane... that race was a tough one for me as i was too distracted with things going on in the house and also constantly checking my mirror was throwing me off. overall, concentration wasn't there.
as much as i hated to do it, finally decided to bail out of race.

No worries...all good!

 

[The Almighty Snark]

Had a lovely race, qualified last of the LMP's but hadn't practiced this track and car combo at all. Grabbed a Spa setup and did a few laps to get the fuel down.

That's where the fun started, I didn't realize this car had KERS and I thought it only had automatic modes. I also didn't realize that the automatic modes only really work at low RPM, and I was constantly going up to the max vs gearing when the wheel lights told me so.

Eventually I figured that out and was doing some decent times. I love how the Audi is able to attack the curves!

 

[Kek700]

Yes, it does, and it re-stabilises itself if it is overdone.
like I said in my waffle above, what is a speed that is a piece of cake to LMP1, we poor GTE lads are getting into all sorts of difficulties.

 

[The Almighty Snark]

Yes, it does, and it re-stabilises itself if it is overdone.
like I said in my waffle above, what is a speed that is a piece of cake to LMP1, we poor GTE lads are getting into all sorts of difficulties.

There's an advantage to having 4 wheels be powered and a ton of downforce