AC Race #6 Championship Abarth/Mazda@Fonteny, Wed 14th December 2022

[Allan Ramsbottom]

Well what a race and a Championship to say farewell to sim racing....To leave in 1st place in my class is 1 of the best things i can say im overjoyed with..Im retiring from racing due to spending more time with my young son who is going thru some difficulites.I dont know for how long i will be away,i hope to keep popping in for a chat,maybe an odd praccy session,i hope so..This little club and you guys have been a massive part of my life for the past 10+yrs and it has,nt been easy for me to do this but family comes first..I could write pages and pages of my exploits, of the guys who have come and gone.But none has come close to this last year when Han put a Mazda and an Abarth together and created history..So to you Han a massive thanx for the thrills the tantrums lol,the sweating,near passing out,heart attacks,joy,cant forget a whiskey now and again having a win..To Ernie u old bugger,we,ve had prior racing battles,Doug,Andre,Raul,Callum,Robert,Paul,David,i could go on and on,to everbody i,ve raced with...Ohh i cant forget Carsten lol,im going to miss you all terribly,but i can say it wont be forever,may feel like it,so on that note i am going,getting a bit emotional and dont want to rant on..All the best guys its been awesome..Stay safe,have a great xmas and new year...

 

[Alfred Wayne]

Sorry to see you go Allan @Allan Ramsbottom . Family does come first and having your Dad there for you is not something you forget Good luck with that and whatever else pops up off the track. I've started to find some speed in that little Mx5 thanks in part to you and others sharing tips the last year, and I'll do my best to harass some arbarths "next season" for you

As for my race, not my best, not my worst. Beat my old pb by 10s of seconds, but was still 10s of seconds off the pace. Don't think I got a clean lap outside quali either Surprisingly, most my fights came from the 500s in the form of Ernie and Han. Good stuff guys. Also great finish Jari. It would seem that it vaulted you up into the top 3 for the championship and bumped me out Congrats!

I loved all the tracks we raced, but I think this and the prior week were my 2 favorite. Really fun to pretend you're back in the day doing some endurance race with no chance of actual bodily harm

Big thanks to @HF2000 for putting this together, everyone for racing, and @Fat-Alfie for the wonderful tracks! We're spoiled here with such great racing, hosts, and modders

 

[gearwhine]

a strange series for me. I of course loved every second of it. I spent hours practicing for each race and always found a good pace when on my own off line. Come race day, it never panned out the way i hoped. I would make costly mistakes when there was no need to and i can only conclude that i had too much confidence in the car and therefore i would push it too far at times. You might think i would of learned before now but my brain was not having any of it. Whinge over. Fantastic championship and we have all gone on a journey together where we learned to trust each others driving styles to the point where if we do hit each other it is quite rare and unavoidable. Not once did i hear a rant between any of us over our skills. To have this driving quality together is priceless and i look forward to many more fights between us all in the future. Thank you Han, without your vision it would not of been possible. Looking forward to next weeks fight with the TVR and then discovering what jems you have lined up for us next year

 

[Shed 17]

@Allan Ramsbottom
You will be missed Allan, your speed and lap times are something to aspire to, but there are more import things than Sim racing and family does come first.
I have taken a couple of months out as first I was caring for a family member and now dealing with a funeral and probate.
But guys, I do miss my weekly fix of racing with you all and I understand how Allan feels about hanging up his steering wheel.
When I have had a bit of time I have been doing a bit of practice but it’s not the same as going wheel to wheel or door to do with real people and as Allan said, this is a great community and almost like an extended family.
Look after yourself Allan and your son, I’ll be back early in the New Year and I hope to see you on the grid in the future. Take care.

 

[HF2000]

I'm also very, very sorry that you won't attend our events for a while. As a father myself and (almost) a grandfather I sure agree that family comes first.
And I agree all that said above how your presence in my events is appreciated. We will miss you for sure also in the after race chat on Discord where your enthousiasm was very motivating for me as organizer.

I hope you will be able to turn the situation of your son into a progressive positive way.

All the best for you and your family and take care!

 

[Douglas Aird]

@Allan Ramsbottom

It's been great racing with you and learning from you over the past year or so. I have learned a lot from you but more important has been our pre and post race chats.

I hope everything works out well and improves quickly and in the meantime, as we have said elsewhere, we are here if you want to chat.

 

[JamKart22]

Put quite a few hours practicing for this one and was disappointed that I didn't qualify as well as my practice times. Hey ho, it's a long race so was interested to see if I could do better in the race. Cars kept dropping off the road before me on the first lap and found myself 10s behind Callum. I then spent the remaining 6 laps chipping away at the gap while Hank was slowly gaining on me.

This slow burn all culminated in a fantastic last lap where I was on Callum's tail for the majority of the time - with Hank in close pursuit. Callum finally made a mistake going in to last but one hairpin and I swept by (I thought) to claim 3rd in the MX5 class. I unfortunately underestimated how quick Callum would recover and we tangled and I spun out to come home 5th - and Hank sailed past to come home 3rd. Just a racing incident imho and didn't spoil the enjoyment of the race.

Thanks Han for all the time and effort you put into organising these race. I hope the gratitude you get from us all motivates you to carry on . Thanks to @Fat-Alfie again for these circuits. I could quite happily race on these all day long. You make 'normal' circuits look very boring by comparision. Don't forget to join us NEXT TUESDAY for the TVRs - that is going to be a challenge.

Thanks to all the racers for the clean hard action. Bad luck to @Programmer_Rich again for another internet induced retirement.

Best of luck to Allan in the future and look forward to seeing you back so we can realise how fast a MX5 can go!

 

[Kek700]

Came over all sad, but as I have know Allan since early MX5 days and it has always been a pleasure racing with the lad, as he as been a regular and then a sometimes racer over the last “X” years. His pace has always been impressive, too much at times.
I will look forward to seeing him on the start line sometime in the future.



I wish Allan a lot of luck, especially his son.

 

[HF2000]

I really enjoyed driving the Abarth here. Oddly enough it was my first time in this combination, probably I didn't like the Abarth in the past.

Nice battles with Mazdas because the strengths and weaknesses of these cars are really highlighted here.
A worthy end to this great championship. Shall we do it again next year? I'm all for it!

After a tough few weeks and the toughest race yet to come (250/TVR at Fonteny) we deserve some rest and relaxation. That's why I organized a fun event that you can't practice for.

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/festive-fun-2-surprise-event-2-races-wed-21th-december-2022.252991/

 

[H_Belane]

Shall we do it again next year?

Yes, definitely.

An idea: all 6 Fat-Alfie tracks, and always another popular track in between.
You could vote for which ones. That brings us to 12 races.

 

[HF2000]

Yes, definitely.

An idea: all 6 Fat-Alfie tracks, and always another popular track in between.
You could vote for which ones. That brings us to 12 races.

Nice idea! I'm for it.

 

[Medilloni]

Huge thanks to @HF2000 Han for organising this championship; couldn't take part in all of it but had a blast on those I could - was truly shocked when first drove the Abarth, one of the most fun fwd cars in AC with astounding feedback (only imo!), hope more ppl will consider it next time

Being self employed (and retired?!) time was a struggle for this champs, especially heading into Christmas, but will try to move work around to do more events next time - and the 12 race idea is a corker

@Allan Ramsbottom Hope all goes well for you and your son Allan, and that you'll be back soon.

 

[HF2000]

Yes, definitely.

An idea: all 6 Fat-Alfie tracks, and always another popular track in between.
You could vote for which ones. That brings us to 12 races.

How about the in between races being on short circuits as Fat-Alfie's are quite long?
Like the short layouts of BrandsHatch, RedBullRing and Silverstone?

 

[Dzul]

Some ideas (source: https://www.racingcircuits.info)

Aberdare Park (1.5 km)
Bahrain 'inner track' (2.5 km)
Brands Hatch Indy (1.9 km)
Barcelona National Moto (2.9 km w/o chicane)
Mexico City Oval w/Foro Sol (1.7 km)
Mont-Tremblant North (2.4 km)
Oulton Park Fosters (2.6 km)
Red Bull Ring Südschleife (2.3 km)
Sepang North or South (2.65 km)
Silverstone National (2.6 km)
Snetterton 100 (1.5 km)
Vallelunga Club (1.7 km)
Zandvoort National (2.8 km)

Ok, I've stopped... sorry for the spam...

 

[gearwhine]

How about the in between races being on short circuits as Fat-Alfie's are quite long?
Like the short layouts of BrandsHatch, RedBullRing and Silverstone?

Or, how about maintaining the classic theme and use Sergio Loro tracks @F3 classic tracks in between. His tracks tend to be shorter and excellent

 

[KDiesel]

Some ideas (source: https://www.racingcircuits.info)

Aberdare Park (1.5 km)
Bahrain 'inner track' (2.5 km)
Brands Hatch Indy (1.9 km)
Barcelona National Moto (2.9 km w/o chicane)
Mexico City Oval w/Foro Sol (1.7 km)
Mont-Tremblant North (2.4 km)
Oulton Park Fosters (2.6 km)
Red Bull Ring Südschleife (2.3 km)
Sepang North or South (2.65 km)
Silverstone National (2.6 km)
Snetterton 100 (1.5 km)
Vallelunga Club (1.7 km)
Zandvoort National (2.8 km)

Ok, I've stopped... sorry for the spam...

As a Abarth driver I gotta say thanks but no thanks...

 

[H_Belane]

I'd rather choose the non-race tracks if I can call them that.
Like Bridgehampton or Highlands long for example.

 

[gearwhine]

I'd rather choose the non-race tracks if I can call them that.
Like Bridgehampton or Highlands long for example.

Bridgehampton was real. Is now a golf course i believe.

 

[HF2000]

Or, how about maintaining the classic theme and use Sergio Loro tracks @F3 classic tracks in between. His tracks tend to be shorter and excellent

I don't know them. Are they available on RaceDepartment?

 

[HF2000]

As a Abarth driver I gotta say thanks but no thanks...

Yes I can understand that but if we're doing this as a multiclass it won't matter for the results. The advantage of short tracks is that the field is much closer so there are more battles.