rip|TEAM

(http://whoopass-racing.com/images/stories/gtcs5r1spapremier.jpg)

Tonight is Round one of the ISRA GTC Season 5. We have a new combo of cars on track with the addition of the Ford GT and HPD ARX-01c, with the C6R rounding off the three. This makes for true ALMS and Le Mans style racing.

The Ford GT is our car choice this season.

Car Classes:
Prototype: HPD ARX-01c
GT1: Corvette C6R
GT2: Ford GT

Races are on Mondays and Practice usually starts around 7:30 PM EST, with Qualifying getting underway around 10PM Est.

Feel free to use this thread to post anything from Setups, Race Reports, availability information, and anything else having to do with this series.

From time to time this season I will try to update the blog at Whoopass-Racing.com (http://Whoopass-Racing.com) with Posters/Previews, Race Reports, Team Reports, and content such as videos and screenshots.

Useful Links:

League Website (http://www.israleague.com)
League Schedule (http://www.israleague.com/schedule)

Sweet - GL Ez & BP!

Well I am ready for the next round. Had a horrid race, my own fault really. I was just not mentally prepared. I had been gone for 4 days and was way to tired. Spa is a favorite of mine, but she always seems to get the upperhand on me.
 My car for the race was unusually loose, not good for a 2hr event. I spun and SLAMMED the car into the wall less than 10 laps in, then pitted for 15min+ or repairs. I figured this was a chance to see if the mechanics could bring her back from near death. The car was OK after the stop, but was still a bit scary on a few spots. I deceided to see tough out the ill handling car and get as many point as possible.

I only got a few more laps under my belt when I was coming into the busstop on lap 11 and had a group of cars coming up behind me. I lost them on my screen and F3 right as they were closing in the braking zone. I then went to the outside as quick as possible to avoid them in to chicane itself. I got tagged on the left front exiting the chicane and was given the meatball flag ....again. Did quite a bit of damage for the small hit that it felt and looked like....  Oh well.

I decided that at this point I was going to ruin someone elses race and hopped out of the car. I hate to "quit" , but it was the right thing to do last night. It was my first DNF since racing in the ISRA and it stings...alot! Hope to get a better grip on this car and do better at the next round. GT field is going to be nothing less than stellar this season!

On a lighter note..... The sights and sounds of 60 cars ready to battle for 2hrs was AWESOME!!!

Till next round.... 

Damn, that is a big field. Is there a big gap from GT2 to GT1? Or was it mostly jumping out of the way LMPs?

Guess I need to GT up for Wed. If you can make the RD event perhaps it'll help you get comfy with the car..? I will not be surprised if I DNF myself, since I have not tried the NTM  yet (and I tend to be a bit hard on tires as it is).

Yeah its crazy at the start, but everyone has good patience and there are very rarely "situations" in the first several corners.  LMP's were running 2m-2m8.  C6R's were in the 2m teens and GT's are 2m21-2m29ish.  The pull off the line is suprisingly even with all cars, the corners are the big difference.  The vettes are not too much faster thru the corners than the GT's, but the LMP's are in a class of their own.

New tire model is not too bad if you overuse them.  If you spin or go off you MUST be careful thru the next couple of corners or you WILL go off again.  You gotta give em' a lap to heat up and then get to it.  You may have to adjust the FFB on your wheel with the NTM.  Some had issues when trying the GT w/ the new 2.0.
 I am still struggling to find a comfy feel with this car.  I cant even get thru T2 @ Laguna.  I have not laid a good lap down in like 15 tries.  MUST practice!

Just posted a new article with a little write up about Spa and Road America.

Very pleased with my finish last night! Was a great race, sorry you had more bad luck with your car BP.

I'm really starting to love this car! I think now that we have a couple races over with we will just get better and better.

GTC Round-Up (http://www.whoopass-racing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109:iracing-team-gtc-round-up&catid=56:iracing)

Some shots from the race......

1st one shows my only onboard glimpse that there was trouble ahead.

Last one shows the damage I finished the last 3-4 laps with.   ???

Holy cow, nice wing. Tuned for turning right I guess.

Damn, amazing what being totally disconnected from everything for a few days all of a sudden is like.

Moved again over the weekend and AT&T can't reinstall my internet service until the 9th, missed the race because of that. Half thinking I should just jump ship and get Time Warner's new wideband cable but not sure if they have ESPN3.com or not.

I also came down with some pretty nasty bug and had to be in bed for a few days anyways, but I'm back in action at least at work so I can get online here. Luckily looks like GTC is taking a break next week so I should be back in time for Suzuka.

Ill probably be posting another article on the blog if I can get around to it.

                                      
 



This was a very fun race for me. Had a decent race pace, and was in survival mode for sure.  I Qualified 4th in class and had pace to stay around that position, barring any problems.

After the start I had James Mynes to chase for a good few laps for 3rd. Traffic split us a bit and then I made a few minor mistakes that left me all alone in 4th. I don't think I had enough to get by him in the right places, but we were for sure making good time in the first 10 laps or so.  

Everything was going fairly well until lap 19.  I was still running in the top5 and I had just let John C pass by and when I was coming out of the hairpin......there he was...with a GT(Mike T). BAM! No warning, no yellow. nothing.
 My one 18" monitor is just not gonna cut the mustard!  

Went in for my stop. I took the 2+ min of repairs got 4 tires and 4.1gal of fuel and off I went. The car was OK... , but it did not like the fast rights at all.

Just went on trying to finish the race. Never was close to anyone to race for position, until I finally caught Lance Snyder late in the race and got by for position at the end of the esses. I swung out wide and passed Lance, blocking Luc and Shaun J in the Vettes.  Then when I went wide in the hairpin to let them both thru....  and I spun!   >:(

I caught Lance again on the last lap and turned him around accidentally. I know I've apologized already Lance, but I am really sorry.  I just apexed later and misjudged your mid corner speed.  

Finished w/ enough fuel to run out on cool down lap in 130R.  

I ended up with a top 10 finish and had a blast. Should have been in the top 5, but a few mistakes added up quick here at Suzuka.



On to Sebring!


some screenshots to follow....

Wish I was there, I had AT&T at my house on Friday, but they had the wrong address, apparently that makes a big difference, even though it was down the street. So the next date for them to install was today :(

Anyways,

Nice report BP, shame about the wipeout, nice job making it to the end though, just finishing this season seems to be a big accomplishment so well done.

Do you mind if I put this report in a post on the blog? Of course you can change it all you want right now, then Buz would check it over before  it goes up.

Looking forward to having you back on track. 

I have found a pretty good setup for thr Ford GT.  I'm really getting to like this car!!!  Was consistently running 4th @ Suzuka with the new tweaks.  You can actually catch it in the slow corners, if it starts to oversteer.  I will send it to you when we get on track.  Hope it will apply to Sebring.    ??? 

 Bumpy Sebring,.....1h45min in the dark no less!  This one is gonna be intense.   ;D

Yeah just to finish this year is a challenge for sure.  Every race you have to be in survival mode from the jump.

Yeah I don't mind if ya post my reports.  I'll spice it up a bit and send it to you when I'm done.

Thanks

Here are some shots from Suzuka....

...... more  

Nice top shot of logo.

2nd shot I'm all bent up, heading for the pits

In the last pic, I'm leaving the pits and you can see its better, but not quite straight and true.

Nice screenshots, I used one for the poster to go with this article. I submitted the article to Buz, hopefully he'll look it over and it'll be up today.

it's up ;)

Thanks Buz! Also for sorting out the image placement.

Great write up BP.

Thanks guys!    :)

Some spy shots of the latest test session have surfaced...     :-X

For starters this race was INTENSE!!  

I had a good stable setup that I could consistently run 2m2's and 3's. All went well at the start, I was really taking it easy because survival/finish was my top priority. So a lap or so into the race I feel I need an extra challenge, so I think I will help myself to a self induced spin...... I touched those cones on drivers right going into T1 and BAM, I was looking the other way. I barely touched the wall and things were a bent anyway. I worked my way around to the pits and had 1m30 of repairs done to the car. Off I went to put my head down and try to stay out of trouble and finish. Pretty much did not have anyone to race with other than the clock and the track itself.

I ran the tank dry and pitted for 16gal of petrol and 4 tires. Hoping this would get me to the end of the race, I set off from the pits once more in survival mode. With about 20min remaining I started trying to calc fuel on the fly and ooops!  

Had a spin and SLAMMED the wall. I really had to struggle to get my car back to the pits after this scrum witht the tires. This was gonna be a 6m40sec repair job on my 3RD @&#*%! stop!!

The car was not right after this hit!! The wheel was cocked to the left and every time I got on the brakes, the car would pull hard to the right. Then add the bumps in the brake zones and that pull turned downright violent. Hell, going into the T5 hairpin, I would start far drivers left at the cones and would end up far drivers right by the time I was ready to turn in. To correct or try to keep straight under braking was a spin for sure. I had to start letting faster traffic past before any brake zones, so not to drift into them under braking. Those last 6-7 laps just plain wore me out!!

Well after all of the complaining/crying. I ended up with a P10 finish..... and I'll will take it. It was a really fun race and can't wait to race here again in the dark. I just hope I can work on my concentration to keep these offs to minimum in the future.

Congrats to EZ on a P4 finish!!  Great job man.  Way to make your comeback to the ISRA GTC!!!

On to Mosport!

Here is a cool snapshot someone took of the start from above.

Wow - eventful! Having to let the LMPs thru with that kind of handling issue really sounds nerve wracking. Add to that the fact that it's night and ... damn.

:)

So glad to be back in the drivers seat. I finally got internet and settle in here and everything went well at Sebring. I was quite surprised I only had a few moments where lapsed judgement, ran with only about 4 incidents for 90% of the race.

It was quite odd starting off the race with basically no fuel strategy, I kind of just watched as people started pitting. The opening laps where pretty intense as everyone was trying to get into their own pace, while being extra cautious. I was leading a pack of four or five cars for the first 5 or so laps when I got a snap over steer and spun harmlessly, everyone got around as I headed back off. I lucked out and saw some of the group I was chasing also having troubles and back to right around where I was. I was starting to settle into I think 5th place in class when an HPD caught be in an awkward spot on the track for overtaking, I looked at my mirror for to long and found myself running out of track and brushed a tire wall, made it back to pits with minimal damage. Luckily it was just a few laps before the first pit would have happened so I topped off my tank while the pit crew fixed the steering. Got back out on track and didn't loose many positions, was able to work my way up to 6th overall again after others started pitting, and eventually got 5th before I started to think about my next pitstop. It would have been easy to lose position to 5th in the pits again so I waited until I had at least a good estimation on when I would be safe for the rest of the race. Pitted so I would have enough to run the last 45 mins of the race without conservation. Accidentally left changing tires on, but really didn't loose much time and got going again. Now chasing 5th place. While I was chasing him, we moved up one spot due to another cars repairs. So now I was fighting for forth and caught up to the driver after a few laps. Maybe the fresh tires helped with that as I had been closing the gap quickly, as I caught him he spun into the tires before the middle straight, I was sad too see that as it was the final third of the race and was exciting to be in a close battle at that last stage. From there it was to be a cruise just letting other classes by. But on the third to last lap I spun right as I was exiting onto the back stretch, getting on the gas too early. A lapped car didn't see me and T boned the car. Steering was at 45+ degrees for the last few laps, with the car jerking left on the straights, ARG! I was so close to fourth spot, I struggled with the car and almost ended some others races, I had some moment where I pulled right off track because some people had amazingly taken their fights to the end. I was able to get it around without hitting anyone and kept 4th spot, 13th overall, wooo. It was quite a thrilling race. I love the immersion level of this night version.

For this race I experimented with having almost no HUD info up most of the time. I used the black box selection buttons to jump onto the relative tab every-time I saw headlights coming or I was in traffic. I would memorize the positions and would know how long I would have to start worrying about traffic again then turn it off and concentrate on lapping. Took off the ping and gear indicator/spedo. I would check on my lap times periodically with the first box. It was nice not having that bright text on the screen.

very zen / death-star-trench-run  ;D