Winter is truly here in the deep south. Record breaking south and cold temperatures mean no one is out playing with their race cars. Its a good time to break out the sim and start working on learning some new tracks. The 2025 version of One Lap of America features all tracks that I’ve never attended, let alone been able to drive. That means I’m going to have to rely heavily on virtual learning methods. Thankfully Assetto Corsa modding community has most of the tracks covered.

First up is Hedge Hollow. Located in Missouri, just south of Kansas City, Hedge Hollow Raceway is a big and fast course. The full course is 3.4 miles long, featuring two fast “straights”, an increasing speed esses section, and a technical final couple corners.

First thing to do is get some expert advice on how to tackle this track. Since I’m lacking a personal expert, we’ll have to settle for One Lap Alum Tom O’Gorman… or at least his videos. TOMO posted a lap he did in a Porsche in 2024:

We can argue about how accurate or real any simulator is compared to actually driving, but whatever your opinion on the topic, you are probably right.

I use Assetto Corsa (the OG, not the newer ones) and have a modded car in the game that mirrors the weight, distribution, gear ratios, power curve, and suspension configuration of my real life Mini. It generally “feels” the same in game as it does in real life on a track. That may be my brain lying to me, but it is good enough for my needs.

My goal with the sim is almost exclusively to learn the track. Actual virtual laps times aren’t really important since I’m not racing other people or in some kind of competition. I do want to push the pace so that I have a good idea of the areas on the track to be concerned with, and where there are opportunities to improve/lose time. In my first session, most of my laps fell into the 2:35-2:45 time range. I’m still learning to use OBS, so most of my session I just recorded a blank screen. Here is one of the laps I did manage to capture:

Here are my driver notes: