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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WITH

GIO ALTER NIFOSI

 

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

 

Hi everyone, I'm an Italian Simracer. I live in Syracuse in Sicily and I am 56 years old. For 5 years I have been dedicated to driving simulation and for 1 year I have been a fan of ACC. Many years ago, I run in cars both on the track and in rallies.

 

How long have you been playing ACC ?

 

My experience with ACC started 1 year ago

 

You just won the eSeniors GT3 World Championship Group2, what are your feelings ?

 

My meeting with eSENIORS GT3 World Championship gave me the opportunity to compare myself with good drivers from all over the world. After winning the championship, I felt the same joy as when I was racing in the car. Very nice....

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important ?

 

I usually do about 100 laps on a circuit. I find it essential, to understand the car, its behavior, the right setup and above all to know what my goals can be.

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

 

My "driver's seat" consists of thrustmaster T300 steering wheel, logitech pedal board modified with brake and accelerator hardness and an Xtreme playseat. Medium power self-assembled PC and a 55" TCL TV with 60 hz framrate Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ? Depends on... in principle I do the setups myself. But it happened a few times that he bought them.... and then modified according to my driving style.

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

 

I don't know!!! Maybe the knowledge of the tracks...

 

What is you favorite car and why ?

 

La Ferrari... first the 488 Gt3 and then the 488 EVO GT3. I find it adaptable to many circuits. Difficult and wild ,but when I find the right understanding it is really competitive.

 

What is you favorite circuit (s) and why ?

 

SPA is my favorite. But I also love Zandvoort. Spa is complete with... slow, fast ,you can improvise, but in some places it is severe and does not forgive (Eau Rouge!!!). Zan is hard, difficult and if you don't have a perfect set-up, you don't come out of it whole.

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes ?

 

My Heroes are Ayrton Senna In circuit races and Sebastian Loeb in rallies.

 

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer ?

 

Have fun... but to do that you have to do training.

 

Are you satisfied with the Eseniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition ?

 

eSENIORS is the closest to real races. Breifing, Mr. Jérémie's recommendations, and all the pilots present, are the guarantee for healthy and peaceful fun. No suggestions... Jérémie and Michel know what they are doing.

 

And finally, the most important question...how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date ?

 

None... It would be best to take it easy ;-)

Giovanni and his first podium in Rally di Roma, 33 years old with his father

Giovanni's Trophies

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WITH

LARS EKLUND

 

 

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

My name is Lars Eklund, born and raised in Sweden and started my career as IT Technician, became Service Mgr, Project Leader and Sales Mgr before I retired when 55. Will maybe pickup my career once again, but for the moment I’m pleased to do what I want from day to day.
My daughters left home a couple of years ago and I searched for a new hobby during the dark winter days up here in the North and in the trace of Corona. Always enjoyed cars, both looking at them, hearing them and driving them, so this hobby is spot on and with this group it also a large place of good fellowship.

 

How long have you played ACC ?

Relapsed SimRacing in November 2020 after a brake on at least 10 years. Bought AC and Dirt Rally 2 first. Was recommended ACC in a FB group and bought it on Christmas 4 months ago. Has picked up AC a couple of times to drive Nordschleife only, since then

 

 

You just won the Eseniors GT3 World Championship, what are your feelings ?


Feeling great to have met so many new good friends in this group all over the world. I was lucky to be here from the very start and collect points as several aliens have arrived since then; Andrea Caiola, Jörgen Wahlby, M. Neutelings to mention a few new rockets.
 

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important  ?

Around 8-10 hours just driving and pick correct setup from a few pre made and fine tune one of them. As I’m rather new to this I have to learn the track from clean paper in some cases, so I turn on the raceline, makes maybe 20-30 laps and tries to find right line (the built in isn’t optimal), I Watch a couple of Tortellinii and CDA Youtube clips and picks some ideas from them. On Saturday/Sunday I tune the last and split it into Qually and Race setups.
Without these preparation I would’t had a nay point today 

 

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

Got a G25 in the past, but upgraded to Fanatec CSW2.5 and their CSL Elite LC pedals upon relapse in November. Was lucky to buy them on Black Friday.
They are mouted to a sturdy desk with a 34 inch LG monitor on it, but have plans to go all in and buy a 8020 rig with triples this fall. Buttkickers from start, but also maybe motion in future. First step is to mount my Heuskinkveld Sprint that I bought easily used a week ago. Have a concreta plate on floor for pedals, so far...

 

 

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ?

I have done my own setups, but it takes quite some time and damper settings are quite tricky to optimize so I have used CDA and some Youtube setups lately and tune them to my taste. Laguna Seca was from Youtube.

 

 

What makes you faster than the rest?


I’m far from fastest, being second as best three times. I think I was lucky being in this championship from start and manage to make some point before the Aliens arrived , as I wrote above. Has also been lucky to avoid accidents, even if I have been into some of them. The worse I think was on SPA, hitting a newly crashed car before flags warning on crest of Eau Rouge as P1 with just a few laps to go, dropped down to P6 as my front end was badly damaged and I could turn effecient.

 

What is you favorite car and why ?

 

So far it is McLaren as it easy to drive. Have tried Porsche 991.2 on Laguna Seca and did 1.22.2 within 25 laps of practice and little tune, so I may pick that one for next Championship. ;-)
(Gained 0.7 sec compared to my pb in McLaren with +150 laps and experience from 9 Championship races),

 

What is you favorite circuit (s) and why ?

SPA for it’s rhythm and Eau Rouge, but if I can pick outside ACC it’s Nordschleife aka Green Hell. I hope Blancpain will arrange a race on that track, so Kunos can release that one also.

 

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes ?

Ronnie Peterson, Per Eklund, Stig Blomqvist and Björn Waldegård. I don’t know how many are aware of them outside Sweden. Ronnie in F1 in the seventies and must be relatively well known, and the three others did mainly Rally. incl Paris Dakar, but also Pikes Peak, Le Mans et.c.

 

 

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer ?

Smooth inputs, trail brake, learn your track, your car and watch a couple of videos, both hotlaps and how to drive, for example Nils Naujoks, Driver61 and Aris drives. After I while I think you need Motec to find the optimal settings and also to compare to other drivers, to find where to gain more time.

 

 

Are you satisfied with the Eseniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition ?

Yes, the progress of this group is stunning. I remember the first meeting we had in late January/early February and I hope that we could manage to be a startfield of maybe 10-15 cars within a couple of weeks. 19 started.
Thank you Jeremie and Michel for all your effort in this. Two big stars ! I think the organizations works very well, indeed.
I think many of us have many other things to do also in summertime, so let this settle now and validate during the summer / early fall. From my own view, we don’t need to « compete » in every event, it can also be fun to make different one off things, such as mixed class, single car events with rarely used machines, only British machines and track, Italian etc.

 

 

And finally, the most important question...how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date ?

 

Can it be four?! My first was upon test driving a Golf II GTI... 1985. I saw the police control far ahead and turned back, and a policemen came running over the street and stopped me. I wasn’t aware that they already measured me with laser a few meters earlier.. 

 

 

Lars and his father at Spa 2007

Lars Eklund

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

MARK JAMES POCOCK

 

 

 

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

 

My name is Mark James Pocock, I was born in 1971 in a town in England called Wigan. I lived there until I was early 20s then moved out and lived with who is now my wife of 25 years. I have 3 children, 2 boys, 1 who is 23 and 1 who is 21 and a daughter who is 12. I work in Information Technology and was previously a computer programmer. I am now a Product Owner of a large computer system. I have worked for my current employer for 25 years. I currently drive a Ford Kuga ST-Line, 180PS, Automatic. It does have paddle shifters but I don’t use them as I often feel I need to race 😉. I have always been into racing games from the likes of Pole Position and Super Sprint. I used to love Pit Stop II on the Commodore 64 and moving to PC, loved the British Touring Car series and Grand Prix series (Geoff Crammond). I used to play Gran Turismo Sport on the PS4 a lot but switched back to PC and started playing Project Cars 2, Assetto Corsa then Assetto Corsa Competizione and Automobilista 2. Racing a car around a track (even virtually) adds a certain buzz and sense of achievement and with the physics being as accurate as they are you do get a very good sense of realism.

 

How long have you played ACC ?

Just under 2 years (more actively the last few months [eSeniors])

 

 

How was it racing in the eSeniors Championship ?

 

Loved every minute of it. I have met some really nice people and found that the community is one of the best I have come across and seeing as though it is from many different language speaking nations, impressed how everyone is part of it and gets involved.

 

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important  ?

 

Typically I spend at least an hour each day preparing, getting consistent and tweaking the setup. As I work full-time, my preparation time is limited. This is important to me as I like to be ready for the race and respect that others have put effort into their preparation and it feels more like a level playing field.

 

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

 

I have a Thrustmaster T300RS GT Wheel with Thrustmaster T-LCM pedals. I play on an LG 50 inch 4K TV and use a Galaxy Tablet with Simdashboard (and button box setup) to accompany me whilst racing.

My PC is Self Built.

Corsair Crystal Series 680X RGB Case

MSI MPG Z590 Gaming Carbon Wifi Motherboard

Intel i5-11600K (5Ghz)

32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro Ram (Running XMP)

GeForce 2070 RTX

Sound BlasterX Kratos S5

1 x 240GB SSD (Boot & Windows)

1 x 1TB SSD (Steam)

1 x 250GB NVMe drive (Corsair)

1 x 480GN NVMe drive (Corsair)

1 x 2TB SATA Drive

Corsair H100i Platinum AIO Liquid Cooler

Cosair Virtuoso Wireless RGB Headset

Corsair ST100 RGB Stand

Corsair Strafe RGB MK.2 Keyboard

Corsair Harpoon RGB Mouse

Elgato StreamDeck

MSI Optix MAG341C 34 inch ultra Widescreen curved monitor

MSI MAG241C 24 inch 1080p curved monitor

 

 

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ?

I create all my setups as the ones I find on-line are too loose for my liking.

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

 

I am consistent, learn tracks, learn entry and exits of corners, learn braking points and trust the car (and my driving).

 

 

What is you favorite car and why ?

 

My favourite car was the 488 (none Evo) as I could set this up consistently. It went well on various tracks and just drove very stable. I will be upgrading to the EVO next season and already started playing with setups. (It looks like this will be nearly a second faster than the 488 I was driving)

 

 

What is you favorite circuit (s) and why ?

 

I would say Paul Ricard, there is something about this track that is challenging but also rewarding. It offers a good mix of power and technical ability to really challenge you. The sweeping corners in the middle section feels so good when you get the flow and balance right culminating with the long straight that allows you to stretch your legs and back to a more challenging turning section.

 

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes ?

 

James Hunt and Nigel Mansell.

 

 

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer ?

 

Watch other drivers, take notes, listen to others and don’ t be afraid to ask for help. Learn tracks, corner entry and exists, braking points and correct gear selection. Never give up, crashes and incidents happen.

 

 

Are you satisfied with the Eseniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition ?

 

I think the group is fantastic and right on point. As more members appear its inevitable that upset will occur. However, its a fine balance to ensure satisfaction is maintained without losing racers. I think you’re doing a great job ! To bring a higher level of competition is difficult as there are already some very quick drivers. You could operate a Super League whereby the current top 10 runners of each group face off each other for the ultimate in super league challenge. The potential is that this group could change as races are taken. This could be done Monday or Tuesday.

 

 

And finally, the most important question...how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date ?

 

I have NEVER been stopped for speeding and NEVER received a speeding ticket. However, In England, if you are only slightly over the speed limit you can do a speed awareness course. I was caught doing 56 in a 50 limit (telling the kids off and not concentrating) and was offered a speed awareness course. I did not receive a fine, a ticket, points and it did not affect my insurance.

                                                                   

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

ALESSANDRO DIAMANTE

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

 

Hello friends, my name is Alessandro Diamante, I am 51 years old and I am Italian; to be precise, I'm Sicilian and I live in Syracuse. I am a geologist and I work in the field of environmental remediation of soil and groundwater for the petrochemical industry. I have always been passionate about racing cars but I have never raced in motorsport competitions. As a teenager I satisfied my passion through racing video games, starting with Pitstop for the Commodore 64 home PC. Then, I devoted myself to university studies and work and only more recently, after marriage and two children, I started to get interested to simracing (Project CARS, Assetto Corsa and now Assetto Corsa Competizione).

 

How long have you played ACC ?

 

Until August 2020 I was playing with Project CARS 2 and then, despite some initial difficulties of adaptation, I decided to dedicate myself to Assetto Corsa Competizione which I think is much more realistic and satisfying.

 

How was it racing in the Eseniors Championship ?

 

Participating in the Eseniors championship was a lot of fun especially because I settled in very well, thanks to all the simracers, and you can breathe a good atmosphere of healthy competition.

 

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important  ?

 

I don't have much free time to prepare for a race. Considering that I don't play ACC every day, I think I don't exceed 6 or 8 hours a week. If I don't know a track, I also prepare myself by watching the video guides available on youtube. Preparation is important to regain confidence with the track and fine-tune the car according to the environmental conditions.

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

 

I own a T300 steering wheel and a T-LCM pedal set both from Thrustmaster. Then I have a desktop PC with decent features (AMD Ryzen 5 2600x, RTX 2080 super, 500 GB ssd and 1000 GB HDD, 16 GB DDR4 RAM) and a 29-inch ultrawide single monitor.

 

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ?

 

I have always studied how to change the setup to try to improve the car and make it more suited to my driving style (everything I read about the setup I have reported on my blog, making it available to all simracers). Lately I also wanted to try some setups available on the web but I must say that I have not had great advantages; the setup is something personal and therefore, if I have to be honest, I recommend that you learn how to modify the car setup yourself.

 

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

 

I don't think I'm faster than the others; rather, sometimes I am particularly inspired and I can express myself at my best, other times I cannot find the right concentration and I make mistakes.

 

 

What is you favorite car and why ?

 

I like many cars, some are sports cars like the Ferrari 288 GTO from 1984 or the F430, others are normal cars of the past with a particular design like the Citroen DS 'shark' or the Fiat 600 Multipla from the 1960s. If the question is about the cars available on ACC, my favorite is the Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO.

 

 

What is you favorite circuit (s) and why ?

 

My favorite track is Spa Francorchamps because it is difficult, hard and does not forgive mistakes, especially the section that leads from Eau Rouge to Blanchimont; practically it is the thesis for the real pilots.

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes ?

 

I got really passionate about Formula 1 thanks to Gilles Villeneuve, he was my hero.

I must say that growing up I also deeply admired Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, but Gilles is like first love: he never forgets.

 

 

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer ?

 

Put passion into it, never give up even when the results are not good and try to enjoy even the duels that are not for the leading positions of the race.

 

 

Are you satisfied with the Eseniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition ?

 

Yes, I am extremely satisfied and, from personal experience (I have also organized championships), I must say that I would not have been able to do better.

 

And finally, the most important question...how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date ?

 

Hahaha …fortunately, none. I am extremely cautious when driving my real car.

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

CARLO VANBRABANT

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

 

I am Carlo Vanbrabant, born in Genk, Belgium on January 26 1968, married no children, except for our two border collies (sisters) Penny and Fiona.

I lived in Belgium for 38 years, 7 years in the Netherlands, 7 years in Australia and now currently in the USA since 2012, my daily profession is Estimator for a steel stairs, rails and miscellaneous metals company in Dacono, Colorado, working from my home in Gold Beach, Oregon, about two minutes from the West Coast in USA, my hobbies are Mountain Biking, Motorcycle riding, watching all sorts of motorsports on two wheels or four, and obviously SIM Racing.

I always wanted to be a race car driver, but never found a sponsor crazy enough to sponsor me, ha-ha !

 

How long have you played ACC?

 

I have been playing ACC since they released the initial developer’s version, I bought it for $25.00 USD on Steam early access in 2018 I believe, the release was planned for the summer of that year.

It was kind of to help Kunos further develop the game and see how much interest there was from the public, the playability was great, graphics were terrible, but I was sold from the get-go, because it was a realistic driving experience and soon found out that the difficulty level bar was set high, it wasn’t just another arcade racing game.

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important?

 

On average I spend about 15-20 hours a week on practice and racing in ACC, reading/watching replays, track guides mostly from Unleashed Drivers.

It is a hobby, and you can spend as much time on a hobby as you want in my opinion.

 

Now, with three different classes to race in GT4, CUP car and GT3 it becomes a little harder setting up for all three classes, so I focus on GT3 more and learn the track that way, while for GT4 i typically take an aggressive setup, fuel up and go!

 

The Cup car is a different animal and needs time to setup correctly, the car is very lively, and to feel comfortable in the car, you need to spend time practicing finding a good balance both being quick and stay on the track, this car will take you for a spin in no time, it happened several times in a race.

Zandvoort was a perfect example, being in the lead extending that lead and spun around twice in the same race, which costed me the victory.

To me it is important to understand the car and it’s behavior, not only for qualification, but also do full 45-60 minute stints to see how the car is handling after all that time, consistency, fuel consumption, tire wear, etc.

The Cup is a nice class to drive, all equal cars and it really comes down to the skills of the driver having the car under control for an entire race. It separates the boys from the men (figure of speech)

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc.)?

 

Recently I bought a hardcore gaming Lenovo Legion Y740-17 laptop, 9th gen I7 processor, with a RTX2060 8gig graphics card, 16gigs of RAM.

I use Rift-S VR goggles, Logitech Pro headphones, Thrustmaster T300 RS GT wheel with Thrustmaster T-LCM load cell pedal set, all bolted down in a recently bought open wheeler SIM Rig (still a work in progress since the cables need to be rerouted etc.)

No more using shoes to stop the office chair from rolling away when I am braking.

 

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone?

 

Oh my….the setups topic !! A bit of both to be honest

 

Since I was struggling on several tracks with the Porsche GT3 which is the hardest car to set up and make it fast, I bit the bullet and bought the entire Porsche GT3 setups from Coach Dave, just to see what the fuss was all about

Initially I thought I was making progress, but I started realizing that it wasn’t the setup that made the difference.

It’s an illusion to think that those setups make you think you’re unbeatable all of a sudden, sure there are some good pointers in the setup, but it doesn’t necessarily make you instantly faster.

 

I was spending more time tweaking the bought setups, and it struck me I could have started with a safe setup or aggressive and work my way forward.

The principal is the same, you want a fast car that handles well and can last an entire race and hopefully get on the podium or top five.

There is no shame in buying setups, the work is done for you by other sim drivers, if there is no time to figure it out yourself, fine go for it, but as I mentioned before it’s not some sort of voodoo that is going to make you the next sim version of Michael Schumacher.

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

 

I do not consider myself fast, in my opinion it’s all about track knowledge, finding the braking markers, entry speed into a turn, find the apex and on the throttle as soon as you can, tire temperatures play a big role, the traction control will sort you out it is there for a reason and in real GT3 the drivers use it too, it is a matter of not letting the TC (Traction Control) interfere too much though and limit the loss of acceleration on exit speed.

 

What is your favorite car and why?

 

Without a doubt, Porsche II GT3, it is the most difficult car in ACC in regards setup, handling, aero balance, but has the best acceleration and brakes, once you master to setup this car correctly it is the most rewarding car to drive.

For instance a Laguna Seca this race is a perfect example, I used a Coach Dave setup as a base and started tweaking toe front and rear, I wanted the car to rotate more, increased the preload on differential, increased tire pressure to correct setting and opened the ducts, reduced front splitter, lowered the front by 1mm lowered rear wing to an aero balance of 0.8, under fuel load for a 45 minute race the aero balance changes , another thing to keep in mind as the fuel level decreases the aero balance can become a factor in front end grip (fuel tank is in the front) and shared my setup with two other drivers, just to gauge the reaction, the results were mixed, but we (Jonathan Wood and myself) kept driving laps every evening on that circuit for at least an hour and we found time, lots of time and improvement during that week, result, #1 and #3 in Laguna Seca.

Then Lars Eklund gifted me a setup the 2 days before Race day, I tried it and was not immediately faster, but it worked really well after I got used to it, so I had another ace up the sleeve. On race day I used my own setup for Qualification with a time at 1.22.317 (the fastest I’ve been on that track) For the race I changed my mind in the last minute and used Lars’ setup which was a gamble but it worked brilliantly, very consistent with 21 laps in the 1.23’s

a race with 33 laps in 45 minutes and 1 liter of fuel left in the tank. It was a brilliant race!

 

What is your favorite circuit (s) and why?

 

Zolder… I was born near Zolder and lived there when I was a little kid in the late seventies, early eighties, the house we lived in was right near the track, close to the chicane where Gilles Villeneuve lost his life in 1982

Since the victory in Laguna Seca, Laguna and Zandvoort are my favorites of short circuits

Spa is another favorite track, the Belgian Ardennes circuit that is hard to master.

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes?

 

Many, every race car driver is some sort of a hero in my opinion, each in their particular way, having the ability of pushing the boundaries of a car, risking their life to become the best driver in the World.

If I had to pick one from my childhood, I would choose Niki Lauda, the massive accident that nearly killed him, didn’t stop him from racing, the determination to win was immense.

In later years I started watching WRC, drivers like Colin McRae, Richard Burns, Carlos Sainz, Sebastien Loeb and our Belgian WRC driver Thierry Neuville, driving a car fast on all sorts of surfaces is a gift that only very few people possess.

 

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer?

 

#1 = Patience…..learn from mistakes made, pick a car that suits your driving style, start of with a forgiving car or front engine, start with a safe setup and learn tracks, do laps, lots of laps, not only hot laps, but 20 minute, 30 minute up to 60 minute stints (if you have the time) to understand the cars behavior and your capabilities to become consistent in braking and acceleration, trust me your lap times will eventually come down.

I am not a gifted driver, I learned through lots of trial and error and it is a good learning curve, it’s important to make the mistakes yourself and learn from them.

 

Are you satisfied with the eSeniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition?

 

Very satisfied, without a doubt and I think I can say that for the entire group of members this is by far the most and greatest group of people and fellow drivers to spend your time with, At the beginning, I didn’t know what to expect, but soon found out that this was going to be a great group of people and drivers, several members expressed the same feeling and we all agreed on this statement.

The eSeniors Organization made Sim racing more enjoyable, and bring likeminded Sim drivers together from all over the world to have fun, the idea originated from two minds in Canada, and expanded to almost 300 people from all over the world, one word « Amazing !.

 

And finally, the most important question... how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date?

 

I have been driving since 1985, Just 1 in Belgium, 1 in Australia, and 1 in the USA all in a car, none on a motorcycle

 

Thank you!

 

 

                                                                   

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

ANDREA  CAIOLA

 

 

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

 

I just turned 54, as you might guess from my favorite race number 67 😊 I am Italian, born in Milan, but since the age of 12 living in the Emilia region, in the north part of Italy, close to the city of Piacenza.

I live only 90 minutes away from Maranello, 2 hours from Imola, 1 hour from Monza so I think I got into racing and cars just by osmosis. I started playing racing games 10 years ago, but only offline. I turned to simracing only less than two years ago, when I fell in love with ACC.

About my professional life, I work for a well known American Corporation specialized in software and based in Redmond, WA.

 

 

How long have you played ACC ?

I started playing less than 2 years ago occasionally but always offline against AI. It became more “serious” last summer when I began racing online with other human. Since then I made a lot of friends and joined a local small team (FD Racing Department) which organizes events and championships through the year.

 

 

How was it racing in the Eseniors Championship ?

It was fun! I wish have discovered about eSeniors Championship for the very beginning, but I enjoyed as well joining half way.

I like the relaxed environment, even if when I hear “Green Green Green” things become very serious to me 😊

 

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important  ?

For me preparation and practice is everything. I don’t have the talent that other drivers have, which in a couple of laps can find the best lines and breaking points of each circuit.

I compensate with almost daily practice and preparation in my evenings when work does not interfere. I like to fine tune setups, practice qualifying laps, run a simulated race with AI at 100% to test my readiness and check fuel / tires consumptions etc…

I also watch coaching videos on Youtube to learn from the best, and leverage Motec when possible to spot my mistakes and identify areas of improvements.

That gives me the confidence during race day that I’m ready to be at my best.

 

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

I’ve always been a Fanatec fanboy, since my very first wheel (Porsche GT2) 10 years ago. I used to race on console until 2 years ago when I moved to PC. Since then, I made a few upgrades to my rig, which now is based on Sim-Lab P1-X, Fanatec DD1, Pedals V3, Fanatech Shifter 1.5 and a Samsung super ultra-wide G9 monitor.

The steering wheel I’m using with ACC is the Fanatec F1 2020 LE, but I have also a round R300 for more casual driving in Assetto Corsa 1

 

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ?

I spent the first year in ACC building my own setups, learning a lot from more expert simracers and from Aris videos. Starting 2021 I decided to buy CDA setups for my Aston to make my life a bit easier during the race preparation. However, the knowledge accumulated in building your own setups help me tune the already good CDA setups to my liking and driving style.

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

When it happens, is for sure due to meticulous preparation I try to do before each race. The other important factor is that outside eSeniors I race with my friends at FDR, who are all younger than me and some even half my age or less. That pushes my boundaries for sure 😊

 

What is you favorite car and why ?

I don’t have an absolute favorite car in ACC. I raced with the Ferrari 488 (old and Evo), with the Lexus, with the McLaren. However since last October I focused on the Aston V8, because it’s really a very balanced and predictable car. I like the fact that she tells you in advance what she is going to do so you can anticipate and correct.

Bonus car for me is the Aston V12…heavy and old, but the sound! OMG!!! I wish we could have a fun event with all Aston V12 and just enjoy the engine noise

 

What is you favorite circuit (s) and why ?

Bathurst Mount Panorama…the emotion I get during the mountain part of track, flying a few cm off the walls is pure adrenaline. And when once in a while I manage to do the first part flat out, I go down through the Conrod straight with a bigger smile than Ricciardo 😊

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes ?

There is one and only one: Gilles Villeneuve!

My father introduced me to F1 in the late 70s and while we rationally understood that Niki Lauda was a better driver all around, Gilles was simply pure emotion for Ferrari fans like us.

I still remember the tragic day at Zolder, when we got the sad news watching TV during the family meal…my father and I were in disbelief…

 

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer ?

Have fun, and decide what you want to get out of this hobby. It’s important to me that you understand if you want to be an amateur driver or if you want to compete to win. In the latter case, you have to put discipline and a lot of time in it, including time to learn and study. If that’s not your cup of tea, then don’t be disappointed as if a driver is faster than you is 99% of the time simply due to the more work and effort they put into it.

 

Are you satisfied with the Eseniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition ?

For a community which 3 months ago did not exist, the organization is amazing! I think over time will get better and better, and I know already improvements are on the way. Jérémie and Michel are great host and put a lot of efforts in the eSeniors programme. Thank You!

The think I would like to see soon is a semi-professional live commentary on Twitch/Youtube, at least of the group 1 championship, where we can display our gorgeous custom liveries and be able to our spouses: “look, honey, I’m on TV racing like a pro!!!”

 

And finally, the most important question...how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date ?

To be honest not that many, considering that for the most part of my job career I have been a consultant driving to customers places every day for several years. Maybe a dozen or so.

When I was young, I was a bit reckless, but after a dangerous accident I had on a mountain road with the fiancé, now wife, I calmed down. I was driving way too fast and I lost my BMW E30 on a high speed turn. I managed to control the car just enough to crash it to the mountain side, but I could have lost it to the ravine on the other side, and I would not have been here to tell.

                                                                   

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

RICKARD WESTIN

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

 

Im 55 yrs young live in Sweden, and work as an service technician with ventilation. I have been doing Swedish endurance racing for about 10 yrs in real life, and we build our own cars and travel to our tracks here in Sweden. I thought it was a good idea to do simracing in the winter to be more skilled for the next season. But with corona we havent been able to race in real life so simracing is real fun and im stuck with it for life.

 

How long have you played ACC ?

 

I have played it since the release in 2019, but went back to Assetto Corsa a while, because it was so bad in VR in the begining. I think i have played all carsims on the market but the best is ACC i think.

 

How was it racing in the Eseniors Championship ?

 

Its a lot different to ordernary online simracing because here we are 50+ racers who respect each other much better and its a community that cares for each other on and off the track.

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important  ?

 

About 8-16 hours learning the track and get a good setup for the car.

Its important if you want to have a chance to win against others who are very skilled, or atleast so i dont destroy for other racers, by not knowing the track.

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

 

Another hobby of mine is to build computers, so i wanted to be able to drive with VR in ACC

my latest build is

ASus ROG Strix Z490 Gaming Motherboard

Intel I9 10900K processor with watercooling

32 GB Ram

Asus Rog Strix Geforce RTX 2080 8GB OC

and 2 M2 HDD

AOC Agon 32 inch curved monitor

HP Reverb G2 VR goggles

Thrustmaster TS-XW wheel with T-LCM load cell pedals

and a lot of RGB leds

 

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ?

 

I bought setups from Coach Dave Academy but the were too loose for me, so i started to use ACC:s aggressive setups with my own tweaking in stead and it works well for me i think.

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

 

Oh thats a tough one to answer, but i think in the end its only practice and a lots of laps thats make the difference. And a little luck with the setup.

 

What is you favorite car and why ?

 

I love Porsches since i was a kid, dont know why really but its the sound and beautiful lines of the car i guess.

 

What is you favorite circuit (s) and why ?

 

Except our Swedish tracks i love Brands Hatch because its a quick and technical course.

And Nordschleife due to its many corners and long track.

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes ?

 

Its Ronnie Petterson, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittipaldi, Niki Lauda and many more

 

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer ?

Dont give up it takes time to be able to drive fast, and theres no short cut. And just enjoy to participate in races no matter what.

 

Are you satisfied with the Eseniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition ?

 

When I joined in Marsh this year I was surprised how friendly every one was ,and still very competitive on track. Its a great community for online racers from all over the globe, so a Big Thanks to our two Admins Jeremie and Michel making this happen.

 

And finally, the most important question...how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date ?

 

Im sorry to say i got two of them, but in my defense i have had driving licence for 35 years.

 

                                                                   

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

ROGÉRIO  GOMES SANTOS

Please introduce yourself, tell us about yourself (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a Simracer

 My name is Rogério Gomes Santos, I am 55 years old (May 1st), I live in Curitiba / Paraná / Brazil. I am a systems analyst, as I have always been passionate about motorsport and I even started to run a professional go-kart, and virtual motorsport is what brings me closer to motorsport now.

 

How long have you been playing ACC?

Since its launch

 

How was it to race in the eSeniors Championship?

It was great, the people respect each other a lot

 

How many hours did you spend getting ready for a race and why is this important?

I don't have much time for training, but whenever I can I prepare. Without a doubt the training is very important, as it helps you in the times and behavior of the car.

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc.)?

Thrustmaster T300rs / 3 screens / Cokpit extreme

 

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car yourself?

I do my setups, but I'm not an expert at this. The setup will only make a difference, when you are less than 1 second from the opponent you want to catch, before that forget the setup and train piloting techniques ... train, train and train, when you think you have trained enough, train one more little... ;-)

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

I am not fast, but consistent. If you notice my times on racing laps, they are always better than my times on qualy laps

 

What is your favorite car and why?

Ferrari GT3 Evo, I got along very well with this car, more in the hand, more predictable

 

What is your favorite circuit (s) and why?

A driver cannot have a favorite circuit, he has to ride all without complaining ...  But one that I like a lot is nurburgring nordschleife

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes?

Ayrton Senna / Nelson Piquet / Rubens Barrichello / Fangio

 

What is the best advice you would give to a simracer?

Race in virtual motorsport, exactly as if you were racing in the real world and be patient.

 

Are you satisfied with the eSeniors organization and do you have suggestions to help raise the level of competition?

Very satisfied ... As for me consistency is strong, so the longer the races the better ... :-)

 

And finally, the most important question ... how many speeding tickets have you accumulated so far?

Oops .... I prefer not to answer ... :-)  but there are few .... ;-)

 

                                                                   

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

CHRISTER HIORT

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

Im born in Sweden but moved to the US for work in 1990 and is now both Swedish and US citizen. I will be 60 years this year. I have a wife and 4 grown kids. I work as Director of Project Operations at a Swedish Telecom Supplier.

I live in Frisco, Texas just north of Dallas. I have been an F1 racing fan for several years and have been watching some F1 races here in Texas, so I started to race the F1 game series on PS4 in 2016 to get more familiar with the tracks I was watching in the races. Then I was hooked,

 

 

How long have you played ACC ?

I started my on-line racing on PS4 in 2016 with the F1 series of games. Then started with GranTurismo Sport and then with ACC when it came out on PS4 in 2020.

I have played ACC on PC since April this year.

 

How was it racing in the Eseniors Championship ?

Great! The best league I have been part of. Very well organized and the drivers really want to improve and provide better racing for everyone. It’s becoming a real community. I love the international aspect.

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important  ?

I probably spend about 3-5 hrs. Its important both for my own enjoyment as I want to be competitive, but also for the other drivers, as I learn the track and the car so I do not become a liability on track.

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

I use a Fanatec CSL Elite wheel base, Fanatec F1 Wheel, Fanatec Clubsport Pedals V3. The PC is brand new with a AMD RyzenTM 5 5600X processor and GeForce RTXTM 3060 Video card.

The game monitor is an LG 32 inch.

 

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ?

I simply buy them from Coach Dave Academy. I might tweak them in rare occasions. Still learning that aspect of the racing experience.

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

I prepare a lot. I compare my drive with a reference drive of the same car and setup that comes with the CDA setups. I use Motec for that. I’m pretty consistent in my driving so that helps a lot.

 

What is you favorite car and why ?

I’m a McLaren fan so the Mclaren 720S became an easy choice. I like it because it is stable. I like mid engine cars. I also think that if you stay and become really comfortable with a car, why change. However, I’m looking at the new Mercedes EVO as an option as well as the Lambo.

 

What is you favorite circuit (s) and why ?

Mount Panorama - I used to hate it but now I love it. Its so unique and challenging as well as beautiful vistas for replays.

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes ?

Ronnie Pettersson that unfortunately had a horrible accident at Monza 1978. That was the first race I watched live as a kid. I have been interested in cars, but not so into racing until I picked up F1 again about 5 years ago.

 

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer ?

Take your time to learn the track. Study YouTube videos with track guides. There are many out there for all the tracks. They are really helpful.

Remember, brake so you have control as you come into the turn, and you will be able to go fast out !

 

Are you satisfied with the Eseniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition ?

I think it is working great and its evolving to the growing needs by listening to the members. More groups are being evaluated and I think that is an excellent next step.

Just to be “promoted” to the next group is a great carrot.

 

And finally, the most important question...how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date ?

I have ONE speeding ticket ! It was 2 weeks after I had purchased a brand new Camaro Z28 .. :-). I still have the car 20 years later, but no more tickets.

 

 

                                                                   

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

JONATHAN WOOD

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

 

Hello ! My name is Jonathan Wood, I grew up in London, UK but have lived in San Diego, California since 1995, basically more than half my life. I like to think that I’m British by birth but American by choice. Technology has always fascinated me, since my first computer, a Sinclair ZX-81 back in 1982-ish. I’m a national computing product trainer for Samsung Electronics, which allows me to indulge in a passion while getting paid for it.

How did I become a sim racer….thats a good question, and it has everything to do with my only big sports interest…..Formula One. My « anorak » following started when Nigel Mansell was on his championship charge in 1986. Of course it was a failed bid but it sold me on F1 and top level motor racing. My first in-person race was the 1988 British GP at a very wet Silverstone. I’ve also attended the 1991 British GP, 2000 and 2003 USGP and Le Mans in 1989.

The interest in video games and F1 was always led me to PRAY for a good racing sim and I’ve tried them all, however I had a haetus from gaming from about 2012 to 2020. When COVID hit I was temporarily laid off so decided to build a new gaming rig. I played AC and ACC initially, then my friend let me borrow his Oculus VR….Instantly my perception of video games changed. Driving down the pitlane for the first time at Nurburgring in VR was gob-smacking…..I could LOOK at the apex of the corners….see PAST the corners to the next one. I Was THERE…..VR is ****ing amazing.

The day I joined eSeniors was karma. I’d just joined the ACC FB page and Jeremie was putting feelers out for his Championship. Timing was perfect !

The first 6 or so races were very humbling (still are actually LOL) but I feel I’m finally up to speed. Every lap of every circuit is a learning experience !
 

 

How long have you played ACC ?

Initially I bought ACC and AC in Summer of 2020 but found AC was more fun because of all the mods. The ability to drive any car on any track in any weather condition….at any time of day…..WITH your friends was like nirvana ! The 1990’s F1 mods are simply magical.

I only really seriously started playing ACC when the eSeniors Championship was formed this year….Had to win all those bloody track medals ! GRRRR !!!!

 

How was it racing in the Eseniors Championship ?

Oh how humbling ! You know, we all have an ego and THINK we’re a digital Michael Schumacher, but at that first practice end up feeling like Nikita Mazepin driving a Renault Clio (the really, really shit one).

So yeah…humbled. We have so many fantastic racers ! Building relationships with the other drivers has been the most rewarding thing. After a race we message each other and have the funniest conversations. At this age it’s difficult to build new friendships, so I’m VERY thankful !

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important  ?

Ahhh well you see it’s not just one race…we have several disciplines which are all VERY different. The week leading up to GT3 Sunday there are 3 West Coasters (we call ourselves the West Coast Wankers ) : Carlo, Robert and myself. We start in the GT3 and work our way and try to get a good rhythm. I’d say we stick with the GT3 on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday night we’re practicins with the GT4, and Wednesday night the Cup car, before focusing on GT3 again on Thursday night. I’d say we practice not much more than 2 hours a day. For me the enjoyment is in driving and chatting with Carlo and Robert in Discord. These guys are hilarious.

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

Built my own rig :

Coolermaster full sized case

Asus something-or-other gaming Mobo w/PCIe Gen4

32 GB RAM

Samsung 980 Pro NVME m.2 1TB

Samsung 870 SATA3 x2 512GB

Seagate Barracuda HDD 4TB (for games library)

Nvidia RTX 2080ti Founders Edition

TCL 55 inch 4k TV

Samsung G9 Ultra Wide 240hz 1440p Monitor

Oculus Rift S VR

 

NO I don’t have ANY RGB ! 😊

 

 

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ?

No I don’t buy setups. I find the ones on YouTube to be decent, and exchange help from other eSeniors (gosh that makes us sound so old doesn’t it ? Hi I’m an eSenior…….do I get a discount ?)

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

Ooh I was waiting for this question. It’s an easy answer. I’m not. HAHAHA

There are a LOT of eSeniors who are clearly much faster than me. I’m improving week by week though. I think the one thing I’ve improved the most is my racecraft. I have found a good safe distance 2 inches from the tailpipe of the guy in front without hitting them ! Apologies in advance if I have hit you in the past ! No really…I’ve not hit anyone since my win at Misano from the reverse grid (Grrrrrr Jeremie 😊)

Oh I drive without mirrors, but with the radar…that makes me faster because it’s less of a distraction…..does that make me dangerous ? LOL Is it even legal ?

 

What is you favorite car and why ?

I really love the Cup car. The fact that it doesn’t have TC doesn’t even register any more. Wish it had better brakes, or a parachute though. That top speed !

 

What is you favorite circuit (s) and why ?

The fast ones. Spa, Monza, Suzuka.

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes ?

The man with the moustache and Brummie accent, Il Leone ! I love to read about past racing drivers. Gilles Villeneuve, Francois Cevert, Jackie Stewart, Jimmy Clark, Niki Lauda.

 

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer ?

Be patient with your own speed. It’ll come. Don’t over-drive. Watch other drivers and their lines, braking points. Find visual markers on the track for your braking. Accept losing a corner if necessary. And remember, the corners don’t change…only you do.

 

Are you satisfied with the Eseniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition ?

I’m blown away by this organization. We’re VERY young, literally just been born, but already have a fantastic, passionate, competitive and hilarious bunch of racers. I think shorter qualifying might provide better racing as 30 mins may be too long. 10 minutes would mix the grid up because of traffic, and possible inability to get into the groove.

 

And finally, the most important question...how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date ?

4 if I remember correctly. 1 in the UK and 3 here in the US. This is spanning over 30 years so that’s not too bad. 1 ticket every 7 or 8 years.

 

                                                                   

Jonathan Wood
Christer Hiort
Rogerio Santos
Rickard Westin
Andrea Caiola
Carlo Vanbrabant
Alessandro Diamante
Mark Pocock

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

NEIL BYWATER

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

 

A ‘69 baby, the best year. Born in the UK midlands city of Leicester. Leicester sits in a nice little triangle of nostalgic motor racing circuits of Silverstone, Donington and Mallory Park.

By day I’m an industrial process control system engineer, by night I’m into this sim racing business, I know which I prefer doing.

As a teen, I visited motor racing circuits most weekends with my Dad and Brother. Formula Ford single seater racing was my personal favourite and I saw a few notable F1 drivers of the 1990s and 2000s competing in their Brands Hatch Formula Ford Festival year 1987, Ratzenburger, Coulthard, Irvine, McNish, I guess it was quite a privilege to see that.

I started my own racing with RC cars, always seemed to have good hand eye coordination, I also did a bit of RC helicopter flying.

I then progressed on to TKM Kart racing for a season in a RAC regional championship before that ended when I found my partner, now wife of 20 years and 19 year old twins.

Sim racing of sorts started with REVs on the BBC Micro B, Indy Car Racing on the company 386 PC in the early 90s with a colleague at lunchtimes on two PCs connected with a RS232 cable, then F1 games by Geoff Crammond on my first PC in 1995 and then moving on to Grand Tourismo and F1 on the PS1 through to Forza Motorsport on the XBOX and XBOX360. My first real online league racing starting on F1 2013 on XBOX360 and then PC with Apex Online Racing.

 

How long have you played ACC ?

 

I’ve only been racing on ACC seriously since late 2020. I got it early 2020 but didn’t play on it much as I was still competing in the F1 2020 league through 2020

 

 

How was it racing in the Eseniors Championship ?

 

The racing has been very close and generally clean. Having raced with a wide age range of drivers for the last few years it’s pleasant to find drivers who understand fair play and behaviour.

 

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important  ?

 

Less time than I would like but having raced competitively in F1 leagues for 7 years I know most of the circuits pretty well, so I’m not having to learn the track layouts just new braking points for the various cars. On tracks I don’t know I’m probably spending 5 hours per week before the Group 1 GT3 race. It’s more a matter of game familiarisation at this stage than anything else.

I looked at my racing game stats recently and it’s around 6000hrs since I joined Steam over 8 years. Quite worrying when you consider it, that’s 3 man years.

 

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

 

I’m running a i7-7700k PC on an AMD Rx580 GPU. I run in a HTC Vive VR headset with Logitech G930 headphones. It will be hard going back to F1 2021 without VR.

For the simulation gear a Fanatec CSW 2.5 wheelbase, Formula V2 wheel and CSW V3 Pedals all mounted to a GTOmega classic wheel stand back frame and RS9 sear.

I’ve made a few additions with my 3D printer, including a button box shaped to the CSW 2.5 wheelbase, Magnetic shifter attachments.

A cheap bass shaker was also a great addition, giving me feel of wheelslip and brake locking through the racing seat.

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ?

 

A kind fellow racer here on eSeniors donated my first setup for the first eSenior race at Brand Hatch. Thanks Jonathan. It was very stable and allowed me to push hard, and I adapted that for most of season 1. Carlo also provided a few setups late in the season that I used for a couple of races, again very useful, thanks.

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

 

Experience and consistency which comes with time. I’d rather be a bit slower and consistent than outright fast and edgy. The true aliens can do the latter, but the former will get you the points for a good championship result.

 

 

What is you favorite car and why ?

 

I’ve only raced Porsches in all classes on ACC. Again consistency is key and mixing different car types doesn’t help with that. Pick a car and get better with it. I find the Porsches generally good anywhere.

 

 

What is you favorite circuit (s) and why ?

 

Silverstone is one of my favourites I’ve probably done 100s of hours on the circuit in F1. In F1 leagues I’ve had one win here, but probably my most successful track has been Spa. I do like Spa, a proper circuit, but I think it’s more an F1 circuit than GT3.

 

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes ?

 

I remember James Hunt, but I can’t say I was a fan back then, a bit too young. My personal favourite was Nigel Mansell from his Williams Honda days through Ferrari and back to Williams, sat at the entrance to Copse 1992 in the FW14B he was visibly faster through that corner than all others including Patrese in the same car. Then there was the remarkable first season of Lewis Hamilton, I’ve admired his abilities ever since and Jenson Buttons 2009 season was something special. Can you tell I’m English?

Obviously Senna and Schumacher have to be mentioned, generally I appreciate good drivers and their skill, they were among the best I have seen. I kept old copies of Motoring News in my loft for years. Found these two when moving house and kept them, they were pretty poignant I feel, the changing of the guard, that headline on the 27th April 1994. Schumacher was on the up and sadly that following week 05th May 1994. Zoom in on the dates of the copies.

Below some mementos of the events I was lucky enough to attend and see the noted drivers race. Spain 1996, the first of Schumacher many wins for Ferrari.

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer ?

 

Put the hours in and get consistent. I’ve pounded Time Trials for hours and hours. Unless you have absolute natural talent, practice practice practice is the only way.

 

 

Are you satisfied with the Eseniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition ?

 

I’m still here and I’ve parked AOR, at least until F1 2021 comes out (which will be a copy of F1 2020) . So I must be satisfied.

I enjoy the pre race briefings, something I’ve not experienced before, gives it a bit more realism and accountability.

It takes dedication to run these leagues, you can’t rest. I’ve been involved with coordinating leagues on AOR in a small way, it’s not easy and we should appreciate what the admins are doing for us here.

 

And finally, the most important question...how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date ?

 

Zero, keep the racing for the track (or virtual track) perhaps that’s why. Although I did receive a TS10 which is a traffic light violation here in the UK, which is probably worse.

 

I’ve had a fair share of fairly quick cars, Nissan 200SX, Subaru Impreza and Alfa 155, but I must have been lucky. Bizarrely the TS10 was while driving my wifes Citroen Picasso people carrier with all of the family in there with me.

Currently running a BMW 530e which is a quite pleasant way to get from A to B. But on the weekends you may find me in our Motorhome, so there’s not much chance of a speeding ticket in that.

                                                     This is why I missed the first round of GT3 at Barcelona.

neil2_edited.jpg
Neil Bywater

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

DEREK BIRD

 

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

I am an English 61 year old sim racing addict. Originally from Hull but now live in Doncaster South Yorkshire and work as a self employed kitchen and bedroom fitter. I have always enjoyed playing computer games especially racing games. I have been playing them since the early days of Atari (you young 50 year olds probably won’t have heard of it). You certainly couldn’t call them racing simulators in those days but they were still fun to play. The games took a big leap forward when the Play Station was released with the likes of F1 Gran Turismo and TOCA Touring Cars which was my favourite at the time(really showing my age now). Progressed through all the PlayStation consoles up to 4 then moved onto PC gaming in 2016.

 

How long have you played ACC ?

I purchased ACC when it was first released 2018 when it was in the development phase. I didn’t play it a great deal at first but as new updates and improvements were released I began playing more and more when realising what an excellent game it was becoming. I own most of the other sim racing titles, the original AC, R Factor 2, Race Room, AMS 2 but they have all taken a back seat since joining this group as most of my spare time is taken up practicing for the upcoming race.

 

How was it racing in the Eseniors Championship ?

Its been a fantastic experience racing with a great group of fellow friendly racers all willing to help someone with tips and setups. When I use the word friendly its an understatement. All my previous online racing was in the public lobbies where if you have an incident with someone all you got was a lot of verbal abuse on the message board or the other driver would be waiting for you to come around again so he could ram you off the track. With this group if someone makes a mistake they are willing to own up to it and apologise. You seldom get that in the public lobby, it’s always someone else’s fault. Peter Perfects I call them.

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important ?

 

I try to get as much practice as possible. It varies depending on work commitments but will usually get an hour in the evening and a bit more at weekends. Practice is very important especially if its a track you’ve not raced much. You need to learn race lines and brake points if you want to be competitive and you need to get your setups right for the race.

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

 

My pc is a i9900k with a nvidia RTX 3070 gpu Fanatec DD1 with a Porsche 911 wheel, podium button module and advanced paddle module. Fanatec Clubsport shifter Simlabs GT1 Evo. Heusinkveld Sprint Pedals. Heusinkveld Sequential Shifter Samsung 49 inch ultra wide monitor Extra button box and an Elgato Stream Deck Sony surround sound system, Sennhieser headphones with microphone HP Reverb G2 VR which I use for my other racing sims. I don’t use it for ACC as the game isn’t optimised for VR I also have Sim Rig SR1 motion system on my rig. I love the feeling of the front of the car dipping as you hit the brakes and feeling all the bumps and rumble strips of the track as you race.

 

Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ?

 

Never been very good at doing my own setups from scratch, always used ACC setups with little tweaks. Decided to purchase CDA just to try and found them much better to my style of driving and lap times quickly came down so always use them now.

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

 

I’m certainly not the fastest in the group but I am happy with the lap times I set and the positions I finish in races. A lot of the faster guys are younger than me and I think that give them a bit of advantage because they will have better hand to eye coordination and faster reaction times (racing drivers excuses coming out now for not being the fastest) so overall I am very pleased with my progress in the group.

 

What is you favorite car and why ?

 

Favourite car is the McLaren 720 which I find a safe and easy car to race. For this season I switched to the Porsche for all the championships, GT3, GT4 and Porsche Cup. The reason being I thought they may have some similar handling characteristics. What is you favorite circuit (s) and why ? Favourite circuits are Imola and Donington. Not sure why, I just love racing on them so if I go on just for a quick race it will usually be one of those tracks I choose.

 

Who are your childhood racing heroes ?

 

My childhood racing hero would have to be Jim Clark (really showing my age now) He is my first memories of anything motor racing related. A two time F1 world champion. He also race in multiple championships in one season, a bit like me. (he’ll be turning in his grave now if he knew I was comparing my sim racing to his racing)

 

What is the best advice you would to give to a simracer ?

 

Practice as much as possible. Watch Youtube videos, a lot can be learnt from those. Also watch replays of your own races especially if you are involved in an incident whether your fault or someone else’s, it could help you avoid them in the future and make you a better racer which will make your races more enjoyable,

 

Are you satisfied with the Eseniors organization, and do you have suggestions to help bring a higher level of competition ?

 

Absolutely satisfied with Eseniors organisation. Jeremie, Michel and all others involved in organising the group have done an amazing job and I am delighted to be a member. eSeniors is still a young organisation (unlike the drivers) and sure it will grow and go from strength to strength.

 

And finally, the most important question...how many speeding tickets have you accumulated to date ?

 

I’ve only been CAUGHT speeding once. That was a few months ago and I did a speed awareness course so avoided a fine and points on my licence and a hefty increase in insurance premiums.

 

 

Derek Bird

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eSENIORS GT3 INTERVIEW WIITH

FRANCOIS ERASMUS

Please introduce yourself, tell us about you (age, nationality, profession) and how you became a simracer

 

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa 55 yrs ago. Being in JHB at a young age I frequent Kyalami (Old track) and watched many GP’s and enduros (Wynne’s 1000) early mid 70’s. Got hooked on motorsport. Couldn’t afford racing IRL so started with Slotcar racing at school level. I took on RC (Electric) racing late 90’s to 2001, took a break and started again in 2013. I stopped racing RC after representing RSA at the World Champs in 2018. With petrol (fuel/Gas in some Countries)in my veins I then started Simracing during lockdown June 2020. I Joined the South African Police at 18yrs old and went on early retirement end of March 2021 as a Colonel after 37yrs service. Currently resides on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, RSA.

 

How long have you played ACC ?

 

I started simracing in ACC in June 2020.

 

How was it racing in the Eseniors Championship ?

 

I really enjoyed racing my age and mixed it with very experienced people. Racing not always the best result but loved the banter in between and after a race. Also great respect amongst the drivers. I unfortunately cannot make all the races anymore but do race when ever possible.

 

How many hours did you spend preparing yourself for a Race, and why is it important ?

 

I never arrive and drive. (As I have learned lessons). I always do practice the full race length or close there off but most importantly the same conditions. Prep time depends on whether I have a previous setup or need to work on a new one. Best advise is to stick to one car or similar car (i.e. front engine cars) as the characteristics are the same. There is just no substitute for seat time.

 

What kind of equipment do you use (wheel, pedals, PC, screen, etc) ?

 

PC is a Ryzen 3900X, RTX 2080 Super with 32Gb Ram. Triple 24” 144Hz screens. G920 wheel (to be replaced by a Simucube 2 Pro soon). Pedals is Alien Zadrotti Load cell pedals. Seat is an almost new Mazda3 seat from scrap yard. All mounted on an allu 4545 profile home made rig (was a shelve before) Do you buy setups or do you setup your car alone ? I did invest in some CDA setups which helped a lot. Could then fine tune to my liking. I was not too far off with my own setups but worth the money spend for that extra tenth or two….

 

What makes you faster than the rest?

 

I am not faster than anyone else. It all boils down to confidence in the car, knowledge of the track, handling/applying of pressure and adopt to environment. I can always do with a lot of luck. As Gary Player said……”the more y