The League of Outlaws, has always been based around giving the iRacing Community the closest possible product to the real life IMCA Modifieds. LoO, has reduced the horsepower of the iRacing UMP Modifieds, added every pound of weight possible using iRacing’s “weight penalty”, and has built fixed setups to reduce traction. The combination of all of this has slowed our LoO IMCA Style Modifieds all the way down to nearly one and a half seconds slower than your typical UMP Modified on iRacing. Starting this Sunday at Lincoln at the Boosted Designs 40, the League of Outlaws will be transitioning to “semi-fixed setups”.

Last night after the Like Crazy Graphix DUALS at Kern, the admins and several other drivers did several hours of testing at Lincoln, initially testing a new setup variant that allowed slightly more LR grip. In the process they began experimenting, allowing ONLY tire pressure changes. In the first 3 races, the admins and the drivers realized which package put on the best racing. The first race was the semi-fixed package where drivers ran the fixed setup, but were allowed to adjust tire pressures if they desired. The second race was a 100% fixed setup with no altering of the tire pressures and the 3rd race was again with the allowed tire pressure adjustments. Over the course of these 3 races, everyone agreed that the packaged that put on the best racing was obvious, that being the semi-fixed package allowing for the tire pressure adjustments.

As the league has grown, the roster has grown and drivers within the roster have improved. Because all the drivers are running the same exact setup and the driver skill levels are also getting narrower and narrower, it gets difficult to pass because we are all practically going the same speed. You will see a driver that is just hundredths of a second faster than the driver ahead of them and not be able to make the pass because they are only hundredths of a second faster because both drivers are each running the fast line. Once you move off of the dominant line, your lap times will fall off significantly depending on the track. Passing is getting harder and harder.

The League of Outlaws, learned a long time ago that raising the tire pressures killed the tire life and promoted tire conservation. They also learned that for whatever reason on iRacing, raising tire pressure promoted traction. iRacing, also realized this and put out a tire update, limiting max pressure in each tire. LoO, eventually went down even lower on the fixed setups they used for the LoO IMCA Style Modifieds. This slowed the cars down, but also got rid of the tire wear game. Now, with the new semi-fixed package, drivers will be allowed to modify their tire pressures to whatever they desire. Raising tire pressures will promote traction and make their car a little faster than others, but may pay a penalty later on in the race once their tires wear down a little more than their competitors’.

Step 1 was figuring out if the racing would be improved if modifications were allowed with the tire pressures. The next step is much harder. In order to do a semi-fixed setup, LoO has to make the race session an “open” setup session as opposed to a “fixed” setup session. iRacing doesn’t let you determine which parts of the setup are modifiable. Running an open setup session would make it possible for drivers to run any setup they want. Any spring rates, any shocks, any bar angles, etc. So the next thing LoO had to figure out was how to make sure that drivers are using the “league setup” and only altering the tire pressures. LoO, also wanted to make sure that whatever method they chose would be time efficient.

Beginning this week at Lincoln, the heat winners and the top 3 in the feature will be “teched”. Drivers will have to screen share on Discord to show that they are running the correct setup and only changing tire pressures, if at all. If a driver fails to screen share, it will be considered “avoiding tech” and the driver will be DQ’ed. When the league admins and other drivers discussed this in more detail during testing, there were a few obvious ways they could come up with that could void the authenticity of all of this and clearly just “trusting” drivers would not be the best approach.

After the feature, the top 3 are to stay in their cars once they take the checkered flag. The top 3, already are expected to park on or near the start/finish line anyway for pictures and to do their interview with the broadcaster. Once a driver exits their car in iRacing, they are technically able to quickly load the approved setup and it would look like the driver was running the approved setup the whole time, prior to doing their screen share. Making sure the driver stays in their car BEFORE starting their screen share would prove exactly what setup they were running and everyone is easily able to tell when a driver exits their car because their car will disappear on the track once they exit their car. Drivers will be instructed via Discord to exit their car one by one after their post race interviews and initiate the tech process. The driver will start the screen share, exit their car, go to their “garage”, an admin will look through the setup, then will either pass or fail the driver through tech.

Depending on the combination of tires and tire pressures, the setup may “fail” tech in iRacing prior to the race. Drivers will then have to modify the “spring perches” in the iRacing setup in order for the setup to pass tech on iRacing’s side as well. These spring perch changes do alter the corner weights, percentages, ride heights, and deck height, but do not change it much and there is really no way to manipulate the actual setup itself. The League of Outlaws, is very confident in the procedure and is excited to see the product it brings to our races. If you are a driver and have any questions or concerns, the League of Outlaws encourages you to reach out to an admin on Discord. LoO will also be testing this out all week leading up to Sunday night’s race.