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Password: see above (#post_event_password) (released 24hrs before the race)

Formula Easter Test race - Hi-speed!

(https://i.postimg.cc/4yWw1MTj/RIVERSIDE-SPEED-TEST.jpg)

May 6th - Password entry (on day of race)

Welcome to the final test for the Formula Easter cars.

Last time out at Brands we got a good idea of the relative performance of the various cars on a tight twisty track - now we need to finish the job on a fast one.
Knock yourselves out practicing with whatever you fancy, but it would be helpful if you did the races in whatever car you ran at Brands so we can see if the order shifts on faster circuits.
Again this will consist of 2 races back to back with a fully reversed grid in race 2. Please be cautious in the second race, these cars will draft one another nicely down the back straight so you don't have to be hero's on the first lap :P


ALL TIMES ARE BST
Practice: 19:30 (45 mins)
Qual: 20:15 (15 mins)
Race: 20:30  (2x 20 mins - 2nd race is reversed grid)
(20mins plus 1 lap each race)

Cars allowed:

Complete car pack download can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n9ulop5f6pyjen7/Formula%20Easter.rar?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/n9ulop5f6pyjen7/Formula%20Easter.rar?dl=0)
If you extract the RAR into your Assetto Corsa directory and let it overwrite, then everything should end up in the right place :)

Or alternatively the individual cars are listed below - use either the all in one file, or all of the individual files!

Avia AE2
Download link:                  https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/avia-ae2.11850/ (https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/avia-ae2.11850/)
( avia_ae2 and avia_ae2_r2 )
(https://i.postimg.cc/XZvXW1Nv/Avia-AE2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/XZvXW1Nv)
A Czech Formula Easter chassis handmade by it's original driver, despite this it saw a fair degree of success.
Uses Lada 1300cc engine and 4 speed Wartburg gearbox.

Estonia 20 (conventional)
Download link:                  https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/estonia-20.15375/ (https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/estonia-20.15375/)
(https://i.postimg.cc/NKB5JfWm/Estonia-20.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/NKB5JfWm)
Estonian design, very popular in the early 80's with several drivers recording success.
Uses Lada 1300cc motor coupled with a 4 speed ZAZ gearbox.

Estonia 21
Download link:                  https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/estonia-21.13405/ (https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/estonia-21.13405/)
(https://i.postimg.cc/94N0QPzY/Estonia-21.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/94N0QPzY)
Successor to the 20, possibly the first ground effects car in Eastern Europe - based on a Lotus 81. Also recorded a fair amount of success.
Uses 1300cc Lada engine and a 5 speed ZAZ gearbox (this is less useful than you might think ;) )


Metalex MTX1-03
Download link:                  https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/metalex-mtx1-03.11851/ (https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/metalex-mtx1-03.11851/)
(https://i.postimg.cc/4Yfxv291/MTX1-03bc.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4Yfxv291)
A Czech design - Cars were sold all over Eastern Europe for competition.
Uses Lada 1300cc Engine and unknown 4 speed gearbox.

Metalex MTX1-06
Download link:                  https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/metalex-mtx1-06.20176/ (https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/metalex-mtx1-06.20176/)
( MTX1-06 )
(https://i.postimg.cc/ykzdx86t/MTX1-06-2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/ykzdx86t)
Replacement for the 1-03 and based heavily on the experimental 1-04 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTX_(automobile)#/media/File:MTX_1-04_KIN_PROJEKT_at_Legendy_2018_in_Prague.jpg). Despite a lighter chassis and proper aerodynamic research, it did not have any real advantage over the competition.
Uses Lada 1300cc engine and unknown 4 speed gearbox as with the MTX1-03.

Melkus MT77
Download link:                  https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/melkus-mt77.18908/ (https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/melkus-mt77.18908/)
( melkus_mt77-2 )
(https://i.postimg.cc/rdbyk8Yh/Melkus-MT77-2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/rdbyk8Yh)
An East German design, the most basic - but also most successful - car from East Germany in the Friendship cup.
Uses a Lada 1300cc engine with a 4 speed Wartburg 311 transmission.

RAF 80
Download link:                  https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/raf-80.19563/ (https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/raf-80.19563/)
(RAF80)
(https://i.postimg.cc/R6k0cM73/RAF80.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/R6k0cM73)
Another Czech design, this also has limited ground effects and won the coveted 'most angular' award for soviet racecars in the early 80's :whistling:
Engine and gearbox not known - but 1300cc and 4 gears is what you get!


Track: Riverside Short (https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/riverside-international-raceway.9492/)
(https://i.postimg.cc/FKF7wg7g/map.png)

Live Timing: stracker.simracing.org.uk:50041/lapstat (http://stracker.simracing.org.uk:50041/lapstat)

Time of Day Setting: 13:00
Weather: Clear
Start: Standing
Tyre wear: Normal
Fuel consumption: Normal
Pit-stops: Not required

Server track settings:
SESSION_START=100
RANDOMNESS=0
LAP_GAIN=0
SESSION_TRANSFER=N/a

Damage: 60%

Password: see above

PLP App - Not used in this series. Cutting will be monitored on replay and penalties issued for excessive cutting.

I think the server is not reset yet. It's still showing Croft.

No, I haven't got that far yet Syd.it's my job for the morning!

Server is now up folks - the driver list is copied from Brands. So those of your who picked skins still have them in the car you drove last time out.
You can still try other cars as there *should* be free cars of all types available - please do so as it helps us see performance differences.

If there is a problem picking cars because of the Brands driver list then shout and I'll remove the allocations.

If I'm on that list you can remove me,  I've not got time to race wednesdays for a while...

That's a massive shame, Darren and Adam are providing some Stirling opposition up front!

OT: I tested also a bit the Estonia 25 for Russian race, and unfortunately I didn't like the car very much. This car is too "modern" with a lot of aerodynamic grip. Not my cup of tea. Track was very nice instead.
So I won't participate in the Russian championship.

I guess these cars will be a lot of fun in Riverside too. I'll take the Avia as last time, she was very good.

it looks nice to me... ;D

Where did you found Estonia 25, or did you mean 21?

Estonia 25 is Formula Mondial, so not an option for tonight's race!
You can find them on Racedepartment though ;)

Sorry, I was completely out of topic. I should have written in the "interleage event" topic.

Ok, thougth that I've missed something, anyways E21 will fly tonight... :)

Edit:No it it won't, gotta take RAF instead.

Question - with these 2 race formats, is there any way to see the replay of race 1?  I've got qually, and race 2, but not the first one.  Just wanted to see what happened really.

Pleased to snag pole, and although Darren and I tried cooperating, it was just too easy to trip over each other :D.  A shocking lap dropped me to 3rd, and then it was chaos.  Tangle wheels, crash, bang, wallop.  After my shunt I was down in 7th I think, managed to get a few positions back before the end though.

Race 2 was pretty unnerving with the reverse grid, but I managed to weave my way through, and having hit the front, I was able to eke out a gap so in the end it was a comfortable win.  Managed to nick the lap record from Darren as well just to rub it in after he had to retire.

Fun race, given the brick-on-throttle nature of it I thought it might be dull ... but that was only until you introduced other cars :D.  Good fun.

I got a decent time in qualy, at least for my pace.

I had a good start on race 1. I was side by side with Fabri in the first sector watching carefully to avoid contact. I got it in the rear or something without even be aware. I was in a cloud of dust and in the back of the grid. I manage to catch a few positions but not the ideal race anyway. At least that gave me a decent start position for race 2.
I had a very good start on race 2 gaining the lead that I kept for 6 min. I hadn't absolutely the pace to stay with the faster lads. I had a great fight with Tudor on the last few laps.

Cars are surely fun but I think Estonia 21 is way off the pace compared with the others.

As you guys will soon find out, I'm not the greatest at standing starts.  Therefore you can imagine my surprise when heading into T1 in first place.  Oh the shame Mr Parle.  ;D ;)

Due to this track being a draft fest, Adam and myself decided to work together to try to build a gap to those behind.  This worked initially, but soon we started tripping over each other.  All it took was one bad exit from Adam and he was back in the pack and soon spinning off the track.  This left me hot lapping until the chequered flag.

Race 2 was less straightforward....

Starting at the back I slowly picked up the places as those in front of me had issues.  I was soon up to 4th with Mark and Barone fighting ahead of me.  Mark made his move and I tried to follow.  Sadly Barone didn't see me on his inside and turned in.   :o  I flew off the track at speed, up the bank and straight into the barriers.  I tried to continue but my car didn't want to drive in a straight line anymore.  :'(

Don't worry Barone, these things happen.  In hindsight I should have taken the safer option of backing out and trying to setup the overtake on the next straight.

Well done Adam on the win and the two fastest laps.  Greedy git, you could have left me the race one.  ::)  :lol:

As always, thanks Tim and see you guys next week!!!

Hi Darren,

I took a look at the video I registered of the race (I always do so I can rewatch it later for self improvement).
I wasn't aware at all you were there, I was too fixated on Mark that was passing probably. Sorry for that. Knowing you were there I would let you at least a bit of space.
Is there a way to change the FOV of the rear mirrow? (The one that you can open with F11). With this cars there are quite a blind spots.

Don't worry about it.  It's fine!  Like I mentioned before, in hindsight I should have taken the safer option and backed out.

I'm new to Assetto Corsa, so I don't know if you can change the mirror FOV.  However, I do find the Helicorsa app very useful in such situations.

https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/helicorsa.5199/

CrewChief is also absolutely invaluable for this kind of thing.

http://thecrewchief.org/

Even with a triple monitor setup these cars still have a pretty sizable blind spot, so the combination of Crewchief and Helicorsa really helped.

One to forget for me, cant believe I was so far off the pace. I started with default setup, then took off all wing and fettled the gear ratios but people were still driving round me on the straights. couldn't get below 1:31 all night  :-[

are there any setup tips for these cars or is it just me, I am not the fastest racer out there or able to spend much time practicing but I cannot work out why I was losing so much time. I wasn't that far off the pace in the other test races.

In race 1 I started at the back and just drifted back. Race 2 started at the front, got spun round on the start straight and was in last place before the first corner, then just used the rest of the race to get some mileage in these cars

Enjoyed both races, although I made a couple of silly errors in race 1 which dropped me back. Had great battles with Christian, Fabrizio and Pietro in race 2  8) The drafting in these cars is insane! On a couple of occasions I had to get right out of the throttle for most of the front "straight" to avoid rear ending other cars. Would be interested to know what the wind settings were on the server.


It's not you! Think of the Estonia 21 as being the Eurobrun of the pack  ;)


Even with all mirrors on and helicorsa I very nearly pulled straight into the path of a driver in race 1 (think it was Adam) entering the back straight as he seemed to appear from nowhere....gave me quite a shock  :o

I can highly recommend 'CrewchiefV4' to all here, its very good with your own spotter and semi-race engineer  :)  might have prevented me being bashed off track in both races  ::)

To be fair, in race 1 one guy had no option but to drift slightly right away from a car on his left, except I was on the right! so was sent spinning off into the sand. Just a case of 3 into 1 didn't really fit. Race 2 though I was taken out by a lapped car whilst 4th, which isn't so acceptable especially as he'd already fluffed the corner and ran wide and as I took the inside apex line, turned into me  :( Race over as I left the track at high speed behind the Armco.

Race 2 should have been a 2nd place finish, but I cracked under pressure as Barone? and Tim were bearing down on me. I made the rookie error of watching them in my mirrors rather than focusing on my own lines and ran wide at the downhill left allowing them both an easy pass and demoting me to 4th.  :( Then a couple of laps later whilst regaining on them as they fought, I was taken out.

As mentioned, practise with these felt dull with foot to the floor and not a lot of speed, but add in a pack of cars and drafting and it was pretty intense at times.  :)

ps using a Rift with these cars is fantastic, you can see so much more going on around you than the slightly poxy mirrors. I was often looking fully left or right as a car edged alongside.

pps GT, your car looked so eastern European it was funny, think I was laughing on the grid when I looked at it from my car :laugh:

On race 1 that was probably Mark. I was side by side with Fabri fighting for the position however the track was probably too narrow to accommodate 3 cars. Squeezed on the right and on the left the space was nearly zero. A pity.

First up thanks to all for joining in last night - I was worried that people would see a speed/power circuit and not bother because we were in slow, not-so-powerful cars.
Obviously the GPL guys should recognise that as a recipe for an excellent race ('55/'65 mod on Monza 10k is utterly crazy fun ;) ) - but you AC lot haven't been brought up to appreciate the finer things in racing :P Hopefully I've put you all straight now - as a quick look through the replay's showed an awful lot of racing/fighting going on up and down the field 8)

As already mentioned - the Estonia 21 is dog slow. Nearly 2 seconds off the pace here in my hands. As it's unable to get off the line with any real speed and can't compete I'm going to remove it from the options for the season unless I can find an earlier version that isn't so slow (I'm sure I have a version from about a year back that is more on a par with the rest of the field - if it is then that might be substituted instead - watch the season announcement post for details as and when I've had time to test it).


My own race went better than I expected, I found in practice that the Estonia 20 suffers a bit on very high speed tracks - it took me 15 laps or so to get down to a 1:25.7. And probably the best part of another hour and quite an extreme setup to get down to a .5!
Qualifying on 4th was therefore great news apart from the small problem that I'd had to lengthen 1st enough to cope with the 2 really tight hairpins - this resulted in my dropping from 4th on the grid back to about 8th or 9th while everyone else charged off in a cloud of tire smoke  ;D

From there I got to see, and better yet, avoid, some fairly innocent looking racing incidents and was almost in the middle of the pack by the 1st entry to the back straight.
From there it was a long fight up through the ranks until I was back in 4th and not too far behind Fabri. This is where I expected to finish - the AE2 and MTX1-06 are both faster cars and Fabri had already proved himself faster in both practice and qualifying. Luckily the draft is enough that I was able to slowly pull him in and then get a run on him (my fastest lap by 0.3 of a second!). as 2 of the 1-06's had an off in front that elevated me into an undeserved but welcome 2nd place.

Race 2 was just amazing to be honest - everything I love about the '65 mod in GPL combined with VR, better graphics, and better net-code. I forget how many times I ended up threading the needle through the Esses while alongside another car - glancing over my shoulder constantly to watch the gap and judge where I can safely place my car. Utterly exhilarating :angel:
And the satisfaction of playing the dummy hand to set up a pass on one of the RAF's onto the back straight some 2 corners in advance (I'm not sure I could do that on a monitor) was immensely grin inducing!
I forget what exactly happened to place me 2nd - but I do remember a long running fight with Lorenzo up until I properly stitched him up when we caught a backmarker :D
Sorry mate, but I'd expect no less if situations were reversed there!


Adam:
In the options menu for AC you'll find a section that deals with replays. Make sure you set it to autosave 2 or 3 races as a minimum to guarantee that it captures double headers. Sometimes it misses the 2nd race regardless of your settings, hence why I use 3 races.
If I have space to upload it then I'll put my copy up for you to download :)

How about this one, should be bit faster https://www.racedepartment.com/downloads/estonia-25.32557/. It's shame that E21 is so slow and 1st gear is sooooo long, I really like ground effect cars. Actually I wasn't slowest car on track yesterday...so gotta be very happy for that. :)

It's actually a bit dull to drive as it has so much grip. And as It's a 1.6l you can't have it for Formula Easter :p

Oh, didn't see that its 1.6l. Grip is fantastic thing imho, that why I drive E21, it goes exactly where you point it. :)

Interesting little cars but unfortunately I didn't have the chance to test them all properly, the MTX06 however did seem quite faster than the others, at least on the default setup. The RAF seemed very stable and predictable and that's why I opted for it.

In Race 1 I think I had too much wing as I was too slow on the straights but could keep up in the corners. I also had too much fuel in the car so I was on the heavy side. Had some good fun though especially with Mark and Christian I think. Going through the esses could be quite scary especially if there was someone next to you. On one lap I lost 2 places in the blink of an eye as if I hadn't lifted there would have been an accident.

In race 2 I used less wing and fuel so I was a tad faster, had some good fights again but I'm not certain whether I made contact with Mark in the last corner or not. We entered side by side and he either lost it because of the curb or me slightly pushing him; either way I lifted and let him past again just to be sure. Unfortunately a couple of laps later I entered the last corner quite badly and hit the barrier, I figured the car was quite damaged so I thought it'd be better to simply quit.

Estonia 21 is absolutely out of pace. This car has serious problem with the power-curve, there is no power at low/medium rpm. Moreover the first gear is quite long (not as long as you think, I had same on my Avia). Same problem has the Estonia 25. I think it's a mod issue, no driver would want a car that can't start, he would have changed the ratio of the 1st, the final or the entire gearbox.

Estonia 20 is better, and I agree with Tim, it is slightly slower (just 0,2s) than Avia or MTX 1.03. I didn't try the 1.06, but I guess it's very similar to the previous model, especially if it is made by the same modder.
On this track, RAF and specially the MT 77 were fast, very fast on straight.
I think also that Avia is better on nervous tracks than on fast ones.

About me, Race 1: I followed the first ones at some distance, struggling to keep up the pace. Towards the end Tim, taking advantage of my small mistake, managed to take my tail and passed me. I preferred to follow him so as not to waste time in the fight, since the race leader was not far away. I thought of attacking him the last laps, but cause another small mistake and the lapped things, I have not succeeded.

Race 2: I was stuck in traffic and I didn't feel like taking too many risks to not break the car, since I don't have the money to repair it.

Nice battles anyway!