Archive for the ‘Laguna Seca’ Category

A Masterclass On Race Starts…

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

It’s that time of year again when iRacing deploy their quarterly build. I can’t speak highly enough about this latest build, and this weeks events have been pure fun for me.

The build saw the addition of some welcome features such as vast camera controls (now offering a high degree of customisation), new graphical effects (such as skidmarks, smoke and dust), hosted racing (so people can basically pick and choose combinations of car and track, and then go race them) and a whole bunch of other small but notable improvements.

With it being week 13 (the traditional ‘off’ week at the end of each season) the majority of racing is done in unofficial races, featuring unusual combinations. The fact that there are less series offered in week 13 also means drivers tend to group together more closely, so it’s really cool seeing hundreds of members all joining the same race (which then gets split off into competitive grids via matchmaking).

One of the combos this season features three car classes at Laguna Seca and I’ve been having a blast racing there, pegging down the laps and kicking up dirt to block my rivals visibility (not intentionally, I must add!)

Of course, being an ‘unofficial’ week means people tend to switch off mentally just a little bit (I’m including myself in that group!). Check out this have-a-go hero who tries to win the race in the first 200m. This ambitious start really humoured me…. :)

Pro Series Race Report – Week 4 Laguna Seca

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Pro Series Race Results (iRacing members only!)

I missed last weeks Pro race at Sebring (the race clashed with the Indycar Series race at Sonoma…) so I made my next appearance during week 4, the race at Laguna Seca.

I had a great build-up to the race, as I entered the Daytona Prototype race just before the main Pro race and managed to lead all 40 laps from pole) taking my first DP race win! Unfortunately by the time that race finished I had missed qualifying for the Pro race! So I started 19th, last place.

I wasn’t too annoyed at starting last. Even with a good qualifying lap I’d probably have started 17th at best. And starting last meant I was almost guaranteed a safe first lap as I could really hang back and assess the situation, without having someone drive into the back of me.

How wrong I was! Even when you drive as cautiously as you can, you still can’t avoid every lap one collision!

After cautiously driving the first corner I quickly came into a situation where some cars collided ahead and I did not have the time or space to slow down quickly enough. Unfortunately my car was damaged in that hit (the steering was affected) but even so, I had a really good race and managed to pass quite a few cars on route to a 10th place finish. Had it not been for the unlucky 4x at the start, it would have also been incident free.

And so, on to the next one!

My first outing in the Spec Racer Ford

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

SCCA Spec Racer Ford Race Results

Laguna Seca

Laguna Seca is one of my favourite (if not THE favourite) track in iRacing and I can just about race any car there and enjoy it. What better venue for me to try a race in iRacings newest car, the Spec Racer Ford?

Ten laps practice and straight into a race saw me start from 5th for the short 11 lap sprint race. I had a great start and moved up to third before a bad mistake at turn 6 and spun, rejoining in 6th.

I was determined to recover some positions and had a really memorable battle back to second place.

A really lively car that’s very rewarding to drive – I’ll be planning on getting some more races in both here at Laguna and next week at Lowe’s road course.