There was a lot of talk coming out of the iRacing Nürburgring 24...
(did you know that NOT adding proper umlauts may actually hurt our SEO? Can confirm "Nuerburgring" is not an acceptable substitution in this case, despite being recommended by the article as the "correct" English spelling.)
...about a "Development Program/Team" for Band of Others Endurance. So far, I'm not really "on-board" with the snippets of idea's that I've heard, but I wanted to get the conversation started on the forums before the 24 Hours of Nürburgring fell too far back in our rear-view mirror, and I wanted to throw out a few ideas that may help drivers get familiar with the cars and tracks, proper handling of traffic, and iRacing's semi-convoluted "Team" system.
The first thing I'm going to say is...
#PracticePals
Formed over three years ago, this is the cornerstone to all Band of Others iRacing activities. Practice Pals gives you the opportunity to turn laps along side people of ALL skill levels. The best way to become familiar with a car is to drive it. The best way to learn a track is to drive it. However, by yourself, both of these tasks can be frustrating, discouraging, and even futile, if you don't know how to improve. Having people to bounce ideas off of, or learn from, is integral! At the same time, the comms and camaraderie help take away the monotony of driving in circles.
When it comes to Team/Endurance events, you have different people, perhaps with different driving styles, sharing one car. That means everyone on the team has to be comfortable driving the same car/setup. While we try to keep "current" setups posted on the forums, or uploaded in the Team Speak - File Browser, nothing replaces being able to be on track together, and discuss the pros/cons of a setup, live. Bottom line, everything we do, and everything you need to know, starts with practice, and that is why I feel the Band of Others Practice Pals program IS our "Development Program".
That said, there are other ways, beyond Practice Pals to get experience. Practicing can get a driver a long ways, but no amount of practice can ever come close to racing. The only way to get race experience is by actually racing. You'll be surprised how much being in an actual race can change things. All of your lap times, your fuel numbers, your tyre wear, may (and will) all change when you get around cars, depending how aggressive, anxious, or laid-back you are around other cars. Our next Endurance Event will be the 24 Hours of Spa, a GT3 only event, so getting race experience in ANY GT3 car at ANY track between now and July WILL be valuable! Don't be fooled into thinking that, because it's a different track, or because it's a different GT3 car, that the racing will somehow be different. Each GT3 car has their own characteristics, but their capabilities, as far as braking, accelerating, and cornering, are similar enough that any experience you gain in a race, from passing, fuel strategy, and traffic management can be carried over into Endurance practice.
The same thing goes for learning to manage traffic in multi-class series! First, you have to practice in the car that you're driving, and be proficient in it. Once you have done that, you need to practice around the other classes. Pay attention to the line that they're driving, so that you can anticipate what they're most likely to do or where they're going to place the car. Spending some time in EACH of the classes in a series will also give you insight into why they're doing what they do! Once you think you're comfortable around other cars, you'll need to jump into a race to discover that you weren't prepared at all! You're going to mess up, and your going to probably going to get moaned at, and other people are going to make mistakes at your expense, but that is why you need to do it! Racing really is the only way to learn to drive in heavy multi-class traffic! You need to learn what works, what definitely doesn't work, and what you shouldn't do but can get away with. The most experienced drivers. The other important thing to remember is that, regardless of your experience, NO ONE is going to do it right 100% of the time, whether it is a 45-60 minute race, a 90-120 minute race, 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours, no one will do it right, every single time. Multi-class is a dance, and you're going to step on some toes at some point. The important thing is to learn from each mistake.
So wait, before everything was all about practice, but racing is the best experience? How do we do that?
Obviously, you start with your everyday iRacing official series; "VRS GT Sprint Series", "IMSA Sportscar Championship", and the "iRacing Le Mans Series".
Then, iRacing has three series that can be used as a stepping stones to the Special Events and these are the best place that I see for a "Development Program"...
"VRS GT Endurance Series" - Weekly / Saturday 9:00 and 19:00 GMT, Sunday 17:00 GMT / Team / GT3 / 3 Hours
"iRacing Endurance Le Mans Series" - Bi-Weekly / Saturday 7:00 and 19:00 GMT / Team / P1,P2,GTE / 6 Hours (for this season**)
"iRacing VLN Endurance Championship" - Schedule / Team / IMSA GT3, 911 Cup, Kia, MX-5 / 4-6 Hours
Just like Pirelli World Challenge, British GT Masters, and Blancpain Sprint Series all step up to Pirelli World Challenge SprintX or Blancpain Endurance Series, and are all real life stepping stones to the 24 Hours of Spa...
...or...
The IMSA Sportscar Series, the European Le Mans Series, and the Asian Le Mans series are all real-life stepping stones to the World Endurance Championship, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans...
We already have one of the three series covered, but I'd love to see a Band of Others presence in the other two!
The "iRacing VLN Endurance Championship" provides great team practice if you want to know everything there is to know about the "Nürburgring Nordschleife" (slightly different GP circuit between the Gesamtstrecke VLN and Gesamtstrecke 24h, but the Nordschleife is the Nordschleife) leading up to the "Nürburgring 24" or just good practice if you want to push yourself to be able to drive for 1.5-6 hours in a GT3, 911 Cup, Kia, or MX-5!
The "VRS GT Sprint Series" provides individual practice for drivers, who can then team up for the "VRS GT Endurance Series" which provides great team practice leading up to the 24 Hours of Spa, or just good practice if you want to push yourself to be able to drive for 1.5-3 hours in a GT3 car!
The "iRacing Le Mans Series" provides individual practice for drivers, who can then team up for the "iRacing Endurance Le Mans Series" which provides great team practice leading up to the "24 Hours of Le Mans", or just good practice if you want to push yourself to be able to drive for 1.5-6 hours in a P1, P2, or GTE car!
Participating in these events, I think, are THE best way to prepare for "Team" / "Endurance" events. Its the best way to learn endurance strategies, to get race experience, to get traffic experience, to learn how iRacing's Team system works and it just flat out looks like ton of fun, as well!
I am not available on weekends, but if there are drivers that are looking to participate in these events (I know @SavreticD has already started screaming for this to happen!!) I'd be happy to help out with charts, especially for VLN, and even iELMS for the people to get familiar with the charts. (VRS GT Endurance Series probably isn't worth the effort to do a full chart every single week for just a three hour event)
What I absolutely don't want to see out of any B2O program is a bunch of new drivers relegated to a "Development Team". That is a poor way, imo, to develop. I'd rather have newer drivers teamed up with the more experienced drivers so that they can learn along the way. There may be occasions, like at Bathurst, where @Kelley G and @LoucMachine were added to the roster late, and ended up doing their first B2O Endurance event mostly on their own, but that was strictly dictated by circumstance. Car preference will always lead the way in a team's creation. What everyone likes, and what they're comfortable with driving should always be priority, but I don't want it to be the norm where new drivers are left on a team of their own.
**It looks like, more and more, iRacing is integrating "Special Events" into other series.
Final thought, because I know when I do posts like this I'm all over the place..
I'd like to compile a list of resources for new iRacers (Setup Resources, Apps like Trading Paints/DRE/JRT/Crew Chief, we already have one thread about the "app.ini" settings... This will probably be yet another thread, and @Duke when we have time we should probably talk about the best way of going about this. If anyone else would like to help/contribute to this, please PM me or we can talk about it in TS!
(did you know that NOT adding proper umlauts may actually hurt our SEO? Can confirm "Nuerburgring" is not an acceptable substitution in this case, despite being recommended by the article as the "correct" English spelling.)
...about a "Development Program/Team" for Band of Others Endurance. So far, I'm not really "on-board" with the snippets of idea's that I've heard, but I wanted to get the conversation started on the forums before the 24 Hours of Nürburgring fell too far back in our rear-view mirror, and I wanted to throw out a few ideas that may help drivers get familiar with the cars and tracks, proper handling of traffic, and iRacing's semi-convoluted "Team" system.
The first thing I'm going to say is...
#PracticePals
Formed over three years ago, this is the cornerstone to all Band of Others iRacing activities. Practice Pals gives you the opportunity to turn laps along side people of ALL skill levels. The best way to become familiar with a car is to drive it. The best way to learn a track is to drive it. However, by yourself, both of these tasks can be frustrating, discouraging, and even futile, if you don't know how to improve. Having people to bounce ideas off of, or learn from, is integral! At the same time, the comms and camaraderie help take away the monotony of driving in circles.
When it comes to Team/Endurance events, you have different people, perhaps with different driving styles, sharing one car. That means everyone on the team has to be comfortable driving the same car/setup. While we try to keep "current" setups posted on the forums, or uploaded in the Team Speak - File Browser, nothing replaces being able to be on track together, and discuss the pros/cons of a setup, live. Bottom line, everything we do, and everything you need to know, starts with practice, and that is why I feel the Band of Others Practice Pals program IS our "Development Program".
That said, there are other ways, beyond Practice Pals to get experience. Practicing can get a driver a long ways, but no amount of practice can ever come close to racing. The only way to get race experience is by actually racing. You'll be surprised how much being in an actual race can change things. All of your lap times, your fuel numbers, your tyre wear, may (and will) all change when you get around cars, depending how aggressive, anxious, or laid-back you are around other cars. Our next Endurance Event will be the 24 Hours of Spa, a GT3 only event, so getting race experience in ANY GT3 car at ANY track between now and July WILL be valuable! Don't be fooled into thinking that, because it's a different track, or because it's a different GT3 car, that the racing will somehow be different. Each GT3 car has their own characteristics, but their capabilities, as far as braking, accelerating, and cornering, are similar enough that any experience you gain in a race, from passing, fuel strategy, and traffic management can be carried over into Endurance practice.
The same thing goes for learning to manage traffic in multi-class series! First, you have to practice in the car that you're driving, and be proficient in it. Once you have done that, you need to practice around the other classes. Pay attention to the line that they're driving, so that you can anticipate what they're most likely to do or where they're going to place the car. Spending some time in EACH of the classes in a series will also give you insight into why they're doing what they do! Once you think you're comfortable around other cars, you'll need to jump into a race to discover that you weren't prepared at all! You're going to mess up, and your going to probably going to get moaned at, and other people are going to make mistakes at your expense, but that is why you need to do it! Racing really is the only way to learn to drive in heavy multi-class traffic! You need to learn what works, what definitely doesn't work, and what you shouldn't do but can get away with. The most experienced drivers. The other important thing to remember is that, regardless of your experience, NO ONE is going to do it right 100% of the time, whether it is a 45-60 minute race, a 90-120 minute race, 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours, no one will do it right, every single time. Multi-class is a dance, and you're going to step on some toes at some point. The important thing is to learn from each mistake.
So wait, before everything was all about practice, but racing is the best experience? How do we do that?
Obviously, you start with your everyday iRacing official series; "VRS GT Sprint Series", "IMSA Sportscar Championship", and the "iRacing Le Mans Series".
Then, iRacing has three series that can be used as a stepping stones to the Special Events and these are the best place that I see for a "Development Program"...
"VRS GT Endurance Series" - Weekly / Saturday 9:00 and 19:00 GMT, Sunday 17:00 GMT / Team / GT3 / 3 Hours
"iRacing Endurance Le Mans Series" - Bi-Weekly / Saturday 7:00 and 19:00 GMT / Team / P1,P2,GTE / 6 Hours (for this season**)
"iRacing VLN Endurance Championship" - Schedule / Team / IMSA GT3, 911 Cup, Kia, MX-5 / 4-6 Hours
Just like Pirelli World Challenge, British GT Masters, and Blancpain Sprint Series all step up to Pirelli World Challenge SprintX or Blancpain Endurance Series, and are all real life stepping stones to the 24 Hours of Spa...
...or...
The IMSA Sportscar Series, the European Le Mans Series, and the Asian Le Mans series are all real-life stepping stones to the World Endurance Championship, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans...
We already have one of the three series covered, but I'd love to see a Band of Others presence in the other two!
The "iRacing VLN Endurance Championship" provides great team practice if you want to know everything there is to know about the "Nürburgring Nordschleife" (slightly different GP circuit between the Gesamtstrecke VLN and Gesamtstrecke 24h, but the Nordschleife is the Nordschleife) leading up to the "Nürburgring 24" or just good practice if you want to push yourself to be able to drive for 1.5-6 hours in a GT3, 911 Cup, Kia, or MX-5!
The "VRS GT Sprint Series" provides individual practice for drivers, who can then team up for the "VRS GT Endurance Series" which provides great team practice leading up to the 24 Hours of Spa, or just good practice if you want to push yourself to be able to drive for 1.5-3 hours in a GT3 car!
The "iRacing Le Mans Series" provides individual practice for drivers, who can then team up for the "iRacing Endurance Le Mans Series" which provides great team practice leading up to the "24 Hours of Le Mans", or just good practice if you want to push yourself to be able to drive for 1.5-6 hours in a P1, P2, or GTE car!
Participating in these events, I think, are THE best way to prepare for "Team" / "Endurance" events. Its the best way to learn endurance strategies, to get race experience, to get traffic experience, to learn how iRacing's Team system works and it just flat out looks like ton of fun, as well!
I am not available on weekends, but if there are drivers that are looking to participate in these events (I know @SavreticD has already started screaming for this to happen!!) I'd be happy to help out with charts, especially for VLN, and even iELMS for the people to get familiar with the charts. (VRS GT Endurance Series probably isn't worth the effort to do a full chart every single week for just a three hour event)
What I absolutely don't want to see out of any B2O program is a bunch of new drivers relegated to a "Development Team". That is a poor way, imo, to develop. I'd rather have newer drivers teamed up with the more experienced drivers so that they can learn along the way. There may be occasions, like at Bathurst, where @Kelley G and @LoucMachine were added to the roster late, and ended up doing their first B2O Endurance event mostly on their own, but that was strictly dictated by circumstance. Car preference will always lead the way in a team's creation. What everyone likes, and what they're comfortable with driving should always be priority, but I don't want it to be the norm where new drivers are left on a team of their own.
**It looks like, more and more, iRacing is integrating "Special Events" into other series.
The "Daytona 500" was long ago added to the "NASCAR iRacing Series", the first running of the "Kings Royal" has been moved to the new World of Outlaw Series, 2018 "24 Hours of Le Mans" will be added to the "iRacing Endurance Le Mans Series", and the 2018 "Bathurst 1000" will somehow be incorporated into the "V8 Supercar Series".
With the addition of Belle Isle this coming season, iRacing will have 15/18 Indy Car tracks and a complete IMSA schedule, so I'd love to see a dedicated series for these cars. That would absorb the "Indy 500" to the theoretical Indy Car Series, the "24 Hours of Daytona", "6 Hours of the Glen", and "Petit Le Mans" would all be absorbed by theoretical IMSA series.
The "Nürburgring 24" could be absorbed into the VLN Schedule (I know it isn't technically VLN, but it's the same cars....), and the "24 Hours of Spa" which could be added to the "VRS GT Endurance Series".
All that would be left over in the current Special Events calendar is the "Roar Before the 24", and the "Bathurst 12h".
All that would be left over in the current Special Events calendar is the "Roar Before the 24", and the "Bathurst 12h".
Final thought, because I know when I do posts like this I'm all over the place..
I'd like to compile a list of resources for new iRacers (Setup Resources, Apps like Trading Paints/DRE/JRT/Crew Chief, we already have one thread about the "app.ini" settings... This will probably be yet another thread, and @Duke when we have time we should probably talk about the best way of going about this. If anyone else would like to help/contribute to this, please PM me or we can talk about it in TS!
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