Some of the background on my new company:

ISI began with production of military simulators. They have worked on many different types of software but focused most of their development time over the years on racing games/simulators. Examples of older titles produced by the company include Sportscar GT and many F1 titles including F1 Challenge ’99-’02 – all produced for Electronic Arts.

Sportscar GT

F1 Challenge 99-02

Their software is currently used by other simulation developers and many real-world racing teams, these customers license a version of the software from ISI and modify it for their own needs. Examples of those using this software are RedBull F1 and SIMBIN Development Team.

The 2007 Sauber BMW F1 car which ships with rFactor 1.

rFactor was released in 2005 and has been updated a few times over the years. rFactor 2 is the next major update from ISI and from what I saw during my interview with the company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it is something I am very excited to be involved in.

A 1960's era open-wheel car on a very familiar looking race track - rFactor 2.

Rain-Dry and Night-Day (see above) transitional racing for rFactor 2.

Dirt (above), Oval, Karts, Point to Point (eg: rally) and Road racing for rFactor 2.

The video really tells the story, but the basics are that I had a nice stable setup, was about 0.3s slower in qualifying, but didn’t expect to be far off during race conditions. Judging by practice I also seemed more capable of running without spinning than just about everyone else on the race track: If I held my car to the third or fourth lane up, I knew I would never spin out.

The Ford Mustang FR500S pace car pulls onto pit road for the race start...

One of those 'various incidents' as Brian Simpson spins out ahead of me.

I started to focus on Ryan and try to use him to help me stay consistent and this backfired in a big way when a Daniel Olszewski spin ahead of him bypassed my attention until it was too late… I’m pretty sure nothing I did differently would have helped (as Ryan made contact with Daniel before I touched him) but I still think my reactions were a bit slow and when Daniel spun both Ryan and myself were collected… The chain reaction also caught out Cary Bettenhausen and Kevin Cress who both spun out in avoidance, Kevin getting the worst of it as he slammed into the wall.

Daniel's unlucky number 13 car waited until lap 34 to strike us down...

’16th Street’ isn’t really a regular league as it is run by someone within racing and has many racing stars actually racing. The fact that you can go wheel-to-wheel with Will Power, Justin Wilson or anybody whatsoever with a name like ‘Foyt’ is simply amazing as a race fan. The real-world drivers become so aware of the sim racing talent that when I was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May for iRacing.com’s ‘Indy 25′ with Justin, Mike Conway and Tomas Schekter it was sim racer Tim Holgate who provided the car setup all three of them used when racing.

I worked for about 30 minutes before joining the server on what I thought was a fantastic setup; much faster and more stable than the iRacing Advanced setup included with the simulation. Unfortunately after joining the practice I found myself as much as a second off the pace and knew I was in trouble… Much to my delight after expressing my bewilderment in the text chat, Tim “Mr Setup” Holgate came through for me this time and gave me a setup that allowed me to enjoy the race immensely.

I used Tim’s race setup – unmodified – for qualifying and this probably put me a little further down the starting order. I managed a 25.425 and while this was only 0.6s slower than pole I found myself way down in 23rd! This was a fast group!

The race gets under way and I'm waaaaaay back there...

By lap 14 Simon had begun to charge back through the field and I let him go low as soon as he got close enough to pass. The car of Bryan Heitkotter followed him through and I had now dropped back to 17th. A couple of laps later I also let Cary Bettenhausen by on the low side and I could start to feel my car pushing a lot more as I entered the turns, on lap 17 it caught me out and I ran very high, letting Gary Clark and Daniel by while I slipped to 20th.

There was a group of cautions between lap 20 – when I pitted – and lap 40. By lap 47 I was running 15th and starting to feel comfortable in a drafting pack with Todd and Sean Graham, but again got caught out by a sudden push in the turn and ran high, letting Robert Bohanek, Larry Foyt and Bryan drop me to 18th. Robert and I battled for position until lap 72 when Eric Palacio spun on the frontstretch and brought out a timely yellow flag… This yellow caught out most of the leaders who had recently pitted and allowed me to pit during the caution for the final time.

After the leaders got their wave around I found myself restarting in ninth on lap 78 ahead of a lot of fast cars, and after the car of Billy Wease spun on the restart quickly gained another spot for the next one. My lap 83 restart was absolutely abysmal and after restarting eighth I got freight trained on the low side by the former leaders and dropped all the way down to 17th. It wasn’t long before that huge group started to race each other and eventually there was a crash on the backstraight which brought out another caution and lifted me to 14th.

Hung out to dry...

For the final restart on lap 118 I got another bad one, but did manage to hold position from Daniel as we crossed the line to finish the race.

Very nice to be able to see the race leader cross the line, hopefully will finish a bit closer next time....

Of those things above, I think the biggest change to the Dallara Indy car from what I would normally race is the restarts… I think this will come with experience but I’m used to being able to make up for a bad restart and in these cars you just can’t do that.

All the oval time trials were won in Division 10. I hadn’t time trialled much and was really surprised to find myself in that division and decided to go for every oval series I could. It turned out to be a close fight in a few of them and in those I’m happy to have still got a top-three.

On the road side I only competed in two series and had been placed in Division 5. I finished fifth in the Spec Racer and third in the Skip Barber – I’m more delighted with that than I am with most of the oval certificates!

Advanced Legends Division 10 Time Trials

NASCAR Class D SK Modified Division 10 Time Trials

NASCAR Class D Late Model Division 10 Time Trials

Skip Barber Division 5 Time Trials

NASCAR Class C Division 10 Time Trials

Silver Crown Division 10 Time Trials

NASCAR Class B Division 10 Time Trials

NASCAR Class A Division 10 Time Trials

I ran a single qualifying session and amusingly set exactly the same lap time (down to the thousandth) as someone I had been communicating with about the Brickyard 400 on Twitter. I felt I probably could have done a faster time, but my qualifying time felt comfortable and I really wanted to not drive over the limits of my skill or the setup during the race. My time of 43.690 was enough to put me fifth on the grid anyway.

Starting on the inside was a definite advantage and I saw that quickly when I managed to start fifth and be third before the end of lap one. I stayed third until lap ten when Dwight Plesh got a little sideways and then eventually pitted under the next caution, allowing me to take second.

Leading the field into turn one at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

I restarted 18th on lap 44 and by lap 62 had worked my way back into the top-five, leading lap 66 due to drivers ahead of me fighting too hard for position and all losing out. I decided to pit on lap 68 and this put me 17th for another restart and back on-sequence with the leaders. I decided to pit again on lap 76, figuring that my off-sequence pitting and quick pace going through the field on previous runs meant I could win the race that way if I stuck with it.

The lap 76 restart from 16th-place was good and I quickly moved my way back to the front, leading by lap 91. I led until lap 100 when drivers with fresher tires started to come up behind me, and just like I had in the entire race I let them by as soon as they were close enough to do so. I comfortably ran in the top-five again though and eventually pitted on lap 104.

Chuck Chambliss hits the wall after contact from Tomas Klopp.

For the restart on lap 148 I ran in sixth-place and this is where the impatience of some of the drivers in the event became annoying… We had three restarts between laps 148 and the finish because people wrecked in the first turn on each green flag. I managed to pass two cars around the outside on the lap 148 restart (yes, on the outside), but never got a chance to get up to speed for either of the other two restarts, so remained stuck in fourth.

It became a terribly disappointing finish. I really hoped the race would not end that way, especially ending under a yellow flag.

Still, I suppose that’s racing… You win some, you lose some, and I can’t really say I am upset Michael Kundakcioglu got the win… He seemed like a really decent guy and was really pleased.

I am pleased, of course, to have had no incidents. Yes, that is right, I battled through the entire field multiple times and I fought for the lead, yet I emerged with no incidents and a massive gain of 1.02 on my safety rating. My fastest lap, on lap 116, was a 53.914.

So at the time of posting (Friday night, the week will end on Monday night), here are my TT results for the week:

The divisional championships look really good for me right now. I’ve secured first-place in the Silver Crown, SK Modified and Advanced Legends. I’ve secured second-place in the late model, NASCAR truck and NASCAR ‘Nationwide’ car. I’m probably going to finish fifth in the Spec Racer Ford.

The championships still open to change are the NASCAR Cup car, where I currently lead but could mathematically finish second, and the Skip Barber car. The Skippy is likely to be a tough battle and I expect to have to take another run before Monday night.

Here are the Week 11 laptimes, positions and the points they’re giving me as things stand at time of posting:

I’m pleased with all my TT’s this week. Most notable is my laptime at Talladega in the Silverado. Another member was nice enough to send me a really, really fast setup. My lap time is fast enough to crack the top-ten overall, not just in my division. I’m also very high up with the NASCAR Cup car, too, but that’s mostly because not many people have posted a time.

My table below shows how things currently stand in each series and each division in those series. It doesn’t tell the whole story though, so I’ll continue and talk about each series after the table.

Skip Barber Race Series
Currently sitting third. Not possible to go higher, but definitely possible to drop to fourth if I am unable to get a good score in Week 12. The person behind me in the standings has not yet posted a time during Week 12, either, so they could perhaps gain a little and drop one of their worser weeks.

Spec Racer Ford Challenge
Very close fight. I am sitting third and within range of either finishing first if I did awesome next week or dropping all the way down to fifth if everybody else does better than me.

NASCAR Class A
I am first. Feel pretty confident I can hold onto the position, but could mathematically drop to second.

NASCAR Class B (NW)
I am currently first, but am within range of the second-place person as he has two weeks in-hand on me. If he runs this week and again in Week 12 scoring over 50 points, I might be in trouble. I can’t really drop below second.

NASCAR Class C (Trucks)
First-place right now, but the person behind has two weeks in-hand. He could overtake me pretty easily. If he runs at all this week or next I’m certain to finish second. No risk of anything further down.

Silver Crown Cup
I’ve already secured the division.

SK Modified Series
I’ve secured the division.

Late Model Tour
I’m currently second and within range of the leader. I’m hoping I can pull something out of the bag next week and take the division away from him. There’s no risk of finishing lower than second.

Advanced Legends Cup
I’ve won the division.

I had ran a qualifying session and set a 1:31.015. Even though I had managed a 1:29 in testing with low fuel I figured I would stay with my time as that’s closer to my what my race pace would be.

I joined the race server at the scheduled time and after running a little in warm-up I sat relaxing before the race start. I was really, really excited and knew I had a good chance to finish well: So excited that when the lights lit up, I completely forgot what I was doing and shifted into first gear. A jump start was really not what I needed!

I got a good start (after my jump start) and when I pulled into the pit lane to serve my black flag penalty was still holding eighth-place. When I came out of the pits to start lap two I was last, but crossed the line to end the lap in 22nd.

Passing Dave Jinks for 20th-place on lap six.

I moved into 15th-place on lap nine after Adam Edwards and Omri Galili ran off track, while William Kabela gave way to me.

A lap later I was struggling to cleanly pass Olivier Raunier, and while I did eventually pass him David Osborne ran off the circuit, gifting me 12th-place ending lap 11.

By lap 30 some others in the race started to pit. I was running in a comfortable eighth-place, having moved here due to the gradual demise of those ahead of me. I honestly believed the last half of the race would follow a similar pattern and thought I’d be in with a really good chance of a podium. After all, I had no intention of pitting!

On lap 42 while running in seventh-place William Kabela let me by as I came up to lap him. I always like to thank people by typing “ty” (which means “Thank You”) and ending the lap was doing just that when I ran straight off the track! I lost a bunch of time to eighth-place Lasse Ryhanen and suffered my only incident point of the race so far as I recovered… Shortly into lap 43 I let the faster Ryhanen by, but rued the time I’d lost myself with that mistake!

My only incident against my safety rating in the entire event!

If I roughly estimate the time I lost due to the jump start and the off track excursion I still think I would have finished eighth where I did anyway, maybe seventh if I was really lucky. I can’t say I’m upset in the slightest at the result, a gain of 0.63 in safety rating is nothing to be sniffed at! The race was terrific fun and I really like it when I’ve had the time to put in so I at least know how to keep the car on the race track. Nothing makes more of a difference to my performance than time on the track.

So not only does this race spell out the dangers of being over-excited, it also clearly shows the dangers of ‘text chatting’ and driving. It’s also pretty amusing that when I crossed the line to finish I had enough fuel for another 44 laps as I’d forgotten to check how much fuel I’d need and started full! So… 100 laps next time?

The event itself turned out to be pretty exciting, with Riku Roiha making the pass for the lead in the final turn on the last lap. Here’s a quick video of that fantastic finish:

I know VIR fairly well, I got my first ever road racing win here back in 2008. I got down to a reasonable pace fairly quickly during practice but had difficulty at first because although I had driven VIR in a few different cars, they had all been single seaters! Suddenly being on the left of the car felt odd, especially in Oak Tree turn where you try to get as close to the barrier with the right of the car as possible.

Going into qualifying I knew I had very good pace and if I got a perfect lap could probably manage a 2:07 lap time. My first lap in qualifying was a 2:08.399 and I actually decided I’d stick with that. The rest of the session I spent lapping with different fuel levels trying to work out how the car would handle differently. As things turned out, my first lap was good enough to take pole.

Clean start (with the exception of the car attached to my rear bumper!)

On lap two I was trying hard to pass Tom Bobbitt, and shortly after managing to pass him I spun, letting him back by. It wasn’t until lap four that I caught and eventually passed him.

By lap five, Mike Tosi had quit out of the race and I was pushing hard to catch Clive Whittaker ahead of me. I passed Clive on lap eight, setting my fastest lap of the race at the same time. I kept pushing and two laps later passed a spun James Ptak, moving into third-place.

With one lap remaining I had second-place Kevin Bobbitt in my sights and managed to make a pass. To my great surprise at the end of the lap I was also able to pass a spun Brandon Davies, he had been leading so I crossed the line to take the white flag in first-place – what a come back!

Good clean racing and individual battles.

As the race doesn’t count towards anything, I’m not terribly disappointed with the result. It was my first ever time driving the iRacing Ford Mustang FR500S and I’m delighted to have been on the pace with it. My fastest lap of the race, a 2:08.476, felt very comfortable so I’m sure there’s plenty more time there. This car is fun! Looking forward to trying to drive it more in 2010 Season 3.

I missed weeks four and five due to how busy I was with work. Still, I found myself in contention when I returned and managed to carry that through Week 6, 7 and 8. So during Week 9 and 10 while others were dropping their worst weeks (4 from 12 are dropped) I was able to score full weeks. I managed to get time recently to have more than one attempt at some of them. This has allowed me to have a fairly high scoring week in cars I normally struggle. So these are as things stand at time of posting:

I’m really pleased with my performance this week. At the moment I’m in the top-four for every division, and have the fastest time for seven of the nine I am competing in. Toughest run this week came in the Spec Racer Ford at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

So (as things stand on Thursday) as we end Week 10 I’m in first-place for every oval division now except the late model. I still don’t think I’ll take first-place for the late model as the current leader is way too good. On the roadcourse side I don’t think I’ll have a hope of a top-three in the Spec Racer, but I have moved into a strong fifth-place. The Skip Barber 2000 is a whole different matter, I’ve actually managed to move into third-place! I feel pretty confident I can hold onto it because I have a week in-hand. That’s pretty darned awesome considering that is a Division 5 championship.

Week 10 isn’t over yet, I’ll have to see how things shake out… Here they are as they stand at time of posting: