For some reason Silverstone and I simply do not get along. It might be that I can't find a setup that works for me, or I don't understand the best racing line to get through there quickly (probably both). With the ARX this weekend and the BMW last night I simply couldn't find a consistent rhythm to feel comfortable lap after lap.

I got a bit lucky in R1 in getting a decent start and staying out of trouble over the first few laps. Got up to P4 and managed to keep Jeff behind me for the closing laps. He was definitely set to catch me over the final two until Keith took a shortcut and took him out linebacker style! It was fascinating to watch in my rear-view, but I would be lying if I didn't breath a massive sigh of relief.

R2 was one to forget. Locked up going in to Maggots on the first lap and lost the rear. Crashed into the wall enough that I couldn't turn left, so I had no choice but to take a tow. That dropped me two laps back, so from there it was just playing the lapping game until I pulled in on the last lap and retired.

Hopefully the next two will be a little more comfortable.

I am not a fan of Silverstone, just never feels right.
Just can't seem to be agressive on turn in there, low grip, hard to pass.

The races last night were fun though, some tight racing in both races.

_________________
Paul

Silverstone, more than anywhere, I had to exercise great restraint and focus on slow-in fast-out. I found that I was braking a good car-length earlier than most other drivers, but it allowed me to get back on the throttle earlier, late apex, and carry that speed all the way down Silverstone's long straights.

It felt horribly slow on corner entry, but made for quick laps. Whenever I made a mistake and braked too late / missed the apex, I would loose a ton on time on the following straight.

_________________

1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Just a race tonight and next week to wrap up the season. Is anyone interested in a summer series? Suspect most will be busy now that we can play outside again, but if enough are interested we could possible do a single series over the summer. Let me know if you think you would be interested even if it's only catching a race when you can.

I'm in!

BTW, here are the broadcasts from last week. There's no commentary until the last 5 minutes or so of race 2, I believe.

https://youtu.be/1zjTZyZohEk


https://youtu.be/GXGwieZVbfE

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

I am also in for a summer series! I don't have a car to race or eat up my time, so lets do it!

I am likely out for a series, but may join in the odd race.

_________________
Paul

Ok, great. Looks like we'll have enough to run during the summer.

Now just need to figure out what cars to use...

PS Thanks Scott and TNT Racing for doing the video broadcast. You even managed to miss my bloopers in race 1.

The SM seems to be a mainstay, and one that is relatively friendly for everyone. I would suggest the Indycar for insanity's sake, but that would not do us much good in getting people out to the races.

The car combinations seem to work well, and gives a good mix of flavour from week to week. I'm happy keeping it as is unless we want to try one of the Lotus'.

Super Late models are fun on road courses.
I like offbeat car/track combos.

Get sick of GT3 everything, all the time.

_________________
Paul

Star Mazda Suzuka results posted.

Congrats to Mark U on the wins. That's Mark's 5th win in six appearances in the Star Mazda. Scott comes away with the series championship with 8 wins along the way. David M came in second with 5 wins.
http://www.danlisa.com/scoring/season_standings.php?season_id=3937

Thanks to both Mark and Scott for sharing their setups last night.

Never quite got a handle on the track last night but had an excellent scrap with Art and Keith in the first race. Art snuck by in the opening lap and had fun trying to get the spot back for a good part of the race. All the while we were keeping Keith honest. Partway through looked back to see Art crossed up and then he disappeared. Tried to pressure Keith into a mistake in the final laps but he was solid right to the finish (been reading any good books Keith? ).

Race two was shaping up to be the same as Keith, Art and I were lined up on the grid. Managed to squeak by Keith going into the chicane in the first lap, but then promptly threw it away by spinning on the curbing after kink on back straight. Somehow managed not to hit anything and carried on. John caught me while I was still checking my shorts for deposits. After that was fairly uneventful except for finding Art's car on it's side in the middle of the track after he and Paul got together. Ralph was keeping pace ahead. I thought Scott was going to catch me as he had the gap down to 1.5s when the white flag came out, but he disappeared shortly after that.

Would like to thank all the drivers of the Star Mazda series for coming out and making the series the fun that it was. GT series wraps up at Interlagos next week, and we should have the Summers series ready to kick off the following week. Stay tuned.

Congrats Mark on the wins. And David, outstanding performance last night.

Suzuka was never my strongest track in the SM, but last night I was particularly off pace. Only qualified 4th for race 1 and could not catch John in 3rd. My best race lap was more than a full second off my best in practice.

For race 2 I performed a bit better using David’s setup. But while loading up the clutch on the grid I rolled out of my grid slot and received a stop & go penalty. On the last lap I was positioned to steal 7th from Ken when my wife can into the room with a strawberry shortcake dessert for me, and the distraction caused me to spin in T1. LOL!

Race 1 results: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/m ... d=13608119
Race 2 results: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/m ... d=13608688

TNT-Racing broadcasted the second race:

https://youtu.be/Gnl6PoW1Pg0

_________________

1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

FYI....

I had a lot more pace at Suzuka than I ever expected, and I managed to keep Jim enough behind me in order to keep 5th at the line. That was a good struggle and a great back and forth race.

I was definitely happy about my first podium in the league, though I will admit it was as much about the errors of others as it was success on my behalf. With John P. missing out on qualifying, Scott jumping the start and Jim being low on fuel I had a pretty clear drive to 3rd behind the rocket pair of David and Mark.

I had a good time, and it was a fun race. Look forward to returning to Interlagos next week, and then the fascinating series after that.

Interlagos GT results posted.

Congrats to Scott and newcomer Daniel on the wins last night. Congrats also to Scott for also taking the GT series championship with 6 wins. Also a big thank you to Ben and Jim at TNT Racing for broadcasting a lot of the races.

Had some good battles in the races last night. In race 1 is was Daniel and Jeff in the opening laps. Too bad about the early contact between Daniel and John, as John likely would have been in it as well. Once Daniel and Jeff got some clean air I couldn't quite match their pace so had to be content with 5th place. Second race it was Keith and Jim in the early laps and then Ryan joined in the mix. The fun came to an end when I went into one of the slow corners a little hot, got on the curbing on exit and spun right in front of the 3 cars immediately behind who then scattered in all directions. Sorry for ending what had been a close and clean fight up until then.

That's it for the winter season. Thanks to everyone that joined in both the series over the past 4 months and making this league the fun place it is to race. The Lotus 49 at Monza next week which should be entertaining, and then we start the summer series with the SRF at Summit Jefferson on May 19th.

My first race was pretty uneventful. Pole, lead from start-to-finish, no real battling for position although Paul kept me honest in 2nd place.

R1 Results: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/m ... d=13660873
R1 Broadcast: https://youtu.be/0hwxtNu7E9w



The second race was another story. I got past Daniel to take the lead in T1 of lap 1, but had Daniel and Paul right on my tail for the first few laps. Then on lap 3, I had half-spun in T2, recovered, got back on the gas too hard and spun again, this time taping the wall.

Got the car going again and found myself in 9th behind a tight pack with Jim, Ken, Keith, and Ryan. Jim let me by at T11 and I was in the process of passing Ken at T14 when my internet dropped out and I got disconnected from the session. D’oh!

R2 Results: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/m ... d=13661491
R2 Broadcast: https://youtu.be/qRO0Z2Nvm50



Series Standings: http://www.danlisa.com/scoring/season_s ... on_id=3938

Looking forward to the new summer series!

_________________

1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Zandvoort Club results posted. Trevor celebrated his Tuesday night off with a pair of wins. Good to have him back.

First I'd driven the SRF in quite a while. Didn't realize could hang the back out a lot and get away with it . Good scraps with Jeff both races.

VIR South next week.

The Spec Racer Ford (SRF) is a surprisingly fun car to drive, and quite challenging. I found my best laps were when I drove it super smooth & gentle, which takes a lot of restraint.

I qualified P2 both races, spun the car in both races, and finished 6th and 2nd.

Art and I had a great battle going for 2nd place in the first race. That is until I spun it. Lol

In the second race I was closing down the gap to Trevor (in the lead) with less than 1 second between us, then spun with 2 laps to go.

I have yet to complete a SRF race without spinning at least once. Haha.

Race 1: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/m ... d=13814310
Race 2: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/m ... d=13814929

Standings: http://www.danlisa.com/scoring/season_s ... on_id=4232

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

VIR South results posted.

Congrats to Scott and Trevor on the wins. Good to see Ben switch from the commentators booth to the track.

Had a good first race even though it was fairly static. Watched Trevor and Scott battle for the lead while keeping an eye on Art in my mirrors. When came accross a car spinning on the exit of T1 thought "There goes Scott" but was surpised to find it was Trevor sitting sideways in the track (and very glad he stayed put until I got by). Without Trevor to keep him busy Scott pulled a few seconds ahead, helped by a few small mistakes on my part (had a couple near spins where rejoined the main track). Was waiting for Scott's spin but it never came.

Second race was much more eventful. With more drivers in the 1:19s meant I started mid pack. Coming out of T1 on the first lap was just getting on the gas when Art slowed a bit and gave him a nudge in the read quarter panel. Graphics showed a little damage on his car but not even a 0x. The slow exit meant I got freight trained up the straight. Added to that missed the downshift before T1 (was trying no clutch aids for a change) and ran wide trying to go around the outside of T1, ending up up near last place. Set off again after the field which was bunched up quite well. End the end though got back up to 6th without making a pass from others having incidents. Caught up to Darren and made a clean pass on the main straight. Was probably a better exit out of Tlast or the draft but seemed like his car was down a few HP. Could see Scott chasing Art ahead and their scrap let me catch up. Scott then decides to have his spin which left me to chase Art. Caught him on the final lap but best could do was pull alongside at the line.

Summit point short in the SRFs next week.

I had a good battle with Trevor the first race. We swapped the lead a few times before he spun on lap 6. Then I held a small gap from Ken and took the win.

In the second race I snatched the lead off the grid and held it until I spun at the Oak tree on lap 4. Fell back to 5th, took 4th a couple laps later, and was in a tight battle with Art for 3rd until I spun again on lap 11. Then a couple laps later my internet dropped and I got disconnected from the server. A race to forget.

Race 1: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/m ... d=13866488
Race 2: http://members.iracing.com/membersite/m ... d=13867133

Standings: http://www.danlisa.com/scoring/season_s ... on_id=4232

_________________

1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Mid-Ohio short results posted.

Trevor and I came away with wins last night. Neither one came easy as Art was hounding us the entire race.

In race 1 Scott was pulling out a lead while Trevor Art and I were nose to tail for most of the race. Scott had his mandatory spin about mid distance so when he caught up to me with a few laps to go had to drive defensively letting Trevor and Art pull ahead. Thought Scott had me a few times, even pulled alongside a couple times, but Mid-ohio is a tough track to pass on.

Race 2 was looking to be more of the same, but this time Trevor was in the lead. However Scott and Trevor got together in T2 and I had slipped by Art , so found myself in the lead 3 laps in. Drove a defensive line, or tried Art's trick of looking like I was about to spin to make the following car back off, or just generally ignored that he was there. Was close quarters racing in both races with very little car contact.

That wraps up the SRF portion of the season. They've been a lot of fun to drive. We switch to the MX5s next week at Okayama short.

Fun evening. I really enjoyed the SRF @ Mid Ohio.

Race 1 was a blast with Ken & I running side-by side for the better part of the final lap.

Race 2, I bumped Trevor going into T1 and spun him. So I waited for him to recover and take the position in front of me. Then several laps later he dropped a wheel in the Esses and spun across the track into my car.

_________________

1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Just a quick note that we've switched over to the Skip Barber cars for the final few races of the Summer season, which runs for about another 5 weeks. Next week is VIR Grand West which is the full course plus the infield section (29 turns).

Just one race to go in the summer series (VIR North next week) and then we need to decide what to do for next season. I liked the SRF and Skippys from this season (strangely enough I didn't care for the Miata ) . See they rebalanced the GT3 cars again according to the release notes. Has anyone tried the Vette and Aston Martin? (the Vette used to be a real handful but heard it's better now, and from what I've read the DBR9 handles and brakes better but the Vette has more grunt). Just wondering if we were up to a GT1 series?

Let us know what you'd like to run.

I'd like to run GT3 cars.

_________________

1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

I haven't turned iracing on since the last race of the series last year, my sub expired too.
I have no idea whats going on there, any new cars?

I'd like to do something different honestly, Indycars maybe, mix of road/street/oval?

_________________
Paul

The DBR9 GT1 is fairly new and is paired with the Vette C6.R in the iracing GT1 series. There's also the Vette C7 Daytona prototype is supposed to be released with the new build this week:
http://www.iracing.com/cars/aston-martin-gt1/
http://www.iracing.com/cars/chevrolet-c ... prototype/

@Scott: We'll likely run 2 series alternating weeks again so you get 2 choices.

I would agree with Paul and suggest Indycars, but they are extremely difficult cars to hop in to and drive.

My vote is for GT3s one week aaaaaaannndddd....HPD or DP race the other.

Yeah, we're definitely the "hop in" type (well at least I am).

Here's what we are kicking around at the moment:

The Regulars GT3 series starts next week at Mid Ohio. The Skip Barber division starts the following week at Limerock Park.

Tell a friend!

Sep 22 GT Mid O Full
Sep 29 SB LRP
Oct 06 GT Road Atlanta Full
Oct 13 SB VIR Grand West
Oct 20 GT VIR Full
Oct 27 SB Road Atlanta Short
Nov 03 GT Monza Modern GP
Nov 10 SB Summit Short
Nov 17 GT Okayama Full
Nov 24 SB Monza Junior
Dec 01 GT Suzuka GP
Dec 08 SB Spa Classic

Dec 15 Fun run?