IFCA Series News

Very interesting results, and amazing driving at all levels of skill out there today!  It was cool to see everyone doing their level best to stay in control and stay clean with minimal bumping.  This is what we like to see!

Just about everyone made mistakes in the usual places like turn 1, turn 3, the kink, and the bus stop. 

Some interesting notes: The top 4 qualifiers were in Privateer builds of the 9 teams that raced today. Hopefully, the other 3 teams will show up for the real race next Saturday.  It is remarkable that the Factory drivers were relatively close in lap times too. The top 7 finishers were within about 1sec or less of each other including 2 factory drivers. 

Kudos to RS ferrari for setting a tremendous pole time of 1:56.815, and fastest clean race lap as well as new lap record with a blazing 1:56.464!

The start of the race was a little off with ChevyPower taking the lead from RS ferrari but then slowing down at the start causing a backup jam.  For next week please let the pole sitter pace the field and do not get ahead of him.  No one is allowed to go until each car crosses the start-finish line.  If you jump the start I will be forced to issue penalties.

The finishing order was somewhat artificial because two teams were unable to finish the race including the early leaders.  But this does happen in the actual races too, so, it could have happened in this way.  Somewhat surprising to see it was the Challenger and not the odds-on-favorite Cougar to take the win, with a Javelin in 2nd, and a Mustang in 3rd.  In fact, the best Cougar team took 6th place.

1. Clouse and ChevyPower/Challenger
2.GTDon and Incognito/Javelin
3.Guy and Latte/ 69 Mustang
4.Lanrell and TomCat/Javelin
5.Greg and Cole/Pontiac Firebird
6.Rider and Kane/Cougar
7.Creech and Sox/69 Mustang
8.Vortex and Fryer/Cougar
9.RS ferrari and Quantum/Cougar

If this race was rated this is what the ratings would be like.  Those drivers who are unrated are given an educated guess as a generous starting point.  It takes about 12 rated races for your rating to level off. (I'm glad this race wasn't rated, and yes, lag outs count.)

	Race Results
		Prerace	Expected	Actual	Performed	Postrace	Gained/
Plc	Racer	Rating	Finish	Finish	Like	Rating	Lost
1	AOR BIG CLOUSE	2150.999	2	1	2226	2175.422	24
2	RIOT ChevyPower	2009.397	4	2	2176	2063.980	55
3	GTDon2	1968.115	8	3	2151	2028.032	60
4	FRB Incognito	1936.459	9	4	2080	1983.551	47
5	ThatGuyRacing	1997.434	5	5	1997	1997.434	0
6	Latte Speed	1974.237	7	6	1989	1978.992	5
7	Lanrell21	1926.560	12	7	1977	1943.136	17
8	EZT TomCat7	1930.161	10	8	1971	1943.598	13
9	Greg Lewsanuss	1927.999	11	9	1952	1935.956	8
10	COLEjustCOLE	1906.562	15	10	1933	1915.325	9
11	Midnite Rider	1919.148	14	11	1929	1922.402	3
12	SirKane2	1922.28	13	12	1927	1923.918	2
13	HCCR CReech172	1902.641	18	13	1924	1909.776	7
14	Gosox2000	1905.337	16	14	1921	1910.375	5
15	TXR VoRteX	1980.07	6	15	1913	1943.102	-37
16	RS ferrari	2200.999	1	16	1906	2090.949	-110
17	TireFryer420TFR	1903.999	17	17	1904	1903.999	0
18	Aerox Quatum	2150.998	3	18	1903	2043.448	-108

After some feedback and considering the size of the field we are going to extend the half point bonus for fastest weekly practice laps from 3 drivers to 5 drivers.  The top 5 lap times posted or sent to me before Friday 7:00 EST during the week will earn the 1/2 point bonus.

It has been quite challenging and fun to build and equalize the next season's cars.  Hopefully, everyone can and will appreciate the effort and balancing act if you will, of our attempt.

Many of you have personally helped me get these cars right and know that it is a titanic struggle.  Although I'm a pretty solid test driver, it doesn't mean that I'm foolproof.  My method helps a lot in this regard.  Each car is tested and retested 3 times.  First is just to get them in the same general P.I. vicinity to each other and figure out what level will be best for all the cars in general. The second test is to then bring them closer together.  And the third test is to double check and fine tune each car to discover which ones might be off a little before we publish the builds.

During all this testing I have to consider what level of performance and kind of performance I want for the various types of cars that will best suit the cars original character and still be competitive across what is essentially 2 classes.  It's not just about outright performance and lap times either.  It is also about making each car as fun to drive as possible.  We want the cars to be the stars in essence, not by stuffing them full of racing parts and being insane to drive, but by making them as easy to drive as possible without being overbuilt and becoming something they are not.  So that you the driver can appreciate them as they were intended and actually enjoy your seat time with them knowing that you also have a competitive ride.

It's easy to build cars to their maximum potential, or just go with an open build formula, anyone can do that, but customizing them for equality while retaining originality and their old school feel is entirely different.  Add in the fact that there are really 2 classes being compared and things get a lot more difficult.  On top of this, each car has 2 different builds.  One for faster drivers and one for slower drivers.  Slower drivers get the faster "Factory" build and faster drivers get the slower "Privateer" build.  Call it 40 cars x 2 builds x 3 test sessions, or around 720+ laps of testing.  If any of you are wondering how to get faster, this is one way to do it, be an IFCA test driver. lol

And even though all this work goes into testing, occasionally a car or two will still be too slow or fast depending.  The reason is, is because we don't have time to run each car as if it were our own for the series.  We can't spend the time to pound on just one car over and over as you the competitors get to do.  The best that we can do is try to get all the cars up to a level that gives them what I call "equal potential." 

What we can do and what really helps is after the season is over and we see which cars did what, we can BoP them for the next season thus making the group super close for the next season.  Over time, with the data from actual racing, we can adjust the cars even further. And this is the long term intent with the IFCA Relay Challenge, to create a series whose standards are extremely high and can be relied upon for fair and close racing whether you are below average or above average as dictated by the IFCA Ratings Computer.

So with all this said I hope you can begin to appreciate what goes into making this the fun and unique series what it is.  We will continue to create additional seasons with new themes under the relay team format.  We will return to previous car groups and create new ones as we go.  Perhaps one day when T10 figures out how to do driver exchanges we will be able to mimic endurance racing as it should be.  Until then we hope you have fun and that this format keeps Forza fresh for you all.

Season 4 starts June 8th, so it's a ways off yet, but not when you are the organizer.  It has been tossed around that with the addition of the under 3.0L cars we should change the qualifying track from Daytona to some other shorter track.  The thinking is, is that if we don't, people will still pick mostly the faster top speed Muscle cars without thinking ahead that the smaller imports are going to be just as fast or faster on the shorter tracks.

There is some truth to this as seen here in season 3.  Many people decided to go with the fastest car at Daytona (the Cougar) for the whole season not realizing that its advantage is diminished on the shorter tracks.  Out of the 6 tracks of the season really only 2 tracks are Cougar tracks, Daytona and Road America, the rest of the other 4 tracks are either equal or less than equal for the Cougar.  And after the first round low and behold the favorite for Daytona is nowhere to be found.  In fact, it was the second fastest car at Daytona which took the win, the Challenger.  

Most of the fast Cougar guys either chickened out at the last minute, didn't read the rules and screwed themselves over before and during the race, or were not happy with the fact that there were so many other fast guys in the mix.  They also apparently came to realize that the Cougar as fast as it is at Daytona wasn't going to be the fastest at every track for an easy win.  And in their ego intense mind, it's like, what's the point, "if I can't have a car that is going to be the fastest at every track and am forced to take a loss, I think I would rather pass on this series."  This is because for some fast guys the only thing that makes sense, and the only reason they race, is to win.  They don't like being merely competitive, they don't really like having competition either.  For them winning and being #1 is all that matters, and the more they can totally dominate everyone without a competitor in sight the better.

But here at the IFCA we've heard all the excuses before, even from some of the fastest Forza drivers in the world.  What they are really saying is that they are unsure and not confident in their skills as well rounded Forza drivers who can drive anything fast.  They are much more comfortable in their customized pet leaderboard car, or a certain class, or more open builds, or home tracks, or whatever.  Outside of their favorite way to race, they are just as slow as you or me, and that's something they just can't stomach. lol  It's the same reason why many hand controller users buy a wheel, use it for a couple of days, and go back to the hand controller.  They just can't stand being slow again.  It takes time to adjust to the wheel, time they aren't willing to spend.

But getting back to the Season 4 Opener and what qualifying track should be used, if we use a short track I fear the exact same thing will happen.  People will only pick the smaller faster cars for a shorter track, and few will pick a big heavy domestic.  And we will end up with a sea of little cars even though they are not very fast at the big tracks.  So maybe the best is to pick a more balanced venue like, Homestead, Indy GP, Sebring, or VIR?  That way we can reduce the copycat mob mentality where everyone picks the same couple of cars.

In this regard, and to answer the question some of you have asked, we will be adjusting the Season 3 Muscle Cars for better equality.  The Cougar will lose some top end, as well as the Challenger and Firebird to a lesser extent.  The Javelin will gain a little as will the Mustang Cuda and Camaro. All the cars will be re-tested and BoP to better match Season 4 cars as a group. Now that we have a lot more data on what the cars can do in anger we can equalize them perfectly for next season.  

Be sure to check out the Season 4 build sheet and bio's link of the cars to give you an idea of what to expect from each car and a little history lesson too

the list is here, and nearing completion:
https://ifca.forumotion.com/t6573-season-4-trans-am-car-builds

In case you didn't hear or see, our Season 4 car build list is complete.  All testing and BoP is finished.  An estimated 880+ laps went into testing for Season 4.

A couple of changes for Season 4 are: You will only have 2 qualifying chances instead of 3, we added a 7th round, we will be using Homestead road course as our qualifying track instead of Daytona, and we are using our first night track (at Daytona Rnd 2).

I know, I know, we aren't even done with Season 3 yet and Season 4 is yet to begin on June 8th. lol  But we here at the IFCA testing facility are always figuring out new and creative ways to extend fun racing competition.  

No, we aren't as titanic as TORA, or as simulated as SimR, or as diverse as FRB, but we are narrowly focused on having fun at a modest level.  Our trek has lead us into becoming perhaps the only dedicated Trans-Am themed league in Forza.  We are also the only league that emulates endurance racing with simulated driver exchanges.

With this said we continue on our journey forward into Trans-Am racing by announcing the inclusion of modern Trans-Am cars for Season 5 come Aug 10th!  That's right! 

For those of you who are not familiar with the real and current Trans-Am series, modern Trans-Am racing does exist even though they don't get a lot of TV time.  The most popular class in modern Trans-Am today is the TA2 class and not the upper 800hp TA class. In TA2 you have a purpose-built fully tuneable widebody tubular chassis race car from Ford, Chevy, and Dodge with a hp limit of no more than 500hp.  This poses a big problem for Forza fans because there are no such cars in the game to begin with.  But, the creative minds here at the IFCA have a solution that solves a number of problems.  Looking at the available cars in Forza we were able to quickly see that we could include cars that have rarely ever been used or seen in any series. These are cars that haven't proven to be all that attractive or comparable either, you know the cars I'm talking about, the FE widebody cars.  It just so happens, that these "misfit cars" of FM7, are perfect for modern Trans-Am racing! In the TA2 class there are only 3 makes and 3 models of cars, Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro, and Dodge Challenger. 

Our next problem was the hp limit.  None of our targeted production cars have less than 500hp.  So, we had to test them and balance them at their more normal range which is around 650hp.  In doing so we decided to include the best of the breed which ended up being a total of just 8 cars, i.e., 4 Camaros, 3 Mustangs, and 1 Challenger.  

Due to the enormous performance of these fully tuneable downforce cars which are in the upper S-Class, we felt it necessary to enhance the Factory builds more than we have in the past so that your under 1950.000 rated drivers would have an even greater chance of mixing it up with the faster over 1950.000 rated drivers in the Privateer builds.  

Currently, there is about a 0.7sec per lap advantage driving a Factory build car.  In these modern Trans-Am cars, that margin will increase to 1.1sec per lap over the slower Privateer builds.  But before you Factory eligible drivers start salivating, it is unclear that even this extra dose of performance will be enough to teach the fast boys a lesson.  These are fully tuneable cars with downforce, and at speed are not easy to drive fast.  It may be that even with this extra equality, maximum performance may not be accessible to slower drivers just the same.  

Final testing of the great 8 is complete at this time, all that's left is a finishing test, sort of a final certification and tech inspection. Qualifying won't open until the end of July.  I will post the final builds towards the end of June.  For now, I will simply leave you with the list of the 8 cars for Season 5.


Modern Trans-Am Season 5 Aug 10th


1. 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
2. 2018 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5
3. 2016 Ford Shelby GT350R
4. 2016 Ford Shelby GT350R FE
5. 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 FE
6. 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
7. 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS
8. 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Just a reminder, Season 4 Qualifying opens this Sunday, May 19th. You'll get 2 shots at it when we are on or whenever you can bug me and Incog about it over the next 2 weeks. 

The track is Homestead Road Course 4laps. Your season car can be different than your series qualifying car.  To improve competitive racing we have decided to keep each race roughly 1hr and 30min long in total.  This changes the mandatory pit stop on some of the tracks as you can see below.

FYI All, found an OP mistake with the Dodge Dart, expect a rebuild post today.

Some interesting insider news out there in Forza land about the IFCA vs TORA and its Trans-Am Relay series.  Apparently, as I've heard through various grapevine folks, TORA is somewhat threatened and intimidated by what the IFCA is doing.

Their fears are totally unfounded of course.  From what I gather based on what I heard and the recent response I received from TORA directly, their league model is exclusionary and even xenophobic.  They don't wish to engage other leagues or have crossover events, or even acknowledge other leagues outside of TORA.  Their league goal is not to bring the Forza racing community together as a stronger more vibrant and influential Forza-sub-community.  Their only interest is TORA and their events.

So, for example, did you know that if you don't regularly race at TORA you are not allowed to post anything?  That's right.  Not even on their "Other Site Series" thread.  This is the thread they put up for people to post about other league and club events outside of TORA.  If you haven't raced at TORA for awhile and put up a post about some other event, they will lock the post and not even bother to inform you as to why.

The only peculiar problem with this rule is that it has only ever been applied to the IFCA.  Going as far back as 2013 no other post has ever been locked because the poster was not a regular competitor at TORA.  

Insiders have told me that some at TORA were impressed with the IFCA Trans-Am Relay format and thought it was catching on a little too well even, and that their site should not be helping the IFCA.  They were also unhappy that the IFCA invitation to them to compete was causing conflict within their ranks in that some felt totally cool with fielding a TORA team while the hardliners were very against doing so.  

It is speculated that because of this internal conflict brought to them by the IFCA, was the main reason to lock the post and ignore the invitation to compete.  Of course they didn't have the courage to tell me why they locked the post until after I sent them a message asking why?

Their explanation rings hollow with me and reveals they have a bias against any league that might draw some attention.  It's too bad that TORA is so short-sighted and content to pretend they are the only league in town.  They should be bigger than this. 

If the Forza racing community is ever going to grow into an influential coalition that can guide T10 towards racing features we all want, leagues like TORA are going to have to change.  If the racing community stays as it is fractured and clicky, there will never be the kind of organized racing everyone wants.  Leave it in the hands of T10 and you see what you get, an uninteresting 3rd party effort by people who don't really care about Forza simulation racing producing a poor championship no one pays any attention to. 

A grassroots coalition of leagues and clubs, on the other hand, could come together to form a sanctioning body with standards.  From there they could initiate sectionals, regions, and divisions leading to an actual racing championship that people would pay attention to and follow.

If T10 had half a brain they would take the lead themselves and help form this coalition with the leagues.  But it appears they are content to maintain the status quo and keep the racing community small, fragmented, and disunified. It's just easier that way. lol

Just thought y'all should know.

After reading the IGN interview I couldn't help but notice several false assumptions and/or presuppositions or just plain perception flaws.  Allow me to illustrate.

Greenawalt says, “In the last five years, in particular, it’s become almost acutely clear to me that we’ve really transitioned from a time where we were all about just making products, to a time where we’re trying to build community,” 


Now just imagine for a moment if he had said this 5 years ago and openly admitted that T10 is only about churning out product?  For all of you who suspected this from the beginning, you have been vindicated!  You were right!  It's never been about the fans and building community or a culture, it's always been about making money, period.


Dan goes on to admit that they are now changing to a "fan-first, player-first approach."  So what position was the fan or player in prior to this over the last nine years in terms of the game direction, gameplay, game goals?  Probably not 2nd, 3rd or 4th, probably, not even on the radar based on what was produced.  Think about it, virtually nothing the fans have ever wanted to keep stayed, or wanted to include was implemented until well after release, only because, the community cried and begged for it.  And then only with reluctance would T10 sort of comply, occasionally.


Dan continues, "And we even have some more updates going in there (for FM7), so there’s still some updates going in on Forza Race Regulations. But all this is being done with micro communities that exist in our ecosystem, as well as new gaming communities we’re hoping to bring into our tribe.”


Uh folks, those "micro-communities" he's talking about are YOU/US in the sim-racing world here at the IFCA.  Nothing wrong with this obviously, but why so long?  Why is it a decade later they are finally seeing the light that it really is at the grassroots level and the hardcore fan base that the best gameplay ideas must come? Are they stupid or what?  No, they only ever wanted to make money on a short term basis, not realizing that much more could be made if you cultivate the car passion for the long term pay off. 


Greenawalt. “I’ve been making games a while; my experience is that ideas flow from great culture. And great games flow from great culture. But if your culture is in a bad spot it’s going to be almost impossible to make really great experiences, and it’s certainly going to be hard to innovate."



And pray tell, who placed our culture in a bad spot in the first place?  The company who now admits the fans were never #1 perhaps?  Are we now supposed to forgive and forget and let bygones be bygones?  After virtually ignoring the core fans for a decade we are now supposed to trust you are going to listen wholeheartedly to us?  Really? lol


Dan's caveat, “So by taking a step back and not only working on our culture of innovation internally but also on how we innovate – how we put the player in the centre of everything we do – it allowed the team to work through, ‘Well, is this about cadence?’ No. It’s no longer about any of that anymore. It’s now about the player, [because it wasn't before] and then act that way. It’s one thing to say it. It’s another thing to act that way for a year and really let it seep into your (game Dev) culture and how you do development."


Do tell Dan.


“I would say that, to date, our esports looks a lot like traditional racing, but to create something entirely new for a new audience means taking advantage of what we can do in the digital space,” he explains. “There are things we can do in the digital world that can’t be done in the real world. As long as we’re thinking about how we replicate a real world style of race, and we limit ourselves to that, we won’t invent something that breaks beyond it."



That's great Dan, but first try to master replicating a real-world race!  You don't need to reinvent the wheel, motorsports is still the biggest sporting venue in the world.  Close to 300,000 fans show up to the Indy 500 every year.  Over 100,000 fans are at nearly every F1 race, at least 50,000 fans show up to most NASCAR and NHRA events.


Take what works in the real world and try applying it to Forza for a change, and you might just find you can build a great long term experience that rivals real motorsports. Real motorsports is built upon grassroots racing at the amateur level.  There are lower classes, regionals, divisions and national events which cultivate and produce world-class talent for the big stage.  But from what I gather after reading what Greenawalt says, he wants nothing to do with this tried and true formula.  In fact he is looking to do something entirely different. (sigh)  Something that has no success record, something that no one is asking for, something that seems new, innovating and refreshing, but is in reality just another variation of what came before in the franchise.


Greenawalt, “So, again, I feel like we’re in the perfect spot as a team in that we love motorsport and that we have that authenticity in our DNA, but we want to push for something for a new generation. So our hope is to have enough familiarity and enough authenticity that car people just love it, while meanwhile approaching a new player type that really didn’t understand racing – they didn’t grow up with cars – and now they start thinking about it in a different way. Because the sports game analogy is a perfect one. Like, Rocket League is a sports game, right?


Sounds like Greenawalt is really indicting himself and his team here.  They know nothing about racing.  They are not authentic.  They are not car people. and they look up to games like Rocket League. OMG!  We are in such trouble.


Greenawalt, “That’s why we’re doing all of this; you see all these changes in the industry – we can make a difference. And I love that. For me it’s incredibly charging to come to work every day and think, ‘This isn’t just about making great experiences – though we will fail if we don’t – it’s also about really making a community that can last. Last for another decade.”


I can tell you the only reason Forza has lasted this long was because of the undying hope of the hardcore community that with each iteration of the game T10 would build upon the good things we all liked since FM1.  Instead, it tends to be mostly "baby out with the bathwater" every 2 years. Just about everything that was good and not broken is deleted or "fixed", and all kinds of goofy things added no one asked for (silly suits).  Insult to injury, using the community as pseudo beta testers after release. Thanks Dan.


Look, it's great Dan and Company have had a motorsports epiphany but their track record does not inspire and has to be taken with a grain of salt the size of Gibraltar.  When they/he starts referencing "Rocket League" as some kind of model for a new and innovative path into the future, I think we are in BIG trouble here in the micro-community of simulation racing.


full article
https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/06/09/no-forza-motorsport-this-year-as-turn-10-takes-time-to-innovate-and-reinvigorate-a-e3-2019

For those of you who are not familiar with the real and current Trans-Am series, modern Trans-Am racing does exist even though they don't get a lot of TV time.  The most popular class in modern Trans-Am today is the TA2 class and not the upper 800hp TA class. In TA2 you have a purpose-built fully tuneable widebody tubular chassis race car from Ford, Chevy, and Dodge with a hp limit of no more than 500hp.  


This poses a big problem for Forza fans because there are no such cars in the game to begin with.  But, the creative minds here at the IFCA have a solution that solves a number of problems.  Looking at the available cars in Forza we were able to quickly see that we could include cars that have rarely ever been used or seen in any series. These are cars that haven't proven to be all that attractive or comparable either, you know the cars I'm talking about, the FE widebody cars.  It just so happens, that these "misfit cars" of FM7, are perfect for modern Trans-Am racing! In the TA2 class there are only 3 makes and 3 models of cars, Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro, and Dodge Challenger. 


In 2 weeks time we will publish the builds for our 8 Modern Trans-Am cars.  This way everyone will have plenty of time to test even before qualification begins starting July 21st .


Track list:


1. Indy GP
2. Watkins Glen full alt
3. Lime Rock
4. Road America
5. Laguna Seca
6. Long Beach
7. Daytona

Yes, it is a ways out I know, but we plan ahead here at the IFCA Home of Trans-Am Racing!  And the question is, what new things do we have planned for Season 6, right?  

In October Season 6 opens up with the merger and introduction of the ATCC!  What's the ATCC?  The Australian Touring Car Championship of course!  

The ATCC is Australia's version of Trans-Am racing and in fact, predate's the American Trans-Am series by 6 years!  The Australian's used many of the same cars that the American's used plus their own righthand drive domestic versions of strange looking Ford's and Chevy's and Chrysler's.  

Their rules were roughly the same, but as we welcome the Australians into the big show, we had to improve many of the Trans-Am builds so greater equality can exist between the two sides.  Namely going with a wider tire set for greater stability and handling while still mostly on stock suspension cars.  The result has been to retain the real feel of the cars but adding just a bit more stability and slightly less body roll.

No doubt those below the 1950.000 level will be most gratified to know their car will be even easier to drive in Season 6.

11 Australian cars that will be added to the 44 we have now for a total of 55 cars:

1972 Chrysler VH Valiant Charger R/T E49
1973 Ford XB Falcon GT
1972 Ford Falcon XA GT-HO
1971 Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase III
1967 Ford Falcon XR GT
1977 Holden Torana A9X
1973 Holden HQ Monaro GTS 350
1968 Holden Monaro GTS 327
1959 Jaguar Mk II 3.8
1973 Nissan Skyline H/T 2000GT-R
1971 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R

GTDon2 wrote:

 Season 5 Modern Trans-Am Aug 10th

 by GTDon2 on Thu Jun 13, 2019 12:21 pm







For those of you who are not familiar with the real and current Trans-Am series, modern Trans-Am racing does exist even though they don't get a lot of TV time.  The most popular class in modern Trans-Am today is the TA2 class and not the upper 800hp TA class. In TA2 you have a purpose-built fully tuneable widebody tubular chassis race car from Ford, Chevy, and Dodge with a hp limit of no more than 500hp.  


This poses a big problem for Forza fans because there are no such cars in the game to begin with.  But, the creative minds here at the IFCA have a solution that solves a number of problems.  Looking at the available cars in Forza we were able to quickly see that we could include cars that have rarely ever been used or seen in any series. These are cars that haven't proven to be all that attractive or comparable either, you know the cars I'm talking about, the FE widebody cars.  It just so happens, that these "misfit cars" of FM7, are perfect for modern Trans-Am racing! In the TA2 class there are only 3 makes and 3 models of cars, Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro, and Dodge Challenger. 


In 2 weeks time we will publish the builds for our 8 Modern Trans-Am cars.  This way everyone will have plenty of time to test even before qualification begins starting July 21st .


Track list:


1. Indy GP
2. Watkins Glen full alt
3. Lime Rock
4. Road America
5. Laguna Seca
6. Long Beach
7. Daytona

=====================================================

In case you haven't noticed I am starting to post the builds for Season 5.  In so doing I decided we could and should round out the field to a total of 10 cars by adding 2 more cars.  It didn't seem right to have just 1 Dodge so, I managed to add the Demon and the 392 to the list.

Pop in and check out the build thread from time to time as I continue to add the rest of the car builds.

https://ifca.forumotion.com/t6589-ifca-season-5-modern-trans-am-car-builds

We always like to try new things and add to or increase the racing pressure and fun in Trans-Am.  This season is no different, as proof, we are going to start issuing 1/2 points for the top 5 seasonal qualifiers.  This somewhat follows what F1 does.  So, like last season you'll get 2 chances to get into the season and instead of getting no points for your effort you'll get 1/2 points if you are a top 5 driver even before the season begins.

This should help incentivize everyone to do well just to make it into the season.  We fully expect that with the popularity of fully tuneable late model Trans-Am cars, we will have more than 12 teams making an attempt.  As you know, 12 teams is our limit per season.

Okay boys, all 10 late model Modern Trans-Am car builds have been tested and posted for you to begin to test for the Aug 10th opener of Season 5.

It will be perhaps the hardest car pick for any team so far even though there are only 10 cars to pick from.  This is because of the track variety being very diverse.  

If you want absolute speed and guaranteed wins at the fast tracks, look no further than the MOPARS of course.  If you want the best handling cars for guaranteed wins at the short tracks, go with the Fords.  If you want a combination of both, sample the Chevys for all-around performance.

As for you Factory eligible drivers out there, this is your season to win, or help your team to win.  Why?  Because this season the Factory builds are seriously juiced up and significantly faster than in any previous Trans-Am season averaging 1.1sec per lap faster rather than the usual 0.7sec per lap advantage.  This kind of extra performance will surely make Privateers out of many of you! lol

Pop in and check out the builds.

https://ifca.forumotion.com/t6589-ifca-season-5-modern-trans-am-car-builds

Season 5 Trans Am Qualifying is open.

https://ifca.forumotion.com/t6595-season-5-trans-am-qualifying

Just a quick note, I will be off to my annual racing pilgrimage this weekend starting Thursday. The MOPAR Mecca this weekend is the NHRA Lucas Oil Brained Nationals in Brainerd Minnesota of course!  Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and all the Sportsmen classes too. Always a good time.

I know this is perhaps not the right place for this post, but since it is the most popular thread that reaches the most people on the IFCA I'm willing to make a special exception.  As many of you know Midnite Rider is battling a serious health issue. This is no joke.  I want to make it known that regardless of what you think of him or whether or not you know him, he's worthy of our support as a human being in serious physical trouble.  

I know that outsiders (friends and family) look at our little hobby as just a video game and tend to marginalize us for it.  But what they don't know is that real friendships can and do emerge from this virtual reality we call simulation racing.  We are a community for lack of a better term and as such we are concerned about the health and well being of all of our members in as much as we can be.

For this reason, I want to implore all of you to take just a moment out of your busy day to at least concentrate on improving the health and well being of Midnite Rider.  For those of you who believe in God, I ask that you petition God to restore Midnite Rider to good health in your most solemn prayers.

Midnite Rider has been toughing it out for quite a while to the point that you would hardly notice he was in a fight for his life. And still, he comes to race! This can't be ignored here.  We will acknowledge and support his fight to win back his health in this most trying of times.

God, bless Midnite Rider, and restore his health.

I wish Midnite Rider all the best in battling your health issues, stay positive

Just want to thank everyone who bothered to support Midnite Rider in any way they felt was good.  I would ask that you all continue to do so, it really makes a huge difference.  

Rider says he has had a good report from his doctors, which is great, but now is not the time to forget about him. In fact, now is the time to push a little harder just to make sure he gets across the goal line.  So please keep Rider in the foreground of your minds and hearts and not in the background, and all will be well.

Thanks,
GTDon

I thought this might be a good time to let everyone know that I'm pretty proud of the type of racing we all do here compared to other leagues.  I don't want to name names but it's clear that we have a far different attitude when it comes to racing here at the IFCA.  Unlike other places, we've figured out that less is more, that less contact = more fun, and not the other way around.

Too often when I race in other series there is an overabundance of unnecessary contact that isn't because of the heat of battle or even carelessness.  It's because of a tolerant attitude that says, it's okay to grind someone off the racing surface, use them as a guardrail, bump and run on them, block a faster car, call out a pass two car lengths behind, and so on.  Thankfully we don't see much of that here at the IFCA and for good reason.  We tell everyone before their first race that making a clean pass is more important and more admired than winning.  In other words, we set the tone of how we want you to race right at the beginning and make it clear what is expected.  This expectation then becomes a part of the IFCA culture and in effect offers league racers an oasis from other leagues who don't have this high standard.

We also make an effort to regulate, correct, warn, and if we have to penalize bad driving as much as we can.  But it isn't as simple as just deducting points and heavily penalizing everyone, with a zero-tolerance contact rule. We have a very gradual incremental penalty system which attempts to remind the driver not to do bad things first, way before we get to the level of deducting points or disqualification.  The idea is not to make things painful and ruin your race and fun, the idea is to help you help yourself become a cleaner driver.  

When everyone is on the same sheet of music you can then begin to trust what your competitor will do based on the reasonable limitations and expectations in place.  This allows everyone to race with a certain amount of freedom and removes the emphasis from winning at all costs, to driving clean at all cost.  Surprisingly to some, this actually produces closer and more entertaining races that you will want to try doing again and again.  Racing becomes very fun this way. No rage quits, no hard feelings, just hard clean racing.

We know contact is going to happen.  We expect it.  What we don't expect is unrecoverable contact.  Contact that was a result of valuing a win more than a clean pass.  And even when it does happen from time to time, we have the Forza 1 IFCA Golden Rule to help correct the problem during the race.  Knock a guy off the track, and you have to wait for him to recover his position. 

Again, keep up the good driving, remind your fellow driver we love clean passes more than winning.  And besides, if you can only win by bashing your way to the front, how much of a win is it really?

Have fun
GTDon

Amen!

Some are starting to ask when will qualifying be open for Season 6?  The answer is Saturday Sept 28th thru Friday Oct 11th.  You get 2 chances at VIR South.