Archive for the ‘Tracks’ Category

How to go from first -> last inside 10 seconds…

Friday, July 1st, 2011

Facing left to navigate a right hander

For the first time since 2008 (when I raced in the Advanced Solstice) I am in the hunt for an overall series win in iRacing. Racing in the multiclass Grand Touring Cup series I have been racing the MX5 against the often faster Jetta cars and have been picking up some good results which has me in a very strong shape for a top three finish when the season finishes in a month or so.

So it was with regret that a vital Silverstone race during week 9 resulted in a messy lap 3 wreck that saw my position tumble from the class pole position all the way down to 13th in my class (20th overall), and firmly last.

Realising that the Jetta drivers always have a powerful launch against the under-powered MX5 cars I tried to signal my intent to take the inside line for the first right hander at Silverstone (directing faster Jettas to pass on my left) but it seems this wasn’t received by the Jetta behind, as he put us three wide going into a fast turn 1. A moment later, another car clipped my rear quarter panel sending me into a spin and out into the weeds.

I was seeing red as I had been looking at a strong win (I was on class pole, and had a clear pace advantage over the second place runner) so with a tight grip on my wheel I set about seeing how far I could catch up. After half a lap of frantic driving I was surprised to see that the class leader hadn’t been able to scutter into the distance (the erratic Jettas around him had seen to that) and I was only around five seconds back, albeit with several hard racing cars in between.

I did my best to dice through the field and eventually fought my way to second place, on lap 4 of 19. I was five seconds back, and around 1-2 tenths faster per lap than the leader. It would be tough.

Racing hard, I had some success and managed to slowly claw my way back within two seconds with a few laps to go, but it was not to be as a rogue Jetta (one lap down and in 15th place no less) had caught up to me and started racing me (for no gain to his race as he was far far back from his next competitor). His wild moves and general disarray slowed my progress and allowed my race rival to trot into the distance uncontested in some nice clear air.

Had I been able to convert this mess into a win it would surely have been my greatest victory in iRacing, but as it was it remains just one interesting event and a reminder of what could have been.

Here’s a short race highlights clip of the initial spin and mission to get back through the field.

iRacing Grand Touring Cup race results (iRacing members only!)

2011 iRacing Indy 500 Race Report

Sunday, May 29th, 2011

This weekend saw the second running of the iRacing Indy 500, a race I was very eager to finish following last years DNF after just 17 laps. By way of coincidence, I managed to achieve almost exactly the same qualifying performance as last year. Last year I qualified 193rd of 636 competitors. This year was also 193rd of 638! Both a similar number of qualifiers, as well as exactly the same qualifying spot!

A final total of 975 racers took to the track and my race split was the fourth race split, as determined by qualifying time. As always, my race objective was to make it to lap 200 and see where things lined up, and stay at the back of the field if I had to. I started the race from the pit lane and managed to avoid a few of the early wrecks as things got settled out amongst the field.

Unfortunately I didn’t come close to finishing (yet again!) and again it was through no fault of my own – on lap 31 two cars collided down low and as I slowed and moved high to drive past one car slid up to the highline and collided with me, sending me into the wall with race ending damage.

Looking through the other splits it seems that most races have less than ten finishers at the end, so I suppose a winning strategy next year is to sit in the garage for 100 laps to pass before taking to the field. That won’t get me a win, but a top 10 is almost guaranteed!

2011 iRacing.com Indy 500 results (iRacing members only!)



Started :
23rd of 32
Finished : 25th DNF, 169 laps down, 27 points (6 incident pts)
iRating : -81
Safety Rating : A/4.99 (no change)

The next race in the iRacing World Tour is the Michigan 400 (NASCAR Sprint Cup) on June 18th.

The Second Annual iRacing Indy 500

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

This weekend brings the next event in the 2011 iRacing World Tour, with the second running of the iRacing Indy 500 event. Last years event (my race report is here) saw a combined total of 759 racers take to the grid for a full length virtual recreation of this prestigious event.

This time last year the iRacing Indy 500 was the very first World Tour event where the grids would be set by qualifying speed alone (not iRating as per usual). This has since been adopted as the standard way of assigning race grids in World Tour events and it has worked out pretty well.

My race last year was cut very short with just 17 of 200 laps completed (I was wrecked under caution!) so here’s hoping I can go the distance this time around. Here’s also hoping the iRacing servers can hold out, as I expect we will surpass last years registration count of 759!