shawnbecher.com

Jon Pharis Racing / Mischevious Badger Racing

JPR/MBR is a joint team effort in the world of the Late Night Racing League (www.lnracing.com ). We will eventually have a team page, but I haven't had a chance to put it together because I'm working on my own site redesign first.

LNR ServerCenter

One of the biggest things I do related to sim racing is run LNR's ServerCenter. The LNR ServerCenter hosts all racing events (NR2k3 and ASR) and voice services (TeamSpeak). The server is an Intel box, P4HT 3.0 GHz with 2 GBs of DDR400 RAM and a 80 GB SATA hard drive. The server also has dual NICs, one of which is plugged directly into the cable modem which is connected to a Time Warner Cable Business Class Home Business Solution connection that has a 15 Mb download and a 2 Mb upload. This connection is big enough to host a full 42 car NR2k3 field or a 51 car ASR field and TeamSpeak for all of the drivers. The server and modem are supported by an APC SmartUPS 1400, which will keep the equipment running for a time (I don't know exactly how long, but I know it is longer than 15 minutes) should there be a power loss at my home.

Part of my duties as the ServerCenter Manager include weekly routine preventative maintenance, patching programs, adding tracks and cars, and making sure the correct mod (NR2K3) is running on the correct night. And should I happen to forget to switch mods, all of our Series Directors have the ability to remotely log into the server and make the necessary changes.

Other Sim Racing

Besides NR2K3 and ASR, I also play Grand Prix Legends and as of recently, rFactor. Since reinstalling and repatching GPL to more modern standards, I have completed one World Championship event where I was slowly making my way through the field when I accidentally tagged the grass and spun, damaging the suspension on my car. I was unable to continue in the event because the car had become undrivable. In rFactor, I'm tryng to get the hang of the DirtFactor Late Models and the SBS WoO 410 winged sprints. I'm just not quite there yet. I do like running the stadium trucks, but not at the stadium tracks. They are too small and too tight. I prefer something more open like the mile and a half at Crandon, WI. I also hope to eventually get into the American LeMans Series and work my way up to the F1 cars. An online Indy 500 with the OW'08 mod would also be very fun!