MALLALA MISCHIEF aka Abarths @ Mallala - Thursday 12th March 2009

[Andy Marsden]

Servername: RACEDEPARTMENT.COM
Class: Abarth 1000TC
Track: Mallala Motorsport Park (Download)
Weather: Dry
Practice: 1900 GMT
Qualification: 1940 GMT
Race: 2000 GMT (2x20 laps)
Note 1: Click here to read the password and golden rules!
Note 2: Abarth skinpack will be used, please download HERE.

Important: Please pay special attention to Racedepartment's 2 Golden Rules:

1.If you hit another driver and disadvantage him, we expect you stop and let the other driver regain his position on you. If this costs you many places (eg first few laps) then consider this a penalty for your driving infringement. Doing this shows respect to your fellow drivers and will encourage drivers to be more careful. Please use some care when letting the other driver regain position, do not immediately stop your car on the driving line where it can cause further accidents.

2.Late sign outs or no-shows prevent others from entering club events. Some series have really hot seats and can be filled with ease for two or three times. If this happens too many times we are forced to terminate your club account immediately. Last sign out possibility is 1 hour prior to the start of the event (practice).

Not following these rules will result in your membership of the racing club being terminated at once!

NOTICE TO ALL DRIVERS - Due to the prevailing weather conditions in the Antipodes, this will now be a NIGHT race.


Entrylist:

1. Andy Marsden
2. Stuart Thomson
3. David Cuthill
4. Dave Stephenson (tentative)
5. Knut Omdal Tveito
   
6. Warren Dawes
7. Amir Margalit
8. Péter Bártfai
9. Driver
10. Driver
11. Driver
12. Driver
13. Driver
14. Driver
15. Driver
16. Driver
17. Driver
18. Driver
19. Driver
20. Driver
21. Driver
22. Driver
23. Driver
24. Driver
25. Driver
26. Driver
27. Driver
28. Driver

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

Congrats Amir!

Nah, no problems Knut, I just thought you might like some company in the dark, and I was enjoying watching you slide around so I could get lost in the smoke.

Ah, I see. Maybe I would have focused a little more if I knew that Thought I was racing by myself so I took the liberty to have some sideways action Next time we get in that situation I will try to put up a better fight so I can practice some close-racing. These days I try to keep my distance to other cars to avoid accidents.

 

[Glenn Morris]

Hey all. Have only just joined, so I missed this. Sounds like great fun!!
Looking through the last page or so of posts, it seems a 1:23 is a reasonably competitive time to run on Mallala? Is this the case?
How often do you run Abarth only events?
Seems like an awesome (and easy) way to get into the GT Legends online racing experience!

Cheers.

 

[Warren Dawes]

Looking through the last page or so of posts, it seems a 1:23 is a reasonably competitive time to run on Mallala? Is this the case?

Best times recorded during the event were 1.22.9xx, but anything in the 1.23's was competitive.

How often do you run Abarth only events?
Seems like an awesome (and easy) way to get into the GT Legends online racing experience!

Abarths have been pretty regular but we usually try to give all the cars a run so we get a chance to try them. Don't worry, most of us are still learning to drive these cars, so when the beasts are scheduled, we all pretty much have our "moments" with them.

 

[Glenn Morris]

Thanks mate. I've got some work to do then! High 1:24's for me at the moment! lol!!!

 

[Warren Dawes]

Thanks mate. I've got some work to do then! High 1:24's for me at the moment! lol!!!

The driving lines at Mallala are pretty critical. Look for ways to get the best drive out of the tight turns because they lead to longish straights, especially for an Abarth.

I managed one of the 1.22.9's, so here is my setup in case it is of any help.

 

[David Cuthill]

Race 1: Starting from second, I quickly got to the front, put in a few good laps to open a gap and stayed there for first place.

Race 2: After a great first race, it all fell apart in the second. Starting from third, I got into second place behind Warren and screwed up when I went around a corner and spun him around. After waiting, we were both well behind and I kept some distance between us as I didn't want a repeat. A few laps later, going around a corner and... OH NO! I've done the exact same thing again and Warren has spun around to face me and I'm looking into his windscreen and I swear, at this point that I shrugged my shoulders at the monitor and said sorry. I eventually pushed on for the rest of the race and came in an undeserving third. Warren, I hope you can forgive me spoiling your race.

 

[Glenn Morris]

I managed one of the 1.22.9's, so here is my setup in case it is of any help.

Awesome. Cheers mate. I'll have a go, see how I go.

*Heads off to practice for a bit*

 

[Warren Dawes]

OH NO! I've done the exact same thing again and Warren has spun around to face me and I'm looking into his windscreen and I swear, at this point that I shrugged my shoulders at the monitor and said sorry.

Well David, it's lucky you couldn't lip read through my windscreen, especially considering that was the fourth time I had been taken out (twice in the opening laps of Race 1 too).
I guess I must have had a huge red bulls eye on my tail that glowed in the dark. I believe the fastest line through that turn was to brake a tad early and take a wide entry to allow the maximum drive into the long straight ahead, but it seems everytime I tried that, someone would see it as an invitation to dive into the gap with a late braking manouvre. I will admit, I pulled over along the straight after that and let you pass, I wasn't about to risk any more hits.

Lets put it behind us then, it just wasn't my morning, at least I managed some fast lap times.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

How often do you run Abarth only events?
Seems like an awesome (and easy) way to get into the GT Legends online racing experience!

Cheers.

Hi Glenn.

We've had a few Abarth only races recently, but that's the exception rather than the rule. And the Abarths are just as hard to drive fast as the more powerful cars, you just have different criteria to manage. I'm very lucky in as much as I'm equally slow in all the cars :good:

After refining the calendar a bit, we basically have 5 stock events:-

1. single car / multi track events - eg GT40 event
2. multi car / single track events - eg Capri / Escort event
3. multi car / multi track events - coming soon
4. single car, single track, single race enduro events - eg Car of the Month Mustang event
5. "Special" events - coming soon

But the scope of the GTL vehicle roster, the default tracks included and the add-on tracks available make it easier to mix and match the stock events around for very different driving experiences.

Hope to see you on track soon.:good:

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Anyway - last night's report:

Quali 1 - tried for consistency rather than outright pace, and was happy with the 4 or 5 consecutive mid 1.23's I was able to do. Quali'd 4th.

Race 1 - Got a good start, avoided the first few corner incidents, and took off in 2nd place behind David. Kept him honest for about 13 laps, basically close enough if he had made a mistake and spin, I was there. Unfortunately, I was the one who made a mistake, outbraking myself a couple of times, and allowing Warren & Amir to close up on me and overtake. Had a good dice with Warren, we had a bit of a bang while I was in front, Warren waited for me good: thanks again mate), allowing Amir through on both of us. I followed Amir closely, watching him for a couple of corners to see how he handled them, and then managed to do the early braking, early acceleration pass on him to just keep hold of 2nd. Made it far harder for myself than it should have been, but still good fun.

Quali 2 -took me forever to get even a semi-clean lap, and qualied 5th.

Race 2 - again, a decent start, avoided the lap 1 collisions [Race Director Moan - we really need to do better there, chaps - there's nothing riding on these races but fun. If the pass is dicey, don't attempt it, and try somewhere safer, or if you're closer. Too many people's races are being spoilt by silly and avoidable manouevers.] Made a couple of mistakes and dropped down to 5th behind Knut, and we had a nice little battle for a few laps until I managed to pass him (some nice defence there Knut, nothing silly, but some good defensive lines). I opened up a bit of a gap in 3rd, but then had a total lapse in concentration and basically gifted the recovering David C a podium.

All in all good fun - but (holding my hand up here) we need to be a bit wary of night races and the surroundings. That's down to me & Andy, and we will do better.

What's down to others, however, is to drive less recklessly and work out that it's much more fun to follow someone for a couple more laps without incident than it is to get past by hitting them then having to wait, possibly spoiling races and then all the apologies and (hopefully) remorse that it engenders.

I'd give us a B- for last night. We must do better.