Our very own sponsored sim racing driver Jimmy Mansi returns with his weekly blog. In blog #8 Jimmy keeps us posted on his racing events.
Jimmy Mansi keeps the community posted on his sim racing events here at simrace247, time to celebrate and bring on 2022.
Jimbo’s Blog!
Apologies I’ve been a little quiet recently. It’s that time of year when work is absolute mayhem and as I would recommend to anyone.. life comes first. But, things are good and I’ve been carrying on with my racing..
Check the results out below!
ACC | @onid_racing Multiclass European Super League | R8 Donington | 21/11/21
Q – P1
R – P1 (FL)
My favorite track, without a doubt and it showed with my results. Qualifying went to plan although I didn’t set my a PB it was still enough to give me pole. Once the race started I got a great launch into T1 and a small incident behind resulted in me gapping the field.
I quickly settled into my race rhythm and pulled away. The race was calm, I was consistent which resulted in me taking the win by 50+ seconds and lapping up to P4. It may have not been my most exciting race but sometimes sheer dominance and getting lost in my own consistency is equally as fun.
ACC | @ACRracing GT3 Earth Tour [Gold] | S10 | R10 Mount Panorama | 01/12/21
Q – P5
R – P9
The final round of ACR, a 13 point lead (after a DNF in the previous round), still getting used to the Aston after the update and we have the most difficult track to concentrate on, especially for 90mins!.
Qualifying around Mount Panorama is difficult enough but when you’re on your flying lap, 0.6 up halfway round and the two cars in front of you crash, ruining your lap. There’s not really much you can do. The lap would have put me P2 and ahead of my rival but it was P5 and behind him (or so I thought) we were starting.
Come race time, everyone is on the grid and timer is counting down. I was running every possible permutation through my head on what I needed to do and before I knew it “30 seconds to go” was announced. I checked my setup, fuel and pit stop one last time and was ready to go. I hit ‘drive’ and switched the car on, with seconds to go, I see my rival is in the pits, he’s not making the start.. he’s going to be last, behind 20+ cars!
This was my chance to get in to a comfortable position and focus on finishing ahead (it was all I needed to do). The race started, I had a good run on a Bentley and was instantly forced wide and off track in to T1. I came back on and held P5 for the remainder of the first lap.. this was enough, I could just settle in here and take the championship.
I could see the cars ahead were slower than me, I was being held up and soon there could be a crash that could ruin my race and end my championship. I made a couple of gutsy moves and suddenly I was in P3. I started to gap those behind me and reel P2 in, all whilst racing within myself and thinking of the championship.
After the pits, I was close to P2.. we started to come down the mountain and all of a sudden the yellow flags were out ‘incident ahead, watch out’. I saw P2 in the middle of the track after a big impact with the wall, avoided him and carried on.
That was it, my rival wasn’t close to me, all I had to do was bring it home from here and I’d win the championship.. But guess who wanted to make it difficult for himself.. Yup, me! 2 laps from the end, the rear of the car snapped around coming down the mountain and I smashed in to the wall. Steering broken, car completely destroyed.. I got back to the pits.. 1min 37secs of repairs. My heart sank, I thought I’d lost it all. I came out of the pits, I’d forgotten to put suspension repair on.. the car was still broken!
I managed to drive the final lap and come over the line in P9.. I instantly checked where my rival had finished.. P7.. I had the FL.. I’d done it, I couldn’t believe it, could barely celebrate after the final 5mins being so stressful but I’d done it!, I’d won the ACR Gold Split!
Without a doubt, this has been my biggest achievement in Sim Racing and the one I’m most proud of. It was a brilliant season, I had some incredibly quick competition and the ups and downs brought so many emotions to the table. Next season I get to race in the Pro Split against the Aliens.. I won’t be battling it out for podiums, I’ll probably be delighted to score points but it is going to be the greatest experience yet!
ACC | @onid_racing Multiclass European Super League | R9 Zolder | 05/12/21
Q – P1
R – P1 (FL)
Coming off the back of winning the championship in ACR, I was feeling really good about racing at Zolder, a track I usually do not enjoy. This was one of the best races I had been involved in, in a good few weeks. 60mins of battling it out with a faster driver behind me and having to go in to defensive mode.
I managed to get pole by a gap I thought may result in me having a comfortable race.. I could not have been more wrong, come the end of the race I crossed the line 0.100 ahead of P2. I have to start by saying thanks to Mr Lankester (P2) who drove a clean, fair and hard race, needless to say he had me stressed by the end of the 60mins but sometimes them kind of races, when you come out of it P1.. there’s no comparison with how it makes you feel.
Zolder is a difficult track to overtake at, so I knew I had an advantage in that respect, but then we both had to make our way past GT4’s, Cup cars and the slower GT3’s. There were some moments that certainly made the backside nip and some where I thought my race was over.
We have one round of oNiD left and it’s double points over a 90min race. There’s a very slim chance if it goes right, I could walk away with the title.. which after missing a lot of the season would be incredible but, we will have to see how the Aston fairs at the Nurburgring after the 1.8 update.
Lastly, I decided on a new car going forward with ACR and oNiD’s new seasons that will be starting next year.. it wasn’t a difficult choice or a guess on anyone’s part that it would be the new BMW M4.. having done some testing in the car, I’m really enjoying it and feel very comfortable. My personal livery has been adapted for the car (see below) and I personally think it looks incredible!
I can’t wait to get going with the new seasons but am looking forward to a small break over Christmas and New Year.. and on that, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to those of you who take the time to read my blogs. Thank you for taking your time to do so!
- As ever, if you’d like to keep up with my Twitter, you’ll find me on @JimboMansi_46.
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