Kabort's New Direction: League Racing (Pt. 2)

I don't know how it happened, but I've somehow found myself in 25 different Discord Servers (3/4 to do with iRacing in some element) - last time I checked, I was rather reserved when it came to racing - only racing once a week.

To see how we got here, I decided to take a look back in time - and have a little reminisce about my own - and Kabort's League Racing History.

Part 1 (2019 - 2021):

https://www.kabortmotorsport.com/post/kabort-s-new-direction-league-racing

Part 2 (2021 - 2022)

2021 started relatively quietly - but there were murmurs of league activity.

2021 saw me step out of my comfort zone and join a small league called "WOSR Fast Fridays" - every Friday the organiser would choose a random car and random track - and that would be the car/track combo for the evening's action.

The main point of this would be to practice race starts.

W1 - 22/01/2021 - Daytona & GT3/LMP2 Multiclass (Daytona 24hr Practice)

W2 - 29/01/2021 - Suzuka & GT4/911 Cup Multiclass

W4 - 12/02/2021 - Interlagos & GTE/LMP2 Multiclass

W5 - 26/02/2021 - Bathurst & GT3's (Bathurst 12hr Practice)

W6 - 05/03/2021 - Sebring & GT3/GT4 Multiclass

After Week 6 - no more Fast Friday's were held unfortunately.

Usually only 10 or so people would show up - but it was still enjoyable nevertheless.

With a new lockdown imposed (Lockdown 3) in the UK, the MOFO boys re-assembled and "The Hare And The Tortoise" series was born - a Mazda MX-5 series born out of the blood of the MOFO Series of yesteryear - going from

16th February 2021 -

With so much time on my hands - and not needing to be anywhere, I started experimenting - such as trying out the ISRC Porsche Cup Series (4th March '21) before realising my pace was no-where and I had no business being on the Grid (I was also fighting the car corner after corner)

Like the ISRC Porsche Cup Series (ISPC) - I also tried my hand out at the "Dirty Torque Racing League" on the 23rd May - which raced legend cars on over tracks - but due to not being overly competitive - and then being bombarded with a hectic summer, I never touched the Legends again. It was fun though. When I wasn't crashing.

I would then disappear off iRacing.

At the time, my two hiatuses (Hiati?) would be my 2nd and 3rd longest breaks.

The first starting on 30th May 2021 (a week after the Legends race) and lasting until July (42 Days)

The second being a result of a summer holiday and then going to University and starting on the 22nd August and ending pm 22nd October, 2021 - quickly returning home from Uni before darting back not long after.

Since we are in the middle of 2021, It's also worth mentioning what the team was up to - they were participating in the Aquiver Endurance League.

Ironically enough, Aquiver was broadcasted by "ISRC TV" - The same league KBM were in last year (ISRC).

Unfortunately though, I am unable to find championship points or results.

(15th March, 2021)

The Wake Up Call...

Four months after finishing my most successful season to date (S1, 2021 - Formula 3) I decided that as I had a win and three F3 podiums to my name - that maybe I would be decent in an F3 league...and not just any F3 league - the biggest F3 League on iRacing: The ARL (Apex Racing League) Formula 3 Championship.

It was tough. Very tough.

The backdrop of this story was Hockenheim. I went from doing 01:38's/01:37's to finishing practice in the 01:33's - in just one practice session (presumably about an hour) - I had gained over 4 seconds - but I was still 23rd/26th - and still 0.9 seconds slower than the car ahead.

Practice over - and into qualifying - an I qualified 24th/26th - things weren't improving. Come the (first) race, I'd finish 23rd.

In race 2, I would finish 15th - but by this point the damage had already been done - and I had already been put off league-racing - knowing that it was where the best of the best went after being successful in officials

Just after the Charlotte 4 Hours Special Event, I suddenly realised that it was ARL F3 Race-day - so I leapt into the session (just as it opened) and tried to learn Phillip Island in about 30 minutes - realising I couldn't even exit the pit-lane without disaster - I decided it was in my best interest not to enter (especially as it was broadcast). Other than entering an ARL Event or two, this would be the last league event I'd attempt to compete in

2022

In 2022, Kabort decided that they would enter in Season 1 of the Platinum Endurance Championship which started on the 5th February and concluded on 25th June, 2022 - Kabort bringing home an absolutely masterful 6th place in the LMP2 championship with Kabort Blue.

R1 - Spa Francorchamps - 05/02/2022

8th --> 8th (In LMP2 Class)

Interlagos results lost.

R3 - Sebring - (2/04/2022)

6th --> 5th (In LMP2 Class)

A massive thank you must go out to Kabort's all-star line up:

Joost Bouwmeester (NDL)

Daniel Weber (GER)

Colin Van Rooijen (NDL)

I will mention - there was discussion about entering AOR iRacing league - but I don't know how far it got.

The 2022 Winter Nurburgring 24 Hours

After missing both 2020's and 2021's event - Kabort finally gathered enough interest in 2022 to consider participating in the 2022 Winter Nurburgring 24 Hours

The qualifying system was very interesting, requiring:

- 4 Clean laps (In a row) - With a gap no larger than 10 seconds

- The average of the fastest 3 drivers (4 lap-times) decides the team's qualifying time.

- Meaning that qualifying wasn't just about the fastest team - it was the fastest AND cleanest team - since the "permit" sessions were only 4 laps long (ish) - if you messed up your lap-time - you'd have to wait until the next session to try again

Meaning it was anybody's to win/qualify - and the qualifying boards were constantly shifting.

it was a very enjoyable event...until just days before the race, iRacing threw a GT3 Update which drastically changed the handling of the cars - and truthfully? Ruined the Mercedes GT3 (for me at least).

The race wouldn't go tooo badly - us starting in 6th before getting an early penalty for a T1 incident (contact).

Within 10 laps, we had returned to 6th.

After about 5 hours in the Top 10, Dominik pitted an we lost a fair few positions.

Starting the 6th hour, we were down in 19th and stayed there.

Dominik came in and swapped with me. I did a double stint.

After my first double stint, we were still in 19th.

Dominik again got in and did a fine job.

Four laps into my first stint (after Dominik had been in) - I cracked and ploughed into the side of a parked Mercedes. It was shameful and quite honestly a low point my career.

And with that, my 2022 was done.