AC Race #2 Championship Abarth/Mazda@Bremgarten, Wed 19th October 2022

[Alfred Wayne]

Outside the 1st lap craziness, and boy was it crazy it was a steady race on my end, trying to hang onto various drivers, finishing 1/10ths behind Thomas with Paul pulling us both along . Oh and my pit stop was one of the close ones to the back, so when I came in, i didn't slow down and flew past it

Looking forward to some more tracks with more turns to get past those pesky fwd boxes. For the first few laps it seemed like it was me vs a field of abarths

See you all next round

 

[eN1xes]

i just notice if u watch my pitstop lap and the lap after something happen with flashlights between me and Allan we was bullying each other :'D (i was bullying his top speed :'D) from Allan Pov was better .

 

[a_murel]

What a fun race! Great fights and too much to remember, but what I remember the fight between Han and I. I touched Han who was making a comeback through the field which I totally ruined. Sorry Han

Which reminds me if 2 mazda's touch each other gently in the race there is no problem, BUT if an Abarth and Mazda touch in the same way it feels like you are touching a wall. So I have to remember that.

Sorry Han and thank you for organising

 

[HF2000]

How can I describe this race? Let me start by saying I had a lot of fun. I really enjoy the character of this track which forces you to drive the Abarth on the edge, so every corner is an exciting moment. I had numerous near misses with the fence (and unfortunately one that went wrong in a very bad way).

I qualified 4th, which was good. But I forgot to press the drive button, so when the red lights started, I was teleported to the pits with a 15 second time penalty on top. So that was it for my podium chances. Coming out of the pits in 24th, there was a big rumble just before T1 and I was able to pass a lot of Mazdas. In the rest of the lap I was able to catch up a bit more and started lap 2 in 17th. On lap 2 there was also a problem with two Mazdas in front of me which caused me to brake hard and also hit the gate and lost some time. At a good stage in the race I was able to catch up with other Mazdas and Kimi's Abarth. When I was just behind Carsten, Kimi left on the straight on the left, but reappeared just in front of Carsten and me. We hit Kimi and we both turned. A few Mazdas could pass us then. So start again by catching up and overtaking the same Mazdas as before. I think I was 11th when I chased Andre. I was able to pass him on the start/finish straight, but in the Tenni corner he gave me a little tap on the back, which was enough to get me spinning again. And this time too, a few Mazdas were able to pass and I had to overtake again. I must have passed Dave, Raul, Gary, Douglas, Taj, Daniel and Omar about 3 or 4 times in this race. I hope they were all legal.

After my pit stop I was surprised to see Paul ahead of me about 4s. My pace was a little better and after a few laps I started to overtake him on the straight but I was on the inside when I got into the kink. Knowing that Paul would have a much better exit if I lifted too much, I bet on the Abarth's grip to stay out, but in vain. I hit the fence and bounced to the other side behind the fence there. When I tried to get back on track, I got stuck on the fence/tree. I had to teleport to the pits with a lap penalty and a 35 second time penalty on top of that. Then I did some overtaking on Mazdas for fun. I finished last of the guys to finish the race.

So a very eventful race and I enjoyed almost every second (not being stuck in the fence).

I doubt I would have as much fun if I had a normal start. I probably would have had a fight with Paul but otherwise I would have watched Allan and Ernie slowly getting away and Fulvio flying by. I would have gone to relax in Nomansland and therefore make a mistake that left me frustrated and behind Colin and Mika and ending up as 6th or 7th.

I would like to say that I do not hold a grudge at all for the drivers who got me into trouble with the incidents I described. It's racing. I'm sure these incidents weren't intentional and it's all part of the game.

Congrats to the podium (Fulvio: a 2.26.5!!??? It's frustrating to see that it's possible to go so much faster).
Thanks all for joining. And thanks to @Fat-Alfie for this amazing track!
Next week on a whiskey tour at Thruxton and in two weeks to the Deutschlandring.
Deutschlandring has three very different sectors. A long straight where the Abarth will be much faster. A slow sector with many hairpin bends where the Mazda will gain a lot of time. And a sector with fast corners. I think it will depend on this sector whether the Abarth or the Mazda will be the fastest car here.

For those who have not ridden the Deutschlandring before, I recommend that you start practicing beforehand. It's 10km, so a lap takes about 4 minutes I think, meaning it will take you that time for another attempt to optimize your turns in a particular corner.

 

[a_murel]

Han

EVERY RACE I'm going to ask you, if you are all set, BEFORE you are going to talk to us.

Meaning
- Do you have your gloves on?
- Have you loaded you right fuel load?
- Have you pressed on the "drive" button?
- Did you lock the front door?
- Did you say goodnight to your wife?
- Have you payed your taxes?
- Is the laundry out of the dryer?
- Remember where you left your keys?

 

[JamKart22]

Inspired by Alan's 30hr week practice regime I put a bit more effort into this one and it paid off with my highest finish (R2 Q2 P2) for a very long time.

Really love this circuit/car combo so practicing wasn't a chore. I had a good idea what a competitive lap time would be so I had something to aim at. There are only three corners that require the brakes - the rest is flat out (or slight lift) if you're brave enough. So for me it was a nice circuit to reward practice with lower lap times. Didn't quite make a 2:28 but my quali lap was still the fasted lap I'd ever done.

A bit slow getting off the start so Andre & Thomas powered past before the first corner. I was confident in my pace so didn't panic and managed to get by both in a few laps. I was then faced with Paul in his Abarth - which proved impossible to get past. He was a bit slower on the twisty bits but able to pull away on the straights. This allowed Mika to catch up as he was also very quick.

Mika then started hounding me for a few laps and he eventually got past. I was interested to see how he was going to get past Paul but he had no better luck than me. At this point I decided to do an early pit and hopefully do the undercut on Mika - who I hoped would be slowed down by Paul for another few laps.

I knew that a pit stop would lose me about 15 secs and that Richard was about 15 secs behind me. I was hoping I'd just come out ahead but instead was just behind. Fortunately, Richards pace was quite good so didn't slow me down too much. Again, it was very difficult to get past Richard as we were similar lap times. I was praying for him to pit as I could see the gap between Mika so kept an eye on if the undercut was going to work.

When Mika did pit he was 6 sec behind with 6 laps to go - so I was fairly confident I could maintain some gap and take 2nd. Richard was still refusing to pit - in spite at me shouting at him in my head . He finally pitted on the last possible lap, leaving me to manage the gap from Mika. A few sloppy corners from me saw the gap down to just over a second as I crossed the line.

A fun, exhilarating race for me. Shows what a bit of practice can achieve!

Congrats to the podiums, and Han of course. Big big thanks to @Fat-Alfie for creating these masterpieces for us all to enjoy. Normal circuits seem very boring by comparison.

 

[JamKart22]

.

 

[nepal roade]

In your racing rules you state "What everybody in this community has in common is that they want to race in the cleanest possible way without the rammers, wreckers and poor attitudes found on public servers."
Sorry to say but that is not my experience, it only takes a few but what I have seen is a lack of respect and care, selfish opportunism which invariably is behind the Lap 1 ****show which we saw again today. I don't like it and won't be racing here any more and won't be renewing my membership despite having a lot of fun in yesterday's race which was not the case but a rare exception. I won't be reading any replies.

 

[JamKart22]

Looking at the first lap pile up - it was triggered by one driver who moved left a few metres. Easy to do on the drag down to a first lap corner. It didn't look that bad but it had wide ranging consequences. Seems a bit harsh to quit racing with us on the basis of that accident.

 

[Kek700]

In your racing rules you state "What everybody in this community has in common is that they want to race in the cleanest possible way without the rammers, wreckers and poor attitudes found on public servers."
Sorry to say but that is not my experience, it only takes a few but what I have seen is a lack of respect and care, selfish opportunism which invariably is behind the Lap 1 ****show which we saw again today. I don't like it and won't be racing here any more and won't be renewing my membership despite having a lot of fun in yesterday's race which was not the case but a rare exception. I won't be reading any replies.

I always used to start from the back of the field, let everyone sort themselves out, then just race one at a time, did that for a couple of years. Then I tried to qualify just in the right place to give myself the best chance of missing the first corner madness. Still do that.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

... and this is why I race exclusively off-line

 

[HF2000]

... and this is why I race exclusively off-line

But I bet that you don't have those nice conversations before, during and after the race with the robot drivers.

 

[Dzul]

But I bet that you don't have those nice conversations before, during and after the race with the robot drivers.

And you've never seen a bot miss his start 'coz he's still looking for his gloves...

 

[JamKart22]

... and this is why I race exclusively off-line

I like to do a few AI races before an online race but I don't get the same buzz out of driving against a human. Also, the AI is a bit crap and even though you set them to 100% aggression & skill they are still a few secs off the pace of a humanoid. On this track they were lucky to do 2:35 They also tend to throw themselves at the scenery on most of your tracks!

So if you want to improve (and not everyone does) then you learn more racing online - assuming you can find a non crashy bunch of like minded drivers

 

[eN1xes]

i suggest to avoid offline race's simple cuz to pass ai is not the same thing to pass a player if u do the same most likely u endup in a wall with both car involved (even an open lobby with rammers and good players with different cars is a better practice)

 

[maxilogan]

It seems long, but it is not that difficult to learn, and it is not that long either. You will soon learn it.
Especially as the corners punish you. So by the end of practice you will be very familiar with the bits that matter. The rest is foot to the floor.
I alway come off, every time I am here, irrespective of practice time, so you definitely will not be alone, and I know this circuit well.

You were actually right, the circuit is not that difficult, pedal to the metal and smooth steering for most part of the track, but even the smallest error in one of those few corners and you are heavily punished due to the length of the following "straights". I think I never made the same racing line on the final hairpin over the entire race

 

[maxilogan]

Han

EVERY RACE I'm going to ask you, if you are all set, BEFORE you are going to talk to us.
[...]
- Is the laundry out of the dryer?
[...]

Please do. I had some friction with my beloved other half his morning because of that.

 

[stigs2cousin]

After a lengthy cool down period I´d have to side with Neal.

This was another race where the the strongly deteriorating driving standarts ruined my preparation work and race strategy.

I am not pointing fingers on anyone as I don´t perceive malintent, but the result is another highly frustrating hour after a long and frustrating work day, so why should I do this to myself??

Dodging the first three **** ups by my the frontrunners the incident Han mentioned left me with a ****ed up car, so had to teleport into the pits to get repairs. ( P12 to P22)

The rest of the race I spend looking for blue flags, let one driver pass and was held up by him, so I lost my patience and reovertook him.

55 sec behind P18 and after overtaking three backmarkers three more ****ups "gifted" me P19 and a butload of incident points.

Once again I was really close to rage quitting.

Let´s see if Deutschlandring shows an improvement, if not I´ll quit the championship.
Thruxton is defintely out of the question.

Carsten

 

[gearwhine]

Looking at the first lap pile up - it was triggered by one driver who moved left a few metres. Easy to do on the drag down to a first lap corner. It didn't look that bad but it had wide ranging consequences. Seems a bit harsh to quit racing with us on the basis of that accident.

As i was one of the first drivers to get caught up in that drivers mistake maybe i see it differently Colin. He turned left to overtake a car while it was obvious he had two cars alongside him. First, he did not care and two you could not feel the way he was determined to force his way past the screw up he caused as i tried in vain to stay on the road with him fighting every inch to stay in the same direction. By the way, two races and a crash rate of just under 50 says i do not want to be around him. I was really quite pissed off and i sent him a pm which he has not as yet responded to. Anyway, although it did turn into a public server type start i agree that it is not worth saying goodbye for but then again i think Neal has been a bit pissed off for a while from his posts. If you are reading this Neal, just forget it mate and move on. See you next week i hope!

 

[HF2000]

When you watch the replay, you can see more of the excellent details @Fat-Alfie has put into it. For example this small lake with boats of fishing men!