Archive for January, 2009

2008 Season 4 – Review

Friday, January 30th, 2009

My Helmet Design

Season 4 is done and dusted and now is the time to look back on the pre-season goals and see what was stacked up. Looking back three months, the goals for the season were :

  1. Finish Skippy series with more than 800 points
  2. Get a win in the Skippy (my first?)
  3. Compete in at least eight racing weeks with the Late Model
  4. Finish season with an iRating of 2500 or more
  5. Achieve a C 4.99 rating in both road and oval disciplines

I don’t think I aimed low with those goals and I think that’s proven when I consider that althought I achieved them all, some were by very narrow margins!

I did well in the Skip Barber series, finishing with 933 points, but only took two wins. I only just managed eight racing weeks in the Late Model, taking my last race there in week 12 (the final opportunity). My iRating was generally safe at over 3000 and actually increased over the course of the season, and finally the C 4.99′s were only really safe following the recent iRacing calculation change (to make it easier).

Skip Barber Race Series – Season 4
My Skip Barber RT2000
This was my primary series and I knew from the beginning that it would be more difficult that the Advanced Solstice series in season 3. Mainly because the talent pool in the Skip Barber is so much larger. I generally had good races (apart from the nightmares at Summit Jefferson) and I was able to race every week apart from Lime Rock Park which I purposely avoided.

I still managed to pick up two wins, and learnt some amazing courses (VIRGE being a masterful track, disappointed it’s dropped next season).

I knew I wasn’t going to challenge for the division as I was bracketed in division 1, and I managed to finish 36th out of 151, and 51st overall (out of 1811).

Skip Barber Race Series – Season 4 Results

iRacing Late Model Tour – Season 4

I was very eager to race in a full time oval series but fell someway short during season 4. I struggled to develop my own setups due to knowledge and available time, and had to make do with borrowed setups a lot of the time. I still enjoyed the races but generally they were quite forgettable.

I finished 25th in division 3 (out of 139) and 185/1715 overall.

iRacing Late Model Tour – Season 4 Results

In addition to these two series I dabbled in the Silverado series, completing four official races. Fantastic racing there, really enjoyed the races.

Season 3 Charts

Week 12 – Season 4 curtain close

Friday, January 23rd, 2009
My Helmet Design Infineon

Quite a good week for me this week – managed to squeeze in a race in three different series.

Skip Barber – Infineon IRL
Joined the strongest grid I’ve ever raced (SOF was 3447!) and basically set about not coming last! Had a good, fun, race with some close dicing at points and finished 7th out of 10th which I was actually very satisfied with. The winner took 215 points!

Chevy Silverado – Lowe’s
Needing to complete my fourth official race in season 4 (in order to qualify for the oval B licence) I joined a Lowe’s race early in the week. So far all the truck races have been exhilerating – the immersion is like nothing else in iRacing. The races are harder and more strenous than anything else I’ve raced and I was genuinely scared at several moments in the race! Unfortunately I had a few incidents here, one 4x that was my fault and another when I could not avoid a crash ahead. Finished 7th of 14 though in a strong field and scored 109 points. My B licence is sorted!

Late Model – Stafford
Ugh. Had a setup that was horrendously slow to the top times and could not get close to the pace (was almost 1 second off the times), but went into a race anyway as I had only seven scoring weeks at this point. Had a safe but ultimately forgettable race and finished 4th out of 11, taking 65 points.

So all in all a good week of racing – 3 good races and 2 were incident free. Currently sitting on dual 4.99 C licences (partly due to the clean races, partly due to the recent rating changes by iRating to make it easier) but I’m looking forward to seeing how they convert to B licence values.

We enter week 13 next week and welcome the two new A level cars to the service – can’t wait!

My Skip Barber RT2000My Chevy Silverado

60 Seconds du D’oh!

Monday, January 19th, 2009
My Helmet Design

This weeks 24 Heures du Fun had the Star Mazda racing at Lowe’s and it was certainly a fantastic combination! The cars lack the grunt to really exceed the tyre grip and have to depend on the draft and aero to race hard.

I had a mixed run of affairs – which I look back on with humour (seeing as they are ‘fun’ events with no SR or iRating impact).

First race saw 37 cars start and as if by magic we saw a spin during pacing! Once the race started I got to turn four (lap one!) and a huge wreck saw my race end (didn’t really fancy another 49 laps one lap down, only passing the cars when they wrecked).

Second race was another 37 cars… and another few guys who couldn’t even keep the car under control during pacing. Yep, another pacing wreck! This race saw me wreck in turn one, lap one… video below (check out the arcade racer trying to drive through the pack!)

My third and final race was pretty good. 40 racers, and I lasted about 10 laps before a wreck caught me. Carried on, and soon formed a six car drafting train that weren’t really racing for position (one guy a lap ahead, a few guys a lap down). I was around 15 laps from the end and saw 6th place trundling away, all on his lonesome. Excellent! I thought, as my drafting train was consuming his lead at 1+ seconds a lap!

As we honed in eventually we caught up and I was released from the train to challenge for the 6th place. In a last lap move I faked a high move, dove to the inside and took the pass in the final corner. Only 6th place at stake in a ‘fun’ race, but it was great fun!

Race Results (iRacing members only!)

Star Mazda