AC Mini and Alfa @ Donington 1938 - Wed 21 Aug 2019

[BP]

I have to sign out, have to deal with something over here, my apologies.

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Great first race, had several great battles and lots of fun.

Second race pressure was on, due to a reverse grid I was starting is second place. @Kek700 was hounding me and eventually forced a mistake, car was to damaged to carry on ...sorry Ernie, thankfully you was able to carry on

Congrads to the podiums and every driver that finished, I hope you all had some fun

Hope to see you all at Longford 67

 

[Raresch]

Man, those cars are fun ) at least the mini is. Too bad it's missing the fifth gear.
They are so cubicle, that when you slipstreaming it's like you are running into the void. There no air those cars are crazy @Craig Dunkley . well done finding them. Maybe we could do it again.
great fun chasing and finally passing @Murat Erdogdu in the first race. Too bad I made some mistake, especially in the last turn.
I am sorry @Esdeath420 for the bump in the second race. you braked from so far behind and just appeared in front ...
Too bad the track was very unforgiving with mistakes. if you hit the barriers, you get stuck
The races were fun and relaxing. Very nice.

 

[HF2000]

It was fun indeed. That Alfa is so hard to drive so I'm pretty tired now. In both races I made a mistake that brought me a puncture and I had to go back to the pits. But both times I also got 30s stop penalty! That's not fair! I loose a lot of time and on top of that another 30s. Craig, can that penalty be removed?

And than I'd like to know what is the secret of driving the Mini. My best time was a 1.16. The fastest lap was almost 10s off. I'd like to learn from you @Kek700 @JeroenH @Ronnie Böhme . Do you have some advise for me? And what did you change on the setup?

Thanks all of you for racing and Craig as always for organising!

 

[JeroenH]

I call this one 'Too good to be true'.

Last week I saw Craig putting the mini up for grasps. My old man loves mini's and has still one standing in the garage. I couldn't resist.
Although I was not able to put much practise in, I somehow got the pole position. My first one! But then.. the four wide start didn't work out for me because of a bad start (I think the grip is horrendous on the left side there, the second race people couldn't get away there as well, but that's no excuse for me). I was behind a mini who braked unexpected which forced me wide on turn 4 and that ended my race with a glitched wheel through the map.
The second race I started last with @Ronnie Böhme and @Stig Bidstrup , but I got away good this time, putting me 3rd behind @Craig Dunkley in the first lap. I got craig in the first corner of lap 2 and I was second! Could it be? My nerves were getting in my way again. Not 5 turns later I spinned myself, putting me in the middle of the fight between Ronnie and Stig. Sorry about the bump Stig! I hope you can forgive me. Other than that I loved the fighting between us three! Ronnie even waited for us to battle even more, thanks!

No win for me in the end. It really was too good to be true, but I raced with a LOT of fun

One sidemark. When riding in the mini of my old one it feels like I'm in a go-kart. I did not experience that feeling unfortunately. I still can't figure out if that's the mod, the track or my setup. It probably was just me though.

Thanks for this race guys! Best oldtimer there is.

 

[JeroenH]

It was fun indeed. That Alfa is so hard to drive so I'm pretty tired now. In both races I made a mistake that brought me a puncture and I had to go back to the pits. But both times I also got 30s stop penalty! That's not fair! I loose a lot of time and on top of that another 30s. Craig, can that penalty be removed?

And than I'd like to know what is the secret of driving the Mini. My best time was a 1.16. The fastest lap was almost 10s off. I'd like to learn from you @Kek700 @JeroenH @Ronnie Böhme . Do you have some advise for me? And what did you change on the setup?

Thanks all of you for racing and Craig as always for organising!

Thanks for the compliment! First time someone asks me for advice. I asked the same question last time, maybe you can find some answers there! It starts when @ChikiWaki brings up his setup. I learned a lot this week!
https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/drm-revival-feldbergring-wed-14-aug-2019.171146/page-6

Other than setups, these cars were very nervous when shifting the weight. Do all your inputs (steering, braking, stepping on gas) as smooth as possible and you probably make up at least 2 seconds.

Edit: spelling
Edit2: added setup (no idea if it's good, only learning a new aproach for a week now)

 

[Kek700]

Unusual for me to be at the pointy end, not sure i liked that much, but as it took all my concentration
just to keep it on the track, soon forgot that. few skirmishes mainly with @Craig Dunkley, then big bits
of being alone.
Mainly yo yo’ing with the alfa, catch it in the twiddly bits lose it on the straights.
Mini fits my age perfectly. ha ha
i noticed some who crashed, sat there with no front wheels, i was lucky with Craig, no ones
fault at all, these cars are just so difficult to handle, especially if something unexpected happens.
If it does, your gone.
Great event Craig, thanks for putting it together.

 

[Craig Dunkley]

I also got 30s stop penalty! That's not fair! I loose a lot of time and on top of that another 30s. Craig, can that penalty be removed?

No sadly it is not an option on the server.

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Maybe we could do it again.

For sure we will do it again, the cars are great and play well together

 

[Kek700]

PS, never remember the cooper S being this twitchy to drive.

@HF2000

forgive the statement, it should really come from Stig, Ronnie or Jeroen, Alan abandoned the mini for an to Alfa. Although Jeroen has just chipped in with great advice.
Keep the power onto the front wheels the best you can, do not just lift unless you know why, make sure you are on the part of the track thats kind to the mini when braking.
There not much to set up, so “nothing” really for me to bugger up.

 

[Stig Bidstrup]

PS, never remember the cooper S being this twitchy to drive.

@HF2000

forgive the statement, it should really come from Stig, Ronnie or Jeroen, Alan abandoned the mini for an to Alfa. Although Jeroen has just chipped in with great advice.
Keep the power onto the front wheels the best you can, do not just lift unless you know why, make sure you are on the part of the track thats kind to the mini when braking.
There not much to set up, so “nothing” really for me to bugger up.

I use the brakes a lot to prevent the " Lift Oversteer " that means I hold slightly on brake especially when going down a Gear with out lifting on the throttle --if you lift -the rear end will overtake you.
The picture you can see my brake lights are ON even in this mild corner.

 

[Medilloni]

Great to hear you guys enjoyed this, really gutted to miss this event, was so looking forward to it - my first 3 cars were Minis.

My motherboard (I think) is dead, so really hope we have events in the future with these cars.

Congrats to the podium peeps and hope y'all had fun

 

[Murat Erdogdu]

It was enjoyable, but very hard to drive Alfa. Every time i shifted up engine gave warning, flashing red ☺ Nice battles, thanks. 2nd race i had to leave since my little son came and prevented me to play☺ Thank you all

 

[HF2000]

I use the brakes a lot to prevent the " Lift Oversteer " that means I hold slightly on brake especially when going down a Gear with out lifting on the throttle --if you lift -the rear end will overtake you.
The picture you can see my brake lights are ON even in this mild corner.

View attachment 321119

Thanks Stig, the "lift oversteer" is exactly my problem. So you brake with your left foot then?

 

[Ronnie Böhme]

It was fun indeed. That Alfa is so hard to drive so I'm pretty tired now. In both races I made a mistake that brought me a puncture and I had to go back to the pits. But both times I also got 30s stop penalty! That's not fair! I loose a lot of time and on top of that another 30s. Craig, can that penalty be removed?

And than I'd like to know what is the secret of driving the Mini. My best time was a 1.16. The fastest lap was almost 10s off. I'd like to learn from you @Kek700 @JeroenH @Ronnie Böhme . Do you have some advise for me? And what did you change on the setup?

Thanks all of you for racing and Craig as always for organising!

To be honest, I didn't have the time to setup the Mini, just did some practice laps. For me the secret was using the Mini's strengths. Late braking fast cornering (and a lot of slipstream from @Stig Bidstrup and @JeroenH ). The tricky part for me was lifting or braking on corner entry or mid corner. I just went for very smoth feathering of the throttle (and in the long fast right-hander, shifting under full throttle ). What also took me some laps to get used to, was overcoming the urge to open up the steering or even countersteer on oversteer, just hold the steeringwheel and apply some/more throttle. I'm no expert on FWD driving, but maybe it helps.

 

[HF2000]

It was enjoyable, but very hard to drive Alfa. Every time i shifted up engine gave warning, flashing red ☺ Nice battles, thanks. 2nd race i had to leave since my little son came and prevented me to play☺ Thank you all

Hi Murat, lift the throttle while shifting will help your engine problem.

 

[HF2000]

To be honest, I didn't have the time to setup the Mini, just did some practice laps. For me the secret was using the Mini's strengths. Late braking fast cornering (and a lot of slipstream from @Stig Bidstrup and @JeroenH ). The tricky part for me was lifting or braking on corner entry or mid corner. I just went for very smoth feathering of the throttle (and in the long fast right-hander, shifting under full throttle ). What also took me some laps to get used to, was overcoming the urge to open up the steering or even countersteer on oversteer, just hold the steeringwheel and apply some/more throttle. I'm no expert on FWD driving, but maybe it helps.

Thanks, Ronnie. That makes sense. I will try that also.

 

[Ronnie Böhme]

The second race I started last with @Ronnie Böhme and @Stig Bidstrup , but I got away good this time, putting me 3rd behind @Craig Dunkley in the first lap. I got craig in the first corner of lap 2 and I was second! Could it be? My nerves were getting in my way again. Not 5 turns later I spinned myself, putting me in the middle of the fight between Ronnie and Stig. Sorry about the bump Stig! I hope you can forgive me. Other than that I loved the fighting between us three! Ronnie even waited for us to battle even more, thanks!

You are welcome mate
That 3 way battle between you, @Stig Bidstrup and me was just to good to let it go. I always put sportsmanship and fun before winning (or at least a podium) and that was an awefull lot of fun

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Great to hear you guys enjoyed this, really gutted to miss this event, was so looking forward to it - my first 3 cars were Minis.

My motherboard (I think) is dead, so really hope we have events in the future with these cars.

Congrats to the podium peeps and hope y'all had fun

My first car was a mini clubman ..I had an 8 track player in it lol ...Oh and do not forget the mirror sunglasses, window open and resting my arm ..I was the king ...40 years ago OUCH

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Great to hear you guys enjoyed this, really gutted to miss this event, was so looking forward to it - my first 3 cars were Minis.

My motherboard (I think) is dead, so really hope we have events in the future with these cars.

Congrats to the podium peeps and hope y'all had fun

John. if your PC boots, or you can get into the bios, it will not be your motherboard ...if it is? it is a fairly easy task to replace it ...just make sure you purchase a compatible board. If you are not into overclocking? you do not need anything special, should cost you around £80 ..if you need help? I can help you all way via private message.