iRacing Season 2 - Dallara IndyCar - Watkins Glen (GP) - Feb 23

[purdie]

Purds, that was TT you had contact with, not me!

corrected!

sorry TT, i pm'd you!

[mr_oily]

Been thoroughly enjoying this car/ track combo but just wasn't to be my night tonight clearly!

Felt like I had plenty of pace to be at the sharp end but sticking only two laps worth of fuel in for my qually runs wasted away my time as I messed up hot lap after hot lap, putting in a time almost a second slower than my practice PB.

Unlike with Brands where I'd been able to wind it back just a fraction and reign in the mistakes, it really never happened here. After a decent start I was way too tentative and as a result just didn't find the rhythm until after I'd binned it taking too much curb at the chicane.

Came out behind Shark after my tow and running a similar pace was looking to at least have some fun dicing with him but again it wasn't to be. Another silly mistake after a few laps saw me damaged for a final time and it was game over. I never really had the skills to keep the thing lapping for a race distance at the pace I'd hoped for so it's unfinished business as far as I'm concerned. Looking forward to revisiting!

Well done to Paul, the podium chaps and all the finishers here - that was a tough one. Actually pleased for once to see the Oldie lads bring it home too, a real achievement after sounding less than positive during the practice sessions  .

Roll on the next Dallara session - and I hope to God the Infineon layout I've just been driving in the Mazda isn't the same one planned for the next round LOL!  

[Adam Parle]

Another race in the Dallara - another race to forget.

Slow and steady from the start, trying to keep clear of trouble which pretty much worked.  Shark ended up behind the Legends train of Pops, TT and myself, although he was likely to be moving back up the field I didn't intend to make it easy for him.  Unfortunately I ran wide on the exit of the boot section, allowing an easy pass .... which he soon regretted as I ran him off the road at the "Toe" .... well, I did say I wouldn't make it easy for him....

Gutted to have spoilt another racers race, just got in to the corner slightly too hot for the traffic - on a clear track it would have been fine, but not when trying to take evasive action.  We both ended up in the pits, and a stupid unforced error (just involving me this time thankfully) left me with a big wait to rejoin as a rolling roadblock, or quit to do something a bit more fun.

I need to get more practice in traffic in the Dallara - think that's the root cause of my (and consequently Shark's) problems tonight ....

[Simon Gymer]

A race of what could have been for me.

Qualified an amazing 3rd with an incredible time by my standards, will never repeat that again and was very comfortable with the car. Unfortunately qualifying was the main highlight.

Lap 1 and I was pretty close behind Dan going into the bus stop, got a bit too fixated on the back of his car and broke a tiny fraction too late and decided in a split second that I wasn't going to make the turn in safely so cut through the cones. Took forever for the "slow down you cheating low-life" messages to go away and this put me almost at the back. Very annoyed but still thought I could have good fun fighting my way back up the pack. Indeed I was doing, but whilst chasing Pops was sent into the wall wrecking the left side of my car. Fast tow put me nearly a lap down and that meant the racing was pretty much all over. Got chased for a bit by James, but he didn't last long and other than chasing Paul for a bit after he pitted I didn't race anyone again.

On pace I think I would have been top 3 probably, but that aside it was a shame that I missed out on some good racing after taking the tow as hotlapping a lap down is just like racing in the public service and not much fun at all.

I still would like to see resets dropped completely. One chance only even if you're the victim, in the long term I think it's the best way.

BTW, my setup was pretty stable and reasonably fast if anyone wants to try it. It was fairly easy on cold tyres too...
Team Shark Setups
My Setups

[Truetom]

Purds, that was TT you had contact with, not me!

corrected!

sorry TT, i pm'd you!

You gotta be careful - my wife doesn't permit stuff like this.

The darn chicane got me again. I resent this in iR - you take the corner 11 times the same way. 10 times it's ok and 11th it spits you out. Didn't bother with the tow - when you crash like this the race is over either way. I still don't think I took the corner differently.

[Simon Gymer]

The darn chicane got me again. I resent this in iR - you take the corner 11 times the same way. 10 times it's ok and 11th it spits you out. . I still don't think I took the corner differently.

When I talked to Gizmo about random spinning on TeamSpeak he said it's almost certainly because the ride height is too low so seemingly at random you will hit the floor when you wouldn't have the previously lap and this causes the car to spin out. So I duely whacked up the front ride height and lo and behold very little random spinning after that. It was a revelation.

[Dan Minton]

Roll on the next Dallara session - and I hope to God the Infineon layout I've just been driving in the Mazda isn't the same one planned for the next round LOL!  hang

Think it is mate....Great track , once youve got a set up its all about lines there or the fact there is only one line round it.

[popabawa]

But I didn't pass or get passed by a single driver. Is that racing?

It's a fair question but when half the field leaves the track then it significantly reduces the likelihood of any close racing.

I think the fact is that most of us aren't capable (and I'm most definitely including myself) of racing the Dallara closely yet, it's a tough, tough car because the reaction times are so very low.

[Truetom]

The darn chicane got me again. I resent this in iR - you take the corner 11 times the same way. 10 times it's ok and 11th it spits you out. . I still don't think I took the corner differently.

When I talked to Gizmo about random spinning on TeamSpeak he said it's almost certainly because the ride height is too low so seemingly at random you will hit the floor when you wouldn't have the previously lap and this causes the car to spin out. So I duely whacked up the front ride height and lo and behold very little random spinning after that. It was a revelation.

Always might be.
How high were you, err, your car yesterday, then? I remember I noticed the car touching the floor once or twice in the fast corners before bus-stop but not elsewhere. I had a lot more scraping the floor at Brands and it was ok there.

[popabawa]

I always feel I know exactly what I'm doing wrong when I get into trouble in iRacing.

The tracks are so detailed it's possible to take a very slightly different line and hit a different bump or patch of track with different grip etc. and end up in trouble.

I find I need to leave a much bigger margin for error in iRacing than GTR2 for that reason.

[Simon Gymer]

Always might be.
How high were you, err, your car yesterday, then? I remember I noticed the car touching the floor once or twice in the fast corners before bus-stop but not elsewhere. I had a lot more scraping the floor at Brands and it was ok there.

You can get my setup off the Team Shark website if you like. I believe I was up to 1.2 inches on the front and a shade under 1.9 inches on the rear. I think when I started the setup I was using was 0.9 inches at the front.

[Simon Gymer]

It doesn't help that the collision detection in iRacing is quite frankly awful. You can easily make contact with people 2 or 3 feet away so side-by-side racing is inconsistent at best. However, you don't have to literally be close to someone to have close racing. Battling for position doesn't need to mean you are racing side-by-side the whole time.

Another Infineon hater here. It's far too fiddly for my tastes especially in such a fast car. The first section is going to be really hard in the IndyCar and will take a lot of reserved driving to get around to complete the whole race for me.

[Truetom]

I always feel I know exactly what I'm doing wrong when I get into trouble in iRacing.

The tracks are so detailed it's possible to take a very slightly different line and hit a different bump or patch of track with different grip etc. and end up in trouble.

I find I need to leave a much bigger margin for error in iRacing than GTR2 for that reason.

Sure, and that makes me nervous 'cause I have a constant feeling I'm holding back too much and that I could go much faster. And while I'm holding back I feel the game has unjustly accused me of a mistake I don't remember to make.

Ride height might be worth thinking about as GTR2 more or less neglects this setting. Will try your setup, Sharky.
Erm, sorry Paul - after Brands I was confident I can make my own setup. Will have to do more laps with various setups.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

How high were you, err, your car yesterday, then? I remember I noticed the car touching the floor once or twice in the fast corners before bus-stop but not elsewhere. I had a lot more scraping the floor at Brands and it was ok there.

It's not just the tub scraping along the ground, it's also the way the bump stops are set - if you're running too low, even if the car doesn't bottom out, if the suspension compresses to the point where it's on the bump stops you suddenly lose grip on that corner because the effective spring rate jumps by a few orders of magnitude.

[purdie]

It doesn't help that the collision detection in iRacing is quite frankly awful. You can easily make contact with people 2 or 3 feet away so side-by-side racing is inconsistent at best.

yeah in practice Paul spun in front of me and looking at the replay I passed him with clear air of at least a foot... but still x0
contact