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Week 1
Dec 13, 2021 21:43:55 GMT
Post by tomlory on Dec 13, 2021 21:43:55 GMT
I'm struggling with too many championships to choose from.
I enjoy the Porsche 992 Cup car but I think that I'm going to park it for the season. I can't recall any fun races with it, just survival, either sheer luck or just the satisfaction of a clean 0X race. Fwiw, I have 8 of the tracks. For those so inclined, Porsche Cup and Porsche Cup Fixed mean that you can do back to back races with a short break in between and fulfill participation for two series with the same car and tracks.
The TC cars should be the closest and funnest racing. The cars are only moderately fast and as long as you are on the throttle, almost impossible to spin out. Unfortunately, the comfort level that comes with that is going to encourage aggressive racing, which there never has been a shortage of, anyway. I did a bunch of Week 13 races and they were mostly a mess except one that was great for 2/3 distance and another that was good to the end but largely because I was careful with the early lap hard chargers who disposed of themselves before 1/2 distance. The last one was actually great, with a photo finish for P2 and P1-P3 covered by less than 2 seconds. It makes sense to avoid the Rookie series except that most of us should be clear of the newbs both on iRating and speed and there are bound to be 100+ entries much of the time which is supposed to land us in splits with our peers. I imagine Mazda Miata-like participation, aggression and stupid mistakes but maybe possibly hopefully front drive and paid content will cull the herd appreciably.
With at least a C license and paid cars required and good levels of grip and speed, the GT4 class should be great. The TC cars join them in the IMSA Pilot Challenge which should elevate that series that seems to often have low turnout. Running two cars (BMW M4 GT4 and Honda Civic Type R TC) in the same series is very attractive so this is probably going to be my focus. I have 10 of the tracks.
I guess I could just hop in the Advanced Mazda MX-5 without much practice and focus on 0X races. These should be the best racing but it hasn't been that way. I have 8 of the tracks.
I bought the Mercedes AMG GT3 car with eyes on the iRacing Special Events but a B license minimum, longer races and the possibility of higher quality racers make me want to enter some regular season races. I'd relinquish my B / 4.99 license by getting bumped up to an A license. I've been keen to keep the B license which loses less SR per incident but kinda dumb for that to limit my activities. Any GT3 series won't be a season-long focus but I could see spending extra time any one week. These cars open up team racing, too, will want to get some races in before the 2022 Daytona 24.
My Safety Rating refuge will probably be the Sim Lab PCC, either the Mustang or the Solstice depending on the track. I need to keep my foot in the door with the Mustang here because all of the fast Mustang drivers in this series seem to be good to race with. I have 12 of the tracks.
I have of 8 of the tracks for Fanatec Global Challenge and I've had largely clean races with the Cadillac CTS-V but we seem to have the most fun just running around with these in open practice.
I noticed that the A license series use the GTE cars. Maybe next season...
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Week 1
Dec 14, 2021 0:54:59 GMT
Post by tomlory on Dec 14, 2021 0:54:59 GMT
Epiphany is a little strong but I've realized that I should stay B license to give me a buffer against Week 1 disasters and make it easier to regain SR. It helps the decision that the GT3 cars that I need to fulfill MPR are at KNOCKHILL when the preliminary schedule had them at Daytona which is one of my favorite tracks.
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Week 1
Dec 14, 2021 1:35:18 GMT
Post by tomlory on Dec 14, 2021 1:35:18 GMT
Well, fuck. I'm typing this is a wait for 7 minutes of repairs at Knockhill because I trusted my fellow man. Last place is where I'll finish when I had top 1/2 pace. It doesn't matter which license, which track, which car you get fucked at least 50% of the time.
I knew better, I knew better, %^*(( %)($ *&^^ lol
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Week 1
Dec 14, 2021 1:54:41 GMT
Post by tomlory on Dec 14, 2021 1:54:41 GMT
So by the end of the race, the sun in your eyes is so bad that you can't see the rise at start/finish. So what does at least one dumb motherfucker do when the race is over? He stops right after start/finish with cars still on their last lap.
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Week 1
Dec 14, 2021 2:31:04 GMT
Post by mikec1 on Dec 14, 2021 2:31:04 GMT
I hate to chuckle at my fellow man's misfortunes but the recaps are hilarious. Keep em coming!
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Week 1
Dec 14, 2021 2:45:47 GMT
Post by tomlory on Dec 14, 2021 2:45:47 GMT
So I do a Time Trial @ Nordschliefe thinking that there's like 100 corners so one lap will pay huge SR. Still stewing on the GT3 race and having false muscle memory (?) from hundreds of laps on the rF1 version of the track, I put a wheel off on Lap 1 and pushing harder because it's kinda boring unless a push a little, I put another wheel off which sentences me to another lap which I completely with a 0X.
The payout was +0.01 for 3 laps with 2X. Now I'll OCD myself into another Time Trail lap, telling myself to treat it like a mountain road motorcycle ride to see what a clean session gets me.
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Week 1
Dec 14, 2021 3:11:05 GMT
Post by tomlory on Dec 14, 2021 3:11:05 GMT
Pfff, +0.02 which equates to 9 laps (77 minutes plus load time) to negate the GT3 (-0.17) race. Now I'm aggravated again.
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Week 1
Dec 17, 2021 23:01:28 GMT
Post by csherburn on Dec 17, 2021 23:01:28 GMT
Don't sweat the SR too much...especially when you are still 4.0+. Really you don't need to focus too much on it until you get down into the 2.x. Demotion isn't until 1.5 or so I think... I've never been down that low so I'm not positive where exactly the cut is, and it's not instantaneous either, so you have a little time to recover. Sometimes it's too easy to get too caught up on numbers.
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Week 1
Dec 17, 2021 23:14:00 GMT
Post by tomlory on Dec 17, 2021 23:14:00 GMT
Under 2.00 at the end of the season or under 1.00 at any time demotes. It's troubling to see A (1.20) drivers 2 days into a new season which should mean that they dropped 0.80 in 2 days.
I want and will have a high SR for my own satisfaction and to help me prioritize clean laps. Very difficult to climb back from a 2.xx versus maintaining it and gives me a level of sport versus playing a game that I have more control over.
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Week 1
Dec 19, 2021 10:56:19 GMT
Post by tomlory on Dec 19, 2021 10:56:19 GMT
I just now discovered that we can very quickly and easily capture video clips with iRacing SHIFT + CTRL + ALT + V to be saved to the "videos" folder as an MP4 file.
Week 1, Race 8: Advanced Mazda @ Nordschliefe. I had a 0X uncontested clean race going but turned ruined race with less than half a lap to go:
The whole process cost me maybe 5 minutes. Pretty sweet.
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Week 1
Dec 21, 2021 8:19:32 GMT
Post by tomlory on Dec 21, 2021 8:19:32 GMT
Week 1, Race 1: Fanatec GT3 Challenge @ Knockhill International layout (Mercedes AMG GT3)
I had done a bunch of laps with the Porsche 992 Cup car over the weekend and was curious about how the Merc would be which led to entering this race with some discretion based on 58 entries that would result in three splits but risky with such a tight,undulating and narrow track with no passing opportunities and big fast cars.
Like I've said before, throwing caution to the wind rarely works out for me. I got a good start to move up to about 8th but got caught in someone else's wreck before we made it four corners.
I pitted with about 100 seconds worth of "required repairs" and 7-8 minutes of "optional repairs". The required repairs left me with an undriveable car that cost me a couple more incident points so I came back in for the more extensive repairs which seemingly gave me a car that drove as good as new.
Finished out the race with no further incidents.
Q10 / R19 / 6X / -0.17 / -60 (B / 4.82 / 1793) RUINED RACE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 1, Race 2: Advanced Mazda @ Nordschliefe (Mazda Global MX-5) This was intended to farm safety rating but I ended up Q7 in the top split with 23 cars and caught with an aggressive ass named Gokberk Kabaci ("International", B / 2.21 / 3987) who got a shitty start then overlapped me in basically every corner where we should have been single file until I got caught out spending attention on trying to predict how to avoid being taken out and I went off the track on my own. I kept it against the barrier to avoid scattering everyone behind me. 8 minute tow, 13 minutes of repairs. I could have so easily let him next to me in a stupid spot and nudged him off the track.
Q7 / R18 / 2x / -0.01 / -36 (B / 4.85 / 1757) MY FAULT, NO VICTIMS -------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 1, Race 3: Sim Lab Production Car Challege @ Summit Point (Pontiac Solstice)
Last minute OCD safety rating race with no practice turned stressful when I remembered the T1 brake zone and how many people were getting plowed into but was freed from most of the anxiety when the other two drivers failed to start the race. Got lapped by what felt like 50 Mustangs and Miatas and kept re-passing a Jetta that kept making mistakes especially under braking which was worrisome. I managed to stay away from him to score a 0X and with the DNStarts I pretty much got back to where I was before the disastrous Nordschliefe race.
Bonus is that I got this out of the way, near the bottom of my track choices, no desire whatsoever to drive the Mustang here.
Q1 / R1 / 0X / +.09 / +39 (B / 4.94 / 1796) NO CONTEST CLEAN RACE ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 1, Race 4: Touring Car Challenge (Honda Civic Type-R) @ Spa (SOF 2543)
The inconsistent track limits and a seemingly arbitrary time penalty got me badly as did slow loading. I got seeded in the top split and qualified P12 ahead of several drivers with iRatings over 1000 higher than mine despite the session loading so slow for me that I only had time for one flying lap on which I gave up over 0.7 sec at one point.
After lap 1, I was in 7th or 8th, perfectly content but took a bit of grass maybe to get a time penalty when I had gained absolutely nothing simply keeping the pace with the car ahead of me. In real world racing you can completely miss a corner so long as your relative position to the cars ahead and behind is in their favor. Had it been the next corner, I could have put 1/2 my car in the grass without even an incident point but no, we get an incident and a time penalty. I dropped my pace but the penalty wasn't going away, had to basically come to a stop which I could only safely do at the edge of the track and I got sucked off onto the grass and into the barrier for more incident points. Anyone that I could have raced with was gone but I got caught later and might have had a good race if I didn't have aero damage.
Q12 / R14 / 9X / -0.30 / -15 (B / 4.64 / 1781) MY FAULT, NO VICTIMS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Week 1, Race 5: Sim Lab Production Car Challege @ Summit Point (Pontiac Solstice)
The equivalent of being sentenced to community service for having had a bad race. Considering that the Solstice gets lapped by the leaders twice, I was happy that yet again the other car in the class skipped the race and I was able to focus on zero incidents without damaging my iRating.
Q1 / R1 / 0X / +0.09 / +37 (B / 4.73 / 1818) NO CONTEST CLEAN RACE ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Week 1, Race 6: Touring Car Challenge @ Spa (Honda Civic Type-R)
I have realized that I look forward to driving the Civic, that life is too short for wing adjustments and that iRacing public room racing is 50% luck so stop worrying about iRating.
It was arguably bed time but only two minutes to another TC race and I saw 117 entries so there was a good chance that I wouldn't end in the top split again. Split 3. The top split SOF was 4237 but notably not that much faster nor cleaner judging by the number of incidents. This series is kinda risky but I like Spa. The rest of the schedule is mostly easy to skip.
I pushed a little wide exiting the first corner on my flying lap and didn't have time for a second one. 8 minutes is not enough time for qualifying at Spa.
Had I posted a qualifying lap, I might have missed the 7 car pileup after Eau Rouge on Lap 1. Thankfully, I didn't get plowed in the ass but I was left with no one ahead in sight. I eventually caught up to P6 but I was only a little bit quicker than he was and in turn I was getting some pressure from P8 who was hanging on to the two of us. Decent finish for P7 with P6-P8 covered by less than 2 seconds.
Damage might be turned down for this series. The Civic absorbed two hard front end hits with little if any visually apparent damage. It seemed like I was down on speed but not horribly.
Short 15 minute race is tough on the Safety Rating if you suffer any contact.
Q13 / R7 / 5X / -0.13 / +29 (B / 4.60 / 1847) RUINED RACE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 1, Race 7: IMSA Pilot Challenge @ Road America (Honda Civic Type-R)
I genuinely wanted to enter this race to race but bottom of the top split and only one qualifying lap had me focused on a 0X race.
I signed up for race 5 minutes before the cutoff but I still missed over 60 seconds of qualifying so I only had time for one flying lap. It was decent as far as my prior laps but I was up over a second on the second lap with tires that were probably closer to optimum until I started getting mad about what should have been knowing that I didn't have enough time to finish the lap and made a mistake.
The race didn't go any better. P17 Tyson Meier lost the rear braking for T5 on Lap 1 but that turned out to be inconsequential because he stayed put off the racing surface till everyone went by. Several seconds late, Matt Brady and Tyler Ford got together which turned Tyler's Honda who apparently has no wheel to wheel experience with front drive cars because all he had to do was get on the throttle to straighten the car out but he slow looped it out and blocked the track directly in my path. I avoided him but got tagged in the right rear by Jack Hedgecoxe who had been playing it safe and was hanging back 4-6 car lengths before T5 but apparently lost his mind and sped up towards the pile. That hurt something on my car and I got a boat load of off throttle or braking oversteer that sent me two wheels off and yawed at T6, to spin across the track, almost pointed in the right direction but slapped the k-wall to apparently bend the left rear suspension. The steering was cocked 15 degrees, going straight wasn't too bad but it didn't want to turn right and it wanted very much to turn left. I did the math the best I could being about 8 seconds off my race pace at that point and a projected 14 laps so about 112 seconds lost if I stayed out. It seemed like a pit stop to fix the damage would take much longer so I stayed out, losing one additional position but no risk of losing more as I was the last car on the lead lap.
Q13 / R13 / 5X / -.05 / -34 (B / 4.55 / 1813) RUINED RACE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week 1, Time Trials 1-4 Mercedes AMG GT3 @ Knockhill
Having too many debates with myself about moving up to an A license. Put an end to that by fulfilling the MPR.
(A / 3.60 / 1813) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Week 1, Race 8: Touring Car Challenge @ Spa (Honda Civic Type R)
I don't remember anything about this race other than what seemed like the front tires going off with 2-3 laps to go.
2X (probably wheels off)? CLEAN RACE it seems.
Q13 / R15 / 2X / 0.00 / -17 (A / 3.60 / 1796) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Week 1, Race 9: Advanced Mazda @ Nordschliefe
I was hoping to start in the back where from I might more easily have a clean race but I emphasized the first 1/3rd or so of the track on cold tires when I was practicing in order to hopefully help separate the cars behind me from me.
Come race time, it worked okay. I don't recall being overly concerned about cars behind until a little later in the lap when I simply left an eager one pass just to remove the possibility of an out-of-control lunge. According to the results, I was P6 after one lap but I don't remember that. Nor do I remember relinquishing 8 more to be down to P14 at the end of Lap 2 and I was certain that I was on the 4th and final lap when Yoshimichi Ishikawa wandered back onto the track leaving me nowhere to go other than get towed to the pits for repairs. I gambled on "required repairs" only to stay on the lead lap which worked out with no further incidents nor loss of track position. I'm a little confused by the data which doesn't jive with what I remember but I think that I realistically would have finished P12 or P13 with a race to the finish with I think Robbie Mcaffee. As is irritatingly too common, the driver that caused my crash went on to finish ahead of me. All I wanted was a clean race and SR points. Complete waste of time. RUINED RACE
Q10 / R16 / 4X / -0.01 / -33 (A / 3.63 / 1763) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Week 1, Time Trials other 14 (17 for the week).
I can see Time Trial becoming part of my practice routine but this week was all about a guaranteed way to raise the SR.
Mazda MX-5 @ Nords, Mercedes AMG GT3 @ Knockhill, Civic Type R @ Road America, BMW M4 GT4 fixed @ Okayama, BMW M4 GT4 @ Road America, Mustang FR500S @ Summit Point and Radical SR8 @ Hungaroring.
The Mustang was surprisingly fun at Summit Point which I guess shouldn't be a surprise as it's been fun everywhere after some familiarization.
(A / 3.83 / 1763)
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Week 1
Dec 21, 2021 8:40:23 GMT
Post by tomlory on Dec 21, 2021 8:40:23 GMT
I've been keeping a log which is easiest if I debrief after a race. I've been editing that to copy and post here but next week I'm going to try to post videos clips of the key moment(s) of each race mostly instead.
So I finished the week a license up, -1.16 on SR (well, sorta, as an A3.00 equals a B4.00 but I need something to compare) and -80 on iRating thanks to 4 of 9 races ruined for me by others.
It's generous to enumerate that as batting 0.555 as most of the clean races where clean because I didn't put up any kind of a fight but, again, I need a simple number.
Next week, I'm going to try short video clips with highights including us practicing instead of the log entries or at least with much fewer words.
end of this week: (A / 3.83 / 1763)
end of last week: (B / 4.99 / 1843)
clean races: 0.555
ruined races: 0.445
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