ACC Endurance Series Round 2 Night Race @ Silverstone - Mon 6th February 2023

akephoe · Feb 7, 2023

What an intensive race that was.
Really tough to stay focused the complete 60min. in the dark.
Congrats to Chris for the win and to the podium.

All in all a good race for me. I was pleased with my driving, fast and steady.
The quali was ok, but not perfect. It could have been a high 1:58, but i couldn't connect all sectors together.

The start of the race was a bit stressful as there was action in front and a pushing Andre behind me. After some laps i had a small gap but Andre was always pushing. I thing he pitted around mid race and i thought that the plan going a long first stint could pay off. But it didn't. Main dropback was my poor pitstop.
A slow pit entry and than an overshot of the pitbox with a drive back in reverse gear to stop in line took away 8-10sec. The pit exit was also not good as i stayed in R for the startup, so another 1-2 sec. went off finding first gear....

Back on track i was behind Ricardo and a charging Andrew. Ta lap later i think they had contact and andrew was gone. I managed to close the gap to Ricardo and finally could pass him after he made a small error. The rest of the race was a solid run to the flag where i tried to stay focused and work corner for corner on my line and driving. It paid off in the last two laps where i managed my best race laptimes at silverstone.

So, in the end P6 was ok and deserved because of the bad stop.
I will have also a meeting with my strategy crew because i think we took the wrong approach. First of all i took to many fuel, 22liters left at the finish line, and a shorter first stint would have been better because the tyres were not as good as i hoped for the planned overcut after 30-35minutes.

The race itself, in the dark, was great. I hope we get more of this and a good balance between normal and mixed conditions for the upcoming races.

Thanks to Chris for organizing and to racedepartment for hosting. Hopefully we see a great grid next week and for the remainder of the season.

Andrew Sebastian · Feb 7, 2023

Game of two halves last night. Managed to pull out a good last flying lap in qualifying. First stint, managed ok but 30 minutes of edge of your seat driving as Chris inevitably was only around second behind the entire stint. Very consistent pace and lap times.

Then it went to ****. Firstly, my pit box was right at the end of the pitlane, and when leaving it is a VERY tight turn to avoid the grass and cross the pit limit line. I was still turning left when crossing the line before sweeping to the right to exit. The line was completely obscured for me and I released the limiter a millisecond too early.
30 second stop and go. Annoying.

Came out P8/9. Caught an Aston after a couple of laps at Farm curve. He went a little wide and I managed to hold it on inside but we made slight contact. I think his correction brought him back to me and I veered off and hit the wall. I’ve not seen the replay, it felt like a racing incident but if I was culpable I apologise.

Black and Orange flag, race over. Very frustrating.

RicardoJorge92 · Feb 7, 2023

sebastalona said:
Game of two halves last night. Managed to pull out a good last flying lap in qualifying. First stint, managed ok but 30 minutes of edge of your seat driving as Chris inevitably was only around second behind the entire stint. Very consistent pace and lap times.

Then it went to ****. Firstly, my pit box was right at the end of the pitlane, and when leaving it is a VERY tight turn to avoid the grass and cross the pit limit line. I was still turning left when crossing the line before sweeping to the right to exit. The line was completely obscured for me and I released the limiter a millisecond too early.
30 second stop and go. Annoying.

Came out P8/9. Caught an Aston after a couple of laps at Farm curve. He went a little wide and I managed to hold it on inside but we made slight contact. I think his correction brought him back to me and I veered off and hit the wall. I’ve not seen the replay, it felt like a racing incident but if I was culpable I apologise.

Black and Orange flag, race over. Very frustrating.

I was the Aston.

I was honestly trying to find the best spot to let you by. I ran wide, had understeer and lifted, which caused you to hit from behind.
I also felt it was a racing incident, and I managed to keep going unaffected. Felt shitty for taking part in ruining your race, happy there are no hard feelings.

Andrew Sebastian · Feb 7, 2023

RicardoJorge92 said:
I was the Aston.

I was honestly trying to find the best spot to let you by. I ran wide, had understeer and lifted, which caused you to hit from behind.
I also felt it was a racing incident, and I managed to keep going unaffected. Felt shitty for taking part in ruining your race, happy there are no hard feelings.

Not at all mate, it was the slightest on contacts, not initiated by you. On another day, I would have made it through, but ACC has the habit of sending you into orbit for the merest of touches.

Just glad you weren’t taken out too.

SwannyUK · Feb 7, 2023

Results are in

https://simresults.net/230207-S0o

DNF/DQ - 0 points awarded unfortunately. With 9 finishers there were still some good points on offer if you could make it to the end.

SwannyUK · Feb 7, 2023

I had a blast for the first half an hour, Andrew's pace was mega and had me pushing to the limit. I was also keeping half an eye on a charging Enrico in the prancing horse behind. I couldn't catch Andrew enough to try any moves so just tried to keep the gap as close as possible. Such a shame you had the issue in the pits mate, if your second stint was as strong as the first I would have had no chance.

I've had two wins but neither of them were as a result of my pace or overtaking - just bad luck for others. As the series rolls on and the rust gets shaken off I think we'll have multiple race winners. I've already noticed a few guys have made a leap forward from previous series / races. Great to see the confidence and speed coming with each event!

Andrew Sebastian · Feb 7, 2023

SwannyUK said:
I had a blast for the first half an hour, Andrew's pace was mega and had me pushing to the limit. I was also keeping half an eye on a charging Enrico in the prancing horse behind. I couldn't catch Andrew enough to try any moves so just tried to keep the gap as close as possible. Such a shame you had the issue in the pits mate, if your second stint was as strong as the first I would have had no chance.

I've had two wins but neither of them were as a result of my pace or overtaking - just bad luck for others. As the series rolls on and the rust gets shaken off I think we'll have multiple race winners. I've already noticed a few guys have made a leap forward from previous series / races. Great to see the confidence and speed coming with each event!

Are there any other cars in ACC that look as ominous as the Bentley in the rear view?! I don’t think so! Would have been an epic race to the end.

akephoe · Feb 7, 2023

Thanks for the results.
Interesting stuff for me, confirmed my impressions.
The pitstop was a desaster, losing over 20sec to Andre for example and to Chris as the fastest stop 28sec. That ruined my second stint and the result.
Time to work harder on those things ...

SwannyUK · Feb 7, 2023

akephoe said:
Thanks for the results.
Interesting stuff for me, confirmed my impressions.
The pitstop was a desaster, losing over 20sec to Andre for example and to Chris as the fastest stop 28sec. That ruined my second stint and the result.
Time to work harder on those things ...

It's amazing how much time can be gained / lost in the pits.

akephoe · Feb 7, 2023

sebastalona said:
Are there any other cars in ACC that look as ominous as the Bentley in the rear view?! I don’t think so! Would have been an epic race to the end.

Is the Bentley a car? Or is it a truck?

Supersoulfighta · Feb 7, 2023

Nascentes said:
Nice race, but I need to apologize to Kerr. At the end of lap one, he overtook me by my right side and then there was contact between us. At the moment, I was sure I was on a straight line, he miss calculated the overtake, and moved to the left before completing it, so i did not stop and waited for him. Now reviewing the replay after the race, and it is clear he did not move and I moved to the right a bit and spun him. I sorry for that and for not waiting. I'll take the penalty that the organizers think is appropriate.

**** happens man, thanks for apologising mate...

RicardoJorge92 · Feb 7, 2023

My race report.

Didn't feel confident going into it. Tried a few cars and setups, ended up on the Aston, which seemed the most confidence inspiring.
Watched a few fast guys and picked up a few lines, which boosted my confidence during practice.
Quali was a bit wierd with traffic and track limits, but managed to put a lap in.

Starting the race was survival mode. I was trying to stay out of trouble and get space to find my pace, which I eventually did.

The incidents in front of me were a bit crazy with the night lights. Marty sent it into the curb of the star of the other pit straight and flew! Don't know how he held it.
I think I caught two punctures 5 laps before the end of each stint, loosing pressure on the rear rights and loosing pace.

I nailed the pitstop, gaining time to André (the guy who introduced me to this series!), but it didn't make a difference in the end. Thank you for the tips Chris!

Survived to finish 7th with some bad luck from others. Good result for me.
Excited for imola! Maybe a good track for surprises in the conditions...?

Thank you Chris for putting this on and congrats on the win.
Good to see you on the races André! Thank you for bringing me here!

SwannyUK · Feb 7, 2023

akephoe said:
Is the Bentley a car? Or is it a truck?

It's a boat

SwannyUK · Feb 7, 2023

RicardoJorge92 said:
Excited for imola! Maybe a good track for surprises in the conditions...?

If everyone is happy to give it a go then sure thing, I was planning on increasing the cloud cover to 60% which apparently increases the chances of changes in weather. You can't just set it to rain at some point during the race, literally up to the weather gods what happens like IRL lol.

I'll hopefully get the practice server setup with what I think will be changeable conditions. If you guys can jump on a few times this week and test that would be ace.

huggybendy · Feb 7, 2023

I want to thank you all for the race, very fair and clean driving also at the start. I was ready to have a fun battle with Will and another BMW behind me at the start (sorry don’t remember the name), but some unfortunate situations happened and then I tried to stay focused and consistent to maintain the position. Thanks again and well done everyone

Trox · Feb 7, 2023

huggybendy said:
I was ready to have a fun battle with Will and another BMW

Yea unfortunately I didn’t anticipate the extra grip I had going into T1, (annoyingly). Probably my only mistake but a costly one none the less!

rborowik · Feb 7, 2023

Sorry I missed last night, ended up working but Ill be there on Monday again.

Rich Green · Feb 7, 2023

SwannyUK said:
Do we still want to go ahead with the other night race in the series and/or mixed conditions or would you guys prefer day races with sunshine? Happy to roll with the majority if it makes life easier and you enjoy the races more.

I don’t mind night races, day to night transitions are more fun, but can be taxing on hardware. I’d be up for a mixed weather race, but would prefer light showers to persistent rain. I’ll go with the majority though.

It was interesting reading the race reports from last night

I put in quite a bit of practice offline and was making good progress, so I’m a bit gutted about missing the race. Still, there’s always next week

mklengel · Feb 7, 2023

Trox said:
@mklengel we had an interesting lap 12 with a lapped driver, I thought that was my time to strike hehe

My mistake was not knowing how much 55l of fuel would affect the Mclaren on the corners.

I learnt that pretty quickly…

IIRC the qualifying lap times were excellent, with @sebastalona dominating pole still

I had a completely different problem with the fuel, the remaining fuel after the race was 1 l

mklengel · Feb 7, 2023

Let me add another comment. I'm glad to drive with you all. This is a total contrast to many LFM races where I'm not so sure to complete a race. This community is great.