Welcome to the Briefing of the RaceDepartment Indy 500 2012. In this little article you can read some important information about the race conduct and find some tips to help you get to the finish line. I recommend reading it all and recommend recommending it to others.
Preparation
Whatever you do before the race, just a couple of laps of practise isn't going to do. Even though Indy has just four similar looking corners, they feel like worlds apart once you rush through them with 350 km/h on the display. They're hard to master and master them you must.
For newcomers Indy will be all about survival. Ask anyone that has been on a survival trip and they'll tell you to come prepared. Indy is no different. You'll need a decent amount of laps under your belt to get there.
First thing you need to get right is your racing line. Find out where (not) to put the car see what kind of lines bring you the highest speeds and the fastest laptime. Do this before even looking at your setup. If you're done, you'll be able to race around full throttle all lap long.
The second point of interest is the setup. iRacing has provided a fixed setup (under iRacing Setups in the Garage) which is stable. It's good for laps in the high 40s. The thing is that people will generally be looking to run faster than that, with the top of the field running mid and possible low 39s. Try out some sets that are posted or try figuring out how to make one to your liking. Remember: it's about survival. Your setup must be able to last at least 40 laps without backfiring on your, unless of course you know how to handle it.
Get a rhythm. Try driving a good set of laps. In the race you might be running between 40 and 45 laps before going to the pit. You need to know what it's like to know if you're ready, so go and hit those laps. Remeber to practise both in clean air and in the draft. The car will handle differently. The hosted sessions are the ideal place to test your drafting. You'll be doing it a lot in the race.
It's a long race...
With all preparation done you will have to complete those 200 laps. To make sure you didn't waste all that preparation time, you need to understand that patience is the key, especially in this race. Maybe it helps to know that strategically the laps after lap 150 matter most. That's when your pitstop strategy, track position and car condition become decisive. All the rest is foreplay.
During that foreplay you need to do nothing more than staying alive and staying in touch. Anyone in the lead lap in the later parts of the race has a reasonable chance to finish in a high position. You might want to aim at doing just that: staying in the lead lap. With each caution you'll be back in the pack and have the leaders in sight.
So don't worry about overtaking and being overtaken that much during those first three quarters of the race distance. Dodgy overtaking manoeuvres, stress and impatience are going to cause incidents and incidents are going to force you to spend valuable time in the pits. You want to want that while the rest of the field is racing.
Note that your have an unlimited amount of tow's at your disposal, so your will get repaired. A crash is not the end of your race, though it's probably the end of your chances for victory.
Overtaking
Apart from simple driver errors, overtaking is where the most races end. Overtaking on Indy is not just a matter of blasting by, it's a matter of planning and adaptation.
It's highly recommended that you plan your overtakes coming out of turn 2 and 4 so that you have the entire straight to get well alongside or past your opponent. This is the safest way to pass. Conversely, don't try to initiate your manoeuvres on entering the corner. Sticking your nose in as you or your opponent want to turn into a corner is generally going to send you both off into the wall.
More important that overtaking is not overtaking. That sounds a little weird as it contradicts your final goal, but it really doesn't. Overtaking takes and costs time. The lap in which you overtake someone is probably going to be a slow lap as you are likely both forced off your prefered racing line. Therefore sometimes you will be faster staying behind someone. You will create a draft and both have less drag, resulting in faster laptimes. Cooperating with other drivers might enable you to close the gaps aheads. Finding a good draft buddy can be a good goal in the race itself.
Race conduct
Because we use the Indy Oval configuration the pit entry cones are moved slightly further into the pitlane. This enables you to pit safely off turn 4. This year you are not obliged to take the pit entry on the back straight, even when it's green. You will have still have to use the pit exit lane in turn 1 and 2.
Cautions are single file, so we will have a long stretch of drivers on the restart. It is important that you remain calm during the cautions and restarts. Do not try to warm your tyres or do any brake tests. We do not want incidents to happen under yellow.
Make sure you follow the instructions that the spotter and game interface provides you. For that reason it's important to have your spotter enabled. To make sure you can also receive messages from admins, you should also enable voice chat. To make sure people aren't distracted too much by chatter we ask you to keep chat to the minimum necessary. We're not interested in latest political changes in your country. Keep the chat to what is relevant in the race. Additionally, try to keep your frustrations under check. Do not go about blasting your displeasure through someone else's headphone. Excessive disturbing use of voice chat may lead to your removal.
For now: practise, practise, practise and don't forget about the hosted sessions on Saturday and Sunday!
. Good thing we're going to have unlimited tows!
