I kind of stumbled on this by accident.....it was so much fun I thought I'd
pass it on to some of you to try out. This is something fun to do if you
have a few "racing buddies" over...and you want to set up a little
competition but you only have one race setup and can't race each other. Its
fun to do by yourself, too!
Maybe I should call this, "The Pabst Shoot Out?"
Last night, I had two racing buddies over to the house for dinner. We were
going to go down to the local country western dance club after
dinner.....but in the meantime, we got to doing a little racin' braggin'
.....you know how it is when you get race car drivers together - off the
race track. So, while we were waiting on dinner....we kind of thought up
this little competition. It was a blast....we never made it to the
"club".....raced until 3:30 am in the morning!
Here's what we did:
We set up a 20 lap race at Richmond. Set the number of AI at 30 cars only,
with a 5-min practice session. The AI were at 90%, weather fixed at 70
degrees, ran the "fast" setup....full simulation and full damage. Now the
deal was, you'd run the 5 min practice to get your whistle wet, then skip
qual and go straight to the race, starting at the back of the pack,
obviously. You'd race until you got passed......then exit the race. What
you scored was the number of cars you passed, before you got passed....or
the 20 lap race ended....which ever came first. The next guy jumps in and
does the same. All in all, about every 30 minutes you are "in the seat
racing"....and the other two guys cheering, jeering......but at least
keeping track of the passes you made. It was a total blast......great
practice at running hard in traffic....but with damage on...you couldn't be
over-aggressive. The races went really fast....and scoring this way kept
everyone in the competition.
We started doing this about 6:30 pm in the evening.....and except for the
dinner break....we didn't stop until 3:30 am in the morning. Way too much
fun! I suppose this could work at any NASCAR track, but its obviously great
for the short ovals like Martinsville, Richmond, Bristol...maybe Dover too.
And, what superb practice it was.....along with being so much fun.
I just though it would be nice to pass this along....I'd never heard of
anyone doing it before in all the years I've been sim racing. Maybe you
guys haven't either?
Regards,
Tom
PS: I ended up winning....but only by 4 passes. The last guy was only 6
back of me. The "competition" was close all night long....with the lead
changing among us almost every time we finished a "round." The best race
for me was one that I completed (meaning I never got passed)....and was in
12th place at the end of the 20 laps. We kind of made a "rule"....that if
you got spun early in the race....and it was clear you would not catch the
last car before the race end (or not likely too)...just exit and let the
next driver have his turn. As the night's competition went on.....it became
very important to pick your passes....early in the race.....with some
strategy. Why? Because as soon as you pass someone....you are in jeopardy
of being passed...then you are out of the race! So, you had to not only
make the pass....but you had to make it "stick!" This was really good
practice! The AI at Richmond behaved very well....and they would pass you
back with aggression if you didn't make a good, clean pass on them!