Sim Racer's Edge is about to kick off our 4th Season with the first race on February 3rd at Daytona. We'll be driving the Dallara IR18, which you probably know as an IndyCar. It's the same car that competes each year in the Indianapolis 500! We use the iRacing simulator for our races which allows us to drive the same car that will be used by drivers in the actual 2022 NTT IndyCar Series.
Every Sim Racer's Edge race will be broadcast live. You can find the full race schedule here. Before our first race, I wanted to give you a chance to see what it's like for the drivers to sit in an IndyCar! Here is a shot of what I see when driving!
The first thing you might notice is that IndyCar drivers are protected by the Aeroscreen, which is a clear windscreen framed with titanium that encompasses the entire cockpit. Like the Formula 1 halo, this drmatically improves driver safety by protecting the driver's head from things like a rollover accident, flying debris, or another car when it is flying through the air as the result of an accident. Also, like the halo, there is a structural element right in the middle of our view of the track. It might seem inconvenient, but after driving the car for a while you completely forget it is there. There are too many other things to worry about while racing a speed of 220 mph (350 kph)!
The next thing to point our are the mirrors. These tiny mirrors are what we use to keep track of the cars behind us to avoid contact when a trailing car attempts a pass!
We can see our front tires through the Aeroscreen, which we use as a reference to know where our car is on track. We can't see the front wing of the car while driving so we must rely on the tires to position the car in the correct position on the track to avoid contract with the wall and other cars, and also avoid touching the apron or curb which can quickly lead to a race-ending spin.
Of course I am sure you noticed the steering wheel. Let's take a closer look!
The wheel on the IndyCar has a number of buttons to control the car and a digital display to show what is happening with the car.
The IndyCar has 6 gears along with Neutral and Reverse. Shifts are made with paddles on the backside of the wheel. Upshifts [1] are made with the right fingers and downshifts [2] are made with the left fingers. The current gear [3] is shown prominently in the center of the digital display. As with any car, shifts are made at a certain RPM. The current RPM is shown both as and LED indicator [4] at the top wheel and as a numeric value [5] above the gear. Shifts during the race are made at about 12,000 RPMs!
The is a Push To Pass [6] button, or PTT for short. This is used only on road courses to give the car an extra boost of power when trying to make a pass. This can only be used a limited number of times so drivers will try to save them for pivotal moments during a race!
The Pit Limiter [7] is used to avoid speeding in the pit lane when stopping for fuel and tires. Driver's must reduce the car the pit lane speed limit themselves, but hitting this the Pit Limiter button will help them avoid a costly speeding penalty from the time they enter the pit lane to the time they exit pit lane and rejoin the race!
IndyCar drivers use "in-car adjustments" from inside the cockpit to control how the car behaves during the race. These adjustments start with the front and rear anti-roll bar [8] settings which change how the car handles by making slight changes to the front and rear suspensions. The Weight Jacker [9] is an adjustment used only on oval tracks to shift the cross weight on the car from left to right. You will hear these "in-car adjustments" mentioned during the broadcasts and now you will have a better idea what they are talking about!
Fuel management and strategy is a huge factor in our races. IndyCars cannot complete a race on a single tank of fuel, and each race will require multiple stops to avoid running out. The "fuel map" [10] position can be changed during the race to increase power (using more fuel) or to save fuel. Of course more power is always good, but there are many situations where saving fuel during the race can be the key to victory. Pit stops take a long time while racing under the green flag. The best drivers are constantly formulating their fuel strategy while they drive. Waiting to stop for fuel until there is a yellow flag caution or being able to stop for fuel one less time than your competitors is a huge advantage!
I wanted to give you some perspective of what it is like to drive and IndyCar as a driver competing in Sim Racer's Edge's 4th Season! I know all of our drivers are excited to be sponsored by Ecency and are hopeful that you, the community members, will tune in to our race broadcasts. I encourage you to join the Need for Speed community and stay tuned for links to the racing broadcast each week!
Watch for me in the #66, driving for the FBR Motorsports team with the Ecency logo on the side of my car!
