2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[SweatyC]

Back for this Exhibition after sitting out the official season. Managed to sneak a pole position.

Myself and the other Merc took off and pulled out a big lead. Neck and neck the whole race. Result decided on one little mistake lap 8 putting two wheels in the sand and losing the lead. In the leaders draft the whole race. Just run out of road for the sprint to the line. Great close race. Almost took it!

 

[D_Dragline]

Asia Slot 1, door 4 in a lobby with @RX8 Racer and @ShiftingGears. Qualifying was fine although RX8Racer and I made contact on the final turn at one stage as I had held a wide line in to maximize my next lap speed and he ducked underneath. No damage done though. After all was said and done I qualified 3rd.

On the grid with an NSX in pole immediately in front. I think he must have forgotten TCS though as he bogged down when the lights went out and I was past him by the T1 braking point. P2 for the first lap but got a run on the 650s in p1 down the straight and made the overtake stick through T1.

A couple of laps in front before a small mistake on the final turn let the NSX get a run. I didn’t fight and let him go through to try and build a gap to p3. It all went pretty well until a Citroen made its way into p3 and started taking time out of the gap. P1 then pitted on lap 14 and I decided I would stay out until the pack behind pitted to avoid getting caught up in traffic. Most of the field stopped in the 15-18 window but at lap 19 my tyres were still good and I wasn’t seeing a drop off in lap times. Decided to risk it and go long to stay in clean air and save the 4 seconds on tyre change.

Very uneventful run to lap 29 watching the gap to P2 shrink but unsure where I was with respect to P3,4 and 5 who were in a bunch. I did a drive through pit into the last lap and came out in… p4 behind the NSX and the Citroen and another NSX. The other car in the bunch was p18 who had been lapped.

No incidents in the last lap and I crossed the line p4 but the NSX in p3 had failed to pit so I was promoted to the podium

181pts means one and done. Really enjoyed this combo, but never found myself in any midfield scraps, so not sure what it was like in the trenches.

 

[ShiftingGears]

If you're about to be lapped you might as well stay out, you will cop a one minute penalty but still finish ahead of everyone who took the mandatory stop and finished a lap down.

 

[ShiftingGears]

Your mate ShiftingGears has some free advice on the do's and do not do's of defensive driving.



If you are defending your position and leave more than a car's width on your inside entering the braking zone, don't attempt to close this gap once you are under braking, as the person behind may have already committed themselves to this space that you left open. This may result in you getting hit.

Instead do what ShiftingGears does, and move to where you want to defend early, so you give your opponent no opportunity to cleanly attempt an overtaking manuver on your inside. Your opponent will have to resort to passing around your outside, hoping you outbrake yourself, or simply running you off track.

 

[RX8 Racer]

Your mate ShiftingGears has some free advice on the do's and do not do's of defensive driving.



If you are defending your position and leave more than a car's width on your inside entering the braking zone, don't attempt to close this gap once you are under braking before you are actually turning into the corner, as the person behind may have already committed themselves to this space that you left open.

Instead do what ShiftingGears does, and move to the inside early, so you give your opponent no opportunity to cleanly attempt an overtaking manuver on your inside, so that your opponent has to resort to passing around your outside, hoping you outbrake yourself, or simply running you off track.

I’m sorry for slamming you wide in Race 1. That was a pretty stupid blunder on my part.

And I’ll be on the lookout for that guy. Getting shoved off the straights/high speed sections is one of the things that really tick me off.

 

[stpatty]

This pit exit is some laugh. For all this game's track limit nonsense they can't put in something there?

 

[ShiftingGears]

I’m sorry for slamming you wide in Race 1. That was a pretty stupid blunder on my part.

Racing incident mate, nothing in it

And I’ll be on the lookout for that guy. Getting shoved off the straights/high speed sections is one of the things that really tick me off.

He was probably just frustrated, wouldn't call him a serial offender yet

Edit: 3rd with 175 points, pretty happy considering i was lapped in the same split in the first slot. I really like the track layout in reverse.

 

[Cerebral303]

Your mate ShiftingGears has some free advice on the do's and do not do's of defensive driving.

Blimey, those Mazdas just shout in your face when you're behind them, don't they! #keepshouting #rotarylove

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

Imagine my shock!! 🙄

 

[Adam Barber]

Well I qualified poorly in 16th but managed to work my way up into what would've been 9th but I got taken at T1 on the last lap by a Mitsubishi. I'm going to go again after that. P14 at the end

 

[Stoobert]

Not much to say on this one. Started P7 finished P7. There was lots of death and destruction heading in to T1 but I was far enough forward to avoid it all. Most of it coming from an NSX near the rear that skittled his way through the pack in T1 causing 4 people to go straight on, and a further 3 or 4 to spin through. The person in P20 ended up in P8 after T1.

Other than that skittlefest, there was not a lot else to say. Pace was OK, albeit inconsistent as hell, but I'll take the survival.

 

[stpatty]

Started 12th with a decent but not great qualifying lap. The usual bedlam ensued at the first corner and my poor position coupled with the GT-R's turbo lag kept me out of the worst of it. Made up a few positions in the first 5/6 laps, including a massive send on a Lamborghini into turn 1 which I wasn't even trying to do. It probably ended up being the best I took that corner all day.

Was in 5th with a decent gap around me for the end of the first stint, trying to decide if I should go for an undercut or not. Even though I stayed out a lap later and pitted on 15 I still undercut 2/3/4, but I've been feeling weird all day and by this point in the race my concentration had gone and I wasn't really engaged with keeping up.

After the pit stops the only person out of sync was a Finn in Toyota who I thought was going 29/1, but who it turned out no-stopped it. He let everyone past as we were gaining, and eventually I started closing on the Mitsubishi in 4th who hadn't changed tyres. He started wriggling a lot in the final laps and even though I was absolutely terrible myself, by the end of lap 29 I was right behind him out of the last corner and the pass was easy.

Highest ever score and a new DR high of 57.2k. Hopefully next race I won't be car #1. I've been feeling a bit weird today which is annoying because if I was properly concentrating I reckon I could have pushed harder and got closer to 2nd, but still happy with this.

Also apologies to the guy in the Mitsubishi who said hello from GTPlanet - unless I'm being really stupid I don't recognise your username so, er, hello.

 

[Zorz]

I just got screwed over by a Supra having a horrendous start. Qualified P3 and almost immediately died from realising I would have to go around the pole sitter right after turning off the traction control. With the cold tyres it sent me into a massive spin and all the way to the back.

Still finished P8 (in the highest points lobby I've ever been in) after doing a 10/20 pit strategy to undercut a fighting group so I must have some decent pace...

 

[GR33N]

Started 12th with a decent but not great qualifying lap. The usual bedlam ensued at the first corner and my poor position coupled with the GT-R's turbo lag kept me out of the worst of it. Made up a few positions in the first 5/6 laps, including a massive send on a Lamborghini into turn 1 which I wasn't even trying to do. It probably ended up being the best I took that corner all day.

Was in 5th with a decent gap around me for the end of the first stint, trying to decide if I should go for an undercut or not. Even though I stayed out a lap later and pitted on 15 I still undercut 2/3/4, but I've been feeling weird all day and by this point in the race my concentration had gone and I wasn't really engaged with keeping up.

After the pit stops the only person out of sync was a Finn in Toyota who I thought was going 29/1, but who it turned out no-stopped it. He let everyone past as we were gaining, and eventually I started closing on the Mitsubishi in 4th who hadn't changed tyres. He started wriggling a lot in the final laps and even though I was absolutely terrible myself, by the end of lap 29 I was right behind him out of the last corner and the pass was easy.

View attachment 1091580

View attachment 1091581

Highest ever score and a new DR high of 57.2k. Hopefully next race I won't be car #1. I've been feeling a bit weird today which is annoying because if I was properly concentrating I reckon I could have pushed harder and got closer to 2nd, but still happy with this.

Also apologies to the guy in the Mitsubishi who said hello from GTPlanet - unless I'm being really stupid I don't recognise your username so, er, hello.

It's me in the Manu Alt ^^
As you said, not a good idea not to change tyres, but it's the kind of thing I would have never tried on the other account and it was not that terrible either.
Good job on 4th, I thought you were going to close the gap sooner on fresher tyres as soon as you passed the Finn, but I guess your lack of concentration explains everything.

Good luck if you go again !

 

[MCL1974]

Those were some hectic laps!!!

midd B lobby, and qualifying was chaos. Just before i started my first flying lap a beetle and a Porsche got into a very nasty , "debate" and the flattened beetle lost. The winner then decided, as his first attempt was ruined, to share his grieve with the others and started weaving en braking the entire lap. What a d*ck!
So my first attempt was a 0.53.6, way of pace. So tried to get a bit of a gap and then go again but there was no way to get a clean lap. Finally in my last attempt i had a bit of space and although I lacked a bit of speed at the start when trying to get the needed space i ended with a 0.52.788, three tenths slower then my best time in practice and less then two tenths slower then the polesitter. I got 6th place, as the session was such a mess i was releived with the final result, but know i could have done a bit better.

Start went fine, made up 1 place at the start and as the others were more busy with running each other of track then actually try to get a clean lap i found myself in second place at the end of the first lap. Behind me an Italian Peugeot that punted me to get ahead and then on purpose took out the car in first with a very nasty move to get the lead.

I was second for a while untill i made a mistake and hit the wal and lost one position. Later got one position back as the BMW that went past me to get second went of track and then I stayed second till about lap 26 when said BMW and a Hyundia closed down on me fast. I did some of my best laps at that time but they were clearly faster so decided not to fight to much as i was worried ending up in the gravel. (The Hyundai was a fast and clean driver though, very rare nowadays)

So finished 4th, got 93 points, best score ever. Not a bad race, except for hitting the wall i did the best i could do. Just sad to see again that the dirty driver gets the win...please get a penaly system back. A bad system is still better then none!!!

 

[Adam Barber]

Put in a decent qualifying lap to go 8th this time. Lap 1 was an utter disaster as the car that started 4th just didn't move and chaos ensued dropping me to 14th. From there I kept my head cool and worked my way up to 4th.

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• Adam Barber
• Nov 3, 2021

 

[beegentoo]

Training Time was down to :53.2 (Porsche). However Qualifying was ruined by traffic so I started 16th. Advanced to 6th by lap 4 (due to other drivers making mistakes). Then, ending lap 4, a french GTR passed me on the main stretch, however I was able to undercut him by slow-entry-quick-exit. He didn‘t like that and applied two wedgies to my left back while I had nearly passed him. I hit the grass, had a wild spin and was 19th then (of course, no penalty for him). Frustrating.

 

[Hasnain282]

Managed a clean lap to put myself P8. The start was absolute chaos and once it had settled down I was in a 3 car train for P5 (the chaos at the start meant the front 4 pulled away). Not too much happened in the race I just tried to keep it clean and minimise mistakes and after a few errors from others I finished P5. Was actually a fun race though you are relying on luck at times.

Replay

 

[OJBrit]

No chance to breathe with this one. I feel like the track is just too small for the Gr3 but it does provide a great challenge.
I was really struggling with T1 and the fast right hander so I pulled up the #2 lap also in the Supra.
Copying changing down to 1st for T1 for rotation and 4th for the right helped a lot.
Qualifying wasn't so good but I matched my fastest lap in practice for a 52.8.
I caught people on the 2nd lap which ruined my lap and span out of T1 on my third. Thinking the time was up I slowed around the line only to realise I could have had another lap. Ah well 4th after lap 1, 11th after lap 4.
I was initally worried when the grid walk skipped P2 but there was no issue in the end.
Start was o.k. and I seemed to be in the best place for this. Cars span ahead granting me 9th going into the esses. And I was just ahead of the danger zone as the radar suddenly filled with 8 or 9 cars within 5 meters square behind me.
I was too cautious into some braking zones in slipstream and this allowed some cars to go up my inside a lot. I was generally fighting with a Russian in another Supra and a Belgian in a Pug VGT. I was mainly hoping they would take each other out but it was all clean where possible with only a small punt from the Russian which can only be a mistake as they were clean for the rest of the race. Others did catch up and after a couple of small punts due to people not reacting to slipstream I came in lap 11 for my stop hoping to undercut the battle ahead. Unfortunately I came out behind P16 in a Citroen who was braking for the corners you would only slightly lift for. This held me up until I could get past into T1. In the end the Russian and the Belgian both came out just ahead of me and the battle resumed for the remaining laps. About 2 from the end the Russian got sloppy trying to pass the Belgian into T1. (I think they kept tyres on.) And I got a run into the esses when they suddenly pulled back by a second or 2. (Team orders?) I kept up with the Pug and crossed only 0.3 seconds behind for P9.

This was my minimum target to achieve a new highest points haul. 1 and done.

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

All I can say to that is arrghhh!

Lost out on my first ever FIA pole with seconds to spare but didn’t mind as knew my car is quick off the line.

Just about took the lead heading down hill to the esses after T1. Pulled out a 2.5 second lead and was calm and comfortable. Then surprise surprise, lap 14, spun the car at THAT right hander and fell back to 6th. After pitting, hunted down cars in front and amazingly was back into 3rd on lap 28. Final turn, don’t know what the hell happened but rear snapped out as I was coming out the corner and I shot to the left into the dirt. Back down into 6th.

Absolutely kicking myself. Blew a potential win and record points haul with stupid mistakes. Would have taken 6th before the race so will have to do! But I’ll say arrrrggh once last time!

 

[RX8 Racer]

I came across a beautiful example of revenge in Manufacturers:

A hyper-aggressive Aston driver get two corners wrong in a row, allowing a Supra to get alongside and have the inside line into the final complex. Aston tried turning in on the Supra anyway, failed, then intentionally barged past the Supra by hitting his right rear into turn 1 and forcing him to countersteer. Supra served the Aston a taste of his own medicine at the final corner and sent him down to 18th, which became 16th after penalties were applied.

 

[stpatty]

I just got screwed over by a Supra having a horrendous start. Qualified P3 and almost immediately died from realising I would have to go around the pole sitter right after turning off the traction control. With the cold tyres it sent me into a massive spin and all the way to the back.

Still finished P8 (in the highest points lobby I've ever been in) after doing a 10/20 pit strategy to undercut a fighting group so I must have some decent pace...

My man you were faster than me before you stopped and my DR is 57.2k now, you're going to be fine.

It's me in the Manu Alt ^^
As you said, not a good idea not to change tyres, but it's the kind of thing I would have never tried on the other account and it was not that terrible either.
Good job on 4th, I thought you were going to close the gap sooner on fresher tyres as soon as you passed the Finn, but I guess your lack of concentration explains everything.

Good luck if you go again !

I didn't realise that was you! If I'd known I would have felt more comfortable going for a pass, I figure you wouldn't put me off. Definitely keeping my result.

 

[Tidgney]

Streaming the manufacturer series as always !

 

[GR33N]

My man you were faster than me before you stopped and my DR is 57.2k now, you're going to be fine.

I didn't realise that was you! If I'd known I would have felt more comfortable going for a pass, I figure you wouldn't put me off. Definitely keeping my result.

Yeah I just forced you to go around at T1 but didn't want to try to outbrake you and risk a stupid accident. You deserved that place anyway!

 

[Zorz]

Attempt 1
From P3 to P20 to P8. This is not how you start a race. Bit frustrating as I also got punted by a Honda in the latter parts of the race and lost a position from it but considering how that race could have gone after my apocalyptic start I will not complain after finishing in the top 10!





Attempt 2
Now we're talking. Starting from P11 at Gr.3 Sardegna C Reverse seems to awaken something in me. The last time I did this combo two years ago as Mercedes, I won from P11.

The start was MUCH better this time, although I had an Italian in a Porsche try to push me off immediately. Definitely not happy with him/her because it's the same person who smacked into me at turn 1 of the Autopolis Nations race and then tried pushing me off during the race as well. After that, lap 1 was... amusing. Right place at the right time the whole way. Check this out.

The start of lap 2 was frustrating because the Subaru behind me punted me whilst I was taking turn 1 and I dropped a couple positions from it. I got them back on lap 3 though when the Audi that took advantage of the collision between me and the Subaru and got past both of us had a mishap coming out of the chicane and I threaded the needle.

From there I managed to outpace those in front of me all the way up to P4. Had some fun near the end of the race with a Nissan who didn't pit at all and got a 1 minute penalty. (Almost) all the way down to the bottom.

P4, 186 points, clean race bonus and now at 45k DR. What a fantastic night. The start of this season has been amazing to me so far. I've never had so many strong results in a row. It's like something clicked during my 5 months off.

 

[NekoPufferPPP]

Finished 6th again...I think. Or 5th?

I didn't save the replay...some retaliation happened... It's hard to overtake so people get...pushy... That's not racing.

 

[GTWolverine]

The combination of me, the Corvette Gr.3, and a short track are a match made in heaven. There's just something irresistibly fun about throwing a Gr.3 car around a track that takes less than a minute to complete. In addition to being a blast to drive, they also typically give me some of my best results in a given season if any such combos are on the calendar, so I was hoping for great things this evening.

Slot 1: Once again was placed with @F1Bernardo, who's been the only one from here I see in Manufacturer's regularly for quite some time now. On my first qualifying lap I set a 51.7 with some unintentional slipstream help from the other Corvette in the race. That was good for provisional pole for several laps until I eventually got demoted to 3rd. I've definitely run quicker laps in practice, and without slipstream, but I couldn't do any better on my remaining qualifying attempts, so P3 is where I started.

With a Supra on Pole and a Renault in 2nd, I was liking my chances of grabbing the lead at the start. I think I lag-bumped the pole-sitter, because he shot forward on my screen after I initially had a massive run on him. I was still able to pull slightly ahead on the outside when we approached T1, and took the lead exiting T1. I held the lead for the first 3 laps before a slight mistake at the corner at the beginning of Sector 2 gave the pole-sitter the lead again, and a couple laps later the Renault took 2nd going into T1, which I didn't fight. From there I just put my concentration into keeping the car on the track, and took the corners at the top of the hill, as well as the final corner, rather conservatively. This was reflected in my Fastest Lap, which I actually set on Lap 2 at a 52.36, and was almost 0.2s slower than the next slowest FL in the first 9 positions. In fact, it was the 5th-slowest FL lap of anyone in the race.

To make absolutely sure I didn't fall back into traffic, I didn't pit until Lap 16, by which time everyone else had already pitted. I resumed the race in 3rd once again, and stayed there by myself for the rest of the race, keeping an eye on the gap to 4th, which had changed hands from a Viper to a Porsche that was now slowly reeling me in. Once the gap to 4th got down to 2s, it stabilized and they didn't gain much on my after that. The Top 3 all finished where we started, so I came home 3rd, 7s behind the winner, for my best points result yet in Manufacturer's, and my 3rd best points score overall under this current scoring system.

This now means all of my Top 3 best scores have happened in the last 4 FIA events (309 at SSRX and 292 at Shortopolis in Nations, and now 286 in Manufacturer's).

 

[TheWeapon874]

Man, I'm so bummed about my race. I did a lobby race in the afternoon and had a great clean race, really enjoyed the track, and the Hyundai was pretty good on tyres too.

Come race time, I managed to qualify P3 with a 52.0 on my final lap after my first 2 laps were messed up by people trying to race each other. Survived the first corner carnage and settled into P4 and staying within a few seconds of the leader, but not trying to battle the guys in front in the early laps. By about lap 7, the guy behind me got completely cleaned out in turn 1 by someone, and then the next lap, same thing happened to me. I don't think he even used the brakes. Really disappointing. By the time I got back on track I was 18th, and just pulled the pin and quit. Does anyone have any tips on recovering from spins / excursions? I always end up spinning on re-entering or some other kind of rookie embarrassment....

 

[ShiftingGears]

I came across a beautiful example of revenge in Manufacturers:

Supra served the Aston a taste of his own medicine at the final corner and sent him down to 18th, which became 16th after penalties were applied.

Yeah he was a menace the whole night, pretty funny that he ate it

. Does anyone have any tips on recovering from spins / excursions? I always end up spinning on re-entering or some other kind of rookie embarrassment....

Your tyres will be dirty so you will have less grip, so less grip to apply power and less grip to catch it if you start oversteering(Group 3 isnt forgiving for this at the best of times). Just be smooth and dont push the limit - You will want to feather the throttle until you feel the car is properly planted. Its better having a slow exit by being careful than being overenthusiastic and dropping 10 seconds.

If you look at my spin above I spent an extra second just tapping the throttle with minimal steering until I felt the car being planted out of the corner. If I was turning and accelerating as much as I did on the previous lap, I would've spun again

 

[csmirnoff]

Sardegna C II with the Jag. First time I drove the track in reverse, really struggled to find any rhythm when testing. Jag was way too understeery in the fast sections but easily generated wheelspin when exiting the slow corners. TT best was 52.0 with sectors for 51.9.

Americas Slot 1, door #11, 257-point lobby. Qualified P10, 4 tenths off pole. Set exactly the same laptime as the guy ahead, and qualy results showed me P9, but was then P10 on the grid.

Good start off the line, up to P7. I went for the inside line as I feared T1 chaos. It was a good decision, as I was hit from behind while on the apex. Unfortunately, it caused my car to push someone on the outside a bit wide, but nothing I could have done to avoid it.

I did change tyres when I pitted on lap 14. I spent almost the whole race in a train of cars fighting each other, everyone kept going for moves so it was impossible to work together with anyone. There were a few times I was bumped wide into T1 by guys that went for moves but failed to make the apex at all, but other than that, it was mostly quite clean, leaving each other space and even when having dangerous side-by-sides like through the esses, there was no big drama.

Pace was pretty solid, did a few mid 52s without a slip, main issue for me was that I twice went wide in the quick right hander after the esses, picking dirty tyres and the second time, even a 1 second track limits penalty, losing time and positions. Those two mistakes unfortunately cost me a certain P4...

It was P7 for me in the end. Not too happy as I felt like I could have scored around 225 points, but guess I'll take 193 points for a "bad" race...