2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[KosmoKazi]

Seems like good advice to wait in the pits for a clear track to qualify in this Nations / Miata TC race at Yamagiwa... a long lap and some sketchy turns that could end up holding you up for a long time, if someone botched their own lap, or if they take a much 'different' approach to a section as you.

 

[Hasnain282]

Not expecting much from this one, just hoping to stay out of trouble

 

[stpatty]

Started 12th. Got a track limits penalty on lap 2 at the first chicane when I couldn't see anything and went down to 18th. Got punted twice at the hairpin by people who couldn't brake (who also tbf let me past after). Ended up in a six-way fight for 8th, finished 9th. Tempted to go again because I'm much, much faster than that.

 

[Adam Barber]

Well that went badly. Qualifying went well and dispite serving a 0.5 penalty just before the line was on pole position. In a lobby with @LVS_1986 aswell. Jumped the start and then made a small error that put me right at the back. Recovered to 12th and I'm going in again.

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• Adam Barber
• Sep 1, 2021

 

[Hasnain282]

Managed a clean lap which put me 6th though I was up on the 2nd one. Was a in a 4 car train for 4th for most of the race and by the end was only just keeping up. I wasn't prepared to take major risks with track limits do couldn't get any good runs to make any positions so in the end it was P7

 

[Adam Barber]

Attempt 2 didn't go much better. Screwed up my fast lap but still started P2. Last Q time would have put me on pole. Then on the first lap I was forced out wide and off track at T1 dumping me to last place, P11 at the end. Fastest lap and I had the pace to win that one.

 

[KosmoKazi]

Anyone else shallow enough like me, that they really dig it when they put in a personal best time in the FP session before FIA races, so that you get the crowd response, compared to the open FP sessions before race session entry is open?! It doesn't happen much, but when I put in a best time in those pre-race sessions, I like that little cheer.

 

[challenger001]

13 Laps and it's +0.003 at the line. Good lord.

Big thanks to Tidgney's Miata Mania series for getting me used to the MX-5 TC, but I've always had a soft spot for Yamagiwa. This is actually only half the shot, you might see the final clip of the last lap on Idiots Of The Week. 3rd place finisher (Spaniard No. 13) was in the lead going into this lap, #10 was flying and I let him by about two laps earlier knowing I couldn't fight him. #13 began to brake-check #10 going down the hill, and there was some contact sideways going up the hill. Probably fair, but looking at the replay #13 turned in on #10 multiple times and then shoved him into the armco at the exit of the turn at the top of the hill. This gave me the run on #13, and went wide in the final corner to take him round the outside. Probably a foolish move, he turned out on me to shove me onto the grass. I simply kept my foot in it, got back on track still ahead, but by this time #10 had the run on me. #13 had thrown away his win and I got this epic photo. Here's hoping Devon likes it, haha.

 

[Cherryturbo]

Two attempts…..this was about three too many. I just can’t race in the middle of the mindless mayhem that surrounds me.

Started mid-pack in both. Managed to get punted off on T1 in both. Both resulted in excursions across the track after the initial barrier hit followed by facing in entirely the wrong direction at the end. Managed to watch the entire field pass by through the smoke & dust both times. Finished dead last in the first. Lost 18 seconds to the field in the second And left.
Not so much a rage quit as a sickened disillusioned demise. 😕🥺👎

 

[stpatty]

Second attempt at 6:20 went as follows:

Had a bad qualifying. My first lap was sloppy and I bottled my second one, but I managed to start 7th. I was out-qualified by at least one person from my first attempt who I knew I was faster than, so that was nice. 1st place... I don't know what he did, he looks like he jumped the start then hit the brakes, then set off again. Went down to 10th by the time he was at the first corner. I went down to 8th and did very well to keep the car pointing in the right direction as I was on the outside and had more than one car barrel up my inside.

Emerged in 7th on lap 2 and had a train following me going all the way back to 18th. 8th got a penalty and served it at the end of the lap. From lap 3 to lap 9 I had a Spaniard following me. I'd pull away from him through the esses and the last corner then he'd catch up over the rest of the lap. While this is happening the places ahead of me end up changing - the Norwegian who was on pole pulls ahead, the Brit who I was faster than last time starts going backwards, so do the Portuguese and the Finn in 2nd and 3rd.

On lap 9 the Spaniard behind me gets punted at the hairpin by a Portuguese who... flashes his hazards but doesn't do anything else. The Brit ahead of me goes wide at the chicane and is slow up the hill, he indicates for me to go past which I do, and now the fight for 4th is right in front of me with the Finn and a German. Watching the replay back now I can see my tyres are much better than the Finns, so top 5 is definitely on which would be a 200 point result. As the three of us are going in a line the Portuguese behind me catches up.

On lap 11 the German just gets enough separation from the Finn to pull ahead. At the start of lap 12 the Portuguese passes me at turn one with a bit of contact and flashes his hazards. I don't remember being annoyed at the time but I'm more so now after seeing him punt the Spaniard earlier. We get past the Finn and I try to chase him down on the last lap and I'm pretty sure he should have got a penalty for cutting the track at the bottom of the esses, but he's too far ahead and I finish 6th:

I really enjoyed this combo. I enjoyed it for the same reason I enjoyed it last year, it's a good car for the track and when I was still fairly new to the wheel last time I really got to learn how to be easy on the brakes and steering, getting the most out of the car while managing my tyre wear in a way other people around me weren't.

My final race time from last year, in a race I won while mostly racing on my own, was 24:59. My race time this time was 24:46. While fighting a lot at the beginning and end. That's a second per lap of progress after a year. I think I'm happier with that than anything else.

 

[Adam Barber]

DCd from my 3rd and last attempt, frustrating round as I know I had the pace for a minimum of a podium and a good shot a win in first 2 attempts.

 

[Groundfish]

Two attempts…..this was about three too many. I just can’t race in the middle of the mindless mayhem that surrounds me.

Lost 18 seconds to the field in the second And left.
Not so much a rage quit as a sickened disillusioned demise. 😕🥺👎

This is why so many of us are boycotting FIA until they bring back a working penalty sr system.

 

[OJBrit]

A real case of two attempts which could not be more different.

18:20
A decent qualy but disappointing to only set a 54.4 for a 12th place grid slot. I went at least a second quicker in practice. Got a good start and someone obviously went too early as I had to avoid a slow starter. Essentially this race I had the pace to get further up the grid but was in a constant fight with 4 other cars. Eventually a few laps later I got pitted into the chicane. I hit the barrier and was given the extra penalty of a broken engine up the hill. By this time I was 11 seconds down on the next car. I made some places as people went into the pits for some reason. I seemed to push too hard and was constantly understeering into corners and then oversteering out of them. My front left was half dead by the end. I crossed the line P14. I was obviously going to go again.

19:40
Given door 2.
I recognised another Brit I had encountered ages ago. He pulled a dirty move on me in frustration of another player. We spoke afterwards and I accepted the situation and gave them some advice. I'm not sure if they remembered me but they were moaning about the P2 Spaniard after qualy. I got a much better qualy. Got a 53.4 which was good enough for P3 and 0.3 behind pole.
Start was decent but slightly overcooked T1 allowing the Portuguese driver behind to overtake. There must have been lots of craziness behind as us 4 began to gap the rest. I got my head down and took the inside out of the long left and into the esses. We both gave each other room and I was ahead. I closed on P2 down the pit straight. I wasn't going for a move into T1 but the Spaniard blocked last second. Very dirty I thought and was going to watch closely in the future. He eventually got past his compatriot at the end of the lap and I followed again out of the long left in an almost carbon copy. I was now in P2 and gapping P3 but not really closing on P1. I decided to put my brakes rearward this time out (from neutral) to help the fronts. This may have been key to my race. About half way into the race I begin to close up ahead. On lap 10 I am close enough and make the move into T1. The Spaniard plays fair so maybe saw they could race fairly with me previously so did so themselves. Into the next hairpin they make a dive and I do the up and under and cut them back and leave them for dust. Over the next few laps I pull a 4 second gap and take the win.

New highest points for the season and another win in each FIA .
I thank the Spaniard for the race and they just answer 'o.k.' I hope they were not disappointed in their result. They drove well, got 2nd and a decent haul of points. No shame at all.
I timed this race to perfection and made no mistakes at all. Probably my best race beating my win at Suzuka last season, just!

I knew I'd have fun.

 

[KosmoKazi]

FIA Nations Round 7
KYOTO DRIVING PARK - YAMAGIWA II
Mazda Roadster Touring Car

Kind of a 'meh' race. I really like this track for the most part, and I like the TC racers, but it just didn't come together for me tonight.

Gave myself plenty of room clear of the pack in qualifying, but ended up with a middling effort, qualifying 14th. Was distracted a bit by someone in the room who wanted to carry on a conversation, so that didn't help.

But after a relatively clean first lap and chicanes, once the tow was lost in front, and the racing spread out from people losing it on their own in the chicane the bottom of that hill, it was relatively uneventful. (It was somewhat satisfying to see people tank-slapping on the exit of that chicane, when you know you were going to clear them and gain a spot... have to admit. I didn't make that mistake once and was usually adding a tenth on exit, just by being careful on the entry, without checking up like some people were.)

Got back two positions that I'd lost to people who thought they were faster, when they botched that chicane on their own. Netted a single position up from where I started, after those give and takes.

Overall pretty disappointed, but I was not sure I had the pace to begin with, and then distraction in qualifying pretty much locked me into a worthless result. Would like to run it on the alt again for fun, but not up for it with the late start times.

Door #8, in a lobby of mostly familiar names at this point in the season. Lost about 400 DR and earned throwaway FIA points... probably going to slide down in the Nations rankings a bit, and will be on the bubble for Star Player, which I would so like to earn once. But have to do better.

(at least my TV stayed on this race!)

 

[GR33N]

All in all a good round for me, I tend to be faster in slower cars : took 4th in EMEA last slot split 2 for 235 points (total time 24:32).

Have to mention @watto79 for his fortuitous help in qualy, where he gave me a tow in the last sector after slightly going wide at the chicane (are you on PS5 ? You were out of the pits so quick !).

Anyway, I feel like I've reached the point where I REALLY need to work on my racecraft, or rather "intelligence", because I can be fast in FP and qualy but I lose too many battles in the actual race. I'm sure I had the raw pace yesterday to win.

List of some of my weaknesses I already identified:

• know when to temporize and save tyres and when to push
• learn how to drive with a driver right behind my rear, I always end up doing a mistake when under pressure (even when he's not agressive)
• learn how to defend without losing to much time against an agressive driver -> learn different lines (when possible)

I also believe that my personality in everyday's life is holding me back in racing, I'm probably too kind/soft/polite haha. The guy who won the race was just diving up the inside at every oportunity, too agressive imo but nobody seemed annoyed in the chat 🤨

 

[05XR8]

I think once someone starts posting post race chat, players exit quickly. There’s about a five second pause after a race. Everyone is quiet. When the “floating pencil” appears, adios.

 

[stpatty]

All in all a good round for me, I tend to be faster in slower cars : took 4th in EMEA last slot split 2 for 235 points (total time 24:32).

Have to mention @watto79 for his fortuitous help in qualy, where he gave me a tow in the last sector after slightly going wide at the chicane (are you on PS5 ? You were out of the pits so quick !).

Anyway, I feel like I've reached the point where I REALLY need to work on my racecraft, or rather "intelligence", because I can be fast in FP and qualy but I lose too many battles in the actual race. I'm sure I had the raw pace yesterday to win.

List of some of my weaknesses I already identified:

• know when to temporize and save tyres and when to push
• learn how to drive with a driver right behind my rear, I always end up doing a mistake when under pressure (even when he's not agressive)
• learn how to defend without losing to much time against an agressive driver -> learn different lines (when possible)

I also believe that my personality in everyday's life is holding me back in racing, I'm probably too kind/soft/polite haha. The guy who won the race was just diving up the inside at every oportunity, too agressive imo but nobody seemed annoyed in the chat 🤨

I watched that race streamed by @kirethk last night. If you're talking about the Norwegian, he was in my race too. He was on pole and went down quite far after messing up his start, but he battled back to 2nd. He seems to have a relatively new account, so I think his racecraft might be lacking a bit. That plus the cars probably made him seem a bit pushy.

 

[watto79]

Have to mention @watto79 for his fortuitous help in qualy, where he gave me a tow in the last sector after slightly going wide at the chicane (are you on PS5 ? You were out of the pits so quick !).

That's the PS5 pay to win model right there!

You're welcome with the qualy slipstream. I'm always happy to botch my own lap to help out a fellow GTP'er

I had to work later than expected yesterday so the last slot was my one and only attempt on minimal practice. Didn't qualify well and then on lap 2, going down towards the chicane I'm in a big old pack of about 6 cars. On the last apex I could have sworn someone tapped my rear and around I went. As I slowly caught back up I glared at everyone's name wondering who it was who wrecked me. On checking the replay it turned out I spun out completely under my own incompetence.

Finished 16th.

On to Monza where it's nice to see the Mustang absolutely storms around the track (until the front tyres die and it runs out of fuel).

 

[GTWolverine]

So far I've scored my best results in every round in this Nation's Championship in the 3rd slot, because at 59k-60k I keep ending up as the lowest-ranked driver in Top Split, so it typically takes until the 3rd slot until Top Split has thinned out enough for me to not finish in the back. At the same time, because there are still a few aliens even in the 3rd slot, I still can't score THAT many points because I'll barely have pace for the Top 5 and will be at least 20s behind the winner at the end.

Slot 1: Got blocked by someone coming out of the pits just as I began my first flying lap, then refusing to move out of my way. With that lap ruined, I had to nail my 2nd lap, so of course that meant I messed up and ran wide at the bottom of the esses. I escaped a penalty, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway because I still only qualified P20. I climbed to 14th through a combination of other's misfortune, and getting a few genuine overtakes, including one on the final run to the finish. The last several laps were a battle of 3-4 cars for 13th place and was some of the best racing I've had this season...too bad it wasn't worth more points.

Slot 2: This race was somewhat more stacked than I expected, because I was still only car #17. I qualified 14th and finished 17th after being shoved off at the exit of the final corner and nearly spinning. I managed to avoid spinning, but I "snagged" my right rear fender on a piece of wall jutting out on the inside of the straight (not the end of the pit wall) and stopped dead.

Slot 3: Normally this slot would be at least 1/3 DR A, and I would be in the top half of the DR range for the race. Instead it was still all A+, I was car #13, and a win was still worth over 300 points. I qualified 10th then fell to 11th and tried to work with the new 10th place to catch the cars in front. Unfortunately I dipped a wheel over the back of the curb at the exit of the long right-hander between the chicane and the esses and spun myself. A quick bounce off the inside wall pointed me back in the right direction, and I only lost 2 more spots. I also got a 1.5s penalty at the triple chicane despite taking it the same way I'd done every lap previously. I eventually finished 12th for 173 points, which won't count towards the end of the season anyway.

I'm hoping I can put together some good results next week at RBR, then at season's end at Laguna Seca. RBR is probably my best chance at getting well over 200 points again, but once again it'll probably take until the 3rd slot...

 

[Roman_GT23]

This race (for me) was awesome!!!!!!!

small backstory: After a race on Sunday and went for a run with a friend on a trail, in short during the run I fell and rolled my ankle (gas pedal one) real bad so I've been icing and working on the ankle for it to be bearable for Nations

I've been in Tidgney's Miata Mania series, which is a much harder car to drive than Nations spec, initial practice lobbies I felt very confident on the race pace.

Slot 1: My qualifying was better than I expect. I even out qualified Turismo-Lester . Qualified 10th and was feeling it. Onto the race I had good pace to keep up with the bottom half of the top split aliens, unfortunately I snagged a penalty from dirty air understeer and let a teammate and a PX7 driver go by. In the end we ganged up on PX7 but I didn't want to compromise my teammate as well. Knowing we were both going again I bump drafted him up to a P11 for me. Could have had more but good notes to take for the next slot

Slot 2: Screwed up my qualy again being greedy and got a penalty just into the last corner, and because GTS doesn't recognize it until the next penalty zone (up the hill) both my laps we're done for. Qualified P18 and only ahead of someone with a black screen and someone that said they were drunk. Let me tell you............. I had the drive of my life (for awhile ) I honestly don't think I've driven this well since Manu Fuji/Le Mans last season. Made up 2 positions after the first corner then there was a huge gaggle of cars. I dove on the inside but I wasn't really intending on making an overtake, When a car on the outside spun out and everyone checked up I was glad I was there. Had a battle with Cortez but I was able to get around him. Onto catch my teammates. So I caught up to them and since I was last in line I just tagged along and saved my tires by braking early but easy and coasting. Eventually 2 got penalties so that's when I attacked. Then another teammate had an off and he let me by. At this point I was 10th from 18th. 9th made a mistake and hit the wall. Then was onto PX7 again. Went into qualy mindset and churred in fast laps. Got in his slip, he made a mistake, I went around and away I went. Finished the race 8th from 18th! I was so happy with that drive from the back, only caveat was if I didn't screw up my qualy what could have been, 6th might of even been possible.

I thought about going for slot 3 (especially after watching my friends stream that had a lot of points still on offer for slot 3), but with 252 in the bag and my ankle screaming I decided tonight was enough. Go rest the ankle and get ready for Monza.

 

[GR33N]

I watched that race streamed by @kirethk last night. If you're talking about the Norwegian, he was in my race too. He was on pole and went down quite far after messing up his start, but he battled back to 2nd. He seems to have a relatively new account, so I think his racecraft might be lacking a bit. That plus the cars probably made him seem a bit pushy.

Yes, it's him. Not really dirty indeed but let's say he's really committed when he decides to go for any hole that he thinks could fit his car
He had very good pace though, he didn't steal the win.
On the other hand, the other Swiss that took out Kireth is a real ****, I had many problems with him in the past. I would have been furious...

That's the PS5 pay to win model right there!

You're welcome with the qualy slipstream. I'm always happy to botch my own lap to help out a fellow GTP'er

I had to work later than expected yesterday so the last slot was my one and only attempt on minimal practice. Didn't qualify well and then on lap 2, going down towards the chicane I'm in a big old pack of about 6 cars. On the last apex I could have sworn someone tapped my rear and around I went. As I slowly caught back up I glared at everyone's name wondering who it was who wrecked me. On checking the replay it turned out I spun out completely under my own incompetence.

Finished 16th.

On to Monza where it's nice to see the Mustang absolutely storms around the track (until the front tyres die and it runs out of fuel).

Yeah, I saw many people lose the rear on their own, this Miata is trickier than it looks on kerbs.
Good luck for Saturday, I drive for Ford too but didn't find the time to enter a single Manu round in season 2, not to mention it's heavily oriented towards handling cars... Monza looks promising though, so I hope I'll be able to do 1 or 2 slots.

 

[GR33N]

Oh and I wanted to share this with you, it's the final laps of a previous slot yesterday.

Of course I was pretty happy with the way it ended (and the way I took the last corner ), but what I want to point out here is the importance of tyre management in the "money time". And I know it's much easier to do with a wheel than a DS4 (but PORRI is using a G29, I know it because he said his wheel disconnected during the last slot ), but still. I had my Brake Balance set at +5 obviously, maybe my opponent "forgot" to do it but I believe it's more to do with driving style. Fair play to him though for not trying to block on the straight ! 👍

Sorry for the chaotic edit, I tried to show the distance between us with 3 and 2 laps to go and some corner speed comparison, especially the long, almost flat out right hander up the hill. If you look at the laptimes, there's a 2.5 sec difference in the last 3 laps, only thanks to fresher tyres !

 

[LVS_1986]

Well that went badly. Qualifying went well and dispite serving a 0.5 penalty just before the line was on pole position. In a lobby with @LVS_1986 aswell. Jumped the start and then made a small error that put me right at the back. Recovered to 12th and I'm going in again.

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• Adam Barber
• Sep 1, 2021

This race was chaotic.. Did one and it was enough I was in shock when I passed you before T1, what happened on the start???

 

[05XR8]

Get your heart racing for the weekend.

 

[Adam Barber]

This race was chaotic.. Did one and it was enough I was in shock when I passed you before T1, what happened on the start???

Jumped that start and just got screwed over from there really, people were not racing well at the back. Doublely annoying as the guy who won is a bit of an arrrogent loud mouth.

 

[D_Dragline]

Get your heart racing for the weekend.

Not realistic. No one was punted at T1.

Edit: Why can’t I use emojis when I post from an iPhone?

 

[Roman_GT23]

Not realistic. No one was punted at T1.

Edit: Why can’t I use emojis when I post from an iPhone?

Also not realistic because there wouldn't be a cayman on pole (at least at or near top split )

 

[kirethk]

I watched that race streamed by @kirethk last night. If you're talking about the Norwegian, he was in my race too. He was on pole and went down quite far after messing up his start, but he battled back to 2nd. He seems to have a relatively new account, so I think his racecraft might be lacking a bit. That plus the cars probably made him seem a bit pushy.

I found there was plenty of pushing in that race 😅 Fun combo though

 

[Norrin Radd]

One shot in Oz today so hope it goes well. Good start as grabbed Q2 from D18 (admittedly this account is a little low, but I'm B/S whatever way you look at it).
So what's the chances of a clean first lap? NONE!!! First chicane went badly but think mostly clean and then punted, reset at second. Then between the stupid fighting, lets slow everyone down nonsense, mistakes and retaliations (which I didn't do until lap 15 when I'd just had enough) it was the worst Oz race I've ever had. Managed to get 11th and felt I actually did well in the circumstances. Wish I could try and get a decent race, but no chance today so have to wait till I get back and Europe is up. If I can't get a clean Oz race though I'm not feeling confident.

 

[SmellMyCheese]

In with @RX8 Racer again

Qualifying wasn’t brilliant. Door no.19 and could only put it 12th.

Got through T1 fine. A couple of cars up front got slowed by gravel so I made some places early. First quarter of race i made my way through the field and by lap 7 found myself in 3rd. Switched between 3rd and 4th a few times when I picked up a track limit pen, as did the Aston I was swapping with. Lap 18 I got another stupid track pen and dropped right back to 6th. Final lap, the Aston ran out of fuel so ended up in 5th. Cayman in front also ran out of fuel at the line. Happy with result after starting in the middle.