It all started last Friday when i woke up dead early in the morning to catch a flight to Atlanta at 6:00am.
A million thoughts were going through my head... "like did i pack everything i need?", "will my
luggage and all my gear get lost if i check-in?", "did i charge all my gopro camera's batteries?"..etc..
I was also excited to meet the new team,, Car #33 Team "GrabYerJunk" to be exact :)
The team chief, Chris works at Iracing...his son Dusty is also one of the drivers and he also
uses Iracing... Car owner and chief mechanic Keith he is iracer as-well.. So i knew I was in great company..
surrounded by people who understand that sim racing is not just a great learning tool but also a
great way to bring people together...
We also had a 4th driver John, a SCCA club racer and a track day instructor,, who was not very familiar with
iracing,, nor Road Atlanta. It was during that weekend that we realized the effectiveness of prepping
for a track on the sim actually pays off.. John struggled through out the weekend in trying to learn the track and the car...
while we only had to focus on learning the car,, as after 100's of virtual laps i already knew the braking zones, the different lines,, (preferred, defensive, etc), sections of the track which is tricky to pass, or easy to pass...and where to carry the most momentum to shave off lap times.
It was a surreal experience, a bit of dejavu...as I had never been on this track, but in a sense i had.
The laser scanned version of Road Atlanta was right on accurate,, every bump, every curb, every turn-in was already in my muscle memory...all i had to was get used to the elevation changes (which were quite scary) and the car...and just go out and have a great time.
And that is what exactly I did... During the stint on Sunday (which was only a 4 hour race, Saturday was 10 hours) i diced with a Miata for a good 20 laps.. We had a great battle that felt like it lasted forever,, we kept changing positions, but respected each other and made sure to give enough space... After my stint, i had to meet that driver,, shake hands/hugs ...love it..that was a proper battle :)
Here is some racing porn...the battle intensifies towards the end of the video...
I have a ton more video's to edit for all the team members, stay tuned for more action...
