XSLR Season 9 Race 5 Wild West Race Report
Wild West was built into the hillsides near Sparks, Nevada. Sadly it closed in 2020, though it live on in the digital universe!
This is the second time I've raced at this track with this league. I put in some practice, and I like this track, which showed up in the results as I qualified P2 out of 17 trucks. I won my heat race, and started the feature P2. On lap 1 T2 I went a little wide and slowed way down to recover my exit line. With 15 trucks behind this was a bad idea - and one of the guys directly behind hit me pretty good. As fate would have it that pushed me forward and that guy ended up getting sideways and caused a big pileup in that corner. No one was eliminated but it did open up a gap so I only had one truck close behind. Well I slowly pulled away for about 9 laps then I started making some minor mistakes and that guy was getting faster. As he was just about to make a pass he went a bit too far inside in T2 and got his RF up over the wall and got stuck there. We had a 6+ second gap back to P4 so I had decided I was going to let him go and not screw up a podium finish if he could make a move. From there I played just a bit conservative and finished P2. P1 was 8+ seconds ahead so there was no chance I was catching him.
Best two finishes so far have me up to P3 in points.
So far I don't like my chances to repeat that performance at Bark River this Sunday. Coverage starts at 8:10 PM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3T_EdrbnXU
iRacing broadcasts
Moderators: MostMint, wxo, Fred32v, Basement Paul, ttamrettus
Re: iRacing broadcasts
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
-BP[/quote]
Re: iRacing broadcasts
XSLR Season 9 Race 6 Bark River Race Report
Bark River is a fun track but its quite technical. After extensive practice I' still giving up well over a second a lap to the leaders. Still I qualified P5 of 12. I finished 3rd in the heat race which meant I had to go to consolation race to figure out starting position. I did start P1 there but I wrecked my race before turn 2. I was side by side with a guy at a small jump there halfway to T2 and you have to make a little left turn going into the jump. I didn't and ended up scrubbing the fence and the RF wheel went up over the fence which landed me in last place.
Starting from P12 I made quick work in lap one, passing 2 trucks before T2 and three more before the lap was over. From there I capitalized on a couple other incidents to get up to P5. One of those was pretty harrowing as I came over a jump only to find a truck sliding out into my path. I hit it pretty good but luckily these are rugged and I was able to continue. I was racing pretty close to P4 but a couple mistakes set me back just a bit too much. P5 was a decent result and it was a fun race so I'll just take that and move on.
Up next on Wednesday 4/3 is CCiS racing at Oulton Park with the Toyota GR86. The tack is in UK and its definitely an old school club track which is also fairly technical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEF-CWK9pLg
Bark River is a fun track but its quite technical. After extensive practice I' still giving up well over a second a lap to the leaders. Still I qualified P5 of 12. I finished 3rd in the heat race which meant I had to go to consolation race to figure out starting position. I did start P1 there but I wrecked my race before turn 2. I was side by side with a guy at a small jump there halfway to T2 and you have to make a little left turn going into the jump. I didn't and ended up scrubbing the fence and the RF wheel went up over the fence which landed me in last place.
Starting from P12 I made quick work in lap one, passing 2 trucks before T2 and three more before the lap was over. From there I capitalized on a couple other incidents to get up to P5. One of those was pretty harrowing as I came over a jump only to find a truck sliding out into my path. I hit it pretty good but luckily these are rugged and I was able to continue. I was racing pretty close to P4 but a couple mistakes set me back just a bit too much. P5 was a decent result and it was a fun race so I'll just take that and move on.
Up next on Wednesday 4/3 is CCiS racing at Oulton Park with the Toyota GR86. The tack is in UK and its definitely an old school club track which is also fairly technical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEF-CWK9pLg
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
-BP[/quote]
Re: iRacing broadcasts
CCiS 2025 Season Race 3 Oulton Park Race Report
https://www.youtube.com/live/AEF-CWK9pL ... U7VQ0e9Pxa
Qualified P18 of 38. Was a little shaky the first couple laps, and I overshot my pit stall, but still managed a P14 finish. Oddly with a P18 qualifying position I was given the first pit stall, which is very hard to get into on this track.
XSLR Season 9 Race 7 Atlanta Rallycross Race Report
https://www.youtube.com/live/1jv4OeiBYz ... L9fcyJYboY
Qualified P2 of 12. Made it through heats with a P4 start for the main. Got into an incident just before the hairpin and unfortunately ended up spun out. This cost me a spot or two and I finished P8.
Holding P4 in points
CCiS 2025 Season Race 4 Road Atlanta Race Report
https://www.youtube.com/live/ir00z4KV5j ... nGUOvngwKw
The car we ran for this race is the BMW M2, and we do not get along well at all. I’ve upgraded the paint scheme to flaming brown to represent how I feel about this car. CCiS league admins created a modified setup which was much better, and we used it during the practice race. Unfortunately due to clerical error they went back to the original setup – meaning I was practicing with the wrong setup!
Qualified P28 of 34, and ended up just over 1 lap down in P20. No major drama, just lacked pace.
Holding P13 in points. Currently no drop weeks in effect.
Spec 5 Season 17 Mid Ohio Race Report
https://www.youtube.com/live/mS5AEWS7vP ... N4hug7uUKk
Qualified P16 out of 26. Open class leader was not present. Open class P2 started in the back and was not a factor. Open class P3 got caught up in someone else’s mess. Was able to hang with a group with decent pace and dodge several incidents and work my way to the lead of open class. Unfortunately the class leader ended up spinning in front of me headed into Thunder Valley and I was not able to avoid that. Had to take a second stop for fast repair and ended up P20. I’m not in the points chase since I’m not running the full season. So disappointing the stars were lining up for a chance to finally win a race in this league which sadly ended with the crash.
Up next
Sunday 4/27 8:10 PM is XSLR racing Pro 4 trucks at Crandon. This will be the last race on dirt for the season, and its completion will be the 1/2 way point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od--j7ngnqo
https://www.youtube.com/live/AEF-CWK9pL ... U7VQ0e9Pxa
Qualified P18 of 38. Was a little shaky the first couple laps, and I overshot my pit stall, but still managed a P14 finish. Oddly with a P18 qualifying position I was given the first pit stall, which is very hard to get into on this track.
XSLR Season 9 Race 7 Atlanta Rallycross Race Report
https://www.youtube.com/live/1jv4OeiBYz ... L9fcyJYboY
Qualified P2 of 12. Made it through heats with a P4 start for the main. Got into an incident just before the hairpin and unfortunately ended up spun out. This cost me a spot or two and I finished P8.
Holding P4 in points
CCiS 2025 Season Race 4 Road Atlanta Race Report
https://www.youtube.com/live/ir00z4KV5j ... nGUOvngwKw
The car we ran for this race is the BMW M2, and we do not get along well at all. I’ve upgraded the paint scheme to flaming brown to represent how I feel about this car. CCiS league admins created a modified setup which was much better, and we used it during the practice race. Unfortunately due to clerical error they went back to the original setup – meaning I was practicing with the wrong setup!
Qualified P28 of 34, and ended up just over 1 lap down in P20. No major drama, just lacked pace.
Holding P13 in points. Currently no drop weeks in effect.
Spec 5 Season 17 Mid Ohio Race Report
https://www.youtube.com/live/mS5AEWS7vP ... N4hug7uUKk
Qualified P16 out of 26. Open class leader was not present. Open class P2 started in the back and was not a factor. Open class P3 got caught up in someone else’s mess. Was able to hang with a group with decent pace and dodge several incidents and work my way to the lead of open class. Unfortunately the class leader ended up spinning in front of me headed into Thunder Valley and I was not able to avoid that. Had to take a second stop for fast repair and ended up P20. I’m not in the points chase since I’m not running the full season. So disappointing the stars were lining up for a chance to finally win a race in this league which sadly ended with the crash.
Up next
Sunday 4/27 8:10 PM is XSLR racing Pro 4 trucks at Crandon. This will be the last race on dirt for the season, and its completion will be the 1/2 way point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od--j7ngnqo
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
-BP[/quote]
Re: iRacing broadcasts
Spec 5 Season 17 Mosport Race Report
Kinda last minute decision to do this race. Race video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qacit44mmPA
Total of 24 cars took the green flag. I qualified P17 just a couple tenths off my personal best at this track. I like Mosport it has a lot of high speed turns and only one hard braking zone so it reminds me a bit of Nelson Ledges that way.
Race was pretty clean and while I lost just a little at the start, I was fairly quickly back to my starting position and in draft with a large pack of cars for a while. Unfortunately I missed Moss Corner a bit one lap and dropped about 5 positions. A couple tiny mistakes later and I was out of the draft of the cars ahead. After the pit sequence I was the second last car running. A couple mishaps ahead and one legit on track pass and I ended up P19. Had about a 6 lap battle to gain P19 – first I had to get to racing the guy ahead so he would fall out of draft of the cars ahead of him, then I used the draft on the back straight to get alongside and race through the last sequence of corners. In the end I was under 30 seconds behind the leader after 45 minutes. Insane that I finished that close to leaders and that far back in the pack.
Kinda last minute decision to do this race. Race video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qacit44mmPA
Total of 24 cars took the green flag. I qualified P17 just a couple tenths off my personal best at this track. I like Mosport it has a lot of high speed turns and only one hard braking zone so it reminds me a bit of Nelson Ledges that way.
Race was pretty clean and while I lost just a little at the start, I was fairly quickly back to my starting position and in draft with a large pack of cars for a while. Unfortunately I missed Moss Corner a bit one lap and dropped about 5 positions. A couple tiny mistakes later and I was out of the draft of the cars ahead. After the pit sequence I was the second last car running. A couple mishaps ahead and one legit on track pass and I ended up P19. Had about a 6 lap battle to gain P19 – first I had to get to racing the guy ahead so he would fall out of draft of the cars ahead of him, then I used the draft on the back straight to get alongside and race through the last sequence of corners. In the end I was under 30 seconds behind the leader after 45 minutes. Insane that I finished that close to leaders and that far back in the pack.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
-BP[/quote]
Re: iRacing broadcasts
Up next
Wed May 14 9:20 PM racing at Watkins Glen in the MX5 with CCiS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2pk3M8dBow
Wed May 14 9:20 PM racing at Watkins Glen in the MX5 with CCiS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2pk3M8dBow
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
-BP[/quote]
Re: iRacing broadcasts
CCiS 2025 Season Race 5 Watkins Glen Race Report
This one produced a really good result.
I've spent a lot of time in this car and on this track so I didn't prep too much. I did the practice race and ended up pitting after about 4 laps as I felt the guys ahead were holding me up. This gave me the chance to run most of the race out of the draft and still ended up with a decent result. Qualifying effort was OK and ended up P17 of 36. I was not happy with a mid-pack start with this car/track combo. WGI is fast and the MX5 leaves a big hole in the air making the draft very strong. This means lots of pack racing and potential for lots of crashing. So I made a last minute decision to come to pit road as the field was coming to the green flag. I took enough fuel to finish 28 laps and was off in clean track. It wasn't long before the wrecks started happening. I finished lap 1 in P31. After about 5 laps I was up to 19th. The racing was pretty low key - just passing some slower cars. As the pit cycle passed I kept moving up in the order. To my surprise at the end of the cycle I was P3! P4 and P5 were right close behind and P6 was about 5 seconds back. All of these drivers typically have more pace than me, so I was quite surprised to be ahead of them. Clearly my strategy was working. Two of them caught me in a few laps. My plan was to hang in their draft but there was a lapped car which let them by but didn't let me by, and I lost the draft. That allowed the next guy to catch up and I ended up P6.
I finished ahead of 83% of the field, which is my best finish by percentage since I've been in this league.
There were several large crashes which I saw in the replay, and 12 cars with a best single lap time better than mine finished behind me.
Up to P9 in points.
Up next:
XSRL Charlotte with the 87 NASCAR - Sunday at 8:10 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm8ekWP ... AM8tbAj1nE
This one produced a really good result.
I've spent a lot of time in this car and on this track so I didn't prep too much. I did the practice race and ended up pitting after about 4 laps as I felt the guys ahead were holding me up. This gave me the chance to run most of the race out of the draft and still ended up with a decent result. Qualifying effort was OK and ended up P17 of 36. I was not happy with a mid-pack start with this car/track combo. WGI is fast and the MX5 leaves a big hole in the air making the draft very strong. This means lots of pack racing and potential for lots of crashing. So I made a last minute decision to come to pit road as the field was coming to the green flag. I took enough fuel to finish 28 laps and was off in clean track. It wasn't long before the wrecks started happening. I finished lap 1 in P31. After about 5 laps I was up to 19th. The racing was pretty low key - just passing some slower cars. As the pit cycle passed I kept moving up in the order. To my surprise at the end of the cycle I was P3! P4 and P5 were right close behind and P6 was about 5 seconds back. All of these drivers typically have more pace than me, so I was quite surprised to be ahead of them. Clearly my strategy was working. Two of them caught me in a few laps. My plan was to hang in their draft but there was a lapped car which let them by but didn't let me by, and I lost the draft. That allowed the next guy to catch up and I ended up P6.
I finished ahead of 83% of the field, which is my best finish by percentage since I've been in this league.
There were several large crashes which I saw in the replay, and 12 cars with a best single lap time better than mine finished behind me.
Up to P9 in points.
Up next:
XSRL Charlotte with the 87 NASCAR - Sunday at 8:10 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm8ekWP ... AM8tbAj1nE
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
-BP[/quote]
Re: iRacing broadcasts
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
-BP[/quote]
Re: iRacing broadcasts
XSLR Season 9 Race 8 Crandon Race Report
Qualified P9 of 11. In my heat race I got knocked off track in the first few turns and ended up last running truck
In the B main I started P5 and was able to finish P2, which netted me a P6 starting position as the top two from each heat race filled spots 1-4 on the starting grid.
The land rush start was not great here and I was almost at the back by the time we got to start/finish. Fortunately through some consistency and decent pace I was able to finish P4.
XSLR Season 9 Race 9 Charlotte Race Report
Qualified P9 of 13. Had a lot more speed but didn’t get the line right in qualifying.
First race in the Legends NASCAR – which are the 1987 NASCAR season cars. These cars have a lot of horsepower, tires heat up quickly, and brakes are not great. Lots of practice to figure out how to minimize tire wear. The other factor is limited allocation of 2 extra sets of tires. Fuel is restricted also so pit stop required.
This race ran green so everyone had to pit under green flag conditions. 4 tires takes 10 seconds longer than the fuel so I went for right side tires only. I had practiced this situation, but not on 40 lap old left tires, and the weather was 10 degrees warmer than the realistic forecasts iRacing provided. Well this was my undoing as I lost it in turn 4 during my outlap, which sent me careening into the safety wall on the outside of pit lane. Unfortunately the engine would not run after that and I had to take a tow. The rest of the race ran with no caution flags so no laps were recovered due to wave arounds or lucky dog.
Finished P11 – worst since I joined this league. Totally my mistake. I was pushing too hard to gain positions. Many competitors sped going into pit road I would have been easy top 5 with four tires or maybe even no tires. I used strategy awesomely in the prior CCiS race to get 5th and this was the exact opposite. Grrr
XSLR Season 9 Race 10 Talladega Race Report
In attempt to rally from last week’s disaster, I put extra effort into prepping for this race. With these cars at this track there is going to be a lot of pack racing, and passing thanks to the draft. After watching multiple races I decided that I would hang out at the back of the lead pack draft and avoid the carnage.
With that in mind I drove conservative in qualifying, starting P13 of 14.
Lap 4 was the first FCY and I took the opportunity to top off the tank. Not enough to make the finish but still gets me further and require less fuel if a green flag stop comes up. That was followed by a long green flag run which required a green flag pit stop. This was a great turn of events for me. Since I was in the draft so long I was able to keep going as everyone else pitted. Pit in is treacherous with the weak brakes and high speeds, which caused several incidents and many cars got penalized for speeding on pit road. I led 5 laps then pitted. Came out of the pits in P2 but a couple guys with fresh tires and the draft got by but P4 after pit sequence with no large draft train was a great spot to be in. That all ended on lap 39 when someone crashed and brought out another FCY. This was bad news as all those guys one lap down or way behind got to close up. I pitted for fresh tires which would be good til the end. During the FCY another guy crashed and extended it, leaving us going green on lap 44.
With the fresh tires I was able to move up quite a bit and get into the top 5. I did get shuffled back but then another FCY came out, and this is where the tides really turned against me. I caught the field and safely got down to pace car speed, and shortly after that a guy plowed into the back of me which sent me and two other cars into the inside wall, and subsequently into pit road for a fast repair and new tires. This set up a green/white/checker scenario in overtime. With fresh tires I had sped but was in the low lane and pretty much boxed in which limited my chances to move up. On the white flag lap coming around T3 there was contact between two cars ahead and I hit one of them. This was a glancing blow but it cut my speed from 200 to 170 mph. I was on the outside line and trying to get to the finish line when a lapped car (the same guy that hit me under FCY) ran wide and pinched me into the outside wall. After that the steering was broken and engine power was way down. I made it to the finish line but missed P8 by .1 second. P9 was a disastrous result considering the potential here. It’s like my pocket aces got cracked.
Nonetheless my closest competitor in points did not show up so I gained a couple points on the guy behind, and am currently setting at P3 in season points.
Up next is XSLR race at Daytona on Sunday 5/31 at 8:10 PM. I’ll post broadcast link when it become available. It’ll be another draft track with a lot of variance due to high speed, low downforce, weak brakes and huge draft.
Qualified P9 of 11. In my heat race I got knocked off track in the first few turns and ended up last running truck
In the B main I started P5 and was able to finish P2, which netted me a P6 starting position as the top two from each heat race filled spots 1-4 on the starting grid.
The land rush start was not great here and I was almost at the back by the time we got to start/finish. Fortunately through some consistency and decent pace I was able to finish P4.
XSLR Season 9 Race 9 Charlotte Race Report
Qualified P9 of 13. Had a lot more speed but didn’t get the line right in qualifying.
First race in the Legends NASCAR – which are the 1987 NASCAR season cars. These cars have a lot of horsepower, tires heat up quickly, and brakes are not great. Lots of practice to figure out how to minimize tire wear. The other factor is limited allocation of 2 extra sets of tires. Fuel is restricted also so pit stop required.
This race ran green so everyone had to pit under green flag conditions. 4 tires takes 10 seconds longer than the fuel so I went for right side tires only. I had practiced this situation, but not on 40 lap old left tires, and the weather was 10 degrees warmer than the realistic forecasts iRacing provided. Well this was my undoing as I lost it in turn 4 during my outlap, which sent me careening into the safety wall on the outside of pit lane. Unfortunately the engine would not run after that and I had to take a tow. The rest of the race ran with no caution flags so no laps were recovered due to wave arounds or lucky dog.
Finished P11 – worst since I joined this league. Totally my mistake. I was pushing too hard to gain positions. Many competitors sped going into pit road I would have been easy top 5 with four tires or maybe even no tires. I used strategy awesomely in the prior CCiS race to get 5th and this was the exact opposite. Grrr
XSLR Season 9 Race 10 Talladega Race Report
In attempt to rally from last week’s disaster, I put extra effort into prepping for this race. With these cars at this track there is going to be a lot of pack racing, and passing thanks to the draft. After watching multiple races I decided that I would hang out at the back of the lead pack draft and avoid the carnage.
With that in mind I drove conservative in qualifying, starting P13 of 14.
Lap 4 was the first FCY and I took the opportunity to top off the tank. Not enough to make the finish but still gets me further and require less fuel if a green flag stop comes up. That was followed by a long green flag run which required a green flag pit stop. This was a great turn of events for me. Since I was in the draft so long I was able to keep going as everyone else pitted. Pit in is treacherous with the weak brakes and high speeds, which caused several incidents and many cars got penalized for speeding on pit road. I led 5 laps then pitted. Came out of the pits in P2 but a couple guys with fresh tires and the draft got by but P4 after pit sequence with no large draft train was a great spot to be in. That all ended on lap 39 when someone crashed and brought out another FCY. This was bad news as all those guys one lap down or way behind got to close up. I pitted for fresh tires which would be good til the end. During the FCY another guy crashed and extended it, leaving us going green on lap 44.
With the fresh tires I was able to move up quite a bit and get into the top 5. I did get shuffled back but then another FCY came out, and this is where the tides really turned against me. I caught the field and safely got down to pace car speed, and shortly after that a guy plowed into the back of me which sent me and two other cars into the inside wall, and subsequently into pit road for a fast repair and new tires. This set up a green/white/checker scenario in overtime. With fresh tires I had sped but was in the low lane and pretty much boxed in which limited my chances to move up. On the white flag lap coming around T3 there was contact between two cars ahead and I hit one of them. This was a glancing blow but it cut my speed from 200 to 170 mph. I was on the outside line and trying to get to the finish line when a lapped car (the same guy that hit me under FCY) ran wide and pinched me into the outside wall. After that the steering was broken and engine power was way down. I made it to the finish line but missed P8 by .1 second. P9 was a disastrous result considering the potential here. It’s like my pocket aces got cracked.
Nonetheless my closest competitor in points did not show up so I gained a couple points on the guy behind, and am currently setting at P3 in season points.
Up next is XSLR race at Daytona on Sunday 5/31 at 8:10 PM. I’ll post broadcast link when it become available. It’ll be another draft track with a lot of variance due to high speed, low downforce, weak brakes and huge draft.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
-BP[/quote]
Re: iRacing broadcasts
XSLR Season 9 Round 11 Daytona - Sunday 8:10 PM - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUgG0yXfdoU
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
-BP[/quote]