To Infinity And Beyond On My Sim Racing Journey

Hello everyone, for many of you, this may be the first time you have seen one of these articles. Before the OverTake and RaceDepartment merger in March, I did a series of columns called ‘My Sim Racing Journey’ in which I began chronicling many of the major sim racing events that I competed in. With the end goal of competing in two events that I had a hand in conceptualising.

Both events are organised by the Virtual Competition Organisation or VCO. The first is the Esports Racing League/World Cup which is a multi-platform championship in which teams field the best balanced line-up of drivers across ACC, rFactor 2 and iRacing. The other though? INFINITY, which instead of being one race lasting 24 hours, it is one race every hour for 24 hours.

Earlier this year, I finally got the opportunity to compete in INFINITY from 20-21 April. I lined up with four other drivers as part of the United Sim Team entry, donned with my favourite number, 56. We would be racing with big player sim racing teams like Redline, Williams, Apex, Coanda and many more.

In this event across all 24 races, there were five different cars and tracks. The cars were the Mazda MX-5 Cup, Ferrari 296 GT3, Super Formula Lights, Dallara IR-18 IndyCar and all three of the NASCAR Xfinity Series cars. As for tracks, they were Monza, Daytona Road Course, Road Atlanta, Phillip Island and Algarve.

The rule is that all drivers have to race at least two of the cars, but I decided to make it extra tricky for myself. I would drive every car and every track, meaning five races.

Race 3: SF Lights – Algarve​

My VCO INFINITY debut would be in the third race of the event, and I really dove in at the deep end. With this being only a month or so after wet weather debuted on iRacing, and two of the races were 100% confirmed to have wet weather. This one was the first, and I had not quite mastered the rain on iRacing at this point so it was quite literally sink or swim.

I started 49th out of 55 entries, and rather embarrassingly I was last of all the drivers that set a valid lap.. yes, call me Lord Mahaveer. I had the mindset of just putting a lap on the board, and I would not start last since it was only a one-lap qualifier. At the start, I tried taking it easy as it was raining, but of course, I could not avoid the inevitable pile-up.

Thankfully, I did not lose the front wing, so I did not need to make an early stop in the pits, for now at least.. foreshadowing. After surviving a few half spins, my luck ran dry towards the end of lap 5 as I spun on the exit of the last corner, and unfortunately, the Rocket SimSport team car could not avoid me.

See that faded orange/red spec right at the back? Probably not but that is me. Image: VCO Content Database

After waiting for a bunch of cars to pass, I crabbed my way to the pitlane with no rear wing and used my one and only fast repair. I spent the next few laps trying to stay out of the way of lapping cars and not throw them off the track, but if these very skilled drivers were having a tricky time keeping the SFL car pointing in the right direction, then can you imagine how difficult it was for me?

Unfortunately, it all culminated in two separate incidents in the same section of track, the Portimão T10-11 section. The first was with a team I am friendly with, WAS COOKIN Racing Adventures, and their driver Jack Sedgwick was unsighted in the spray and we collided, removing my rear wing and putting me in the pits again for lengthy repairs.

Then, the last incident was completely my fault. I attempted a less-than-optimal re-join, and the Blue Rose Team’s driver could not avoid me, which resulted in me reaching my incident limit and getting black-flagged. Overall, it was a real trial by fire – or water more aptly – and I was classified 47th out of 55 starters.

But I had no time to mope as I had to go immediately and join the next race.

Race 4: NASCAR Xfinity – Monza​

As someone who has no interest in the oval scene on iRacing, I had no reason to buy an Xfinity before but now I did. Makes me wish I could access all of the oval series’ road races with the high enough licence in Sports Car so I could drive it more. But I digress.

I had very little time to get up to speed with the Xfinity, which is one tricky beast to tame. Qualifying proved it again for me, slowest of the ones to set a time, over six seconds off the pole time set by now eNASCAR champ Parker White and over two seconds slower than the driver immediately ahead of me. Yeah you do not need to tell me how terrible I am.

NASCAR Xfinity cars at Monza? There was a certain sense of inevitability going towards T1. Image: VCO Content Database

With its unusual style of braking, safe to say I took it very easy going into the first corner at Monza, which is chaotic at the best of times. I managed to just get away with negotiating around a pile-up and basically just held on to dear life from there.

Three laps in, and I got involved in another incident with the Blue Rose team that I had collided with in the previous race. I certainly was not proving popular with the competition. I kept going wide and having little incidents, which was knocking my confidence every time.

Thankfully, though, unlike the previous race, I did not reach the incident limit and made it to the checkered flag, albeit classified 51st. Thankfully I had a bit of a breather before the next race to try to regroup, and this one I felt reasonably confident for.

Race 6: IndyCar – Phillip Island​

I had always been a fan of Phillip Island but had no reason to get it on iRacing, so this combination gave me the perfect reason, and it was a mouth-watering prospect. Having not done the race in-between, I had a bit more time to prepare, and I knew very early on that the softer compound of tyres would not last even with a pit-stop.

I qualified 44th, a considerable step up compared to my previous two performances, and the race itself would prove to be hard-fought, to put it lightly. I gained a number of positions in the opening laps on account of a few incidents, and by going for the more durable tyres on both stops, I could very well have had a good result.

I had masterfully avoided many an incident in this race somehow, but it did not last. Image: VCO Content Database

Just before the halfway point in the race, I had a tap with the Rocket Simsport car, I did my best to hold on until the optimal point to pit and I used my fast repair. In spite of this, I was running in the top 40 but in the dying laps I was in close proximity to this one driver who had elected to run the softer tyre in both stints, and was now paying the price.

The way this person was driving, they would have made Sergio Pérez in Abu Dhabi 2021 look like he was going fast in comparison. Parking the bus everywhere, coming out of corners like a granny popping down to the shops, overly defensive, and it all culminated in them moving in the braking zone of the T4 hairpin and we collided. Then they had the nerve to insinuate that I was being impatient..

Thankfully, we did not lose a heap of positions because of this, but due to so many people being able to pass us both, I was classified 44th at the end of the race.

Race 8: Ferrari GT3 – Road Atlanta​

My last race before I called it a night would be – quite fittingly – in the dark. For one of only three races under the moonlit sky, I was fairly confident of doing well relative to this high-quality field since I do race the 296 a lot on iRacing. I ended up qualifying 45th – only 1.6 seconds off pole – which, despite a few hiccups on my lap, I was actually fairly content with.

Annoyingly, before the race could even begin, I got swiped by another car and spun coming out of the chicane before the race started. As a result, I got sent right to the back, and I was completely apoplectic, so I channelled that energy into attempting a recovery.

I had made the choice to do both one wet and one night race to get the most varied INFINITY experience possible. Image: VCO Content Database

After my tangle at the start, I was never really close enough to anyone else to fight for positions but kept my nose clean enough to be able to benefit from other people’s blunders. I kept consistent and had a few short lived battles on my way to 42nd at the end of the race.

For the majority of the remainder of the event, I coordinated with my teammates to be on hand in case any of them needed to be relieved or switched out using our ‘Joker’ cards (we had three available to switch the drivers we had registered to a particular race). That did not end up happening, though, at least not with me taking over.

So, I did the final race right at the end of the event.

Race 24: MX-5 Cup – Daytona​

One last combination that I could tackle was MX-5s at Daytona, which sounds easy relative to all the other cars and tracks I drove, but honestly, it was still very difficult. I would qualify 46th and had a good start, avoiding a few collisions. Unfortunately, West Competition Racing would get turned around as a result of us merging for the same piece of track.

That would not be the worst of it, though. With the MX-5 being one of the rookie-level cars on iRacing, it is all too appropriate that on lap 2, I would make a rookie error coming back onto the tri-oval. I overcorrected the car, and unfortunately, another competitor was caught up in it. Can you guess who it was? Blue Rose Team, who it seemed I was magnetised to. What a way to round this event off.

The MX-5 promised pack racing and draft fests at Daytona and delivered for the frontrunners, at least! Image: VCO Content Database

That was not the end of it, though. I pitted for my fast repair and came back out with the Blue Rose car, and in spite of my calamities with them across the event, I thought the best thing we could do was try to work together. Their driver initiated it with some bump-drafting, which did not do much to close the gaps to the drivers ahead.

However, not long after that, I was in behind the Blue Rose car and went to bump-draft, they then got on the brakes and seemingly tried to swipe across at me in displeasure. After that, I realised that I had most likely aggravated them enough, so after they passed me again, I thought it was better than poking this bear any more.

After that, I just tried to make it to the end. I attempted – in vain – to hold my position, but I was easily done away with by three other drivers and ended up 44th at the end. Despite my poor showings in all my races, I was more than satisfied. For reasons I will get to.

So Close To A Win​

Before I end this off, I want to give a brief mention to my four teammates. Thank you to Patrick Dehn and Ola Särnkvist, who are my two usual teammates within the United Sim Team, and also to two outside the United fold in the form of Pablo Rodriguez and the one I will talk in length about, José Soria.

When José got in touch and asked if he and Pablo could get a place in our lineup, I leapt at the chance because he – at the time – was one of the best not to be part of a pro team. He had raced the previous INFINITY in an amateur team dubbed ‘4-Man Racing’ and snatched fourth place in an IndyCar race at Road Atlanta.

Little did I expect, though, how close our plucky little team would get to INFINITY history.

In Race 20, it was Super Formula Lights at Daytona, and Soria had some great results in many of his races leading up to it. But here, he came so close to victory if not for the two BS+COMPETITION cars and still nabbed a podium for us. Since then, Soria has signed for Drago Racing and competed in the IndyCar Pro iRacing Series, scoring a pole and podium in the Laguna Seca round.

Because of not just José but all our efforts, we ended up 50th out of 55 teams in the final standings of INFINITY. Yes, there is nothing to write home about, but considering everything, I am pretty satisfied with that.

My Sim Racing Highlight of 2024​

This year has been rather special for me in terms of getting more involved in sim racing. I have done a large chunk of endurance iRacing Special Events such as the Bathurst 12 hour, Nürburgring 24 hour, Spa 24 hour and even Le Mans. Plus, I got my first batch of sim racing championships, including the OverTake Racing Club British GT4 League, only last week!

But INFINITY, to me, will be the most special, not just for my own personal part to play in this event being born but for what it represents. To me, the best sim racers are the most versatile, the ones who can jump from one car to the next in quick succession and be right up at the front. This is why I chose to drive all five cars and all five tracks, to get a true grasp of the challenge that comes with it.

My respect for the top-level guys continues to grow, and to be amongst them in the same races is a huge privilege. I was truly out of my depth, but nevertheless, I am content and can tick this box. All that is left is to hope that VCO brings back the Esports Racing League so I can do that, too.

When I started writing these articles, it was intending to culminate in writing about doing both INFINITY and ERL. Well, hopefully, I can write about plenty more chapters of my sim racing journey for you all to enjoy. Thank you, until next time!

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