iRacing ChampCar 2021

Information about upcoming races, swap meets & shows

Moderators: MostMint, wxo, Fred32v, Basement Paul, ttamrettus

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Fred32v
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Re: iRace v06 Watkins Glen

Post by Fred32v »

This was the sixth race of the iRace Series for 2021. It was being held at Watkins Glen International,
“The Glen” in the village of Watkins Glen on Wednesday May19th and I attended.
I still took my mask and sanitizer and made the trip. The Glen is 271 miles from my home so,
early on race day, I drove the Canyon, if you want to, you can make it in 4 hours.
When I arrived the #50 Miata and the crew were pit side and ready, weather was hot for racing,
85 degrees and partly cloudy with a 5-10 mph breeze. The Glen track is 3.36 miles and has 12 turns.
I was there to watch the race and take pictures of the MostMint Miata #50.
The track is very spread out and #50 was in a lot of the action.
I took 42 really good shots, here are 20 that will talk about the #50’s race.
#50 Qualifying 10th
#50 Qualifying 10th
Official Top 10 Qualifiers
Official Top 10 Qualifiers
Parade Lap
Parade Lap
Pace Car off
Pace Car off
Green, green, green!
Green, green, green!
1st lap
1st lap
10 minutes in
10 minutes in
exit Pit Stop
exit Pit Stop
Begin late action
Begin late action
By one
By one
Close Racing
Close Racing
Tight spot
Tight spot
Side by side
Side by side
Through the grass
Through the grass
Steady
Steady
Holding 11th
Holding 11th
2more laps, save fuel
2more laps, save fuel
Coasting across Checkered Flag, out of gas
Coasting across Checkered Flag, out of gas
Waiting for help
Waiting for help
Official results
Official results
After the race I went back to the garage with the team and gave the Miata a quick look.
The car was really clean with no damage even after the bumping and going through the grass.
#50 qualified 10th with a time of 2:14.918 seconds for a lap and was only 1.226 seconds off the top qualifier,
when the checker flag fell #50 was 16th in a field of 31 competitors and still on the lead lap.
#50 was as high as 10th and holding 11th until the Miata ran out of gas approaching the checkered flag.
Solid performance. I think it was the best driving effort of the season so far,
sadly it won’t show because of the crew chief’s mistake on fuel mileage.
I helped the team load up and then drove home at a more leisurely pace.

Preparing for Version 7 at Lime Rock Park in 2 weeks.

I did not get the Wham-o car in action, but here is what it looks like with MostMint's number.
In the race this car carries #15, Mark McCormack's car qualified 5th, finished 6th,
he took 4 tires on his pit stop and could not make up the time.
"Wham-o" Car
"Wham-o" Car
Fred32v
GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
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MostMint
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021

Post by MostMint »

This race had a good result, but somehow I feel like I left something on the table. I got a fair amount of broadcast time - you can watch it here https://youtu.be/jQuacAUdL6Q?t=301

Lime Rock is a short but extremely tricky track. For one, large portions of it are crowned in the center which makes for interesting decisions on corner entry and exit, and a couple really tricky braking zones that are hard to get consistently right.

During qualifying I set my all time fast lap, but the best that could get me was P12 starting position out of 28. For reasons I can't understand P1 was slow to start and we got stacked up in the back which caused the usual melee. Lost a bunch of positions on lap 1 as I had to lift for the cars that were sideways in front of me. Then on lap 6 when Koffard ran McCormack off track going up hill there by 7, P1-P3 at the time all got tangled going into turn 8 up and crashed. This is only relevant to my race as for whatever reason they were 3 wide rejoining going significantly slower than I was. Somehow with a brake slam and a swerve - and maybe a little help from Mr Love - I got through with only lost time.

Had some good racing after that with several people - though I did accidentally tag a guy trying to pass on the inside in turn1. I panicked and locked up the brakes there - luckily only cost him a few seconds.

I struggled mightily with the braking in turn 1 and turn 5. I may have to upgrade my brake pedals to improve this as I am having a hard time being consistent under moderate braking pressure so I end up over braking and getting hit in the back - or learn how to drive better. Watching the replay that bumper must really be chrome as several minor hits did 0 damage.

Some time around lap 38 Alex started showing up in red in my relative. I did not want to get lapped and he was like 15 seconds back. This was too early to be that close. Well in the 40's I had a string of laps where I was able to run close and keep the gap at 10 seconds, which got me thinking I could save my streak of finishing on the lead lap. As we got close to the end though I was unable to maintain the gap and with him coming up on 2 to go I was only 1.2 seconds ahead. Unfortunately P2 was right behind him so this started a situation. I gave it all I could and while it ended up quite sloppy but Alex got past and Keith tagged me in turn 9. Limped it in the last lap and ended up P13.

So my streak of 6 races ending on the lead lap ended. Still about the same amount of total time behind. And up to P9 in points.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Fred32v
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021 V07 Lime Rock

Post by Fred32v »

This was the seventh race of the iRace Series for 2021. It was being held at Lime Rock Park,
in Lakeville, Connecticut on Wednesday June 9th and I attended. I took sanitizer and made the trip.
Lime Rock Park is 518 miles from my home so, I drove the Canyon, to the Interlaken Inn,
about 1 mile from the track, the day before.
When I arrived at the track in the morning, the #50 Jetta and the crew were in the garage and ready,
weather was a comfortable 78 degrees and partly cloudy. The Lime Rock track is 1.48 miles and has 9 turns.
I was there to watch the race and take pictures of the MostMint Jetta #50. The track is not spread out and
#50 was in a lot of the action. I took 30 really nice photos, here are 17 that show much of the #50’s race.
Official Qualifying
Official Qualifying
Parade lap
Parade lap
Green, Green, Green!
Green, Green, Green!
8th place
8th place
7th place
7th place
Still 7th
Still 7th
8th
8th
Group leader
Group leader
#3 gets by
#3 gets by
Too wide!
Too wide!
Sorry
Sorry
Leader coming
Leader coming
#50 through Black car's windshield
#50 through Black car's windshield
Going down a lap very late
Going down a lap very late
Ouch!
Ouch!
13th under the Checker Flag
13th under the Checker Flag
Official results top 20
Official results top 20
After the race I went back to the garage and give the Jetta a quick look as I always do.
The car sustained quite a bit of sheet metal damage from small collisions.
#50 qualified 7th with a time of 1:02.271 seconds for a lap and was only 0.7 seconds off the top qualifier,
when the green flag fell #50 was 12th in a field of 29 competitors. #50 was as high as 7th and holding 8th
until very late approaching the checkered flag and finished 13th. Solid performance.
It was a good driving effort. I helped the team load up and then drove back to the Interlaken Inn.

Preparing for Version 8 at COTA on Wednesday June 23rd.
Fred32v
GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021

Post by MostMint »

This race: Tough track to get right coupled with ancient suspension and brake design on a car designed to turn left on hot track

* Had a qualifying lap almost 1 second faster but lost it due to a single 1x off track.
* This place magnified my overbraking tendencies, which is made worse by lack of brake lights on these cars. Got run into at least twice and several more incidents where drivers behind me where drivers took evasive action to not run into me in braking zones. I'm doing too much braking in straight line and not enough trail braking on the turn in - the trick now is to figure out how not to do that.
* Started P13 ended P14 exactly 92 seconds behind the leader. I had several slowdowns and really blew the braking zone at the end of the back straight one time which cost a lot of time.
* Last year I finished P14 as well but there I barely managed to stay on the lead lap - about a minute slower than this year. Last year's performance would have netted a P20 this year - which tells me the quality of the competition is way up.

Result moves me up to P8 in points. However, if you score all drivers on best 6 of 8 I am only 15th in points. It is not possible to score exactly but the series scores best 12 of 16 so I went with half of that at the halfway point. I'll need quite a few of these guys to not finish all 12 or I'll end up with the same result as last year.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Fred32v
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021 V08 COTA

Post by Fred32v »

This was the eighth race of the iRace Series for 2021. It was at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA)
in Austin, Texas on Wednesday June 23rd. I decided to make the trip. COTA is 1,500 miles from my home
so I took the 4-hour flight to Austin on Tuesday and stayed overnight at the Hyatt Place Austin Airport,
about 5 miles from the track, had supper with the team, they were also staying there.
When I awoke in the morning, the #50 Street Stock and the crew were in the garage and ready,
weather was a comfortable 76 degrees and partly cloudy. The COTA track is 3.36 miles and has 16 turns.
I was there to watch the race as a fan and take pictures of the MostMint Street Stock #50.
The track complex is really vast, but I was able to get some shots of #50 in action.
I took 26 photos, here are 12 that sum up the #50’s race.
Official Qualifiers Top 10
Official Qualifiers Top 10
Parade lap
Parade lap
Green, green, green!
Green, green, green!
#50 early 12th in the mix
#50 early 12th in the mix
#50, #74 before pitting
#50, #74 before pitting
#550 pitting, #74 drafting
#550 pitting, #74 drafting
more #74 on #50
more #74 on #50
#50 still 13th
#50 still 13th
Checkered Flag
Checkered Flag
#74 passes #50 on the last lap
#74 passes #50 on the last lap
#50 Taking the Checker Flag
#50 Taking the Checker Flag
Official Results Top 20
Official Results Top 20
Again, after the race I went back to the garage and gave the Street Stock a once over as I always do.
The car sustained only small sheet metal damage from small rear-end collisions.
#50 qualified 9th with a time of 2:30.582 seconds for a lap and was 4.565 seconds off the top qualifier,
when the green flag fell #50 was 12th early in a field of 20 some competitors. #50 remained 12th and 13th
the entire race until very late when he was passed on the last lap by #74 before the checkered flag and finished 14th.
It was a good driving effort considering that it was the Street Stock car. After some conversation,
I called for a cab to get back to the Austin airport and the flight home.

Preparing for Version 9 at Long Beach on Wednesday July 21st.
Fred32v
GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021 V09 Long Beach

Post by Fred32v »

This was the ninth race of the iRace Series for 2021. It was at the Toyota Long Beach race circuit
in Long Beach on Wednesday July 21st. I made the trip. Long Beach is 2400 miles from my home
so I took the 7-hour flight to Long Beach on Tuesday and stayed overnight at the Hilton Long Beach,
about 5-minute walk from the track, had dinner with the team, they were also staying there.
When I awoke in the morning, the #50 Mazda Miata and the crew were in the garage and ready,
weather was 69 degrees and partly cloudy. The Toyota Long Beach track is 1.95 miles and has 11 turns.
I was there to watch the race as a fan and take pictures of the MostMint Miata #50.
The track is right through the city, it was difficult finding places to shot but I did get some shots of #50 in action.
I took 26 photos, here are 12 that sum up the #50’s race.
Top 10 Qualifiers
Top 10 Qualifiers
Parade lap
Parade lap
Green, green, green!
Green, green, green!
#50 in the hunt
#50 in the hunt
#50's cockpit view
#50's cockpit view
Holding 11th
Holding 11th
Still 11th
Still 11th
#50 touring the city
#50 touring the city
Friend 17th
Friend 17th
Taking the Checkered flag
Taking the Checkered flag
Back to the garage
Back to the garage
Official results
Official results
Well, after the race I went back to the garage and gave the Mazda Miata a once over as I always do.
The car sustained no sheet metal damage, the plan was to stay away from trouble on a track known for trouble.
#50 qualified 5th with a time of 1:36.588 seconds for a lap and was 1.347 seconds off the top qualifier,
when the green flag fell #50 was quickly 11th early in a field of 20 some competitors.
#50 remained 11th early, but was as high as 6th, at the checkered flag #50 finished 9th.
It was a good driving effort considering how tight the track was with no real runoff.
After some conversation, I called for a cab to go to the Long Beach airport and my late flight home.

Preparing for Version 10 at VIR on Wednesday Aug. 4th.
Fred32v
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021

Post by MostMint »

Here is a video link to the race coverage - starting with the parade lap: https://youtu.be/Hwikte31s7E?t=1129

With an actual race last weekend there was little time to prepare for this race. Long Beach street course has practically no run off, and there are concrete barriers everywhere so any mistake is going to end up with car damage. I did manage to get a few practice sessions in including the official practice race last week. After the real life race weekend was over I spent some time Tuesday night, and shaved a full second off my lap times. It didn't help much though as I qualified 11th out of 21.

I struggled mightily in the latter bit of practice. Had a bit of upset stomach, not sure if that was a factor, but all the rhythm I had earlier was gone.

Lap 1 went over without incident, but lap 2 I had my timing off going into turn 1 and tagged the barrier with the RF. They have some type of soft barrier over the concrete there and I had a glancing blow - nonetheless the hood on the RF was crunched up a bit. The steering wheel was still straight so I decided it was not structural and went on. Within a lap or two Scott G and Aaron caught me and without my A game I let them go. Last thing I needed was someone in the rear view to worry about. I know both of these guys and Scott predictably hit the wall within a few laps. After a while though I started getting into a rhythm and I was catching Aaron. I didn't have speed at the right time to make a move, but I was lifting on the back stretch after a while. I debated pitting early, but I was racing the track and we were getting further away from the car behind, so I was OK with the situation.

I decided to pit just past halfway to maximize use of the new tires. Only needed 1.8 gallons of gas or less to make it to the end, but a two tire change could easily fit into that time. This info helped me as I came out of the pits well ahead of Aaron. We have a fast repair, but I chose to run with the dent rather than use up a fast repair that could fix something major in the second half of the race. I must have stayed out a bit longer than some of the leaders as I had worked my way up to sixth.

Simon was the leader and clearly the class of the field in this race, unfortunately about 2/3 through a slower car had an incident on exit of turn 1 and he turned the car hard off the wall and collected Simon's car. Simon had used his fast repair during his pit and that ended his day. This of course moved me up a spot. I got ahead of Aaron as well on the pit sequence which moved me up to 9th.

As the race was winding down I could see the leader closing in on me. I was somewhere around 15 seconds ahead with 10 minutes to go. Under this pressure I made another mistake and rubbed the LF corner on the wall entering the back straight. It is so easy to get killed there I was glad the steering wheel was still straight after that. It was a bit nerve wracking but I managed to get the white flag just 5 seconds ahead of the leader getting the checkers.

P9 was my finish, and I was the last car on the lead lap. I'm sure that lap 1 damage and being stuck behind Aaron for a bit there cost me some time, but I never spun, only had 1 slow down penalty, and survived the track. This matches my highest finish for 2021.

Still 8th in points, though best 7 of 9 has me tied with Aaron for 11th place. This league is best 12 of 16 so the best way to approximate overall position is to drop some races.

Up next VIR
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Fred32v
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021 V10 VIR

Post by Fred32v »

This was the tenth race of the iRace Series for 2021. It was at the Virginia International Raceway
(VIR) in Alton, Virginia on Wednesday August the 4th. I made the trip. VIR is 525 miles from my home
so I drove to Alton on Tuesday and stayed overnight at the Best Western Windsor Inn & Suites,
about 5-miles from the track, had dinner with the teams, they were also staying there.
This is the same Inn that I stayed at when we did the 24 hours.
When I awoke in the morning, both the #50 and #13 Mazda Miata cars and the crews were in the garage and ready,
weather was 80 degrees and partly cloudy. The VIR track is 3.24 miles and has 20 turns.
I was there to watch the race as a fan and take pictures of the MostMint Miata #50 and #13.
This track was not difficult to finding places to shot so I did get many shots of #50 and #13 in action.
I was surprised to find out that this was a 2-hour race and that there was some night time racing.
I took 50 photos, here are 16 that sum up the race.
Qualified Top 10
Qualified Top 10
Parade Lap
Parade Lap
Green, green, green!
Green, green, green!
Looking to pass
Looking to pass
Side by side
Side by side
Nuts!
Nuts!
nite time - #13 is 13th
nite time - #13 is 13th
nite time- #50 is 5th
nite time- #50 is 5th
#13 pit out
#13 pit out
#13 late trouble
#13 late trouble
#13 Nice save, no damage
#13 Nice save, no damage
#50 holding 7th
#50 holding 7th
#13 is 13th with 13 min. to go
#13 is 13th with 13 min. to go
Checkered Flag
Checkered Flag
#13 takes the Checkered Flag
#13 takes the Checkered Flag
Official Results
Official Results
Well, after the race I went back to the garage and gave the Mazda Miata racers a once over as I always do.
The cars sustained much sheet metal damage. #50 qualified 6th with a time of 2:15.066 seconds for a lap
and was 2.359 seconds off the top qualifier. Miata #13 did not qualify, but started 16th out of 19 competitors.
Both cars were involved in some altercations. #50 was as high as 3rd and #13 managed to get to 13th place
and held it for the entire race. At the checkered flag #50 finished 7th. It was a good driving effort since this
was an extremely long race. I helped them load their equipment then I jumped into my Canyon and
joined the Team Caravan on the way home.

Preparing for Version 11 at Canadian Motorsport Park Aug. 25th.
Fred32v
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021

Post by MostMint »

VIR:

Race coverage: https://youtu.be/Tz_OWvnzkLw?t=410

This two hour event runs the clock at 8x speed so we start in the late afternoon, race all night and finish in the morning light.

I spent a fair amount of time prepping for this. My best time was 2:13.2, though 2:14.3 was the best I could muster for qualifying on race day track conditions. Leader was 2:12.1 though he no doubt had drafting help. This had me starting P6 - my best qualifying effort to date with a second gap on P7 but a second deficit to P5. 18 cars took the start.

I gained a spot relatively early, but made a mistake about 5 laps in and misjudged braking and tagged a guy going into turn 1. I started to turn away to clear him but it was too late. This dropped me back to about 10th. I gained some of those spots back but there were at least a couple faster guys with bad qualifying laps I was not going to get back. Before the pit stop I made contact one other time in the oak tree turn when the guy ahead messed up and "backed up into me". That one caused the engine temps to go up about 10 degrees but made it to scheduled pit.

The pit strategy was to run the car down to 1.5 gallons and fill it full (adding 11.2), and replace all four tires. The refueling interface is not good enough to allow you to order your fill down to the .1, so you have to manually decide when to stop it or take too much fuel. Since it takes almost a minute to fill and tire work can be done simultaneously, changing all 4 is a no brainer. This race was accidentally set up with infinite fast repair so I took the opportunity to get the car fixed up as well. Others had pitted earlier allowing me to work my way up to P3 before the stop. Since I was relatively late I came out P13. It was not long until I made it back to top 10 and by midpoint I was P8.

The transition to night racing was not that difficult. I've practiced it, and adjusted my marks to be things you can see with the headlights.

For the last hour of the race my business was just to keep the car going and make the best time I could. I had one major off at night I missed the timing on the left hander at the top of the climbing esses, and I spun out and came to a complete stop in the infield, losing precious seconds orienting the steering wheel and getting to a gear where the car could move, and not stomping the gas and spinning more. This ended up dropping me to P9. I was able to advance more in the darkness and by 40 minutes remaining I was in P7.

My lap times seemed quite slow but I was maintaining the gap to the car ahead and behind. I was much faster in the practice race at night, and I attribute this to two possibilities: the race setup was not the exact same so it took a lot longer for the pavement and air to cool off or I just lost my focus on some of the more advanced fundamentals of driving. I did spend some time thinking about that and trying to get back to what I had practiced. Whatever it was the lap times really started picking up as dawn approached.

I had a huge lead on 8th place - about 25 seconds, and a decent gap to catch P6. I did get lapped, and when P2 came by I was able to spend a good amount of time hanging close behind him.

The last several laps I started losing some pace, but ended with an 18 second cushion on P8.

I was happy with P7, though at least one driver ahead used two fast repairs, which would not have been possible except for the setup mixup that happened. What typically happens is the admin sets up the practice race and the regular race at the same time so they have the same settings. That happened this time as well, except he got the date wrong and both of them ran on practice night. No one realized and some race night there was no session, so another admin set up the race event (albeit 15 minutes late), and his settings had infinite fast repairs. Practice race and published race settings said we would get 1 fast repair. That's racing.

The practice race was awesome I qualified P2, made a legit pass for the lead, ended up leading 23 laps though too many mistakes had me finish that P3. At 70 minutes in P1-P3 were within one second of each other and I was in the mix. There were only 9 cars total so it was amazing we were that close. We had a lot of fun swapping positions there.


Rachel, fresh off her racing debut at Nelson, is back into the game and she made this event. Running 2 hrs, with darkness made this a tough test but she made it through in P13. She had 5 cars finish behind her, which she said is here best finish.

Up next is the street stock at Mosport on 8/25
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021

Post by MostMint »

Brave up work camera work there on the up close camera shots!

Rachel did manage a qualifying time of 2:19.5 (starting P16) and I qualified 2:14.3. We got to work on our communication about qualifying times LOL - no doubt lost in all the excitement at the result.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Fred32v
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021 v11 Mosport Park

Post by Fred32v »

This was the eleventh race of the iRace Series for 2021. It was at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
(Mosport Park) in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada on Wednesday August the 25th, so I made the trip.
Mosport Park is 511 miles from my home so I drove to Bowmanville, Ontario and the track leaving very
very early in the morning to be on time for the start of the one hour race.
Crossing the border was no problem since I’ve been vaccinated and had my mask.

When I arrived at the track, the #50 Street Stock and the crews were in the garage and ready,
weather was only 70 degrees with partly cloudy skies. The Mosport track is 2.43 miles and has 10 turns.
I was there to watch the race as a fan and take pictures of the MostMint Sport Stock #50.
This track was spread-out and difficult to finding places to take pictures from,
but I was able to take a few shots of #50 in action. I took 23 photos, here are 10 that tell the tale of the race.
Qualifying
Qualifying
Grid Top 20
Grid Top 20
Parade lap
Parade lap
Green, green, green!
Green, green, green!
early trouble
early trouble
#50 stays clean
#50 stays clean
Pit next lap
Pit next lap
Checkered Flag
Checkered Flag
Official Top 20
Official Top 20
Back to th garage
Back to th garage
After the race I went back to the garage and gave the Street Stock racer a once over as I always do.
The car sustained no real damage. #50 qualified 8th (11th?) with a time of 1.28.371 seconds for a lap
and was only 1.079 seconds off the top qualifier. #50 was as high as 8th. At the checkered flag #50 finished 9th.
It was a really clean driving effort and the new braking upgrades proved their worth.
I helped them load their equipment then I jumped into my Canyon and joined the Team Caravan on the way home.

Preparing for Version 12 at Mid-Ohio on September the 8th.
Fred32v
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021

Post by MostMint »

My first cut at recording a race: https://youtu.be/98CDSdPTwvY
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021 v12 Mid-Ohio

Post by Fred32v »

This was the twelfth race of the iRace Series for 2021. It was at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
in Troy Township just outside of Lexington, Ohio on Wednesday September 8th.
The Mid-Ohio Track is only 120 miles from my home so I drove to the track leaving early in the morning
to be in time for the start of the race. I’ve been vaccinated and had my mask.
When I arrived, the #50 VW Jetta and the crew were in the garage and ready, weather was a
nice 76 degrees with partly cloudy skies. The Mid-Ohio track is 2.22 miles and has 15 turns.
I was there to take-in the race as a fan and get pictures of the MostMint Jetta #50.
This track has some elevation but wasn’t too difficult to finding places to shot from,
so I was able to take many shots of #50 in action. I took 36 photos, here are 20 that best describe the race.
#50 qualified 4th
#50 qualified 4th
Parade lap
Parade lap
Green, green, green!
Green, green, green!
#50 5th early
#50 5th early
#50 passing trouble
#50 passing trouble
#50 2nd
#50 2nd
Kodak Moment
Kodak Moment
Drafting
Drafting
Sliding
Sliding
Bump and run
Bump and run
pitting, repairs, tires, gas
pitting, repairs, tires, gas
#50 back to 12th
#50 back to 12th
looking to pass
looking to pass
a little rub
a little rub
view from the cockpit
view from the cockpit
going for 8th
going for 8th
into the grass
into the grass
clear, solid 8th
clear, solid 8th
Checkered Flag
Checkered Flag
Official results
Official results
After the race I went back to the garage and gave the Jetta racer a once over as I always do.
The car sustained scratches bruises from the pushing and shoving that was going on.
#50 qualified 4th. #50 ran as high as 2nd. At the checkered flag #50 finished 8th in a field of 20.
Except for a few instances the driving effort and concentration was on-the-money.
This was one of the more entertaining races that I have been to.
I did help them load their equipment then I jumped into my Canyon and drove home.

Preparing for Version 13 at Laguna Seca on September the 29th .
Fred32v
GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
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MostMint
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021

Post by MostMint »

That was the most disappointing top 10 finish
Put a lot of work into prepping for this one. I’m still a solid second off the fastest and I want to close the gap. After the practice race being at 84 degrees air and 109 track temp I practiced that. At the end I got so frustrated as I could not find any more time, so I went back to the cooler temps. Prescient move. I was so surprised in practice when I PR’d getting to 1:39.8
My qualifying had a lot of wobbly laps as adjusting to the first lap or two on cold tires was difficult. As it was I qualified P4 on the same row as Alex. As much as he dislike the Jetta it is more like my backyard, as is this track.
Come race time I was a bit slow on the start – apparently not mentally prepped for a ¼ lap warmup and I gave up a spot right away. Still settled in to P5 and got the groove going. I was just started to get a bit of a gap to P4 when Nick spun out and took out Alex. With a slight lift and the seas parting followed by an early trip to the pits for Keith I was in P2! Well that lasted about 2 turns and I went wide at the keyhole letting Chris by. So I followed him. I had enough pace to hang right on the bumper. Took a couple laps to realize what that pain scheme was lol. Made a few little mistakes but had some draft and pace to regain. Slowly I was watching P4 get further back and I was thinking I’d just ride it out, then Charles got up to P4 and started closing the gap. After a few laps of this Chris went wide in the keyhole and I had a chance to make a move that I took. We went side by side down the back straight and made door to door contact twice. Still need to watch the replay but Chris is thinking net code as a light touch should not have done much damage. Anyway I think I missed my braking point and so I went off and hit the wall on the other side of China Beach. I was hot! Anyway recovered as best I could and nursed my broken car to the pits. Got the fast repair and pit service and back at it.
Still had decent pace though pretty far back. After the pit sequence was over I found myself behind Mark in P9. I was clearly faster but he had good exit speed from the keyhole and good enough exit speed from the carousel I was kind of stuck. I sent several clear signals I was back there but he did not want to yield. So at one point I got a run going into madness and we were side by side going into turn 9. Well I braked a bit too late, we had side to side contact and I pretty much bumped him off the track. The live broadcast was onboard my car when this happened. Fortunately he did not spin or wreck. Sorry Mark – totally my fault. In retrospect I should have given that spot back but I still had red mist from the earlier incident so I wasn’t thinking about it at the time. After that I started making my way toward P7 and P6 but I had one slow down in there and basically ran out of laps.
So I notched my fourth top 10 in a row, and even with the off and limp back to the pits I ended up 48 seconds behind the leader a new personal best. Its going to be fun in the off season to see how much I can improve my iRating.

Also watched the broadcast David Haines and I will answer the question “How close does the Jetta drive to the Saturn?”
The Jetta is probably 75% similar to the Jetta in terms of driving. Differences:
• The Saturn is not as fast as the Jetta. I have run the Saturn at Mid Ohio in real life (though pre-wing and other mods) so my best guess is the Jetta is about 8 seconds faster per lap.
• The Jetta front springs are so stiff the thing bounces so easily and the Saturn – while firm up front – does not pogo if you hit a curb.
• The Saturn is LOUD. So loud. The muffler said the sound would be “moderate” but Saturn engines are known to be exhaust sound amplifiers.
• The Saturn brakes better than the Jetta, but limitations of no feel in the game make it hard to do exact comparison.
• The wing helps reduce errors with lift throttle oversteer, and it will let you carry a lot more speed in situations where you have to reduce throttle while cornering. I don’t notice the Jetta to be particularly bad at lift throttle oversteer

Responding to other comments:
• Note the teal accent on the driver gear! Not even the Saturn has teal on the interior
• This FWD has its quirks with a low shift point, super quiet, buckboard suspension, but it’s the only FWD we can reasonably use in this series and FWD is how I grew up doing endurance road racing so I vote it stays! IMO Mid Ohio is not an easy place to pass with equal cars no matter what
• The skill gap for non FWD drivers should be obvious
• Mid Ohio is a difficult place to pass no matter what in equal cars IMO so this is not just the Jetta
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
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Re: iRacing ChampCar 2021

Post by MostMint »

Race 13 was at Laguna Seca. I really thought this would be a great place to run fast, but my single lap pace in race conditions was not great.

I tried to shorten the learning curve on this one to no avail. In the cold air and track temps I could get close to leader pace, but between the heat and the competition I could not get consistent pace I wanted. After the technical aspects of Mid Ohio I really thought this one would be easier but not for me. It seems this track rewards precision I struggled to have.

Had a decent qualifying effort though I had a faster time in the practice race the week before and started P11. Before lap 1 turn 1 was over P1 and P2 starters were off and Mr Hurley went too deep and spun someone right in front of me. After that adventure I got to work putting in laps. The track temps were rising slowly and I never could get my qualifying pace. Like a baseball hitter in a slump I had some mechanics wrong but I just kept moving. On lap 2 I had my first of three 1.4 second slowdowns for getting off a bit too far right on corkscrew exit which dropped me back a couple more spots to 13th. Before too long though I was able to regroup and start climbing back forward. Bad fortune for Nick Love moved me up to P12, and my friend Troy saw I was faster and let me by. Lee Muhleman and I had quite a good battle for a while there swapping spots and he kept the pressure on for some time. Getting past him got me to P10. Lee and I got some time on the broadcast since we had some close racing while there was a decent gap between the leaders. Then Ian had some bad luck and got punted off moving me up to P9 - and shortly after moved up to P8 due to another misfortune or early pit. Ahead then was Charles K and he is right behind me in points - so I set my sights on catching him - not easy. Just as I started making ground I got my second 1.4 second penalty which negated all the ground I had gained.

After the pit cycle I was in P7 and Charles was behind me in P8. He hung in striking range for awhile but couldn't keep the pace. The second part of the race was pretty quiet. It took some extra concentration to stay focused on the event and not make mistakes. Fortunately I kept it together and finished P7.

So while my pace was not up to my expectations, I made very few mistakes, avoided carnage, and matched my best finish.

I'm now eighth in points, and was able to open a small gap on P9 and more of a gap on those behind.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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