PS4/5 ACC Season 3 Debrief

AM2

I was way off the pace in practice. Hitting constant 1:31's in dry practice and 1:35's in the wet. Some how, people where 5 to 6 seconds a lap faster than me. I kinda expected this because I'm lol. So I was expecting to do my usual starting from the back which im ok with, my SA rating has been smashed recently and I didn't want to be in the thick of it surrounded by faster people on a track that's hard to pass on.
During qualiy, I ran a light fuel load, did 2 laps and somehow banged out a 1:27.... putting me 6th on the grid. Ok then...

The race itself was abit uneventful for me. I followed whomever started 5th for abit but they slowly pulled away. The slight change in track temperature from qualifying ment my left tyres (slicks) stayed around 29-30 the entire race. Not wanting to shred them or spin out I drove conservative for the majority of the race, this also ment I rarely saw another car.
I did pass a few that had spun off but my actual position always stayed as 6th....

I was lapped on lap 16, maybe 13? Did my two stops without changing tyres, but somewhere along the line I was in 5th which is where I finished.
I found i was quicker in the wet (the great equaliser haha), but averaged 1:34s the entire race. Fastes lap was a 1:30 in the first 3rd of the race. Due to the less aggressive throttle input, I averaged 1.9ltrs a lap (Down from 2.1 in practice) and finished with 17 litres extra fuel.

I also streamed this on YT, getting a whopping 14 views haha. But in the process I also cracked my pedal plate on the brake side at the weld. It must of been making a tonne of squeaky noise during the race, thank God for headphones.

Well done, consistency and not trying to be 1st to every corner pays off!

WHOOPS!

First of all apologies to TT etc for my lap 1 whoopsy, she got light on me and with the stone cold tyres there was no saving it. Rookie error but some pro driving from those that avoided me.
Was super annoyed at myself as I knew I could make up from my average qualifying if I kept incident free, I suspect that played a part as I was too cautious through that section which meant I unloaded the tyres at exactly the wrong moment. Anyways I just cracked on, did a damage repair but decided to stick with the same tyres even though I knew they'd be flat spotted from my massive spin. From then on made no real errors, car wasn't great until I pitted again for tyres and fuel but I made do with what I had.

Overall happy to come away with 11th considering I was backwards and into the wall lap 1, well done to those that kept it on track as she's a tricky one that's for sure. Good battle with Benny, he did well to hold me off so long considering how much damage he'd have had, she's a tricky track to pass on!

It wasn't bad on warm tyres, I just lifted at exactly the wrong moment. Didn't seem to have the pace that some of the other cars had though so maybe I was having to overdrive it a bit. That's one track where I think a good setup definitely helps as its pretty full on. Good track though

What's your best time? I was on for a high 35 in quali a few times but never got it together, seemed the car was happy to run in the 37s for most the race (probably didn't help having flat spotted tyres which were overheating, so I adjusted the pressures when I stopped and they were then under pressure pmsl).

One day I'll put in some practice before race day

Merc should love Spa though, looking forward to that

Did more practice than usual for that race and it kinda paid off. i struggled with the tyres coz i couldn't find a setup for the lexus, so spent ages trying to work out how to stop crucifying the front left. Eventually got to the point where it would last more than a few laps and practiced that setup. Then had a read of a tuning guide, clicked down the wheelrate and found a whole new level of turn in.....the day before the race....had to learn the track all over again. Didn't get a great qually but did all right in the first stages of the race not falling off the track or making costly errors. Had lots of laps around sk8hy both in front and behind. Had planned my pitstops as; tyres and fuel at 30 minutes then fuel at 50m. By 25 minutes in i could hardly stop the car the front left was so worn. tyre temps were ok so it must have been just skidding it too much. with fresh rubber and lighter fuel it felt pretty good. caught up to sk8y and tried to figure out a way past, hard track to pass here if there isn't much gap between the lap times....setup a pass, thought i had it done, aaaaand, slight contact, F***, both of us turned around. I've watched the replay a bunch of times and can't get past 50/50 blame. might be a bit biased.... anyway, waited ages for a clear bit of track to get going and rejoined. had some hairy moments under blue flags and, mostly unscathed, continued on. fast forward ....didn't put enough fuel in with 10 minutes to go, (too much dash and not enough splash) and found myself with about 1.5 laps of fuel for the last 3 laps. tried to go fast enough to hold position but it was never going to happen while fuel saving and lost another spot on the last lap.
all up was a fun race with my very own (poor) tune, apologies to sk8y for the contact and congrats to the podium. The stream with commentary from nige and cyclone was great also and I went to bed way past my bedtime after watching it

Had A Good Build up to this race In PRO/AM. Had plenty of race pace for top 5 for sure.Qualifying i did do my best time there mid 36 but it seemed everyone else went up a notch as well as i fitted in 13th out of 18 poisitions but qualifying is not my strong point race pace is. Race on lets go! The start was not what i wished it to be as on the formation lap before the start/finish line i was thumped from behind (before everyone took off with the leader) causing damage to the rear of my fezza. Oh well nothing i can do about this now. (Others should take note to keep there distance as the race is not won on the 1st stretch of road) Off we went. A few corners in and Austech had a big moment off the track he went hitting the wall and bouncing back accross the track and well i had not much room to move , simply had to go through the gravel trap or have huge accident and race would be over. i was so lucky really it could have been a mess! Here is a link to the race look 30.20 in to incident.
As a result lost 10 sec at least via gravel trap and now was 17th and way off the pace.As a result 1st lap i now went to pits.Damage repair a further 5 seconds so now had lost 15 sec to all before me. Put my next stint fuel load on and went for it.
Now dead last as austech must have taken less fuel and repaired his car. left pit 18th ohhh what a mountain to climb from here.New i had good race pace so here was hoping. Open road most of the way to my next pitstop although i had a hairy moment with austech once again as i tried to pass. Managed to get by though so all good.Next pitstop i was up to 8th however others had not finished pitstops or had already done both. On my way out back to 13th so i had managed to make some gain.
From here i did what i could do. Slightey lower lap times as the tyres had worn a little but not bad seeing i did not change any tyres.Push push i went , other pitstops happened and others misfortunes i was no back to 11th.10 min to go i was still 9 sec behind gazza , my pace was faster as the time started coming down each lap (Found out later he did have damage). With 1 min to go i was now only 1 sec off gazz after all my hard pushing. As i was now closer gazza was trying hard to keep in front of me but trying to hard hit a kerb and flew off the track allowing me to snag 10th position from at one point dead last. so 18th to 10th was a great recovery and a good points haul for the team. Had pace for sure and should have been in the mix for top 5. But this is racing and things just happen which it did tonight. Dissapointed a little yes but happy to claim a top 10 result.Bring on next race to give it another crack!

Yesss i was the other that missed you but had to take the gravel trap route! crikey i thought the show was over for me when i saw you hit the wall and bouncy bouncy back! so lucky and errr a little bit of driving skill. lost heaps of time through that incident. funny i only finished 10th a spot ahead of you. we both had a good recovery!

AM2
A drama filled and action packed race.
Qualified 7th, which i didn't expect as I was slowest in practice (where do you all find these extra seconds?)
On the formation lap, there was a lot of confusion. Our board only indicated 1 pit stop, got a confirmation from JJ it was two, whilst doing formation lap, but I think someone took off from the very start?? Then there was multiple discussions going on at once, hard to hear over my own engine noise, and as we rounded Arie Luyen onto start straight everyone began to accelerate, then suddenly people where saying we where doing two formation laps???? But it was too late, I was suddenly presented with two brake lights in front of me. I smashed into the back of Hammer7782. I hit the record button and dropped back to last. I tried to work out was going on and if we where doing 2 formation laps get back to my original start position of 7th.... expect I couldn't get past anyone.. I was thinking this race is a write off already, I'm on a formation lap and I can't pass how the hell am I going to pass anyone at race speed.
As we passed the start/finish line for the second time it was game on, I was lucky to make up a few spots quote quickly due to player on player contacts, or run offs. Then I meet my race nemesis. Exploded Argon (EA for short now). Me and him tangled for probably a 3rd of the race. Some parts I was quicker, other parts he was. Whenever I made up time, I would lose it at another. It was good fun. I eventually got past him, done two laps and pulled into puts for first pit stop, he followed as well. As I was leaving I was hit with a DT for speeding (the entry into Pit lane is probably one I should of practiced).
As I was coming in to clear my DT a few laps later, I was way to hot and smashed into the wall... i was expecting another DT tbh, but it cleared and I re-emerged into the race at 3rd.
Continued as normal for abit, but my tyres started going so I dropped into the pits for the last time to change tyres and complet last fuel stop. I emerged 5th, made up a spot soon after 4th pitted, I looked at my repair time for my Pit lane incident and it read 10 mins..... so I just stuck it out, soon enough my race nemesis EA was on my tail again, hungry for my 4th position. We traded places a few times but on the second last lap he over shot T1 and 4th was mine.

All in all an eventful race. I was pleased with my car set-up and tyres, finished with 2 laps of fuel spare. After the race people where trying to talk to me, but I tried to save Highlights and the game crashed, so I felt like abit of a dick for that.
I do have a few YT links for you all to enjoy.
I sent an apology message to Hammer via discord after the race (his ps4 account is set to private) but he's yet to read it. I think I basically ed his race so again I'm sorry.

Race start Incident


My stream including practice


How to slow your self going into the pits..

Special mention must be made to Kman for the track tips, particularly for turns 10 and 11. I was getting good drive through there and making up lots of time on rivals.
Also, to Joe for streaming our race. Its good fun to go back and rewatch it. Much appreciated.

Yeah I was kinda in control as I went back on track so tried to guide it straight over the track, was bloody hairy!

Nice write up, though I don't remember you passing me at all so must have been one of my hombres. I could see you were running some good pace behind me when we rejoined after the pit as I could see the gap slowly coming down. We both did well to recover indeed, goes to show that you should never just park it up, anything can happen!

Spa AM2
Qualied 9th. Made it 7th within 2 laps, then smashed out hard at Raidillon losing two laps to the field in repair time.. so that was pretty much me out.. Ended up 12th with some battling with Hammer for abit of it (I actually made the mistake of letting him pass thinking he was a lapping car on Kemmel)
Totally ed my tyre pressures for my second pitstop and tyre change... dropped them too much and could never get the right pressure, and my fuel was way out..
Is what it is.

I made this just now. I was hoping the start would of been in the dark too look all dramatic lol



That said, the second dark stage was hectic..... GT3 cars need much better headlights, I couldn't see ...

Onto next season.

My memory fades. Why do we mess around with the start procedure? The short formation lap would take care of the issues that seem to occur.
Then everyone gets the green GO at the same time instead of having to guess when the driver in front starts to accelerate.

well, what a season finale for the pro am. I couldn't get a valid lap during quali to save myself. So had to start mid pack which i knew was going to make it tough to catch weezy for the championship race. Albeit i would of only maybe made up a couple of spots if i had of recorded my fastest time.
Race started pretty smooth up the front (for me anyway) and was happy just to get threw the first fuel run clean and unscathed. Aaron and Kman were lapping solidly so was happy just to follow them, then cars kept spinning out and i found myself in 3rd before the first stop.
After my first stop the car was an absolute rocket, and i managed to close the gap to the leaders. I wanted to pit when i was catching them but the car was so just good i just didn't wanna loose the balance and speed i had (just 1 more lap and then ill pit i kept saying to myself). Caught HSV faster than anticipated, and never intended to make the pass when i ended up the inside at bruxelles, just messed up my braking marks, HSV must of seen me coming cause he opened the door, and i just made the slightest contact and he spun (sooo sorry dude).
When we got going again i was watching weezy drive off into the sunset with my trophy I knew he was goone. So tried something different and tried to run long and hope he ran into some traffic or problems, my tyre pressures were already dropping so figured id just stay out to keep what heat i had in them and do a "pauly".
Tagged the wall in pit lane on my last stop which cost me an extra few seconds in my stop. And that's a wrap!!

Congratulations to Weezy on the win and championship!! You've been the car to beat all season mate. Great stuff. HSV sorry mate, and congrats on the podium. Thanks to all you legends racing for a great season, and to JJ and ROOZ for putting on such a top league for us to race in!!! Ripping stuff, Cant wait for season 4.

Started 3rd, with a PB. My Season Arch Nemesis Deno started 2nd. Deno slowly pulled away over several laps gathering a lead upto about 6 seconds. I pitted Lap 19 and chnaged Tyres, and Deno had a bit of a spin Blanchimont, before pitting.....I came up Raidillon, Deno was now 4 sec infront, and slowly extending for next few laps before we hit traffic. We both got through, yet it slowed Deno more then myself, and he then pitted on Lap 26 and I 7 Laps of lonelyness and pitted Lap 33. Came out 14 sec ahead of Deno.....and finished 2nd.....The End

Game crashed on grid just as I started engine, is this a common PS4 issue with ACC?