The Ian Korf iRacing Delta Challenge
Background
Real, in-person racing is hardly possible on a grad student budget and schedule (not to mention with a raging pandemic ongoing), so I have turned to iRacing to fill this Corvette-sized hole in my life. I purchased a Logitech G920 steering wheel, pedals, and shifter with a NASCAR Challenge Playseat and subscribed to iRacing
My Times
| Round | Track | Delta | My Time | On Lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Legacy] Phoenix Raceway - 2008 Road Course | 1:09.739 | 1:11:088 | 7 |
| 2 | Charlotte Motor Speedway 2008 Infield Road Course | 0:47.637 | 48.601 | 11 |
| 3 | Tsukuba 1000 Chicane | 0:42.169 | 43.906 | 8 |
| 4 | Pocono Raceway 2009 East | 1:12.321 | 1:15:155 | 16 |
| 5 | Texas Motor Speedway - 2009 Road Course Short B | 0:27.062 | ||
| 6 | Silverstone Circuit 2008 National | 1:08.867 | ||
| 7 | Charlotte Motor Speedway - Legends RC Medium | 1:08.867 | ||
| 8 | Daytona International Speedway - 2008 Short | 0:46.709 | ||
| 9 | Summit Point Jefferson Reverse | 0:56.191 | ||
| 10 | [Legacy ] Pocono Raceway 2009 North | 0:59.714 | ||
| 11 | [Legacy ] Pocono Raceway 2009 South | 0:50.291 | ||
| 12 | [Legacy ] Silverstone Circuit - 2008 South | 1:21.643 | ||
| 13 | [Legacy ] Texas Motor Speedway - 2009 Road Course Short A | 0:24.995 | ||
| 14 | [Legacy ] Texas Motor Speedway - 2009 Road Course Long | 0:40.538 | ||
| 15 | Tsukuba 1000 Full Reverse | 0:40.878 | ||
| 16 | Summit Point Jefferson Circuit | 0:55.980 | ||
| 17 | [Legacy] Phoenix International Raceway - 2008 Rallycross | 0:49.593 | ||
| 18 | Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval | 1:36.627 | ||
| 19 | Tsukuba Circuit 2000 Short | 0:49.761 | ||
| 20 | [Legacy] Daytona International Speedway - 2008 Rallycross Short | 0:40.825 |
Session Debriefs
5/31/2020 - [Leacy] Phoenix Raceway - 2008 Road Course
This course is surprisingly technical, and I struggled to string together more than a couple laps without a major mistake. In all, I think I spun out on five of the twenty laps! The flat topography and infield walls obscure much of the upcoming track, and the transitions from infield to the NASCAR track and vice versa are tricky to navigate quickly. I was often coasting too much and getting on the throttle too quickly.
6/13/2020 - [Legacy] Charlotte Motor Speedway - 2008 Infield Road Course
Perhaps I was a little less blind coming into this one because I used to race this course (or a very similar variant) when I used to race Bandoleros at Charlotte Motor Speedway in their Winter Heat Series. Alas, driving this MX-5 Cup car was a very different bag. I swear I was off course or spinning on 1/4 of the laps as I continued to get used to throttle inputs with this car and compensating for all of the elevation change. This course comes at your fast, and is more technical than its tiny footprint leads on. I felt like I was chasing myself the entire time, and after my fastest lap I struggled not to over do it.
6/13/2020 - Tsukuba 1000 Chicane
With much less elevation change, I spent a lot less time sliding and spinning than I did at the CMS 2008 Infield Road Course. However, I struggled no less, and the pair of very tight turns gave me fits. I felt like I could dial up the speed reasonably at first, but after a mid-session flyer I was over driving. My average time was approximately a half second slower than my fastest lap.
6/28/2020 - [Legacy] Pocono Raceway - 2009 East
The biggest thing I learned from this session is that I shouldn’t be trying this rusty and tired… My focus was terrible, and it cost me many mistakes during the middle of this session. I found the skinny track width of the infield portion to be challenging to get used to, but I soon got a sense of how far I could push the track. The track has some tricky slow corners that will punish you for trying to brake too late. If would definitely describe this track as a slow-in, fast-out track. I agree with Ian’s assessment that I often asked myself if I should really be dropping to 2nd gear in a corner, and that there are some good challenges at this track that will take a good bit of practice to overcome.