The promotions for those eligible were done on Saturday:
1585 promotions in the Oval category from Rookie to Class D
368 promotions in the Oval category from Class D to Class C
1239 promotions in the Road category from Rookie to Class D
341 promotions in the Road category from Class D to Class C
I’m one of those who moved from Class D in both categories, to Class C. I’ll be starting the season with a Safety Rating of 3.40 on the roadcourses and 3.43 on the ovals. My iRating for both Road and Oval is about average, I think, so I’m pretty happy with them and at least I am consistent enough to have a similar iRating for both disciplines of racing.
This is one of the best races I have ever driven, hands down. The only other races that I can remember coming close were when I raced in Eric Cote’s Sim Racing Mag events at the Nurburgring, using Grand Prix Legends. I remember I raced the Ferrari F2 cars, led every lap, made no errors, set fastest lap and won by a mile… The very next night I repeated the feat in the Honda Challenge event he organised.
I keep saying it, but I absolutely love this circuit. It does remind me of when I felt I knew the Nurburgring inside-out, it gives me the same thrill as I power through the blind crests, blind apex’s, well, blind everything - it’s a real challenge to do well on this track and that makes it all the more satisfying to have put the time in, and get the results out.
Anyway, earlier today I ran a qualifying session and managed to get my time down under three-minutes for the first time. I set a 2:59.895. I joined a Skip Barber Race Series event at 12:00 pm, but found myself running off the track because the Kittens decided they wanted to fight under my desk. With my race ruined I parked, sprayed them with water to stop them fighting, then rejoined so I could run some clean laps and keep my license looking healthy. The Kittens now decided they wanted to rub on my legs… So I had to quit the race and took a major hit to both license and confidence…
Joining the race at 2:00 pm, I was determined to have a good run, but knew I might find it a little difficult… I was the tenth iRated driver out of the thirteen starters and was almost certainly out of place on the grid, starting from second-place!
The green lights came on though and I made a good start, I could have probably taken the lead in the first turn if I had pushed, but decided I would stay in behind him and take second - but out of nowhere in my mirrors I saw a car braking very late - I had to stay to the outside of the turn and unfortunately lost two positions…
For the next few laps I was in a titanic struggle for second-place with two other drivers… We were so evenly matched, it was really close, but everyone raced clean and it was enormous fun…
As I continued to follow the two who had slipped by in the first turn, I knew that really it was going to be very difficult to get by, I felt that I was a little faster, but really found it hard to get close in the places it’s possible to pass!
On lap four of ten, the leader of the race spun his car coming out of the final turn and we all passed him, I was fairly close behind the guy who was now in second-place and was now more determined to make a move…
I managed to move into second-place on lap five when the man infront got a bit sideways and I took my opportunity, I didn’t slow down and pulled off a great little overtaking manouver into the next corner. As I pulled away, the former leader was now breathing down his neck and I was pretty pleased that I wasn’t the one in that position! He did eventually get past, but it took him until the beginning of lap nine.
Nothing else exciting really happened for the rest of the race, but I did make a rather large error on lap nine… I lost control of the car on the back end of the circuit while trying (and being successful at) closing down the leader, this dropped me to fourth-place and filled me with disappointment for a few moments until I realized that if I pushed hard I might be able to close the four-second gap to the man in third. I pushed really hard and was able to close him down, and got as close as eight-tenths from him, but finished one and a half seconds back when I realized it was a lost cause.
So, was I disappointed with a fourth-place? Not really… My license went up, my iRating went up, I proved to myself that I can do a clean race if I don’t push myself over the edge and really, that’s all I need to take away from it. I still seem to be getting faster and my iRating has been in an upward trend lately, it’s a big boost.
I lost four incident points total and set my fastest lap on lap six. It was my first time lapping under three-minutes in a race and was a 2:59.933.
This is one of the most enjoyable tracks I have ever seen. But every configuration, as I drive around, I half love it and half hate it. I love the circuit, I hate how many mistakes I make.
I’ve always had an ‘OK’ safety rating but in every race this week (so far) I have had up to 17 incidents per race I think and my iRating is dropping like a stone. I’ve only had one incident that involved someone else, I think, and I’d like to say sorry for that one, the rest of the time I just put a wheel on the dirt and “wheeeeeeeeeee!” I spin, spin, spin over that white line at the edge of the racing surface.
Mind you, just now I had to answer the phone and quit the race to do so, but check that race result when posted and I probably have more incidents than the rest of the field put together and I only did a few laps of the race!
It’s funny because ever since trying VIR in the early alpha of iRacing I thought to myself how tough the track was for me and I have maybe given myself a mental complex about it… It’s pretty funny really as I’ve never found something so hard, yet wanted to go back and do it badly all over again!
