AC Multiclass Audi TT/Mazda MX5@VIR, Wednesday 26th January 2022

[Chris Down]

What a fun track, really glad to be able to race here in these fun cars, great combo

In qualification I accidentally put race fuel which was a bit interesting, but thankfully you get something back with more fuel in the Audi since the car turns better! Not so good on the uphill bits though

The race was really nice, super clean, we've come a long way from Road Atlanta only 2 weeks ago. Thanks so much to @HF2000 and @Interslice for maintaining the quality of the club, you guys are awesome

Simresults: https://simresults.net/220126-s4J

My VR onboard:

 

[maxilogan]

Apologies to all the group. After the practice made in the wrong resolution (when I was alone I had 60fps steadily but then online they dropped to 30 something) and got one of the last places due to errors, I made one of my best starts and got a great pace for my standards. This could've been one of my best results (on par with the DNF but 5th in the last lap in Bahrain), but i had discussed with my wife before the race, and because of other reasons the tension raised and I had to leave. So upsetting, I'm gutted. I think I will take a bit of a pause.

 

[stigs2cousin]

That was areally nice race with regard to "nice people racing"

Really enjoyed the carefull and respectfull driving ( and the not so respectfull banter )

As to the race:

I qualified as expected, managed to grab P2 for a short while and then ( not unexpectedly) lost it again in a quite interesting "both guys offroaded around each other in Snake Entry" move .

Then I could follow my idols Allan and Andre ( " The AA Team") for a while until they decided to scrape me off with the help of some partners in crime from the Audist persuasion.

Left alone in the dust I decided to add in some mistakes of my own volition and fell behind quite substantially.

Imagine my surprise when Andre showed up again to keep me company after he had a little tete a tete with an Audist.
But as he stubbornly insisted to keep his position even after some close ones with Audist help I came home in the position that matched my pace

(Note to self: MUST DRIVE FASTER )

Cheers guys ( whatever that really means)

Carsten

Edith says:

Man, must have been quite flashed by this race as I already corrected a metric buttton of typos

 

[HF2000]

Apologies to all the group. After the practice made in the wrong resolution (when I was alone I had 60fps steadily but then online they dropped to 30 something) and got one of the last places due to errors, I made one of my best starts and got a great pace for my standards. This could've been one of my best results (on par with the DNF but 5th in the last lap in Bahrain), but i had discussed with my wife before the race, and because of other reasons the tension raised and I had to leave. So upsetting, I'm gutted. I think I will take a bit of a pause.

Take your time and take care, Omar. These things in life are to be taking seriously.
Return when you feel ready for it but please do. I really like having you in my events.

 

[mynock15]

Thanks everyone for really enjoyable race. I should have done a bit better but ran out of talent a couple of times!

Really fun racing with Raul, Taj, Douglas, Wim and Omar, thanks guys!

 

[Alfred Wayne]

Yeah, life has a way of sticking it's nose in our racing and not always at the best moments. I'm currently in the process of looking for a new apartment and moving to a new state (just one over) so that's been a bunch to manage recently. Took time away from my practice for this race. Also the digital sun was in my eyes

As for the race, overall a pretty quiet one for me until the very last few laps when I finally closed the gap to @Shed 17 from 2s to less than 1s. That got my heart beating fast Thought the 2nd to last lap was the last lap and used up my p2p early, only to find ourselves behind an Formula 1 mazda safety car in the esses the next lap, ensuring a super close finish, .05s difference Saving the best for last I guess Nice racing from everyone from top to bottom. Looking forward to the next one

 

[Douglas Aird]

Firstly I would like to compliment everyone on their fair racing and communication on track, this was an enjoyable race.

My free practice was terrible, even allowing for track conditions and my tyres I just couldn't stop sliding off until right at the end.

Qualifying was a lot better and I managed to squeeze ahead of Carsten into 3rd.

Shocking race start as I forgot to change into 2nd and watched the entire field go past. I then managed to compound the error by pushing too hard, making mistakes and eventually going off.

When I rejoined I was 20+ seconds off the back of the pack.

In clear air I got up to reasonable pace and started to catch up, spurred on by the fact I could see that there were close battles ahead, slowing everyone down.

Eventually started battling through with some close racing. Caught Raul with a few laps to go and overtook him for 4th, lost it again then got the position back when he went off.

Shame I couldn't be in the mix for the podium but I need to improve my early laps to earn that.

Thanks, Han, for organising and congratulations to the podium places.

 

[Kek700]

That was good for me, no hold up, Mazda's all friendly, saw no one except a dot called Chris who eventually faded to now't and a VIR track that for the first time treated me nicely.
Apart from well-done podiums and of course our organiser @HF2000 and a special note to the pace of our front Mazda driver's, very impressive, and of course Chris, on his 1-54 .

 

[Chris Down]

Had so much fun that I decided I will grind WR a bit after the race. Thanks again everyone for the clean and fun racing!

 

[Dzul]

What a fun evening on track guys! A big +1 to all compliments for the fair racing, and like Chris said on comms, I also expected more contact on this track than on the previous two due to its nature, but it was sterling driving and fair racing all the way, from everyone, so a big chapeau to us!

I've never had so many battles on track and that made my race so much fun. I had a decent start and made a few places, managed to keep my spot and got a decent pace after a little skating about here and there on the first two laps. I had a great scrap with Tony until we had a Nascar moment at the blind chicane at the last sector, he waited for me and we kept on battling. I managed to get ahead with a little help from incoming Audis and caught up with Omar afterwards. The chase was close and I was catching up when he suddenly left. Quite unfortunate because I think we would have had a great battle, your pace was solid but don't worry. I hope you get the time you need and decide to return soon amigo.

My laptimes started to get better and managed to survive incoming traffic fairly well. I caught up up with Taj eventually and we also had a good scrap. I somehow squeezed myself through and went on trying to catch up with Carsten. But then Doug made a great comeback... he started to catch up and I wasn't helped by incoming Audis once more. At some point I had him on my bumper and he made a fantastic move on the double-right at the back of the track, he managed to use his overspeed really well, it was a really great pass amigo! I followed him closely and took the place back on the first sector though and I was keeping Doug at distance until two Audis went by... one of them went side-by-side with me into the right-left handler before the double-right at the back, unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the track, touched the grass and catapulted myself out of the track... luckily I had a lot of off-road practice on saturday so I managed to get back on the circuit quick enough that I didn't lose more than 2 places. I caught up with Wim and I was closing in for a pass when he went wide, touched grass and went off at the blind chicane at the last sector. After that I think Taj and Tony had also an off-road because next on my list was Doug, but I didn't have enough laps left to catch up for another scrap.

All and all, it was a fun and busy race... no time for a sip of water on the straights even. Thanks again for organising Han and you chaps for the fun race. Congratulations to the winners and podium finishers, looking forward to the next one!

 

[stigs2cousin]

Had so much fun that I decided I will grind WR a bit after the race. Thanks again everyone for the clean and fun racing!

Of course you did

Any plans on doing a master class any time soon

MFG Carsten

 

[Chris Down]

Of course you did

Any plans on doing a master class any time soon

MFG Carsten

Hah, the truth is I'm always up for doing things like that, but it's hard for me to know what to suggest. I guess it's always hard and abstract to give suggestions without a concrete question being asked. Always happy to answer any questions if people have specific ones though, feel free to just let me know.

 

[stigs2cousin]

Hah, the truth is I'm always up for doing things like that, but it's hard for me to know what to suggest. I guess it's always hard and abstract to give suggestions without a concrete question being asked. Always happy to answer any questions if people have specific ones though, feel free to just let me know.

Yes it is.
That´s why (at least professional) coaches have extensive training and why great drivers are more often than not (speaking VERY IN GENERAL here ) are less then stellar coaches.
And to make it even more difficult sometimes a great driver (this time I´m very specific ) can´t even exactly define his technique.

At least for it would be helpfull to have a drill that makes me more consistent, hit my marks all the time/every time.

MFG Carsten

 

[HF2000]

Yes it is.
That´s why (at least professional) coaches have extensive training and why great drivers are more often than not (speaking VERY IN GENERAL here ) are less then stellar coaches.
And to make it even more difficult sometimes a great driver (this time I´m very specific ) can´t even exactly define his technique.

At least for it would be helpfull to have a drill that makes me more consistent, hit my marks all the time/every time.

MFG Carsten

I've once asked Enzo for advice to become faster and he said two things:

• less braking, more throttle (basically brake later and go earlier on the throttle)
• More aggressive steering. I'm used to turn smoothly into a corner but in order to turn the car faster it's better to force the car a little into the corner.

But both advices need a kind of sense or feeling that I just don't have. When I tried to apply this, I overshot the brakepoint or I got into a spin. Why are Lewis and Max so much faster than their teammate in the same car? Because they have a better feeling for it and can drive with a setup that is faster and that others can't use.
It's frustrating to see that others can do something almost immediately which you can't after hours of practise.
Fortunately I have my age and the fact that I just started simracing three years ago as an excuse.

 

[stigs2cousin]

I've once asked Enzo for advice to become faster and he said two things:

• less braking, more throttle (basically brake later and go earlier on the throttle)

That is confirmed by two other authorities on the subject, Ross Bentley and Wolfgang Weber

What you "forgot" to mention is you need the racing line to fit that technique.
I always (ok lately very often ) catch myself trailbraking to long and turning in to early.
You should use all the track width as steering kills speed and avoid coasting without brake or throttle as much as possible.

I've once asked Enzo for advice to become faster and he said two things:

• 
  
• More aggressive steering. I'm used to turn smoothly into a corner but in order to turn the car faster it's better to force the car a little into the corner.

As you wrote that´s a difficult one:
exactly the right amount of rotation makes you faster, a little to much rotation kills momentum and way to much rotation kills your car and your race.

Fortunately I have my age and the fact that I just started simracing three years ago as an excuse.

Na, that doesn´t fly with me:

I admit your senority, but you have at least double the experience in Simracing as I started on RaceDepartment 13 month ago

MFG Carsten

 

[HF2000]

What a race last night! We had a very tiring event the day before with two classic F1 races, so I was looking forward to a relaxed race on this beautiful track. I was hoping to drive the MX5, but because there were a lot fewer Audis, I chose that car for better balance. Slightly less relaxing but still a very forgiving car.
I hadn't practiced much and saw that Colin was much faster so my expectations for qualifying were low. And indeed with 6th I was far behind the first cars. But I had a good start and was able to overtake Paul on the outside in T1. Then I tried to follow Colin and Thomas until the grip got better. After about 6 laps I started to find my pace. The gap to Colin was then about 4 seconds and I gradually narrowed it. After Thomas went off the track in the Roller Coaster I came in 4th and got a podium in sight. Colin and I had a great battle that lasted about 10 rounds. He was faster in Sector 1, but struggled with South Bend and Oak Tree, so I was close behind him again on the Back Straight. I was aiming for a change to get really close after Oak Tree so I could use P2P and the slipstream for an overtake on the back straight. That eventually worked once, but it was very close to getting on the Roller Coaster. It could have gone wrong for both of us. I hope it was a clean overtake. After that I had some luck lapping the Mazdas and Colin didn't, so the gap quickly grew to 3s and I was able to finish 3rd.

Not as relaxing as I'd hoped, but I had a great time!
Congratulations to the other podium guys and a big thank you to everyone tonight for the clean and respectful racing and for the sometimes hilarious warnings to the Mazda drivers' Audis.

Next week a really relaxing track for these cars: Road America. Maybe even a bit boring, but a great opportunity to practice slipstreaming. After that race we continue our Tour America with a known but very difficult circuit, a known but quite difficult circuit, a completely new circuit and a new version of a well-known circuit.

 

[Kek700]

Very interesting comments, my take, you cannot pass skill on, you can put right what you do wrong, you can then refine what you do.
I always take note of Chris when he is in front, he pinches time from me everywhere, but the less technical the corner the less he can take.

I really liked Hans overall description.

It is like being a teenager and the good looking boy is getting all the girls, and you aren’t, he has not got a clue as to why that is the way it is, he certainly cannot pass it on.

It is just the way life is, luck , fate, divine gift, you name it any way you want. Life is all luck, you have the privilege of sailing that ship, or you have the misfortune that befalls so many poor souls on our planet.

( human life has become a very complex thing, people try and explain the unexplainable with there ego’s and the consequential dopamine hit that ensues )

Age is a factor, Age is not like catching a cold, one day a sore throat , next day coughing next day feeling rough.
0 to 20, 20 -40, 40-50, 50-60, 60 -70, up to 40 there was very little physical difference, but reaction times ( time it takes for the brain to command and the limb to respond ) and flexibility suffered, 40-50 physical and flexibility went down hill at this point gave up 5 aside football, 50 - 60 noticeable drop in all ability, 60 - 70 , now everything is based on the watch’s minuit hand the second hand does not apply anymore. +70 Nope no improvements.
So Han it is a very good excuse.

Setup’s are my way of covering the cracks. So for me very important, that was a bit random.

I think in F1 or any motorsport, what you see is the papered over PR , team mates are to be trodden on, teams will always favor the driver that brings in the most cash, people at the top are mostly psychopathic in their make up, with little else in their life other than for no apparent reason than to manipulate their surroundings for their own benefit.

You can tell I have nothing to do at the moment.

 

[Dzul]

You can tell I have nothing to do at the moment.

I beg to differ Ernie... you are philosophising... and we appreciate that.

 

[stigs2cousin]

Sorry Ernie,
have to (lovingly) disagree here
( but I´m still in the "noticeable drop in all abilities" phase, so maybe life will still catch me out.)

I´ll admit that aquiring new skills was easier in my twenties and I won´t ride my MTB on DH tracks any more, but the physically safe Simracing has seen some improvement over the last year.
It just takes an planned approach to identify the skill set you will benefit from the most at this time and then do the work and aquire it.

That´s why I asked for a drill to improve my consistency:
I can happen into one good lap, but can´t do ten in a row

MFG Carsten

 

[a_murel]

What a respectfull and very nice and gentle race. Well done guys! Specially the start was very respectfull and very carefull!

Due to a very busy week and weekend I only had the chance to practice on monday, trying to find a decent setup on a full fuel tank and pace. Going into practice and qually I knew I wouldnt be the quickest and be off a few tenths to Allan, but nevertheless pushed as hard as I could and became second.

My start was again very bad, (I'm not managing to jump from the line very fast, have to practice this guys!) so Carsten overtook me and had a door to door fight with Raul (I like orange stripes Raul!) in the first corner. Later on when gaining a bit of trust with the cold tyres and low grip of the track I gained some speed and overtook Carsten who had a very good speed. Later on I managed to overtake Allan and stayed ahaid for a while.

It's very nice to see that Allan and I have a very different approach of setting up a car. My car is based on a race pace on a heavy load. Although Allan has a quick setup for a somewhat lighter car. Resulting Allan to overtake me at the end of the race. Well done Allan!

Later on, Roger (was it Roger?) in the Audi went for a gap but backed off at the last moment (those things happen) so I was waiting for the Audi that never came and outbraked myself... Letting Carsten pass me, but I overtook him back and luckilly stayed in front of him.

I really had the feeling I was doing quallifying laps for 45 minutes, having fun and forgetting everything around me, thats what Sim Racing is about in my opinion.

Great race guys!