iRacing introduced the Super Formula Lights car last season and it immediately became very popular amongst beginners and experts alike. The car is enjoyable to drive and has enough power and downforce in a race format that is fast and very challenging.
Dallara 324
The Super Formula Lights car is built by Dallara and is brand new for the 2024 season of the series in Japan. The car is also used in the EuroFormula Open Championship. iRacing has faithfully transferred the car into the digital world and it looks and sounds amazing! The sound of the turbocharged engine is so satisfying to hear and you feel that you have to push the car just to enjoy the sound.
Weight (lbs & kg): 1287 lb / 585 kg
Engine spec: 1.6L Toyota Yaris 3 cyl (275 horsepower)
Transmission: Hewland 6-speed sequential
Chassis: Dallara carbon Monocoque
Suspension: Double wishbone pushrod w / inboard springs and dampers
Brakes: 4-piston Brembo brakes front & rear
Fuel Tank Size (gallons & Liters): 12.2 Gal / 46.0 L
Race Format and Strategy
The Super Formula Lights series is available in both fixed and open setup series. Wet weather is enabled and the car has both wet weather and slick tyres available. You will need a Class C Formula Car licence to race in this series. Races begin from a standing start and it is very easy to get a good launch since the car gets away from a standstill without any wheelspin even with full throttle.
Races are only 20 minutes for Fixed and 30 minutes for the open setup series. Pitstops are not required unless you incur damage/penalties or you may need a change of tyre type if the weather changes.
Qualifying is a two-lap affair where you start in the pitlane, drive an out-lap to warm up the tyres and then two flying laps. Be aware that any incident will result in the lap being invalidated.
You can push the car quite hard but we feel that it tends to require a bit more of a smoother driving style than the FIA Formula 4 car. The steering feels quite light in comparison and flicking the car into corners inducing too much rotation tends to bleed off speed.
There is some dirty air effect when following another car closely as well as a decent amount of slipstream effect that can help you keep up with faster cars. Overall, if you get a clean start, you can push the car without worrying about tyre wear all the way to the end of the race.
One thing we've noticed is that the car can lock up very easily in wet conditions but moving the brake bias backwards by about 4% can make a huge difference.
Car setup and practice
We suggest that you run as many laps as possible in official practice to get used to following cars closely to understand the effect that dirty air may present as well as to get a feel for when the slipstream is most effective. Qualifying practice is very important as well as practising pitstops if that week's race has wet weather as a possibility.
We also suggest that you load up an AI race based on the official session and run a race or two. This will give you a good idea of where the danger areas are on the track and also help figure out where the best overtaking sports are. We wrote a guide on setting up AI race sessions here.
Final thoughts
Super Formula Lights is a fast sprint over 20/30 minutes with wet weather thrown into the mix every now and then. The car has excellent handling with downforce levels that are much higher than what you may initially think. For example, Turn 1 at Silverstone as well as Copse can be taken flat out once you've warmed up the tyres.
The only downside we've noticed is that some races can be full of incidents which qualifying towards the front very important. Once you learn how to get clean starts and how to avoid the odd wreck, you'll enjoy this series and probably realise very quickly the Dallara 324 is one of the best cars in iRacing.
