Catching up with our simrace247 sim racing driver Jimmy Mansi and his weekly blog that is featured here on the website.
We know that Jimmy Mansi is a great sim racing driver, his calculated approaches to racing are all ways something he meticulously focuses on.
Even when knowing some of the tracks he comes up against are ones he does not favor, he always finds a way to maximize or take good results.
This week in blog #2 we catch up with Jimmy
Hey all,
Another week of racing has passed by and this week was a tough one. Two unfavoured tracks of mine and two 90 minute races to contend with. So, here’s how it all went, summarised in a much calmer situation than when I was racing!
03/10/21 – ACC | @onid_racing Multiclass European Super Series | R3 Zandvoort
Q – P3
R – P2
Second race with oNiD and it was back to back second place finishes. Challenging tracks are what make racing exciting, you have to change your mindset when you’re not at one with the circuit.
It’s almost a level of survival mixed with sheer concentration and a good chunk of consistency. Zandvoort isn’t one of my best tracks, mainly because it’s not one I have raced at frequently enough to grasp the true feeling.
It was also my first race in the Aston at Zandvoort and while the Aston has many strengths, the final sector here is not one of them!
I managed to put myself P3 in qualifying but was almost 0.5 off pole. I had a clean race start but instantly P1 was gone and I only managed to hang on to the coat tails of P2 for a matter of laps.
Quickly we started to lap the GT4’s which around here proves challenging. However, there’s a great group of drivers in oNiD and a massive level of respect. This made lapping the GT4’s and Porsche Cup Cars worry free and fun.
I noticed the gap to P1 was starting to come down, I assumed it was due to traffic but it turns out he had a slow puncture, possibly brought on my the mountain sized kerbs at the final chicane.
He pitted early and was caught out by the very short and sudden pit entry Zandvoort has. SG30 popped up by his name, this was my chance to gain a ‘free’ position. I moved in to P2 and settled in for the race, stayed consistent and trouble free, coming home in a solid P2.
06/10/21 – ACC | @ACRracing GT3 Earth Tour | S10 | R2 Oulton Park
Q – P3
R – P2
Just when I thought the difficult race was out of the way, I had 90 minutes of the most unforgiving track on ACC. Oulton Park is sometimes labeled ‘Little Nordschleife’. I can completely understand this now.
The track, albeit just over 90 seconds a lap, throws up some of the most challenging corners/sectors in racing and has zero forgiveness for mistakes. Add to this the ‘kerbs of death’ on entry and exit of almost every corner and it’s safe to say this track requires 100% attention from the green light.
I qualified P3 after great difficulty getting a clean lap in but, it was vital I was away from the mid pack as to not be caught up in anyone else’s incident, let alone trying to overtake here (it’s almost impossible!).
Due to the Aston’s lack of ability to accelerate, I dropped to P4 at the start with P5 on my bumper. The two cars in front of me.. Bentley’s, seeing the track when you’re close to one of these isn’t an option!.
P1 was gone, his pace was incredible and he lapped 0.4 faster than the next driver in the race. P2 picked up a slow puncture and P3 was getting flustered by my constant appearance in his rear view mirror.
Eventually, he moved over, we were slowing each other up and compromising our races. I quickly closed in on P2 with his slow puncture. He pitted early and came out in traffic.
This again was a huge opportunity to lock in a good finish. 45 minutes into the race, I pitted.. This was the first time I had experienced the pit entry.. I got this spot on however, I did not account for my pit box to be so soon. I missed it and had to reverse, something a GT3 car doesn’t seem to be designed to do!.
I must have lost a good 10-12 seconds trying to get the car in position. I couldn’t believe it, I had never made a mistake like this! Somehow I managed to come out just ahead of P3 but by this time, the traffic was difficult, to say the least.
I was 6 seconds ahead, it came down to 5, 4, 3 and then under 2 seconds. I couldn’t work out what was going wrong! with 25mins left I had the dreaded message ‘rear left tyre pressure loss’.
A slow puncture at a track like this is, with that kind of time left is usually a disaster. Fortunately for me, it seems P3 had the same problem and possibly worse, somehow, I started to set PB’s with my left rear at 26.8 and having to avoid the kerbs for fear of complete tyre blowout.
The race was coming to an end, I had P2 locked in as long as I stayed trouble free. There were a few hairy moments with lapping cars but we got there. My aim was top 5 for the race so to come away with P2, I was delighted, hot, sweaty, delight and massively relieved this race was over!
Two races down in ACR and I’ve taken a P1 and P2 with a 17 point lead in the championship my aim is to win this now.
Lastly this week I joined ThePitCrew community. I had to take part in a PitSkill race where they take your pace from the race and give you a ranking.
I’ve come in at PRO and will be looking with Darren from simrace247 and Terry (ThePitCrew) at their upcoming events. ThePitCrew is huge in terms of community size and seems to have a brilliant setup in place, I’m looking forward to what’s coming with them!
oNiD – Week Off
ACR – 13/10/21 – Silverstone
I’m going to focus my practice on Silverstone as it is a track I’m confident with but like any racer, always looking for them extra couple of tenths! I will see if there is a Friday race this week I can take part in and update you in next weeks blog with my results.
As ever, a massive thanks to simrace247 and Darren for the constant communication and support and to all of you for taking the time to read the blog. I hope everyone has a great week on and off the track..
As ever, if you’d like to keep up with my Twitter, you’ll find me on @JimboMansi_46.
To read about Jimmy and his introduction visit: Simrace247 Sponsor Multiple Sim Racing Champion Jimmy Mansi
