  Predicting the large-scale eruptions from the solar corona and their
propagation through interplanetary space remains an outstanding challenge in
solar- and helio-physics research. In this article, we describe three
dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the inner heliosphere leading up
to and including the extreme interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) of 23
July 2012, developed using the code PLUTO. The simulations are driven using the
output of coronal models for Carrington rotations 2125 and 2126 and, given the
uncertainties in the initial conditions, are able to reproduce an event of
comparable magnitude to the 23 July ICME, with similar velocity and density
profiles at 1 au. The launch-time of this event is then varied with regards to
an initial 19 July ICME and the effects of solar wind preconditioning are found
to be significant for an event of this magnitude and to decrease over a
time-window consistent with the ballistic refilling of the depleted
heliospheric sector. These results indicate that the 23 July ICME was mostly
unaffected by events prior, but would have travelled even faster had it erupted
closer in time to the 19 July event where it would have experienced even lower
drag forces. We discuss this systematic study of solar wind preconditioning in
the context of space weather forecasting.
