I’d put in a quick qualifying session, setting a 1:03.227 before the race. Amazingly this put me in 5th-place on a grid where I was the 12th-highest iRated driver (who knew the competition could be so high in the rookie races!)

I got a great start and immediately moved into fourth-place ahead of a driver who missed the grid. I then gained another place in turn one after the leader hopped the kerb and almost spun to the outside of the turn. Extremely happy and sitting in third-place out of turn two!

Towards the end of lap three the lead cars had pulled away from me a little and I was pushing hard to try to make ground on them, but cut a little too much to the inside exiting the downhill. This threw me off balance and into the dirt exiting onto the main straight… I managed to keep my car off the racing surface and as an incident had happened behind me came very close to getting collected by Matej Sagmeister as he took to the grass between me and the armco! I got going again and crossed the line in sixth-place.

Starting lap four and still recovering from my spin, I gained a place when Matej went off. This put me behind Michael Becker until lap eight when he ran wide in turn one, giving me fourth-place.

I remained in fourth until the end of the race, but by lap 12 had started to close in on Burke Treidler in third. We were nose to tail in places from lap 16 onwards but although I was faster I could not find a clean place to overtake and had to settle for the position.

A fairly fun race. I like having a nose to tail battle with someone, even if I don’t manage to make the pass. It was also nice to have a clean race (with the exception of my 2 incident points for the spin on the frontstretch). It was also pretty cool that the next day I was awarded with:

Here’s the race video:

After that enjoyable race where I gained a helpful 0.33 in safety rating I then had an appalling race at Laguna Seca. I was dodging cars left and right and knew that if I stayed in the race I was going to pay for it eventually with car contacts rather than off tracks, so I quit, and lost 0.27 safety rating for my trouble. I didn’t even save the replay, I felt so frustrated.

I joined another race and while this one was a little better, it was obvious that most of the drivers on track didn’t know their way around either the race track or the Spec Racer Ford. The race was again horrible and after 13 incidents and a loss of 0.14 figured that losing my Class A license was inevitable if I continued running these races.

So, with that in mind I turned up to race at one of my favorite race tracks within the iRacing service: Summit Point. This time I again found myself in a mess of a race and after a few off track excursions actually spun one time when the person infront of me had spun. I couldn’t believe I’d done that and again, utterly frustrated at Week 13, the safety rating, my inability to get away from what I’ll refer to as ‘those people’ – it was really getting me down. I’d lost another 0.03.

I figured I’d join another race. At this point I basically had lost my Class A license as I was at 1.19 safety rating (anything below 2.0 at the end of the season is demoted), the fact I like Summit Point so much was really my only draw and after joining and getting a pretty clean race, with a gain of 0.19, was delighted. It’s at this point I also noticed I was leading my division in points!

Things followed a pattern from this point out with me running two races each day for the remainder of the championship. I had one completely awful race followed by one that was less awful (but still bad). I wound up losing the lead of the division and basically felt like I had wasted my safety rating for absolutely no reason. Then it hit me just how good of an example Week 13 is that the safety rating works: Race after race it’s the highest class drivers who will most of the time finish near the front and finish with less incidents, race after race it’s the rookies who pull onto the race track infront of someone or spin off at every turn and that’s really something you have to understand if you run Week 13; these guys are learning.

Some rookies you race during Week 13 may even be in their first ever online race. I know that before I ran an online race I had a lot of experience running offline and obviously that is where iRacing is different, there is no safety net of A.I. cars you can obliterate without fear, there is always a license and the pressure of the safety rating bearing down on you and you either get used to it and improve as a driver, or you never will progress to Class A at the very least. I’ve been one of the cleanest drivers in my races during Week 13 and I still have 71 incidents for my trouble, I’m losing my Class A license because of it and I’d be surprised if even ten of those incidents were my fault – I’ve had just about every single thing people go berzerk about happen to me during this week.

In the table below you can see the races I entered, the incidents, safety rating adjustment and start/finish positions. During Week 13 four days from seven are dropped, so only the best three days count towards the championship.

I ran a LOT of qualifying sessions during the week attempting to bump the SR up between events, too.

Whether you think it’s fair or not that you get penalized for the on-track antics of other drivers, the fact is that cream always rises to the top. I chose to sacrifice my license by choosing to race hard for positions with rookies or not starting in the pitlane, but I know that I can get my license back and frankly I’m delighted to have finished in the top-3 for a division for the first time. Some of those I raced this week are going to have to alter their driving to even make it to Class D and the truly, truly wonderful thing is that I most often race in the Skip Barber Race Series, which is Class D – and I see so little of the problems which plagued these Rookie events that I’m delighted to see how well the safety rating works.

Anybody who is used to running Class D through A should sometime visit the Rookie events during Week 13 so that they can fully understand this. I don’t have a high iRating and I’m not the quickest racer, so I am often right back in the thick of things. I certainly understand just how much of a difference a little promotion can make, and I’ll be so very happy to see my license reflect what is mostly my driving once again instead of everyone else’s.

I got a good start and quickly gained a position when the leaders made contact. The pole sitter span onto the kerbing and I just managed to sneak by and get into third by the exit of turn one.

On lap two I let Jean-Sebastien Stoezel by. He had been riding my gearbox pretty close and I really didn’t want incidents, I figured I could pass him eventually anyway… As things turned out though, he became the catalyst that changed this race completely as on lap four he hit the back of Ian Wat under braking and they both spun, blocking the track as I approached. I couldn’t stay on-track and went out onto the grass, spinning and after things cycled out I crossed the line at the end of the lap in sixth-place. Very disappointed – especially because had I not spun and just avoided them, I would be second-place instead.

Ending lap seven fourth-place Ray Myers ran wide in the final turn, letting a few cars by including me. I was now in fifth-place. Mid way around lap eight my old friend Stoezel spun off the track, giving me fourth.

Things were constant until lap 12 when Matthew Goucher ahead of me ran wide towards the end of the lap. I felt he’d been holding me up a little, so it was probably the pressure of having me behind which forced him off, while I was trying to carefully lap at 95% of my full speed just about everywhere.

With the second-place car of Timothy Murray within striking distance ahead of me with five laps to go I started trying to work out where I was faster and he was slower. While he seemed to be very fast in the high speed turns I found myself crawling all over him in back of the circuit and knew I would have to get by in the twists and turns. On lap 23 of 25 he made a mistake and nearly spun as he had been on many of the previous laps, I tried to shoot a gap on his left side but unfortunately he closed the door and after making light contact I went onto the grass, rejoining quite a few seconds back.

On lap 24 while pushing to try to catch Murray again and challenge for second-place I ran wide out of the final turn and looped the car, getting going quick, but not quick enough to stop Stoezel from outbraking me and himself into the first turn on the final lap. I hoped that he would outbrake himself too and after staying left I quickly swung right and took the position right back, holding onto it for the rest of the lap while pushing hard to stay ahead. This included the most glorious drift in one of the braking areas… Felt great.

So third-place, 5 incidents and an utterly enjoyable race. Awesome.

I started third and got an awesome start, passing for second-place towards the first turn. I probably could have taken second, but braked early to avoid any possible problems and dropped back to third. I had a connection blip part way around the lap (everyone else disappeared – my fault), but continued fine in third. As we exited the esses we were all surprised at the front when Adam Roberson, who had slid across the grass, appeared infront of us on the racetrack. The leader had to take to the dirt to avoid Adam, but Adam reacted quickly and pulled to the side as soon as he was able to.

On lap two the car behind me spun, giving me a little more breathing room as I kept pace with the lead pair. On lap four I had noticed a little gap starting to emerge and I pushed a little too hard braking on lap five, eventually running wide and having to lock everything down to avoid spinning… I lost a few seconds and fell out of contention for the win with that.

Starting lap eight I slid sideways across the gravel in turn two and was overtaken for third-place by Kevin Richardson but on lap ten he shifted down one too many gears and smacked the tire wall, ending his race. This put me back into third, where I would remain the rest of the race.

The excitement wasn’t over though, as on lap 14 I lapped Bernard Saparelli in a tight squeeze before spinning on lap 15 and then having a near-miss while lapping him again on lap 16 when I didn’t know where he was going to go… I was delighted though to cross the line with a third-place…. Delighted. Laguna Seca was a distant memory!

I ran a qualifying session shortly before the event, setting a 1:24.874 laptime. I knew it wasn’t a great time but I’m still mid-transition with this Charlotte ‘roval’ from hating it to liking it – so any time is good time.

I slotted into third-place on the grid and got a good start, holding position onto the infield. About half way around the lap the second-place car of Jeff Fedorovich spun out and I managed to avoid him, taking the place.

On lap four the leader ran into the barrier on the infield roadcourse, he was unable to get going and I inherited the lead!

I held the lead easily from Ville Ahopelto who now ran second. When he ran into the barrier pulling onto the oval found myself with a huge lead and felt like I was set for victory.

By lap 12 I started to see a fast car in my mirrors. Jorma Stenman had started in fifth-position and was now challenging for the lead! I could tell he was faster so when he got close enough to pass I did some simple defensive driving. It worked for a lap but I couldn’t hold back someone this much faster and he made the pass in turn one.

We ran out the race cleanly and I took second-place. I set my fastest lap, a 1:22.922, on lap 17, and had no incidents during the whole race – very pleased to see my safety rating go up by 0.33!

Let’s face it, why do I race simulations? Because I enjoy it! What on earth is the point of not racing to avoid being in a wreck?! I’m a clean enough driver that I tend not to get the contact penalties others get on Superspeedways and if I get involved in a wreck I can then choose whether to quit the race and take the hit by not finishing, or I can then choose to run around purely for the safety rating. Besides, I can make back my losses from an SS race in a late model race or two… Well, maybe the ones I practice for, the ones I don’t practice for I make too many mistakes. ;)

The Talladega 499 is about to start!

I took the restart in 19th-place and ran up towards the front until lap 23 when it seemed like a wreck was about to happen. I pulled to the inside on the backstretch and let the field pass, rejoining and crossing the line next time by in 21st-place. Then in turn two one lap later a car in the lead group got on the apron and did very well to not wreck the entire lead pack: I like to think that my spider-senses tingled correctly and that this was the wreck I avoided by dropping back.

We soon created our own pack of cars led by Joe. We ran as that group until lap 49 when some cars started to pit who had not pitted during the first caution. I didn’t need to pit, so took a high line to avoid trouble but that obviously wasn’t enough because trouble managed to find me instead. As we exited the tri-oval to start lap 52, William Bennett (28) came straight up onto the banking after his pit stop and this caught Kenny Lopez (7) off guard, he came up and we made contact. Somehow I, probably due to the massive speed differences involved and the obvious lag that creates, didn’t take any damage – but did get a car contact penalty. I was now running in the top-five and had a 13-lap fuel advantage on most of the pack.

Running hard at Talladega.

It didn’t take long before I realized I would not be able to draft with anybody for a while: The couple of cars ahead of me were lined up and those behind were racing side by side, making them as slow as I was. I decided to run high and drag the brake until that group behind caught up with me and on lap 64 I had rejoined the group I entered the pits with.

By lap 69 we had settled down and were running in a line, we ran that way for 10 laps but then some in the group started to race again and on lap 84 we were losing tenths per lap to the couple of cars lined up by themselves ahead of us. This race had been extremely clean and I knew that if we were going to stay in contact with the lead group someone was going to have to take a lead and show the group how to lap faster: What’s funny is that this is probably why others in the group were racing, they all felt like they could go faster. Thankfully though, I turned out to be correct and after lapping in the 50.9-51.1 bracket I passed the group around the outside and immediately started to reel off consistent 50.7-50.8 laps with Christopher Shetzler (15) tucked in behind me.

On lap 95 the lead cars started to pit. At the time I was running 13th but as things cycled through I found myself leading by lap 97.

Christopher stuck close at Talladega.

I pitted on lap 102 and took the lap 105 restart from 10th place. It was a very messy restart at the front of the lead pack and the net result was a lot of lifting back in the pack. Things got sorted out though and the entire field sped around the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway at neck-breaking speed for 31 green flag laps until an error was made by the 1st and 2nd-place cars, sending the yellow car of Brad Coleman for a wild ride on the apron of the race track. Incredibly, he held it together and the pack continued under green until lap 142 when Simon Trendell (32) hit Robert Woloschuk (21) in the rear in turn two, sending Robert down into 3rd-place Kyle Vesa (24) and all of them up into the wall.

Most of the pack got by unscathed, but all those directly involved in the wreck were eliminated. I was now in 8th-place and decided to pit on lap 143 and again to top off fuel on lap 144. Surprisingly yet again some of the leaders did not pit which again I thought was strange. I was now fuelled to the finish…

As it had been back on lap 105, the lap 147 restart was awful. Joe slowed (he said he missed a shift over the voice chat) and Bob Grooms (25) moved high to avoid. Seeing this unfold ahead of me I overreacted, clipped the apron, lost control, went up the racetrack, hit the wall and collected Jason Wright (5). I felt bad about Jason, but largely relieved that I hadn’t done this towards the front of the pack and taken out the entire field!

Hitting the turn two wall at Talladega.

What’s strange is that in the Talladega 312 on Friday I had wrecked early and had a terribly damaged car: I finished 7th. Today I wrecked on lap 147, still had a good car after the wreck, but finished 16th. The reason, of course, was because the Talladega 499 had a field of clean drivers who made their cars last to the finish. I was the first car not on the lead lap! We only had five cautions and ran green for all but 19 laps. That’s awesome.

I’m glad I didn’t lay back too much in this one and I’m glad I had fun out there while running without that fear. I was disappointed at my wreck for a moment but then I moved on and realized how much fun I was still having even though I wasn’t in a position to win anymore. I had 12 incidents (3 x car contact) and set my fastest lap after my wreck on lap 154. The race win went to Kevin West II (26).

Unfortunately I won’t make the Indy 500 iRacing World Tour event as fortunately I’ll actually be at Indianapolis working for iRacing! Hope to see some iRacing members at the event and hear about a successful iRacing Indy 500 when I get back.

My method of discovering NASCAR is probably quite unusual: I’m British and with abysmal TV coverage in Europe, I actually first saw the NASCAR logo on the box of a racing game that we all now know as NASCAR Racing 1 by Papyrus (largely the same people I now work with at iRacing). It’s amazing to think that a chance picking up of a box off a shelf can convert someone from a lifetime fan of F1 to someone who has been asked “how do you know that?!” by people who have actually worked for Cup teams. The first race I actually saw at Talladega was in 1996, before that I had simply read about the races in Autosport, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I still describe NASCAR racing in the same way I did back then: It’s a Marathon! You just have to be in a position to win at the end of the race.

So with that in mind coming into Talladega you have some tough decisions to make: Do you lay back and try to stay out of trouble, but risk getting too far behind if the race stays green? Do you stay in pack and figure that you probably wouldn’t be able to stay out of trouble anyway? Or, do you try to push your way to the front, hoping to stay ahead of the trouble? In the 312 and 499 races at Talladega this past weekend we saw every possible combination.

I had qualified with a 52.319s using the setup which Gregg Granello had posted in the forum. After a slight modification to the setup to help it stabilize through the tri-oval I figured it would work equally as well as a race setup and after joining the race – along with 652 others – found myself in the seventh iRating split of sixteen and in ninth-place in the starting order.

The iRacing Talladega 312 gets under way!

A very close call on lap seven.

Crossing the line in 16th for the lap eleven restart, I still wanted to hang around at the back, but when the high line opened up it looked far too tantalizing and like a moth to a light bulb I could not resist… I pulled high and over the next two laps went from 15th to eighth on the outside. Our progress was so good on the outside that it worried the low lane and someone came up to block as the leader of our lane went down to side-draft. Contact was made and this set off a chain reaction which wrecked my car among others – on lap 14 of 117.

Lap 14 - The big one.

I ran tenth starting the last lap (all positions were gained due to attrition) and frankly would have been delighted with that, but a last lap incident on the backstretch saw the first and second-place cars spin into the inside wall entering turn three as Paul Grimsley went by on the outside. Paul was also very lucky to hold on for the win when the person who inherited the lead into turn three also got spun. Paul’s incredible sideways drift along the apron and his ability to stay pointed in the right direction is what won him the race, and the last lap melee among the leaders allowed me to leapfrog them and move into seventh-place.

So, moral of the story for me in this one is that you probably shouldn’t give up on a car that still has four wheels and an engine – even if the wheels aren’t all pointing the same direction. After being wrecked on lap 14 I am absolutely delighted to come out of the event with a top-ten finish.

One of the hardest things to accept in racing is not living up to your own beliefs on what you can do in a race car (whether it’s a virtual or real one). I’m sure Mark Webber had similar feelings after the Formula One Grand Prix in Australia and I’m sure there’s plenty of iRacers feeling similar things every week. Sure, I have my usual excuse that I didn’t have time to do any testing whatsoever, but most of the time I manage to put in a decent performance even when the first time I turn a wheel is when the race starts – so I don’t feel this fits. I also have a bit of a hate-hate relationship with Sebring – I think this fits more…

During my time in simracing I’ve had that same hate-hate relationship with a couple of other tracks, both of those became my absolute best tracks eventually: The Nurburgring in Grand Prix Legends (GPL) and Virginia International Raceway in iRacing. With both those tracks I felt I had an enemy, I felt the track was trying to beat me, I had a nemesis. With both these tracks I had terrible, terrible races many, many times.

It sounds like a cliché, I know, but what helped me to crack both these tracks was a lot of practice. I was in 11 private leagues at one time with GPL and I remember running a league race on a Saturday in the Ferrari Advanced Trainer (F2) car and feeling a ‘click’ in my brain, I won that race and then on Sunday – in an F1 Murasama (Honda RA273 – they couldn’t get licensing to name it) – dominated, doing consistent (and yes, I mean consistent) 8 minute 17 second laps at a time when the simracing ‘world record’ was an 8:10. I can still now – at least seven years after I last drove on it – tell you what direction and gear I used in every turn around the 174-turn 14.1-mile monster that was the 1967 Nurburgring F1 circuit.

I had the same thing back in 2008 when we first started to race the Skip Barber Formula 2000 at Virginia International Raceway prior to the public launch. I remember blogging about VIR being my nemesis and how many mistakes I used to make, I think I gave myself a complex! What was amazing to me at the time was how I kept going, kept trying and within a month I felt myself first improving, learning, then winning, and winning again the following season. So the thing that is hardest for me to accept is the time required to get from one stage to another – to have that patience to learn.

When you add Sebring to the Corvette C6R, you have probably one of the most difficult combinations in the history of simracing. The fact that in the 12 Hours of Sebring this combination has been raced for 12 hours rather than iRacing’s 120 minutes gives me an appreciation, just like pushing a 1967 F1 car around the Nurburgring did, for how immensely talented and courageous race drivers can be.

I’m going to say with absolute certainty that if you are frustrated, if you are doing badly at a track there’s only one person and one thing that can change that: You have to practice. Whenever you have a free five minutes join a practice session, launch a test session and just get yourself out onto that track you hate. Even if you have bad races somewhere and you feel it’s always someone else’s fault, wouldn’t it be great to be ahead of them when they wreck instead of behind them? By putting in that practice you can and will get better.

So, here comes the perfect example of how a race can turn out when you have done no practice whatsoever and dislike a track…

15 minutes before the race start I grabbed a setup from the forum, did a quick test and thought it felt pretty good. I went into a qualifying session and never set a clean lap in five recorded attempts. I also had eight incidents and lost 0.13 in safety rating. This left me quite frustrated going into the race server.

iRacing 120 Minutes of Sebring race start. I'm in the #28.

The third lap I had a half spin and dropped to 29th, grabbing a spot back to finish the lap in 28th. On lap four I was gently feeling my way around the circuit but in the final turn I got involved in someone else’s accident, causing minor damage to my car and spinning me out on the frontstretch – crossing the line in 27th.

A blocked track left me (blue car in distance) nowhere to go.

The #28 Corvette C6R spins off into the tires on lap four.

That is what racing is all about and really that’s what the iRating and safety rating are all about: You have to take your knocks and keep on racing! All in all that was a pretty frustrating race and one that I would not like to repeat without practice, but like I said above, it won’t have to be that way in the future, I am as determined to beat Sebring as I was with the Nurburgring and VIR.

Remember: Keep your good tracks close and your bad ones closer.

The first race I slotted into the grid in ninth and held the number 16 on my car, this meant I was the lowest rated driver in the event. Still, looking at everyone else’s qualifying times I figured I’d probably be able to finish in the top-three if I didn’t make any mistakes…

I got a decent, safe start, but as usual I made the mistake of driving too safely. This always seems to happen to me and it’s incredibly annoying: I was much, much faster than those ahead of me, but they were all over the race track (and off it – I managed to avoid someone who span across the racetrack having ran wide out of the final turn), so with them being all over the race track, I stand back and wait for them to sort themselves out.

But, by waiting, by not shoving my nose into a multi-car battle, I leave myself open to the people behind because I am being forced to lap slower than I am capable! How annoying is that? To get passed not because you’re slower, but because you’ve reasoned that nobody infront of you is actually going anywhere! Honestly, on that first lap, they were crawling.

So, basically that’s the story: I dropped a few places, got annoyed at losing those places, made my own mistake running wide, slapped the wall under the bridge, damaged my left side and of course the person behind went to overtake on the right in the downhill… I had to stay left, with a damaged left side, and went off-track and into the fence.

I reset and rejoined the race in 12th, gradually making my way up to eighth without passing anybody on the track. My fastest lap was on lap 11 of 31 and was a 58.797 and this was especially annoying because I came out of the pits with the leaders and lost almost no time to them at all in the 26 laps I ran after the reset.

I also tried to join the race after and jumped the start. That race was done for literally before it began and I finished with less points that the race above netted me, so the race was dropped.

I am now standing eighth in Skip Barber Race Series points, 164 out of first and 80 out of second-place.

On Saturday 13th February, 2010 I was unable to run the 500, but got in a quick qualifying session for my race on the 20th just 15 minutes before the race session: I set a 48.075 and this would put me in 11th-place to start the race.

With 30 minutes of warm-up, it gave everybody plenty of time to check their setup, practice put stops, etc. I personally just practiced getting into and off pit road at speed and missed an opportunity to notice and correct that ‘terribly important’ thing once again…

The start of the iRacing Daytona 500.

We raced through a few cautions in the early laps, but things remained fairly constant for me until lap 15: It was the first time I’d really had to slam on the brake and when I did so it must have knocked my calibration off (recalibrating was the ‘terribly important’ thing I’d forgotten to do). At that point I was running 12th and just biding my time, but unknown to me the brake was now dragging and I hadn’t noticed the tiny sliver of red on the brake indicator.

Over the next 100 laps or so I just went backwards. At the time I believed I had lost an engine cylinder and was down on power, it wasn’t until about lap 114 that I realized what had happened, having finally noticed that the brake indicator was showing applied brakes.

Initially I just pulled back on the brake with my left foot while pushing on the throttle with my right, but after I began to experience cramping I managed to fix it for good on lap 164. However, during those last few laps I had had enormous fun: I normally wait until there’s ten laps remaining before I push really hard to get to the front, but knowing my position I used a combination of strategy, aggression and good luck to come back from two laps down to one, and come back from 22nd-place on lap 114 to 14th as the race ended.

Three-wide at Daytona.

So I ended with mixed emotions, just like everyone else: At one point I had resigned myself to just running for safety rating with a damaged engine, but I ended up having a lot of fun in some really tight racing. I had very few incidents (scraped the wall on lap 100, car contact on 190, the wreck on 194 and an off track on 198 while I got out of the way of the other cars on the final restart), but I still can’t help but think what might have happened had I not been trailing brake for half of the race!

My only real solace is that if this were real life, NASCAR would have probably forced me to start at the back anyway due to an ‘engine change’ in my PC… Starting back there I probably would have gotten involved in one of those early accidents and wouldn’t have had the fun I did during the race. Maybe next year I’ll be able to finish on the lead lap!