inRacingNews Settings

Collapse

Main Content

Keep navigation bar on top
Show featured article box
Show Comments

Sidebar

Calendar
Series Standings
Recent
Most Viewed
Most Commented
Categories
iRacing TV
Facebook Fans
The Team
Blogroll
Save Settings
5dollarpromo_160x600 Main Performance PC Lionel Skip Barber Racing School Derek Speare Designs Dream Racing ROAR One Lap of America
M T W T F S S
  1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 2122 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31  

Categories

Collapse Expand

iRacing TV

Collapse Expand

Facebook Fans

Collapse Expand

The Team

Collapse Expand
  • 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.
  • David Ifeguni
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1988 and moved to Midland, Michigan when I was two years old. I stayed there until third grade when I moved to Farmington Hills, Michigan and now I currently live in Naperville, IL where I'm attending Metea Valley High School as a 9th grader. In the past, I have participated in soccer and this year I plan on joining swimming or water polo. My family includes my 15 year old sister, a 7 year old sister and my mom and dad. I have been writing since 6th grade and have participated in many writing contests in my school and have received several awards for writing.
    My fascination for motorsports began when I was nine. The first NASCAR race I watched on TV was the 2009 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, won by Kasey Kahne. My favorite NASCAR drivers are Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Jimmie Johnson. I have watched all the races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series since 2010. I currently have three wins on iRacing, two of them in the Nationwide car at Daytona and one in the Street stocks at Charlotte. My favorite car and type of track on iRacing is the Nationwide Series (B Class) car and superspeedways.
  • Katier Scott
    Contributing Writer
    I am a veteran sim racer who first started racing way back in 1993 on the SPRTSIMS section of Compuserve with a league who can trace themselves all the way to the present. Within that league I act as Chief Steward and try to bring the unique viewpoint that this experience gives me into my articles.
    I have a BA (Hons) in Journalism and Editorial design and have been writing for seven years and currently cover the Lotus 79 CTC and Radical series alongside my freelance work. Living in the UK, as well as motorsports I love Photography, Arts and Crafts and reading.
  • Dylan Sharman
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in Adelaide and we moved-out for Angle Vale for a few years until I was about 7 years old, when we moved to the Barossa Valley where I live now. I'm 19 years old and currently traveling back and forth weekly as I'm studying for a Diploma of Furniture Design and Technology.

    I've always had a love for racing as my close family did some racing and we were always out at the local dirt track. I joined iRacing back in 2010 and slowly but surely got the hang of it as this is my first experience with sim racing and am loving it each time I race. I've won two SK Modified titles (almost had three in a row but finished P2 in 2011 S4), an inRacingNews Challenge championship (2012 S1 Mazda) and was also an AustralAsian Intel GT Series Finalist.
  • Nathan Aljoe
    Contributing Writer
    Nathan's passion for motorsport first began in the late 1980s, captivated by the season in which Aryton Senna won his first F1 title with McLaren. Over the years his interest widened to include the British Touring Car Championship, World Rally Championship, NASCAR and various other forms of motorsport. Nathan began sim-racing in the mid 1990s using games developed by Papyrus. He later moved onto SimBim simulations such as GTR, GTR2 and GTR Evolution and has most recently joined the iRacing community.

    When he's not working or sim racing, Nathan enjoys spending time and relaxing with his family. Other hobbies include going to festivals, tinkering with his car and doing up his house.
  • Austin Hartenfels
    Contributing Writer
    Born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I have always had a serious passion for cars and motorsports. Hoping one day to become an automotive journalist for a magazine, I constantly crave the exciting competition that comes along with racing and sim-racing. Having participated in a mere test session in a Legends car at Old Dominion Speedway, I have not been able to get into any real-life competition . . . yet.

    As a sim racer, my interests date back to "GTR Evolution." My goal is to have fun and win some races. I made it to Oval Pro in 2010, but did not become very successful. I enjoy any mixed road racing competition and love racing the Silverados around almost any track.
  • Jordan Hightower
    Contributing Writer
    Jordan began sim-racing in 2005 with the NASCAR Racing 2003 Season sim and then joined the iRacing community in June of 2008. He hails from Fort Smith, Arkansas where he is currently enrolled at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, after which he plans to attend the University of Arkansas to earn his MBA. Although he enjoys watching and playing basketball, most of Jordan's focus is on motorsports, particularly NASCAR: "Anything that burns gas and goes fast, I like."
  • Scott Kelly
    Contributing Writer
    Born and raised in the greater St. Louis, Missouri area, Scott Kelly has had a love for motorsports ever since his father did the right thing by introducing auto racing into his life. No longer able to quench his need for speed by spectating NASCAR races on TV and watching dirt track stars slide around local tracks, Kelly eventually picked-up sim racing in his teens, wheeling cars found in Ratbag Games' "Dirt Track Racing" and "World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars" while also becoming introduced into multiple Papyrus sim-racing series. Joining the iRacing ranks in late 2011, Kelly set his sights on the short track racing he was familiar with, focusing on the sprint car, while also driving the Legends and street stock in multiple iRacing.com leagues.

    Kelly brings not just his enthusiasm for racing to the highest-rated motorsports simulation, but also his B.A. degree in English; he covers the action seen in the iRacing.com Sprint Car Series, while also placing the spotlight on various leagues within the service. Enjoying his start to a career in motorsports journalism, Kelly also doesn't mind visiting victory lane from time-to-time.
  • Kenneth O'Keefe
    Contributing Writer
    Kenneth was born in Smithville, Ontario on December 23, 1994. A major racing fan, he enjoys competitive kart racing in the Rotax Max category at Mosport International Karting. Kenneth also tunes into Formula One and NASCAR races on those Sundays when he is not at the kart track.

    O'Keefe has been sim-racing since 2005, starting on the Live For Speed simulator. After moving to iRacing in 2008, he was able to qualify for the NASCAR iRacing Pro Series (NiPS) in both 2011 and 2012. He will continue to compete and write about the iRacing.com Skip Barber Series throughout the coming year before taking another run at the NiPS in late 2013.
  • Chris Owens
    Contributing Writer
    I was born in Florence, South Carolina in 1989 and have lived here my entire life. I've been around racing since I was a young kid watching with my dad on Sundays. In 2009 and found my local track, Florence Motor Speedway and started working for them as a PR guy the same year. At the end of that season, I started writing for RACE22.com, a Late Model Stock Car news site. In 2010, I picked up my first DSLR camera and started shooting races. To this day, I've experienced some of the best races from behind the camera.

    I've been with the iRacing service since its public beta in 2008, back when the top oval car was the Late Model. I've been in over 500 races on the service with 70+ wins on both oval and road. My favorite car on the service is the Chevrolet Silverado. Darlington Raceway and Concord Speedway are my favorite tracks simply because everybody hates them.
  • George Wood
    Contributing Writer
    After beginning his racing career with go-karts at age seven, George then turned wrenches on street stocks until he could finally turn the wheel. Following the successes of his friends and family, George has since retired from real-world racing, where he is now a science and mathematics faculty member for several local community colleges. When George isn't grading laboratory reports or iRacing, he is performing at bluegrass festivals in the Northeast, making fishing lures, playing golf, and rooting for his beloved Baltimore Orioles.

Red Sox Belgium 30 at Spa GP

May 20th, 2013

79
012

Story by James Prostell Jr. SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM – Turn 1 at Indianapolis. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca’s corkscrew. Monaco’s Nouvelle Chicane. All thousands of miles apart, all on very different racetracks, but share some distinct characteristics that highlight the essence of auto racing – risk versus reward.. Get these turns right and the driver can shave precious time off their lap or set up that critical pass. Get it wrong, and well, the team is going to be spending time fixing a vehicle that spiraled as it dropped a few stories or crashed hard into the wall. Add two words to that list of challenging turns – Eau Rouge. Only get it wrong here, and repairs will have to be made to a car that spiraled up a few stories and [...]

Red Sox Spring Fling at Sebring

May 13th, 2013

114
iRacingSim64 2013-05-12 19-12-50-62

Story by James Prostell Jr. SEBRING, FL. – After a month-long hiatus, the cars and stars of the Red Sox Racing League’s McLaren Turbo Challenge kicked off season two of the fixed racing series Thursday night. Over the next three months the points battle will rage through famous tracks around the world including Spa, Laguna Seca, Twin Ring Motegi, and Daytona with the drivers competing in identical McLaren MP4-12C GT3 race cars. As daunting as the historical tracks may be, the McLaren is definitely up for the challenge. It’s V8 engine pushes out 550 horsepower (after being detuned to meet FIA regulations!), and mated with an aero package crafted in McLaren’s F1 simulator makes this one GT3 car to look out for. This week the competitors visit sunny Sebring, Florida [...]

Lidqvist Storms to CTC Drivers Title; Lotus Tops Constructors

by Katier Scott on April 26th, 2013

109
Oran Park was the setting for the CTC season finale.

A quiet final week at Oran Park didn’t dampen the fact that — once again, the Classic Teams Championship provided an excellent and exciting player-led addition to the official iRacing.com Classic Lotus Grand Prix Series. For the second season in a row, multiple-champion Gernot Fritsche had to play second fiddle to a superb newcomer to the championship. In this case Nicklas Lindqvist proved to be more than up to the task, scoring 1885 points in the first eight rounds before being forced to retire from the series. Fritsche put up a brave fight and closed the gap to the leader but had to settle for second best on 1724 points. Audrius Valantiejus netted an excellent third with 1630 points. Altough the top five drivers were AWOL at the Oran Park [...]

Fritsche Closes Gap; Lotus Falter

by Katier Scott on April 12th, 2013

78
Popular and challenging, Road Atlanta hosted Week 10 of the CTC.

Road Atlanta is a popular and challenging track, with the sweeps early in the lap being both exciting and testing in equal amounts. In all 100 Lotus 79 drivers took on the challenge over the course of 10 races during Week 10 of the Classic Teams Challenge in 2013 Season One. Gernot Fritsche took full advantage of the absence of the championship leading Nicklas Lindqvist to win twice, from two starts, and take the maximum points possible during the week. Unfortunately, a comparatively low SOF in the main race of the week limited the former champion’s inroads, but he still closed to within 160 points of the championship lead. That is a mountain to climb in the final weeks at Suzuka and Oran Park, and it likely means Lindqvist is [...]

Lindqvist Leads as Fritsche Falters

by Katier Scott on February 25th, 2013

92
Road America's booming straights are the perfect incubator for CTC drafting matches.

Nicklas Lindqvist continued his great start to the season as he won the third round of the Classic Teams Championship with a stunning 248 point haul at Road America ahead of Tomasz Kozdron who bumped a faltering Gernot Fritsche to third overall. In all 143 drivers took their Lotus 79s to the long straights of Road America during 20 starts over the course of the week with Tomo MegIic logging the most wins with five victories from seven starts, and managing 195 points overall. During the course of the week several sim-racers made great strides up the championship with Graham Eden’s Luca Zanetti climbing a massive 29 places as he posted a superb 179 point haul at the North American circuit. Other notable performances included Melchester’s Stephen Ellis, Arrows’ Stephen [...]

Williams Consolidate as Surtees Extend Lead

by Katier Scott on January 4th, 2013

118
The CTC made its initial visit to Oran Park in Week 7.

As the season moves into its last quarter, championship positions are settling but, by no means, are they confirmed as many drivers still have plenty to fight for in the Classic Teams Championship. Ferrari have faded somewhat as their popular driver (and CTC photographer!) Kalle Ruokola has failed to score for three successive weeks, but so substantial is their lead that the Prancing Horse are well and truly favourites for the title. Brabham’s Roland Ehnström also continues to keep one hand firmly on the drivers championship, although he does have three dropped scores. That does put the pressure on him to ensure he finishes the season strongly as two bad scores or missed weeks will hand the title to Gernot Frische. Amongst the Aurora runners Surtees continue to run strongly [...]

Salminen, Ehnström Lock Horns for the CTC Drivers Crown

by Katier Scott on November 28th, 2012

149
Week Three brought the CTC to the Finger Lakes region of New York and fabled Watkins Glen.

With a third of the Classic Teams Championship season gone the inter-team battles are settling down, the front runners are becoming clearer and the understanding of the revised car is improving . . . but there is still plenty for drivers to fight for. Round Three of the championship took the drivers to the famous former grand prix venue of Watkins Glen for 25 laps of the Boot Course. Watkins Glen is always popular and this proved the case once again with a season record 234 sim-racers putting in at least one appearance during the course of the 29 online races during the week. Renault’s Jan Beyer finished with a 138 point haul from his four wins and seven days as he took the most wins of anyone around this [...]

Ferrari Falter as Ligier Close-in on Top Spot

by Katier Scott on October 1st, 2012

168
With Bird at the wheel, Ligier threatens to overhaul Ferrari.

Sebring marked the point in the Classic Teams Championship where many drivers and teams will have scored eight times and dropped scores will start to become a factor. To date 303 drivers have entered an online race during the season with a whopping 46 of them registering at least a single win with 96 registering multiple top five finishes. Henri Salminen moved into top spot with wins for the season and celebrated with an overall win this week as championship leader, Gernot Fritsche, was unable to race. This meant that at the head of the championship Kalle Ruokala retook the lead by 43 points from Ligier’s David Jaques. Fritsche slipped to third with Salminen a solid, but lonely, P4. Amongst the Aurora teams Tony Lamberti and Nick Thissen continued to [...]

Ferrari Charge, McLaren Show Their Hand

by Katier Scott on September 21st, 2012

202
Silverstone provided an historic stage for the Week Seven of the CTC.

For the seventh round of the Classic Teams Championship the field flew back to the UK for one of the most iconic circuits on the calendar.  Silverstone hosted the first ever Formula 1 race in 1950, the British Grand Prix since 1948 and has hosted the event 27 times. Coming into the week Ferrari had put-in two performances that were more in keeping with what was expected of the famous marque at the start of the season. The question was, though, whether they would continue the surge or ATS would be able to re-assert their dominance. Ferrari soon put any doubts to rest with a superb 37 point run as they closed to within eight points of the championship lead and, in doing so, moved past Ligier into second place. [...]

Valantiejus Wins, Fritsche Leads

by David Roberts on July 4th, 2012

163
Tincani (Wolf) leads Schrader (Ensign) and Scott (Brabham) through Shell Oils.

Classic Teams Championship Round 9: Oulton Park The Classic Teams Championship continues to go from strength to strength. This week saw the roster of drivers grow to 86. And what better place to celebrate than Oulton Park. Regarded by many as a spiritual home to the series, everyone had a smile on their face being back at the picturesque layout. As a circuit that is notoriously hard to pass on, qualifying was once again of utmost importance and was extremely close right throughout the field. Qualifying Qualifying was possibly as close as it has ever been in a CTC round, the top three cars being covered by just 0.043s, the top ten by 0.6s. At the front Valantiejus (Ligier) bested Fritsche (Ferrari) around the sweeping English countryside, his pole time [...]

No Love for Motegi

by David Roberts on June 5th, 2012

192
Moreira took the fight to Fritsche at Motegi, here he surprises the Ferrari driver and grabs the lead into Turn 1.

Classic Teams Championship Round 5: Twin Ring Motegi, Japan For the first time the Classic Teams Championship visited Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi for Round 5 of the championship. The racing was tough as usual, but the circuit found few supporters. In fact,  as the sun set on our week in the Land of the Rising Sun, just 52 sim racers had competed over 10 races resulting in just about as many changes of position on the championship tables as we had seen on the track. QUALIFYING Fritsche and Ferrari were back in full flight in Japan taking another storming pole with a 1.37.727 second lap. But this time just 2 tenths back, and again showing exceptional pace, was Hulbert’s Chevron. There were only 3 other drivers under the magic 1.39 [...]

Nixon Wins, Ruokola Scores

by David Roberts on May 15th, 2012

185
Hulbert also had his share of drama, this the result of equipment failure.

Unchanged in layout since it opened back in 1955 Elkhart Lake features many elevation changes, along with a very high speed front stretch and the famous Kink in the middle of the back stretch. In other words, an ideal venue for the Classic Teams Championship contenders to stretch their legs. It was also the site for four new drivers to join the circus this week making a total of 75 point scoring competitors in the first two weeks. This week saw 17 races gain official status with Sunday again providing the main race of the week with 44 starters. Drivers spent the week searching for the perfect balance between speed and grip, most running a much lower downforce setup than they did last week at The Glen. Once again the [...]

Sim Racing Meets Real World Racing

by Katier Scott on January 10th, 2012

340
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 [...]

Sudden Impact

by David Phillips on December 30th, 2010

97
Sudden Impact

Some questions about iRacing’s relevance to real world racing were answered last summer when Greger Huttu acquitted himself quite well in the Skip Barber Racing School and in a test of Andersen Racing’s Star Mazda at Road Atlanta.  An accomplished sim racer who dominated the iRacing World Championship Series Road Racing championship, Huttu had never so much as sat in a race car before his experiences at Road Atlanta. A few more questions were answered last month when Panther Racing signed J.R Hildebrand to a multi-year agreement to drive their IndyCar following a successful test at Phoenix International Raceway.  Winner of the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights Championship but with no previous experience at PIR in an IndyCar, Hildebrand used iRacing to prepare for the test. Although the results speak for [...]

The 28th Vintage Racing Festival Formula 1 Reunion June 22 – 25, 2007

by Divina Galica on August 15th, 2010

202
The 28th Vintage Racing Festival Formula 1 Reunion June 22 – 25, 2007

Editor’s Note:  Divina Galica, iRacing.com’s Director of Partner Relations, has enjoyed a thoroughly remarkable sports career.  A two-time captain of the British Olympic Ski team, she competed in the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympic games and also set a world speed skiing record of 125 mph.  She later turned her competitive focus to race cars, and competed in sports cars, Formula Vauxhall Lotus, Formula Renault, Formula 2 and, ultimately, Formula 1.  These days, when not working on various iRacing assignments, “Divi” takes full advantage of each and every opportunity that comes her way to race vintage cars.  One such opportunity came at Mosport a few years ago, and we thought you would enjoy her account of the event. I am blessed with good friends and one of the best [...]

Hamilton: McLaren is only third best car

July 29th, 2010

0
Hamilton: McLaren is only third best car

Lewis Hamilton believes McLaren currently has only the third quickest car in Formula 1 – but he still thinks it can be made fast enough to win the world championship. Although the Briton leads the title standings heading into this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Hamilton is under no illusions that his outfit needs to make big development steps to improve its current challenger. And with Ferrari having delivered a 1-2 finish in the German GP, Hamilton believes his team is no longer Red Bull Racing’s closest challenger

McLaren still confused by flexi-wings

July 28th, 2010

0

McLaren has admitted that it has no idea how to replicate the front wing set-up currently being used by Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. The legality of the front wings – approved by the FIA prior to the German Grand Prix – had been questioned by rival teams after close scrutiny revealed the wings, and endplates, seemingly flex up to 25mm lower to the ground at high speed, producing more downforce as a result. McLaren’s engineering director Paddy Lowe conceded that despite reviewing the flexi-wing design repeatedly, he is struggling to emulate it.

McLaren ‘behind the curve’ on diffuser

July 28th, 2010

3
McLaren ‘behind the curve’ on diffuser

McLaren engineering director Paddy Lowe has admitted that being ‘behind the curve’ on blown diffuser development was probably the main factor in his team’s disappointing German Grand Prix result. Ferrari dominated at Hockenheim, with only Red Bull offering a challenge while McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished fourth and fifth, 25 seconds adrift. While Red Bull has used a blown diffuser from the start of the year and Ferrari introduced its version for Valencia, McLaren did not race the device until Hockenheim.

Kubica rules out Monaco GP repeat

July 27th, 2010

1
Kubica rules out Monaco GP repeat

Robert Kubica has played down his chances of fighting for victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix – even though his car should be well-suited to the tight and twisty Hungaroring circuit. The Pole was very fast at the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year, fighting for pole position and the win – and his performance there prompted talk he could stage a repeat at this weekend’s event. However, Kubica believes that his R30 does not quite have the speed needed to take the fight to the current pace-setters Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and McLaren

McLaren hopeful of stronger weekend

July 27th, 2010

0
McLaren hopeful of stronger weekend

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh is hopeful that his team will enjoy a stronger outing at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix following a difficult race in Germany. Although the Woking outfit decided to keep its blow diffuser for the Hockenheim weekend, the team was still far from the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull