2018 ChampCar Sim Series - Round 5, Championship Race - Charlotte Road - 4/12/2018

[Rapido]

Already time for our 5th Championship round of the year, and we're at another Roval after the entertainment of Daytona last time. The benefits of this race over the real life Charlotte race include - no rain, no darkness, no engine swap rules, no cost, and no being shouted at by Mike for any on track transgressions. Why wouldn't you give it a try?

 

 

Session Details

 

• Date: Thursday, 12-April-2018
• Practice Start: 6:00pm EST/6:00pm PST
• Qualifying Start: 8:00pm EST/8:00pm PST
• Race Start: 9:00pm EST/9:00pm PST
• Cars: Street Stock, 2016 Global Mazda Cup
• Track: Charlotte Motor Speedway - Road Course
• Weather: iRacing Default (Late Afternoon, Partly Cloudy, 78°F, 55% humidity)
• License Requirement: None
• Setup: Fixed, Baseline with reduced fuel (Miata), Modified Baseline (Street Stock)

 

Useful Links
 

2018 ChampCar Sim Series schedule

Guide to iRacing and Hardware

How to create your own iRacing paints

iRacing Tips and Resources

Discord Server

[bam]

It says no license requirement, but the race says otherwise.  I do have a D but it's under 2.0 and I don't have time to race any other races except this one.

 

 

Brian

 

[Rapido]

Hi Brian, sorry about the error in the race details, that's my mistake - I copied over last weeks and forgot to update that specific line. As per this post the championship rounds will be D 2.0 restricted, but all other rounds will be open to all.

[Wyatt]

First off sorry to whoever I ran over at the start finish line.

 

I tried my best to telegraph my intentions and I assumed you'd stay online. Obviously didn't work out as I intended. Sorry!!!

 

 

And I guess the rest was karma. My shifter thought I selected first when I did indeed select 3rd and it blew the engine up. Really disappointing. I guess it makes sense being 7 years old or so.

[Hugh Jass]

Sorry again @Hurljohn I was trying to leave you just enough room; misjudged it and didn't leave enough room. My bad. You have been a great to race with.

 

Mark Burt it was fun racing with you, bad luck in T1. 

 

[kartermdb]

5 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

Sorry again @Hurljohn I was trying to leave you just enough room; misjudged it and didn't leave enough room. My bad. You have been a great to race with.

 

Mark Burt it was fun racing with you, bad luck in T1. 

 

Yea unfortunately I really hate the Miata with the stock setup. I can never get a feel for it. We have lots of good races I just keep dropping the ball lol. It wasn't bad luck in t1 that got me, it was driver error and by the time I tried to open the wheel to gain steering it was too late. Oh well, there is always next week. 

[Hurljohn]

No worries Alex, it was a great battle, I never gave up trying to catch you and I thought as long as you and Mark started to battle I would be able to catch you guys.  Then of course Mark decided to love on the turn one wall and I thought, "well, this is going to be alot harder".  At that point I was hoping you would get short on fuel running by yourself and maybe that is what happened?

 

Hate to have it end that way but sometimes it happens when!

 

 

West Coast Round car count was very low:

 

 

[dvot]

So whats caused the decline in drivers?  I'm basically using the series as a way to learn iracing and get better and learn more tracks.  With excellent live streaming and a core group of good drivers, it seems strange that the number of drivers is a third what it was early in the year.  Is it just the nature of once someone realizes they can't compete for the win they give up or is there a root problem with the format folks don't like. I'm having a blast driving in this league (and effectively running at the back of the pack) but if the car count trends keep declining it may not be worth it anymore.  

 

Also what do you fast guys do to get better at I-racing.  I'm pretty decent at finishing the races and running 'relatively' clean but just can't come close to the consistent pace of most everyone else despite putting in a bunch of hours.  

[wvumtnbkr]

My issue is that I kinda got in the way and have some setup issues with my rig.

 

Oh yeah, having another daughter that goes to bed right in prime iracing time doesn't help....

[SiberianDVM]

I'd love to set up a system, but let's face it: I can barely turn on and operate my laptop. The last time I "gamed" was playing the solo version Steel Panthers on a desktop running DOS.

 

I would need serious technical advice.

[Hurljohn]

8 hours ago, dvot said:

So whats caused the decline in drivers?  I'm basically using the series as a way to learn iracing and get better and learn more tracks.  With excellent live streaming and a core group of good drivers, it seems strange that the number of drivers is a third what it was early in the year.  Is it just the nature of once someone realizes they can't compete for the win they give up or is there a root problem with the format folks don't like. I'm having a blast driving in this league (and effectively running at the back of the pack) but if the car count trends keep declining it may not be worth it anymore.  

 

Also what do you fast guys do to get better at I-racing.  I'm pretty decent at finishing the races and running 'relatively' clean but just can't come close to the consistent pace of most everyone else despite putting in a bunch of hours.  

I think the decline for Charlotte is based on track preference.  Its a roval that I think has a ton of character but I do not believe it has the universal appeal of some of the other tracks we race on.  The West coast rounds consistently have low turnouts and both series lost some drivers when the rules were changed to only allow D class racers and above at Championship Rounds.  Which has greatly improved the actual on track driving (remember RD ATL anyone?)

 

I would recommend Virtual Racing School.  For only a few dollars a month you get some great track data that you can use to find that missing time.  As for general tips in the Miata; 1) if you are not neutral steering it you will be down at least a second on those that are.  2)  The springs are very soft on the Miata, so inputs need to be soft as well to maximize traction.  3)  Field of view, adjust it per the Iracing Guide tips (this alone could be a lot of peoples issues).  The tempatation to have the widest FOV possible makes it hard to be precise.  I race with one screen at 58-60 FOV as an example.  4)  Look AHEAD!  Just like in real life, the faster you go on track the further your focus should be. 

 

Just keep in mind the faster guys are doing the basics better.  But its just the basics, no super secret "Speed Secret" (R. Bentley)!

 

John

[Rapido]

I think the reduction in field size is a combination of some more boring tracks (Daytona and Charlotte) coupled with the license requirement that I introduced for the championship round. It wasn't an easy decision but I do think that driving standards have improved.

 

There's bound to be some falloff in participation throughout the season, as people either don't quite enjoy the races or realise perhaps they are a bit far off the pace. It's my hope that over time we'll start to build a solid community and participation will steadily increase. With the very generous prizes on offer from ChampCar I think we'll see plenty of interest next season as we build some momentum. 

 

@dvot really glad to hear you're still enjoying the league. I second @Hurljohn's suggestion of VRS - they're running some free packs for the Miata this season so that might give you some ideas. I'm not the fastest, but I can say that real life racing mentalities do translate to the sim. Keep your inputs smooth, balance the car with pedal inputs, and just try and maintain the smoothest line through the corners, it'll reward that sort of driving.

[Boyd2241]

Some of the leagues I have been in typically have some drop weeks you can take throughout the season.  Say only your best 10 or 11 races count out of the 13. This also allows you to miss some races without being completely out of the running.   This perhaps may help some of the attendance, since it looks like now if you miss a race you have a very small chance to win the season.... unless the leader misses a race as well. I am sure at some point I will have to miss a race or two due to being out of town for work.  I have no idea how John has the time to be able to do 2 races back to back like that, especially when its 1 or 1:30  AM his time when he is done with the pacific race.    I am in the central time zone, and I am still dragging the next morning.  

 

I was figuring Carolina and Daytona would have had some better attendance, since the draft is a good equalizer, but not the case.  Maybe the pacific guys all got scared off by the one street stock from the Sonoma race.   

[dvot]

On 4/13/2018 at 6:30 PM, Hurljohn said:

  As for general tips in the Miata; 1) if you are not neutral steering it you will be down at least a second on those that are. 

 

 

 What does "neutral steering it" mean? 

[Rapido]

@dvot - I think what John is alluding to is avoid big steering inputs when driving a momentum car like the Miata - with these cars that lack a little power, corner exit is everything to a good lap time, so the fastest way to drive is to get all your steering input done in on corner entry so you can have the car straight and on throttle as soon as possible, to maximize your speed.

Below is a video of a practice lap of the 'Ring in the Miata that I did recently to help some of my team members out with the line - it's not perfect but it's a good demonstration of what I described; you'll see I rarely put in more than 90deg of steering angle and the wheel is often straight by the time the car is at the apex.