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BEDFORD, MA (3 November 2006) iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations today announced Barber Motorsports Park as the latest road racing circuit included in an ever-expanding array of tracks to be offered through the online simulation. In addition to hosting a wide variety of professional and amateur racing events for cars and motorcycles, Barber is also home to the Porsche Driving Experience, the German marque's dedicated high-performance driver education facility.
"First and foremost, the iRacing.com simulation is a training tool for real-world racers," said Brett Roubinek, vice president of marketing for iRacing.com. "We wanted to work with Barber Motorsports Park for all of the same reasons that Porsche chose it as the home for Porsche Driving Experience. It's a challenging and technical track with a variety of different types of corners, an excellent platform for teaching and learning. And, as I'm sure the Grand-Am drivers will attest, a great place to race."
Racers from the Grand American Rolex Sportscar Series to the American Motorcycle Association Superbike Championship to the World Karting Association World Karting Nationals all have been challenged by the 2.38-mile circuit's 16 flowing corners and 80 feet of elevation change. Meanwhile, countless amateur drivers have enjoyed the wide 45-foot racing surface as they participated in the various vintage and club events the track hosts each year.
In addition to the racing circuit, Barber Motorsports Park features The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, one of the world's largest and best vintage racing museums. The museum collection includes more than 1,000 vintage and modern motorcycles as well as a substantial assembly of Lotus and other racecars. The park's 720 acres of carefully landscaped rolling hills are also dotted with a collection of nearly two dozen one-of-a-kind sculptures, nestled into the woods and overlooking the track.
"Our founder George Barber has a passion for all different kinds of motorsport," said Jeff Ray, executive director of Barber Motorsports Park. "Simracing is a new kind of motorsport, and we're excited to be a part of it. It also feels good knowing that the simulation will be developed with the same kind of passion and attention to detail that we've applied to the creation of this facility."
The iRacing.com laser scanning team completed the first step of the exactrac process for Barber Motorsports Park earlier this month, spending five days to scan and photograph the entire facility. The resulting data, which includes more than 100 million points in three-dimensional space, will be converted into iRacing.com's proprietary format and used to begin building the basic track surface, or spline. Internal testing of the simulated Barber Motorsports Park circuit is scheduled to begin next month.
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