A Quiet(ish) End To August

After an insane 3 weeks of non-stop back-to-back anarchy, the final week of August was relatively quiet.

Following a wild and totally unexpected race at Bathurst/Mount Panorama, life slowed down a little - and I was given a short breather.

17/08/2023

Aside from the slightly more notable event, it was also 2 Years since Tom Wallace joined Kabort - Tom was the first of my real life friends to stay on iRacing.

Despite this - he's been inactive since the 2022 iRacing Le Mans 24 Hours due to real life commitments.

Since then he's amassed over 2000 iRating.

18/08/2023

On Friday, it was my second payday at work. That was it.

19th - 21st August, 2023

The 19th - 21st August was a big weekend.

On iRacing, it was the Le Mans 24 Hours - which I sadly missed due to work commitments.

On the Monday (21st), it was the finale of the iMotoring Monday series from FRL (Formula Racing League) - I was meant to race, but I was asked to work overtime at work - and as I prioritise work over iRacing, I stayed on and missed the finale.

Due to the lack of numbers (not sure if that was my fault or not), the series finale was cancelled with me finishing 3rd.

Ironically, it's the 3rd time I've finished 3rd in a championship.

I've finished 3rd twice in QRT's Championships, and now a third time in FRL.

Monday also marked a month before my driving test.

22nd August

On the 22nd August, it was a friend's daughter's birthday and Round one of the RTA Formula 3 Championship.

It went...meh.

The turnout was phenomenal - with a 28 strong field.

In the first two races, I was taken out by start incidents - but in the third, I had my lucky break and managed to finish 16th from 24th on the grid.

23rd August, 2023

The 23rd August was a very bittersweet day.

Week 11 of the FalkenTyre Sportscar Challenge headed to Aragon - a fairly new track, but a track I enjoy nonetheless.

Sadly, this race was marred by the fact it was Top-Split - Jack Aitken being a guest of my split in one of the LMP3's.

From 8th in GT4 (slowest to complete a lap), I finished in 7th - last of those on the GT4 leader's lap.

That evening, it was the DML (Delta Motorsport League) SIMX-5 race at a short configuration of Virginia International Raceway.

I honestly hate this circuit - I've had so many unpleasant races here and it's just one of those circuits I can't get along with.

After flying off wide from 2nd in race 1 - I managed to somehow come home with a win in Race 2...the winning streak continued on.

The evening was so thrilling, I'm likely to write a seperate blog about it.

Stayed Tuned.

24th August, 2023

Besides a driving lesson - Thursday evening always saw a clash between the FRL (Formula Racing League) "iRacing iChallenge - LMP3 VS GT4" and the Evolution Sim Racing league...this evening...FRL had a different sort of Challenge.

It was Round 3 at Laguna Seca and a total of three drivers showed up - myself, Dominik and one other.

Two LMP3's and a single GT4 - Dominik quickly ducked, leaving myself and Zarins.

I parked up until the final two minutes, and then drove around for the final laps - ensuring I wasn't marked down as a retirement...and that was the whole evening. Later that night, FRL announced that it would not be running any further league until further notice (due to lack of participation) - In a bizarre turn of events - after Long Beach, we all won the championship....

The other race was the Evolution Sim Racing series at Suzuka - after losing all my motivation to race at Laguna Seca and Suzuka not being one of my favourite circuits (and indeed the penultimate race) - I decided to sit Suzuka out.

My PLAN was to race at Imola - or start from the back - or get involved at Imola - however life happened and I was called onto the mainland, and sadly missed it - this resulting in me missing out on my opportunity to get a real life participation trophy from ESR.

25th August, 2023

The 25th August was probably one of the most eventful days in about 10 days - it was my mother's birthday (I won't say which birthday!) - so we had cake, she opened her cards and that evening we both went to the cinema.

It was a bit of a faff as they went to see Oppenheimer and Oppenheimer wasn't really my sort of thing - so I went later (in the evening) and saw Strays - it was an absolutely brilliant movie - absolutely hilarious - and, admittedly a lot more fun than if I would have gone earlier in the evening to see the Meg 2 - but it's still on my list to see!

The 25th also saw the 2nd anniversary of me being single - and during that time, I've become okay with being single - and learnt "it's just the way life is and I can't change the past - and I'm bigger and better than her".

26th August, 2023

26th August, 2008 - a small team release a simulator called "iRacing" to the public - unlike anything else on the market - it's a subscription-based title - instead of paying a one-off purchase, you pay for a subscription monthly/yearly.

Over time this simulator absolutely blows up and becomes one of the leading/most popular racing simulators on the market.

26th - 28th August, 2023

Between the 26th and 28th August, I unknowingly head to work for my final 3 shifts - I knew my contract was coming to an end in September - but at the back of my mind, I always hoped that they would keep me on.

29th August, 2023

August ended exactly as it started - in absolute madness - on the 29th August, I had a family BBQ - although, there wasn't a BBQ present - but the food was still delicious.

My parents and brother headed home as they had a ferry to catch, but I stayed on as I was staying in Essex that night.

30th August

On the 30th, I headed to Brighton for the day - it was meant to be Lowe (further South West) but the timing didn't work out.

We had a lovely day - and I ended the day meeting my friend's partner.

Back on iRacing, it was Week 12, the final week of the season - and also the Delta Motorsport League (DML) SIMX-5 Finale at Oulton Park.

After missing a few rounds, I finished the championship in 5th. Still a top 5, but I couldn't do much about being on the mainland - afterall, I can always come back to iRacing - friends may not always be there.

31st August, 2023

The 31st August - the final day of the year where the month doesn't end in "BER" A sign that autumn is coming.

Back on iRacing, it was the ESR Finale.

Come the first week of September, my league-count had completely emptied out to just ESR (Evolution Sim Racing) and even that was a pre-season event.