Apology

I think I owe the late model series an apology. Tonight I decided to try my luck again with the late model at Phoenix. What a great race it was. I lined up for the start in 4th place on the dreaded outside row. After the green flag dropped I settled in to P4 after some really early dive bombs by the 5th place car. I stayed in 4th about 3 or 4 tenths behind third for 40 laps. At about that time 2nd place started slowing down. I knew I had to make my move. I started letting the guy in 3rd know I was getting impatient by driving a lane lower on the straight away to signal an impending pass. I like to do this in the hopes that they will spend more time looking in their mirror and end up making a mistake. It works in a lot of cases. This guy was having none of it though, he just wouldn't make a move on 2nd place. A few laps later I did manage to get to the inside of 3rd and moved into 2nd place shortly after. The same lap I went into 2nd we went into turn 1 and the guy I just passed went into the corner with tour de force and I went high to avoid contact. To my displeasure as we were 2 wide coming out of turn 2 I see a lapped car going about 20 mph slower than us approaching my windshield very quickly. I had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him and in the process lost the 2 spots I had worked so hard for. With 3 laps to go I managed to get both of my spots back and got my revered 2nd place. I needed this race, my safety rating was falling like a rock. Now...I'm looking forward to my next late model race.

Frustrated

Tonight was my 2nd late model race in as many days and I'm starting to wonder why I went back. Last night I was taken out while in the lead by the 2nd place car and tonight I was caught up in a wreck with the leaders when I was in 3rd or 4th. At least last night I was able to finish 2nd, tonight the damage was too much to overcome. I should have realized when in practice you couldn't go a lap without someone wrecking that it was going to be a rough time. So maybe my oval comeback is short lived.... the Mustang at Road America is amazing.

New Setup

It is nice to have my new PC up and running with iRacing. It is a major improvement over what I was using. I went from getting 51 fps with most of the detail off to 84 fps with most of the detail on. My old PC was probably about 4 years old. It has been quite an adjustment getting used to a 32" screen with much more detail than my other 19" monitor. Hopefully the better PC and view will turn me into a better driver...... we'll see. I'm really excited that the late model is back in Phoenix this week. I haven't raced the late model in a long time but I think that is where I will focus my oval races over the coming days.

Update

I know, I know.....it's been a really long time since my last post. I've been inspired by the iracing today podcast to keep journaling my experience here.I've been doing pretty well for myself I'm at a road C 4.48 and an oval B 3.72 license. I've been doing more road racing as as of late trying to find a series I can stick with for a while. I think it will be the V8 Supercar series. I enjoy the handling characteristics of the car and also the tracks they race on. 


Well in my first post I said that my 3 year old took over my playseat but I recently took it back from him. I've also added a Logitech G27 and I have a new PC on it's way tomorrow that I will hook up to my 32" LCD and hope it looks OK. If not I can always go back to my 19" monitor.


In my next post I'll try to get some pics of my new setup.