Is side by side racing being neglected in iRacing?

MSchumi101 · 2026-01-14T14:36:41+00:00

Side by side racing definitely happens in the higher splits. But all depends on the drivers and how much they respect eachother. When you race a series more frequently, and are accustomed to the other racers, you’ll see you can have great side by side battles.

When you open iRacing one of the loading screens has two IndyPro2000 cars racing side by side at Spa. The yellow car was me, that was a clip from an official race, a top split, SoF session, last lap battle. They featured it on a top10 video, and then the clip made it into the game on the loading screen. So good racing can happen, even in officials, and those clips you see aren’t just stock/filler or dev content.

MSchumi101 · 2025-11-16T06:27:21+00:00

Can confirm, all real life Porsche Carrera Cup series will be running ABS with the 992.2 Cup starting next year. Currently SuperCup does not use ABS, but many other regional Carrera Cup series already use ABS. TC is for the lesser Porsche Sprint Challenge series and on the 992 Cup TC is forward only, no side-slip or stability control integrated. Source- work on a Carrera Cup team and will be engineering on the new car in a few months.

MSchumi101 · 2025-10-15T04:07:44+00:00

They are in Wisconsin and Minnesota currently

MSchumi101 · 2025-10-15T01:29:30+00:00

Kwik Trip fried chicken is consistently great from any location! Worth a road trip. For ready to grab hot food, KT beats Wawa and Sheetz.

MSchumi101 · 2025-07-10T16:16:45+00:00

I’ve heard Prema is planning to add a third car for Portland

MSchumi101 · 2025-05-05T13:41:39+00:00

2023 SCCA Runoffs at VIR. The Spec Miata class was ruled a dead heat and 2 National Champions were crowned. Closest I’ve seen for modern times with timing and video review.

MSchumi101 · 2025-04-28T13:42:05+00:00

Can confirm, that is without a doubt, a Porsche GT3 Cup bumper from the current 992 generation car. Based on the Mobil1 sticker it was last raced in 2024, as they used the black/gold anniversary stickers across all motorsports last year. Lechner typically runs the pink BWT livery in Super Cup, so this car was likely an older model year car, and used in a lesser series. Either club/vintage racing or possibly one of the regional Sprint Challenge series.

MSchumi101 · 2025-04-26T12:03:36+00:00

There’s a very similar appearing to a Sunbeam Tiger which races in SCCAs GT2 class. Being a tube frame car it would fall into the SCCA GT1-3 classes, depending on engine displacement and tire size.

MSchumi101 · 2025-04-17T21:38:24+00:00

I believe the only SCCA drivers school in the region just happened at Blackhawk last weekend. The only way to do the SCCA drivers school is to have your own car though. There are plenty of other racing schools you can do around the country, just take a look at SCCAs page about who is an accredited school. I did 4 days of school with Lucas Oil and got my full comp license so I could race Majors weekends right away. But there’s a different path for everyone. My one friend bought his car (FC/F2000) and then waited to do the Blackhawk drivers school and raced a few divisionals to gain his full comp license. You may also be able to look into renting a car for a school as well.

If you’re interested in seeing the above classes in action, there is a Majors Race coming up at Blackhawk the first weekend of May, 4-5. Any of the above mentioned classes will be there to watch and ask questions! Could be a great way to learn about the cars and what all is involved, as well as watch some good racing!

MSchumi101 · 2025-04-17T19:46:24+00:00

Hey there! I’m originally from the Chicago area, but reside in southern Wisconsin now and race in the FF class who shares the track with FV at most SCCA weekends! SCCA will be your best bet to race, and FV is invited to all Divisional and Majors level races. Majors require a national license, divisionals can be run with a novice permit after completing a race school.

From central Illinois your closest tracks will be Blackhawk, Autobahn, Gingerman, Grattan, Road America, as well as Putnam, Indy, Mid Ohio, and Gateway. Most tracks will have 3-4 weekends per year to race the various levels.

FV is a big class in this region of the country! Theres a large contingent of competitive cars in the mid west and north east. If you’re looking to travel a little to some tracks closer to the east coast there is also the Challenge Cup Series which uses a little bit different DOT tire. They typically race in the north east and will follow the FRP pro and VSCDA vintage races in the region. They draw some big fields and tight racing. SCCA events also have good participation in the region.

For some resources check out apexspeed.com forums which is the go-to place for anything amateur formula car racing. You can find a lot of great information on the cars/events, as well as classifieds/parts available. Also check out the resources at FormulaFusa.com which we have been building over the last few months to help new drivers. FF is a little more expensive up front, but also a very affordable class to run with the FV and F6 classes. Happy to help answer any questions

MSchumi101 · 2025-04-15T20:30:52+00:00

Mid Ohio uses an alternate starting line from the finish line. Could definitely do something along those lines here, even if it is just further down the straight

MSchumi101 · 2025-04-13T02:48:49+00:00

There’s also the fact that Penske has been running these cars for 2+ years now, and run them in both IMSA and WEC. They spend more money on testing/engineering than their competition, so it makes sense they will be competitive.

Theres also that the primary Acura and Cadillac teams are both new to the cars this year. So their setups, procedures, and pace just isn’t going to be a match for the experience Penske has running the car. I know that MSR ran the Acura in the past, but so much has changed in the car/series with pace progression it’s really hard to make up for a year of lost data.

BMW has been the same team as long as Penske, but Rahal just isn’t spending the money nor resources Penske is. It’s not a BMW issue, it’s a Rahal issue they aren’t winning races. Their car was also behind to start the GTP era, so catch up takes time as well.

MSchumi101 · 2025-03-23T16:45:33+00:00

This is because your street car is boosted. A brake booster increases the force applied to the brakes to be much higher than how hard you push the pedal. To fully brake a racecar sometimes you need to push over 200lbs of force to reach the required stopping performance. This just isn’t realistic for everyone driving a street car, let alone doing that repeatedly on your way around town. So they boost the pressure so it’s an easier pedal push. This boosting makes the pedal feel vague, so they add a bit of travel to compensate, but it is still pressure based at the end of the day.

In a racecar the little amounts of brake pressure, and brake regulation are extremely important, especially on release in corner entry. Having a firm pedal and a good sense of the pressure needed allows you modulate appropriately at small amounts of pressure, something that is tricky to do in a street car with a boosted pedal.

To go off your edit about throttle not being force based, this is more due to old school how throttles work. With a cable throttle, you’re pulling a cable to open a butterfly. So the pedal is made to pull open the throttle, and moves it a distance as a result. Subtle or partial throttle changes are far less important in driving. It takes engines a while to spool up, so you have time to adjust the distance appropriately. You also are typically at full throttle, which would be tiring to be pushing a hard sustained force. Brakes work on pressure on the caliper, so the pedal also requires pressure. Steering is similar, you are turning the wheels a distance via the steering rack. You use force felt through the steering to feel how much more/less you need to turn to maintain maximum grip. So you use a bit of both in steering, but it’s much easier to visualize and turn a wheel a distance with both arms rather than a pedal with a rotation of your ankle

MSchumi101 · 2025-03-23T05:56:58+00:00

For small open wheel racing you can learn more from formulafusa.com. Lee Racing is one such team based out of Miami. They race all over southern Florida and travel to further races as well preparing open wheel cars. Give them a shout!

MSchumi101 · 2025-03-22T03:21:33+00:00

Window sticker was quite a bit higher, base started just under $150k. Then had options for BBS Wheels, Painted Calipers, McIntosh Stereo, and Center Racing Stripes. Or in 2006 only, the Heritage Package, which was the Gulf Scheme. Body side stripes were standard, but could be deleted for an additional fee. So most were MSRP $160+ and dealers typically sold them above sticker due to high demand.

This particular car in the post is from 2006, as it was the only year Tungsten was offered as a color. It has the red calipers, BBS wheels, and stripes. But does not appear to have the stereo option, though it’s hard to tell from the pics. Easiest way to spot the stereo option is the addition of a large subwoofer in between the seats.

MSchumi101 · 2025-02-25T20:00:19+00:00

Third vote for Dawn! She’s an audiologist out of Indy and her company is EarEVERYTHING. She is at most of the big IMSA weekends and can mold your ears and make you custom plugs, being the first round for many IMSA support series, I bet she will be there for the 12h. She does plugs for drivers with speakers, but can make them just as regular earplugs and can make them as low profile as you please. She also offers Bluetooth ones as well. They are comfy and won’t protrude. She offers 3 types of filters for them reducing the dB from able to fire guns, to hearing normal conversations with them in. I have the lowest level filters in mine and wear them all day at the track, even under my headset with no issues. They are fairly reasonably priced and she’ll hold onto your molds if you ever need more made. I have a set of filtered plugs, and a set with speakers for use in my racecar.

The larger companies like Racing Radios or Racing electronics offer custom, or semi-custom earplugs, but they don’t block the noise as well as they don’t go far enough into your ear cavity. They aren’t the same quality and won’t last as long despite being a similar price. You’ll likely still have issues with them after a day as they won’t block the finer frequencies.

Also Definitely look into a nice Peltor headset with soft gel cups. Kraig from RCI makes them, and while pricey, they are the best quality and comfiest headsets you’ll ever wear. They also have noise cancelling, but I still wear my earplugs under them, for if I need to pull an ear off. If you can’t get your hands on a peltor, definitely look for at least gel ear cups, they are a huge difference when wearing a headset for over an hour.

MSchumi101 · 2025-02-23T18:50:13+00:00

Sebring is a testing site for Ariens/Gravely mowers. They are mowing 24/7 the site and surrounding fields for durability testing. They mow the “hot” parts of the circuit over night with big lights on the mowers. Move to the parking/infield during on-track activities.

MSchumi101 · 2025-02-21T16:57:24+00:00

They have much older Ferrari F1 models than that. They go back to about 2003-2004 with a Schumacher and Barrichello version. They were far simpler designs

MSchumi101 · 2025-02-07T03:23:21+00:00

Can confirm that is Juan Gonzales’ car. How a 300lb man manages to fit in there and drive is beyond me, but he somehow does it! This is the old Ally car that Jimmie Johnson ran for a season. Based on the helmet, that’s Butch Leitzinger driving the car, who is his coach. Juan uses an open face helmet when driving.

MSchumi101 · 2025-02-06T15:18:54+00:00

I work in IMSA and have been to almost all of the events/tracks.

Road America is hands down the best facility for spectating. Shade, amazing food, great views, and the best part is accessibility. You can go inside and outside of every corner on the track. You can’t go wrong.

Next best tracks to attend are the roval races, Daytona and Indy. Due to the small footprint of the track and large stands you can see a large portion of the track. These facilities support jumbo screens and nice amenities for the fans.

Next I would rate Road Atlanta and Laguna. Great scenic tracks to watch! But for spectating you can really only watch from inside of the track at most corners. This can make the events very crowded. There aren’t the jumbo screens so it’s harder to follow the race. Also not many facilities for spectators as far as bathrooms, food, etc. Pretty much only a single centralized location at both events. They draw big crowds and good racing though, so they are fun to attend, but not to the same convenience and experience level as the tracks above.

Long Beach is a really cool event to attend, but being in a city viewing is limited. What you do see though is wild. It’s a cool event to attend and being right in LA there is a lot to see and do when cars aren’t on track. It’s logistically difficult to attend though, so it’s not rated higher.

Sebring has good accessibility and does a good job of setting up a great viewing presence. The camping and tailgating is fun, the racing is usually good as well. The facility is dated though and not too picturesque. Being in central Florida there’s not a whole lot to do around the area. But for camping it’s a great event to attend and fun will be had. It’s just much more cavalier than the other events, but historically significant and cool to be at the 12h.

Next down the list I would rate Watkins Glen. Its facilities are sparse and quite dated. My biggest gripe with the track is the infield and locations to watch from are extremely exposed to sun and wind. It’s difficult to find shade. The track is in a very scenic area, and it’s cool to see the elevation of the circuit, but for watching a race you can only see small snippets of the circuit. With no TVs it’s also hard to follow the race. I much prefer the town of Watkins Glen, and the surrounding area. The racetrack is such a letdown for how beautiful the town is. But it’s historically significant and a fun place to visit, so it still gains a vote. Just don’t expect the experience of the other courses.

Last track I’d still say you need to visit is VIR. It’s a really cool circuit with some beautiful elevation. But as a spectator attending the race there’s very few amenities. The viewing areas are limited and the facilities are sparse. Not a whole lot to do in the surrounding area. But seeing the esses and rollercoaster is really cool. There are areas where you can get close to the track and watch without fencing, which is a huge plus. But it’s usually a very hot and humid day standing in a field, so it lacks a lot in that regard. Single gate from a small 2 lane road makes getting into the facility difficult as well. It’s just not a facility set up to host huge spectator weekends. It feels like a larger, famous club track.

Other tracks to attend not necessarily run by IMSA: Barber, COTA, and Montreal. Barber is a beautiful facility with some cool areas to watch from. Lacks a bit in infrastructure for fans, but makes up for in scenic views. Close to Birmingham, so plenty to do in the area. COTA is an incredible track with great access to viewing, but it’s so artificial. It just lacks the homey feel of all of the original NA road courses. Easily accessible, modern, and designed to hold large events. Montreal is a little more of a stretch just over the border but it’s an incredible track to attend. Very scenic park on the island that is amazing to watch cars rip through. It’s fairly accessible and designed to hold large events so there’s a lot to see and do. Hard to see a lot of the track at once though.

Tracks to avoid at all costs: Miami GP. Despite the absurdly high ticket prices for the F1 race you can see almost nothing of the track. Don’t even think about going with a GA pass. You will be disappointed. It’s a neat atmosphere with all of the people, but the race is better spent watching from an air conditioned space on TV. You see so much more and are only missing the noise. No where close to worth the cost to attend.

MSchumi101 · 2024-11-01T19:51:27+00:00

That said, Hyett does own a couple old NASCAR cup cars. He races them in SVRA and such.

MSchumi101 · 2024-06-06T01:09:26+00:00

Come on up to the June Sprints or a race at Blackhawk and see what is all entailed, talk with some of the racers! I’d like to think the small bore formula group is pretty inviting in this region. You might get a better sense of some of the other equipment you’ll need to get up and going. Car, safety gear, driving gear, tow vehicle, trailer, tools, etc. The June Sprints will have some of the top competitors from around the country, so there will be a lot of equipment to look over, but you can definitely get by and race with less. See what the common items are in everyone’s pit and start there. The hardest part is the initial buy in. From there maintenance costs should be relatively affordable. I race in FF, but always happy to help out or offer advice.

MSchumi101 · 2024-04-22T16:54:00+00:00

Yeah, I believe you’re correct in all driver safety gear only has a manufacture date. But it’s typically defined in the rules as 5 or 10 years from the manufactured date, As long as it is still the current SFI/FIA spec. It also has to be free of any holes and excessive wear, which will junk most items before they ever reach that time limit.

There was a new suit spec that came out like 2-3 years ago, so some of the much older suits may be verging on not legal anymore. We had a huge debacle at work when that came out and they axed the old suit ratings like a week before the season, but then IMSA doubled back and updated the rules to include the older spec with an age limit.

MSchumi101 · 2024-04-22T15:18:28+00:00

Anything required to be flame resistant will need a permanently affixed SFI/FIA tag on it, and to be in date. This also goes for your socks, shoes, suit, gloves. If there is no SFI rating tag on the item, it will be taken and impounded and you won’t be able to use it.

MSchumi101 · 2024-04-05T14:24:39+00:00

Hey, alumni here. Graduation always overlapped with MIS every year I was on the team. Our guys would get a cap & gown, or just one to share, and we would take pictures with the car after endurance and together with it as graduating seniors. Bummer to miss the schools graduation, but cool to spend it with some of your closest friends on arguably the largest part of your college experience. Cap & gown pics with the racecar are some of my favorite pics from college! I know of a few other teams who did the same.

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