Archive for the ‘Season Review’ Category

2009 Season 1 – Review

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Season 1 of 2009 has concluded so while we patiently wait for Season 2 to begin it’s time to reflect on the goals of last season. These were :

  1. Finish Mazda series with more than 800 points
  2. Get a win in the Mazda
  3. Compete in at least eight racing weeks with the Silverado truck
  4. Lead at least a single lap in the oval discipline (it STILL eludes me!)
  5. Achieve a B 4.99 rating in both road and oval disciplines
  6. Have an ‘incident per race’ stat of less than 2.0
  7. Finish the season with an iRating above 3000

Looking at these goals, I had a pretty good season. First up I hit the objective of getting > 800 points in the Mazda series by finishing with 890. I also crossed off objective 2 by picking up a (somewhat gifted) win at VIR Grand West. It was gifted in a sense as I benefited from a low strength of field, otherwise I’d have not won for sure.

I also did OK with the oval objectives – I raced in 11 of the 12 Truck weeks and even led a lap at Las Vegas. I even led the last lap there to pick up my first (and only) Oval win!

I failed with the last two objectives – wasn’t able to maintain the 4.99 SR in Oval (although road SR was a firm 4.99+), and also my inc. per race fell above 2.0 during the season. Again, my road performance was fine, but racing the Trucks kills my safety rating, I was picking up 4x hits every single race.

Series Overview

Star Mazda Championship – 2009 Series 1

I had a decent time in the Mazda this year, but now that I’ve run a season I don’t think I’ll be spending too much time coming back to it. I don’t really like the ‘feel’ of the car and the way the car handles when you are really reaching the limits of grip.

The new tracks were welcome – it was fun to race at Road America and Silverstone for the first time, and I really loved the change of style with the two oval rounds (Milwaukee and Phoenix).

In the end I did ‘OK’, finishing 26 of 96 in Division 1 with 972 points. Picking up a race win at VIR Grand West was probably the highlight of the season.

Star Mazda Championship Season Results

Chevy Silverado Championship – 2009 Series 1
My Chevy Silverado
I enjoyed this series much more than I expected. I wasn’t able to get a handle on making my own setups (still out to sea when it comes to doing this) but I didn’t have a problem finding setups from other generous members and really having a good time. I had quite a few exciting and strategic races and only the constant 4x hits put a downer on the season. Almost every race, right on cue, I’d pick up at least one contact hit or phantom incident that affected my SR.

About midway through the season it was looking like I’d be able to get a top 5 finish in division 3 and in the end I just about managed it, finishing 5th of 176 in my division with a total of 858 points. Very happy with the seasons racing (especially that win I took at Las Vegas!)

Chevy Silverado Championship Season Results

Skip Barber Race Series – 2009 Series 1

I wasn’t planning on running a full season in the Skip Barber but once I had a few races done I felt compelled to. In the end, although I only raced in 8 weeks (so no drop weeks in affect) I actually scored more points in 2009 than I did last season! I scored 966 (last season was 933 points). I finished 23 / 102 in division 1.

The season had quite a few highlights, and some very close and clean races. Absolute highlight was probably the 99 entrant epic race during week 11, at Sebring. I’ll remember that for a long time!

Skip Barber Race Series Season Results

Season 1 Charts

Safety rating was perfect for the road licence, pegged at B 4.99. It was looking good for the oval licence too, until I picked up 16 incidents in a single race at Bristol in the Trucks.

iRating progression was good in both disciplines too, gradual increases throughout the season for road, and good early increases for oval. The oval rating looks to have levelled out, we’ll see how it changes going into the next season.

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

Season Review – Season 3

Monday, October 27th, 2008

My Helmet Design

Time to reflect on season 3, the first complete season I have completed in iRacing. Going into this season I had planned to run the Advanced Solstice as my main series, and thankfully I was able to compete in all twelve of the racing weeks in that series.

Overall it went incredibly well – A very unexpected start saw some early wins and that pretty much set up how I approached the entire season. My early successes ensured that I was competing with the championship in mind, and the net effect of that was a single race each week, with the exception of week three where I raced multiple times (and to poor results!)

Looking back on the Advanced Solstice season, here is a breakdown of the weekly progress (the three non-scoring weeks clearly highlighted). Links to the weekly race reports and race results (from iRacing.com) included :

Advanced Solstice Season 3

Week
Circuit
Start
Finish
Inc
Points
1
Summit Point Raceway 5th 1st 0 137
2
Lime Rock Park Full 2nd 1st 0 124
Laguna Seca - - - 84 *
Summit Point Jefferson 1st 3rd 0 92
Summit Point Raceway 2nd 2nd 0 124
Lime Rock Park Full 3rd 3rd 1 110
Laguna Seca 2nd 1st 0 141
Summit Point Jefferson 1st 1st 0 117
Summit Point Raceway 2nd 1st 0 137
Lime Rock Park Full 3rd 2nd 0 109
Laguna Seca 2nd 2nd 6 119
Summit Point Jefferson 1st 1st 0 137

(* – average of 8 starts)

This placed me 7th/1519 in the overall standings (grats to Dion Vergers for taking the overall title) with 1036 points, and 15th/1073 in the overall time trial standings with 736 points. I gave up on the time trials championships two thirds of the way through as it was taking too much time and it really wasn’t that important to me after all. I was really pleased to meet my ’100 point per week’ average, and also my ’90 point per week’ time trial average.

In the divisions I ended up winning division three outright and I took third place in the time trials championship (also division three).

As for the other series, I really didn’t get the chance to race anything else regularly…. I did compete in other races in the Skip Barber and rookie Solstice series, and I also made a start on my oval career by competing in both rookie and advanced Legends series. I also picked up five Late Model starts (to put me in good stead for next season!). The Skippy races were great (and chaotic!) and I was able to get ten races in (across two racing weeks). Finally I was able to sneak in two cheeky Mazda races during the season, when the series was at Laguna Seca. One was an unofficial race with just three cars, and the other was a fantastic second place with an 18 car grid. Absolutely loved that race, and can’t wait to progress to a full Mazda season in the future.

The Late Model racing struck a chord with me too. I am not a big fan of the Legends car (I’m in a minority there) as I really don’t like the way the chassis handles. Once I got stuck into the Late Model I was pretty decided to skip Advanced Legends racing altogether and dive into the Late Model immediately. I don’t think I’ll miss the Legends car…

Finally, over the course of the season I was working on consistent high placings and development of my safety rating and generally it went to plan. Only a handful of races where I picked up more than 5 incident points but generally a lot of clean driving with as few mistakes as possible. I was able to fill my SR up to 4.99 level in August and hopefully it’ll be at a decent level when I get my C licence in a few days. Even the Oval stats are looking pretty good considering I only competed in a handful of races.

Clickable stats ahead :

Road iRating Graph Season 3

Oval iRating Graph Season 3