[Andrea Piovanelli]

Goodday!
I'm finally back racing with the community, did you miss me?
In the last weeks I mostly played Assetto Corsa Competizione, joining some SRS events that sadly never qualified as "valid" races, due to the low number of players.
This morning, though, I raced in the Caterham Academy series at Laguna Seca, which is a track that I trained a lot in the past (because I raced there with MX-5 Cup too).
The field wasn't too crowded, so I ended up in the main server. It's been a very quiet race for me, as the people in front of me was much faster and the ones behind were slower enough to not put any pressure (I was the only one in the 1:49:xxx range). I managed to find a good consistency during all the race, never risking too much (my best lap is 1:48:2xx at Laguna Seca on Caterham, I raced more than a second slower on average).
Despite the practice, I still have troubles with my interpretation of the first turn and the left turn after the corskcrew: both these sectors make me gain a lot or lose a lot during a single lap, I almost can't drive past them in the same way for two consecutive laps.
Anyway, I recorded my race and uploaded it on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/qFgaSDYSYNc
If you're looking for a lot of action, though, this time it's not the case...

[Andrea Piovanelli]

Hey ladies and gents? How's it going today?
Yesterday I joined the Mini Cooper race in Vallelunga. Despite a lot of connection problems (I disconnected twice in qualify and had ping issues during through 20 minutes race), I managed to drive safe enough to avoid any incidents but one (my mistake led me to bump a wall...).
I clearly had not enough practice: my lap times, even if somewhat consistent, were definitely sub-standard. I think I didn't get the correct interpretation of the car, like trying to drive too "clean" when, perhaps, the right way was to force the little one into a bit of sliding...
Anyway, I was on server 2, so the race is (probably) on exclusive here https://youtu.be/baeKGb7XM2I

[Ilmari Ylitalo]

Good way to improve your laps is to spy on the fastest guys. Save your race replay, watch it by jumping into one of the fastest cars and observe how they drive. Both the racing line and the way they drive and use gears.

[Andrea Piovanelli]

Good way to improve your laps is to spy on the fastest guys. Save your race replay, watch it by jumping into one of the fastest cars and observe how they drive. Both the racing line and the way they drive and use gears.

I do, and looking at the replay I see my problem is often with gears, especially the gear I use in slower turns that is lower than the optimal one. Racing lines are fine, even if I still lack a bit of focus in longer races. The lack of practice, in the case of the Mini race, gave me a sort of misinterpretation of how the car needs to be driven to get speed / results, which was quite different from my usual "try to keep it smooth" style I struggled a lot (meaning I practice a lot) to find, for example, with Mx-5.

[Andrea Piovanelli]

In the morning I joined my first race on a open-wheel car.
Before starting my practice in the last week, I was worried I couldn't properly control a open-wheel car, even if I knew Formula Abarth is a kind of "starter kit" to introduce a racer to open wheels. Honestly, I decided to give it a try only because the race was at Monza, which is my favourite track (I went there renting a car for track days in the past) and it's the track I feel the most comfortable racing at.
Anyway, I found myself in the position of having a constant very slow pace, but almost without mistakes. Then, yesterday, I had an epiphany: Marcos Riffel from Drive Academy posted his suggested setup for Monza! My previous experiences with "pro-setups" have been very negative (I wrote a post here in the forums about that), because I always found them very tricky to properly drive for a beginner like me. Instead, that setup is surprisingly (for me) stable and gave me a lot of confidence for the race.
It's been a nice race on server 2, even if there were only a few players. The race has been pretty clean by me, with just a little mistake that might have cost me a final 2nd place, but I'm not sure if I could keep that position until the end of the race.
Anyway, here's the footage of the race if someone's interested: https://youtu.be/wd4BFTQQoG8

[Andrea Piovanelli]

Today I joined the GT4 race on ACC @ Monza.
As I said, it's my favourite track and, even if slower than most of the racers, I managed to get my objectives for the race:
1) Avoid incidents, especially in the first lap at the infamous Variante del Rettifilo.
2) Try to look consistent.
3) Don't take useless risks.

Anyway, you can find the footage of the race here: https://youtu.be/0GNgJPlg_rg

Oh, I forgot: I finally reached 300 rating points!!!

[Andrea Piovanelli]

In the last days I tried to work on setups on Assetto Corsa Competizione, with my limited knowledge, limited sensibility and unlimited laziness.
Anyway, the race was at Paul Ricard so I picked the Cayman GT4 and tried to get minor changes to keep the car drivable while improving my lap times. Beginning from the standard aggressive setup, I managed to reach a good compromise (still not optimal, because of the limited free time I'm having recently), giving a little oversteer, not enough to need too many corrections in changes of direction, but enough to improve my lap times by a relevant size. Basically, I just lowered ABS even more, raised by one point the front splitter (which I somehow was a little scared of in the past) and hardened the anti-roll bars (level 4 to the front, level 2 to the back), the latter balancing a little of "liveliness" from the back. Next step: I need to learn something more on tyres.
In the end, I'm still not fast enough (off course), but I had a good and enjoyable race in which I felt safer then in the past, trying to defend the position in a couple of situations (I hope I didn't look too dangerous to the racers behind me).
Happy to finally see some love for Competizione from the community, the races are a lot fun the more we are!
For anyone interested, the footage of the 20-minutes race from my point of view is here: https://youtu.be/jovb_hXN6Q4
I hope you enjoy it and I always welcome every tip or critic.

[Andrea Piovanelli]

In the morning I joined GT86 @ Silverstone event, but 5 minutes to the end of the race I got disconnected (my modem or provider failed me).
For this reason, I joined the 13:00 GMT event: a full grid on main server. Loved the race, even if my bad defending / attacking strategies cost me two positions on the last lap.
It's ok, still I need to practice somehow on that.
Footage of the race, for who's interested, is here: https://youtu.be/KFsrgAywlVA

[Andrea Piovanelli]

After a long week with internet issues, I'm back online and joined a GT4 race on Competizione.
It was a very exclusive race, only the most skilled, beautiful and nice drivers could join!
Ok, well, we were 6 racers only, but all of us are nice... A quiet race for me, keeping my position after a very clean and careful T1 (Nurburgring T1 isn't as dangerous as other track first turn, because it's a very large hairpin that can be quite safe). I found a pretty consistent pace, even if this is not the track I'm most experienced in, so I'm very happy for the race and the result.
You can find the footage here: https://youtu.be/XVM5KpDjzN8

[Andrea Piovanelli]

The first one hour race I managed to complete without wheel or internet issues, yesterday it has been an incredible experience!
I was doubting my ability to stay focused for that long but, even if it was a tiring race (I had to have a shower just after the checkered flag), I did a good job with a slow but consistent enough pace.
I was the only one driving a Mercedes (is it not-the-best-car to pick there?) and I hope I didn't slow or got in the way too much Mr. Clegg and Mr. Fernandez, who were in a fierce battle for P2 and lapped me on the very last laps.
Thanks to everyone who joined the race (great racers, youtubers, an alien overlord named Ericsson, ...) and congratulations to all the exquisite players driving around Circuit Paul Ricard.

The footage from my perspective is here: https://youtu.be/DqHBgFgaQfg