SimRacing.org.uk

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Track: Mondello Park (Intermediate)

Cars allowed: Lotus Elan 26R

CUP STAGE C, Round 1

Practice: ~19:20 (60 mins)
Qualifying: 20:20 (20 mins)
Race: 20:40 (32 laps)

Time of Day Setting: 14:00
Start: STANDING
Tyre wear: Normal
Fuel consumption: Normal
Pit stops required: NO

Server: simracing.org.uk Monday
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Notes:
(1) It's best if all drivers can make sure they are connected before the Qualifying session as drivers on track during qualifying will not see cars that join after they are on track until they go back to the garage.
(2) Please make sure you are fully aware of the SimRacing.org.uk Rules.
(3) The AI control should be turned off so that you have control of the car at all times, including pitting. Your player file should therefore read
Autopit="0"
Force Autopit Off="1" // Forces autopit always off
No AI Control="1" // AI never has control over car
If you still finding pitting problematic, experience tells us that its less to do with positioning and more to do with approach speed. A slow approach to pit crew chief has proved most reliable.

Special Notes: None.

Giving this one a miss.
Not able to complete a single lap without faults no matter which setup i try, even with the default GTL setup.

Have fun - cu on Wednesday

I don't like Mondello, any arrangement. Just cannot negotiate the simplest turns or braking zones without a ridiculous spin. But recently I discovered that if I drive the car like it was a Mini I can get around. So get the braking done well before the turn then apply gradual power as you take the apex and exit the turn. Seems to work for me anyway.

Results and replay now posted.

Monday night was a bit of a disaster for me. The cars handling was all over the place. I had so many spins I was left feeling dizzy. My lap times were awful compared with my practice offline on Saturday. I was a bit baffled by why this was so checked it out this morning. I solved the mystery. When I loaded the set up I immediately noticed that two of the changes I remember having made, adjustments to the Power/Coast options and Brake Balance weren't recorded. I had increased the power and moved more breaking to the rear wheels. Plus I had done some other slight twerks. I had forgotten to save my last of several  changes before I left the game. I made the Power and Breaking adjustments and tried for nine laps before going wide this morning. The best times being in the low 1:33's. Saturday was 1:32's. Still slow but what a difference to constancy and staying on the track. It shows how important the setup can be.

In the race I got fed up with flying off the track on a regular basis so pitted towards the end of the race to try changing my setup and just try to get a better lap time . Then I remembered you can't change your setup during the  race so I let the pit crew change the suspension, repair the body. (the cars) and put on a fresh set of tyres. After about a week I re-joined the race and did my fastest (slow lap) on my very last lap of the race. Note to self: Remember to save setup changes.

Grats to winner and all   :clap: :clap: :clap:

This race was really tough.

I was able to steal the qualy away from Daz with just few thousands of the second.

The start was going to be vital because it's almost impossible to overtake here when we all drive the same car. So i remain in P1 after the first corner. During the first 4-5 laps we had the same tempo with Daz but after that he became faster and started to challenge me. It was clear that we both are driving on the max here and someone was going to make a mistake sooner or later.

Geoff was losing pace but his strength was going to be at the second part of the race. So Daz went just wide and touch the grass, spinning his car. And i was able to breath easier now. But i knew there was no chance i can lower the pace because i knew how well Geoff can keep his tires. There was no doubt that he will return faster at the end.

And this happen. Geoff was going well and i was losing pace but fortunately the end was near so i was able to win with just 3 second ahead. And i took the fastest lap of the race, this time with just 5 thousands of the second faster than Daz. I was really lucky that night. It was going to be different race if Daz was able to take the pole position.

Grats to Geoff and Daz on the podium and everyone able to finish this tough race. You guys make me do my best here as i think this was my best driving for months.

Race replay with camera and commentary: https://youtu.be/vuceRtfSZYs

Never been friends with the Elan, but have at least reached a sort of understanding with it on certain tracks. Mondello is not one of them.  Found it difficult to keep the car under control and achieve any kind of consistency. 

Early infight with Dan fizzled out when he gradually dropped back.  Had a comfortable 6-sec gap when a misunderstanding with a backmarker turned things upside down. Was approaching Roger before one of the fast curves, but hadn't expected him to almost come to a standstill at the entry.  Caught me completely by surprise, and I could neither stop nor change direction quickly enough, so slammed into the back of him. Ended up with my nose against the hedgerow.  By the time I had reversed out of that, Dan was long past.  Rest of the race was a fruitless chase.  Was quicker so should have caught him long before the final corners of the final lap, but pushing hard on increasingly worn tyres meant mistakes; I kept throwing away the time I had gained.

Thus disappointing race overall.  Grats to DD & rest of pod with their unearthly lap times.

You drove very well indeed Dimitar. :thumbup1:

Mondello doesn't work for me, never had any enjoyment out of it in any of the configurations, although this one is the least worst probably.....it's just so tight, and lacking any flow to it.... :dots: :censored:

However, the Elan I have always had a soft spot for, love the nimbleness and corner speed. Unfortunately, couldn't really tune the setup to be as good as normal, and the car was a little snatchy in quali which prevented me from beating the excellent time Dimitar had set. I knew the start was crucial, and although I matched the jump Dimitar made that wasn't good enough to squeeze past at all. Geoff was in close attendance for the first couple of laps, so had to watch my line, but once I had pulled away a touch I started to apply the pressure to Dimitar for the lead, knowing full well there are no real overtaking spots here and it was always going to be a case of who made the first error would be in prime position to not win.

And so it proved, following close is very tricky as there is very restricted view into the apex with such a narrow track, and I think I caught a little bit of grass wide on the right on turn-in to the penultimate corner in my desire to turn under the line DD was taking. this caused the car to slew sideways, and the pendulum effect sent me spearing off to the right as I tried to catch the car, straight into the tyre wall and armco. Wasn't great to be honest, car was now much worse to drive and slow, having developed some kind of schizophrenic attitude where it could not decide which it wanted to do more of, understeer or oversteer :no: :hammer:. Had about another 3 spins before the much welcomed chequered flag..... :death: :cursing: :yawn:

Grats to DD and Geoffers on holding it together properly.

I think I must have odd tastes as I seem to be the only one who likes Mondello!  :blink: However I have a love/hate relationship with the Elan, at some tracks I get on really well with it, at others I can't get it work to my liking.

Last night it was a bit of both. In practice I was really struggling with it & was well off the pace I had in testing, then moving to the qually session I went to take out some fuel & suddenly realised I had not loaded my setup & had been using the default one. ::)  Qually went much better apart from the two uber-aliens at the front with their unearthly laptimes.

From the qually times it looked like I was going to have a lonely race & so it proved. DD & Daz soon pulled away in front & equally I opened a gap to Erling & Dan. I settled in to a brisk but careful pace & my only hope of doing better than 3rd was if someone ahead made an error, which is exactly what happened. Around lap 9 or 10 I encountered Daz extracting himself from the barriers at the penultimate turn. DD was now around 8s ahead & Daz around 5s behind, these gaps stayed more or less the same for several laps until Daz must have made another mistake as the gap jumped to 16s.

From around lap 20 the gap to DD ahead started to come down so I tried to push a bit harder. My chances of catching him were slim but there was always a slight chance he would make a mistake. But DD is too good for that & the gap was still 3s at the finish.

Congrats to DD on the win & to Daz in 3rd.  :clap: :clap:

Result (https://www.avonrise.co.uk/srou/kurts/_2021//15032021_Mondello)

8)

Thanks Kurt  :thumbup1: