Labor Day Weekend at Sebring International Raceway

If you’ve never been to Sebring International Raceway, you might be surprised to learn that it sits in the middle of nowhere. The track started life as Hendricks Army Airfield, where military pilots trained in B-17s during World War II. Some of the concrete runways from the old airfield still make up the track. The first race at Sebring was held in 1950 and has continuously operated as a world-famous racetrack since then.

Unlike many race tracks, Sebring is not adjacent to a large metropolitan area. The closest town is Sebring, Fl, a town of just 11,000 people. Both the track and the town it is named for sit in rural central Florida, surrounded by orange groves and cattle ranches, about two hours from Orlando and Tampa, and nearly three hours to Miami.

Sebring is the last track we’ll visit this season. I have a lot of history at Sebring. I’ve attended races there probably 25-30 times, and raced there myself about 20 times. It’s always been one of my favorite tracks, with both tight, technical sections and wide-open, high-speed sections. It’s fun to drive, although I’m not sure the Honda Civic Type R is the best choice for the track. As I’ve said about other tracks, the Honda is underpowered compared to the competition. I’ve been surprised previously. Maybe I will be again in the two races at Sebring.

Once the two Sebring races are in the books, I’ll review season one, and preview season two of Vagabond Racer. Until then, I look forward to tackling a couple of races at Sebring to wrap up the season.

Here’s a map of Sebring International Raceway:

Daytona International Speedway – Race #2

A couple of the things I really dislike about Forza Motorsport 7 were on display in the first couple of turns in tonight’s race. At the start going into turn one, the field came to a complete stop. I went wide right around the field, passing 15 cars in the process. When I got by the stopped cars, I saw that they were stopped for no reason whatsoever. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

The other thing that bugs me—and I’ve talked about this before—I don’t understand why my tires are ice cold. The race features a rolling start, which pre-supposes that we have already done at least one warm up lap around the track. I don’t know why I continue to complain about this. It’s not going to change. It just bugs me.

Moving on…

Lap one was a mess. In addition to a bunch of cars coming to a dead stop in turn one, I had contact with two or three different cars before we even got to turn two. I started in 24th position, but by the time I reached turn two, I was in 9th.

Over the next few laps, I swapped between 9th and 10th position. When I finally settled into 9th, the action pretty much stopped. The 10th place car threatened to pass, but didn’t. I threatened to pass the 8th place car, but didn’t. That is, until the final lap.

I started lap 10 in 9th position, I thought I would probably finish there. But when I caught the 8th place car going into the bus stop, he braked early, I braked late, and I entered the bus stop in 8th position. I made it through the bus stop in good shape, and quickly caught and passed the 7th place car. To my surprise, I was gaining on the 6th place car. I passed him just before the start-finish line, and finished P6.

This was not my finest race. I did a few stupid things on lap one, and more stupid things on laps nine and ten. I overdrove the car (The tires never hooked up the way they did in my practice races), missing my marks throughout the race, nearly throwing away three positions in the closing laps.

In any case, leaving Daytona scoring points in both races was unexpected. If the drivatars wouldn’t stop for no reason at the beginning of these races, I likely wouldn’t have sniffed points in race #2, but they did, I took advantage of it, and I earned points in both races.

As Bill Belichick would say, we’re on to Cincinnati Sebring.

The top five in points are:

  1. Lou Mindar (312 pts)
  2. Josh Pettibone (170 pts)
  3. Callie Carr (152 pts)
  4. Hugh Navarro (145 pts)
  5. Richard Chan (142 pts)

Next Race: Sebring International Raceway – Race #2

Daytona International Speedway – Race #1

Race #1 at Daytona didn’t turn out the way I expected. I started 10th on the grid, and picked up one spot through the first few turns, then picked up another position on lap three.

On lap 4 the Lamboghini and I had contact in turn 3 (I ran into the back of him), but we both continued. I passed the Lamborghini going into turn 5 and got three-quarters of a car ahead of him when the drivatar hit me in the quarter panel, knocking me off course. He passed me, but I amazingly saved it without losing further positions.

On lap five, I dove under the Lambo in turn six (I made the move later than I should have, but I owed him), getting by him, and mantaining my position on the high banks.

In the end, I finished sixth, which was better than I expected. My Honda Civic Type R is really at a power deficit on the high banks, but somehow, we made it work today. I hope I’m just as lucky in the next race at Daytona.

The top five in points after 25 races are:

  1. Lou Mindar (304 pts)
  2. Josh Pettibone (170 pts)
  3. Hugh Navarro (145 pts)
  4. Richard Chan (142 pts)
  5. Callie Carr (140 pts)

Next Race: Daytona International Speedway – Race #2.

Racing at the Beach

The final two tracks I’ll visit this season are very special to me. I said previously that Road America is my favorite track, but Daytona and Sebring hold a very special place in my heart. I’ve raced at Daytona and Sebring more than at any other tracks. I’ve scored victories at both tracks, and I’ve suffered humiliating defeats at both.

The most frightening thing I’ve ever done in real life racing was stopping on the banking in NASCAR turn 2 at Daytona. I know that doesn’t sound scary, but hear me out.

I had qualified 4th on the grid, and was in the outside lane in the second row behind the pace car on the warm-up lap. Something happened (I think some work was being done somewhere on the track), and the pace car brought the field to a complete stop in NASCAR 2. The banking at Daytona is much higher and steeper than it looks on TV. At speed, it’s not scary being on the banking. But at a dead stop, it’s like being on the side of a building with gravity doing everything it can to knock you off. It felt like my car was going to tumble down the banking, and there was nothing I could do.

Naturally, nothing bad happened. It just felt like it was going to. The second scariest thing I ever did in racing was going into NASCAR 3 at the Charlotte Roval in a mid-90’s Chevy Camaro with a front-end alignment issue. I was flat-out, and the car was shaking so much, I could barely focus my eyes ahead of me. As scary as that was, I would gladly do it again rather than having to stop on the banking at Daytona again.

Despite my love for the road course at Daytona, I have to admit the track is not the best, especially for an under-powered car like my Honda Civic Type R. The Civic does well in the infield section, but gets chewed up on the long, banked NASCAR section. In my practice sessions, there have been times when I ran my fastest lap, only to be passed by a higher horsepower car. At the moment, my fastest lap is a good three seconds slower per lap than the fastest cars.

I don’t hold out much hope for a good finish, but I’m still looking forward to two races at Daytona, one in the day, one in the night. It should be fun.

Here’s a look at the road course configuration at Daytona:

Virginia International Raceway – Race #2

I’m in a better mood after race two at VIR. I drove a much better, smarter, more disciplined race. Naturally, I’d like to win every race, but my real goal is to be consistently good behind the wheel. I feel like I’m making progress on that goal, but after the last race, I’m kind of starting over.

I started the race Q7, which put me in a pretty good position for the obligatory first turn pile up. There was a bit of argy bargy, as Calvin Fish would say, on the first lap, but things settled down fairly quickly. (Technically, the car contact on lap one was probably a bit more than argy bargy). Although I lost two positions on the first lap, all of that before turn one, I felt like I was in a pretty good position.

I felt like my driving was pretty consistent, but because of traffic, my lap times weren’t. It wasn’t unusual for me to run a race best lap, followed by a couple of laps two seconds slower. That inconsistency bothers me, but I’m not sure there’s anything I can do about it. Being in traffic is going to cause inconsistent lap times.

I moved into second place at the beginning of the final lap, and was gaining on the first place car, but I made a mistake, going wide in a turn when I was directly behind the leader, and I never recovered. I tried to chase down the leader, but had to settle for second place

Although I’m leaving VIR with a better feeling toward the track, I’m still glad to be leaving. I’m just not as comfortable with VIR as I would like. I could stand more seat time at VIR, but it’s time to head back to Florida. Dayton and Sebring await.

After 24 races, the top five in points are:

  1. Lou Mindar (296 pts)
  2. Josh Pettibone (160 pts)
  3. Richard Chan (138 pts)
  4. Alex Ravarito (132 pts)
  5. Don McGowan (129 pts)

Next race: Daytona International Raceway – Race #1

Virginia International Raceway – Race #1

I would not encourage you to watch this race. It might have been some of the worst driving I’ve done since starting this journey. I really don’t know what to blame it on. The car felt different than it had in my warm-up races, the tires took forever to come in, and went from cold to overheated almost immediately, and my driving was just uninspiring. It’s probably best to just forget about this race.

I started in 16th position and made a concerted effort not to hit anyone in the first few corners of the first lap. It wasn’t easy. The drivatars do some really strange things, especially early in the race. At almost every track, they stack up in the first turn, and they slow down for no apparent reason. Even so, I was fairly successful in avoiding car-to-car contact on the first lap, and in the process, gained four positions. Then things started to fall apart.

On lap two, I slide off the track all on my own, and the red mist started to set in. Over the next several laps, I missed turn in points, grabbed the wrong gear (going into first twice when I wanted to be in second), and there were a couple of corners that I don’t think I ever got right. My driving was so bad that I didn’t get within one-and-a-half seconds of my previous fastest lap.

I ended up finishing 8th, which is probably better than I deserved. I hope race #2 at VIR is better than the first. It won’t take much.

After twenty-five races, the points standings look like this:

  1. Lou Mindar (277 pts)
  2. Josh Pettibone (135 pts)
  3. Don McGowan (129 pts)
  4. Richard Chan (123 pts)
  5. Peter Ward Jr. (121 Pts)

Next Race: Virginia International Raceway – Race #2

Virginia is for Lovers (and Haters)

I have a love/hate relationship with Virginia International Raceway. On the one hand, it’s a beautiful facility with multiple track layout options, and all of them are challenging. On the other hand, I’ve never been very good there. I guess that’s more of a me thing than a VIR thing.

We’ll be using the full course track layout. It’s fast, with long straights and challenging corners. The Honda Civic Type R is fun to drive there, but the other, higher horsepower, cars chew it up on the straights. My only hope of doing well at VIR is to make my passes in the turns, and then hope that I can hold them off on the long straights. It’s an easy plan to make, much tougher to execute.

With only six races remaining in the season, I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed in the way things have gone. I had hoped for a more realistic racing experience. Part of that is on me. I started the season with the Drivatar difficulty set to “average.” With me being new to Forza, I thought it would make the racing interesting and realistic. I was wrong. A few races into the season, I increased the difficulty to “highly skilled.” This setting was better, but at most tracks, it still wasn’t enough. For next season, I need to consider setting the drivatar difficulty at “Unbeatable” (which is a misnomer). I’ll experiment with it first to see how it works.

Another problem (which I’ve mentioned before) is that Forza encourages aggressive driving. Some of my fastest laps occurred when I was completely out of control, missing my marks, even going off course. Of course, that doesn’t happen in real life, but you’re rewarded for overdriving in Forza. I usually try not to give into the urge, but I admit I have gone over to the dark side more than once to make a pass or set a fast lap.

Six races to go, all at tracks I’m familiar with. This should be fun.

Lime Rock Park – Race #2

Race #2 at Lime Rock Park was a less raucous affair than race #1. There was still some car-to-car contact, but it was more of the argy bargy variety, and I did have one off-track excursion, which wasn’t great. But overall, race #2 wasn’t as crazy as race #1.

I started Q16 on the grid and moved up to P9 just three or four corners into the first lap. I gained most of those positions as a result of the obligatory pile up in turn one, lap one. But after gaining seven position, I had door-to-door contact with the Alfa Romeo Guilia, knocking me off the track and dropping me back to 20th position.

It’s funny how, even in a virtual race, the red mist sets in after an off-track excursion. It took me a lap or two after going off track to settle into the race and start hitting my marks again. But once I did, I started picking off one car at a time, ultimately finishing in 9th position.

I mentioned previously that I really didn’t like racing at Lime Rock. The track is too small and the racing is too frenetic. But after spending a little time on track, I don’t dislike it as much as I did originally. I can’t say that I like it, but I don’t hate it either. I guess Lime Rock is kind of an acquired taste.

After 22 races, here are the top five in points:

  1. Lou Mindar (273 pts)
  2. Josh Pettibone (135 pts)
  3. (tie) Richard Chan (123 pts)
  4. (tie)Don McGowan (123 pts)
  5. Peter Ward Jr. (119 pts)

Next Race: Virginia International Raceway – Race #1

Lime Rock Park – Race #1

As predicted, Race #1 at Lime Rock Park was wild. Lots of passing, car-to-car contact, off-track excursions. Race #1 had a little bit of everything.

I qualified in 12th place and moved up and down the grid a few times during the 15 lap race. As usual, there was more car-to-car contact than I like, but the tight confines of Lime Rock encourage aggressive driving, which naturally leads to shunts.

I remember several years ago, Mark Martin, commenting on restrictor plate racing at Talladega, said something to the effect of, “This isn’t racing. I don’t know what it is, but it isn’t racing.” I kind of feel the same way about racing at Lime Rock. I finished P6, which is respectable, but I don’t like this type of racing.

After 21 races, the point standings are:

  1. Lou Mindar (270 pts)
  2. (tie) Richard Chan (123 pts)
  3. (tie) Don McGowan (123 pts)
  4. Callie Carr (116 pts)
  5. Peter Ward Jr. (115 pts)

Next race: Lime Rock Park – Race #2

My First (and maybe last) Visit to Lime Rock Park

I feel like I’m missing something. Lime Rock Park is a world famous road course with a rich history and tradition. I’ve always heard about Lime Rock, but I’ve never been there, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Whatever I was thinking before, I’m sure wasn’t expecting this.

I started running practice laps and races on the full course at Lime Rock, and I can say without equivocation, it is my least favorite track. It really is no more than a glorified kart track. It’s short (just a mile-and-a-half), and it’s narrow (passing is nearly impossible without making contact). To be competitive, I have to drive most of the track at high revs, constantly shifting. It’s a different experience that I’m not used to. And so far, I don’t like it.

If things go the way I think they will, there will either be a lot of car-to-car contact, I’ll have poor finishes, or both. Track position will be everything, so it just depends on where I qualify.

Here’s a map of the full course at Lime Rock Park: