- iRacing.com Announces iRacing 2.013,022
- iRacing.com to create virtual McLaren MP4-12C GT39,258
- Scanning What’s in Store for iRacing with Tony Gardner7,385
- Dave Kaemmer Comes Clean on Dirt7,370
- The iRacing.com Protest System – May, 20126,642
- Improving the Sound of iRacing5,620
- iRacing 2.0 Debuts in 2011 Season 34,927
- Preview Shots of HPD ARX-01C, Ford GT & Suzuka4,889
- Two New Cars and Two New Tracks Coming to iRacing Soon4,789
- iRacing.com to Build Digital Honda for New Super GT Series4,456
- iRacing.com Announces iRacing 2.0 41
- Dave Kaemmer Comes Clean on Dirt 32
- The iRacing.com Protest System - May, 2012 30
- iRacing's Corvette: Good Enough is Not Good Enough 23
- No Obstacles Here 18
- iRacing.com to Build Digital Honda for New Super GT Series 11
- BRDC International Trophy Silverstone 10
- An Interesting Year, Part I 8
- iRacing.com to create virtual McLaren MP4-12C GT3 8
- FPS is Still King 5
- iRacing.com2335
- NASCAR 1891
- Motorcycles 1843
- Formula Cars 1705
- WRC 1427
- IndyCar 1295
- Touring Cars 873
- Sports Cars 307
- Other Racing 355
David Phillips
Editor and ChiefDavid 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 WriterChris 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 Writer19 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 WriterJason 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.
Tim Terry
Contributing WriterTim 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 WriterNorth 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 WriterAllen 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.
Carolina Challenge
by Gary Warren Ullrich on May 14th, 2011
Editor’s note: Last week we learned of Indiana Club’s Day at the Races at the FASTRACK karting center in Indianapolis. We would be remiss in not reporting that Carolina Club recently enjoyed its own get-together in Charlotte, one that included a visit to the JR Motorsports shop, the NASCAR Hall of Fame and, later, the Whisky River club. The highlight of the day had to be the iRacing Carolina Club Challenge, where club members squared-off for some online racing competition at Martinsville Speedway using the Hall of Fame’s full-bodied, state-of-the-art simulators — equipped with iRacing software, of course. Instead of stepping from their personal vehicles or helicopters into the air of a Virginia spring and the welcoming smell of the famous Martinsville hotdog, competitors and their families were treated to [...]
iRacing Goes Big Time
May 11th, 2011
Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the world’s largest high definition television for a spin earlier Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway by taking virtual laps around the legendary 1.5-mile track using an iRacing simulation. Marcus Smith, president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway, invited Earnhardt Jr., an avid video gamer, to show off his skills on the giant HDTV. For its operational debut, Smith and Earnhardt Jr. used an oversized remote to power on the 200 foot-wide, 80 foot-tall HDTV, created by Panasonic, to reveal a highlight video of past racing action at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Read the full story on www.speedtv.com.
Blast Off at The Island
by Patrick Atherton on May 10th, 2011
There was a real buzz of anticipation for the opening salvo of the iRacing V8 Supercar Series’ Season Two at the spiritual home of the V8′s, Phillip Island. Series champ Mitchell McLeod, Madison Down and Michael McCabe slugged out the closing of Season One with some major heavy hitting. There were cameo appearances from Shay Griffith, Darrin Vouch, George Fullerton, and real-world V8 racers Scott McLaughlin, Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott Andrews among others. The racing became more intense, the series more popular, the skins more professional, and the spectator “corporate box” more packed with enthused punters every time. As if the promise of Season Two was not tantalising enough, Peter Read joined the fray. Read is well known to many sim racers through his exploits in iRacing and other [...]
A Day at the Races
by David Phillips on May 7th, 2011
Club Indiana took things to a different level in April with a day at the races at the FASTIMES Indoor Karting center on the north side of Indianapolis. The event attracted a full field of 20 entrants (including a couple of interlopers from Club Illinois and a pair of SCCA racers), many of whom got together to start the festivities with lunch at the nearby Chammps Americana restaurant. Then it was time to get serious (sort of) at FASTIMES. Everyone got at least an hour of track time, first by participating in two of four qualifying sessions, then three of six heat races, with points from the heat races placing competitors in A (Main) and B (Consy) “feature” races. It sounds slightly more complicated than it was, thanks to an [...]
NVIDIA Winners x 2
by David Phillips on May 6th, 2011
With the wrap-up of 2011 Season 1, two more iRacers — Alvaro Marcos of Spain and Ohio’s Andrew Trimbach — collected handsome prizes courtesy of NVIDIA. Marcos scored a total of seven top fives, including five wins, to take the NVIDIA Cup title in Season 1c and the NVIDIA GTX 580 graphics card that goes with it. Marcos wheeled his Mazda MX5 to three online racing wins at Lime Rock Park and two more at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca en route to the title. “iRacing is the first sim in which I raced against other people,” he explains. “I found that laser-scanned tracks make all the difference to others, and that’s why I stayed. As a rookie I obviously started with the MX5, which suits me and really enjoy to [...]
iRacer Josh Berry Takes First NASCAR Late Model Win for JR Motorsports
by Glen Alden on May 3rd, 2011
Veteran iRacer and JR Motorsports late model driver Josh Berry’s gutsy driving paid dividends for the team, as he became a first-time winner in the No. 72 Chevrolet following Saturday’s Aqua Pros Twin 100 at Motor Mile Speedway. Berry took a fourth-place qualifying effort and led the final 50 laps to earn JRM its first late model victory at the .416-mile since 2008. “This is just incredible,” Berry, who currently holds-down fifth place in the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship. “This is what we’ve been working so hard for. It’s still only my 10th or 11th late model race, I’m pumped. I’m just so glad to finally get a win for these guys.” Click here to read the full story.
iRacing.com Teams-up with JR Motorsports to Announce iRacing 2.0
by Kevin Bobbitt on May 3rd, 2011
The JR Motorsports No.7 Chevrolet, driven by Josh Wise, will race under iRacing.com colors in two NASCAR Nationwide Series events this summer in support of the all-new iRacing 2.0, the popular online racing service’s dramatic new software release. This long awaited release will add many user enhancements and features to the popular online, multi-player racing title and will once again set the bar as the premier racing simulation on the market. Wise’s No. 7 Chevrolet will don the iRacing 2.0 paint scheme in back-to-back races at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis and Iowa Speedway later this summer. This is doubly significant as iRacing.com has just signed agreements with both venues to build the facilities to exacting detail within the simulation. Wise will debut the No. 7 iRacing.com car during the [...]
No Obstacles Here
by Rick Savage on April 30th, 2011
I’m just another racer . . . These are the words you will hear Ryan Worley utter in his soft-spoken demeanor if asked about his experience with iRacing. You might think to yourself, ‘Much ado about nothing,’ until you have the chance to talk with this inspiring individual. You see, Ryan has a unique set of challenges when one thinks of sim racing, though you’ll never hear that from him. Quite the contrary… In fact Ryan is absolutely content with whom he is and wouldn’t change anything. He is 23 years of age and hails from the little town of Vaughn, located 60 miles southwest of Seattle, Washington. A member of iRacing since December of 2010, Ryan enjoys working on a farm with an ATV and follows professional bull riding [...]
The Champions are Coming
by Patrick Atherton on April 19th, 2011
To most Antipodeans and indeed Europeans, North America is a mecca for little more than high speed, high-banked left turn ovals, whose only variations are in size or location. They might think that, perhaps, road racing of the turn-left-and-right variety is a mere afterthought. And yet, North America is home to many of the world’s most picturesque, fast and challenging road circuits, whose corners, rises and falls are of the classic kind, well on par with Europe’s best. Mosport International Raceway is one such place. It’s a simple yet exciting layout, and a favourite amongst many of the V8 regulars. For the feature race of Week 11 in the iRacing V8 Supercar Series, Trans Tasman Racing’s Madison Down was on pole in the 1 minute 19s. The two Macs, McLeod [...]
iRacer Profile: James Kirkham
by James Kirkham on April 16th, 2011
James Kirkham is fortunate to have what many fellow iRacers would consider a dream job: working in the motorsports arena. Not long after relocating to Charlotte from Oregon Kirkham landed a job with Motorsports Management International which represents many of NASCAR’s top drivers including Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jamie McMurray and Tony Stewart — to name a few. Trouble is, Kirkham wants to be on the other side of the equation as a successful race driver in his own right. He’s willing to make the sacrifices to make it happen, witnesss the fact that the former real estate salesman/successful SCCA club racer and his wife moved to Charlotte to be in the midst of the American motorsports scene. Currently, Kirkham is putting is sales and marketing savvy by, among other [...]
Yes, Virginia!
by Patrick Atherton on April 12th, 2011
With Madison Down on pole for Split One, Race Two of the iRacing.com V8 Supercar Series at Virginia International Raceway, the assumption was that the race for the lead would be, well, non-existent. At least, thought the many spectators in the “corporate box,” there might be some battles further down the field. Down was the only sim racer in the 1 minute 24s, making it a depressing prospect for his rivals. Having said that, Mitchell McLeod was more than nipping at his heels with second spot, barely a tenth behind. The revelation of qualifying, and, as it would turn-out, the race, was Reg Burke. The Sydneysider had been racing rather infrequently in the Skippy Barber series, and the Prototype MC. The little Radical SR8, with its “mash the throttle” approach, [...]
Thursday Night V8 Supercar Racing
by Patrick Guerin on April 11th, 2011
If you live in North America and have wanted to run the V8 Supercar Series, you would have to be awake when the Australians are to have any hope of getting in an official race. This means early mornings, or during the few precious daylight hours of the weekend. That is, until now. Through a recent poll on the iRacing V8 Supercar forums, many V8 drivers agreed on one common time slot to race during the week. So far, 19 drivers have given the nod to Thursday nights at 8:45pm EST (GMT -4). With this many interested sim racers, it should allow for an official race every Thursday for the remainder of Season One, and hopefully continue into Season Two. Mark your calendars, and check the race planner. There is [...]
Q & A With iWCSRR Racer Luke McLean
by Chris Hall on April 9th, 2011
With true Aussie grit, Luke McLean found his way onto the roll-call of iRacing.com World Championship Series Road Racing winners following a hard-fought victory at his ‘home’ circuit Phillip Island. Despite a disappointing fifteenth place finish in his last race at Zandvoort, the Team Redline sim-racer occupies fifth in the championship standings, barely 50 points off current series leader Klaus Kivekäs. As preparations for this weekend’s race at the Barber Motorsports Park got under-way, inRacingNews grabbed McLean, arguably Australia’s number one sim-racer, for an insight into his online career, and his path along iRacing’s pinnacle road racing championship. Q: Tell us a little about yourself… How did you get started in sim-racing? What do friends and family think of it? Do you have any real life track experience? A: One [...]
iRacer Profile: Chris Seymour
by David Phillips on April 8th, 2011
What can you say about a guy from Winnipeg who posts the lyrics to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air as his biographical sketch on the iRacing.com member site? A guy whose nickname is Moose 3, who lists curling and baseball as his favorite sports, and PCs and “wife” as his hobbies? Although he joined iRacing in mid-2009, Seymour has been sim racing for more than a decade. And he’s gotten pretty good at it, witness the fact that he currently occupies P30 overall in the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series on the strength of five wins and a baker’s dozen of top five finishes in 28 races, with his most recent victory coming at Pocono Raceway in mid-March. Since then, a new “hobby” has entered the life of Chris [...]
iRacer Profile – Nenad Matijevic
by David Phillips on April 2nd, 2011
So far it’s been a pretty typical week for Nenad Matijevic, at least in terms of sim racing: two starts and two wins in the Mustang Challenge, eight starts and five wins in the Pontiac Solstice and one start and one win in the SpecRacer Ford in the inRacingNews Challenge. OK, so Matijevic didn’t do so well in the iRacing Grand Touring Challenge – disconnecting from Thursday’s race at Silverstone after just a couple of laps. But you can’t win ‘em all. And besides, the iRacer from Backa Palanka, Serbia was a newcomer to GT Cup competition, having focused most of his energies on the Mustang Cup and iRNC this season after finishing fourth in SRF and seventh in the Solstice in the inaugural iRNC last season. Although Matijevic has [...]
Carolina Club Challenge Set for Saturday
by David Phillips on March 29th, 2011
Not every iRacing club has the NASCAR Hall of Fame in its midst. But Carolina Club does and they’re planning an extraordinary club activity in Charlotte this coming Saturday, April 2. “We wanted to do something that would give the Carolina Club members a chance to get to meet one another and have some fun together,” says Jeff Addison, who came up with the idea for the Carolina Club Challenge. “We thought the NASCAR Hall of Fame would be perfect and Matt Aldrich (membership sales manager) at the Hall of Fame has gone out of his way to help us make it happen.” A trip to the NASCAR HoF is just part of the fun. The day begins in Mooresville with a tour of the JR Motorsports shop, where the [...]
iRacer Profile: Shawn Maier
by David Phillips on March 26th, 2011
Shawn Maier races just about anything he can get his hands on: go karts, radio-controlled cars and for nearly a decade, virtual race cars of many shapes and sizes. That should be no surprise, considering he hails from a state synonymous with auto racing: Indiana. Although he mainly sim races the VW Jetta TDI in the iRacing Grand Touring Cup (he’s P10 in Division Two with a pole and six top fives in eight starts this season), the Mustang FR500S, and FG Falcon V8 Supercar, Maier hopes to one day compete in the real world GRAND-AM Rolex Series. Q: How long have you been Sim racing? A: I have been racing with a wheel and pedal set for about 3 years. But my sim racing starts all the [...]
iRacer Cassill Takes Over for Elliott
by David Phillips on March 24th, 2011
iRacer and NASCAR driver Landon Cassill will take over driving duties for Phoenix Racing beginning at Auto Club Speedway this weekend. Cassill, 21, replaces 1988 NASCAR Cup champion Bill Elliott, who started the first four races of the season in the No. 09 Chevrolet. “Hopefully, I can do good enough to keep the car in the top 35 (in points) and even in the top 25,” Cassill said. For more details, see Lee Spencer’s story here: http://bleacherreport.com/tb/b8DqY
iRacer Profile: Brian Heiland
by David Phillips on March 18th, 2011
Brian Heiland is moving on up, iRacing-wise. After taking Division Seven SpecRacer Ford honors in the inaugural inRacingNews Challenge in Season Four of 2010, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania resident is focusing on the Skip Barber Series in 2011 Season One where is currently ranked 64th in Division Two with six top five finishes in 15 starts and a couple of podiums of late at Mid-Ohio and Spa-Francorchamps. A long-time sim-racer, Heiland followed the virtual path to iRacing from Grand Prix Legends. But as you’ll also learn, he and Helio Castroneves have something in common . . . Q: How long have you been sim racing? A: Indianapolis 500 the simulation on the Amiga Platform was the first race sim that I ever raced. Just happens to be a simulation programmed by [...]