Thanksgiving Week: Grassroots Motorsports to Host Virtual Racing Series

J.G.
By J.G. Pasterjak
Nov 26, 2020 | iRacing

We know that the universe has thrown a monkey wrench into the holidays this year, so we have a little diversion planned for Turkey Day week. Call it a way to blow off a little steam, and you get to help us with some future editorial–and maybe get your virtual race car in the magazine at the same time.

We're working on a story that compares famous tracks against their virtual counterparts. Pro drivers who have experienced both versions will discuss just how well the real experience translates to pixels while also providing some tips for the virtual versions.

But here’s the catch: We need to “shoot photos” for this story, and the best way to do that is to stage races at the virtual tracks. This is where you get to join us. 

Look for us almost every night this week at 10 p.m. Eastern in the iRacing “Hosted Races” section. Look for a server starting with “Grassroots Motorsports” followed by that evening’s track name. Use the password “racegrm.” 

Different nights will have different entry limits–40 to 60–and registration will be first come, first serve.

Sessions will run one to two hours total, and will include practice, qualifying and single or multiple races depending on format. Setups will be locked for all cars in all races to keep things simple. 

Monday, November 23: We’ll kick off the week with the virtual version of our actual hometown track–Daytona International Speedway–with a traditional practice, qualifying and race for up to 60 GT3 cars. 

Tuesday, November 24: Forty Skip Barber Formula 2000s hit Suzuka for a unique format that sees a qualifier, a quick heat race that inverts the top 8 from qualifying, then a longer main feature race gridded by heat results. 

Wednesday, November 25: Time for straight-up GTE cars taking on the unforgiving Mount Panorama circuit. 

Thursday, November 26: We’ll take time out for turkey and family Zoom meetings.

Friday, November 27: We’ll spend Black Friday at the Green Hell with as many Global MX-5 Cup cars as iRacing will allow on the Nurburgring 24-hour course.

We’ll record each race, then flip through after the competition to take individual screen caps to use as photos for the stories. So, we want to see amazing liveries and gorgeous cars engaged in exciting action. Feel free to plug your business–or share your holiday greetings or dip recipes. 

Throw on an old-school motorsports tribute. Emulate your own real car. Plug your brother in law’s furniture storage and cleaning service. Whatever. Just make it visually interesting. 

Of course, not everyone will make the stories, but good-looking cars involved in exciting moments will certainly catch our eye. And while they aren’t required, cars with Grassroots Motorsports decals may be looked at even closer. 

To get your car decorated, we recommend visiting our friends at Trading Paints. You’ll find thousands of customizable liveries for your car in their database. And our friend Scott R. Lear was even kind to whip up several ready-to-roll GRM liveries for some of the cars eligible for this week’s action. They’re all available  here.

If you’d just like some GRM decals, we’ve thrown a few in a Dropbox folder

And, best of all, there are prizes. We’ll pick two lucky finishers at random each night (you must take the checker, so no getting discouraged and rage-quitting after you have a 12-minute tow) and send them $20 credit each toward anything in the GRM online store. Yes, that will include all of our awesome discount deals as well. Thanks for the help, and we look forward to seeing you on track this week.

Helpful Details:

Look for the “Grassroots Motorsports [track name] servers under iRacing’s hosted races section. Password for all sessions will be “racegrm”. All sessions will run with fixed setups.

Monday, November 23, 10 p.m. Eastern: GT3 cars at Daytona. 60-car cap, 15-minute practice, 15-minute open qualifying, 30-minute race.

Tuesday, November 24, 10 p.m. Eastern: Skip Barber Formula 2000 at Suzuka. Porsche eSports Supercup heat format. 40-car limit, 18-minute practice, 3-lap qualifying, 15-minute heat race with top 8 inverted, 10-minute warmup, 30-minute feature with no inverts. 

Wednesday, November 25, 10 p.m. Eastern: GTE cars at Mt. Panorama. 60-car cap, 20-minute practice, 3-lap single car qualifying, 30-minute race.

Friday, November 27, 10 p.m. Eastern: 60-car cap. Global MX-5 Cup at the Nurburgring 24-hour configuration, 30-minute open qualifying. 4-lap race.

Voice communication will be available via in-game voice for race announcements and official matters, or via our Discord server for general chat. Use this invitation link to access the GRM iRacing Discord.

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Comments
spacecadet (Forum Supporter)
spacecadet (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
11/23/20 12:45 p.m.

Sweet! in to have fun in the back of the pack.

we run MX-5's on the ring in the Wednesday night league I got invited to by TXRatti so looking forward to that especially.

Pulled in TXRatti as well

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/23/20 1:36 p.m.

How do I join in with a PS2? laugh

dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/23/20 1:53 p.m.

Dang that could be lots of fun.  I have a PC more than capable set up with another PC racing game on it.  The real question is can some one that has never done I racing join in and get in to the GRM races or is there a experience/safety level that is required before we can join?  Also what does IRacing cost these days?

 

The GTE cars at Mt. Panorama is the race that I would love to join in.

dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/23/20 1:56 p.m.

As a side bar are you going to discuss in your upcoming story the opportunity that virtual racing gives to drive tracks that are no longer here? 

In the other game I play on PC they have a user made Bridgehampton track and it is VERY good.  I was lucky enough to have driven the real thing but with it gone the only way I can share the experience with people is virtually.

 

 

red_stapler
red_stapler SuperDork
11/23/20 2:09 p.m.
dean1484 said:

Also what does IRacing cost these days?

If you are or know a SCCA member, the welcome packet should have a code good for 3 months subscription. 

Roughly $10 a month + the (optional) cost of additional cars & tracks.  Memberships go on 25% off sale once a year for Black Friday.  They offer volume discounts when you purchase multiple cars + tracks together.

To participate in the GTE race at Mt. Panorama expect to pay $12 for a GTE car and $15 for the track.

slowbird
slowbird SuperDork
11/23/20 2:11 p.m.

Oh heck, I'm gonna have to show up for some of these.

spacecadet (Forum Supporter)
spacecadet (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
11/23/20 2:30 p.m.
red_stapler said:
dean1484 said:

Also what does IRacing cost these days?

If you are or know a SCCA member, the welcome packet should have a code good for 3 months subscription. 

Roughly $10 a month + the (optional) cost of additional cars & tracks.  Memberships go on 25% off sale once a year for Black Friday.  They offer volume discounts when you purchase multiple cars + tracks together.

To participate in the GTE race at Mt. Panorama expect to pay $12 for a GTE car and $15 for the track.

you can also get 50% off of any membership lenth you buy when you first join, so if you buy in all the way early, you can get 2 years for $100.

BUT that is a large commitment upfront. but just figured it was worth mentioning.

 

JG Pasterjak
JG Pasterjak Production/Art Director
11/23/20 2:54 p.m.
Keith Tanner said:

How do I join in with a PS2? laugh

BA

abenagh
abenagh GRM+ Member
11/23/20 5:00 p.m.

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

Thanks for putting these together! For anyone who cant race themselves I will be streaming my POV on my twitch channel https://www.twitch.tv/crashdor_maldanardo for the Races on Monday and Friday!

jhhyde
jhhyde
11/23/20 6:27 p.m.

Hey GRM team, great idea! Don't forget on the ring, if you're going to allow custom paint jobs from creators that you'll need to have our .tga files for your screenshot team (if you're taking the photos.) Maybe we can email/dropbox them to you? 

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