http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/ira ... es-debuts/



The car is the Skip Barber Formula 2000 (purchase maybe required)

Schedule
10:30PM AST Start Time

Wednesday, March 7th
Lime Rock Park - Full

Wednesday, March 21st
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Wednesday, April 4th
Infineon - Long*

Wednesday, April 18th
Road Atlanta - Full*

Wednesday, May 2nd
Watkins Glen - Boot*

Wednesday, May 16th
Brands Hatch - Grand Prix*

Wednesday, May 30th
Okayama – Full Course

Wednesday, June 13th
Road America - Full*

Wednesday, June 27th
Mosport - Full*

Wednesday, July 11th
Mid Ohio - Full*

Wednesday, July 25th
VIR – Full*

Wednesday, August 8th
Oulton Park – Int’l w/out Brittens*

* = Purchase maybe required

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

I think our time slot will equate to 10:30pm AST, but I'll give it a go. Who knows.. there's always the random draw.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Looks like I'll need to purchase these 5 tracks....

-Infineon
-Road Atlanta
-Brands Hatch
-Mid Ohio
-Oulton Park

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

Yeah, I'm missing Infineon, Road Atlanta, and Brands Hatch.

However, there are two drop weeks, so we needn't own every track in the series to quality.

Hmmm... Road Atlanta is used in three of the series I run during the month of March (plus Skippy in April), so I might as well buy that one at least.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Considering that the "regular" Skip Barber Race Series is running at Lime Rock this week, we could all just run in one of the public practice sessions and/or races.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Cleaned up the thread so it was less confusing.....

I'm up for online practice at 9pm if anyone else is game.

I don't mind hosting a room, we could do mixed racing again, Miata's, Skippy's and one other car on Lime Rock if folks are interested.

Otherwise the Lime Rock open practice sessions sound like a good idea.

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

I'm in.

Got my lap time down to a 58.961 last night. There's still another second or two in the car though.

_________________

1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Arg... headset decided to die.... no sound

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

Headset is still dead.... anyone have any recommendations for a good one that doesn't break the bank?
IE $40 - $80

Scott and I practiced Limerock tonight.... Scott showed me some of his lines and believe it or not I think they maybe quicker than mine!

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

LOL!

The car does have wings you know...

_________________

1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Started 18th out of 22nd, but that was kinda the plan to start at the back of the field.

Well turn 1 was a sh!t storm last night, 5 car wreck right in front of me, I managed to avoid it but another car that dove off the track to avoid the accident came back on without looking and we touched. At first I didn't think I took any damage but after a few turns it was clear I had. I tried to keep my pace as high as possible but I ended up clipping the wall slightly at the top of the hill. So I decided to pit to try and repair damage, but my pitcrew didn't repair anything. So now it's lap 2 of a 35 lap race and my steering wheel isn't really connected to my wheels.

I heard others talking about how their pitcrews were not repairing any damage either. Maybe it's a rule for this series or maybe my damage was just too light. I did see several cars in the pits seemingly being repaired during the race, but I don't know.

I managed to keep the rest of the race clean, making it as high as 7th (due to attrition). With a few laps to go a challenger for 7th was catching me at about 2 seconds a lap. Rather than risk an accident by doing battle with my damaged car I decided to just let him pass and settle for 8th.

I just checked the stats... With 87pts I'm 72nd out of 196
(1st place has 136pts)

I have to say I had a lot of fun last night, despite driving a damaged Skippy for nearly 35 laps. I'm looking forward to the next race at Laguna Seca in 2 weeks.

BTW my SR went down -0.06 for qualifying (had a spin + 1 off track) but went up +0.06 for the race so I broke even for last night's adventure.

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

I had pretty much the same experience as Jason.

Qualified 12th of 23. In the opening laps of the race, another car dove to the inside of me in T1. Unfortunately he had a bad connection and was blinking / disappearing for seconds at a time. So I didn't know where he was and we touched wheels, causing suspension damage to both of us.

I limped around to the pits, but when I left the car had not been repaired. I think it was because the car rolled out of the pit box during optional repairs and it stopped the countdown. I was text chatting at the time and didn't notice.

So I limped around for another lap and entered the pits a second time. This time the repairs were done, however it was not 100%. I ended up spinning on my out lap and hit a tire wall.

Back into the pits for a third time! Car was mostly repaired, but I was now in 22nd place and 5 laps down. So I puttered around the track for the rest of the race, slowly building up speed. I had pretty good pace towards the end as I was keeping up with the 3rd and 4th place runners. I suspect I could have placed in the top 5 had I not had that early incident. In the end I placed 15th.

While disappointing, it was still loads of fun. Looking forward to the next one. I surprised more of us weren't out there last night.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Yea I'm surprised more didn't participate.

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

Well, there's two drop weeks, so it's not too late for others to join in the fun.

Here's our points results after round one of twelve:

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Come on Kevin, Brian(s), Paul, etc.... join the fun!

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

I was busy last night trying to see how much SR I could lose by running in an oval race.
I tell ya, some of this oval racing is the most intense sim racing I have every done.

_________________
Brian
VP, AMP
#51 Vantage Motorsports

Here's a broadcast of one of the Skip Barber Racing School PREMIER Series races from yesterday. I think it was from the earlier (4PM) time slot: http://glaciertv.com/index.php/video-archive

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Laguna is not going to be pretty tomorrow night....

Just did a 1/2hr practice session, 1:43.2 was my best.
I could run 1:45s comfortably.... but anytime I tried to push I ended up crashing 9 times out of 10.

How are you making out Scott?
What time are you practicing tomorrow night Scott? I'd like to test my new headset/mic out.

Anyone else going to join the series? Kevin, Brian(s), Paul, Varga et all?

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

I ran Laguna in the Skippy last season, but have not practiced at all for this event.

My personal best was a 1:42 and the world record was a 1:37 at the time.

Crap, I just looked at the schedule and there's a 5pm race (too early) and an 11pm race. Damn daylight savings.

I'll likely be on ~7pm. Send me an iMessage.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

11pm... ugh
Are we on the stupid DST as the USA? Ugh.... damn Americans.

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

Here's a low 1:38 for reference:

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Good video.... I can see where I'm losing some of my time.


Andretti Hairpain:
I'm shifting up into 5th for a second or two before braking for turn 1.
He stays much tigher than I do in turn 1, and goes down into 1st, where I stay in 2nd.
I noticed he has to catch it in the first part of turn 1, I normally do an arc to hit the double apex, feels like the car is more stable, but probably not as quick.

Turn 3:
No difference

Turn 4:
I normally let off and brake slightly, he just lets off completely.

Turn 5:
I go down into 2nd for this turn. I tried taking it in 3rd, but it's just too fast.
I see he's able to stay in 3rd and trail brakes into the corner, maybe that's the trick.

Uphill...

Turn 6:
He keeps it in 4th. I find I need to drop to 3rd for that turn, but his turn in point is about a car length later than mine, so that could help.

Corkscrew:
I played with this last night and at first I was taking it in 2nd, but after a few laps I determine going into it in 1st and then shifting to 2nd 1/2 way through the turn was best. I see he takes it that way as well.

Rainey Curve:
He starts further to the right than I do. I know it's probably the best line, it just feels like forcing the car too far right only to bring it back unsettles the car.

Turn 10:
No difference

Turn 11:
He brakes about 1/2 a car length later than I do, but other than that it's the same line and gear.

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

Here are our results from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Oddly enough, both Jason & I finished 11th in our respective splits.

And here are our updated championship standings. We both moved up considerably; me 45 positions and Jason 23 positions:

_________________

1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Here's my race recap...

During qualifying I managed to drop my personal best down by nearly a second to 1:41.396, but it was only good enough for 12th on the grid. I was nervous about starting the race mid-pack, especially with the carnage that usually occurs at the Andretti Hairpin on the first lap, so I decided to play it safe and start from the pit lane.

Turns out my fears were unfounded as the whole field got through the first lap without incident. So I started 19th for no reason. To add insult to injury, I had forgotten to adjust my fuel load from qualifying, so I started the race with only 2.1 gallons of the required 5.1 gallons. D'oh!

The back markers were pretty slow though and I worked my way up to 14th with a 30 second gap before I had to pit for fuel. When I came back out of the pits, I had only dropped one place and was 10 seconds down. I knew I'd easily regain the position before the end of the race.

Through a combination of attrition and mistakes from drivers in front of me, I found myself in 11th place and running the same pace as 6/7/8th positions. I'm guessing that's about where I would have placed if I had started from the grid and not had to refuel. Still, it was a better result than the previous race, and I recorded a new personal best lap time during the race (1:41.003).

_________________

1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

I was 17th out of 19th on the grid.
During practice I had a best time of 1:42.0 and could easily do 1:43s however I decided to do a slow qualifying lap so that I would be near the back of the pack for the carnage that usually occurs at the Andretti Hairpin on the first lap.

I decided to start on the grid and not the pits, I figured the run down to the hairpin was long enough and wide enough to manage those behind me. I decided to let them pass before the hairpin. But alas there was no carnage, everyone made it though cleanly.

I over took a few people who were running similar laps times to me but would make mistakes. For 99% of the race I had one guy about 1-2 seconds behind me, so I was constantly checking my mirrors and waiting for him to dive bomb me or something, but to his credit he was patiently waiting for me to make a mistake, which I didn't do infront of him.

I did have one incident in the closing laps of the race, I was being lapped by 3 people, two passed me easily on the front straight but the 3rd was going to catch me in the hairpin. Just before the braking zone I pulled to the left to let him by and told him I would slow and take the inside. He went by me and then immediately cut infront of me. I think he turned in way too early and this caught him out, so he braked hard and stopped. I tried to stop but it was too late and we made contact. His rear wing was damaged and my nose was crumpled from what I could see.

He then got back on the throttle and started to drive away. I followed and he was pulling away from me but then pulled over and let me by between turns 3 & 4. I'm note sure if he retired or not.

I felt really bad about the contact at first, and apologized on the radio but he didn't respond. However after I had a few seconds to think about what happened, he turned in too early and should have just stayed wide as I had said. It did hurt my SR take home a bit, but I still came out positive from the race.

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

I've been reading a lot of threads in iRacing forums (especially in the mixed class series sections) about lappers (i.e. back markers) and blue flags.

Here's what the sporting code says:

Quote:
6. Flag Signals

6.5. Blue Flag (blue with diagonal yellow stripe) – Indicates faster cars are approaching. This flag is informational only. In all cases, it is the responsibility of the faster car to safely overtake the slower car. It is the responsibility of the slower car to maintain a consistent line. It is strongly recommended that a slower car being lapped makes every reasonable effort to facilitate a safe pass.

The general consensus on the forum (which falls in line with the above) is that when you are blue flagged, you are NOT required to pull over and let the faster car pass. In fact, most people prefer that you don't. It's much safer to hold your "normal" racing line & "normal" speed through corners as it's more predictable for the car behind you. Then when you hit a straight, if the faster car is within 0.5 seconds of you, hold your line but let off the throttle 25-50% to help facilitate a pass.

Note that I don't mean let off the throttle on corner exit... that's asking for trouble. Exit the corner normally, and wait until mid-straight before facilitating a pass.

This is what I do now. Sometimes you'll get someone behind you who still thinks that you're obligated to pull out of their way and let them pass unimpeded, but that's their problem. They need to read the sporting code.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

I verbally indicated on the radio I would pull to the left, slow and take the inside line.
The hairpin is wide and I slowed down enough so he could take the outside line easily and would have safely passed me.

When he cut in front of me he was not on the racing line, like I said I think he turned in too early.
Maybe he was caught off guard by his speed because of draft?!? I don't know, either case the more I think about it the less I think I'm at fault.

Everyone else that passed me did it clean and without issues. In all cases I verbally indicated and moved out of their way and most thanked me.

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

I'm not suggesting you did anything wrong. If anything, the faster car should have waited and not tried to pass you on the outside of the hairpin. After all, it is the responsibility of the faster car to safely overtake the slower car.

I'm just saying that don't feel pressured or obligate to pull out of the way if/when a faster car comes up on you while going into a corner. Make him wait until you're both on a straight.

I've even gone so far as to take a defensive line if I don't trust the faster car to not dive bomb me and risk both our safety. Especially in the lower license class series... There's lots of really fast novices that have no race craft nor patience.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Infineon Raceway (Long)

_________________
"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."-William Gibson
1989 Van Diemen - Formula 2000 Continental

Was that you racing Jason, if so, very nicely done. Smooth, clean and moved up the field.

_________________
Brian
VP, AMP
#51 Vantage Motorsports