A lot of luck is needed to get through these iRacing special events as anything can happen at any part of the track and at any time. The guys who make it to the end of, let’s say the iRacing Daytona 500 for example, demonstrate both a measurable level of skill as well as a good amount of sheer luck.
My split for the Indy 500 saw me start the race 5th. A very decent starting position, given that it meant that any mishaps would ‘probably’ take place behind me. And so it turned out, as the early cautions were safely away from me.
However one of the more risky aspects of racing here is the need for cars to catch up to the pace car under yellow. The track is so long that people regularly accelerate to 200mph (even under yellow) as they strive to catch the pace car as quickly as possible. This can cause absolute chaos when people catch the pace line and realise they have to slow down – immediately.
Unfortunately despite my ‘safe’ race position it didn’t help me in the following incident (a race ending incident for me). A competitor made a large error of judgement when catching the pace line and ploughed through a number of cars, with me being the final car. I didn’t notice any damage initially, but once under green it was clear my race was over as the rear wheel was knocked out of alignment and the car was undriveable. A shame to end the race, one day I’ll finish one of these oval special events…
iRacing.com Indy 500 results (iRacing members only!)
Started : 5th of 33
Finished : 24th, 183 laps down, DNF (4 incident pts)
iRating : -58
Safety Rating : A/3.23 (-0.24)
The next race in the iRacing World Tour is the Nationwide Impala at Road America – definitely looking forward to this one! With three DNFs from the last three oval World Tour events I’m relieved to be back racing a road event!
