Clarification of Last Lionheart Series Post

First off let me say that I have completely enjoyed the racing in the iRacing Verizon Lionheart Series. Whether some non admin or non member racers kind of rubbed me a little wrong or I was just not in a great mood when I wrote it, after rereading it I realize I left out the whole purpose of the title. What the title meant was that the reason that we have practice races is to work out the kinks and issues that would come up during a official race. That way the Admin Team can get the kinks worked out and procedure protocals in place. Also to be able to work on the setup to get it so that it is not only stable but also competitive. So as far as any setup issues I said, I of course knew that this time is just a research and develop phase for the setup and its setting before the official race on July 2nd. I was just giving my personal opinion because that is what blogs are for. It is my blog so it is my personal opinion. I don't have to take anyone elses feelings or opinions in to account. I am going to be honest not brutal but honest. If my blog post came across as negative to the race series, that is not the case at all and far from it. I understand that all of the issues that I experience where: 1. it is practice and practice only. No championship points at stake, wins or loses matter. So people are going to be trying and testing what and where they can place the car. I completely understand and I understand that during the official racing series it won't or I am going to say hopefully isn't going to be like that. And the reason I say hopefully is cause we won't know who can and can't drive well. That is not a slam or bust on anyone, just a fact of any skill level sport. 2: the chatter during the practice races is not going to be what it will be during a race (again I hope). I have been in official races on iRacing and have had 2 people talk about other races and series the whole race. So I am guessing that it won't happen during the race. One thing I know for sure because of the great admin team that they have on hand, if there is unnecessary chatter during the race they will not allow it at all. However that being said, if what I said in the previous blog post hit close to home, you might need to reevaluate your use of the radio.

So I am ending this one by saying a couple of things again. This is a great group of admins that have a huge undertaking on their hands. Like I said in the previous post, I know on hand how big of an undertaking it is. Again just with real life, not everyone is going to get along with everyone. So far almost all the people that have joined the practice servers have been great. Now the ones that I have had an issue with or just their personallity did not mesh with mine could have not even been a member of the league so I can't say if they are or are not. But we are adults (or I sure say hopefully we are all older and not kids) and we will be able to race cleanly regardless. Once the season gets started the races will be password protected so that will keep non members out of the races. And let me say again and again, the previous post had somewhat of a negative feeling to it and that was not my intention at all. I am very happy with the admin, the series and the racers that are in the practice races so far.

HOWEVER AGAIN THIS IS MY PERSONAL BLOG WHICH I TALK ABOUT A LOT OF THINGS THAT I AM DOING AND ENJOY. EVERY POST IS FROM MY PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE AND THAT WILL NOT CHANGE. CAUSE THAT IS WHAT BLOGS ARE ALL ABOUT!!

New DW12 League Series iRacing Verizon Lionheart Series has begun!

If you have read some of my previous posts, you know that I will be racing only the new DW12 next season. I will be racing this car in both Oval and Road. This is a car that just came out before the iRacing Indy 500 (which we all know was cancelled: more on that later). So I need to get as much time in the car as possible before the next season. I was going thru the Dallara forum and came across his league. And decided to do more investigation into this series.

This league is mostly an Oval strong league with only 4 road courses, however it would give me valuable seat time with no hit to my IR or SR. One thing that drew me to the league is that they will be having a setup that is designed with input from everyone. Which is good cause from what I have heard the baseline setups are terrible and if they let one person do the setup then if that person driving style, iRating and experience will come into play. So for someone like me who has just practice for the Indy 500 as his experience, that kind of setup would be WAY to loose for me. So I got a chance to jump in to the practice race (which they will be running till the first race on July 2nd), I joined the TeamSpeak Server and the fun began!!

I was instantly greeted by Jorge Anzaldo. He thanked me for joining the TeamServer and said enjoy. Told me to download the the setup and gave me the times that the race would start. Now I am use to being on my teams TeamServer with one only other person my teammate Jon Carrigan on there. So it was interesting to have at least 3 conversations going on at the same time plus the race chatter going on. I got about 20 or so laps under my belt. They did a setup change that everyone had to download and use. Then back out for some more practice.

So next was qualifying. Just you on a track for 4 laps. I dropped the fuel to only about 9.5 gallons, cause I didn't get any fuel runs in I didn't know what my fuel burn was so I was being very safe. Any way did my 4 laps had no idea where I was till I got out. I QUALIFIED 4TH!! I was shocked!! I felt great. But there was 1 guy who was a .5 second faster than anyone. And everyone was saying over TS, there is no way that is the same setup. Anyway we started and everyone was calm and curious. The guy in first place after about 7 laps had a 5 sec lead then they told him he was out for not using the same setup. Which just showed what a great race control they had planned to have in place.

I unfortunately was the cause of the first accident LOL. With the TS chatter, race talk and my spotter saying clear, I thought it meant that I was clear below since I could see the car to my right. NOPE! Came right down on someone inside me. Instantly felt bad about it and apologized for it. Unlimited resets and after the tow, I was back out.

Not going to do a lap by lap of the first race, but after running only Time Trials on the Road side for the past 3 weeks trying to build my SR back up after the Skippy debacle. It was great to get the competitive racing spirit back after just one race. They were so friendly and made me feel comfortable about being there.

Unfortunately the second race last night, I couldn't get in cause the way iRacing is once you fill up the pit slots no one can get in afterward even if people get out and don't race. It was very disappointing not to be able to get in and also due to the fact that we have 26 members in the league so my slot was not only taken up by someone not in the league but also didn't even race the race. But it was my fault as well as my triathlon training had me at the gym till about 9:30 plus eating dinner I couldn't get on till almost at Qualifying anyway. Jorge was very very apologetic and it wasn't even his fault. So I just watched the race and helped out watching the wrecks for race control.

They are a great group of racers. I am very looking forward to racing tonight since I don't have any triathlon training tonight. However I will make sure I am the first one signed in to get my slot LOL. Please check them out on the league page.

iRacing: Using F1 Williams to recover SR/ 24 hrs of LeMans 23 hr Weekend Grind!!

So after taking a huge beating in Safety Rating (SR) by racing the Skippy at Brands Hatch, We have decided to use the Time Trial to build it back up to A4.99. Now in order to do this, Jon and I are going to have to do almost 200 laps in the F1 car at Silverstone this weekend. If we don't get all the Time Trials done this weekend, then we will have to do the F1 car next week at Suzuka (which I love and Jon hates LOL). I did my first Time Trial last night. The Time Trials are 30 minutes long and you need to get at least 4 clean laps to get on the leaderboard for Time Trials. However we are using this as a way to build our SR back up. So we are having to look at this as punishment for trying to race our SR back up. Also from a mentality stand point, I am now a test driver for a F1 racing team LOL. It is going to be at least 13 to 15 Time Trials to build up to where we need to be. The good thing is that once you hit a whole number on SR ie. 2.00, 3.00, 4.00 you gain .5 instantly. So when you hit 2.00, you go to 2.50, 3.0 goes to 3.5 etc. That will definitely help make the jump to 4.99 and keep my A license. If your SR goes below 1.00 you will lose your license and drop from A to B, B to C etc. F1 is the most detailed time consuming series in iRacing. It is the series that you can actually get a pro license in and compete for $10,500 each year. So needless to say all I did was make a setup that would be very stable and let me run lap after lap. 8 secs off the leaders time from last season is okay with me to build my SR back up. Most people who start racing the F1 start out anywhere from 6 to 10 seconds off the fastest time. It is just how it is with this series. Then each season you take off a couple of seconds. Well I will be having 2 grinds this weekend. First one I will be doing tonight will be the F1 SR Grind, the second one will be something I have never done.

The 24 hours of LeMans weekend grind will be attempted this weekend. Now a little bit of information about me and the 24 hours of LeMans, I have been watching this race for over 13 yrs. Back when VCRs where still being used, I would record the whole thing on Speedvision. I would set my alarm to go off a couple of times in the middle of the night so that I can swap out VCR tapes before they ran out. Yes that dedicated LOL. But what I have never done was watch every minute of every hour of the race that was televised. But this weekend between Fox Sport 1 and Fox Sport 2, I am going for the 24hr of LeMans 23 hour grind! The only hour that is not going to be on TV is the 5 to 6pm time slot. I am excited to see if I can do this. That means if I go anywhere during the day on Saturday, I will be wearing my headphones and listening to RadioLeMans to make up for not being able to watch it. I am excited to get up at 8:00 Saturday morning and watch this great event for 24 hours. Seeing Porsche race again is going to be excited. Of course I will be checking Twitter as well as watching just to get more detailed information about all the teams I follow on Twitter. I will let you know who I am doing on my Saturday and Sunday blog post.

Again I can't say enough about how much it means to me for people all over the country to take their time and read my blog post. Thank you and many more to come.