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February 2012

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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.

iRacing Goes Big Time

May 11th, 2011

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iRacing Goes Big Time

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.

iRacing, McLaren Electronic Systems Partner in Online Racing Data Analysis

by Kevin Bobbitt on May 5th, 2011

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iRacing.com, the world’s leading online motorsports simulation service, announced today it is partnering with McLaren Electronic Systems to incorporate the ATLAS Express data analysis software into its system.  As a result, iRacing’s more than 25,000 members will now have access to similar data acquisition and telemetry software used on every car competing in the FIA Formula One World Championship since 2008 and on NASCAR’s standard ECU (engine control unit) in 2012. In addition to affording its members unprecedented opportunities to increase their understanding of their virtual race cars’ performance with ATLAS Express, iRacing is also releasing an upgraded application program interface (API) that will dramatically enhance the service’s compatibility with an array of external features including motion platforms and external displays. “With the new iRacing telemetry capability, our members will [...]

iRacing.com Teams-up with JR Motorsports to Announce iRacing 2.0

by Kevin Bobbitt on May 3rd, 2011

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iRacing.com Teams-up with JR Motorsports to Announce iRacing 2.0

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 [...]

iRacing.com Announces iRacing 2.0

April 20th, 2011

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iRacing.com Announces iRacing 2.0 World’s Premier Online, Multiplayer Racing Game to Release Revolutionary Updates over the Summer Months BEDFORD, MA (April 20, 2011) – iRacing.com today formally announced its most dramatic software release to date – Version 2.0. Coming in the summer of 2011, iRacing 2.0 will feature enhancements across the board for the popular online, multi-player racing title. In contrast to gaming software brands that typically release a new title once every few years, the online racing game takes advantage of digital distribution to provide regular updates of its service to the more than 25,000 iRacing members four times per year. “iRacing is now to sim racing what NASCAR is to stock car racing.”  -  John Henry “By summer’s end, we will have clearly ‘launched’ a truly amazing step [...]

Thursday Night V8 Supercar Racing

by Patrick Guerin on April 11th, 2011

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Thursday Night V8 Supercar Racing

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 [...]

Racing for Japan

by Steve Potter on March 21st, 2011

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Racing for Japan

With more than 25,000 members in 87 countries the iRacing.com community is global in nature and some part of it is bound to be affected by any major event.  In support of iRacing.com’s more than 200 members in Japan and their fellow citizens, on March 22 iRacers from across the globe will participate in Racing For Japan, a special fund-raising event to support the Red Cross’s relief efforts in the wake of last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami. “Just as in real-world motorsport, racing is the common bond for everyone in the iRacing community,” said Dave Kaemmer, iRacing.com’s co-founder and chief technical officer.  “In both the real and the virtual worlds the social connections and the friendships that racers develop with one another are just as important.  In iRacing we [...]

Console Racing Gamers Turn To iRacing for New Challenges

March 10th, 2011

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Console Racing Gamers Turn To iRacing for New Challenges

When you’ve reached the top of the heap in console driving games what comes next?  Increasingly, many top-tier driving game aficionados are turning to the super-high fidelity, internet-based simulation service from iRacing.com. The cars and tracks on iRacing.com’s simulation are so accurate that many real-world NASCAR, INDYCAR and GRAND-AM stars make regular use of the service to stay sharp between seasons or to brush up their knowledge of a track they haven’t raced at recently.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is a strong iRacing booster and last month’s Daytona 500 winner, Trevor Bayne got his first exposure to racing at Daytona through iRacing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RkoG1MKvfU&feature=related).  IndyCar stars Will Power and Justin Wilson drive regularly in an iRacing-based league with other members of the real-world IndyCar community.  They compete in iRacing.com events because both [...]

NVIDIA Joins iRacing as Sponsor of NVIDIA Cup Featuring the Mazda MX-5

by David Phillips on February 3rd, 2011

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NVIDIA Joins iRacing as Sponsor of NVIDIA Cup Featuring the Mazda MX-5

NVIDIA, the world leader in high performance graphics cards, is partnering with iRacing.com, the world leader in motorsport simulation.  As a result of the partnership, all of iRacing’s Mazda MX-5 cars will sport NVIDIA logos for the next 24 weeks of online racing competition.  The overall points champion of the next six NVIDIA Cup seasons (each four weeks in length) will receive a great NVIDIA prize ranging from NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 and GTX 570 graphics cards to NVIDIA 3-D glasses or an ASUS 3D monitor. Learn more about the prizes and NVIDIA’s cutting-edge 3D technology at www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_family.html But wait, there’s more! Any iRacer running the NVIDIA logo as their primary logo on any car in a minimum of 20 official races is automatically entered in a random drawing to [...]

Spa-Francorchamps & Street Stock on iRacing

by David Phillips on December 27th, 2010

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Spa-Francorchamps & Street Stock on iRacing

Christmas came early for iRacers of all persuasions this year.  Road course lover or oval fan, there’s something for every iRacer this holiday season. First, iRacing released one of the most eagerly awaited tracks in history to its members, namely Circuit Spa-Francorchamps.  From daunting Eau Rouge to picturesque Blanchimont and the iconic La Source, sim racers can now test their mettle at the home of the Belgian Grand Prix, Spa 1000K and 24 Hours of Spa for just $14.95. What could be better?  How about a free stocking-stuffer in the form of the iRacing Street Stock?  A maxed-out version of the entry-level stock cars found on nearly every short track in America, the 375 horspower iRacing Street Stock is now available for download to all iRacers.

2011 World Tour of iRacing Schedule Announced

by Steve Potter on December 27th, 2010

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2011 World Tour of iRacing Schedule Announced

Popular Series Samples Global Motorsport Variety With Tributes to Major Real-World Races Conceived a year ago as a way for iRacing.com’s 20,000+ members to sample the world’s wide range of oval-track and road-racing cars and circuits, the 2010 World Tour of iRacing proved to be an extremely popular artistic success among the global group of sim racers and racing game enthusiasts who enjoy competing with one another in virtual versions of real-world racing cars on the internet racing service’s high-fidelity reproductions of many of the world’s premier race tracks. So it’s no surprise that even before the last event on the 2010 World Tour schedule was run last month – the iRacing.com Late Model 300 at the 4/10s-mile South Boston oval – iRacers across the globe were already clamoring for [...]

Spa Treatment

by David Phillips on December 19th, 2010

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Spa Treatment

I’m living a motorsports fan’s dream:  Watching a race at Spa-Francorchamps from the window of my room at Auberge de la Source, the picturesque country inn overlooking the La Source hairpin which, of course, takes its name from the adjacent establishment. The amazing thing is that I’m actually nearly 4,000 miles west of Francorchamps, Belgium, in the office of Greg Hill, iRacing.com vice President of art and production.  Greg is giving me a preview of the latest addition to the online racing service’s catalogue of virtual race tracks, legendary Circuit Spa-Francorchamps, set for release to iRacing’s membership on December 21. We’ve taken a virtual tour of the majestic circuit as it sweeps up hill and down dale for 4.3 miles through the Ardennes Forest.  Eau Rouge.  Les Combes.  Malmedy.  Pouhon.  [...]

Black Friday . . . and Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday too!

November 25th, 2010

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Black Friday . . . and Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday too!

Black Friday comes to iRacing this week. The day after the Thanksgiving holiday is the biggest shopping day of the year, when shoppers all over America line-up in the wee small hours of the morning to take advantage of all those great one day sales. iRacing.com has its own Black Friday special: Renew your iRacing membership for a year or more and receive $30 in iRacing credits as a bonus. Use them to purchase cars, tracks, hosted sessions or to extend your membership further. Think of it as a little “thank you” from your friends at iRacing. Better yet, there’s no need to stand in line at the mall. You can take advantage of iRacing.com’s Black Friday from the comfort of your home. And you don’t have to wait until [...]

iRacing.com and the AT&T Williams Team Announce Arrival of Virtual Version of Williams-Toyota FW31

by Steve Potter on October 28th, 2010

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iRacing.com and the AT&T Williams Team Announce Arrival of Virtual Version of Williams-Toyota FW31

World’s Premier Racing Game Launches Inaugural Grand Prix Series With today’ launch of the Williams-Toyota FW31 at iRacing.com anyone anywhere in the world with a PC, a broadband internet connection and an inexpensive driving game steering-wheel-and-pedal set can experience the thrill of driving a contemporary grand prix car.  The announcement, which has been highly anticipated by racing fans and driving game enthusiasts, was made by Tony Gardner, president of iRacing.com. “iRacing.com is giving racing fans and gamers everywhere in the world the chance to drive a virtual grand prix car that truly duplicates the performance of its real-world counterpart,” Gardner said.  “And through our internet racing service they can compete with one another in races on our schedule or organize races for themselves and their friends.” Williams-Toyota FW31 video action [...]

GRAND-AM and iRacing.com in Sports Car Racing Partnership

by Steve Potter on October 22nd, 2010

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GRAND-AM and iRacing.com in Sports Car Racing Partnership

iRacing.com’s newest partnership with a professional race sanctioning body will debut in 2010 Season 4 with the GRAND-AM iRacing.com Online Sports Car Series.  The multi-class series featuring the Riley Mk XX Daytona Prototype and the production-based Ford Mustang FR500S will be sanctioned by GRAND-AM, the road-racing arm of NASCAR, and organized by iRacing.com.  The announcement was made today jointly by Kevin Hindson, GRAND-AM Vice President of Marketing and Communications and Kevin Bobbitt, iRacing.com’s director of marketing. “More than 300,000 fans attend GRAND-AM races in person each year, and millions more watch on television,” said Hindson. “They express their passion for motorsport through their love of cars, and they are very computer and internet savvy.  This partnership with iRacing.com lets them more fully and actively engage both.” In many ways this [...]

iRacing Open House

by David Phillips on October 18th, 2010

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iRacing Open House

iRacing.com held its first open house on Friday, October 15 and, if the enthusiasm and good times generated by the event are any indication, it won’t be the last time the Bedford, MA-based online racing service opens its doors to its membership.  The event attracted more than fifty members and, while most of the attendees hailed from in and around the Northeast, several members made longer treks to the home of iRacing. John Paul Jones and Gregory Miles flew-in from Florida; ditto Arizona’s Matt Rogers.  But the “longest tow” award went to Jeroen van de Sande, who came from his home in The Netherlands to attend the open house . . . and take-in some short track racing at Thompson Speedway over the weekend! The program included guided tours of [...]

Monstrous News for iRacing.com

by David Phillips on October 5th, 2010

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Monstrous News for iRacing.com

iRacing.com has added Dover International Speedway to its ever growing catalogue of race tracks.  Known as The Monster Mile, Dover is a real beast of a race track, exactly one mile in length and featuring 24 degree banked turns – not to mention a 46 foot tall, muscle-bound, statue outside the gates named “Miles the Monster.”  One of only two tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit paved with concrete, Dover has been a fixture on the NASCAR schedule since 1969 with a list of winners that reads like a Who’s Who of NASCAR including Bobby Allison and Richard Petty, who each won seven times at Dover. Dover is also unique in that the track is part of a larger sports and entertainment complex that includes a hotel, gaming casino [...]

The Williams-Toyota F31 – More (and Less) Than Meets the Eye

by David Phillips on September 29th, 2010

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games racing

On the face of it, designing and building a virtual version of the Williams-Toyota FW31 figured to be the most formidable challenge yet faced by iRacing.com.  After all, Formula One is the technological pinnacle of the motorsports world, and it takes a virtual army of engineers, technicians and mechanics just to start a modern Grand Prix car. Thanks to the unprecedented access granted iRacing.com by AT&T Williams – not to mention the close working relationships that developed between the iRacing staff in Bedford, Massachusetts and the AT&T Williams team in Grove, Oxfordshire – the virtual FW31 came together remarkably quickly.  Given the benefit of blueprints and mounds of real world data, creating iRacing’s version of the car was, if not the work of a moment, more straightforward than might be [...]

JWH Racing League Debuts

by David Phillips on September 20th, 2010

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JWH Racing League Debuts

Looking for that private league feel in an official iRacing series?  Would you like to see bigger splits in “regular” races?  Or maybe you’d just like a little something extra from your weekly races. If you answered yes to any of the above (and even if you didn’t), then iRacing’s newest mini-series – JWH Racing League – is for you.  From now until the end of Season 3, the league will bring together iRacers with all levels of experience and skill for spirited but friendly competition in the regularly-scheduled NASCAR iRacing Class C Series race (Thursdays at 8:45 pm ET) and the Skip Barber Series race (Sundays at 3:45 pm ET). As with any other regular iRacing event, each split matches sim racers with similar skills and experience.  The beauty [...]

FW31 Envy

by Tony Rickard on September 17th, 2010

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FW31 Envy

If you ever envy motoring journalists who get to drive exotic machinery before it becomes available to the wealthy businessman and footballers (let alone the fact that most of us won’t ever get to drive them), then at least we can console ourselves with the knowledge that a virtual Grand Prix car costs the same as a virtual VW Jetta! Of course if you are an inRacingNews journalist then you just might get to drive the upcoming Williams FW31 before it is made available to the membership. Feeling envious? You should! Mind you, the car isn’t quite finished. The engineers are completing tweaks to various components including wiring up those little dials on the steering wheel to actually work. The wheel-modders are going to have a field day when this [...]

iRacing Continues Japanese Growth

by David Phillips on September 17th, 2010

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iRacing Continues Japanese Growth

iRacing continued its Japanese expansion with today’s announcement that Twin Ring Motegi, Suzuka Circuit and Tsukuba Circuit will join Okayama International Circuit on its growing list of global racing facilities.  In addition, iRacing will also be augmenting its line-up of virtual race cars with the Mazda Roadster and MX-5 Cup racing cars.  The announcement was made by iRacing president, Tony Gardner, in conjunction with this weekend’s running of the Japan 300 IZOD IndyCar Series race at Twin Ring Motegi. “When we announced last spring that Okayama was joining iRacing, we promised there would be more tracks and cars of particular interest to our Japanese members,” Gardner said.  “Now we’re pleased to announce that our members in Japan, and elsewhere in the world, will be able to compete themselves with other [...]