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[swiftwilly]

first race brands hatch - rear ended, was in second position. ouch?

second race bands hatch - totally my fault, looked in rear view mirror, went off trac. (need to learn more race craft).

irating lost = -100.

At least I feel good about my ttrating, I am currently 5th in time trail for the season and I missed a week otherwise I probably be 3rd or there abouts.

I will give brand hatch more of a go later today figuring that I can't do much worse than 2 x DNF. Also I don't really care about my SR rating at this stage, I have no intention of moving above D Class given the pit penalties they have. I will purposely ensure I get D Class just before promotion week even if I have to do a few off the tracks here and there.

 

[Eric.]

2nd Place!

Not a whole lot of racing going on from my part of the race. Started 2nd, we had a caution come out on like lap 2, and I took my mandatory pit stop when the pits reopened during caution.

Results may have been slightly different had I started with the correct fuel. I qualified starting with 4.2 gallons (I like the car with a bit of rear weight here) and did not change it for the race start. So instead of my mandatory pit being just 10 seconds it was more like 40.

Pretty sure James Stevenson was keeping up with 3-4 Mustangs for several laps in the middle.

 

[Jav]

Well done Eric! I see a few familiar names in there, good bunch of guys in that league!

 

[superbike81]

Congrats Eric!

Not sure what was going on with me today. I was running consistent low 1:43's without even really pushing it last time I practiced. Couldn't get out of the 1:44's for the race. Spun or went off course like 4 times in the last 7 or 8 minutes of the race, probably could have held 6th place in class, but lost a good 40 seconds because of those spins. Tires were good, but my concentration was not.

Once I realized my lap times weren't going to get me a top 5 finish, I just consistently made very safe mid-1:44's and waited for people to crash. So I was mediocre for the race, but I was consistently mediocre, so it worked out ok I guess.

I'm out for the next two races unless I can get someone to work a few hours for me in the morning, will try my best.

 

[Eric.]

I could do without racing at Barber again. Not really any fun corners. I nearly crashed on the front straight at the end of lap 46. Apexed a little early and ran onto the outside rumble strip and sent me into a tank slapper. Stopped the car facing opposite the wall and carried on.

 

[Pingwhen]

Well done Eric! I see a few familiar names in there, good bunch of guys in that league!

jav were you part of the 7:00pm race in the acura lmp?

 

[Jav]

Actually I was spinning out in the C6.R in that race! Lol!

 

[plate88]

I'm guessing about 20 seconds.

Actually it was less carnage than the 2.4hr race. First caution wasn't till about lap 40. Then we went through a full fuel run with green flag stops. The field got packed up again and then the "big one." Thought I made it through, then got hit out of nowhere after slowing down to about 80mph. Missed the wreck about 3 or 4 times then bam on the right front. Had about a minute and a half for required repairs and 3 minute optional. Worked on the car here and there during cautions for rest of race and pulled out a 14th.

Had alot fun in the 500. The bumpdrafting is tons of fun with having to manage water temp. No longer can anyone really pull away. Had my temp guage blinking red at me a few times. Anywho, really enjoyable race with a good bunch of oval drivers. Will be doing this one again next year.👍

 

[Pingwhen]

Actually I was spinning out in the C6.R in that race! Lol!

i got +.94 finally a clean race. i could have sworn you were in the lmp or someone have a very close skin to your shell, Ferrari skin.

 

[swiftwilly]

scrap that. lost over 200 irating points today. what a pain...so many people dive bombing in brands hatch. i mean look here, if your faster than me, ok, i will let you pass on straights so we both can finish the race, there is no point in trying to overtake someone at really difficult corners when we both have poor side vision, come on seriously....skipping brands!!

 

[sandboxgod]

Yeah we both got the same iRating now Swift. I just entered a high SOF race at mid ohio and got smoked! But I had a lot of fun and survived the race just fine. All my incidents were caused by me and me alone.

Kinda sucks cause I hadworked my iRating back up towards 1300 but now its the pits. But on the bright side, if I can just keep my SR stable I can try out all the events I want. Previously I didnt want to take that risk cause I was worried bout my iR (which was butt low anyways compared to someone really awesome)

I just purchased iSpeed tho and just started comparing my data to others. Now I have a much better idea what I'm doing wrong. I'm slowly gaining speed~ one second at a time

edit-

I can only do 1:45 at Brands Hatch in the skippy, I mess up if I try to get faster. Must be old age (51), I can't keep up with you youngsters.

1:45 is not that bad at all. That's way better than my not-so-awesome 1.49s I clocked there.

 

[swiftwilly]

Yeah we both got the same iRating now Swift. I just entered a high SOF race at mid ohio and got smoked! But I had a lot of fun and survived the race just fine. All my incidents were caused by me and me alone.

Kinda sucks cause I hadworked my iRating back up towards 1300 but now its the pits. But on the bright side, if I can just keep my SR stable I can try out all the events I want. Previously I didnt want to take that risk cause I was worried bout my iR (which was butt low anyways compared to someone really awesome)

I just purchased iSpeed tho and just started comparing my data to others. Now I have a much better idea what I'm doing wrong. I'm slowly gaining speed~ one second at a time

edit-



1:45 is not that bad at all. That's way better than my not-so-awesome 1.49s I clocked there.

My incidents are caused by dive bombers (too many in lower SOFs).

I am not really worried about irating, at the end of the day its quite simple: If your a good driver or ok driver say your a "1300" which I was. And the -200 simply was from accidents, it means i/you will get placed into lower SOF. Therefore, there is a higher chance of winning or even 1st place which will boost your irating back up.

My ttrating is still 1300 creeping towards 1400 now 👍

The biggest lesson I have learned this week and it may help others:
if you are not feeling comfortable on a track, don't force yourself to race on it. Do the tt, practice some more by yourself, have some fun in public practice and simply just skip it! Overall, it is not worth taking massive irating and SR rating hits, and its also not worth ruining other peoples races. Just move on. The only time I will force myself to race this is if I was in a championship contention. If your like 60th on the ladder or something or simply don't want a title bid, do yourself a favour, skip it (no pun intended).

i wish someone would of told me this earlier before I killed so much this week on brands.

 

[left888]

Congratulations Eric

1:45 is not that bad at all. That's way better than my not-so-awesome 1.49s I clocked there.

Thanks sandbox

 

[left888]

.

 

[sandboxgod]

Yeah I going to make sure I take advantage of this low iR and find myself some nice low splits.👍

 

[Jav]

i got +.94 finally a clean race. i could have sworn you were in the lmp or someone have a very close skin to your shell, Ferrari skin.

I haven't used that skin yet, haven't used the HPD this season in fact... I was on the Hankook C6.R.

 

[SpecMiata-JSW]

Sandbox, how is iSpeed, is it easy to use and setup?

Thanks!

 

[superbike81]

Just remember, purposely lowering your iRating just to get into a lower SOF split is against the sporting code. I ran into a race earlier where a guy who lost about 2500 iRating in 3 weeks was down beating up on rookies, it was pathetic. His iRating was like 600, but you could clearly see by his history that he had started disconnecting from races so he would lose iR without losing SR.

 

[Coxis]

Hey guys, so I've been a class C guy for a month now, decided to focus on improving my finese and control on the Miata before moving over to more complex cars. Now that March is coming, I feel like moving up a series. What car should I purchase? I see that I'm eligible for the Grand Am series... I'm a sucker for prototype cars. I'm leaning toward the Riley, is there anything better, though?

This all for road, of course.

 

[superbike81]

I love the Daytona Prototype, it's fast and fairly easy to handle, but can still be a handful at times. With that said, I really dislike the Grand-Am series. The Ford Mustang needs to be dropped and they need to swap it with something like the Ford GT. The Mustang has no business racing with the Prototype, it's just too much of a speed difference. It's like racing the Skippy alongside the Williams F1 car.

Once I get my new account to B-class I'll be going back to racing the Ford GT in multi-class. The Ford GT isn't my favorite car, but I like being the underdog, and there are way to many HPD's out there.

 

[swiftwilly]

It's no secret that I have been peeved at Brands Hatch. Taking my frustration out on LRP for next weeks race. I think I am doing well so far after 24 laps.

Going to kill this race next week to make up for me -200 or -300 irating this week.

I feel with a few more days I can nail 57.xxx. I can do this pretty constantly too. Such an easy track.

 

[sandboxgod]

@SpecMiata-JSW

It's very easy to setup and its free to trial (but I just purchased it anyway). I just set it up today tho. I just personally always wanted to know exactly what I was doing differently. Too early to tell if I will become a leader anytime soon. But at least now I can see the differences. I'm not so great at watching vids of aliens and learning their moves. But looking at the data it's a bit more apparent. For instance in some cases I'm just not using my brakes enough. The leaders are braking more than I am and earlier. My gears are different. It's going to take some work because my current style is so different.

@superbike, what post leads you to believe someone is losing races on purpose? That's a funny story tho btw

 

[superbike81]

@superbike, what post leads you to believe someone is losing races on purpose? That's a funny story tho btw

Guess I should have clarified....

I wasn't saying this situation leads me to believe that anyone is sandbagging or purposely disconnecting from races to lose iRating. It's just when the comment was made basically saying "oh well, I lost iRating, but I can race in a lower split and win more" it might give some people the wrong idea that it's ok to do that.

It's just this has been a fairly common practice that iRacing is finally cracking down on a little. I remember back a few years ago, it was a horrible problem that had to be added into the sporting code. Now it's a punishable offense, but it hasn't always been.

 

[swiftwilly]

Guess I should have clarified....

I wasn't saying this situation leads me to believe that anyone is sandbagging or purposely disconnecting from races to lose iRating. It's just when the comment was made basically saying "oh well, I lost iRating, but I can race in a lower split and win more" it might give some people the wrong idea that it's ok to do that.

It's just this has been a fairly common practice that iRacing is finally cracking down on a little. I remember back a few years ago, it was a horrible problem that had to be added into the sporting code. Now it's a punishable offense, but it hasn't always been.

I might be missing somethinghere but I don't get your point superbike. So say...a guy disconnects or deliberately loses races to get a lower irating, ok sure, so he goes ahead from 1500 irating say to 1000 irating by losing -500. Lets say he had to lose 5 races, each -100.

So now this guy is in a lower split at the expense of -500 irating. Because his actually really good, he wins, and keeps winning until he reaches his natural irating of 1500 again, so lets say he wins 5 races which each nets him 100.

What is your point superbike? The bloke ends up losing delibaretly, or disconnecting or whatever his stats are affected. He will lose X races, and at a lower split he will win same amount or whatever.

I don't see how this should be punishable at all. Its not like disconnecting nets you 0 irating changes or doesn't affect your stats.

 

[superbike81]

Ok, here is an example:

Driver "Jon Doe" has an iRating of 2000, but hasn't been competitive in Divison 2 so he purposely drops his iRating to 1000 in the last week of the season. The next season he gets put into Division 5 and now is MUCH faster than the guys who actually belong in Division 5. So now he just ruined the competition for those people.

It's against the rules for this reason, and it should be.

Wouldn't you be upset if you were trying to win your division championship but some dude who sandbagged 1000 pts off of his iRating was put in your division?

 

[swiftwilly]

Ok, here is an example:

Driver "Jon Doe" has an iRating of 2000, but hasn't been competitive in Divison 2 so he purposely drops his iRating to 1000 in the last week of the season. The next season he gets put into Division 5 and now is MUCH faster than the guys who actually belong in Division 5. So now he just ruined the competition for those people.

It's against the rules for this reason, and it should be.

Wouldn't you be upset if you were trying to win your division championship but some dude who sandbagged 1000 pts off of his iRating was put in your division?

Ok so he wins the division after sandbagging wouldn't he be moved up into the season straight after? I mean...

1. he drops 1000 points to drop down a division. Lets say from division 2 to division 3.
2. He wins division 3. Next season he will move up a division. Back to 2.
3. So in division 2 he decides to lose 1000 points again and repeats this?

That is a 12 week turn around time.

Also, by dropping a division I don't think it necessary means he will win it. Its a huge downside risk for the guy. To drop 1000 points and end up not winning and based in irating he gets promoted again. lol...

Are you sure this really happened?

 

[superbike81]

Why are you having so much difficulty understanding? Are you really accusing me of making all of this up? Why would I do that?

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/1150806.page#2829474
http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/3213.page#3284
http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/1810373.page#3749994

Would you like me to link you to 20 or so more threads discussing this same topic?

In your example, the guy would not move up a division, because he would simply use either another series or week 13 to drop his iRating down before the new season starts.

Some people just don't care about anything but winning, even if that means winning in a lower division. Let me try to make the example even more clear/specific.

Let's say I am in Division 4, and I have done really well this season, but I check the stats of Division 2 and 3 and realize I will be lucky to get a Top 5 when I move up. So I do well enough through week 12 to win the championship. Now once week 13 hits I join some races and disconnect from each race to lower my iRating enough so that I'll be in Division 4 again. So this way I can pad my record with more wins next season and get another championship, even though I am racing against people who are significantly slower than I am.

I don't know how to explain it any better, but I assure you, it happens ALL THE TIME. I've been playing iRacing since early 2008, and it happened then, and still happens now. This is one of the reasons they added the iRating timeline in the newest build, so people could more easily identify sandbaggers who do this and report them.

 

[left888]

I've seen the same thing in golf, people would sandbag to get a lower handicap so the could win a lower flight. They usually get kicked out for this. It's no different in racing, Superbike's example makes perfect sense to me and as he said it is still happening.

 

[left888]

Sandbox, how is iSpeed, is it easy to use and setup?

Thanks!

It is very easy to use, it is preferred to use a second or fourth monitor. If you use one monitor then a smaller second one is ideal. You do not need two monitors as you can use it with one if you like.

I have triple screens and a small seven inch USB monitor for iSpeed located on my dash. If you pay $10 or $15 you remove the advertisement from it and receive free updates. You can customize it to show splits, fuel. fastest laps etc.. Well worth it IMO.

 

[superbike81]

iSpeed is also great for it's Lap Analyzer, you can automatically save your lap telemetry and then compare them against other laps to see what people are doing differently than you.

I use it on a 7" Lilliput USB monitor that I got for $60. It's excellent!