AC Multiclass Abarth500/Mazda MX5@Speedforce Raceway, Wed 4th October 2023

[pcmoreno]

Third race in a row where I have a first lap incident that puts me last to begin the race. This time at least, after watching the replay, I can say it was not my fault.

Paulo you were going quite well until all of a sudden I see you just get launched into the side on the chicane. What happened?

Afterwards my pace was ok'ish and as the faster duo of Bouke and Jari were catching up, Jari got a better exit and decided to get half along side me on the Esses, I was thinking still of the first incident and decided to give way too much space that I ended up getting my wheels off the track...that catapulted me to the side wall as you saw.

Then I tried to recover and somehow pulled out for the first time two consecutive 1.45 laps but then for some reason I forgot how to do T1/2 completely and from then moment on 2 out of 3 laps I was going really bad on that corner and I completely lost my cool and mistakes snowballed until spun out super badly and got caught by the leaders. At that point I quit.

It was an nice track to drive but not the most relaxed to race I found. Sector 3 reminded of Riverside(? I think)

Thanks again for the nice organization and congrats to everyone who made it to the end.

I'll be away for the coming 2 weeks. I'll be driving all the way to mid Portugal so that will be around 4600 km both ways with plenty of stops along the way

 

[Kek700]

@pcmoreno
Yes Paulo, difficult one, first of all I tried many formula's, all failed, starting at the back works well. But that can put you immediately out of contention with your rivals.
Now....
I tend to take it easy, accept a place or two lost, find a least contentious place for your car, concentrate on missing people, see how it goes. then start to race on lap 2.
Not perfect, but since using this method, I have had few problem.

The biggest thing to overcome involves acceptance of the circumstance, if you don't, you tend to overthink it, tighten up, try too hard, lose concentration at the most important moments, and not be focused correctly on the situation as they happen.

You could take the point of view as i do.....
It does not matter one jot were you are after the first corner. even if I make it to the front in the first corner, everyone who is faster will, cause me grief, all will eventually overtake at some point, and the payoff is I am likely to come off.
I am not the slightest bit interested in the Aliens, only those who I race against, and even those I mostly shrug my shoulders and bide my time if it is not going my way.

 

[stigs2cousin]

Paulo,

been there, done that, still got the car wrecks to prove it.
About a year ago I was so deep down the war path about this that I took a longer time out.
(especially as on the old server we had a sort of "safety rating" that was kicked to the curb by the many incidents.)

Nowadays I cake this things with some humor (mostly).
Though having THREE frigging incidents at Speedforce and almost getting a drive through I ended up on the spot I started. Of course before Han´s henchmen executed ( KIDDING ) Iwas running for Top five.

Ernie has the clarity and tranquility of a great statesman, I wish sometimes he could send me some of it.
His advice to start from the back also helped because than you can avoid the "T1L1Cluster****(TM)" and capitalize on all the other ****ups. (OK, in a 60min race all the F.U. will catch you again, but they also have the chance to f.u. again

 

[stigs2cousin]

Oh, almost forgot in my rant:

have a great holiday, Portugal is a very, very beautyfull country.

Rode there in 2000 on my BMW motorcycle from the middle of Germany, had two wonderfull weeks. ( but could do without my bike for some time afterwards)

 

[zn1zn2c]

That was a fun race, thanks all for participating and thanks Han for organizing! When I saw this track for the first time I thought the Abarths would clearly have the upper hand. But the long right-hander proved to be a loyal companion to the Mazdas.

After my first race as a premium member I told you guys I couldn't wait to get better so I could actually have some good battles. That day has finally come as I could hang with guys like Carsten and Robert, even if it was just for a couple of laps. My pace seems to be improving, now I need to focus on actually fighting. But more on that later.

I had a pretty bad start, losing 4 positions in just the first lap. Definitely something I'm going to have to improve in the future. After a few laps I found myself in the great company of Han, Robert, Miki and Carsten. It was a lot of fun just hanging back there, watching the fights unfold, even trying to win a position myself. Unfortunately all of that came to an end when Robert swept me of my (round, rubber) feet and I crashed into the barrier. He was a good sport though and waited for me to overtake him again. Sadly though, our Gang of Five got dismantled. I had to put my head down and focus on catching the other guys again.

By now I think it's fair to say Han has become my rival of sorts. It was the 4th race in a row I had to stare at his Abarth ass while he's crawling through the corners, hahah! This time around I had the feeling I could actually win the position and keep it. After a few rounds of almost passing him, I finally found a way to get past him in the last few corners. At the end of the straight we were next to each other, going into the first corner... And I completely messed it up. I don't know why or how, but I missed the brake point by a bit, got on the grass and when I got back on the track I couldn't slow down enough leading me into crashing into the side of Han.
This lead to Carsten gaining up to us again and we had a little three way battle. I say little because the very next lap we were on the straight again. This time I was on the inside and Carsten on the outside. He squeezed me all the way to the right and just before the corner moved back to the left (which was a nice move Carsten, thanks for the experience!). Afraid of crashing into him, I only slightly moved to the left with him. All for naught, since I missed my brake point by a mile and dive bombed into the corner, resulting into another crash.

After all that I felt like such an idiot and lost all remaining concentration (and a couple of positions). I learned my lesson though and will be practicing different lines through corners that come after a long straight.

See you guys next round!

 

[zn1zn2c]

PS: I'm starting to come around and think we might need to use nicknames or something else in discord because every time someone said Ricardo in voice chat I was always wondering: "Is that me or Prins?"

Yeah, I have the same experience. I'm starting to recognize people's voices so it's been getting a bit better, but still confusing most fo the time.

With @HF2000's approval I could change my name to Rico (Ricardo) Prins on the forum and change it to Rico Prins in game. Most people call me that anyway, so I'm used to it. Should make communicating a lot easier.

@pcmoreno, you should definitely take Ernie's tips to heart. It's what I do as well and it seems to help a lot. The way I see it: if I'm faster and more consistent then the other person then I will catch up to them later anyway. I'm just in survival mode for the first few laps, haha.
Anyway, will be missing you the next 2 weeks. Have a great vacation man! Sounds like a lot of fun.

Edit: Now that I think about it, maybe I should change my name to "The driver formerly known as Prins"

 

[HF2000]

With @HF2000's approval I could change my name to Rico (Ricardo) Prins on the forum and change it to Rico Prins in game.

Good idea! Approved!

 

[stigs2cousin]

Edit: Now that I think about it, maybe I should change my name to "The driver formerly known as Prins"

I like where you´re coming from, but I vote for Rico.

Much better to yell under duress than:

"Whoa, TIDIEFFKAPP, whatch it!!"