ny mechanicalcontraprionrhat burnsfueland other By 1930,a youngpilot namedEd Link had comeup with Qualityracing

consumablesin the interestofpropelling a human the 6rst simulator designto really catch on. An electricpump simulators like
occupant at ridiculous speedsis almost always pressurizedan orgal bellows in the guts of the simulator, iRacingdo their
expensiveand dafigerous.As the speedof the gizmo goes and the pressurewas used to pitch and roll the contraption bestto blurthe
up, so do the expenses-andthe danger At somepoiflt, it in reactionto the controls.Beaer still, Link's creationhad
becomescost-prohibitiveto wen learn how to operarerhe
linebetween
instrumentsthat emulatedthe onesfound in an actualaircraft.
damn rhine.T\ar, wheresimula(ors comein. Beforelong, the military wassold on the tactiel advantage the virtualworld
Take flying planes, for e;rample. Sending torally ofpilots who muld fly ard land safelyin zero-visibility condi- and the realityof
untestedrookie pilots up in the air in the hopesthat they'll tions.Link trainersbecameubiquitousinAir Corpstraining, racing.However,
figure it all out before crash- and Link'scompanycranked cantime spent
ing and dying is a poor out 10,000 of them during trainingin cyber-
'World \Var II. Counrless
training policy. Early f ight spacereallymake
instructors recognizedthe liveswere undoubtedly saved you a better racer
needfor a devicethat could thanks to this quality simula- in meatspace? We
teach the basics of flight uon trammg.
spentsometirne
control fiom the saferyof
z€ro miles per hour on the DoYouReadMe,HAL? wrrna racng pro
ground. The earliestsimu- Leap forward a few in a VW JettaTDI
Iators of the 20th century decades,and computers Cup carat VIR-
were simple rnechanical started to shakeup the world both in realityand
devlces-some were as of simulation.The military on a computer-Io
primitive as a barrel with had the bestequipmentand find out.
a seat in it that instructors programs, of course,but in
uould rock to and fro usinga slsremof ropesand pul- 1980 dre 6rst flight simuladonsoftwarefor home compur-
Jeys.They weren'trealisric,bur rhey imparredrhe basic e$ was released.The wire-frame graphicsand slideshow
principles of the controls and how they related to ya4 frame rate of Sublogic's "Flight Simulator" are laughable
pitch and roll. by todays standards.However,forthousandsofpeoplewho

Home corrtputer prograt-ns featuring cars actually

predate flight sirnulators by a nuntber of years, but
the earliesf ones fell under the category of garnes-
they were targeted at kids, after all.
Grossroots Motorsporls 89
 dLeamedof flying bur couldn't alIord a real airplane,the
serupallowedrhem to suspeuddisbeliefand becomepilors
in their own homes.
Thatt grearfor wannabepilors, but what abourhopeful
r . t " r. : r d r i v e r ' lH o r n e . o n p u r e p r r o g r r m 'f e a r u r i r cg a r s
a .r u r l y p r e d r r fel i g h r\ i m u l l , u f .b t r i u n b e , o l ) e . r r ' .b . r r
r\ee.rrli.'rone' fellundcfrhecrregoryofgrmc. rl-e1were
r . l r g e r eadr L i J , .a i r e ' ; l l .A , I r t . u l r .r h eb : , i . , o I d r i ' i n g
werethere,but the physicswerea crudeand often carroony
approximationof the real thing. And while a jerlry frame
race-nd 'paneg-aphiu\ dr ponrJythee\.enccoilor. .peed
. i r i l i : r a v i . L . o nt .h e y. i n p l y c , r n i, o n u e yr l - em i l l i m e t e r
precisionand on-the-groundspeedofan actualracecar.
Fonunately,the garnemarkethasa knack lor driving the
rapid developmentofgraphicsand soundhardware.Before
roolong.lromeLompurenwereup ro rhcra'l o'p'e,enring
: belevrbl<r:crngenvirorrmcrrr. complere wirh lluiJ high.
'pe<dvi.u" ,. pirch pcrlecre'lginenore.and 'quealingrire
. o ur d ' . B e r e n ri l l I o r s i n u l a r ourr , r h ea l U , \ : d b e . o m e
list enoughro model basicphysicsin realtime, lcnding the
piety pictureson rhe screena belicvablelevelofrealism.
Today,driving simulationsoftwareis widely available.A
numbe-orhrrdcorr\imu aror,rargercd\pecit.:'ly ar Thecockpitof the \ ,ryTDICup carln iRacingis a photorealist c representa-
"dulr,
havebecnleleled ,irce rhc lo')0..enularirg renu* fronr tion of the realthing,and the surfaceof V rg nia nternattonal Raceway's
historic Grand Prix to NASCAR. The most widely known FullCoursewas laser-scanned to nearmillimeter orecision
to helomakethe
currentofferingis iRacing,a subscription,based servicethar s i T . l a t c ot r a c ka sc l o s e. o r r t ea So o s s i b r e .
boastsprecision-scanned tracl<s, carefullymodeledcarsand
some pretty hcfty pannerships.Bodr NASCAR and the
S C C Al r o R a . . i r W g JerrT a D l C u p u ' c i R a c i r rl g r h e i r
omcLiI srmul.lrLon Parrnef.

Ground-Level
FlightInstruction
_. Pefer Krouse.hos Seen o driving inslrudor for the posl 25 yeors. He got his stort wifh the Ferrori Club of Ameico, lhen ioined hock
Time---<neof lhe fisl high-performoncedrMng orgonizotionsin lhe coun!ry-bock in 1987, ln 2007 he founded his own compony,
Krouse& Associolet which is heodquorfe,redol Viryinio Inlernotionol Rocewoy.Peterwos kind enough fo let us use his iRocingsetup
ond focililies for the viduol componenl of our test. He's one ofthe biggest supportersof simulolinglidining we've ever met.

Gtdssrools il,lotorsports: How did you gef your stori with rocing simulolors?
.Peler Krquse: I bought my first computer in 1997. The first thing I bought wos "CARTRocing,"o Microsoftoffering. Thol's
whot storted gelting me hooked. I got "Grond Prix Legends,"ond I storled using the originol "Gron Ttrrismo"when it come
oul to teoch trocks like Loguno Seco. I didn't hove ony interestin doing online rocing or colloborotivestuff. I iust wonted to
give studentsond clientsthe obility to procticeon their own.

GRIMrWhy hove you setlled on iRocingos

your sim of choice?
PK: There ore other ones ouf there, ond I
do use olher ones, bul iRocingis my sim of
choice becouse of its relevonce.!t feoluresl
frocks thot my clients go to, or wonf lo go
lo. The fidelity ot which the trocks ond cors
ore rendered is good enough to moke o
quonlitotive onolysisof o driver's obility. lt's
relevont becouselhe lrocks ore trocks oeoole
know. Most sims don't hove thot-they hove
Europeon or ficlionol trocks.

GRM: In o nutshell,how do vou use simulo-

tion lo help with your instruction?
PK: My methodology is similor to being on
in-cor inslrucfor.I sii next to them ond crifioue
everythingfrom their cor plocemenfto theii
control inpul.

GRM: Does simulotion lroining hove ony

odvonlogesover octuol time on lrock2
PK: Yes.becouseif's possiblefor people to
be more open lo leorning while lhey ore not
overwhelmed by the sensoryinput of driving PeterKrause (onthe right)hasa simulatorsetupr ght in hismainoffice,
the cor. They hove more time to think. I think
ocatedon siteat Virginialnternatonal Raceway.
He usest asa trainng tool
thol o sim con never reploce driving on q frock,
but il con ougmenl ond be o greol booster.The for h s coachingservices.
Peterofferedsomes mulatoTpo ntersto pro drver
risk/bene{itrotio is differenf in o sim, so they and Bimmerworldowner iamesC ay,but despiteJames's expertlse
on the
con probe without penolly. rea-word track,hewasunabe to getthe hangof the viftuaVlR.

Grossroots Motorsporfs 90
 Data
Points
Simulators arean integral part offlight train-
ing, but they're not as universally loved in the
world of moronporrs.ln facr.weVemer many
profesional driverswho discounrrhemenrirely
becauseof the one key element they carrt emu-
latq inenia. No matter how immersivethe graph-
yoERx1,
rourciti,ratl ffii5" ics or all-encompassingthe sound, a computer
racing simulator cant provide the sameseat-of-
and tngiirir-medr.._
Rotary the-pants feel encountered in a real car. And
professionaldrivers rely on that feel asmuch as
their eyesightto hustle a car at maximum speed.
www.mudatrix.com However,a erowine number of pro dlvcrs
emDrace lheLurrentgenetaoonol stmulalo|\ns
powerfulroolsfor improvingrheir. raft.They're

562-426'7960 nor obliviousLo the downsides. bur rhey\e

found a way to take the positivesand turn them
into lower lap times and improved race craft in
highJevelwheel-to-wheelseries.Ifit worls for
them, can it work for you?
To find our. we decidedro grrherdarafrom
a few points. Our production editor, Scott R.
Lear, is a casual iRacing enthusiast and occa-
sional club racer who has no delusions about
becomingthenerr Randylobst orJamesClay.
JamesClay,on the otherhand, is alreadya pro-
Gssionalracecar driver, but het nevereventrred
iRacing. Jamesis the owner of BimmerVorld,
whose BM\?s have long been stapleson the
\Vorld Challengecircuit. Ior 20 I 0, Jamesand
his teamhavemadethe jump to rhe Grand-Am
ContinentalTire Challengeseries.
\7e wanredco give earh oi our lab mi,e
sometime in the samecar at the sametrack in
both the realworld and iRacingt virtual world.
The test track would be one 6four favorr."",
Mrginia International Raceway.The 3.2-mile
Full Course offers a great mix of corners, a
couple ofvery high-speedsections,and a few
rrickyrurnsrharreallyseparare rhe prosfrom

Scott has done a few eventsat \4R ovcr

rhe pasrfew years.'o hei nor a loral novile.
James,on the other hand, considersthis his
home tracL, and he knows how to extracr evcry
last ounceofspeed from it. MR is one ofthe
signature tracks in iRacing, and a TiackDaze
eventon a cool day in November wasthe perfect
opportunity for our real-world excursion.
Our friends at TiackDazealsohelpedus select
a car, as theyve got srrong ties to Volkswagen.
In facr,VW war havinga TDI Cup gaLhering
on the infield circuir that sameweekend,with
severalidenticalJettaTDI racecarsgiving hot
lapsro sponsor.and serierparrners.They gener-
ouslyofferedup one ofthe carssowe could ger
somereal-worldtimesfor both Jamesand Scon.
An iRacing rig was also on the premlses,
as Peter Krause of Krause & Associateshas a
simulator setup in his o€ficeat MRt RacePlex
rrackidefacilirie:.Ttwa: rime to seehow sim
driving really stacksup against the real thing.

DigitalRecon
In the week before our trip to the reaMR,
Scottspenta chunk of time eacheveningafter
work-typically 40 minutes-pracricing in the
TDI Cup car ar VIR in iRacine.A Loeirech
wheeldamped ro a de.k isni quiie aseles"anc a,
a full cockpirserup.bur it gets'rhe
lob doie uell
enough.Scott paid closeattention to braking
and:hift poinrs.ald evencompared his racing
line to sornein-carvideo clipsfrom the actual
TDI Cup series.
By the third day ofpractice, he was able ro

Grossrools Motorsporls t2
 we wonted lo pick the broin of o professionol
driver who is olso o big sim enthusiosl. Eric Foss wos the eosy choice. He wos the
2008 SCCA Ployboy MX-S Cup chompion, ond he finished sevenlh in lhe 2OOg
World Chollenge seoson with two pole positions under his befi. Eric kicked off
2O1O with o de in o Posche 997 at Daytono in lhe Conlinenlol Chollenge series.
In the virtuol world, Eric has s 2:12.303 fosf lqp ot V,R in fhe TDI Cup cor. He's
olso o huge fon of iRocing's online compelifions, viduol rcces where reol-life driv-
ers foce off ogoinsl eoch other in o very reolistic dpproximolion of on ocfuol roce.
Since he ioined the iRocing service in Augusl of 2008, Eric hos logged 387 roce
storls, 199 wins,303 top-five finishes ond o iolol of 6871 lops, not counting prcc-
tice time. He's logged virtuol lop times in mony of ihe iRdcing cors ovoiloble, from
the Riley MI<XXDoytono Prototype snd Dolloro lndyCor to the Spec Rocer Ford.

Grdssroot! ,llloto'sports: Whof wos your first exposure fo simuloled rocing?

Eric Foss: Oh, jeez. The first time I got info sim sluff in generol wos the first
Indycor gome in fhe 1990s. I grew up on video gomes of lhe orcode. I used to
ploy "Roce Drivin"'-l octuolly own one of fhose [orcode mochines] now

GR/VI: Do you feel thot gqming experience helped you gel info reol rocing?
EF:The simulolorsore whol gove me lhe tools. A lol of fhings come more
nolurol for me, like deoling with overdll siluolionol oworeness.

GR/VI: How do you fhink the iRocing simulotion slocks up to the reol world?
EF: I think lhe strengthsof iRocingore thot the overoll feel is similor enough
to o cor lhot if con creole good, close rocing.You gef the ups ond downs of whol
if's like to be involved in o roce. l've worn my heorl rote monilor ond seen 150
beots per minule in lhe sim-nol quite os high os reol rocing, but close.
The occurocy of lhe frocks, too-l hodn'l been 1o Doytono before, ond I wos
tolking to o good friend of mine, Andy Lolly.I told him obout o bump thot wos o
good turn-in morker, ond he soid, "l thought you hoven'l driven here before?"
Oh, lwonted to odd, the [Grond-Am Porsche]leom lhot l'm running wifh,
lheir driver,Brion Sellers,gol sick on the morning of flostyeor's VIR] roce, ond
fhey hod me substitute.I hod never driven lhe cor ond hod only done two lops
for reol ot VlR, buf the week before I hod been procficing in iRocing-hundreds
of lops becouselwqs instrucfing.Hoving never roced or driven lhere, we mon-
oged to finish third. I totolly ottribute my obiliiy to pick up lhe trock so quick ond
fo be compefitive to the simulotor.

GRlll: Some pro driverscomploin lhol compuler simulotionsoren'l useful

becousethey don'l conveylhe seot-of-lhe-pontsfeel of reol driving. How hove
you been oble lo overcomelhot limitotion?
EF: I think the foct fhol l've been o sim rocer for so long, l've been oble to go
more visuol. l'm o prelty visuol driver-the biggesl inputs ore vision ond feel. I
think [fhe lock of feel] limifs my obility in iRocingsomefimes.l've slruggled lo
gef up lo poce with other drivers becouseI con't feel whot the cor is doing.

GR/ll: As rocing
simulofionscontinue
fo improve, do you
think more profes-
sionol driverswill
embroce lhem?
E F :l t h i n k m o r e
people ore doing it,
ond l've definitely
convincedmore lo
iry it. I wos the cooch
for [v1X-5 Cup] Teom
MER; we got six of
the driverslogefher
on iRocingond did
mulliple sessions
where we iusf lested
ond tested. After our
proclice, [MERdriver]
Jeff Mosing wos fifth
quickestol lhe reol
trock despitenever EricFoss(onthe right)is a real-world
pro driverwho also
hoving been lhere. hasa prettyirnpressiveiRacingrecord.Wh le he'saware
ngs,Ericis confidentthat timespentwth
of the shortcorn
racingsimulatorshashelpedh m win real-ife races.

GrossrootsMotorsports 93
 crenk out prtttv consistelt laps in e high
2 : 1 r s , u d l o r ' 2 : I 8 s o n h i s s i n r .T h c g a sr v a sl 1 a t
t o r h e H o o r l e r d i n g L r pt o a n d t h l o u g h o L r td r e
u p h i l l e s s c sa. n d * , h e n S c o t r h . r d , r n o f i , i r w a s
qpicalLv in rhe IIog Pcn coLnel rhat preceoes
rhe liont str:righr.-l'hese ofli were rnost ersilv
, " t , , tb ' l
r n d i n t e n s ec o n c t n u a r i o n i n t h e b L a k i n gz o n e
, | | . l: 'd of f,.l 'g ' lri'.
nay have rv|er heading into e tlickl rurn on

ThcLc are mucl, fisrcr lap rimcs to bc nact

on iRacing wl rhis combinarion ol crrrrrnrl
t L a c k a h a n d f l l o f s i n r a c c L sh r v c b r o k e n
g;52.291.o6oo i n t o d r e 2 : l 1 s b u r o u l o u , n e x p e r i e n c es h o l s
dr,rt it takcs hundreds ofl:Lps in lRrcnrg bcf-oLc
t h e u l L r a - l o wl r L pt i n c s s t a n c o m i n e . l i o r c o m -
, ' , ' , , ' . 1 . . . . " r d . . r , g . 1 ' r . ,f 1. i r - 1 i r r
r c a l r v o l i d ' l l ) l C L r pe v c n t a r V I l l i n A p l r t o r
2 0 0 9 i v . r sa 2 : 1 i . 5 1 ' 1 .
Whtn \{'e :rrrivcd at thc.rctLrrL Virgurra
No WoRRTES lnternatioral Raccnal', r'e srnck our RLC
R..r.c L\ r o , | , i , , 1| L , l r l . . . ,
" . , 1 ' rr
whenyouhavea t i o n s e t L r pi n r o a T D I C r p c r r r o g e r a b r s e l i r r e .
T h e L l r i r c L f i r t h o s e h p s r v a sJ : r n I l c v l c n , , r

FUEL SAT'
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O u nN n m e S n v sl r A l l : F u g rS- n r e ! lbnh Liuzzi.

Hc mmcd a 2:l;.I07 in thc TDI CLrpc.rL.
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Screenlest
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Grossrools Molorsporfs 94
rhat used pedal com-
pressiondisrance,not
pressure,to determine
braking values.To see
if hardwarewas parr
of James'p sroblem,
we switchedfrom the
cheapplasticpedalsto
a much more expen-
siveall-metalload-ceil
pedalsecup.Jameswas
immediarely more
comfortable with the
leelofthe sim. His compedtiveinstinctwasobviouslystrong-he refused ln a reversalof
to dial it back in the interestofposting a pokey but solid lap. Between the srmulator
offs,crashesand overzealous timi-negaiing cutb hops,h. *"i"ltim"tely result,pro driver
unableto Dosra valid lao in the rime we had with the sim. james(r ght) was
Scott hopped in neir, and after a couple of familiarization lips signficantlyfaster
with the siightly different setup he'sused ro the cheappedals,after
than Scottin the
ali-he curneda 2:18 in dre sim. Takethat, pro driverlPerhapsour
, \ a r c e so f g o i n gp r o w i l r : n . r e a . ei f rh e m r . I i n e ' r a k eo " e ra n d ' h e real-word VW TDI
Matrix gersswitched on. C u pc a ra t V l R .
Jamesobviousiy hadn't found much to love about the iRacing sim
during this first exposure.Beforewe headedro the feal track to drive
a real cat we decided to try one more experiment.Ve loaded up a

Young
Gunsin DieselDemons
For lhe posi few yeors, young drivers hoping to breok info the pro ronks hove
hod o greof olly in the SCCA Pro Rocing Volkswogen Jetto TDI Cup. The serres
piis ospiring driversbetween the oges of 16 ond 26 ogqinst one onofher in iden-
ticolly prepored turbo-diesel VlV roce cors ol some o{ lhe mosl fomous frocks
in lhe counlry They're vying for $50,000 in prize money os well os Volkswogen
foclory coreer odvoncement support worlh roughly twice thot omounf.
A few yeors bock, "diesel roce cor" wos o contrqdiclion,but lhoi's no longer
lhe cose.The TDI Cup cors ore only lightly modified compored to their rooo-
going Jetto counterports-boh-on suspensiongoodies ond Pirellirocing tires ore
fhe biggestchonges.The stock 2-liter direct-iniectionturbo diesel engine bumps
out neorly I 70 horsepowerond o whopping 258 lb.-ft. of torque os low os 1900
rpm. They run 85 Biodiesel,weigh oboul2850 pounds, ond use WV's DSG duol-
clu'tchgeorbox, meoning no clulch pedol ond neorly inslonl shifts.
To eorn o seot in lhe series, hopeflrl drivers foke porf in one of lhe Korting
Quolifiersthot WV hosts ocrosslhe country-it's $995 to porticipole.Rocers
who do well in fheir korting round ore inviled to the Finol Driver SeleclionEvenf,
complele with pro instructirs. Hopefuls ot this level get froining in oulocross,
on-trock rocing, physicolfilnessond even morkefing ond medio luioring. Those
who moke lhe cul ore offered one of the limifed seofs in lhe series. The enlry
fee-including the use of o fully prepored TDI Cup cor-is $45,000. Thot fee will
be woived for the top korting quoli{ier in 201 l.
Simulotor use is o criticolelement of this series:Reol-worldtesfing ot the
trocks in lhe series is stricfly prohibifed, but the drivers ore ollowed to drive
virtuol TDI Cup cors on fhe iRocingserviceto their heorls'conlenf. Leorn more
oboul fhe cors ond fhe seriesot ldi.wv.com.

2OlO SCCA Pro Ro.ing VW Jeth ?Dl Cup 3.hedule

April 23-25': VirginioInt'l Rocewoy,
Allon, Vo.
Mby 7-9: New Jeisey Motorsports P;rk, Miil'ille, N.J.
June 5-6: MillerMotorsportsPork,Tooele,Utoh
July 30-Aug. l: AutobohnCountryClub,Joliet,lll.
Aug.2O-22*t RoodAmerico, Elkhort Loke,Wis.
Sepl. 22-25*: AutodromoMigel E. Abed, Pueblo,Mexico
'denirtes
doubleheod"'r

GrossrootsMolorsports 95
 www.powerstreamind
ustries.com rear-wheel-driveSkip BaLberFormula 2000
car Janes is far moLe familiar with rhis
s C o n t o u rC u to r M a c h i n e df r o m . . . drive conliguration and picked a track he
jabru
legils titrulum engineercdllas|ics kncw far lessincimarelythan VlR, Daytona's
in6eldcourse.
Jrmes was much noLe receptivcto this
combination.Unlike the froncwheel-dLive
Jetta, the lightwcight opcn cockpir F2000
cat oflets many more visual cues-the wheels
are in plain sight, for exanplc and he was
imnediatelymore comfortablewirh Ending
the cais limits. Although Jamesknew the
./iO.), basicsofthe Daytona layout,he wasn'timmc-
d i a t e lL, r 1 . n rg" ' c ' u " r l , l r c . o r Jb 1 u ' i n g
cvcly trick in the book like he had beenar
thevirrualVIR. C)urpessimistic pro admitted
r h r rl r c . o ud , e er l - er r u e o l : ' r r n . r l a r ronr
siruarionslike rhis.

ShoMime
Jameswasrhe first to hit thc realtrack in the
biodiescfburningTDl Cup car OuLRLC tack
( - o r r r r n d e rJ . , ' ' h o q . r h , r hr i ' q t r ' . L e ' ri n .
rvasa 2:20.190 on lap Fve-fairly solid for a
lirst-tirneouting in an unfaniliar and borrorl,ed
ftoncwhcel-drivecaL.
Scott'.s bestlapwashissecond, a2:24.841.The
RLCI pretlictivetirning fearuLe showedthat he
wason pacefor a mid-2:22on his 6nal lap,but
a bobble in the Rollcr Coasterturn killeo rnc
artcnpt and then thecallto pit carnefrom thc
VV pir cre*,.The pro hadtrouncedusin the real
worlclb1'nore than 4.5 seconds.
I r e r ' r h o r g h! e \ a d r r m , . ' ee d . . r p. n
, h e. . r n .J " r r r r .. c e , n e"dr a dn o - e r p p r c i, r r i ' r
ofthe iRacingexperience afterhis srint in rhe
realcar."The basicswere most importart," he
reported,"roughlyrvhat gearto be in, and rhe
brakingpoints.The mannerismsoflronr wheel
drive carried over,and lrhe sim hefed rvirh]
basiccomfort in thc car cvcn somethingas
simpleasthe way rhe dashboardLooked."
Did he feel the dynanics were spot on
betrvccnthe two? "lt is a differcnr car than
u \ : r T n u ' e d r o . L ' u rr h e i n d i d - i ' e a l l y
preparemc. Srnoothness and norncntum nake
it fasr."So,lor a professionaldriver iikeJames
who knows VIR bcttcr than you know your
d r i ' I , o r r r r u r er h ep r r . r i . er i n e n r i R a i. r g
probabll' wasn'tcritical.
Even rhough we got our burr kicked in thc
realworld, we cane awayfron the tesr rather
rnolc irnpLessed with rhe iRacingbeneErthan
rveexpecred to be.For exampLe, in theClimb-
ing Esses,rvc did lift a bn ar cntr1.,but the
iRacing experiencegaveus rhe confidencero
be flat on the throtrle all thc way up the hill by
o r l e . o n d [ 1 ' . \ i r \ o u ri R . . i r ' g w . ep r o h : bI
h * e r . q rr , d 6 ' , o r . i r l ; p . 1 . r r' rog r i r '
"oulJ
rhat level of confidencein the car Thanks ro
rhesim,we werealsousedto theJeccas rapid-
6rc DSG shiftingand rhe shorrratio ofthe 6rst
rhreegears.Without rhevirtualpractice, wed
havebcenon rhe rev lirnitera lor more the
lou -rewi rg d e'el 'ound. '.r y d irfe"errr frorr
a high-rcrwinggasolile engine.
Vhy did we trounce the pro driveLin rhc
simulatorbut get our hclmct handedto us
on thc track?A glanceat dre RLC tclencuy
rells a story that will be familiar to anybody
who has seen dara from a pro driver velsus
an amateur,In a nutshell, we hnow fear,and
Jamcsknows none.
For one, we used the brakestoo early and
stayed on rhcm too long. In rhc NASCAR

Grossrooh Motorsports 96
 a

I e rdr
.i

ProdriveriamesC ay (redlineand belowleft)was s mp y fasterthan Producton EditorScottR. Lear(bluelineand belowright)

nearlyeverywhere on the track.Thevertlcalelementshowsm lesper hour relativeto t me n the lap The braveryScottenloyed
n the no-riskvirtua wodd took a backseatto self-preservation on the hardasphaltof VlR.Note how lames'sspeedchartshows
strongcornmtment to the gasand brakes,wh le Scotthestatesand feathersthe thrott e n a few of the tr ckjercorners.James
a l s ob r a k e sa t e ro n t h e b a c ks t r a i g h tr,e s u lnt g i n a m u c hh i g h e tro p s p e e d .

SpendingDazeat the Track

TrockDoze High-Performonce Driving slorled os o woy for Volkswogen fons in fhe mid-Atlontic region to get their cors out on
frock for some noncompeliiive filn. Orgonizers Eric Compbell, Jeremy Jens ond Jon Felton hove since exponded the formoi to
encomposs oll mokes ond models; their primory offerings ore instruclion ond open lrock time for vorious skill levels. Rocing is
not pori of lhe formulo.
Their current hosl lrocks ore Virginio lnternoiionol Rocewoy,New Jersey Moforsporls Pork ond Summit Point in West
Virginio. Of their seven 20I 0 dofes, obout holf ore on weekends-the rest ore weekdoy excursions.A full two-doy pockoge
with inslructionis generolly priced under $400. Visit trockdoze.comfor complete informolion ond specificrotes.

20lO lr.t.kDcre S.hedule

Morch l -2: VirginioInt'l Rocewoy,
Alton, Vo.
Mqy | 5-l6: SummilPointRocewoy, WVo.
June l2-l3r New JerseyMotorso6rtsPork.Millville.N.l.
July l2-13: SummitPointRocewoy, WVo.
Aug.26-271Virgi^io Int'l Rocewoy,Alton,Vo.
Ocf. 2-3: SummitPoinlRocewov. WVo.
Nov. l5-16: VirginioInt'l Rocewoy,
Alton,Vo.

GrossroolsMotorsports 9t
 Bend, for example,we were nearly 10 mph exceedthe 1gpull ofEarth. Motion simulation
slower than James.Despite having a higher rigs dont usually 6r behnrd the couch when
exit speedout ofOakTree, we shut down rhe you'redone using them, either.
parry on thc back straighrway too soon, hit- Until scientistsin lab coars6gureout a way
ting 115 mph comparedto Jamest121 mph r o F o ool u r i n r e re : r ' a r d r e - v ee r d ' n B 'i n r o
rop speed.Finalll our graph showsa number feelngrhing'rharrrcnr reelllrhere.r.r.irg.irr'
ofbrake+hrotle brakeadjustmentsatd other will alwaysbe a distant secondto the intense
indecisivemomenrs,whileJamestgraphshows realiry of driving a race car. And no simula-
m u c h r n o r t c o m m i r n e n r: r r d . o n F d e n . ei n
tion will everbe ableto marchthe levelofrisk
braking and accelerationzones. rh"r come,wirh hurrlingrlong ar t\e edgeof
control at potenriallylethal speeds. The whole
Ihis Conclusionls Simulated poirr ofa simulariori' rharir' sale.T\e heroi.
Racilg simulatorsare bound to improve as bmvery a driver can mustef in a sim dissolves
computer technology evolves.Photorealistic quickly when the resetbutton is taken out of
visuals are already here, and advancements the equation.
in graphicstechnologywill inevitably impart Irt very likely rhar a generarionraisedon
a more lifelike and 0uid fecl to the already videogameswill bemorcwillingto adoptracrng
stunningiook ofsims.Biggerscreens that wrap simularorsasa learningtoollor their nce craft.
around the drivershouid becomemorewidely That said,the fastestdriverswill alwaysbe rhose
available,adding to the senseof immersion. who can 6nd the very limir ofa cart potenral
There are alsowaysto add inertial leel to a u s i n ga l lo f r h e i r' e r . e .i n . o n , e r r I. r r c l i l y..i n r
sirnulator,but like high-endflight simulators, racingcan providecomparablehighs ofexcue-
theserigs relyon grcatbig hydraulicsysremsto menrand accomplishment for the relativelylow
rilt rhe driver and usuallythc entire cockpit orr(c ol a comD[tcr. 50mc \olt*lle
and screenassenbly,too. As a result,they cant lnd: b,ror.pare rine. 6fit"

sources
Bimmerworfd: professionoldriver, bimmerworld.com, lA77) 639-9 648
Eric Foss Rocing: professionoldriver, ericfossrocing.com
iRoaing:simulolorsoflwore,irocing.com
Krouse & Asso.iqtes: simulotorselup,Ieedbock,pelerkrouse.net, 1919)74O-1871
RLCEnterprises, In..r dolo ocquisition, rlcrocing.com,lSoO)752-8324
Tro(kDozer trocktime, lrockdoze.com
Virginio fnternqlionol Ro.ewqy: trock,virnow.com,(434)a22-A83
Volkswogen: letto TDI Cup roce cqr, ldi.vw.com

All the Fl DriversAreDoinglt

There's simply no olher rocing series lhol con molch Formulo 1 for perfor-
monce ond cost. To keep budgets down ond prevenl lhe betler-funded leoms
from gett;ng more frock fime lhon lhe smoller orgonizolions simply becouse
fhey con offord to, fhe FIA hos ploced stoul resirictions on the omounl of octuol
in-cor lesiing time. There's no limit on simuloled seot fime, however
Red Bull Rocing recenlly posled o video of their own simulotor sefup, with
Mork Webber cronking out o lop ot o reconfiguredBohroin circuitthot none of
the drivers hod ocfuolly roced in reol life. lt's on omozing peek into the world
of high-end simulotor iechnology ond how ihe pros use it to gqin o compeiilive
odvonfoge. Visil tinyurl.com/yb3o37c fo check if ouf.

,.0 rr? .a @ reD- gI

GrossroofsMolorspods 98