Prather ci parla dell'esperienza reale con la VW Jetta

[VELOCIPEDE]

Hey guys,

As you can imagine, that was one helluva experience. I just got back after a very long weekend with very little sleep so I'm pretty sure I'm going to crash for about 15 hours here in a little bit.

There's so much in my head to write down that I can't wait to get down on paper (and hopefully talk about on the radio show this week). Anyway, for now, here's a quick race recap while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind, for those of you who were trying to figure out WTF was going on from the live scoring:

I screwed the start up a bit, I hesitated a bit because a car in front of me didn't go, so I lost a spot (aka the only spot I could lose ) before turn 1. That put me behind a driver that I was a bit quicker than, and a combination of things kept me from ever getting by him. I was a bit too cautious on cold tires, as well I was too cautious around the multiple wrecks that were going on on the first lap, so I lost several seconds from that. I started trying to run him down and then we had a full course caution.

I then made the stupidest, rookiest mistake ever, and forgot to go on the restart... as in, full on, had no idea the green was coming out, not paying attention, spotting the field 4 seconds type of stupid rookie mistake. It was pretty embarrassing. Anyway, I ran him down again and I think I may have had a couple of looks to pass him (I don't quite remember), and then we had another caution when Devin Cates ended up on the tires in Canada.

Note: Here is a video of Devin's Cates crash at the Canada corner in Saturday's race.

I did a good job of staying on his bumper on the next restart but was being overly cautious on pass attempts. I had a couple of runs on him but without even having a nose along side of him, and not knowing how he was going to race me, I backed out. It turns out he probably would have given it to me, but at the time I wasn't 100% sure how aware he was and didn't want to take the chance. After spending most of the race under caution, the last thing I wanted to do was have to apologize to the field for ruining their brawl to the end because me and some other guest driver decided to mount each other for last place

A lap or two later, I managed to get a good run into Canada Corner, and was ready to make the pass, when I look up and see a yellow waving, as one of the cars was sitting in the gravel. So, completing the pass would have been illegal, and I backed out. I then compounded it by making bonehead mistake number 2. For whatever reason, I was trying to be really safe and forgot it was just a local caution, and I started coasting out of Canada Corner and into 13. About the time I got to 13 I realized the guy in front of me had just pulled 4 seconds on me and what I had done. So, I got back on it and caught up to him pretty quickly again.

I ended up with 2 laps to try and get by him at that point, I was much quicker in the carousel/kink, so I was able to get good runs down into Canada, but I was not able to make the pass happen. I tried to set him up out of the last corner but unfortunately that was one corner he was better than me in, so I wasn't able to get it done there.

The last lap, I knew my only chance was to get a run down the backstretch, and knew I had to nail the carousel and the kink to do it. About halfway through the carousel it was obvious I was about to get a big run on him and was going to have to go through the kink pretty close to his bumper to make it happen.

So, I spent the whole way from the center of the carousel until the kink talking myself into it. The little angel guy on one shoulder was like "dude, going through the kink on someone's bumper is going to be scary as hell, don't come all this way just to stuff it on the last lap" while the devil guy on the other shoulder (who looked like Richard Towler for some reason, not sure why) was yelling "you've done this a million times in a sim, it's the last lap, stop being a pansy and do it you toolshed". So I did, and it was a good feeling. Unfortunately he hit the kink better than he had all race and I wasn't able to get the run I needed. I pounded the last corner harder than I had all weekend trying to figure out a way to get him but it wasn't enough.

Even though it was disappointing because I was quicker than him and I honestly do believe I had something for at least a few of the cars in front of him, I had an absolute freaking blast those last few laps. Me and the other driver had the biggest smiles in the garage after the race. It was a great way to finish the weekend. That's what racing is all about, even if it's for 22nd.

Anyway, that's already an 11 paragraph essay and only about 5% of what I experienced this weekend, so I'll leave it there for now.

John Prather

incidente in gara

That was pretty incredible. And yes, like Jake Thompson mentions above (Jake is a very competitive driver in the TDI cup series for those who didn't recognize the name), I'd cringe at people hating on Devin over that, or even making light of it. I got to talk to him several times throughout the weekend, and was able to see first hand the consequences of that incident. That being, one guy not sure if he's going to be able to afford to keep racing in the series (not to mention going for a ride and being lucky to get out unhurt), while another guy is damned near in tears because he made a tiny mistake that ended up sending his buddy flipping into the tires, ending his race and potentially his season.

As bad as I've felt before for making a mistake that takes out a buddy of mine in an "important" Sim Race, nothing even remotely compares to what those guys were going through.

I wish I wasn't so damned tired right now because I'd really love to get into it, but I really can't touch that topic at the moment, because I will end up writing about 25,000 words. I'm tempted to try to add it but I anything I write is going to be begging for a more detailed explanation.

BTW, to anybody that doubts that I will be able to relate my true thoughts about all of this stuff because of any obligation to iRacing, do not worry. I plan on being as honest as I can about all of it, it's totally unfair to the community, and to the "great debate" if I do anything else. Fortunately, iRacing is on the same page, because it would've bothered me a lot to go through all of this and not be able to fully share my thoughts and experiences.

la classifica finale

la VW Jetta TDI Cup -> http://www.facebook.com/VWJettaTDICup

[VELOCIPEDE]

It was a great weekend around the Great Lakes for iRacers, who won from Brooklyn, Michigan to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. In many ways, the most remarkable performance of the weekend saw John Prather come home 23rd in the VW TDI Cup event at Elkhart Lake's Road America. iRacing's highest ranked North American road racer, Prather made his racing debut in the physical world last weekend. In a tight schedule with just one practice and one qualifying session before the race, Prather never put a wheel wrong. He chopped more than six seconds off his practice time in qualifying, then drove to 23rd place in a race won by Timmy Megenbier from A.J. Nealey and Joey Atterbury - iRacers all.

Prather finished with his iRacing.com Jetta glued to the bumper of Jaime Vondruska, his only regret being the race finished too soon.

[VELOCIPEDE]

The point I've tried to make in the past is that top drivers are not leaving x amount on the table because of basic fear. The top 10 drivers in the TDI cup series were all within .4 of each other on fastest race lap, I don't believe for a second that all 10 of them were leaving a second or two on the table because of any kind of fear. This is the argument that has been made in the past, trying to explain why sim racers turn faster laptimes, when the real reason is always differences in car/track physics.

For me, the problem wasn't so much "Fear" per se, but "uncertainty". For me, crashing the car and possibly ending my weekend was not an option, so the issue was trying to push a car and hoping that it sticks. Once I'd developed the confidence that the car will do something, I no longer had that same fear the next lap. I guess it's still "Fear", but it's much different than the "I'm afraid of getting hurt and so I'm not going to do something even though I know the car will handle it" fear. I don't have any doubts that the top drivers have developed that confidence and are pushing the car as hard as they can without any anything left due to any kind of fear.

It is true, that RA has some spooky corners and the kink is pretty spooky even after taking it flat several times without issue.