Last updated on December 30th, 2020 at 12:14 pm
There were two major obstacles to overcome to get a reasonable result in this race. The first was that I hadn’t had the circuit time on the Nurburgring GP circuit due to the fact I’d avoided paying for it as additional downloadable content until the week before the race. The second was that it was the first time I’d actually been placed in a split lobby, which combined LMPC R1 class cars with our own much slower GT2 machines.
The final lobby for the race saw 3 LMPC cars (the Dyson Racing RS Spyder Evo), and 3 GT2 cars, with me in the lone BMW on the grid. I managed to completely fluff the start, but held onto second in the GT2 race, as the faster cars blitzed off the line and into the distance. It was only a handful of laps before I’d see them again, but in the meantime, things settled down quite quickly as the well-tuned and well-driven Porsche of Welshyz2 pulled away to take the eventual victory, and judging by the results from other lobbies that I’ve seen, the overall GT2 class.
Meanwhile after about 6 laps, the LMPCs started coming past, and the difference in speed made things interesting. Fortunately the rules are clear on the GT2 drivers holding their line and the faster cars being required to find their way past safely, and all the faster guys adhered to this, with warnings and updates as they closed. I have to admit I was pretty impressed by their ability to get through safely when they were probably closing on me with a 30mph advantage at times.
Unfortunately during the race disconnections came into play – it seems as if the most recent Xbox update has led to a number of people having particular problems with games and times when data isn’t being rapidly transferred from their Xbox, and we were left with just two cars in each class. Which was great in terms of finishing second on the road and allowing me to concentrate on just lapping as smoothly as possible, but it was a shame that it turned into more of a time trial challenge.
In terms of my result, 96.81 recorded miles means that I finished ahead of a handful of the other drivers, and around 3-4 miles behind the fastest GT2 cars, which is around 1 lap down. And I’m pretty happy with that considering the race distance involved in an hour-long stint. The BMW also seemed reasonably well suited to the track, only reaching about 30% tyre wear by mid-race and my stop, so it’s also given me some optimism for Saturday, when we arrive at my home track – Silverstone. I have a sneaky feeling the BMWs will go well on what is essentially a fast, flat circuit.
And if that isn’t enough, we’ve confirmed that ORD Racing will be growing with at least one, and possibly two new drivers for our next championship attack – the IFCA PTCC series, which is a four week season based on World Touring Cars, with a huge choice of 19 cars to choose from, all at a high B Class specification. They’re ranging from the classic Civic, CRX and Integras which have long been used by Forza racers, to some more unusual choices – Mercedes 190E, Lexus IS350 or Dodge SRT4 anyone? With 2-3 drivers from ORD involved, it should make for an interesting challenge for the team.
And it starts on March 5th, which means two races on a Saturday night, following the ALMS Road Atlanta and Le Mans races. It’s going to get pretty darn hectic!
Incidentally, if you’re interested in ORD Racing and might fancy driving for us, then check out the forum and post your details. It’s not about being the fastest, but it’s about having a good time getting faster… And we’re interested in any online series, whether that’s Forza, iRacing, Gran Turismo, or MotoGP etc…
The previous exploits of ORD Racing:
- ORD enters the IFCA AlMS Series
- ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Update #1 Sebring Full Practice
- ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Race 1: Sebring Full Circuit.
- ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Update #2 Mugello Practice
- ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Race 2: Mugello Full Circuit – Our first race finish!
- ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Race 3: Road America Full Circuit
- ORD Racing: IFCA ALMS Update #3 Nurburgring GP Full Circuit
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