iRacing Champcar 2022

Information about upcoming races, swap meets & shows

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

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MostMint
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Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 12:11 pm
Location: planning a race

Re: iRacing Champcar 2022

Post by MostMint »

Last race was Laguna Seca with the Jetta.

I put in the prep work - though a bit less structured than prior races this season. The re-learning curve was a bit steeper since I'd been driving the ND MX-5 for the past month.

Well all that work, coupled with the three top drivers not participating this week, and I was able to qualify P1! The track temps were cooling throughout qualifying and with just a few minutes left I set a personal best. I had been 3rd and was hoping to move up one but turns out I moved to P1 by .05.

I managed to lead up to the corkscrew on lap 2 where I went in too deep and went off a bit. I saved it but came out 5th. I had some good pace but made too many mistakes. During the pit stop I leap frogged two cars and closed the gap on the leader to 2 seconds, but inconsistency again cost me time and I ended up P4 - my best finish to date in this league. Sadly I was under 3 seconds away from P3 I just couldn't close the gap - so close to the podium. This was a golden opportunity to get a podium and I just missed it. I'll keep at it.

https://youtu.be/ZQsdE1c2_3s?t=192
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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MostMint
Posts: 2714
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 12:11 pm
Location: planning a race

Re: iRacing Champcar 2022 - VIR 2 hr

Post by MostMint »

Put in a good bit of practice for this. Was able to leverage Simon’s data from last year to make a baseline. I got down to 2:12.48 in the day and 2:12.55 at night. There was a 2:12.190 at night with * for a little off at T10. Couldn’t repeat it though.

Also knew from the practice race that the best qualifying times were going to be at the start of qualifying – due to 8x speed time lapse. I was able to execute a 2:12.5 even though temps were about 10 degrees hotter than my practice temps, which got me a P2 qualifying position out of 25 cars. I rested fairly easy that my time would hold even though some of the drivers were at their real life home track as the quickly increasing temps made it not possible for them to get there. This was pretty solid since we had most of our A regulars in the field.

I gave up quite a few spots in the first couple laps as I had come mistakes but no contact and fairly quickly got settled in at P9. Plenty of errors and some sloppy driving ahead and before long I was in P4 in a 3 car draft with cars ahead. I had enough fuel for 20 laps but at end of 19 I was right on bumper of Charles K so I decided to pit rather than risk a pass. I’m pretty sure I was P2 on pit entry. This was all to plan, and I put in enough fuel to get to a couple laps before daylight and 4 tires. At about 75 minutes in I was running P4 and I made my first big mistake. I downshifted too quickly going into turn 1 and damaged the engine – which cost me about 40 seconds as I nursed it back to the pits. Luckily I was in final pit window and so I added fuel and new tires and used my fast repair. This dropped me back to P12. Through pit cycles I made it about up to 8th but with too many mistakes I was not able to hold that. I had a pretty solid battle with Shane for P11 which got resolved in oak tree with about 8 minutes to go. I dropped the left rear off and that shot me into the inside fence at the apex. I scrubbed a lot of speed so it was not a hard hit, but then Shane made the exact mistake and ran into the back of me. I was able to back out of that spot and resume, as he did, but then he apparently had turning issues and gave up. Unfortunately that lost time put me behind the leader so I ended a lap down and in P11. I was quite irritated that I lost so many spots after all the prep – but that’s racing.

I should also note that my racecraft is getting a bit better. I've been holding the line and not yielding to challenges more often. Still a ways to go in terms of making speed in the non preferred line but these challenges are more fun now than annoyances.

At this point in the season, P11 is a drop week, but it does give some good insurance against a disastrous future week. I’m currently 8th in points at best 6 of 10 races so far. At 294 points, I’ve scored 42 more points than I had after 10 races in 2021.

I’ve got the speed now for a podium, what I need to work on is focus and consistency. There were several times during the race where I fell into bad habits on some corners and gave up a lot of time. The over rev was simply not focusing on downshifting at the right marks. The time lost from limping the damaged engine around the track cost me a P4, and while I had no slowdown penalties, there were plenty of chances to save time by getting the inputs right. I don’t know if P2 was in the cards but P3 was definitely possible.

Through race 10 attendance is down about 5% compared to last year, and we still have 21 drivers in the hunt for the $1500 race credit drawing at the end of the season, though 5 of them will need to complete more than half the laps through all remaining races to qualify.

https://youtu.be/BKILhQLCLL8
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
User avatar
MostMint
Posts: 2714
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2005 12:11 pm
Location: planning a race

Re: iRacing Champcar 2022

Post by MostMint »

A little late updating here.

Round 11: COTA with Mustang FR500S

Still don't have this car/track really figured out. Qualified P12 of 23, got spun out lap 1 by a new driver in the league, finished P13. I protested but no action taken as ChampCar stewards with no rule book decided that careless driving is not a problem in this league.

Round 12: Mid-Ohio with Solstice

Practiced really well but was about 3 tenths slower in qualifying. There is something going on between the ears - I don't know if its adrenaline or too much pressure on myself, but I have to sort it out. Qualified P9 of 21. Race was pretty solid and I was running P7 til I got hit again from behind on the last lap. Luckily I didn't hit any walls and had a big gap so I was able to proceed and finish P8. This marks the third time in 12 races I've been hit from behind in this league and its starting to wear on me.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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