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

[zn1zn2c]

- Have a slow start
- Crash into the organizer
- Do a 180
- Nearly get stuck in the gravel
- Get lapped twice
- Finish the race with near-mint tyres
- Slow down too much when blue flagged
- Forget DRS a couple of times

... All in all a successful first race! I felt like a complete beginner again. At least my qualifying time was alright.

Sorry again Paul for crashing into you. I was trying to go around as careful as I could while not losing too much time. When I noticed our speeds didn't match when coming out of the corner I couldn't react quickly enough. My brain still needs to adjust to these speeds.

Congrats to the podium and all who finished! Thanks to all for putting up with me and to Paul for organizing and the amazing help before the race. I don't think I'll take part in Monaco; it's a bit too early for me and I want to get more confident before trying such a tricky track. But I had fun and think I'll be back for Canada, if given enough time for practice.

Have a good weekend all!

 

[Shed 17]

Where can you see the penalty points being applied? How does that work? I don't think I had a penalty but just curious how that worked out. According to my crew chief a lot happened at Tosa

For those with not seeing the skins;
Try uninstalling the car and all it’s folders completely, reinstalling with the default skins, then drop the additional skins in.
You should find all the penalties and collision data in the Emperor server, results. Click on the results and it will open up all the drivers individual laps, cuts, faster sectors etc then there is a tab showing event penalties.
I’m not on my PC at the moment so difficult to show screenshots but if you search around in results you should find the data.

Sorry again Paul for crashing into you. I was trying to go around as careful as I could while not losing too much time. When I noticed our speeds didn't match when coming out of the corner I couldn't react quickly enough. My brain still needs to adjust to these speeds.

It was probably some of my doing as well Ricardo, I was being over cautious through that section in the early laps with heavy fuel and tyres/ brakes not yet where I could push and that caught you out.
But you had some impressive qualy times for your first time here.

 

[Kek700]

Use the Dallara!!! I’ll even drive that thing.

Interesting reading the bit about tyres. As far as I can tell we are working within the bounds of ini files and LUT files . I have managed over the years to compile a setup that is all circuit driving based. “Still, I have never come to any hard and fast rules”.

As said , tyre pressure is king, but after that it gets somewhat foggy.

I would like to get into the software side of AC , especially what is required for making a race car. Unfortunately I just cannot get the enthusiasm to do it, even if I was spoon feed it all.
Data.acd in the car files, unfortunately it is quite often written in c++, “I think”, or plain text, sometimes. Even with plain text to formulate that into a setup is not straight forward. ( probably it is a case of the software parameters working in unison or working against each other. So a more effect one parameter is in the .ini or LUT file it will counter the other parameters ). That is why I think standard setup usually works well, and that is all down to the person who wrote the software and his ability to put into the standard setup.
if the enthusiasm hits me, I try and look at the .ini files and try and come to some sort of conclusion, invariably failing miserably.
What I am trying to say is if on a car I find a lot of front toe works, next track, next car, it does nowt, maybe the opposite, which makes things confusing.
Unfortunately in my case it is often "stupid is stupid does", which does not help.

 

[eN1xes]

Congratz to Laurent for p2 and Thomas for p3. Ernie you are not the only one thinking this about the standard setup i changed only the front wing , 2 gears and the tyres pressure and i was good with that , now i have to say i was feeling a bit better by changing the tyres pressure with Paul setup and a -0.2/-0.3 in my practice time was possible but for me was more a qualy setup than a race setup so i went for mine since i didnt need that 0.2/3 off for safety reason

 

[Shed 17]

Fulvio Fenix wins at Imola.

Fulvio Fenix (Red Bull Campus Macau) was in a class of his own as he dominated the first round of the summer championship at the stunning Imola circuit as other top drivers dropped out.

Fulvio sat out qualifying and would be starting from the back of the grid which left Laurent Londes to take pole position, 0.4 seconds ahead of Thomas Kimmich who just managed to push Allard Van den Hoeven into 3rd by 0.03 of a second. Steve Hayward had a good session to take 4th with Jorg Evers in 5th and new driver Ricardo Prins putting in a great run to start from 6th.

With DRS available from the beginning, it was Thomas who took advantage of slight uphill start and jumped Laurent as the field charged into T1. Allard was close behind as the drivers negotiated the Tamburello chicane.

Last season's fourth place finisher Hank Belane, unfortunately had a disconnect at Piratella and took no further part in the event.

As the field crossed the line on lap 1, Thomas had stretched out a 1.0 seconds lead over Laurent with Allard 2.0 seconds back. Steve was hanging on with the leading group but Fulvio was already up to 5th having started at the very back.

On lap 3, Thomas and Laurent had gapped Allard and Fulvio moved up to 4th with a dive up the inside of Steve's Haas at the Villeneuve chicane.

Jason Bagley was chasing Steve but had the first of many spins as he exited Villeneuve and got stuck in the gravel trap. Meanwhile Casper De Wit had retired as he gambled on soft tyres which soon proved to be the wrong choice as they overheated quickly on the fast curves. Jason also retired later on as he struggled for grip in the Alpine liveried RSS Dallara.

By lap 5 the field was getting spread out with Thomas now 2.0 seconds ahead of Laurent while Allard seemed well off form and was dropping back into the clutches of a fast charging Fulvio. Fulvio had an easy pass when Allard got his RSS Velocity sideways as he put the power down in Tamburello.

The battle for 5th was between Steve and Jorg but Steve moved up when the Q1 champ Allard went wide and into the gravel trap at Villeneuve. As many have found the RSS V6 is difficult to get out of the gravel with it’s low ride height.

Meanwhile, up at the front Thomas was the first to pit with 25 minutes on the clock as Laurent and Fulvio had really closed up to the leader. Thomas rejoined in 3rd after his stop, just ahead of Steve and Allard. There was a change of leader as Laurent went wide onto the slippery surface at the Acque Minerali and Fulvio breezed by and into the lead. Allard was of the pace and retired his car early.

Fulvio stopped on lap 22 at the 37 minute mark with Laurent following him into the pit lane. Both of these managed to pit and get out ahead of Thomas who was only exiting the second of the Rivazza turns as the leaders got back up to speed. Thomas later admitted losing concentration and pace while out on his own.

The order stayed much the same but at the finish Fulvio had put 24 seconds between himself and Laurent with Thomas a further 23 seconds back in third. Steve finished a very credible 4th with Jorg 5th and Paul recovering to take 6th place. Ricardo in his first drive in the series kept going to bring his car home in 7th and Omar was the last of the finishers in 8th place.

So Fulvio starts of this season with maximum points and also grabbed the point for fastest lap too!

Results and points after Rd 1.

	Driver	Points
1	Fulvio Fenix	26
2	Laurent Londes	18
3	Thomas Kimmich	15
4	Steve Hayward	12
5	Jorg Evers	10
6	Paul Fairweather	8
7	Rico Prins	6
8	Omar Filippini	4
9	Allard van den Hoeven	2
10	Jason Bagley	1
11	Casper de Wit	0

Next week the championship follows the real F1 and moves on to Monaco where it will be a very different challenge for the F3 drivers and overtaking will be at a premium. Will Fulvio start from the back here? Why not sign up to find out?

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

 

[cerebralvortex]

Those recaps are awesome Paul!

I also dropped pace after the pit stop knowing I couldn't catch Fulvio and had enough margin to Thomas behind. Was still really fun. Happy we are doing proper tracks this season.

 

[lunzer33]

Nice report Paul. Finally an enjoyable race - no warping, wired connection is the hottest ****
Misshift at the start, which made me drop from 5th to last, and also later on, but recovered nicely from it. Now l'll see if I can sort that out aswell, a wheel of the price point of the TM SF1000 really shouldn't have such issues

 

[gearwhine]

Nice report Paul. Finally an enjoyable race - no warping, wired connection is the hottest ****
Misshift at the start, which made me drop from 5th to last, and also later on, but recovered nicely from it. Now l'll see if I can sort that out aswell, a wheel of the price point of the TM SF1000 really shouldn't have such issues

With you on the wheel issue. Have been struggling with paddles not shifting for weeks but my new wheel arrived hours before the race so had a reliable drive for a change. Also, learned the hard way with the connection issue. Mine is hard wired through the main electric system via the sockets and doesn't miss a beat