SimMetric Driver Performance Labs is North America’s premier mobile driver coaching and simulator lab. Their mobile lab, a 45-foot gooseneck trailer, travels all over North America to various professional race events. This allows them to with drivers on race weekends where real track time is very limited. While time in a driving simulator will never fully “replace” real seat time, sim seat time can go a very long way in “supplementing” the seat time a driver gets. Essentially, there are three added benefits you don’t get in the real car: significantly lower cost per hour, no risk of bodily harm or damage to the car, and of course no limitations on time.
A perfect example of this is Oliver Askew, an Indy Lights driver. After SimMetric Labs met Oliver in West Palm Beach, where the company and driver call home, they arranged a few simulator sessions. Oliver then went on to take the championship title in Indy Lights last year. What’s more, SimMetric Labs became the Official Simulator Sponsor of the Road to Indy at the start of the 2020 season.
Following this, INDYCAR made an announcement that they would be hosting an iRacing Challenge. This prompted Oliver to reach out to SimMetric Labs about partaking in the races through their simulators. They immediately set everything up, even lopping in the Arrow McLaren SP engineering team to run the program just as they would the real car. They were able to do this entirely remotely.
Now, Oliver and the team at SimMetric Labs are hard at work for the new INDYCAR iRacing Challenge. Last week was the first round and after more than 15 hours of practice, Oliver managed to qualify 5th in a field of 25 cars and finish 5th during his (virtual) INDYCAR debut. Currently, they’re getting ready for the next race at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday afternoon (March 4, 2020). You can view the race for yourself via the video down below.
To learn more about SimMetric Labs and how they can make you a better driver, be sure to visit SimMetricLabs.com by clicking the button below.
