The first 3 months of my iRacing career has been an interesting experience. Starting out like most people, as a hobby or something to fill in some spare time. But during these 3 months I caught the bug and worked my way from Rookie to a Class A license. It's now been 2 seasons with a total of 84 race starts and I'm starting to take it a little more seriously, although still a Hobby for the time being. Up until now I've just been entering whatever race I felt like at the time rather than focus on competing in an entire series and fighting for points. To be honest It's taken that long to truly get my head around how the whole system works.
Now we are at the dawn of Season 2, 2023 and its time to focus on particular series and attempt to enter at least one round each week for each series to gain over all points. I've enjoyed the GR86 and Spec racer series and recently purchased the Lamborghini GT3 for a bit of fast paced action. But then there is also my new found joy. The various F1 series known as Formula A. Now that I have chosen the series I would like to enter I've also designed a full set of custom artwork known as 'Livery' for each series to set my (one man) team apart.
Production Car Sim-Lab Challenge - Toyota GR86
Class D
I really like the GR86, even more so than the Mazda MX5 that we all start with. It's not a super fast car but makes for some really tight racing. This will be the slowest of the cars I'll be using this season so it will be interesting switching between the various cars and I may have to start each week in the GR86 and work my way up to the Mercedes-AMG W13 F1.
Week 1 Daytona International Speedway - Road Course Week 2 Autodromo Nazionale Monza - Combined without chicanes Week 3 Lime Rock Park - West Bend Chicane Week 4 Suzuka International Racing Course - Grand Prix Week 5 Virginia International Raceway - Grand Course Week 6 Oulton Park Circuit - Island Week 7 Suzuka International Racing Course - West Week 8 Knockhill Racing Circuit - International Week 9 Summit Point Raceway - Summit Point Raceway Week 10 Mount Panorama Circuit Week 11 Nürburgring Nordschleife - Industriefahrten Week 12 Tsukuba Circuit - 2000 Moto
Spec Racer Ford Challenge - SCCA Spec Racer Ford
Class D
I've only recently discovered the Spec racer and driven it a hand full of times but I really do enjoy the experience. I didn't own many of the tracks for the last season so there wasn't much opportunity to get behind the wheel. This season I'm starting with the required tracks for the first few weeks of each of my selected series and have made a list of all other tracks I need this season and put them into groups that correspond to my pay days so I can purchase them ready for the next couple of weeks. It's going to be an expensive season however, next season should be much more affordable.
Week 1 Road Atlanta - Full Course
Week 2 Autódromo José Carlos Pace - Grand Prix
Week 3 Summit Point Raceway - Summit Point Raceway
Week 4 Fuji International Speedway - Grand Prix
Week 5 Okayama International Circuit - Full Course
Week 6 Long Beach Street Circuit
Week 7 Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg - Short A
Week 8 Rudskogen Motorsenter
Week 9 Homestead Miami Speedway - Road Course B
Week 10 Nürburgring Nordschleife - Industriefahrten
Week 11 Brands Hatch Circuit - Indy
Week 12 Oulton Park Circuit - International
IMSA iRacing Series - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO
Class B
I love the look of the Lambo Huracan and love watching it driven in the real GT3 races so it was a no brainer to pick this one up as soon as I could. However moving up into this beast was a challenge for sure. The fastest car I had driven before the Lambo was the Spec Racer so moving into a GT3 took a lot of practice and a lot of write offs. Thank Hawking's its a virtual car right?
I secured my A license driving this car an the IMSA last season, which was a bit of a challenge. IMSA is a multi class series so you find yourself with a permanent blue flag as the higher class concept cars rip past at double the speed. But I do like the idea so lets see how I go with an entire series.
Week 1 Road Atlanta - Full Course
Week 2 Sebring International Raceway - International Week 3 Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours - Grand Prix Week 4 Virginia International Raceway - Full Course Week 5 Long Beach Street Circuit Week 6 Hungaroring Week 7 Barber Motorsports Park - Full Course Week 8 Canadian Tire Motorsports Park Week 9 WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca - Full Week 10 Okayama International Circuit - Full Course Week 11 Road America - Full Course Week 12 Daytona International Speedway - Road Course
Formula A - Grand Prix Series & Grand Prix Series Fixed Mercedes-AMG W13
Class A
I'm really not sure about these ones, I can achieve competitive lap times after a lot of practice however consistency is my issue. I'm going to give it a good shot and try my best to not take out anyone else on the track.. I hate being "That guy" so apologies in advance for this one. Think I'll assign my apology speech to a button on the wheel for swift deployment ha ha.
Both these Series are identical except the one is Fixed setup the other full custom setups. I may just go through with Fixed as I may be way out of my league with the advanced series.
Week 1 Virginia International Raceway - Full Course Week 2 Silverstone Circuit - Grand Prix Week 3 Phillip Island Circuit Week 4 Circuito de Jerez - Ángel Nieto - Grand Prix Week 5 Suzuka International Racing Course - Grand Prix Week 6 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps - Grand Prix Pits Week 7 Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg - Grand Week 8 Sebring International Raceway - International Week 9 Red Bull Ring - Grand Prix Week 10 Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Week 11 Long Beach Street Circuit Week 12 Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya - Grand Prix
iRacing Formula A - Grand Prix Tour - Fixed
Mercedes-AMG W13
Class C
Last but not least, a full year tour. This is a tad different as it spans all seasons this year, running every Fortnight and has specific race times rather than the 'every hour' program for standard Season series.
I've had to convert the race times from GMT to my time zone and add the events into my calendar so I get alerts to remind me of upcoming races. As you can see its a huge event.
Week 1 Nürburgring Grand-Prix-Strecke - Grand Prix Week 2 Virginia International Raceway - Full Course Week 3 Phillip Island Circuit Week 4 Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg - Grand Week 5 Sebring International Raceway - International Week 6 Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Week 7 Long Beach Street Circuit Week 8 Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya - Historic Week 9 Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Week 10 Red Bull Ring - Grand Prix Week 11 Silverstone Circuit - Grand Prix Week 12 Hungaroring Week 13 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps - Grand Prix Pits Week 14 Circuit Park Zandvoort - Grand Prix Week 15 Autodromo Nazionale Monza - Grand Prix Week 16 Fuji International Speedway - Grand Prix Week 17 Suzuka International Racing Course - Grand Prix Week 18 Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours - Grand Prix Week 19 Circuit of the Americas - Grand Prix Week 20 Road America - Full Course Week 21 Autódromo José Carlos Pace - Grand Prix Week 22 Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle - Belle Isle Week 23 Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Road Course
With 5 or 6 Series It will mean a lot of racing. iRacing series points are calculated as follows "The best 25% of a driver’s race performances (based on points scored) in a given Race Week will be averaged at the conclusion of each Official Series Race during the week. The final average at the conclusion of the Race Week will be the driver’s Race Week Point Total and count towards the season championships in that series."
I've previously competed in a total of 84 races to this point so depending on my position in the first race of the week, I may attempt up to 4 races per series per week. That means I could be looking at up to 240 Events in a single season or 20 races a week.
Guess that's one way to Get Gud!