NEWS

Hagerty Presents IMSA iRacing at Mid-Ohio: Who to Watch

We’re going racing again this Thursday night, with Hagerty presenting the third of six rounds for the IMSA iRacing Pro Series.
The virtual track of choice this week is Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where several IMSA series would have been this upcoming weekend for the Acura Sports Car Challenge event – which has moved to the weekend of Sept. 25-27. Of the 50 drivers on the entry list for Thursday’s 90-minute iRacing event, only a few have a handful of real-life success at the Lexington, Ohio circuit.
Here are some drivers looking to see if their real-life success at Mid-Ohio translates to virtual success:

The only two drivers in the field with multiple IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victories at Mid-Ohio are Jeroen Bleekemolen and Laurens Vanthoor, with two wins apiece. Bleekemolen’s wins came in the American Le Mans Series GTC class in 2010 and 2012, while Vanthoor visited victory lane at Mid-Ohio the last two years in the GTLM class with Porsche GT Team. Bleekemolen is set to drive the No. 33 Porsche, while Vanthoor will pilot the No. 912 Porsche.

Perhaps the “Man of Mid-Ohio” last year was Jack Hawksworth. After winning the WeatherTech Championship GTD race with AIM Vasser Sullivan in May, the Brit made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in August. While late-race mechanical issues dropped him to a 15th-place finish, he impressed the stock car world by starting second and winning the second stage.

“I’m looking forward to competing in the IMSA iRace at Mid-Ohio this Thursday,” said Hawksworth. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’ve done a lot of practice the last few days along with the rest of the AIM Vasser Sullivan team. We are taking this pretty seriously. It will be my virtual racing debut.

“Obviously, last year we had some success, winning the Mid-Ohio race, which was fantastic. It was the first win for the team, my first win in the Lexus RCF GT3 and the first win of the year for Lexus, so Mid-Ohio holds a lot of good memories for me. What made it sweeter was a Lexus winning the Acura Grand Prix. So, looking forward to the virtual version of the race. Tune in on Thursday.”

Meanwhile, the 2019 Xfinity Series race’s eventual winner at Mid-Ohio, Austin Cindric, is making his own IMSA iRacing debut on Thursday in the No. 22 Ford GTE. Mid-Ohio is near and dear to Cindric’s heart as his mother’s family, the Truemans, owned the track for many years.

A trio of entered drivers won at Mid-Ohio last year, albeit not in the WeatherTech Championship. Bryan Herta Autosport driver Michael Lewis scored his first career IMSA victory at Mid-Ohio in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, just one day before Dylan Murry scored his own inaugural IMSA victory in the IMSA Prototype Challenge. Also winning that weekend at Mid-Ohio was Roman De Angelis in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama series, with the Canadian now being a full-time driver in the WeatherTech Championship GTD class with Heart of Racing.

Other previous IMSA winners in Thursday’s field of drivers include Joao Barbosa (DP Class, 2010); Patrick Long (GT2 Class, 2009); and Richard Westbrook (DP Class, 2012).

Thursday’s race will begin at 6 p.m. ET and will be available on the iRacing Youtube and Facebook channels for fans to stream live, with the voice of IMSA Radio, John Hindhaugh, leading the commentary team. The Torque Show will stream a pre-race show once again beginning at 5 p.m. ET on its Facebook page.

No Street Racing"
Community Awareness Program

"Back to the Tracks" is a community awareness program that started in 1993. This program focuses on promoting auto racing as a sport while also educating people of the dangers associated with illegal street racing. We provide information and services to racing enthusiasts looking to participate in organized racing events. These organized events are held in a safe and controlled environment. The ultimate goal is to get people to stop racing on the street and bring it "Back to the Tracks" where it belongs.

We work in partnership with other diverse organizations, sponsors, community leaders and law enforcement agencies. With the help of these partners, we reach out to our local communities by setting up events, shows and presentations. We structure these activities with 3 goals in mind. First and foremost, we want to inform the general public of the dangers of illegal street racing. Second, we want to educate them to the advantages of participating in the actual sport of auto racing. Last but not least, we want everyone involved in these activities to have a great time and enjoy themselves. Fun is an integral part of any "Back to the Tracks" event.

When you participate in the sport of auto racing through a program like "Back to the Tracks", you are learning and practicing the skills that make you a more efficient driver. After all, while racing, you have to get from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. Through expert instruction and real hands on experience, you learn the actual driving techniques and science behind the sport. This is similar to practicing on the street but at a much higher level of intensity. Not only are you learning advanced driving techniques, you're also learning the actual physics behind the race car to help you become a better driver. The driving skills learned and practiced at the track will only benefit you on the street.

Through your continued involvement and support, our organization will not only spread the word about the dangers of illegal street racing but also promote the wonderful sport of auto racing.

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GB400R

GB400R UP CLOSE

Part 1 - Aerodynamics

Cars are only capable of 3 things; they can accelerate, brake and turn. Race cars use these features at the cars maximum ability which makes them fast. They even increase this ability by modifying the body or adding parts in order to out perform the manufacturers specifications.

One of the best qualities of the GB400R is the aero dynamic features built into the car. All of the lines, air inlets, wing and front splitter have a purpose, to make the car faster!

Sam Gladney being an airplane pilot while designing the car, he realized that there are many features that can be used in the car in order to make a better handling car as well as more efficient just by using the air flow. "If you look at the car up close you will notice that there are no hard turns or dead stop for the air slow down." Said Sam, "Even the car's rear deck wing is designed as an airplane wing set upside down!"

Aerodynamic-- relative to racing, aerodynamics is the engineering and science of how air affects the car's handling, speed, and overall performance. As air passes over a moving car it creates drag and downforce. Both are a function of the friction and turbulence of the air as it passes over, under, and around the vehicle. The goal in aerodynamic engineering is to introduce enough downforce to increase the car's cornering speeds without adding so much drag as to penalize it's top speed. The right balance between the two will produce the fastest possible lap times. Too much downforce might improve cornering speeds, but limit high-speed acceleration and top speed so that even with fast corner speeds, there is an overall time loss.

Common problems in race cars is overheating the brakes and getting air rushed to the brakes is crucial. In most production cars it is necessary to adapt air ducts in the front of the car and in most cases its so close to the ground that it actually picks up hot air from the track making it more difficult to cool the brakes.

Shown below is the functional brake cooling duct built into the body. It picks up fresh air from the side of the car and is directed to the brakes thru a built in tube. The tube actually becomes bigger after the initial opening in order to keep the air from slowing down. Some race cars have a brake duct that has a larger opening and then the tube is reduced. This will actually slow the air down and create a parachute effect....bad thing for a race car!

Another functional air duct goes to the rear, not only does it direct cool air to the rear discs the same way the fronts get cooled but it also helps keep the car lined up in the direction of travel much like the vertical stabilizers found on an airplane.

The front splitter generates downforce to keep the front nose planted to the ground. The 400R has another unique feature here. The front air dam also helps scoop air into the radiator and oil cooler box. To the left is the bottom piece of the splitter that keeps turbulence off the engine bay area and also helps the down force on the front.

Seen here are Doug Gladney and Nick Burr re-attaching the bottom piece that had fallen off after a small incident at Willow Springs Raceway.

We have figured out how to maximize air into the brakes now he have figured out how to keep the engine alive. Heat inside the engine compartment can be deadly for your engine but even if it stays together throughout the race, the heat build up will cost you horse power. The hood in the GB400R has a venturi that releases heat from the radiator.

Included is a 2.5" cowl that also helps in the release of heat but is serves as an inlet for fresh air into the carburetor. (see picture on the left) Shown in the right picture are triple ducting hi-pressure release fins.

The rear wing is probably the most important part of the down force combination. The attack dialed into the wing will increase or decrease downforce on the rear of the car. We have made the will fully adjustable in order to fine tune to each track. As seen on the picture the lower wing works well on the street car because most of us drive without the top. However on the race version we need the wing taller to catch the wind that flows from the roof line.