iRacing 2024, Season 1, Week 4, NOS 410 Sprint Car Series @ Port Royal w/ Jason La Violette

Great to be back with another banger of a race here at Port Royal Speedway. This track is better know as the Speed Palace, but in todays race it is Rut Palace. The track was bumpy, but manageable, at the start of our session however was brutal by the end of the Feature.

I was very happy to see we had a huge field of cars, 20 registered drivers, set to do battle at one of the fastest dirt tracks around. The field of competitors was made up of high level hitters, there were even 2 Pro drivers in this session.

We tested out our Qualifying setup and the car felt really smooth around the track, so figured we'd be around mid-pack. As Practice ended I was very optimistic about our Qualifying run, but reality set in pretty hard after we looked at the results. Much to my surprise we ended up 17th Quick with a 14.973, to put it in perspective Quick Time went to Matthew Powell who laid down a 14.385.

Now we have quite the challenge ahead, but we will drive the wheels off this thing to hopefully make it into the Feature on a transfer from the Heat. The Grid for Heat #1 placed us in P9 and we need to be Top 7 to get transferred right to the Feature. The biggest challenge was driving this race with a headset that was almost completely glitching out to the point we almost couldn't even race. Inspite of the tech problems that have been plaguing us, we finished the race in P8. On to the B Main we go to try to get in to the big show.

The B Main had us starting on Pole and we were able to run away with P1 thoughout all 10 laps. It was pretty evident that the track state was quickly degrading as more and more drivers struggled to keep these 410 beasts under control, that certainly includes us as well.

If there was ever a time to push it that time is now seeing we are starting the Feature in P15. To add to the challenge our headset was still acting up and never really resolved but slightly improved. The plan was to run a really conservative race and stay off the cushion as it was eating up cars left and right during the Heats. When the Green flag dropped and the BS stopped we were hammer down, a bit too much as our Left Read made slight contact with the inside guardrail - no damage, no problem. However it didn't take long until we got tangled up in a mess of cars on the back stretch, but thankfully only sustained minor front wing and nerf bar damage. From here on out throughout the entire race you needed your head on a swivel as cars were being destroyed as they tried to run a brutal cushion (not the best idea). As the cars dropped left and right we gained a ton of positions by the end of the race.

Where did we finish? Gotta watch the race to see for yourself.

Just a side note: the picture quality does improve as the race session goes on, so please hang in there and power through the tech tantrum our computer was having.