rec.autos.simulators

> There is much to be said for fixed setups :)

> Dave

> "Larry" <n...@none.com> wrote in message
> news:F5jpk.15504$Bt6.9222@newsfe04.iad...
>> Dave,

>> On the Skippy...  You've probably found it is tail-happy mid-corner,
>> especially if you let up on the throttle.

>> Now I'm far from a setup expert, and in fact I pretty much stink at it,
>> but what I found helped me tremendously with that problem is to change
>> the Perch Spring settings to a NEGATIVE number.  Most setups have them
>> set POSITIVE. I usually ran a -6 or -7 on each side in the Skippy to
>> alleviate that mid-corner, lift-loose issue (which can send you off-track
>> in the wink of a cats eye).  You will have to re-adjust other things
>> (tire pressure, etc...) to re-balance the car so it's not too tight for
>> exit though.

>> Worked for me.

>> -Larry

>> "DavErb" <erbdNOS...@THANKSkos.net> wrote in message
>> news:jhbgn5-2ld.ln1@news.kos.net...
>>> In my previous message a month ago I wrote about starting out in IRacing
>>> and
>>> my observations of the service after 3 weeks of trying it out. At the
>>> time I
>>> summed up my feelings as "In Sum: not bad, I'll continue supporting it"

>>> My summary for this report remains the same. Still a good value and I'll
>>> continue supporting it

>>> Since the last message I have bought the years subscription. In addition
>>> to
>>> reducing the average monthly cost of the service the years sub came with
>>> a
>>> $60 credit which I used to purchase the Skip Barber car and 2 tracks,
>>> Virginia and Infineon. In addition I also sprung for Road America even
>>> though I can't race on it as yet.

>>> Having accomplished my rookie goals of getting my safety rating in both
>>> road
>>> and oval up to the visible max of 4.99 (it actually goes higher but the
>>> higher values aren't visible to you) I decided to concentrate
>>> exclusively on
>>> the Skip Barber car and series. While I actually enjoy driving the
>>> Solstice
>>> going back and forth between it and the Skippy requires too much of an
>>> adjustment in driving style to be a practical proposition. Same goes for
>>> trying to do ovals and road work; too much adjustment required.

>>> As a rookie I had to keep my SR above 4 to stay in the Skippy races.
>>> This
>>> really wasn't a problem. Yes there are some boneheaded drivers who
>>> managed
>>> to inflict some incident points on me and I even managed several
>>> boneheaded
>>> moves all by myself. The incident points effect on SR is very forgiving
>>> to
>>> rookies and I rarely fell below my 4.99 goal during the week I raced the
>>> Skip as a rookie. As you advance up the IRacing classes the role of
>>> incident
>>> points to negatively effect your SR becomes more pronounced so as you
>>> rise
>>> you are expected to be much more aware of safety than you were as a
>>> newbie.

>>> First week of Skip racing was at Virginia on a track variant called
>>> Grand
>>> East. This variant appears to take its inspiration from the Nurburgring;
>>> lots of sweeping esses, blind corners and elevation change. Unlike the
>>> Nurburgring it has runoff areas so an off track doesn't always mean a
>>> reset.
>>> It is long and tricky and probably not the best place to start out in a
>>> new
>>> and tricky car.

>>> The Skip is a squirrely little beast to drive at its max. The car has a
>>> wing
>>> front and rear but they seem to be mostly for show. Possibly this is due
>>> to
>>> the fact that the car has not much power and doesn't go fast enough to
>>> work
>>> the wings or maybe the wing angle is fixed so flat that it doesn't
>>> generate
>>> a lot of downforce. Whatever the reason this is mostly a mechanical grip
>>> racecar and anytime the wheels are unweighted (like going over a crest)
>>> you
>>> are dancing on the edge of disaster. Adjustments are few , mostly
>>> limited to
>>> tire pressure, brake bias and some weird thing call Spring Perch Offset
>>> (mostly seems to effect the height of the front end). After some fooling
>>> around I determined that tire pressure is the main factor and lowered
>>> mine
>>> by 3 psi all around. The really fast guys are using much lower pressures
>>> than that but the tendency for the car to fling itself off track is too
>>> much
>>> for me to handle. After a week of this I was only just starting to get a
>>> grip on it and participate in some racing as opposed to trundling around
>>> at
>>> the back. Not to say I wasn't far from the back but at least I was
>>> racing
>>> for position. Fun time

>>> At the end of that week IRacing reached the end of that season. There
>>> was
>>> then a week of "fun races" that I did not participate much in since I
>>> did
>>> not own most of the material. The future plan for this between the
>>> seasons
>>> interlude is to run championship races but that will only go ahead after
>>> the
>>> end of the present 12 week season once full rollout is achieved.. I used
>>> the
>>> week to get really familiar with the Skip and the next Skip track,
>>> Infineon
>>> long.

>>> At the beginning of the new season all us rookies who met the
>>> requirement
>>> (SR>3 plus a small minimum # of races) were promoted to class D. Now in
>>> addition to a visible SR we can now see our IRating (more about this
>>> later)
>>> . We now get an orange stripe on our car instead of the rookie red (?for
>>> danger?). Promotion involves having your SR knocked down by a full point
>>> however mine only went from 4.99 to 4.48 which is when I found out about
>>> the
>>> hidden SR over 4.99. This would be great if I wanted to go on the next
>>> step
>>> the road race ladder which is the Mazda series (require minimum Class D
>>> and
>>> SR >4 if a Class D) Since Mazdas require buying additional content I
>>> have
>>> elected to stay with the Skips for the next 12 week season.  I quickly
>>> brought my SR back up to the 4.99 level. Race clean and don't try to
>>> force
>>> the impossible is my formula.

>>> Once into the new season I became really involved in IRacing and put in
>>> a
>>> major amount of races (at one point my stats said I was # 14 of 700 + in
>>> Skip races started; I think this makes me a IGeek :) ). I am basically a
>>> strong midfield runner, rarely challenging for podiums but able to pick
>>> up
>>> position on the mistakes of others as well as do the occasional pass on
>>> my
>>> own. Infineon is a real rhythm track and once you get into it one corner
>>> flows into another. There's only a couple of real passing places but
>>> since
>>> this is the sim racing world there are always THOSE GUYS who try
>>> stuffing
>>> their car into a 1/2 car spot. Keeping an eye out for the knobs is a
>>> major
>>> part of keeping SR. Apart from the aforesaid fools there was plenty of
>>> good
>>> racing to be had and I raced PLENTY. At one point I was even ranked in
>>> the
>>> top fifty in points (at #50 dead on) but then the big dogs showed up and
>>> I
>>> am now more like 150 (still not too shabby in 700+ drivers).

>>> IRating: one of the neat things about IRacing is the IRating system.
>>> This is
>>> a numerical rating that the server uses in an attempt to match you with
>>> similar drivers when setting up races. Apparently everyone starts out as
>>> a
>>> rookie with a IRating of 1600 (I think thats the number) and you rise
>>> and
>>> fall from that value according to your ability. As a rookie you can't
>>> see it
>>> but you can infer it from the company you find yourself in. Class D and
>>> up
>>> can see it and it makes an interesting figure to track which is exactly
>>> what
>>> I've done the last couple of weeks. In theory once the server has
>>> gathered
>>> enough information about you to give you the appropriate IRating it will
>>> place you with racers of your own ability and you'll all have a splendid
>>> nose to tail race. That's the theory anyway. The reality is not quite so
>>> finely polished. Chief gotcha factor is the # 's signed up for any
>>> particular race time slot. The more numbers the better since the server
>>> sorts you into several races of 12-14 cars which are roughly of similar
>>> IRating. Obviously the more cars the more races are generated and the
>>> closer
>>> the 12-14 cars will be in any one particular race. Low numbers mean that
>>> sometimes you can find yourself in totally inappropriate groupings. For
>>> instance I am in the 1700-1800 range and I have found myself in servers
>>> where the average is around 1400 and in the next race I find myself in a
>>> server with an average of 2500. In the latter case I am usually the car
>>> ranked 14 out of 14 in the group and I am racing for the crumbs that
>>> fall
>>> when the fast guys screw up. I've sometimes done well by those crumbs
>>> but
>>> more often it generates a small loss of IRating points. No big deal
>>> since
>>> there's always another race in 2 hours where you can make up for it.

>>> How do you get IRating? From my tracking the major factors in generating
>>> ranking points are A)where you finish in the race and B) where you
>>> finish in
>>> relation to your ranking coming in. A & B may seem like the same thing
>>> but
>>> they can either compliment or offset one another.
>>> For instance I enter a race where I am ranked #2 (you can always tell
>>> your
>>> relative rank in a field because that is the number