America’s National Park of Speed: Road America

I love Road America.

When I was a kid, I used to go to Elkhart Lake three or four times a year for races at Road America. My friend’s dad was RE of the Chicago Region of the SCCA, and my friend and I would work timing and scoring at the races. We worked everything from SCCA regional races to the June Sprints to Formula 5000, Can-Am, and Trans-Am. It was a fantastic experience.

One of the perks of working the races was, with our credentials, we could go anywhere at the track. We’d go to all of the corners that were accessible (not as many as are accessible now), we’d hang out on the grid before races, we’d hang out with the race stewards, and we even found a private, air-conditioned box at the start-finish line that was our own, temperature controlled, private suite.

During my days of working timing and scoring, I met people like Paul Newman, Brian Redman, David Hobbs, George Follmer, Elliot Forbes Robinson, Jackie Oliver, and the great, Mario Andretti. On one occasion, my friend and I stood around in awe as the adults drank wine from Dixie cups with Andretti, and Newman. It was the experience of a lifetime.

Located in the Kettle Moraine region of Wisconsin, the area surrounding the track is beautiful, with undulating hills, glaciated landforms, and lots of trees. It truly is like racing in a national park. Just being in the area is awe inspiring. Being at the track is icing on the cake.

As you can imagine, Road America is my favorite track. However, I’ve never raced there in real life. It’s always been a dream of mine to race there, and I still hope to do it, but so far, I haven’t.

Having said all of this, I’m not looking forward to racing the Honda Civic Type R at Road America. The track is long (a little over four miles), with long straights and fast corners. I don’t expect the Type R to be particularly competitive against all of the higher horsepower cars I’m competing against. Naturally, I’ll do my best, but I’m not hopeful.

Who cares? This is Road America. Even virtually, it’s great!

Here’s a look at the track:

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – Race #2

I was not looking forward to race two at WeatherTech Laguna Seca. If you read my review of race one, you know that I was upset that it took so long for my tires to warm up (especially compared to the drivatars), and that the car didn’t handle the way it had in practice. I really didn’t want to go through that again. But as it turned out, race two was my best race of the season.

I qualified in third and finished fourth, but that’s only part of the story. The car behaved the same way it did in practice, and more importantly, I drove the car well. I still made a few mistakes, and I had slight contact in the final corner of the final lap, but I was better in this race than in any of the previous eleven.

When I say I drove well, what I mean is that I hit my marks, my laps were relatively consistent, and I didn’t make any stupid mistakes. I don’t mean that my race craft was good. Sadly, I’ve never been particularly good at race craft. I’ve always been decent—at least in real life—at car control, but my race craft was always lacking. I hope to improve on that as my sim journey continues.

Here are the points standings after twelve races:

  1. Lou Mindar (161 pts)
  2. Alex Ravarito (77 pts)
  3. (tie) Don McGowan (72 pts)
  4. (tie) Tak Yamaguchi (72 Pts)
  5. Hugh Navarro (69 pts)

Next race: Road America – Race #1

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca – Race #1

I’m angry again, but this time, I’m not angry about my results or the way I drove. Instead, I’m angry with Forza.

Since I had never driven at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, I drove several dozen practice laps. I wasn’t as fast as the fastest guys, but I learned my way around the track and my times were decent. I had a good feel for the car. I knew what it could do and what it couldn’t, which is important when making sure that I wasn’t overdriving the car or being unnecessarily hard on the tires.

Then came race one. First, it is irritating that my tires start out cold, while the drivatars are able to push hard from the very beginning. It doesn’t make sense. The game employs rolling starts, which assumes that all of the cars are doing at least one warm up lap. Yet, my tires start each race cold, and for whatever reason, they take forever to warm up at Laguna Seca. By the time the race starts, all drivers (me and the drivatars) should have warm tires.

But even worse, the car reacts completely differently during the race than it does during practice. I’ve noticed this at other tracks, but it was much worse at Laguna Seca. In fact, I started the race and rage quit before the end of the first lap. It was like driving on ice. The car was nearly uncontrollable. When I re-started the race, the car was a little better, but still not right. That is so annoying. It doesn’t make sense to practice the car if it’s going to be so different during the race. I’m really annoyed at Forza.

In the end, I qualified 19th and finished 8th, but almost all of those gains happened in the first couple of corners. During the rest of the race, I only gained one position. Not gaining position or finishing higher doesn’t bother me. Starting on cold tires and the car being uncontrollable does.

Okay, enough complaining. Here’s where the points stand after eleven races:

  1. Lou Mindar (149 pts)
  2. Alex Ravarito (76 pts)
  3. Don McGowan (72 pts)
  4. Pierre Blasno (62 pts)
  5. Hugh Navarro (59 pts)

One More Time in California

I’ve never been to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. It’s another one of those California tracks that has always been too far away from where I live to go to. It is the type of track I dreamed of racing at when I dreamed of living the vagabond racer lifestyle.

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca is in Monterrey, CA, five-and-a-half hours north of Long Beach and two-and-a-half hours south of Sonoma Raceway, along the California coast. The track’s website says this about the history of the track and the area:

The Monterey Peninsula’s love affair with world-class racing traces its beginnings to the inaugural running of the Pebble Beach Road Races in 1950. Those sports car events quickly outgrew the public roads of the Del Monte Forest and a beautiful new road racing facility was born on November 9, 1957.

The earliest development of the local area occurred in 1867 with the founding of the nearby Laguna Seca Ranch, which had operated continuously for 140 years with grazing and equestrian uses.

The original Laguna Seca Raceway was built in 1957 at a cost of $1.5 million raised from local businesses and individuals on part of the US Army’s Fort Ord (a maneuver area and field artillery target range) after the nearby Pebble Beach Road Races were abandoned for being too dangerous. In 1974, the property was deeded over to the Monterey County Parks Department. The entire facility is owned by Monterey County.

The first race, held on November 9, 1957, was won by Pete Lovely driving a Ferrari. In the intervening years, the track has hosted USRRC, Can-Am, Trans-Am, Formula 5000, IMSA GT, Champ Car, American Le Mans Series, Grand-Am, Superbike World Championship and MotoGP motorcycle races and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.

The track itself has undergone significant changes over the past two decades to meet evolving safety homologation requirements. Changes include the addition of the entire infield area in 1988 (present day turns 3, 4 and 5, eliminating the straight that started at present day Turn 2 and ended at present day Turn 5) extending the track from its original 1.9-mile length to its current 2.238-mile length, plus the relocation of pedestrian bridges and embankments, and the expansion of gravel pits for additional runoff.

The original media center was demolished in 2006 and replaced by the Hospitality Pavilion (formerly known as the Red Bull Energy Center), a modern entertainment facility with commanding views of the facility.

Perhaps one of the most famous moments of racing took place at the Corkscrew when Alex Zanardi passed Bryan Herta on the inside of the Corkscrew on the last lap of the 1996 CART race to take the victory. 

“The Pass” is one of the most iconic moments in all of motorsports. I watched it live on TV, and from that moment, I wanted to race on the track where my hero, Alex Zanardi, made history. Here’s what it looked like:

Wow! It still gives me chills to watch it.

Here’s a look at the track map:

Next up is race one at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Sonoma Raceway – Race #2

I’m angry again, but for a different reason this time. In the second race at Sonoma Raceway, I was doing much better. I started 7th and moved up to sixth. The racing was hard, but I managed to stay there until the final lap, running the best race I’ve run all season, and then I accidently hit the rewind button and screwed it all up. I started the race over, qualifying 17th and finishing 7th.

I swear, I’m not always mad, especially when racing, but I’ve been driving really poorly all season. I finally ran a race I was proud of, and I screwed it up with a silly technical error. The race you see below was better than my previous races, but not as good as the aborted race.

As always, a bunch of cars came to a stop for no apparent reason heading into turn one. I was able to pick up four spots before we hit turn two. I don’t know why this happens at every race, but I’ll continue to take advantage of it.

I also was harder on the tires than I should have been. They held together okay, but it annoys me that I allow myself to overdrive the car so much in race conditions. I need to get better at this. It’s really going to cost me when I start running longer races.

On a more positive note, despite my complaining, my driving is getting better. That shouldn’t be a surprise. The more seat time I get, the better I drive. That just makes sense. I hope it continues.

The top five in points after ten races are:

  1. Lou Mindar (145 pts)
  2. Alex Ravarito (70 pts)
  3. Hugh Navarro (59 pts)
  4. Peter Ward Jr (58 pts)
  5. Don McGowan (57 pts)

Next Race: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (Race #1)

Sonoma Raceway – Race #1

I don’t know if I’ve ever been so angry after a win. My driving was okay for the first half of the race, although I was unnecessarily hard on the tires. I made several mistakes in the second half of the race, even after passing the first place car. Ugh! My driving is just so inconsistent. Time in the seat (along with better focus) is the only thing that can cure that problem. I know it’s going to take time, but I’m old and impatient.

I started the race in second place and maintained position for most of the race. The third place car challenged me a couple of times, but then fell back quickly after the challenge. If I had not started at the front of the field, I would have been lost.

I’m happy to walk away with the win, but I understand today’s result was a bit of a fluke. My starting position had much more to do with the result than my driving. Next race, I may not be so lucky.

The top five in drivers points after nine races are:

  1. Lou Mindar (139 pts)
  2. Don McGowan (57 pts)
  3. Hugh Navarro (47 pts)
  4. (tie) Justin Hagin (45 pts)
  5. (tie) Gonzalo Perez (45 pts)
  6. Alex Ravarito (44 pts)

Next race: Sonoma Raceway – Race #2

Heading to California Wine Country

Our next race is up the coast from Long Beach at Sonoma Raceway, north of San Francisco, in Sonoma, CA. This is a track I’ve never visited in real life, so I’ve been practicing a fair amount over the past day or two. I have a prediction, I’m likely not going to do very well at this track.

The Honda Civic Type R is not particularly well-suited for Sonoma. The higher horsepower cars just kill it on the straights. In both low and high speed corners where the Civic should have an advantage, passing is very difficult. To make matters worse, I still don’t have a very good handle on the track. If I start in the front, I can usually hold my own. But if I start back in the pack, I have a hard time moving up without making contact with the car ahead of me, something I’m trying hard to avoid.

Another problem I’m having is that my tires are going off after eight or so laps. It’s not a big problem, but it’s something I need to work on. I need to be smoother, rolling into corner better, and modulating the accelerator better coming out of turns. Tire wear isn’t a huge problem in this shorter sprint races, but when I start doing longer races, it could turn into a big problem.

Here’s a map of Sonoma Raceway:

By the way, we’re using turns 11 and 11a.

Stay tuned. More to come.

Grand Prix of Long Beach – Race #2

At the beginning of the season, I planned on using “simulated” damage, which is supposed to be the most realistic damage mode. However, I experimented with it and found that minor impacts resulted in major, race-ending damage. It wasn’t as realistic as I had hoped. So instead, I went with “fuel and tire wear” mode.

On lap one of today’s race, I had contact so hard with a black BMW that I should have needed a new car. And the driver of the BMW should have been sent to the hospital. But, because I wasn’t using “simulated” damage, I continued on in the race. I’m not sure that “simulated” damage is the answer, but “fuel and tire wear” is as realistic as I would like. I’m not sure what to do.

In today’s race, I qualified 15th and finished in 5th position. A good result, although I didn’t drive particularly well. Actually, that’s not quite true. The first half of the race, I was a disaster. Too much contact for my liking. However, I was better in the second half of the race, and did better than in the previous race saving my tires. So, I guess that’s progress.

The points standings after eight races are:

  1. Lou Mindar (114 pts)
  2. Don McGowan (57 pts)
  3. Gonzalo Perez (45 pts)
  4. Callie Carr (43 pts)
  5. Peter Ward Jr. (42 pts)

Next race: Sonoma Raceway – Race #1

Grand Prix of Long Beach – Race #1

Race 1 of the Grand Prix of Long Beach was my best race yet. I know I only finished 7th, but I thought I drove my best race of the season. True, there was still too much contact and I made too many mistakes, but overall, I thought it was my best drive.

I’ve participated in a lot of races in real life, and I’ve attended several as a spectator, and I don’t remember traffic coming to a standstill at turn one on lap one as routinely as it does in Forza Motorsports 7. Every single race, traffic comes to a complete stop, sometimes even before turn one. I’ve come to expect it. I’ve even learned to take advantage of it. But I don’t understand it.

This race, I qualified 21st and finished P7. I’m getting better at rolling my speed through the corners and driving more smoothly. That’s especially important at Long Beach because the racing surface is hard on tires. By the end of the race, the tires were starting to go off.

Speaking of end of the race, the race was supposed to be twelve laps long. I screwed up and set it for eleven. I’ll fix that for the next race.

The top five in points after seven races are:

  1. Lou Mindar (104 pts)
  2. Don McGowan (57 pts)
  3. Peter Ward Jr. (42 pts)
  4. (tie) Callie Carr (39 pts)
  5. (tie) Gonzalo Perez (39 pts)
  6. Pierre Blasno (36 pts)

Next Race: Grand Prix of Long Beach – Race #2

Heading to Long Beach

We’re heading to the West Coast to take on the street circuit used for the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The circuit originally played host to Formula 5000 in 1975. The race was a success, and garnered attention from Formula 1. Beginning in 1976, Long Beach became one of two Formula 1 races in the U.S. (along with Watkins Glen). In 1980, Long Beach became the sole Formula 1 stop in the U.S.

Despite great racing and large crowds, the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Long Beach was not financially successful for race promoter, Chris Pook. In 1984, Pook convinced city leaders to change the race sanction over to CART. The race became a high point on the CART calendar in short order, and it kick started a renaissance in the city of Long Beach.

The Grand Prix of Long Beach continued as a mainstay on the CART calendar until 2008, when CART and IRL reunited to form IndyCar. Since then, Long Beach has remained on the IndyCar calendar, and is recognized as one of the most successful motorsports events in the country.

But IndyCar isn’t the only sanctioning body that has raced at Long Beach. Other organizations include IMSA, Formula Atlantic, Indy Lights, Stadium Super Trucks, World Challenge, North American Touring Car Championship, Formula E, and others. And soon, it will play host to rounds 7 & 8 of the Forza Motorsports Hot Hatch Series.

Here’s a look at the track layout:

I’m making a change beginning with the Grand Prix of Long Beach races. I’m stepping up the Drivatar difficulty from “Expert to “Pro.” I have had finishes in previous races much better than I deserve based on how well I was driving. My hope is that the tougher competition will result in more realistic finishes.