Simrace247.com sponsored sim racing driver Jimmy Mansi features his blog on sim racing events and more.
Jimmy Mansi is a sponsored sim racing driver with simrace247.com, we are pleased to have him with us as a driver and have him feature his blog and stories of sim racing events.
Jimmy is a relentless racer that gives it his all in many situations of racing. His racing is clean, fast, tenacious and never lets up until he has crossed the finish line.
Sunday 26th September – ACC | @onid_racing Multiclass European Super Series | R2 Misano
My first race with these and I have to say, very impressed with the setup. I was notified of oNiD by a good friend I have met through sim racing and this didn’t disappoint.
I didn’t get much practice for this one and Misano is a pretty tricky track at the best of times, this one was a 60min race in the dark!
I qualified P3 and finished P2 after an unfortunate disconnect for the race leader. As ever, the Aston was sluggish off the line and almost had me back to P4. I held my own around the outside of T2 and slotted into P3.
Instantly the front two gapped me and I gapped P4. In fairness, due to the speed of the front two, it was a lonely race in the dark but enjoyable nonetheless.
We’ve got 90 minutes of Zandvoort this Sunday, not one of my favorite tracks but, I’m a fan of the longer race so hopefully, we can battle for another podium.
Wednesday 29th September – ACC | @ACRracing Earth Tour | S10 | Gold Tier | R1 Donington
My first race in Actrollvision was in his ACR Earth Tour. The Earth Tour has been on my radar for a while now, having got to a point where I was confident enough to put my hat in the ring.
My evaluation into ACR could have been somewhat smoother but this was completely my own fault. I totally missed what date our evaluation time trial laps needed to be in. I found out on the final day I had until 7 pm to get the times in. I was at work until 5:30 pm.
I got home, logged on, first track.. Hungaroring. Ok I thought, I like this track, had a good result in AOR a couple of seasons back. I’ve got this. Got my lap in and was P29/70 on the overall chart.
That would have to do, because the second track was Bathurst and anyone who’s ever attempted a lap around there will no having 35mins to make a hot lap attempt, isn’t enough! I got my setup, made some adjustments and off I went.
With the track temp quite high I set my best ever lap with a 2:01.6 which put me P30/70 on the overall charts.
Before the roster stream, I had guessed I would be placed in Gold, one below Pro where the elite race. I was spot on and Gold it was. The calendar was out and the first race was Donington, one of my favorite (remember this) tracks on ACC.
The session started, practice – P1, qualifying – P1 (by almost 0.4) and race – P1 (with fastest lap) it was a clean sweep.
I go into most races confident but never with the assumption I will win. I knew I would be near the front after practice and qualifying but sim racing is double edged sword and anything can happen.
I drove nearly the perfect race, won by 18 seconds, no incidents and the perfect start to the season even taking driver of the day. With ACR the top 10 from each split are invited to compete in the split above the following season.
Hopefully, this start means I’ll be in with a shot at Pro for season 11.
Thursday 30th September – ACC | @isdaracing | [PRO] GT3 World Challenge | Autumn Season | R3 Spa
Again ISDA was something new for me. Another recommendation from a friend and again it didn’t disappoint.
I did my evaluation which was 10 consecutive hot laps at Brands Hatch. I found some real consistency in this as shown on the image below, even managing to break into the 22’s, something I never considered possible for me (maybe the way the week has gone with the positive news and sponsor has given me a few extra tenths )
ISDA is the first league I’ve participated in where there is live stewarding over the 60 minutes of the race and I have to say, I’m a big fan of this. It brings a level of respect and etiquette you struggle to find in other leagues.
Your penalty being it time added or a drive thru is applied during the race. Again, I’m a big fan of this.
I had an awesome battle in qualifying, at one point I shared exactly the same lap time with another racer with only 4 minutes to go. I had parked up at this point. A 16.5 at Spa is all I had and it was my PB by some length.
Sadly pole was nabbed from me in the dying seconds by 0.099. However, I was pleased to be on the front row.
I placed P2 in the race as well however, my qualifying setup was not a setup to race a car with 114L of fuel in. I had a good start and a small battle but after this, I struggled to maintain the pace of P1.
The race was quite difficult with the setup causing the car to slide and lose the rear a lot until the fuel had reduced. Fortunately, I had built a good lead over P3 who was battling with P4. I knew the car would come good after the mandatory pit stop for tyres. As soon as the window opened, I was in!
The second half of the race was more comfortable with the stability of the car however, having 2 track warnings within 8 minutes of the race starting made things somewhat stressful.
This was added to when I got my third and final warning with 17 minutes to go. Now it was time to maintain my gap to P3 and focus on taking home another P2.
So, all in all, a really successful week of racing. Two P2’s and a P1 (clean sweep).
Upcoming Events
- Sunday 3rd October – oNiD Racing | Zandvoort
- Wednesday 6th October – ACR | Oulton Park
Sadly I cannot make Thursday’s race due to personal matters but I will be back with ISDA the following Thursday.
As ever, if you’d like to keep up with my Twitter, you’ll find me on @JimboMansi_46.
Thanks for reading, let’s hope for another successful week of racing!
To read about Jimmy and his introduction visit: Simrace247 Sponsor Multiple Sim Racing Champion Jimmy Mansi
