AC R6 - Q1 F3 Championship @ Hockenheim - Thu 2 May

[H_Belane]

Hey Hank, sorry i rammed you on turn 2. I was trying to outbrake Han and i came in too hot.

No problem. Things like that happen. Fortunately, it didn't affect my race at all.

 

[Shed 17]

Allard Van den Hoeven wins F3 Q1 Championship.

Allard Van den Hoeven won the inaugural Q1 championship on Thursday at Hockenheim, when he took his Formula Velocity RSS Dallara to a solid second and first place finishes in this double header sprint race format.
The drivers faced difficult conditions as the stormy weather and lower temperatures meant that visibility on some of the faster sections was reduced, making turn in and braking points crucial to a fast lap.

After a poor result in Thailand, Fulvio Fenix was back on form and qualified his Campos RSS Dallara on pole position 0.1s ahead of Allard. Thomas Kimmich was 1.2s further back with Hank Belane in fourth. Steve Hayward took 5th spot on the grid and the returning Taj Johal was close behind in 6th.

Race one
Fulvio and Allard both got good launches off the line but it was Fulvio who lead into T1 followed by Allard, Thomas and Hank. Steve started from the pits after a technical issue which allowed Taj and Han to do battle on the opening lap.

At the end of lap 1, Thomas dropped a wheel on the astroturf at the final corner and spun heavily into the pit wall. This allowed Taj and Han through and on lap 2, Han made a move up the inside of Taj under braking for T2.

Further back, Andre and Paul had engaged in battle, a fight that went on for several laps with places being exchanged through the Parabolika and under braking for the Spitzhere hairpin.

Up front, Fulvio had opened up a gap to Allard of 1.2 seconds with Hank now 4.5 s back in third place. Meanwhile Thomas had recovered well and was already up to to P5 and challenging Han until Han bumped the kerb on the inside of T1 and went wide, allowing Thomas though into 4th. Steve had also recovered from his self enforced pit lane start and was carving through the field.

But at the finish it was a comfortable win for Fulvio by 6 seconds ahead of Allard and Fulvio also snatched the extra point for the fastest lap. Hank took the final podium position with Thomas 4th and Steve doing really well to finish 5th.

Race 2
The reverse grid for the top seven from race one had Fulvio and Allard towards the back of the pack for the start of race 2. Andre Murel made the most of his pole position and raced a fast starting Han Fazzi around T1 and down to the heavy braking area of T2.

Steve got a great start this time and managed to slingshot past Han into T2 to take 2nd on the road. Meanwhile the championship leader Allard was having a side by side battle with Fulvio which ended when Fulvio tried a cheeky move up the inside on the fast right-hander of T5 but the slightest contact had both cars diverting from their intended lines.

But such is the skill of the top drivers that they managed to keep things together enough to continue without losing too much time but Fulvio waited for Allard which put these two at the very back of the field.

Up front and only on lap 2, Andre was coming under pressure from Thomas with Han up to 3rd place but an incoming Hass liveried Dallara in the hands of Steve locked his brakes causing a smokescreen and contact with Hank and then Han at T2.

Andre then locked his brakes at the Spitzhere hairpin allowing Thomas through and into the lead but Andre took the lead back with an audacious move around the outside of Thomas in the stadium section. But only a few seconds later Andre spun out on the exit of T2 handing the lead back to Thomas with Hank, Allard and Fulvio now very close behind. It was all happening here folks!

This was only lap 3 and Hank briefly took the lead through the Parabolika, but again Thomas was a demon on the brakes and retook the lead at the hairpin. All this was allowing Allard and Fulvio the chance to close in and Thomas spun again on the exit of T6 and threw away any chance of another win.

Lap 4 and the order was Allard, Hank, Fulvio, Paul and Steve but such is the competitive racing in this series it wouldn’t stay that way for long.
Fulvio got past Hank at the hairpin and set off after Allard. Fulvio managed to close the gap with the fastest lap again, but time was running out and at the line Allard managed to hang on for the win by just 0.6 of a second to take the win and secure the championship.

Race 1 podium
1. Fulvio Fenix
2. Allard van den Hoeven
3. Hank Belane

Race 2 podium
1. Allard van den Hoeven
2. Fulvio Fenix
3. Hank Belane

Championship results after 6 rounds

Pos​	Driver​	Points​
1​	Allard van den Hoeven​	149​
2​	Fulvio Fenix​	113​
3​	Thomas Kimmich​	104​
4​	Hank Belane​	99​
5​	Steve Hayward​	66​
6​	Richard Barratt​	56​
7​	Laurent Londes​	46​
8​	Han Fazzi​	44​
9​	Paul Fairweather​	29​
10​	Jorg Evers​	17​
11​	Joseph Elton​	15​
12​	Andre Murel​	14​
13​	Shawn Rushold​	13​
14​	Omar Filippini​	13​
15​	Dai Feng​	10​
16​	Taj Johal​	4​
17​	Bouke Janssen​	2​
18​	Ernie Wright​	0​
19​	Colin Jones​	0​
20​	Jason Bagley​	0​
21​	Allan Ramsbottom​	0​

A huge thank you to all who found the time to compete, some of the drivers like Shawn and Andre were new to this series but really got to grips with racing open wheelers very quickly.

The next quarter will see some really great tracks on the schedule as we race on the same tracks as the real F1 series, but you will need to re-register to be sure of a chance to race in this series.

Click on the link below to go to the registration page for Q2.

F3 Q2 registration link

We look forward to seeing you at the next race on May 16th at Imola.

 

[HF2000]

Great post, Paul!

 

[Shed 17]

Great post, Paul!

Thanks Han maybe I need to get a life!! ....seriously though, I'm just trying to encourage more drivers in to this series, watching the replays from yesterday's races was very entertaining and the amount of overtaking was insane! We all were having battles at some point and all did very well despite the track quality not being up to the usual standard.

 

[H_Belane]

Another great article Paul.
I really appreciate your work. Hopefully more drivers will join us soon. It would be really nice if all the specialists for the different cars were here in this great World Championship.

 

[maxilogan]

Thanks for the report Paul, it really is an additional step to the entertainment of the series. I'm for sure registering for the next quarter, then - given my poor results and my stagnant skills, I will decide for the next two. For sure, this second quarter has some of the tracks I like the most (well, except Monaco maybe, even if I know it relatively well) so I won't give up!

 

[zn1zn2c]

Does anyone have a good basic setup and maybe some tips on what to look out for when tweaking the setup? Like which things make the biggest differences in grip/top speed. Also, is DRS enabled for this championship?

I'm looking to maybe join another weekly race and this championship looks like a lot of fun. Although I'm a bit torn between choosing this or the Sunday races. I have a few days off starting tomorrow, so this might be a good chance for me to get some practice in so I'm less of a nuisance to the fast drivers.

 

[maxilogan]

Does anyone have a good basic setup and maybe some tips on what to look out for when tweaking the setup? Like which things make the biggest differences in grip/top speed. Also, is DRS enabled for this championship?

Yes please, setup is difficult also for me.. first race on Hockenheim I picked up a random one I used in the past and it was absolutely undriveable, I'd keep the basic one in a safe place as a backup from where to start.

 

[Shed 17]

@zn1zn2c @maxilogan

Hi Ricardo and Omar,

It will be great to have you both along for the 2nd quarter, please remember to register and download all the skins.

AC - F3 Q2 Championship Registration-Summer 2024

Welcome to the F3 Championship Q2 registration page. After a successful Q1 series we move on to Q2 with some very interesting and classic circuits on the schedule. Starting off in Italy at the Imola circuit and ending at the British GP at Silverstone there is something to test every level of...

www.overtake.gg

Joseph has been very kind in sharing his set ups throughout Q1 and if you look at the Imola thread for Q2 he has again shared a base set up here.

AC - Rd 1 F3 Summer Championship Q2 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix-Thur May 16

Welcome to the AC Racing club F3 series. We start a new quarter 2 championship at the superb Imola circuit, nestled in the heart of the Emilia-Romagna region, just to the south east of Bologna, and close by to the F1 Mecca that is Ferrari’s HQ in Maranello...

www.overtake.gg

There were also some others in the early threads in the warm up and opening races of Q1 but Joseph would be best placed to give advice on aero as he has spent a lot of time in this car.

As we know, set ups are very personal to individual drivers but this is a good base which to work from for this car. I find that it's best not to push too hard on the first laps and to ease the throttle on, as slamming it to the floor will lose the back end very quickly and light up the tyres, which take a while to cool down.

DRS use varies from track to track. At Imola it is enabled so make sure to assign a button, but at Monaco it is disabled. The reason, is that on some mod tracks there are no DRS zones, just on all the time and while some aliens might be able to take advantage of this, the earthlings amongst us would end up as part of the scenery if we kept stabbing away at the DRS button, so on these tracks it's off for all. Check out the event details for each race to see when DRS is enabled.

We look forward to having you join us on Thursdays.

 

[maxilogan]

@zn1zn2c @maxilogan

Hi Ricardo and Omar,

It will be great to have you both along for the 2nd quarter, please remember to register and download all the skins.

Hi Paul, I did register already. I also changed the livery in comparison to Q1 to see if I manage to get my car in a color other than white (and yes, in Q1 I had de-registered and downloaded and reinstalled all the liveries then re-registered again )

 

[zn1zn2c]

@zn1zn2c @maxilogan

Hi Ricardo and Omar,

It will be great to have you both along for the 2nd quarter, please remember to register and download all the skins.

AC - F3 Q2 Championship Registration-Summer 2024

Welcome to the F3 Championship Q2 registration page. After a successful Q1 series we move on to Q2 with some very interesting and classic circuits on the schedule. Starting off in Italy at the Imola circuit and ending at the British GP at Silverstone there is something to test every level of...

www.overtake.gg

Joseph has been very kind in sharing his set ups throughout Q1 and if you look at the Imola thread for Q2 he has again shared a base set up here.

AC - Rd 1 F3 Summer Championship Q2 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix-Thur May 16

Welcome to the AC Racing club F3 series. We start a new quarter 2 championship at the superb Imola circuit, nestled in the heart of the Emilia-Romagna region, just to the south east of Bologna, and close by to the F1 Mecca that is Ferrari’s HQ in Maranello...

www.overtake.gg

There were also some others in the early threads in the warm up and opening races of Q1 but Joseph would be best placed to give advice on aero as he has spent a lot of time in this car.

As we know, set ups are very personal to individual drivers but this is a good base which to work from for this car. I find that it's best not to push too hard on the first laps and to ease the throttle on, as slamming it to the floor will lose the back end very quickly and light up the tyres, which take a while to cool down.

DRS use varies from track to track. At Imola it is enabled so make sure to assign a button, but at Monaco it is disabled. The reason, is that on some mod tracks there are no DRS zones, just on all the time and while some aliens might be able to take advantage of this, the earthlings amongst us would end up as part of the scenery if we kept stabbing away at the DRS button, so on these tracks it's off for all. Check out the event details for each race to see when DRS is enabled.

We look forward to having you join us on Thursdays.

Thanks for the detailed post and thanks @Captain Condescending for the setup. It made it a lot easier to get to know this car.

Still have a couple of questions though. During my offline practice I noticed you can turn on DRS at the countdown, is that the case as well during the race? If so, are you allowed to turn it on?

In the multiclass it's not neccessary to change tyres because they last the entire race, but since tye wear rate is 100% for these races and you have multiple tyres to choose from, I reckon it might be a bit different? Is a tyre change strategy viable in these races, or does everyone just pick the hard tyre and only refuel?

Btw, the link to the liveries doesn't seem to work anymore.

 

[Shed 17]

Hi Ricardo,

During my offline practice I noticed you can turn on DRS at the countdown, is that the case as well during the race? If so, are you allowed to turn it on?

Where DRS is enabled for the event and the start line is in a DRS zone then yes, you can chose to open up the DRS for a quick launch, it will switch off automatically when you brake or use a steering input outside of the preset parameters, or when the DRS zone ends. Where DRS is disabled for the event then your DRS button will not work anywhere.
There are some quite complex in game rules around DRS use but we don't use them as the penalties are very strict. At this casual level of racing it's about having some fun while also having some good clean racing so keeping it simple is the way forward at the moment.

As for the tyres, this is a bit more of a wider subject and there will be several varying answers. We have some 60 minute races with a mandatory stop and sprint races where the stop is optional ( no-one usually does).
In the 60 minute races we have seen some drivers do the whole race on one set of hards, softs/mediums, soft/soft or medium/medium. It all comes down to tyre management but for a beginner here I would set up your strategy for medium/medium with fuel at approx. 65%/35% as the fuel stop is long enough to put new rubber on.

For then Sprint races (Monaco and Austria this quarter), it comes down to finding the right balance in the car. Some will go softs and try to manage the wear, some prefer the mediums for the feel and others have used hards even for the shorter races as they get best feel for them. But so far we have found that a spin will light up the tyres like a Christmas tree and the softer the compound the longer it takes to cool them down.
So while all of this may seem a bit scary to start with you will soon get to know what suits you best and it all makes the racing more interesting with the different strategies going on....just like the real thing!

I hope this helps but I'm sure others will have different views and be willing to pass on their experiences too.

I'll look at the link for the skins.
Try it now Ricardo, should be good now but let me know if you have problems. Unzip the file and drop all the skins into the car skin folder in AC.

 

[zn1zn2c]

That was a lot more helpful information than what I was hoping for, thanks! You've been a great help Paul. I still have a lot to learn, but I'll get there.

The link to the liveries is working. Now I just have to get through decision paralysis