In a packed lineup for this weeks women in sim racing from Eliza Indriani, there is plenty to check out. Lets get to it.
Eliza Indriani keeps us posted with her weekly women in sim racing blogs, detailing all the events, streams and more. This week is a big one, so grab your favourite beverage and enjoy.
Hello everyone and welcome to my 41st blog at simrace247! Hope you are doing well; life is busy for me lately, lots of races and practices. As you guys know, I had a charity race last Saturday hosted by Annie Rabbets on iRacing. I’m glad I made progress in my driving in sim racing, I could learn new tracks faster and I didn’t struggle like I used to before. I remembered last year I needed at least 1 week to feel confident racing at a new track. But now, I can just do 1/2 days of practice and feel confident racing at a new track.
So yeah, last week I raced in Sonoma, Bathurst, Okayama, and Kyalami. I must say these are new tracks for me; although I had some races at Bathurst before, that didn’t count because I felt I didn’t really race back then. I was just driving around trying to finish the race. I wanted to have a good race at these tracks so I did a lot of practice even during my stream I did a couple laps of practice. How was my races in JumpStartX and More Female Racers S5? I got you covered.
JumpStartX Charity Race hosted by Annie Rabbets
I was invited by AshVandelay to join her team for the JumpStartX Charity Race. I was so happy to share the tracks with lots of pro drivers on iRacing and also the big streamers on Twitch. I’ve been following Annie Rabbets on Twitch and I really enjoyed her streams. She’s a great iRacing driver. I was so excited to join her annual charity race.
In this event we were racing in 3 different tracks with 3 different cars; Sonoma with a “surprise car”, Bathurst with any GT3 car of your choice, and Okayama with MX-5. These tracks are legendary tracks I must say. I remembered I used to race in MX-5 around Okayama when I started racing on iRacing. It’s a fun car to drive for sure.
I felt nervous about our first race in Sonoma. We had no idea which car we are going to drive and which layout for Sonoma. I did some practices with several cars in the cup layout, I was hoping we’ll be racing in this layout.
I can say I improved my lap time in Bathurst during my practice session. Although I was just using a baseline setup, the car felt great and I got my confidence racing at this track. That’s what is most important for now; don’t worry too much about the setup, just drive and try to learn about the track and get used to how the car feels. We’ll learn about how to tweak the car setup after.
Race 1 – 15 mins at Sonoma Raceway
It was really surprising for me when I found out that we’ll be racing the RX car in Sonoma. I have never driven this car before, I have no idea about this car. I was planning to switch my rim to the Sparco P310 but I decided to keep my SF1000 wheel because I put my priorities on the 2nd race at Bathurst. SF1000 is a perfect rim for racing the GT3 car. My plan for the Sonoma race was just to survive the race. I didn’t expect any win in this race as we have so many pro drivers on the grid with 8K iRating or even more. So yeah, I’m just gonna do my own race, have fun, and gain experience racing at this track. Sonoma is a very technical track for sure so I feel that I need to survive this race in order to gain experience.
Start was fine for me, although D. Morad had a giga start starting from the back and gained so many positions in 1 lap. I learned a lot from him to be honest.
Racing the RX car with an open wheel was a big challenge for me. It doesn’t fit a rally car, for sure. But I had a pretty good race! I could avoid many incidents, I got my pace and I could actually control this car which was surprising. I thought I wouldn’t survive this race because I know nothing about this track and this car. This is a perfect combo of “ruining your own race” for me.
I had a good race chasing my friend C. Cross, I could learn more about this track on the fly, I finished at P24 out of 35 drivers on the grid. I could reach P18 in the middle of the race before pitting for refuel, it was a clean race for me although I still made some mistakes. I felt happy about my performance in this race, first time racing the RX car at (probably) the most technical track in the States and didn’t finish last!
Race 2 – 40 mins at Bathurst
I was so excited to race in this 40 mins race at Bathurst. It’s the scariest track for me, I never had a good time racing at this track. I really wanted to have a good race this time.
I believe most people on the grid have been racing at this track with a GT3 car before. So this race should be an easy race for them. I drove the Mercedes AMG and scored 2:07-ish during the Qualifying and that puts me in P29. Not a fast lap time for sure, People on average could score at least 2:05 here and some pro drivers could make it to 2:03 or less. I was still off the pace, but I got my consistency. I will hang onto that and try to finish the race and bring the car safely to the pit.Start was fine for me, I could avoid some incidents and I had a good race overtaking C. Klampert in the first lap. Cierra was my teammate on this race, she’s also a Twitch streamer.
One thing that I remember the most about this race is, I’m not afraid anymore racing at this track. I actually enjoyed this 40 mins race. I had a good race chasing and defending my position with other drivers around me. I finished at P22 at the end of the race. I was so proud of myself that day. That was a really good race for me. I finally have a good memory of racing at this track. I will do better next time!
Race 3 – 15 mins at Okayama
Here comes the final race! We were racing the Mazda MX-5 at Okayama. I thought we only got surprised in the first race; I guess not. There was another surprise in this race; we only have 1.8 gal of fuel in our car. That means we need to go to the pit every 2 laps or so. It’s gonna be a tough race for all of us.
Third race didn’t go well for me, first I got a 40s S&G penalty because I was entering the pit lane not in a safe way. I lost so many positions because of that. But the race was still fun and I still need to finish this race so I’ll do my best whatever the result is. Unfortunately in lap 6 I got dive-bombed by other driver while entering the pit lane, that was a funny moment for me. I couldn’t get mad in the fun race. I mean, we’re doing it for fun, for charity. So whatever happens, just take it easy. I finished last in this race. That was unfortunate for me, but it is what it is. I had fun in this race anyway and I missed driving the MX-5 for sure.
It’s been fun racing with these people in this event. I learned a lot, and I’m happy with how it turned out despite the unfortunate event at the 3rd race. I really had a great time and I gained a lot of experience from this event, it made me love iRacing even more. I will do my best next time racing at these tracks. Special thanks to Annie Rabbets for hosting such a great event. Check out https://annieandlarry.com/ to find a community league or tips on how to practice or how to race, and more.
More Female Racers S5 R4 – Kyalami
In the 4th round of MFR S5 we were racing in Kyalami. I never raced at this track before, and I can say I had almost 0 amount of practice for this round. I was busy with work, practice, and streaming at the moment and I was too tired to practice during my free time. I only got 3 hours of practice in total including making a setup for the race. 3 hours of driving around the track is not a practice for me so that didn’t count. I need to at least spend around 12 hours of practice to say “I did some practice at this track”. I didn’t have any game plan going into this race.
It was more like a show up and race for me. I didn’t expect anything in this race and I believe I’ll be the slowest driver on the grid. Since I didn’t put any hope or expectations on my shoulder, this round felt more relaxing. I could actually focus on my race and not think about anything. Just cross the finish line and you’ll be fine.
In the first race I survived the lap 1 carnage, although my pace wasn’t strong and I didn’t feel 100% confident in myself and I was feeling under the weather. First race went pretty well for me, I finished at P5 in class and P16 overall.
Second race was pretty much the same as the first race. Race went pretty well; there were some incidents along the way but my car was fine, got some damage but still drivable. I took any incidents as a part of racing, I took it easy and tried to keep my head cool during the race. I finished at P6 in class and P18 overall in the second race.
After all, it was a good race for me. With almost 0 amount of practice, I can say I could learn a new track way faster than before. I also started to know the Mercedes AMG more, I didn’t struggle like I used to before racing this car. To be honest I was hating this car during our race at Brands Hatch. But now I started to get the feeling of racing this car and I really enjoyed my race at Kyalami! So I guess I also improved in ACC?
I will definitely race more in Kyalami. It’s a beautiful yet technical track for me. I need to spend more time learning about this track. I will look into any races who have Kyalami on their calendar. And honestly, this track kinda makes me want to go back to ACC.
We’ll be racing in Spa Francorchamps for our final round, it’s gonna be a fun race! I love racing at Spa, I had lots of races at this track. In the meantime, please enjoy these beautiful shots by Adam Hedgecock. Kyalami is a beautiful track for sure. Can’t wait to go back to this track and have a good race!
On December 10th I will have a 24 hours race at Le Mans on Gran Turismo 7 and there will be another Next Level Racing Community Race coming up on December 15th! I will stream my races on Twitch, make sure to follow me on Twitch and stay updated about my stream schedule. See you on my stream!
