Official Series Chat - How did your race go?

[Jarhead]

I had a good week in the IndyCar fixed oval series. I won 5 of the 8 races I entered. I had the top qualifying spot for most of the week. I finished the week 2nd in qualifying, but it didn't matter because I was done racing by the time the other guy finally beat me. My best qualifying run was a 24.267. My best in practice was a 24.257. The guy who beat me ran a 24.259, so I know I was at least potentially faster.

The best part about the week was the Time Trial though. I had my first ever win. Time Trials can be done as many times as you want and only your best time counts. There is some serious competition for it in this series and the margins are usually thousandths of a second or less. What really makes it hard is that it is a 10 lap average and for the IndyCar, your best ten laps are the last ten on a tank of fuel. This week one tank of fuel was 56 laps, so to get a fast time, you have to first run 46 laps, then run the last 10 as perfect as possible to set a good time. One little screw up or touch of the apron and you just wasted 25 minutes and have to start a new Time Trial and run 56 more laps to make another attempt.

The standings are then frozen at the end of the week to set the points. Here are the final standings:

[Jarhead]

Had 3 great races last night. 1st was the SRF at Summit Point. I needed some redemption from the race we did here a few months ago, so I have ran a few races this week and had a decent qual time. There were a bunch of people entered for the 4:45pm EDT race, so I signed up hoping I would be in the lower split. Worked perfectly, I was #3 in the second split and 2nd on the grid by just over a 10th of a second.

I had a great start and took the lead going into turn 1. Got a little loose on the last corner which allowed the second place car to pass me on the front straight. I stayed with him though. I was faster in the first section and he was faster in the last section. The gap was varying from .5 to 2 seconds. Then on lap 12 he spun out and I got by. He didn't hit anything though, so he got back on the track and was 6 seconds back so I still had to work for it. I just concentrated on hitting my braking points and keeping the car pointed straight ahead and on the track. Almost got taken out by a lapped car, but was able to squeeze by. Brought home the win, my first in the SRF in an official race.

My second race was the 8:00pm EDT Strength of Field race in the IndyCar fixed oval series at Pocono. I don't really like this race, because you can't qualify for it and the grid is by iRating only. But I have to run it because it is where the most championship points are available. I started 11th of 21 and finished 5th which gave me 171 championship points. This keeps me in 1st for my division and 5th overall.

My third and final race was another IndyCar fixed oval race at Pocono at 10:00pm EDT. This time I was able to qualify and at the time of the race, I had the #1 qualifying time in the world so I was on the pole. I got good starts at the beginning and after all 3 cautions and was able to hold everyone off for the win. It was my first win at Pocono.

The race was also cool because when I qualified, I didn't know it, but a friend of mine was in the same room as me. Right after I ran my qual lap, I heard him on my headset saying "you suck Troy" because I beat him by .015 second. We both entered the race, but I was in the top split and he was in the second split, so we were both on the pole. He won his race also. I was able to spot him for the last few laps because his race had more cautions.

[zero7159]

Jarhead is to iRacing IndyCar racing what Stinky is to GBR V8 Supercars.

[zero7159]

Last week was filled with some huge ups and downs in my iRacing official series races. I will start with the "downs," and then finish with the "ups."

For several series, we were at Daytona last week, including the A class Cup cars and the B class Nationwide car. We also were at Martinsville for the C class truck. These tracks are SR killers and mine sure took a hit during the early part of the week. I was getting wrecked during each and every Daytona race. It was always someone else screwing up and me getting caught up in their shit, sometimes from behind, sometimes up front. I was miserable by Friday. I even had trouble on the road side of things. The Global Challenge series was at Lime Rock and that brought out the wreckers. Even more difficult was the Star Mazda at Mosport. That is a brutally tough track with the Star Mazda. I screwed up big time one race and ruined not only my race but another's guy's race when I tried to get back on the track and did not see him coming. Anyway, by the end of Friday night's races, I was seriously down on iRacing. I did get a couple of decent finishes at Martinsville on Friday night, including a 3rd place finish in a middle split, but the SR hits were just unacceptable and they all occurred because other guys could not drive their trucks.

But, rather than quit, I got back on the horse on Saturday morning, with an early morning Star Mazda race. It was exactly what I needed. I started 3rd in the bottom split and finished 3rd. More importantly, I survived the entire race and did not wreck my car. I then did a Global Challenge race with the Kia, a car I have barely driven, and got a 2nd place finish. That was awesome. Undeterred, I then did my weekly NASCAR iRacing series race - 80 laps at Daytona. Uh oh, I figured I was in big trouble, given that I had been wrecked in every prior Daytona race. But, I lucked out and was able to avoid all wrecks. I also hooked up with a couple of good drafting partners. I led 39 laps and ultimately finished 2nd!!!! My later drafting partner took the win. It was totally awesome. I finished the day with a late night NW League race, which featured the C class truck at Iowa. I got 2nd, my highest placing ever in a NW League race.

The rest of the weekend's races were similarly positive. I stayed away from Daytona and Martinsville and instead stuck to road races. I even won a race using the Kia. Woohoo!!!

[Deleted]

So I completed my first race in 7 months! I decided to run the the vette in the 45 min gt challenge @ spa started from the pits cause I wasn't to sure about my abilities ATM. So after settling in after a few laps I started picking guys off one at a time....I reeled in 3rd and was waiting for him to make a mistake when he got squirly in a corner and I clipped his bumper spinning him around...feeling bad I pulled over and let him pass which dropped me back to 6th. I ended up battling back to 4th using the base setup which wasn't bad but under steered quit a bit in the corners fastest I lap I could muster was a 2.18.1xx the top 2 guys were on another level running 2.14's. aside from my one contact and 2 corners I ran wide I felt I ran a really clean race but was raped with x1 for having 1 or 2 tires on the curbs which I thought was quit harsh, what happened to pro rules where the curb is part of the track and 2 wheels must remain on the Tarmac? Other than that I had a blast! I think ill try it again today in the mp4 I wanted to partake in the caddy series but don't have VIR ill renew my membership and pick up the last 4 road tracks before season 3 starts

[F1Fan07]

Jul 16, 2013 9:30:59 GMT -8 @kurupt said:

x1 for having 1 or 2 tires on the curbs which I thought was quit harsh, what happened to pro rules where the curb is part of the track and 2 wheels must remain on the Tarmac?

In general I think iRacing assigns the 1x when the centreline of your car crosses the painted line at the edge of the track. It's not perfect though and there are some exceptions... at Watkins Glen (I think) you can go quite far over white lines (like on the T1 exit) but not yellow lines.

[zero7159]

Kurupt, I am glad to hear that you are back to iRacing. I am tempted to run a series next season with the Vette. It is much more driveable now after they apparently upgraded it to the NTM. Of course, the Caddy remains my favorite road car in iRacing and so I will be running the Global Challenge series next season as well.

Decisions, decisions...

[Deleted]

ill probably be running the same ones too

[Jarhead]

Kurupt, I have a setup for the Corvette that works about anywhere with some gearing changes. It is much better than the base setup.

You can find it here: www.gbr.proboards.com/thread/2202/corvette-c6r-setups

I haven't run Spa yet this week, but I can go run it tonight and post a setup which is suited to the track. Check the same thread later tonight. The one thing you may want to change on that setup is the brake bias. It really makes a big difference in the handling of the car under braking. Adjust it to suit your driving style.

[Deleted]

Thanks ill give it a try!
I need to change my whole driving style for iracing I am so so use to smashing curbs and and running 2 tires on the Tarmac when exiting corners I've been raped in the last 3 days and lost almost .50 safety points....I need to go do some Sunday driving in time trials to get my rating back up or ill drop back to c class

[Deleted]

I had a handful of good races yesterday in the Mazda cup @ Laguna and the in the inracing series snatching a victory in both and a 3rd....had a really exciting race at Laguna where I finished 5...only 4.8 secs separated 2 to 7th. I know I sound like a broken record but the ffb and physics in this game are top notch! I can toss around and drift the majority of cars now....the tm, grip, track and car feedback are exceptional I can't wait for the bug fix in the tm next week. I think that fix will really help a few cars like the solstice and v8....occasionally I feel it in the caddy coming out of corners or heavy braking.
What series are the main series guys are gonna partake in season 3?
I plan on the caddy being my main one...if enough races can go official during my time availability, seems like the v8s and Mazda rooms are the most active during my time slot. I'd love to run the v8 but I am not there yet with the car but plan to run it next season if all goes well