What have I been up to in sim racing?

^^ This.

So basically since the pandemic started, I’ve been heavily involved in sim racing. First, because for a while the outdoor race tracks hadn’t been open. Second, because I needed a change of pace. Third, because I’ve got some other stuff going on that I’ll talk about in a later post.

So, after getting a PC and getting some basic equipment, I started looking for leagues. I’m a big advocate for league racing, because when you find a good league, you’ll find a community of people who are interested in being competitive, and most importantly helping other people.

I stumbled onto the SimRacing604 league, honestly through one of my advocacy projects, Driven by Diversity. I had known about Mike/SimRacing604 through his videos on Youtube (check out his videos, as they are great), and he told me that he was starting an Assetto Corsa Competizione North American league. ACC is very popular over in Europe, and has connections with SRO/GT racing, but there haven’t been very many strong leagues in North America.

I figured I’d give it a spin, and found a really nice community of people. Also, I’ve found some great racing. It’s nice to be able to jump into a race of 40+ drivers, and know that there are good driving standards, and good racing on a regular basis.

After doing two seasons of league racing, the community has grown to over 1200 people, which is awesome to see. I volunteered to be one of the community coaches, helping out new drivers who are just getting into sim racing, find their feed on the the track. (Offering advice on how to practice, basic race craft, how to look at data, etc.)

Links to do stuff.

If you’re ready to try some online racing, start by joining the SimRacing604 Simracing.gp community.

There is an intake form that you can fill out, and the admins will provide you a SimRacing.gp invite within 48 hours. https://forms.gle/tv2fqk6Hh1cZ1FiUA

Whether you join the race series or not, come hang out with the over 1,200 likeminded sim racing folks in our Discord. This is where you’ll find more info about coaching, signing up for one-off races, race series, sim hardware, and more.

Join here: https://discord.gg/K2nw6eysARS

|Technique| Benefits of Sim Racing

Author’s Note: This article is a piece that I originally wrote for Ross Bentley’s Speed Secrets Weekly (Click the link to subscribe to automotive awesomeness.

I highly recommend that you sign for his newsletter, and subscribe, so that you can get more great pieces from others motorsport writers who are passionate about developing drivers.

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What is Project D_RS about?

Accept the things you cannot change. Have the courage to change the things you can. Have the wisdom to know the difference.”

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Writing about why I’m doing these things, in as few words as possible,  is always the hardest part for me. The last few years, I’ve been trying to create platforms to help people be more accessible in motorsports. For the last ten years, I’ve written articles, then I helped build a platform for grassroots karting. I’ve also done some consultative work on the side of my 9 to 5 day job.

However, during the first 2020 lockdown, the world changed.  I needed to start to work in a space that’s more virtual, more accessible and more fun.

So, I decided to create an esports team. Honestly, it’s probably a little overdue.

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Talking karts with Bill Caswell and drinking Red Bull #podcast #keepkartingfun

I did this podcast a little over a year ago, and I’m trying to organized some of the past work I’ve done here on the blog.

Caswell is an awesome guy, and just loves talking about cool motorsport stuff, so here is where Bill and I talked karts while I drank a Red Bull.

Good times.

Don’t call it a comeback – Part 2.

So, I guess I’m back here blogging again.

My dad always tells me that I don’t acknowledge my wins often enough. Recently, I’ve started to think that he’s got a good point.

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Speed Secrets Podcast #2!

A few weeks ago I made a post call “That One Day that I did a podcast with Ross Bentley”, and then ironically, I got a chance to do another one!

Ross invited me back for another episode of the Speed Secrets podcast to talk about karting and how sim racing was keeping me sane during COVID quarantine.

We also had a chance to talk about the Motorsport Book Club Facebook Group that I’m working on, which I’ll talk about later.

That time that I started screaming when someone said that “Sponsorship doesn’t work”

One of my fun side projects is a business marketing podcast for the automotive aftermarket, called ‘On the Rhoad’. It’s typically focused towards small/medium business owners, etc.

This episode was talking about sponsorship from the business owner’s perspective, and how they choose the people they want to build the relationships that help to grow their business.

We talk about what it’s like being a business that is either looking to provide sponsorship, or have people looking for sponsorship, and how to engage with them respectfully. (Basically, finding people who actually care about your business.)

(Shifter kart vs Brazilian Stock Cars) – People keep forgetting about how fast racing karts really are…

…and that you can actually get one of these things, as a regular person! The shifter kart, not the Brazilian Stock Car.

(Again, this is another video that doesn’t have subtitles, but the point still stands.)

Five or so years ago, I found a video about where Rubens Barrichello shows how much faster a shifter kart is than a production car in the dry.

Funny enough, I found myself in a side thread with someone who didn’t want to admit how fast racing karts can be…

Now, I’ve found a video that shows how fast a shifter kart can be compared to a race car in the wet. (In my opinion, Race karts rarely get the respect they deserve with how fast they really are.)

Shifter kart- 1:11.923

Brazilian Stock Car: 1:24.818

That one day I did a podcast with Ross Bentley – Speed Secrets Weekly Podcast on karting

(I really don’t have a ton to say here, as I’ve just been gathering up podcasts that I’ve been doing and posting them on the blog for fun.)

I’m fortunate enough to have been able to have met, author, driver and coach Ross Bentley at a indoor kart track almost 10 years ago now.

He invited me and colleague on his podcast, as a way to introduce grassroots car racers to the sport, so they knew about the additional seat time that they could be getting.

I had a ton of fun, and since then Ross has let me submit a few articles to his weekly newsletter.

Racing Mentor Podcast – Talking about Grassroots Sponsorship in the USA

Over the last few months, I’ve had an awesome opportunity to be on the Racing Mentor podcast, with Jess Shanahan and talk about how grassroot sponsorship opportunities are pretty similar, no matter where you are.

It was a really fun chat and I hope to be back on another episode soon.

FYI – Jess has a pretty great Facebook community to help racers learn about developing sponsorship techniques, and meet with like-minded people.

Check out her book and other resources at the Racing Mentor website.

PS: I also got a chance to get mentioned in article about the Most Cost Effective Ways to go Racing, which was nice, because karting.

I don’t know why I wrote this, but this has been what’s been going on in 2020.

(I probably shouldn’t be writing this, but I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. So here we are. It seems that every time I post something, I end up making someone upset. So now, I just go along for the ride after I hit ‘publish’.

But that’s why I have a blog…)

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I get it. 2020 has been a crazy year.

I know that everyone has been dealing with being stuck inside, the shutdown of their country and the related pandemic in different ways.

However, “being yelled at by ignorant white people about how ‘racism is a myth on Facebook’ ” was not on my bingo card. I’m going to call a spade, a spade. It’s hasn’t been fun.

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