It only happens four times a year. What is “it?” Week 13, those seven magical days between each of iRacing.com’s four official seasons. For some, Week 13 is a final chance to “upgrade” their D, C and B licenses. For others, it’s a time to race purely for the fun of it, with no more worries about iRatings, safety ratings and championship points.

As always, your friends at iRacing have been beavering away in the hopes of giving you anything your heart desires (well almost anything) in Week 13. For those looking to advance to the next license level we have two official series in the SpecRacer Ford Challenge and Legends Cup. As official series, both Safety and iRatings count. Thus competitors have the opportunity to increase their license ratings prior to the official license promotions at the end of the week prior to Season 2. Likewise, rookies who have yet to complete the category-specific minimum participation requirements necessary for graduation (two official races or four time trials in each category) have one last chance before Season 2.

Week 13’s fun side comes in the forms of the Interlope with the Antelope, IZOD IndyCar Series and the Mixed Class Martial Arts series. Interlope with the Antelope enables iRacers of all experience and license levels to test their mettle in the crème de la crème of stock car racing: the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevrolet Impala SS. Held at fast Michigan International Speedway and the even faster Talladega Superspeedway on alternate days, Interlope with the Antelope offers an opportunity to experience iRacing’s premier stock car’s performance in packs of 30 cars which is, when compared to single-car testing, a totally different animal. Similarly, the IZOD IndyCar Series offers all iRacers a mix of oval and road course racing with our fastest open wheel racer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s historic oval and Circuit Park Zandvoort’s challenging seaside road course.

Mixed Class Martial Arts is a non-championship series that will be open to all members of the iRacing community regardless of license level once the newest addition to the iRacing.com paddock is ready to go: the Ford Falcon FG01 from the Australia V8 Supercar Series. The Falcon will do battle with the Corvette C6.R in a battle of V8 heavyweights. The ‘Vette may be one of the fastest GT cars ever built, so we’ve decided to give the Falcon a home field advantage and run the series at spectacular Phillip Island, the newest track in the iRacing catalogue.

iRacing.com was founded in September of 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of award-winning racing simulations including NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season and Grand Prix Legends. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group the co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing as well as an avid simracer. The iRacing team combines more than 100 years of real-world racing experience with more than 50 years of successful racing simulation development. The company has developed numerous corporate relationships in the motorsport industry, including agreements to develop track simulations with International Speedway Corporation, Speedway Motorsports, and Panoz Motor Sports Group and vehicles with General Motors, Riley Technologies, Radical Sportscars, and 600 Racing. iRacing is the official simulation partner of the Sports Car Club of America, Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, Star Mazda Championship, Skip Barber Racing School and Australias V8 Super School. The service is open to racers and fans of all skill levels from top-level pros to complete beginners.

iRacing.com was founded in September of 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of award-winning racing simulations including NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season and Grand Prix Legends. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group the co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing as well as an avid simracer. The iRacing team combines more than 100 years of real-world racing experience with more than 50 years of successful racing simulation development. The company has developed numerous corporate relationships in the motorsport industry, including agreements to develop track simulations with International Speedway Corporation, Speedway Motorsports, and Panoz Motor Sports Group and vehicles with General Motors, Riley Technologies, Radical Sportscars, and 600 Racing. iRacing is the official simulation partner of the Sports Car Club of America, Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, Star Mazda Championship, Skip Barber Racing School and Australias V8 Super School. The service is open to racers and fans of all skill levels from top-level pros to complete beginners.

iRacing.com was founded in September of 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of award-winning racing simulations including NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season and Grand Prix Legends. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group the co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing as well as an avid simracer. The iRacing team combines more than 100 years of real-world racing experience with more than 50 years of successful racing simulation development. The company has developed numerous corporate relationships in the motorsport industry, including agreements to develop track simulations with International Speedway Corporation, Speedway Motorsports, and Panoz Motor Sports Group and vehicles with General Motors, Riley Technologies, Radical Sportscars, and 600 Racing. iRacing is the official simulation partner of the Sports Car Club of America, Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, Star Mazda Championship, Skip Barber Racing School and Australias V8 Super School. The service is open to racers and fans of all skill levels from top-level pros to complete beginners.

iRacing.com was founded in September of 2004 by Dave Kaemmer and John Henry. Kaemmer was co-founder of Papyrus Design Group, developers of award-winning racing simulations including NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season and Grand Prix Legends. Henry is principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group the co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing as well as an avid simracer. The iRacing team combines more than 100 years of real-world racing experience with more than 50 years of successful racing simulation development. The company has developed numerous corporate relationships in the motorsport industry, including agreements to develop track simulations with International Speedway Corporation, Speedway Motorsports, and Panoz Motor Sports Group and vehicles with General Motors, Riley Technologies, Radical Sportscars, and 600 Racing. iRacing is the official simulation partner of the Sports Car Club of America, Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup, Star Mazda Championship, Skip Barber Racing School and Australias V8 Super School. The service is open to racers and fans of all skill levels from top-level pros to complete beginners.

iRacing.com Announces Further Plans to Increase Race Participation and Size of Race Fields

iRacing.com Announces Further Plans to Increase Race Participation and Size of Race Fields
September 11, 2009

iRacing.com has announced plans to increase the size of the race fields across the breadth of its online race simulation service. The revisions within the service are part of a long-term plan to make race registration and scheduling simpler and more convenient for members which will increase the size of race fields and the service overall.

laguna1First, a revised minimum official race field requirement will take effect at the start of the next race week on Tuesday, September 15. There is no change in the minimum requirements for Rookie or Pro licenses. A minimum of six drivers must register for rookie events in order for those races to be considered “official,” while twelve drivers will still be required to register for professional level iRacing events. All races at license class levels D, C, B, and A now require only eight registered drivers in order to be deemed official. The maximum number of competitors per race remains the same at all levels except D which is now a maximum field of sixteen.

“The new minimum race field requirements are designed to help foster more official races to take place on schedule,” said Tony Gardner, President of iRacing.com. “In the past, there’s been a tendency for members to put-off registering for a given race until that race has attracted the minimum number of registrants. This ‘which comes first the chicken or the egg’ situation sometimes resulted in an unacceptable delays to get the required number of drivers registered. The new minimums being put in place at the start of the next race week are designed to reduce that issue.”

The iRacing.com competition committee developed the simplified system in response to concerns raised by the iRacing.com members.

“In most cases people join a race once they see it will be official,” said competition committee member Dale Earnhardt, Jr. “In the past when a B class event was trying to fill, it would sometimes take forever to get the required amount of drivers. But once people saw the race would be official, the amount of registered drivers would jump by 4 to 8 people per race.

pir1“The competition committee is aiming to create more official races which will draw the same field size, if not larger, in many cases. Once people see these races going off with more ease, they will join earlier and more often and also be more alert to the sometimes complicated timing of the schedule.”

Gardner went on to say that additional functionality which is under construction in the service will make scheduling races much easier for members. “The design phase has been completed and construction has begun on functionality that will allow members to view an extended race schedule and indicate to other members through a reservation system that they plan to participate in an upcoming event. Members will know days in advance that other drivers plan to participate in an event and can plan accordingly” he said. “The combination of changing the minimums, adding race reservation functionality, and giving members the ability to view race participation schedules days in advance should help immensely in creating larger fields for races.”