A couple of good weeks

Xmas week was a bit busy so I didn't write a post, my iRacing time was a bit limited so I did as much racing in the time available that I could. But, things went reasonably well considering how little time I spent on Practicing.

In the Skippy, we raced at Oran Park the week before Xmas. Oran Park is a track in Australia which is now closed but was much loved in Australia  It's very tricky - lots of elevation changes and fast sweeping corners and as bumpy as hell. I did reasonably well - 12 races, 1 win, 8 top 5 finishes but never really got into the right races to score big in the championship (more about this later). But, overall not bad at all.

My best drive of the week was probably in the Star Mazda at Spa. I'd hardly practiced at all but managed to get a 5th place in one race.

On the ovals, I had my 1st experience of superspeedway racing. It's crazy - to to able to stay with the pack, you have to team up with another person and basically push each other around the track as a tandem. Fun but scary! My best oval race was a 3rd place in the Late Model class.

For Xmas week (week 9 of the 12 week championship season) we had Laguna Seca for the Skippy. I like Laguna and it suits my style. The 1st few races were disasters - I twice jumped the start (my wheel was playing up and I eventually had to re-install and recalibrate it) and then I spun from a good position in one race. But, then things picked up and I had a few really good results, culminating in a brilliant result where I finished 2nd in the race where some of the very top guys were competing. The results sheet is below and that gives me a chance to explain some of the mechanics of iRacing.

The car number is iRacing is significant - it basically shows the drivers relative overall ranking, so the best driver is No 1 etc. The next few columns are standard race result information. The Inc column shows how many incidents you had during the race (running off-track, losing control, making contact with another car etc). I had 1 - I think I ran slightly wide on 1 corner. The championship points scored in each race change depending on how strong the field is - this race was extremely strong so the points are high - the 127 I scored is my best ever score. The Div column shows what division each driver is in (this is determined by your rating at the beginning of the season) so I was racing against people in way higher divisions than me. The iRating shows the current rating and the change caused by the race and the licence column shows what licence class each driver is and how your safety rating is changed by the race.
The race was interesting. At first, it seemed pretty straightforward - after a couple of laps I was running 5th and slowly losing ground to 4th place (and rapidly losing to the top 3) but pulling away from 6th. It basically stayed the same until lap 10 when the guy in 4th place (Car 8 who finished 3rd) spun and I passed him. I'd be cruising until then but of course I had to push  hard after that to stop him from catching me - my last 5 laps were all within .2 of my fastest lap). On lap 11 the race exploded - 2nd & 3rd touched each other and the 2nd placed car had to pit and then the leader blew up his engine so suddenly I was 2nd but being caught by the 3rd placed car. I managed to hold on but was sweating for the last few laps!
Another fun part of the last couple of weeks has been the release of the new McLaren MP4-12C GT car. It's really good fun to drive and the sound is AWESOME. I need more practice with it though - it's very difficult to set-up and I'm not particularly competitive with it - yet...

I love Zolder!

I had a great week with the Skippy at Zolder. 16 races, 4 wins, 14 top5 finishes. The only two "bad" results were a 6th and 7th - and in both of those I was taken out by someone. For some reason the track seems to suit my style of driving - I've been pretty fast but also really consistent whilst a lot of people have been crashing.

Apart from the wins - most of which were pretty straightforward, I had some awesome races. IN one, I was within 1 sec of the 2nd placed car for 13 laps but couldn't get past him and couldn't force him into a mistake. For the last couple of laps, I backed off - I thought we both deserved a break from the pressure! In another, I broke my fastest lap 5 times in a row and still lost ground on the leaders. Eventually I had a spin trying to go even faster so backed off and settled for 4th. But, the best week racing I've had - my rating has gone up a LOT...

The other series have been OK but nothing particularly noteworthy. Most of the oval tracks were not particularly interesting and I had some really boring races. There were also some really short tracks in operation and they are just a joke - basically you try to stay of of trouble. The other road races were on tracks I really don't like. The Mazda was at Suzuka so I was rubbish and the Riley at Road America - I was 10 secs off the pace in practice so didn't bother doing any races.

Next week Oran Park for the Skippy - practice looks good so hopefully I'll have another good week. The big stock cars are at Talladega so my 1st experience of Superspeedways - it should be fun!

Still no info on the protest against me - I guess it's either been dropped or they take their time making decisions...

I'm either lazy or Mediocre - or both

The last week or so have been interesting on iRacing. In the Skippy, I did pretty well at Lime Rock but since Tuesday it's been racing at Suzuka and I am completely hopeless - 3 secs off the pace and I crash every couple of laps. I haven't even bothered to enter any races - it would just be embarrassing :-)

Still, for the championship you can drop 4 out of the 12 weeks so I'm still in a good position, as long as I don't have the same problem at too many other tracks. I suspect the problem is that, especially with the Skippy, practice makes perfect and I'm just not prepared to put in the hours practicing - I'd rather race in other cars and ovals - hence the title of the article. Next week should be good - the Skippy is at Zolder and I've already raced their in the Mazda, Riley and Corvette - and done well - so hopefully can get up to speed in the Skippy quickly.

The good news is that I've been doing better elsewhere. I'm getting more and more competitive in the Star Mazda (which is much more fun to drive than the Skippy anyway) and the Riley DP. I'm also OK with the Corvette CR6 - at some tracks anyway. I've also had a couple of good results with the Spec Racer Ford sports car.

I've also had some good oval results, particularly at Rockingham which all the real oval drivers seem to hate but I love - it's as bumpy and slippery as hell so you actually need to drive the car at it rather than just throw it into the turns. Because even on the ovals I'm a "slow in, fast out" driver, I also do much better on long runs between pitstops - I always make up a few places towards the end of races as people wear their tyres out.

I've also been involved in a couple of protests. One I made after I was rammed in a Corvette race. Unfortunately I didn't save the replay file properly so I ended up withdrawing the protest. There's one against me pending but I've got no clue what it's about - I've just had a notification that a protest has been made about something I did. More details next time I guess.

Some weird things do happen on iracing (just like in real racing). This week, the Star Mazda has been running on an oval track. In one race, I was in the top 5 battling in the middle of the group of cars and the caution came out. I pretty much immediately backed off and the guy behind me slammed into me going into the next corner and then yelled at me about it. !!!!!!!

OK back to practising - or maybe I'll just skip that and do a race :-)