The Under-Dog Bites Back (Pt. 2) - Winning The Long Beach Lottery

Round 1

After racing in the Formula 3 car during Week 13 in the Battle Of The Little Wings Series, I decided to race the Formula 4/IR-04 in Season 1, 2023, due to the similarity (handling, braking etc.) - the only difference being I hadn't yet done a season in the F4!

In my first race of the season, I finished 3rd at Rudskogen with the lowest iRating on the grid, and a SOF (Strength of Field) of over +150 iRating above mine - meaning the average driver in this race had more than 100 more iRating than me.

I gained a whopping +90 iRating from it, but was scared for what was to come next

Round 2, Long Beach (21st December, 2022)

As midnight approached on the 19th December, 2022, I jumped into a midnight practice session to see where my pace was compared to my competitors...unfortunately, I was all alone.

The following night (after my league race), I'd once again try again - and eventually end up 10th/23rd - a solid performance for an open practice session - especially with a personal best of a 1:20.152

After this, I would try one more session before making dinner and watching Netflix.

In this session, I'd finish 6th - tomorrow would certainly be interesting.

Formula 4 (Or IR-04) sessions are every two hours. I wake up every morning between 9am/10am - so elect to race in the 12:45 race, just to give me time to get dressed and have breakfast.

Unfortunately, on this day, iRacing had scheduled an update for 1pm - 15 minutes into the race - and stated that the races would be wiped - like nothing had happened, so I decided to shuffle my race back to after the update was complete (can't be losing iRating now!)

Eventually the time came (at 4:15pm) to race, and I entered the official race session - not knowing what to expect now that I had +90 more iRating than I had - and it was highly likely that the SOF (Strength Of Field) would be even stronger.

I qualified a solid 8th with a lap-time of a 1:20.661 - exactly on the mark of my average pace - and for (what would turn out to be 2nd split) - it was a pretty impressive performance.

(For context, my quali lap-time would put me 2nd in bottom split), although that was an SOF of 847.

(Back at Rudskogen, if I was bottom split, with my lap-time, I would have got pole)

The Race

Off the line, P5 would get an absolutely appalling start - instantly being mobbed in all directions by 6th, 7th, 8th (me), 9th - and not too long after 10th.

Due to being a bit cautious into Turn 1, 9th braked a little later and took the position.

At the end of the Lap, I was in 9th (10th behind me also nipped past) - but I knew the name of the game was to keep it out of the walls.

At turn 1 of Lap 2, 11th (then 10th) also nipped past - I knew I was against some stiff competition.

I stayed in 10th on Lap 3 - but as much as I was preaching about being safe, I was about to make a massive error...

Looks minor from this angle - but Open Wheelers are known for being INCREDIBLY sensitive - and I honestly thought my races was done-for here - especially as my crew-chief said "you've knocked your wheels out of alignment" - three thoughts were racing through my mind:

1) You Pillock!

2) Is that wheel going to fall off?

3) How's the top-speed/steering going to be affected?

Somehow, the answer to both 2) and 3) were no - and I'm still unsure on how on earth I escaped from that accident - although I have one theory. It's about the angle.

The speed I deflected off the barrier was 60mph - that wasn't head on - that was almost perfectly parallel (or a VERY acute angle) - no, the camber of the track didn't help me (pushed me slightly towards the barrier in fact), but (I'd imagine) it'd be like banging wheels (side by side) with another car - the steering/suspension taking that sort of impact.

Having exposed suspension "arms" an Open Wheeler's suspension can't be rigid - especially at a street track like Long Beach - and as it was a glancing blow (as opposed to a complete stop - the barrier also took some of the force (and straightened me out)

Lap 4 would be vital - was there unseen damage effecting my performance?

I wasn't yet sure, but what I was sure of was P7 - as P7, P8 and P9 all crashed out ahead of me at the same corner. Result!

The lap-time was also looking positive - a 1:21 - but during that lap, I also had to avoid an accident - so I pushed the car to its limit on Lap 5 and did a 1:20.709 - only 0.048 slower than my qualifying time - the car was mechanically sound.

I've analysed every last millimetre of carbon fibre and can't find any damage - but that's very difficult to say with a cambered street circuit - it's very difficult to analyse if the wheel has been pushed up or down (compared to the undamaged wheel) due to the circuit camber - but there's no damage that I can see.

From here, it would be a rather quiet race. On Lap 8, I'd go even faster than my qualifying time with a 1:20.336 - nearing my all-time best - I joked "My car is faster broken!"

On this same lap, (then) P3 would spin in the final sector - whacking the barrier much harder than I did, pitting at the end of the lap. P6 was mine, and now I was hunting a Top 5!

On Lap 12, eventually my patience would pay off as P4 would harmlessly spin - throwing away a solid Top 5 finish.

Top 5? Check!

From here it was all about bringing it home - so many before me had pushed too hard and either found the wall, or found themselves facing the wrong way - including myself!

On the Horizon, I could see P4, but in the final four laps, he put the hammer down and absolutely went for it - obliterating my average pace.

The top 3 were averaging 1:20's (low, mid and high) - their fastest laptimes being in the 1:19's, P4 managed an average of mid-21's and I was averaging high 1:21's (P6 behind was averaging 1:23's and was a further 5 seconds behind me.

As a result of this race I gained +60 iRating - shooting me up to 1466.

I honestly don't know if I'm at this skill level or the F4's have "lower-skilled drivers" (being a Class-D Series) and where in GT3 I'd be competitive in a 1.2K split, here I'm competitive in a 1.6K split - but then again, it was Long Beach - and it could very well be that I just got lucky (with the wall, and all the incidents around me) - but as we go throughout this season, all will become clear.

Thank you for reading!