ORD enters the IFCA ALMS series

Well, when I write ORD has entered the IFCA ALMS series, what I really mean is that I’ve foolishly decided to enter season 3 of the American Le Mans series being run by the IFCA. And I’m describing it as foolish because I haven’t raced competitively in a few years (Since the days of the unofficial Forza World Championship), I’ve barely tried the GT class cars (I tend to hover around B Spec when racing online), and the season kicks off on Saturday at 8pm UK time on the Sebring track (Which is one of the least familiar tracks for me). Plus I haven’t even started painting the car and adding the decals required to be part of IFCA racing.

But aside from that, I’m looking forward to getting back into organised Forza racing, and there’s still time left to sign up for the series.

The racing includes four classes, using the following cars with some specific upgrades allowed:

LMP –

• ’08 #2 Audi Sport North American R10 TDI
• ’09 #9 Peugeot Sport Total 908
• ’09 #2 Audi Sport Team Joest R15 TDI
• ’09 #007 Aston Martin Lola
• ’09 #66 de Ferran Mortorsports ARX-02a

LMPC –

• ’08 #16 Dyson Racing RS Spyder Evo

GT –

• ’07 #80 Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3-RSR
• ’09 #40 Robertson Racing Ford GT
• ’09 #92 Rahal Letterman Racing BMW Motorsport M3 GT2
• ’08 #71 Tafel Racing Ferrari F430GT
• ’06 #81 Team LNT Panoz Esperante GTLM

GTC –

• ’02 #42 Realtime Racing Acura NSX

This brings me to the first dilemma. I’ve decided to go for the competitive and popular GT class, as I’m not a fan of the NSX in Forza, and the faster cars would simply increase the chances of me causing a racing incident. I’ve found over the years that I don’t particularly like the handling of the various Porsche models I’ve tried, which gives me a choice of 4 cars. At the moment, I’m leaning towards the BMW M3 GT, and I’ve only got 5 days until the race to try the cars, decide which one I’ll be sticking with for the first three races of the series, and set it up.

The races are all an hour long, with a mandatory pitstop to be taken after the end of the first lap, and before the 55 minute mark. And there are eight races in total:

• Race 1 Sebring Full 22 January 14:00 CST / 20:00 GMT(UK) / 03:00 West OZ (sun)
• Race 2 Mugello Full 29 January 14:00 CST / 20:00 GMT(UK) / 03:00 West OZ (sun)
• Race 3 Road America 5 February 14:00 CST / 20:00 GMT(UK) / 03:00 West OZ (sun)
• Race 4 Nurburgring Nordschleife Full 12 February 14:00 CST / 20:00 GMT(UK) / 03:00 West OZ (sun)
• Race 5 Nurburgring GP Full 19 February 14:00 CST / 20:00 GMT(UK) / 03:00 West OZ (sun)
• Race 6 Silverstone Grand Prix 26 February 14:00 CST / 20:00 GMT(UK) / 03:00 West OZ (sun)
• Race 7 Road Atlanta Full 5 March 14:00 CST / 20:00 GMT(UK) / 03:00 West OZ (sun)
• Race 8 Le Mans Full 12 March 14:00 CST / 20:00 GMT(UK) / 03:00 West OZ (sun)

The championship is being supported by Forza developers Turn 10, and the prizes are:

END OF SERIES
1st = 1,500,000 Gift Car (excluding DLC)
2nd = 1,000,000
3rd = 700,000
4th = 400,000
5th = 200,000

And finally, and possibly most worrying, the races are being run with simulation damage, which means I’ll need to be hyper aware of the drivers around me, and those LMP cars coming up fast behind…

Still, I’m looking forward to making my return to competitive Forza racing, and I’m looking forward to 8pm on Saturday when the worrying stops and the racing starts! I’ll be updating on my progress, so expect some increasingly nervous posts up until Saturday, and some shame-faced racing driver excuses being wheeled out on Sunday! One bit of good news is that I’ve got my race number for this season, so keep an eye out for #180