All News: aerodynamics

Commodore’s Garage #4 – Aerodynamics 101

August 19th, 2016 by Matt Holden

Aerodynamics:  the one word that spawns happiness in engineers and dread in race fans.  In the past 50-or-so years, aerodynamics in motorsports have done nearly complete 180° turn, going from slippery, super-low-drag vehicles to high-downforce behemoths with the sole purpose of bullying air molecules into doing work that they really don’t want to do.  Want … Read the Rest »

Behind the Scenes: The NASCAR Peak Antifreeze Series powered by iRacing.com – Sliders to Systems

September 27th, 2015 by

Anybody remember this screen?  If you don’t, shame on you.  It’s the garage screen from Papyrus’ NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, probably one of the most viewed screens in sim-racing history.  You can think of this screenshot as the great-grandfather of what we have today on iRacing.  It represents a time when chassis setups were becoming … Read the Rest »

Aero Wars: The uphill battle NASCAR has gotten itself into

July 25th, 2015 by

The year is 1968.  The racing series:  Formula 1.  Colin Chapman bolts a small front wing and a rear spoiler onto Graham Hill’s Lotus 49.  The result is tremendous.  All Formula 1 teams follow suit in affixing their cars with some kind of aerofoil-shaped device on their cars.  Dubbed “guillotine” wings because….well never mind, let’s … Read the Rest »

Behind the Scenes: The NASCAR Peak Antifreeze Series powered by iRacing.com – For the Alpha: the Omega, Part 1

June 10th, 2015 by

There’s no denying the fact that the garage system iRacing introduced to the sim racing world back in 2008 turned said world on its ear.  While it has yet to be adopted by other racing sims as of yet, it remains the most realistic environment for racecar setup work on a simulated platform.  In older … Read the Rest »

The Kitchen Sink: Homestead – Not a Typical 1.5 Miler

September 4th, 2014 by

Previous: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Homestead is one of those tracks that is so similar to yet so different from other tracks on the schedule. At 1.5 miles, Homestead is the same length as far too many high banked speedways; however, the differences between Homestead and other 1.5 mile circuits are easily … Read the Rest »

NASCAR iRacing Series Open Garage: Michigan

June 13th, 2014 by

We are into the second half of the 2014 NASCAR iRacing Series as we pull the trailer into Michigan International Speedway. By now you should be familiar with most of the common changes we can make to the chassis of a race car to adjust its handling, control its temperatures and increase its speed off … Read the Rest »

The Kitchen Sink: Setting Up Iowa

April 7th, 2014 by

Previously: Article 1, Article 2 Iowa is one of the most unique tracks on the IndyCar circuit. It is essentially a replica of Richmond with higher banks and in general is a bit longer. As the fastest short track out there, Iowa provides some crazy sim-racing. For the past couple seasons the track was flat-out … Read the Rest »

The Kitchen Sink: Setting Up Michigan

March 27th, 2014 by

Michigan is one of my favorite tracks on the Indy Car schedule, second only to Iowa Speedway. Both tracks require different driving styles, and both tracks are next on the IndyCar schedule. So, expect another article next week. I decided to skip Kentucky because the eight page document that I wrote introducing you to Homestead, … Read the Rest »

The Kitchen Sink: IndyCar Setup Introduction

March 15th, 2014 by

Last night while running some go karts at On Track Karting with a friend who was back on spring break and my brother, I had a bit of a revelation. Even on these rental karts, which had no setup components or anything, there were things you as a driver could change to make it handle … Read the Rest »

Cadillac CTS-V, Twin Ring Motegi Highlight Season 2 Build

April 24th, 2012 by

iRacing.com’s 2012 Season 2 build is out, with the sensational new Cadillac CTS-V and a new track in Twin Ring Motegi leading the way. Actually, make that four new tracks as Twin Ring Motegi is one of the world’s most modern multi-purpose facilities, featuring a 1.5 mile oval and three very different road courses – … Read the Rest »