2018-05-28, 18:51
On Saturday, [TC] Racing participated in their first ever iRacing endurance event, the Sports Car Open 500 Miles of Road America, organised by Core SimRacing.
The race took place at the 4 mile (6.5 km) Road America circuit, for 500 miles of thrilling racing with some of the top teams in sim racing. There were 3 classes of cars taking part in this race, we entered into the largest class, the GT class with 27 entries. We would be driving the Mercedes AMG GT3 with a paint kindly created for us by Ronald.
![[Image: CwWBVLe.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/CwWBVLe.jpg)
Adam Brown qualified the #123 [TC] Racing machine in 22nd out of the 24 GT cars that qualified and decided to take the start for us. Adam had a great start gaining a place on the opening lap. A few laps into his stint however, the #144 VRTeRacing Red machine missed their braking point and careered into the back of us causing us to spin out.
![[Image: yHTenNB.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/yHTenNB.jpg)
Adam managed to keep it going but around half way through his opening stint, at the kink before Canada corner, a misjudgement as a DP was lapping us caused Adam to collide with the DP's rear left quarter panel and then a wall, giving us front left suspension damage and over 14 laps left to go in the stint.
![[Image: 9Yz4Bhp.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/9Yz4Bhp.jpg)
This affected our pace throughout the rest of the stint and so we decided to repair the car at our first stop which cost us 3 minutes. By the end of the first stint we were already 3 laps down on the class leaders. On the whole it was a strong opening stint from Adam, especially after nursing the car around for half a stint.
Jack Eyre elected to jump into the car next and besides a half spin before the Johnsonville Bridge, we climbed back up to 16th in class after his double stint. Here's what Jack had to say about his first session in an iRacing endurance race:
"The race started for me by sitting in the pit box for damage repairs that cost us almost 3 minutes, but once the car was back on track, I was able to knock out some great lap times. When I left the pits and started my stint we were down in 47th place overall, I knew I had a lot of work to do. After getting into a groove and making only one mistake, I was able to consistently lap some great times with the car we had. The damage repairs didn't make the car perfect, but I felt pretty comfortable behind the wheel, and I could push. After my initial stint of a full tank of fuel or roughly an hour of driving, we had gained a whole 14 positions overall and were up into 33rd. Confident with the car, I set out again for another stint. 31st was our overall position when I handed the car over to Pete at the end of my 2nd hour of driving."
![[Image: 8dDvnIl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/8dDvnIl.jpg)
After 3 hours of racing, it was my turn to jump in the car. We knew we'd need to stop again so it was crucial that I kept the car out of any trouble and maintained consistent pace. We had our eyes set on a top 15 finish and after a rather uneventful hour of driving, I managed to gain 2 places and put us in 14th before our splash and dash. Instead of staying out, I elected to give the car to Jack to finish the race as thanks for his heroic double stint in the middle of the race.
![[Image: ViRGtCB.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/ViRGtCB.jpg)
I bought the car in with 4 laps to go for a splash and dash. I'd managed to be very kind on the tyres so we only needed to put a couple of litres in the tank before Jack was out again for the finish. Here's what Jack had to say:
"I was given the privilege of bringing our car home in the final few laps of the race. Since we were a few laps down on the leaders and in a comfortable window of time. We decided that it was pointless to fuel save since we wouldn't have gained any positions and that we had enough time to safely bring the car into the pits, refuel and still finish in the same position.
When Pete brought the car in and we added the remaining 4 laps of fuel into the car, we were up into 25th position overall, which was absolutely insane for us considering how far down the field we were at the end of the first stint. After the disqualification of another driver in another class in the dying laps, I was able to bring our car home in 24th position overall and 14th in class.
I know we have a lot of work to do, especially in the cars' setup, there is so much more that car can offer us, if we dial it. To say this was [TC] Racing's first actual race on iRacing, let alone an endurance race on a pretty tricky combination of track and car, I think we did a staggering job as a team and I thank my teammates for the effort they put in."
Overall, we're really pleased with how our first endurance race went, but as Jack says, we have a lot of work to do to be pushing for top 10 finishes, but we're determined to do it so watch this space!
The full race replay can be found on the iRacing YouTube channel:
The race took place at the 4 mile (6.5 km) Road America circuit, for 500 miles of thrilling racing with some of the top teams in sim racing. There were 3 classes of cars taking part in this race, we entered into the largest class, the GT class with 27 entries. We would be driving the Mercedes AMG GT3 with a paint kindly created for us by Ronald.
The GT class gets underway - Images by Maik Paluch Creations
Adam Brown qualified the #123 [TC] Racing machine in 22nd out of the 24 GT cars that qualified and decided to take the start for us. Adam had a great start gaining a place on the opening lap. A few laps into his stint however, the #144 VRTeRacing Red machine missed their braking point and careered into the back of us causing us to spin out.
The start of Adam's stint - Images by Jack Eyre
Adam managed to keep it going but around half way through his opening stint, at the kink before Canada corner, a misjudgement as a DP was lapping us caused Adam to collide with the DP's rear left quarter panel and then a wall, giving us front left suspension damage and over 14 laps left to go in the stint.
Adam collides with a DP and the wall at the kink - Image by Jack Eyre
This affected our pace throughout the rest of the stint and so we decided to repair the car at our first stop which cost us 3 minutes. By the end of the first stint we were already 3 laps down on the class leaders. On the whole it was a strong opening stint from Adam, especially after nursing the car around for half a stint.
Jack Eyre elected to jump into the car next and besides a half spin before the Johnsonville Bridge, we climbed back up to 16th in class after his double stint. Here's what Jack had to say about his first session in an iRacing endurance race:
"The race started for me by sitting in the pit box for damage repairs that cost us almost 3 minutes, but once the car was back on track, I was able to knock out some great lap times. When I left the pits and started my stint we were down in 47th place overall, I knew I had a lot of work to do. After getting into a groove and making only one mistake, I was able to consistently lap some great times with the car we had. The damage repairs didn't make the car perfect, but I felt pretty comfortable behind the wheel, and I could push. After my initial stint of a full tank of fuel or roughly an hour of driving, we had gained a whole 14 positions overall and were up into 33rd. Confident with the car, I set out again for another stint. 31st was our overall position when I handed the car over to Pete at the end of my 2nd hour of driving."
Jack starts our recovery drive - Image by Jack Eyre
After 3 hours of racing, it was my turn to jump in the car. We knew we'd need to stop again so it was crucial that I kept the car out of any trouble and maintained consistent pace. We had our eyes set on a top 15 finish and after a rather uneventful hour of driving, I managed to gain 2 places and put us in 14th before our splash and dash. Instead of staying out, I elected to give the car to Jack to finish the race as thanks for his heroic double stint in the middle of the race.
Pete keeping it clean - Image by Jack Eyre
I bought the car in with 4 laps to go for a splash and dash. I'd managed to be very kind on the tyres so we only needed to put a couple of litres in the tank before Jack was out again for the finish. Here's what Jack had to say:
"I was given the privilege of bringing our car home in the final few laps of the race. Since we were a few laps down on the leaders and in a comfortable window of time. We decided that it was pointless to fuel save since we wouldn't have gained any positions and that we had enough time to safely bring the car into the pits, refuel and still finish in the same position.
When Pete brought the car in and we added the remaining 4 laps of fuel into the car, we were up into 25th position overall, which was absolutely insane for us considering how far down the field we were at the end of the first stint. After the disqualification of another driver in another class in the dying laps, I was able to bring our car home in 24th position overall and 14th in class.
I know we have a lot of work to do, especially in the cars' setup, there is so much more that car can offer us, if we dial it. To say this was [TC] Racing's first actual race on iRacing, let alone an endurance race on a pretty tricky combination of track and car, I think we did a staggering job as a team and I thank my teammates for the effort they put in."
Overall, we're really pleased with how our first endurance race went, but as Jack says, we have a lot of work to do to be pushing for top 10 finishes, but we're determined to do it so watch this space!
The full race replay can be found on the iRacing YouTube channel: