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5dollarpromo_160x600 Simcraft

February 2012

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M T W T F S S
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iRacing TV

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The Team

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  • David Phillips
    Editor and Chief
    David Phillips is a long-time contributor to print and electronic publications in the U.S. and abroad, including Racer, Autosport, AutoWeek, Motor Sport and SPEEDtv.com, oversees the daily updating of news stories and assigns, edits and contributes feature material for inRacingNews.com.
  • Chris Hall
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Chris Hall has been writing since the nineties and moved into motorsports reporting in 2005, covering series such as ALMS, British GT, FIA GT, Le Mans and 2CV racing for Full Throttle magazine, Motorsport.com, The-Paddock.net, GTGateway.com, L' Endurance and, of course, inRacingNews. During 2008 and 2009, he worked with the RSS Performance Porsche Carrera Cup Team (and former British GT(C) champions) as a data engineer for a variety of drivers and models of 997s.
  • Jameson Spies
    Contributing Writer
    19 years old, Jameson Spies lives in Quartz Hill, California. He grew-up surrounded by racing. His mother raced late models throughout Southern California while his father built and setup the car. Not surprisingly, Jameson began racing go-karts at the age of 13, and is now racing Spec Trucks at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. He has a passion about all forms of racing and hopes to make a career out of it.
  • Jason Lofing
    iRacing.com Series Writer
    Jason is 21 years old and was born and raised in Elk Grove. California. A big time NASCAR fan, he hasn’t missed a race on Sunday in years. Lofing is also a huge San Fransisco Giants fan and tries to take in at least a couple games a year. Other than sim racing, his biggest (and far more expensive!) hobby is photography. Although he is rather new to sim racing, Lofing has already accomplished some pretty impressive results, qualifying for the 2011 iRacing Oval Pro Series in Season 1, 2011, winning the inaugural Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge and finishing runner-up in the second one.
  • Ray Bryden
    Technical contributor
    Ray grew up in Nova Scotia, which means he’s a hockey nut, but in Nova Scotia’s two non-winter months he had to find other diversions, which meant watching F1 racing on weekends with his dad and brothers. Without the resources to get started in racing, he gravitated to computer versions of racing – first Atari games like Pole Position, followed by PC racing games like Indianapolis 500: The Simulation. Dozens of others came and went, until Grand Prix Legends came along and he decided sim-racing was his official hobby. Years were spent enjoying this both offline and online until a few years of fatherhood took priority. When free-time reappeared he heard about iRacing and signed up in 2008 and became so involved in the service that he wrote one of the first books on the subject of sim-racing, iRacing Paddock. When not writing for inRacingNews.com, his main occupation is as a research associate with Saint-Gobain working on advanced ceramic materials.
  • Patrick Atherton
    Contributing Writer
    Patrick Atherton, originally from Adelaide in the state of South Australia, currently resides just outside of Melbourne, Victoria with wife of 17 years and 3 kids. A business manager by profession, but also dabbles with blogging, cartooning and fine art, having been published both as a writer in a short-lived South Australian motorsport yearbook and later as a cartoonist in a niche trade magazine. At the age of 19 he competed in club circuit events in an Austin Healey Sprite, later indulging in sprint karts between 1994 and 2000. Following the move to the State of Victoria he raced Road Race Karts (“Superkarts” as they are known in Australia) in the popular Rotax class, competing at Phillip Island, Oran Park, Mallala, Wakefield Park, Eastern Creek, Calder Park, Sandown and Winton. It was during this time he met former Australian F2 champion and inventor of Australia’s first, and most prolific race simulator rig, Jon Crooke. This culminated in an introduction to Papyrus’ legendary NR2003 simulation, and the subsequent sim racing addiction which brought him to iRacing.
  • Tim Terry
    Contributing Writer
    Tim Terry, aka the voice of Maritime stock car racing, fell in love with sim racing in 2004 after he joined the Sim Racing Network crew as a pit reporter. From October 2004 to SRNtv’s closure in June 2007, he’s covered prestigious races and leagues such as the Online 500, FLM Fall 400, Real Racing Online and the DMP Racing League – each as the lead broadcaster for the company. At the same time the wheels started to turn in another direction as he began announcing stock car racing locally. Terry became the assistant announcer at Scotia Speedworld in May 2007 and took over full duties in May 2009 when long-time voice Mike Kaplan retired from the track. Terry also became the series voice of the Parts For Trucks Pro Stock Tour in ’09 and continues to hold down both posts in 2011. He has also announced races for the Pro All Stars Series, Atlantic Open Wheel and Maritime League of Legends tours and has called races at six different Atlantic Canadian tracks. Terry can be heard online at WebRacingNetwork.com, RLMtv.com and OLRtv.com covering sim races. He also makes occasional appearances on PSRtv.com. In addition to inRacingNews, his articles and columns can be read on ScotiaSpeedworld.ca, MaritimeProStockTour.com and his own website at timterryonline.com.
  • David Allen
    Contributing Writer
    North Carolina born and raised with over 15 years of computer/IT experience, I combine two of my biggest hobbies -- racing and technology -- here at inRacingNews. In my spare time I run a Nascar fan site and cure my own need for speed riding atvs. If it involves technology or racing I'll be there, but combine the two and I'll be looking a front row seat. Stop by and say hello anytime!
  • Allen Krier
    Contributing Writer
    Allen was born in West Palm Beach, Florida but grew up in Atlanta and attended Georgia College and State University where he received a BS in Information Systems. Currently a resident of Albany, GA, he started sim racing in 2008 while in college when iRacing was first released to the public. Since then, Krier has been a two time iRacing Pro Series driver (2009 and 2010), picking up one Pro Series win at Daytona in ‘09. Besides sim racing, Allen’s other hobbies include RC Car racing as well as “attending and watching any sporting event that I can including going to the local dirt track.

iRacer Profile – Dylan Duval

February 4th, 2012

97
motorsport simulations

Dylan Duval (aka D-Twice) is a quick learner.  Introduced to sim racing a little over a year ago, the Halifax, Nova Scotia resident rocketed from rookie to Class A (oval) license in no-time and quickly established himself in the front ranks of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series by finishing runner-up to Josh Laughton in 2011 Season 2 thanks to a record of 31 wins in 88 starts.    A fan of the Chevy Silverado. Duval is also a regular front runner in the GSRacing.net Truck Series and has a finish in the top three of the 2011-12 championship in sight. Duval has other series in his sights as well, having placed 22nd overall in the 2011 Season 4 NASCAR iRacing.com Class B Series and finished-up 2011 Season 4 with a [...]

iRacer Profile – Dylan Sharman

by David Phillips on January 28th, 2012

269
motorsport simulations

Call him “Dillman” or “Sharmanator” or just plain Dylan, 19 year old Dylan Sharman is certainly a leading candidate for the title of “King of SK Modifieds.  After all the resident of Nuriootpa, South Australia has nearly 50 SK Modified wins to his credit in the past three seasons – and the 2011 Season 3 and 4 championships.  He slipped a little in Season 4, finishing second to Rusty Greer despite taking 19 wins in 21 starts. But Sharman is more than an SK Mod specialist.  In recent weeks he’s won races in everything from the HPD-ARX01c to the Mazda MX-5 Cup and Class A Impala.  And as his spectacular screen shots attest, the steering wheel, throttle and brake pedals are not the only sim racing tools he’s mastered. Q:   [...]

iRacer Profile: Joni Hagner

by David Phillips on January 21st, 2012

207
motorsport simulations

It would come as no surprise if Finland’s Joni Hagner were to stop into his local tattoo parlor for some bow-tie “ink.”  After all, he’s pretty much a Chevrolet kind of guy when it comes to iRacing.  A fixture in the top ten of the Corvette class of the iRacing.com Prototype and GT Challenge (Fixed and Open), he’s got his first championship in sight heading into the final weekend of 2011 Season 4, holding a narrow edge on Fernando Pento in the Fixed Set-up series.  He’s also piloted his ‘Vette to the runner-up spot behind countryman Teemu Vuolle in the Open Set-up series. And Hagner is a very respectable P31 in Division 2 of the NASCAR Class A standings in, what else, a Chevrolet Impala. In truth, Hagner’s not so [...]

iRacer Profile – Teemu Lappalainen

by David Phillips on January 14th, 2012

152
motorsport simulations

Away from the sim machine, Teemu Lappalainen is the shy and retiring type; the sort of fellow who likes to sit on the beach — in anonymity.  Turn the Finn lose on the tracks of iRacing.com, however, and he is anything but shy . . . or retiring.  After finishing sixth in the HPD ARX01c’s inaugural season of the iRacing.com Prototype/GT Challenge, he’s out to do far better in 2011 Season 4.  As the light at the end of the seasonal tunnel grows ever brighter he finds himself in the midst of a torrid tussle for the overall championship.  Heading into the penultimate weekend of the season, Lappalainen occupied fifth spot in the standings behind Roderic Kreunen, Darren Marsh, Pascal Dupers and Cristian Lorente.  However, he’s just ten markers behind [...]

Corvette Racing Tabs iRacer Jordan Taylor

by David Phillips on January 12th, 2012

103
Jordan Taylor

iRacer Jordan Taylor will be joining Corvette Racing team to drive the Compuware Corvette C6.R in three long of the world’s classic endurance races in 2012.  Taylor,  20 year old son of renowned sports car champion Wayne Taylor, will join Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner and Richard Westbrook in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the American Le Mans Series’ Mobil One 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans. Together with co-driver Bill Lester, Taylor piloted the Autohaus Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to a runner-up finish in the 2011 Rolex GT championship, just two points short of the title. He will continue to compete in the Rolex Series in 2012 with Autohaus Motorsports in addition to driving for Corvette Racing in endurance races. “Corvette [...]

Sim Racing Meets Real World Racing

by Katier Scott on January 10th, 2012

293
Sim Racing Meets Real World Racing

This weekend features one of the most eagerly-anticipated shows on the motor sport calender as Autosport International opens its doors at the NEC Birmingham.  Covering over one million sq ft of floor space, Autosport International is widely regarded as Europe’s largest motorsport exhibition. The event opens to the members of the motorsports trade for two days on 12th and 13th January before the public get the chance to enjoy the wide range of exhibitors on the weekend of the 14th and 15th. This exciting event features stands from companies as diverse as Formula 1, down to go-karting and both oval and road, national motorsport.  Amongst the hundreds of stands, and probably thousands of steel, plastic, carbon fibre and fibreglass cars, will be exhibits featuring various elements of sim racing, reflecting [...]

iRacer Profile – Alan Binder

by David Phillips on January 7th, 2012

245
motorsports simulation

iRacers can be forgiven if they automatically associate the name “Alan Binder” with the words “Sprint” and “Car.”  After all, along with competitors/friends Vinnie Sansone and PJ Stergios, the Dayton, Ohio resident is one of the stalwarts of the iRacing Sprint Car Cup.  And like they say, practice makes perfect.  Binder may not be perfect, but his record of 13 wins in 18 starts was plenty good enough to earn him the 2011 Season 3 Sprint Cup title — an honor he is well on the way to successfully defending in Season 4, having already collected 15 wins in 18 starts to lead Sansone and Finland’s Petteri Kotovaara in the standings. There’s more to Alan Binder than Sprint Cars and, believe it or not, iRacing.  The proud father of four [...]

iRacer Profile: Fredrik Tackman

by David Phillips on December 31st, 2011

355
online racing

You could certainly say that Fredrik Tackman is a quick learner.  Last season he finished a respectable 13th in the iRacing.com Star Mazda Series with seven wins in 22 starts.  Season 4?  He’s leading all comers after eight weeks of racing, with 19 wins (and 38 top fives overall) in 42 starts.  But as the 40-something (at least until October!) from Ostersund, Sweden says it’s not really the results that give him pleasure so much as the feeling of being in control of the car.  And Tackman is in control of a lot of  different cars on the iRacing service, with wins in Season 4 in a Class A Impala at New Hampshire and in an HPD-ARX01c to his credit, along with all those victories in the Star Mazda. But [...]

iRacer Profile: Scott U’Ren

December 23rd, 2011

181
motorsport simulation

Scott U’Ren is a young man who knows what he likes.  When it comes to sim racing that would be iRacing.com and, specifically, the iRacing V8 Supercar Series.  That’s not to say he doesn’t occasionally try his hand at other cars and other series, but it is to say that, since August, he has participated in just four practice sessions driving anything besides his Ford Falcon. Practice may not make the Melbourne-based U’Ren perfect, but it makes him pretty good.  Good enough to have finished P4 in the fiercely competitive 2011 Season 3 iRacing V8 Supercar Series on the strength of a dozen top fives (and two wins) in 14 starts; good enough to currently stand fifth in the Season 4 points race behind Madison Down, Rens Broekman, Mitchell McLeod [...]

iRacers Team-Up

by David Phillips on December 20th, 2011

105
iRacers Team-Up

Two iRacers — NASCAR Sprint Cup regular Joey Logano and NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series/NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (fixed) championship leader (and former inRacingNews contributor) Jordan Hightower — teamed-up to provide Logano’s fans with some insights on the recent iRacing.com Pro Race of Champions . . . Oval The first of two events in the inaugural iRacing Pro Race of Champions took place under the lights at the digitally recreated Charlotte Motor Speedway driving the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chevrolet Silverado for 25 laps. Joey Logano started his No. 20 truck from the 17th position and was quickly moving his way up through the field. He would race as high as 12th, but misfortune on lap seven took Logano’s chance at a good run away as he made contact [...]

iRacer Profile: Landon Sciacca

December 17th, 2011

196
motorsport simulation

Columbus, Ohio’s Landon Sciacca is a fan short tracks, be they real or virtual.  His favorite track on the iRacing service?  Richmond International Raceway.  His favorite “real life” tracks?  Toledo Speedway,Columbus Motor Speedway and Winchester Speedway.  Sciacca knows where-of he speaks in both cases, competing in the Main Event Racing Series and focusing on NASCAR iRacing.com Class B, C, Late Models and Legends in iRacing.  To good effect.  With 13 top fives (and six wins) in 27 starts, he’s currently second in points to Bill Wease in Class C (fixed) Division 4, and 12th in Legends Cup Division 1 with 37 top fives (and 11 wins) in 48 starts. Q:    How long have you been sim racing? A:    Five or six years now, with Dirt Track Racing 2, rFactor, Nascar [...]

iRacer of the Year

by David Phillips on December 16th, 2011

229
motorsport simulation

iRacing.com is excited to announce the first annual iRacers of the Year awards.  The iRacing.com 2011 Driver of the Year will be awarded to a member for his/her achievements in competition on the virtual race tracks of iRacing.com.  The iRacing.com 2011 Member of the Year will be awarded to a member for his/her contributions to the iRacing community as whole as the result of their technical contributions, helping other drivers and/or simply adding to the fun, fellowship and sense of community. Below are the nominees for the iRacer of the Year awards.   Voting runs from December 15 through December 31 at 23:59 GMT and the winners will be announced in early January.   Click here to cast your votes. Driver of the Year •   Ray Alfalla – NASCAR iRacing.com Series World [...]

iRacer Profile – Trenton Moriarity

by David Phillips on December 10th, 2011

242
motorsport simulation

Trenton Moriarity embodies much that is good about the sport of sim racing.  Sure, he’s a fierce competitor.  He currently enjoys a narrow lead over rivals Kevin Burris and David Ratler in the iRacing.com Late Model Series, thanks to taking six wins and five more top fives in a dozen starts so far this season.  But beyond that — well beyond that — is the fact the Monroe, WA-based Moriarity has his sim racing in perspective, seeking to leverage whatever success he may enjoy to support young Piper Needham’s battle against leukemia.  Then too, although he may live and breathe NASCAR, Moriarity counts the sim racing community’s tribute to IndyCar racing’s Dan Wheldon – The Dan Wheldon 77 – among his most memorable moments. All this is not to suggest [...]

iRacer Profile: John Schweickart

by David Phillips on December 3rd, 2011

134
motorsport simulation

When it comes to iRacing, John Schweickart is on movin’ on up.  Although the Dayton, Ohio-based Schweickurt has been sim racing for the best part of a decade, he is only now closing-in on completing his second full year of iRacing.  And looking better and better all the time.  After finishing a rather distant (at least from the top of the score sheets) 305th in the overall NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series standings in Season 3 (95th in Division 2), he finds himself knocking on the top ten of Division 2 and the top 30 overall. It’s all a matter of focus.  Although Schweickart has run a few NASCAR iRacing.com Class C open and fixed setup events this season, he’s concentrating on the Class A series . . . with [...]

Comfort Zone

by David Phillips on November 30th, 2011

551
Elliott Skeer in his comfort zone.

Elliott Skeer’s idea of a comfort zone is traveling at 100+ mph, no matter whether the speed is real or virtual.  Either way, he’s at the wheel of a race car, be it the real Mazda MX5 in which he clinched the 2011 Teen Mazda Championship (West) at Infineon Raceway or iRacing’s virtual MX5 he used to prepare for that event. The 17 year old’s uncomfortable zone?  Presenting a sponsorship proposal to a panel of judges at the Mazda Shoot-Out with a prize valued at $75,000 — including the budget to race in the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX5 Cup — on the line. There was more to the Mazda Shoot-Out than sponsorship proposals, of course; like wheeling a Mazda MX5 Cup car around Buttonwillow Raceway.  But Skeer says [...]

iRacer Profile – Brandon Buchberger

by David Phillips on November 19th, 2011

124
motorsport simulation

Brandon Buchberger’s name may not quite be synonymous with the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series, but that’s not for wanting of trying – or a lack of results – on the part of the Sugar Grove, IL resident.  Consider that, since first running the NiCCS seriously in 2009, Season 4, Buchberger has never finished worse than ninth in the overall standings; or that he’s amassed nearly 80 wins in that stretch. True, the NiCCS title has been elusive – so far – the 24 year old Buchberger wheeled his Silverado into the series points lead in the early going on the strength of three wins in six starts, to enjoy a narrow edge on rivals Alex Warren and Tyler D Hudson.   A frontrunner in the GSRacing.net Truck Series league, Buchberger [...]

Scanning What’s in Store for iRacing with Tony Gardner

by Nick Neben on November 18th, 2011

5,984
The Long Beach spline is finished . . . now comes the tricky part!

One of the biggest selling points in iRacing for me is the laser-scanned tracks.  As a sim-racer I may not benefit from knowing each bump and nuance of the real-world track, but knowing what I am driving from my living room is accurate down to the millimeter to what I see drivers racing on TV and in person adds to my experience overall. This unique and authentic feel that you can only get from laser-scanning adds so much to each track within the iRacing service. Tony Gardner, president of iRacing.com, recently provided me with some insights to the process of how the company decided on laser-scanning, the process of signing tracks, what goes into the decision on what tracks are brought into the service for the members and the status [...]

Gooden Plenty III

by Wyatt Gooden on November 13th, 2011

141
Wyatt was in familiar territory at the Glen  . . . the winner's circle.

iRacing’s Wyatt Gooden concluded a remarkable season of racing at Watkins Glen in October, taking his third and fourth wins in as many races in the SCCA F1600 Formula F Championship.  Not bad for a guy who had never raced an open wheel car before this summer’s debut at Mid-Ohio . . . even if one of those wins at the Glen was blessed with a little racing luck – Ed. The journey started well before the race weekend began. I flew down to Oklahoma City to meet with Quantum Racing Services’ Wendell and Slade Miller on Sunday (one week before the race). Oddly similar to the last trip before Mid-Ohio, I got to enjoy more delays because of weather . . . this time in Houston of all places! [...]

iRacer Profile – Rens Broekman

by David Phillips on November 12th, 2011

131
motorsport simulations

You might say Rens Broekman is something of a Stranger in a Strange Land.  Most Mondays finds him competing in iRacing.com’s V8 Supercar Series.  In and of itself that hardly qualilfies Broekman as a stranger.  But when you consider that he lives in The Netherlands and that virtually everyone he’s competing against in his nFinity eSports Ford Falcon hails from Australia or New Zealand, Broekman definitely qualifies as a bit of an outsider; make that a “fast” outsider.  After nabbing second place in the 2011 Season 2 racing standings, Broekman grabbed the Season 3 Time Trial championship and finished third in the racing standings – the only iRacer from outside the Antipodes to finish in the top 15. Season 4 again finds Broekman once again going head-to-head with V8 rivals [...]

And She Don’t Scrape No More

by Katier Scott on November 9th, 2011

591
The Lotus 79 is more fun to drive than ever.

iRacing’s Eric Hudec recently provided the Lotus 79 community with a superb example of community co-operation in working through a series of comparatively simple, but much requested, changes to this challenging Class B car. Led by Classic Lotus Grand Prix Series/community leader, Frank Herfjord, the Lotus 79 community used a forum thread started by Hudec to discuss changes they felt were fairly simple to implement but important to improving the realism and enjoyment of the car. Within a week of the discussion, Hudec had worked through the requests and created a patch which he successfully implemented on Monday night, allowing the community time to get used to the revisions before Week 2 commenced. The revisions included changes to the Lotus 79′s fuel economy, the increments for fueling the car, increased [...]