Just did a qualifying session at Lime Rock in the Skippy. I must admit that I've been frustrated with this car at this track for a long time. But earlier this week I made a couple of adjustments to the setup I was using, and it's made a big difference.
The car is still very sensitive; Miss Skippy wants you to caress her into the corners, not manhandle her like the Legends or the Formula Mazda. She's the polar opposite of Mr. Mazda, who likes to be tossed and shoved around.
Not Miss Skippy. Toss her around even just a tiny bit and she'll bite you. You'll be spinning before you can blink. She likes a delicate touch, but when you do it right she's magic.
I raced the Legends at Lime Rock a couple of days ago, which helped me get myself tuned into the track. Then I ran a race in the Skippy earlier this evening. My iRating put me into a very strong field - dead last on the grid and also in the car numbers, meaning I was the lowest rated driver in the field - so I concentrated on just being smooth and consistent, just like they tell you in Skippy school. Nothing too courageous; just stay clean and get out of there with all the points you can.
It worked, too; some of the faster drivers took themselves off. A couple came back through, and I let 'em go. Just maybe they'd take themselves out again, I figured. Right near the end the leaders lapped me - both of them quite aggressively but cleanly - and I wound up ninth, with a small drop in iRating, but I'm 83rd out of 792 in the series, so I'm not doing too bad! And my Safety Rating went up.
I never quite got below 1 minute flat in the race, but just now in the qualifying session, I got really in the groove and did a string of 59's. My last lap was a 59.325, which put me 1.2 seconds off "pole" and 260th out of 608. Not too bad at a track where I've never been terribly strong.
The main thing, though, was I came away with a powerful sense of how terrific that car is. I've never been able to drive a real car at the real-world Lime Rock at the absolute ragged edge because of the fear of crashing it and wrecking my budget. Neither my talent nor my budget allowed me that risk and that pleasure. But tonight I had that little Skippy car out on the edge, balanced at the limit, pushing it as hard as I could, and it just sang.
Sweet music, little Skippy. I love that machine!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Formula Mazda at Sears Point, Part II
Well, I don't hate it quite so much.
Started out again with Wolf Woeger's setup but could not get anywhere, and hated the car again. Took a look at his shock settings and found them to be super-soft. Cranked in a little stiffness and the car immediately felt better, and I went a little quicker, breaking into the 1:30's. Still erratic, though, and the thing still feels like a marshmallow.
Tried running a qualifying session but my times were terrible, in the 32's, because I had to back off from what I'd been doing in testing due to the fact that the car and I were still erratic.
There's a theory going around that the F.Maz's aero is off; the fast guys say that using minimum wing gives the fastest lap times under all conditions.
Maybe they're right, but I decided that if any track would benefit by increasing the wing angle and raising the ride height, this was it. Started cranking up the wings and also raised the ride height because it felt like the chassis was bottoming or else going onto its suspension stops.
Raising the ride height calmed it down and made the handling more like race car, less like a lowrider/pimpmobile. Also went still stiffer on the shocks all around (Wolf had 'em at almost full soft in rebound!) and stiffer on the rear springs. It's starting to feel like a race car; I can place it better because its response to steering inputs is more linear.
Finally did a 1:30.5. And I don't hate the car quite so much. Maybe there's more in it if I can get the setup dialed in better, but I like my setup's feel much better than Wolf's. Gotta keep chugging, I guess.
Started out again with Wolf Woeger's setup but could not get anywhere, and hated the car again. Took a look at his shock settings and found them to be super-soft. Cranked in a little stiffness and the car immediately felt better, and I went a little quicker, breaking into the 1:30's. Still erratic, though, and the thing still feels like a marshmallow.
Tried running a qualifying session but my times were terrible, in the 32's, because I had to back off from what I'd been doing in testing due to the fact that the car and I were still erratic.
There's a theory going around that the F.Maz's aero is off; the fast guys say that using minimum wing gives the fastest lap times under all conditions.
Maybe they're right, but I decided that if any track would benefit by increasing the wing angle and raising the ride height, this was it. Started cranking up the wings and also raised the ride height because it felt like the chassis was bottoming or else going onto its suspension stops.
Raising the ride height calmed it down and made the handling more like race car, less like a lowrider/pimpmobile. Also went still stiffer on the shocks all around (Wolf had 'em at almost full soft in rebound!) and stiffer on the rear springs. It's starting to feel like a race car; I can place it better because its response to steering inputs is more linear.
Finally did a 1:30.5. And I don't hate the car quite so much. Maybe there's more in it if I can get the setup dialed in better, but I like my setup's feel much better than Wolf's. Gotta keep chugging, I guess.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Legends at Lime Rock...eerrk!
Saved up energy to run the first race of the week in the Legends Weekly Road Race Series at 8:15 EDT.
Got into the car offline about 45 minutes before the race and did some laps to get in the mood. :) Tweaked the setup I'd worked on last night a little more, trying to calm down the rear over bumps and help its traction. Got into the high 1:01's, doing a string of them with a best of 1:01.6. Figured I was ready.
In the first race nobody has had a chance to qualify, so we're gridded by iRating. I was third behind the two guys leading the series. Behind me were another couple of quick guys who were ahead of me in the series points. Looked like it would be a fun race!
Sure enough, at the start, the two guys ahead blew away (but not too fast!) and after the two guys behind me shuffled around a bit, one of them appeared on my tail. Still pretty small in my mirrors, though.
I concentrated on staying clean and driving as hard as I could within my limits. But before I could see if I'd stabilized the gap...Pow! Power outage!
It was just for a second, but it was long enough to lose my connection to the server. The router and DSL modem were on a UPS, and the computer was on another, but the switching hub between them wasn't. Damn!
I rejoined about three laps down, just ahead of the leaders. I let 'em through but was able to keep the second placed guy in sight until near the end. Drove a completely clean race, too, until exiting the final turn on the final lap, when I took to the grass to avoid someone who spun ahead of me. I guessed wrong on the way he'd go when he got the thing pointed straight.
My iRating suffered a little but my Safety Rating wasn't hurt by the grassy excursion, and I had fun.
Ran the qualifying session and took a half second off my personal best with a freak 1:01.1 lap. Woo hoo!
Did the next race two hours later and the other three guys who were leading the series were at the front of the grid! Jeez! Will more people start running this series so the fast guys get their own race?
This time everything went smoothly. Had a nice wheel to wheel dice with my old sparring partner Reed Rundell in the early laps, before he finally took off and left me in the dust. But then he spun exiting the downhill and hit the inside wall. Ouch! That hurts, and I know it because I've done that myself in real life, many years ago.
Ended up driving a lonely race to 4th, but it was still fun and it helped my iRating, my Safety Rating, and I think it even helped my score in the series.
I hope more people discover this series!
Got into the car offline about 45 minutes before the race and did some laps to get in the mood. :) Tweaked the setup I'd worked on last night a little more, trying to calm down the rear over bumps and help its traction. Got into the high 1:01's, doing a string of them with a best of 1:01.6. Figured I was ready.
In the first race nobody has had a chance to qualify, so we're gridded by iRating. I was third behind the two guys leading the series. Behind me were another couple of quick guys who were ahead of me in the series points. Looked like it would be a fun race!
Sure enough, at the start, the two guys ahead blew away (but not too fast!) and after the two guys behind me shuffled around a bit, one of them appeared on my tail. Still pretty small in my mirrors, though.
I concentrated on staying clean and driving as hard as I could within my limits. But before I could see if I'd stabilized the gap...Pow! Power outage!
It was just for a second, but it was long enough to lose my connection to the server. The router and DSL modem were on a UPS, and the computer was on another, but the switching hub between them wasn't. Damn!
I rejoined about three laps down, just ahead of the leaders. I let 'em through but was able to keep the second placed guy in sight until near the end. Drove a completely clean race, too, until exiting the final turn on the final lap, when I took to the grass to avoid someone who spun ahead of me. I guessed wrong on the way he'd go when he got the thing pointed straight.
My iRating suffered a little but my Safety Rating wasn't hurt by the grassy excursion, and I had fun.
Ran the qualifying session and took a half second off my personal best with a freak 1:01.1 lap. Woo hoo!
Did the next race two hours later and the other three guys who were leading the series were at the front of the grid! Jeez! Will more people start running this series so the fast guys get their own race?
This time everything went smoothly. Had a nice wheel to wheel dice with my old sparring partner Reed Rundell in the early laps, before he finally took off and left me in the dust. But then he spun exiting the downhill and hit the inside wall. Ouch! That hurts, and I know it because I've done that myself in real life, many years ago.
Ended up driving a lonely race to 4th, but it was still fun and it helped my iRating, my Safety Rating, and I think it even helped my score in the series.
I hope more people discover this series!
Back to Lime Rock; Thinking of Paul Newman
Lime Rock is the track I first drove on in real life, and over the years I've run there many times. Even shared the track with Paul Newman a few years ago, me in my Cobra during its development phase when it was quite slow, and he in his mighty T1 Camaro, which blew by me like I was standing still.
I heard that Paul drove his Camaro one more time at Lime Rock the other day. He's got cancer and he was taking his last ride. This is very sad news.
I still regret not speaking with Paul when I had the chance. Twice - three decades apart - I was within speaking distance of him in the paddock at Lime Rock, and both times I was too shy, too star-struck to open my mouth.
The first time was over 30 years ago, when Paul was driving a Bob Sharp Datsun 510, not long after he'd gotten interested in racing while filming the movie Winning. It was a Tuesday practice day and I was in the pits watching as he drove the Datsun through the downhill and onto the main straight. The surface had a sharp crown down the middle and he had to transition that crown as the car tracked out from the apex to the curb at the outer edge of the straight.
At that point he had to be doing close to 100 MPH. The crown would naturally kick the tail of the car out as the car got light going over it. Most people would have to react to this with some opposite lock to catch the resulting slide.
But Newman was doing something differently: he was anticipating the slide, correcting for it as it happened, so that instead of kicking out its tail, the car seemed to just float sideways for a split second and then hook up as it settled down on the far side of the crown. It was amazing to watch, and it became clear to me that day that Paul Newman was the real deal when it came to driving a race car.
That crown is still there (or at least it was until the repaving) and iRacing's laser scanning has captured it perfectly.
I know, because I was wrestling with it last night. First with the Skippy car, and then with the Legends, which reacts so much more quickly because of its stiffly sprung live rear axle and its very short wheelbase. Fun!
I actually did a lot more laps with the Legends than with the Skippy. I love the Skippy, but the Legends just feels so alive. You feel every tiny (and giant!) bump through the steering, both as the front wheels kick back and also as the tail wiggles. It's fantastic. Back in the GPL days, I never imagined that a racing simulation could feel this close to the real thing.
I haven't been well enough to race yet this week, but I'm hoping I'll be able to at least get in a couple of runs in the Legends tonight or tomorrow during the Weekly Road Racing series, which is running at Lime Rock this week. And of course I'm hoping to be able to do some races there in the Skippy before the end of the iRacing week.
As to the Formula Mazda, I'm thinking about giving up on it for now. I just can't get it to do what I want. I've tried radically different setups from various sources, including Grant Reeve, Wolf Woeger and Daniel Almeida, as well as some I developed myself, and I just cannot get this car to handle in a way that I feel comfortable with. Unlike the Skippy and Legends, it's just not that much fun to drive.
Still, I'm hoping to be able to try it at Sears Point, which is my favorite track next to Summit Point, and that's where it's running this week, so I hope I feel better soon!
I heard that Paul drove his Camaro one more time at Lime Rock the other day. He's got cancer and he was taking his last ride. This is very sad news.
I still regret not speaking with Paul when I had the chance. Twice - three decades apart - I was within speaking distance of him in the paddock at Lime Rock, and both times I was too shy, too star-struck to open my mouth.
The first time was over 30 years ago, when Paul was driving a Bob Sharp Datsun 510, not long after he'd gotten interested in racing while filming the movie Winning. It was a Tuesday practice day and I was in the pits watching as he drove the Datsun through the downhill and onto the main straight. The surface had a sharp crown down the middle and he had to transition that crown as the car tracked out from the apex to the curb at the outer edge of the straight.
At that point he had to be doing close to 100 MPH. The crown would naturally kick the tail of the car out as the car got light going over it. Most people would have to react to this with some opposite lock to catch the resulting slide.
But Newman was doing something differently: he was anticipating the slide, correcting for it as it happened, so that instead of kicking out its tail, the car seemed to just float sideways for a split second and then hook up as it settled down on the far side of the crown. It was amazing to watch, and it became clear to me that day that Paul Newman was the real deal when it came to driving a race car.
That crown is still there (or at least it was until the repaving) and iRacing's laser scanning has captured it perfectly.
I know, because I was wrestling with it last night. First with the Skippy car, and then with the Legends, which reacts so much more quickly because of its stiffly sprung live rear axle and its very short wheelbase. Fun!
I actually did a lot more laps with the Legends than with the Skippy. I love the Skippy, but the Legends just feels so alive. You feel every tiny (and giant!) bump through the steering, both as the front wheels kick back and also as the tail wiggles. It's fantastic. Back in the GPL days, I never imagined that a racing simulation could feel this close to the real thing.
I haven't been well enough to race yet this week, but I'm hoping I'll be able to at least get in a couple of runs in the Legends tonight or tomorrow during the Weekly Road Racing series, which is running at Lime Rock this week. And of course I'm hoping to be able to do some races there in the Skippy before the end of the iRacing week.
As to the Formula Mazda, I'm thinking about giving up on it for now. I just can't get it to do what I want. I've tried radically different setups from various sources, including Grant Reeve, Wolf Woeger and Daniel Almeida, as well as some I developed myself, and I just cannot get this car to handle in a way that I feel comfortable with. Unlike the Skippy and Legends, it's just not that much fun to drive.
Still, I'm hoping to be able to try it at Sears Point, which is my favorite track next to Summit Point, and that's where it's running this week, so I hope I feel better soon!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
iRacing goes live!
iRacing went live today. Woohoo!
I've been monitoring the Drivers Stats page, which this morning was showing over 4100 members having participated in at least one road race, and slightly fewer for ovals. There's been a small increase today but neither number has broken 4200. I'm hoping to see a much bigger rise in the next few days, as new members complete the process of getting comfortable and up to speed offline and start actually racing.
I've been monitoring the Drivers Stats page, which this morning was showing over 4100 members having participated in at least one road race, and slightly fewer for ovals. There's been a small increase today but neither number has broken 4200. I'm hoping to see a much bigger rise in the next few days, as new members complete the process of getting comfortable and up to speed offline and start actually racing.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Why this Blog?
So why am I doing this blog? I need an outlet for my thoughts and feelings about my sim racing.
For the past ten years I've had a great partner in this; we've exchanged emails daily (sometimes many emails per day) and this was a great way for me to express my feelings about sim racing as well as other topics.
But my friend doesn't share my enthusiasm for iRacing. I've tried to show this friend how precious this brilliant creation is to me, and convey my belief in its potential for every racing enthusiast, but to no avail. We've decided to end our dialog about iRacing.
I still would like to share about iRacing - which is the only sim that interests me at this point - so I've decided to move into the 21st century and start blogging.
Welcome aboard!
Alison
For the past ten years I've had a great partner in this; we've exchanged emails daily (sometimes many emails per day) and this was a great way for me to express my feelings about sim racing as well as other topics.
But my friend doesn't share my enthusiasm for iRacing. I've tried to show this friend how precious this brilliant creation is to me, and convey my belief in its potential for every racing enthusiast, but to no avail. We've decided to end our dialog about iRacing.
I still would like to share about iRacing - which is the only sim that interests me at this point - so I've decided to move into the 21st century and start blogging.
Welcome aboard!
Alison
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