This weekend I got down to some more planning and some brainstorming about certain things. However it seems difficult to solve the issue of animations. So maybe its time move it down one notch on the ambition scale and just go with illustrations of what I´m trying to explain. Got some sessions in aswell and got some nice replays out of them. I also put them in my videoedeting software, so now there is atleast a first draft of the intro.
Hopefully soon I can start doing the first chapter, but I now realize that its alot of work before I reach the end.
Marcus Ericsson is driving an F1 for Brawn for the first time today at Jerez. Will be very exciting to see how that goes.
Cya on the track
Rob
“FAST! Unbelievably FAST!” That’s the first thing that popped into my head the first time I drove a development build of the Lotus 79 in the sim. I just couldn’t believe the grip, the acceleration. I always figured I have a pretty good idea of just how quick a Grand Prix car would be behind the wheel. But the sensation I got when I finally started making laps just blew me away. The car just screamed up the Esses at Watkins Glen. 130, 140, 150 and then 160 mph all before reaching the backstretch! On the brakes hard at 175 mph and shoot like a canon through the Bus Stop. “Wow!” I thought to myself, “How could any sane person ever strap themselves in one of these things for real”. This thing is literally a rocket ship! The funny part is I didn’t get the full sense of how much performance this car was going to have. Although the stats on paper look very impressive, driving it just something entirely different.
I started here at iRacing.com in early March of this year. Within a few days, I thought it was a pretty cool perq to get to visit Highcroft Racing in Danbury, CT to check out the Lotus 79 that is housed there. Now Duncan Dayton, the owner of Highcroft, has some unbelievable race cars on display in his shop, but the Lotus 79 is the crown jewel. I’ve been to a number of historic events but never had the chance to see a Lotus 79 in person. The thing is a masterpiece. It was obviously one of the most dominant GP racers ever, but it also looks the part. It has big aggressive wings, big aggressive tires and, of course, a proper Cosworth DFV engine. This thing epitomizes the wild and sexy 1970s Formula One era. iRacing had unfettered access to this car. My colleague, Ian Berwick, and I spent the better part of two full days measuring and taking photos of every inch of the car so we could get everything right when we began modeling the 79 for the sim.
Once back at the office work began on building up the suspension, chassis, engine and drivetrain components. Doing this kind of work is a pretty straightforward process – nothing too abstract. The really interesting work was searching for information to develop tires, on which little information exists, and especially the groundbreaking aerodynamics that were the predominant reason the car was so successful (although a couple of guys named Andretti and Peterson helped a far amount!).
Essentially, I had to start from scratch developing downforce and drag numbers from anecdotal information I was able to gather by asking a lot of question of a number of people, some of whom were intimately involved with the car’s development. Basically, I had a target and I reverse-engineered all the downforce and drag contributions of the sidepod tunnels and the floating skirts as well as the front and rear wings. All of this was based on the tones of aerofoil data and first principles of physics.
What turned out was a double-throw-down rocket ship! The great thing is Divina Galica, our own in-house F1 driver, and the great Mario Andretti verified much of my interpretation of how the car felt to drive. The ’78 World Champion made comments that correlated well with how the 79 performs in the sim. The thing I took away from our conversations with Mario was just how stable the car was and how easy it was to tune.
So far, in the time I’ve spent at iRacing, the Lotus 79 has been by far the most fun car to work on. Developing setups, tweaking the aero and tires, has been an ongoing process to make the car feel better and better. I hope when it gets released everyone will feel the same sensation I felt when I first drove it: “WOW! This thing is FAST!”
Greetings Fellow iRacers,
The iRacing tour spent last weekend at Lime Rock Park, getting to visit with race fans that came out to watch the Grand Am Koni ST and GS races, along with two awesome Historic Grand Prix races. Historic Grand Prix was awesome to watch, and we got to see a lot of the cars as we were paddocked with our trailer right next to the almost 20 vintage F1 cars from the 1960s to the early 1980s. iRacing’s own Divina Galica expertly piloted both a rare Brabham and Hesketh to two top 10 finishes… and considering the competition, this was a great achievement. In case you didn’t know, Divina actually drove an F1 car in the early 1970s. This is quite an excellent accomplishment, especially in the 1970s. Watching Duncan Dayton’s John Player Special Lotus 79 got us all pretty excited for the launch of our iRacing version.
In support of the event, we hosted a fast lap competition so that some of the fans could try their iRacing skills against a few pro drivers. Spencer Pumpelly, from the Koni GS Porsche TRG team posted the weekend’s quickest time in the Star Mazda of 47.9 seconds around Lime Rock Park in the Lime Rock Basic setup. Good friends of ours Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood of the ST-classed RSR Camping World Mini Cooper S came by to put in some fast laps as well.
I guess news of our tour has traveled well as we were bombarded by fellow iRacing members who came by to check out our trailer and simulators. I was pleasantly surprised to meet all of you and definitely enjoyed getting to talk to you. The following members came by to visit us: Jared Vaughan, Bob Brodeur, Harry White, Charles Stout, John Nelson, Peter Gustafson, Jeffrey M. Strong, Brian Oritz, John Capello and Dan Montanaro. Thanks for your continued support!
For all of you members who have not had a chance to see us on the road, you should know that we have had the privilege of working with some excellent iRacing driver coaches along the way. Elivan Goulart and Duncan Burke both from the Sport Car Drivers Association worked with us this past weekend and helped coach the public through many demos of our software. Big Thanks!
As of right now, we are in Milwaukee for the IRL race. If you are in the area, definitely come by and see us. Back in the office we have been hard at work in the wake of the NASCAR announcement planning out the rest of the year.
In answer to some of your questions, we will be continuing the tour into the summer. We have not yet finalized any dates after June, but when we do, I will be sure to share them with you through this blog or through the online event calendar. See you on the road!
SCHEDULE UPDATE:
June 4-7: Watkins Glen NY: Grand Am 6 Hour
June 9: Fenway Park, Boston MA: Red Sox Tour Stop
June 12-14: Watkins Glen NY: Historic Sports Car Racing
June 18-21: Road America, Elkhard Lake, WI: SCCA June Sprints