Upcoming "iroc race series" (initial planning)

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I know, as do many others, that the International Race of Champions (IROC) series is no longer in existence. However, I loved watching these races & will still jump on YouTube to watch the old races. For those who aren’t familiar with what the IROC race series was, please allow me to explain…details to follow:

Info taken from Wikipedia IROC RACE SERIES WIKIPEDIA PAGE
International Race of Champions (IROC) was a North American auto racing competition, promoted as an equivalent of an American All-Star Game or The Masters. Despite its name, the IROC was primarily associated with North American oval-racing culture.

Drivers raced identically-prepared stock cars set up by a single team of mechanics in an effort to make the race purely a test of driver ability. It was run with a small field of invited drivers (6–12). It was created and developed in 1972, launched in 1973, with Mark Donohue being the first driver to win the championship in 1974. The series was not run in 1981, 1982, or 1983. 2006 was the last year of racing.

The drivers invited were from a broad range of racing disciplines: Indy cars, NASCAR, sports car racing, and on occasion, WoO, and drag racing. Criteria for invitation was very loose, but typically consisted of recent season champions of the respective series, and individual winners of big events (Indy, Daytona, etc.)

Cars used by season/ race year:

1974 - 1974: Porsche Carrera RSR
1975 - 1989: Chevy Camaro
1990 - 1993: Dodge Daytona
1994 - 1995: Dodge Avenger
1996 - 2006: Pontiac Trans Am

Bottom line… I’m looking to start up a race series as similar to IROC as possible. The series won’t be the highly competitive, points system, have to race every week type deal… it will be modeled after the various Bigtime Muscle race series. If it is successful &/or looks interesting to the heads/ senior members of the 88bg/ Bigtime Muscle… I’d be interested in advertising it under the BIGTIME MUSCLE banner.

This is a long post & I’ll explain my initial thoughts / plans in the next post. At this point I’m inquiring about possible interest in participation & ideas/input in the rules, tunes, class, tracks, etc… I’ll lay out an initial plan …BUT… it is open for constructive criticism & open for input in order to build a very fun series to race in.

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Initial planning & thoughts for the “Outkast IROC Race Series;” details to follow:

The series will cover the various different eras/decades of the actual IROC Series. Essentially, the only thing that will change from era to era will be the car used & maybe the class of cars. In order to be as close to the actual cars used in the real IROC series, I’ll be using the car make & model used during that era. The only exception would be the Dodge years of the IROC series (early to mid 1990’s). The list of cars to be used in the series is below:

  • IROC Series Cars: *** Plan to build the classes in A class &/or S class ***
    • 1970’s: 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28
    • 1980’s: 1987 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA
    • 1990’s: 1990 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
    • 2000’s: 2002 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Ram Air
    • Future/Fantasy: 2006 Pontiac GTO - or - 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP ( I would like your guy’s opinions on this one)

** The tracks I plan to use are both Ovals & Road Courses that fall w/n the United States … EXCEPT… the Oval track in Japan “Twin Ring Motegi”; list of tracks below:

Ovals:

  • Indianapolis Motor Speedway
  • Sedona Raceway Park
  • Sunset Peninsula Raceway
  • Twin Ring Motegi

Road Courses:

  • Indianapolis Motor Speedway
  • Infineon Raceway
  • Maple Valley Raceway
  • Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
  • Road America
  • Road Atlanta
  • Sebring International Raceway

*** I’m asking opinions/ input on the following:

  • Number of laps per race

  • Yes or No for Tire wear & fuel consumption? If yes, make the races enough laps for a pit stop?

  • Damage = None, Limited, or Simulated

  • Mandatory paint schemes were very basic in the early years of IROC & numbers wasn’t used. Only the last name of the driver & a specific color for that driver. In keeping with the spirit of IROC & in an attempt for some sort of authenticity… I would like to make some various different colored cars with a blank space for the drivers name & share this for free on the storefront. I think using our gamertag in place of the driver name used in actual IROC series racing would be a good idea. What’s your thoughts on this… on using different colors for each different driver.

  • I can have an option for some sort of point system if there’s individuals who wish to race this competitively, however, ALL races will be open to BOTH drivers racing for championship & drivers racing just to race & have fun. This option would cover those who are able & willing to compete in every points race & would allow others who don’t have time to make it each week to still participate. Opinions on this? Another option could be a night for championship races and another night for open racing. Again, opinions & ideas welcomed.

  • I don’t have any prizes to give… this racing series would simply be for fun, bragging rights for each individual race result, & bragging rights for the series champion (if there is a championship/ points system).

  • I’m not sure at this point as to what day or days to run this each week & not sure as to the time.

***** I greatly appreciate any & all input & hope that you fine folks will be interested in racing this series.

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Just to make sure I’m understanding this correctly, are you wanting to put up the entire paint job on your store, or just a nameplate?

I’m asking because, if you put up the entire paint, we can’t edit the design after it is installed, so we will not be able to add our name.

If you just make a nameplate vinyl group we can put on the car, then we can add our name over the plate.

Again, just wondering and making sure. :slight_smile:

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Very possibly - BIGTIME MUSCLE sponsorship - let’s see if interest is out there and what details you have mind. I must commend you on your efforts to keep the Forza 4 community busy with another series :wink:

So…any interest out there ??

Kool

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Thanks Kool… I really appreciate the possibility that you ( BIGTIME MUSCLE ) would sponsor the series if there’s interest & if its successful. Thank you as well for commendation on my efforts, even though such efforts is only in their infancy.

I wanted to ask for sponsorship/ alignment with BIGTIME MUSCLE once the series proved to have an interest/ success. I hadn’t planned on asking for sponsorship until then… so thank you again for the support/ backing that you’ve already given me by just mentioning that you are interested in this as well.

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I’m definitely interested in this and would be glad to help out if needed. Good thinking Outkast6.

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OUTSTANDING Brother!!! I’m working on the cars now just to get a feel for them. By no means do I think I’m the best builder/ tuner for the job… even though I’m pretty good at tuning. I’m simply testing & will provide specs & stats on each individual car (Open source tune/ build) for anyone who wishes to test as well. If we all test each others tunes & come up with, as a majority, which tunes feel/ work the best… we will go with that tune. There’s no shame in my game & the more folks working toward the founding of this series the better! That way we all have some ownership in the birth of this series.

If sponsored by Bigtime Muscle… the name of the series will be “BIGTIME MUSCLE IROC SERIES”.

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Definitely interested in this. A couple things to consider though.
If you want to use replays to deal with issues like confirming complaints of purposeful reckless driving, then you’re limited to 22 minute races. That’s roughly the max amount of time the replays max out. That would negate the tire wear and fuel consumption aspect.
Another issue that I’ve run into is that it can be difficult to verify that everyone is using the required tunes that you provide for the races. One solution could be to throw a typical well made logo or design of some sort on every car so that you know it’s the same car from your storefront.
Anyway, just my 2 cents. Like I said DEFINITELY interested. Sounds like great fun.

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OUTSTANDING info! Thank you!

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Hitting the rack for the night, I’ll continue to brainstorm, plan & come up with different courses of action for the series… I’ll keep everyone updated via this thread.

As long as there’s interest & participation in this series… the series will become a reality!

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I would be interested in racing this contingent on the time and date of races

cipher
have a good-n

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planning to build the cars by “class” I don’t think would be good enough. Just check out the leaderboards in rivals. Lots of different tunes coming up in different classes.

Instead, make it legitimately like IROC or SCCA-Trans Am. Set clear defined rules on upgrades. Also to me, upgrades are KEY. And “honor system” would have to be hope for and implied. Basically the PI index would be about the only mark. That way you can let the drivers tune the car as they see fit = camber/alignment/shocks/springs/etc. It would make it much more competitive and even.

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Sounds cool outkast, count me in, and as Jim mentioned, let me know if you need anything.

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If we do car colors in this than Im calling orange right now! lol. Love this idea man keep up the hard work!

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I’ll make another thread & ask for opinions on days/ dates/ times to hold this series. I’ll probably host it on multiple days… BUT … I will not host any races during any current BIGTIME MUSCLE events.

I completely understand your point of view & would 100% agree with this course of action “IF” it were any other series except IROC. Please see the below description about how IROC was run in regards to rules for each car (no driver had their own mechanics… all setups were made by the IROC series officials):

While no two cars will race identically under race conditions, IROC test drivers Dave Marcis, Jim Sauter and Dick Trickle run the cars before each series event to ensure that chassis suspension settings are the same. Drivers are not allowed to make changes or adjustments to the suspension, handling or any other parts of the IROC car, except for pedal and steering wheel adjustments, seat position and safety belts.

I really appreciate it brother & I’ll be sure to ask you for any help needed… thanks for offering brother!

YOU GOT IT!!! Lol

Just the name plate any other decals that will be utilized… they’ll be shared as vinyl groups.

Also, I’ll show an example so that individuals can make their own car design or have someone else do it for them.

I don’t have to be the one do make the designs, if there’s a painter/ designer out there that would like to volunteer to make the designs… I’m all for it!

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UPDATE:
In my STORFRONT I’ve shared an initial BUILD/TUNE for a few of the different cars that will be utilized in the IROC Race Series. These setups are simply a base tune to be utilized for testing purposes & community input. I’m not going to say that I’m the best tuner in the community & I know I’m not the worst… with that being said, I’m 100% open to changes in the tunes or having a better tuner have a go at it.

If someone wants to, can be more than one person, wants to build & tune the cars for the IROC series; please feel free to do so. All I ask is that those who wish to help in this regard be open to accepting constructive criticism & be willing to adjust the car(s) setups to the wishes of the community-at-large who’ll be racing in the IROC series.

My personal request is to build the cars with the following options:

  • Race Brakes

  • Race Sway/ Anti-Roll bars

  • Race Springs & Dampers

  • Race Chassis & Roll Cage

  • Race Weight Reduction

  • Race Transmission

  • Race Differential

  • Race Tire Compound

  • The widest option for front & rear tire width.

  • Forza (adjustable) Front & Rear Spoiler.

  • Maintain Stock engine & upgrade as much as you like… EXCEPT… no type of forced aspiration (no Turbo or Supercharger).

  • Maintain RWD drivetrain.

** As of now all of the cars fall within S-Class. I’ve purposely built the cars so that each newer decade is a bit better than the previous decade’s car. When we race, we will race by decade; for example:

1970’s IROC will be all drivers in the 79’ Camaro… 1980’s in the 87 Firebird… 90’s in the 90’ IROC-Z… etc…