I have made it no secret on The Driver Diary that I’m not particularly a fan of drafting. That’s not to say that I’m bad at it. In fact, I’ve even won races against faster opponents through the use of draft strategy.

But especially in large draft packs, I’m simply adequate. My record in the Power Series at Daytona and Talladega speaks to that: 7 top-fives including 2 runner-up finishes, but never a victory. In fact, it’s the only type of track I never won on in that series.

I have attributed my drafting mediocrity to a lack of aggression. Too often, I’m unwilling to make big moves, instead playing it safe while more daring drivers take the wins.

Even on my Summer Road Trip, I’ve found myself playing that strategy. At Silverstone in the Skip Barber car, I was content to sit at the back of a group of cars and let them race it out. During that week, it was a smart move since I took advantage of their spins. But it wasn’t a winning move.

That brings us to my latest road trip stop in the Spec Racer Ford at Road America. My teammate Karl recommended it, telling me that he had done a fun race with the same combination a few years ago.

I admit that I was a bit hesitant about it. After all, a slow car around a fast track can only mean one thing: drafting. But since I didn’t have any better ideas and it fit nicely into the prototype portion of my schedule, I bit the bullet and decided I’d give it a try.

Unlike last week’s vehicle, the Radical SR8, the Spec Racer Ford isn’t a completely new car to me. Although I haven’t driven it much recently, back when I was getting into iRacing, it was one of the first cars I drove, and I’ve logged twenty-some races in it over the years.

I’d never won in it, though, and as with the Pro Mazda, one of my most memorable experiences was of heartbreak. In 2010, I spun out of a battle for the lead at Watkins Glen with five laps to go and failed to finish. Worse still, that race was on a morning when I left for vacation, so I had the whole week to think about it.

With another road trip looming for me last weekend, the last thing I wanted was for my return to the SRF to leave me second-guessing myself once again. And to smash any doubts about driving this car, I knew I would have to be adept in the draft.

The Shakedown

Sometimes likened to a bathtub on wheels, the Spec Racer Ford has a simple aesthetic hiding a deceivingly tricky feel behind the wheel. One of its primary characteristics is lift-throttle oversteer: a tendency to get loose when quickly getting off the throttle.

Back when I was first learning the car, I heard a helpful tip to feed the car more throttle even when it starts feeling loose. While that’s counterintuitive at first, after driving the car, it begins to feel right.

The preventative approach to that condition is being smoother when getting on and off the gas. As I mentioned in my first Driving Styles post, my tendency to ease onto the throttle can be a hindrance in some cars but it actually helps me in the SRF. Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut, I suppose.

While the SRF’s setup options aren’t overly complicated, even the fast drivers in this car were still getting used to them after the car received some mid-season updates a few weeks ago. It was nonetheless encouraging to see several setups shared, ranging from stable but slower ones to the fast-but-risky variety.

After trying a few different options, I settled for a more stable setup and hopped in a surprisingly full practice session on Monday night, just before the first race of the week.

That brings me to one of the more interesting characteristics of the very friendly SRF community. They seem to use an ad hoc approach to recruit drivers to join races. There aren’t necessarily set dates and times for the most popular races each week, but rather, some drivers post when they’re racing on the forums and campaign for others to join those timeslots.

The first race of the week was one such event, so I bought into their viral marketing and joined the crowd.

Coopetition

Before the race even started, I had already put myself into a hole. Off-tracks on both of my qualifying laps left me in last place on the grid. Thankfully, there were only 11 cars in the field — the 22 registrants were divided among two splits — but being in the top split, nearly everyone gridding in front of me would be competitive and potentially tough to pass and stay past.

In the early laps, I knew that I’d have to keep any aggression in check. After all, I wasn’t likely to gain many positions with a big, risky move, but I certainly could lose some.

Instead, I played it patiently but proactively, gaining two positions in the first half-lap but not risking any three-wide passes or late-braking divebombs.

Heading through Canada Corner for the first time, I saw my race flash before my eyes. Contact between two cars just ahead of me caused a multi-car pileup with one car flipping through the air. After barely avoiding his spiraling car, I found myself in sixth place.

After just one lap, I had passed nearly half the field with no aggression required.

Of course, the other half of the field wouldn’t be as easy to get by — at least not by myself. The wreck had split the field in two, with the four leaders opening up a small but draft-proof advantage over my three-car pack.

To help bridge that gap, I started working together with the car ahead of me. By leapfrogging one another down the straightaways, we took advantage of each other’s overspeed to slowly make up time.

Even when cooperating with other drivers, trust is important when racing at such close quarters, and my competitor’s lack of familiarity with me — a journeyman road racer moonlighting in the Spec Racer Ford series — may have ultimately doomed our charge toward the leaders.

We’d been lifting early to give each other the preferred line into the braking zones, but entering turn 1 on lap 5, he didn’t take the line that I’d left him. Apparently he never got the “all clear” message from his virtual spotter, who was too busy reading off his lap times, so he took a shallower entry and overdrove the corner. That caused him to run wide and nearly spin on exit.

Initially, he questioned why I stopped working with him, but after I told him that I’d left him plenty of room, he understood the miscommunication on his end and gave me as much of a stamp of approval as any iRacer can receive.

“I’ll put you on my list of adult drivers,” he told me.

After losing one partner, I gained another just two corners later, when one of the leaders rejoined the track just ahead of me after running through the backstretch grass.

I initially passed him, but he got back by me later that lap, and given his speed advantage, I told him that I would follow him in hopes that he could drag us both back to the lead pack.

Even that cooperation didn’t last long, this time due to a mistake on my end. I had a slow shift exiting Canada Corner on lap 7, and by the time we crossed the finish line, I had gone from being right on his bumper to 1.5 seconds behind and out of drafting range.

It surprised me that such a small bobble cost so much time, and I was suddenly left riding around by myself to the finish.

I did gain a position when one of the leaders spun coming to the white flag, which put me fourth place. It wasn’t a bad result considering my starting position, but I also couldn’t help but wonder how I might have fared if I’d qualified further up the grid.

Maybe I would’ve been caught up in the lap-one wreck. Or maybe I could’ve hung onto the leaders’ draft.

Fortunately, there was still plenty of time in the week to try again.

The Getaway

I registered for the same timeslot on Tuesday night, and without any recruitment on the forums, it wasn’t as popular. Just eight drivers were in the race, and none of the top three finishers from the previous night were there.  But with the draft being the great equalizer, I knew I could still have some close competition.

This time, I turned in a solid qualifying lap and earned the pole, but I didn’t stay up front for long. A slow jump off the line had me fighting for second place entering turn 1, and from there, the race was clearly on between the top four cars.

Based on the qualifying results, I knew I had a fast car, so I was determined not to slip to the back of the pack as I had in the Skippy at Silverstone. That required some aggressive moves, including a three-wide pass down the frontstretch on lap 3 to go from second to first instead of falling to third.

I also strategically positioned my car entering braking zones, either defending the inside to ward off a pass attempt from behind or driving in deep on the outside to challenge the car ahead of me.

That worked well, and after a few laps, I found that my main competitor tended to struggle in turn 5 and Canada Corner, especially when I applied some pressure. If I hoped to break the draft, I would have to be ahead through one of those corners and hope he made a mistake.

By lap 4, I was in full-on attack mode. Admittedly, I felt guilty forcing it two-wide through some corners including the exit of the high-speed Kink, worried that I was being too aggressive too early in the race.

However, it paid off. On lap five, my moves had me ahead entering Canada Corner, and the car behind ran wide on exit. He was then attacked by the car chasing him, and as they raced side-by-side through the final turns, I had broken their draft.

My lead wasn’t safe yet, though. If they cooperated and leapfrogged, they could’ve easily caught up. Instead, though, they kept fighting, and another slip from my main competitor through turn 5 cost them even more time.

In the final laps, I simply needed to avoid any mistakes and bring the car home. It was the calm after the storm — the tumultuous winds of battle, whipped up by my aggressive moves, had parted the clouds and given me a clear path to the victory.

In my return to the Spec Racer Ford, I wouldn’t leave empty handed or with any need to second-guess myself. While the draft may never be my craft, at least for one race, I had transcended mediocrity and felt confident in doing so.

Simple But Steadfast

Similar to the Pro Mazda, the Spec Racer Ford is an evergreen among iRacing’s road cars. While it’s older and may not have the power or broad appeal of its higher-level open-wheeled and prototype brethren, its charm and simplicity have helped it remain modestly popular with an enthusiastic community surrounding it.

Not every timeslot for this car goes official, but most afternoon or evening ones in US timezones seem to have at least a handful of ready racers. And as this series uniquely proves, an official race may only be a forum post away.

Granted, last week at Road America was marginally more popular than some other weeks this season, which have struggled to have any races split. Perhaps that’s down to the appeal of the draft, which draws in drivers naturally bolder than me.

Not every track in this car is as draft-dominated as Road America. Next week, for instance, the series heads to the Sebring club configuration, where straightaways are replaced by taxiways and the closest leapfrogs will be on the shores of Lake Okeechobee.

Of course, I will miss that combo as I move onto my final two challenges of the season: grand prix cars old and new. It’s a big step up, but I think I’m ready.

After all, according to one of my competitors, I’m an adult now.