Kabort's New Direction: League Racing (Pt. 3 - Solo Adventures)
- Kabort Motorsport
- Apr 17, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: May 2, 2023
Back when I started iRacing, I used to only do one race a week, in a single series.
As time went on, I began to branch out - starting off by doing various endurance races, before doing my "weekly" series once a week (during the week) and then a variety of endurance racing series on the weekend.
After "finishing" University back in September 2022, I've absolutely upped-the-ante on my iRacing - and as of 2023 I've joined a bunch of leagues and am eagerly awaiting their start - or have already begun racing in them.
RTA Motorsport
I believe the best place to begin is always the start - and on 12th December, 2022 - I saw this post
and with that I was in! It was an absolutely great league, with a bunch of very friendly Irish guys.
No, I wasn't fighting for wins - but I was certainly in and amongst the pack - by the final race, I was battling for 15th before I was taken out by a questionable re-join.
Round 1 - Road Atlanta (Short) (13/12/2022) It was a tricky old day for me
Qualifying: 17th/23rd (7th-to-last)
Race 1 - Spun at turn 1 (22nd --> 17th)
Race 2 - Had a good start then threw it away as I spun at the cut-through (short layout of Road Atlanta) (17th --> 22nd)
Race 3 - Driver spun ahead and pulled out in front of me at the cut-through - ploughed into the side of him (22nd --> 15th --> DNF)
Round 2 - Oulton Park (20/12/2022) Round 2 at Oulton Park went TONNES better than the first round
Qualifying: 23rd/30th (7th-to-last)
Race 1: 23rd --> 12th
Race 2: 12th --> 15th
Race 3: 15th --> 12th
not spinning out at the start - and getting into the Top 15 was a major improvement!
And then my schedule clogged up a bit.
the 3rd week of the season (27/12/2022) was an off-week (presumably to celebrate Christmas and the New Year before racing kicked off again at Mid-Ohio.
I hate Mid-Ohio (THE CIRCUIT!) with a passion - my first introduction to it was a pitch-black Wednesday morning in Season 4, 2022 - whilst attempting to race in the GT4 Challenge.
Mid-Ohio (as mentioned) appeared on the RTA Calendar - but I was off in Paris on that week - so a bullet dodged.
In official racing, it was Bathurst - so I think I missed a lot of carnage there!
The next time I'd be back on the rig on a Tuesday (race day) would be on the 17th and 31st of January - however, I had only just returned from being out - so missed these weeks too.
By this point, it was the final week of the Mazda Series and I had only competed in two racing weeks - so didn't want to get involved in the championship decider.
Following this, RTA went to the Formula 2.0 - which I didn't want to buy just for RTA - and then had a further season in the Formula 1600 - which whilst free, came with a £20.00 entry fee (£2 per round) to have it broadcasted.
Having already thrown money at ARL (below), I wasn't quite ready to spend more on leagues - especially if I wasn't really keen on the car.
ARL (Apex Racing League) Formula 4
Just like I entered the ARL F3 Championship after my successful (official) Formula 3 season - In 2023 I felt I had enough pace to be competitive in that year's Formula 4 Championship.
In March 2023, the series began - ironically at the same track I had just raced at in the Official F4 series.
The race went...not as badly as I thought it would - qualifying in 6th/11th (only 7 completed laps) before finishing last of the runners (in 7th)
Unfortunately, my real life got incredibly busy - so busy in-fact that I wouldn't touch the sim between the 2nd - 31st March.
By this point it was Week 4.
On the 1st, I made my return to racing (in official racing) with a VRS Endurance race
and the week after was a mad-dash - 3 endurance races (planned) with no time for ARL.
With a further week scheduled in Germany - I knew that time just wasn't on my side - and participated no further - I had already paid the entry fee - and they had good numbers without me. As long as they have my entry fee - they shouldn't mind which rounds I participate in.
The Present
On 7th March, 2023, iRacing released the Renault Clio - much to the delight of the community - having already planned to to an "all IMSA Season" (IMSA Endurance & IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge) - I told myself that I would only buy the Clio when I needed to and not a moment before.
I was hesitant to buy the Clio - let alone for a league...but eventually, after stumbling upon RSE (Racing Series Europe) - I just knew that I had to get my Clio Cup fix - return to the good old days of Clio Cups at Brands Hatch.
I've been very dedicated to the league - and even when numbers dwindled, I've always shown up and gave it my best...be that forward or reverse.
It's a little difficult - as with such a big skill-gap between drivers and so few participating - it can lead to me - and others being left in "No Man's Zone".
It's annoying, because Round 1 had such a good turn out
R1 (Brands Hatch): 13 Drivers
(Qualified 11th, finished 9th, Top 10 are reversed- Got 2nd place finished 8th after contact early on.
R2 (Catalunya Short): 7 Drivers (Same pace as...2)
(Qualified 5th, Finished 6th - 1 Race)
R3 (Hungaroring): 5 Drivers (Registered)
Used AI to make up for it
R4 (Silverstone): 3 Drivers (I wasn't present)
The Future
Presently, I'm participating in about 3 leagues - after sharing screenshots of our activity in the opening Clio Cup race, a former driver (in the RSE Clio Cup series) contacted me to ask me if I could take pictures/screenshots in his upcoming GT4 League - I am absolutely IN LOVE with the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 - so I was absolutely down to race - and take screenshots.
The VRG (Virtual Racing Group) "GT4 Tour" League starts on the 4th May (with a prologue/media day) at Laguna Seca - before kicking off at Spa the following week on the 11th May.
Also in the pipeline is QRT's (Quantum Racing Team) GT3/LMP2/LMDH Multi-class league which kicks off on April 25th.
After doing a "One Off Race Series" they held - I was absolutely down for more - from starting 14th/18th in class to finishing 9th in class (less than a second behind P8) - I knew that this league had some serious potential for me - I may have had no qualifying pace, but the race attrition was second to none and I needed more.
I'll be writing a blog on that race in the coming days.
I'm also eyeing up the Platinum Endurance Championship (PEC) since their entry requirement is 1500 - and I'm hovering around that mark right now.
There's also a "Super Sprint" series - which looks to have enthralling Mazda MX-5 Racing - but their next league is is TBA (To Be Announced.
Looking further onwards - I'm also a part of the Motosports UK Esports Discord and awaiting future events from them - having a direct link to real-life motorsports - I feel there will be a certain element of realism/reality to their events. During Week 13, there's also the Basic Racing League (BRL) held by YouTuber Basic Ollie, Spirit Of Le Mans and the aptly named "W13 Endurance Series" - Week 13 will next fall in June - so plenty of time!
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