2025 Kicks Off With A Bang!

Good evening.

It's the 19th January, 2025, I'm sitting through my team-mate's stint during the iRacing Daytona 24 Hours.

To my utter disappointment, I had previously written this blog, but due to a technical fault - either with Wix or my computer, I lost everything I had written - fortunately, all that remained was a rough template I drafted up in messenger.

That being said, during the first week of 2025, I feel like I haven't managed to catch a break - every day before and after work, I always ask myself "Alright, what's next?"

To which I respond with something rapidly approaching within the next week - be that a iRacing Special Event, weekend diary date or the next date of interest approaching.

So, at exactly 22:22 - I sit here, writing this blog - and at the back of my mind is that very same question - and my answer?

Birthday (+cake!), finish Daytona 24 hours, start favourite work duty (Sunday), and give IMSA SEC one last crack at the whip! And then it's Monday - and a week of brand new duties for me!

A Rollercoaster Month on iRacing

The first half Season 1, 2025 has been an absolute rollercoaster for me - ending 2024 with the worst iRating (skill-level) all year - before going above and beyond to undo the damage.

18/12/2024 - FalkenTyre Challenge @ Vir. Intl. Raceway - 1169 (-97 iRating) (DNS) 21/12/2024 - IMSA SEC* @ Virginia Intl. Raceway - 1243 (+74 iRating) (3rd - GT4)

21/12/2024 - VRS Endurance @ Nurb. Nords - 1217 (-26 iRating) DNF/DSQ

24/12/2024 - FalkenTyre Chall' @ Oschersleben - 1270 (+53 iRating) (5th - GT4)

29/12/2024 - IMSA Mich. Pilot Chall @ Oschersleben - 1343 (+54 iRating) 9th (GT4)

31/12/2024 - FalkenTyre Challenge @ Watkins Glen - 1466 (+61 iRating) (4th - GT4)

-

05/01/2025 - IMSA SEC @ Watkins Glen - 1466 (+61 iRating) - (5th - GT4)

*IMSA SEC = IMSA Sportscar Endurance Challenge - 2 hour races using the FalkenTyre formula (LMP3 / GT4)

Following my first race in the IMSA SEC series at Watkins Glen - I was astonished to find that just for a short moment in time - 20 hours - I was the Division 6 IMSA Sports-Car Endurance Challenge Championship Leader - and the reigning champion heading into the final race of the weekend at 8pm.

Whilst I may have lost the championship lead - I held onto 3rd place for the next two weeks (12 days) before the series ran again on the 18th - 19th January - but that's my tiny claim to fame!

Total Gain: +316 iRating

Total Loss Since: -155

Current Division Position: 2nd (As of 18/01/2025 at 7:17pm)

28th December, 2024

Staying on the racing theme, on the 28th December, 2024, Daddy Facebook "dropped" a post advertising a "taster/track day" for the Focus Cup - which allowed novices to drive a race-car (full pelt/as fast as they dared) without a race licence - the only catch? A hefty price tag.

But you can't put a price on an experience like driving a race-car - especially without a licence - and so I bit the bullet, and signed up for 3rd March.

The post got me thinking - were there any other series running events like these?

I reached out to as many organisations as I could and got two replies:

One from the Mini Challenge that said

“try again on the other side of the season” (October 2025)

The other was the Citroen C1 Racing Cup - whom advised me to call on the 2nd January (2025) to talk about costs and availability.

He was obviously a salesman in his previous life, as I was completely sold the moment he started speaking.

The only difficulty was that there was only two dates available - (Donington and Blyton Park) and the deadline for the deposit (for the first date) had already passed

The second (deposit date not yet passed) was at Blyton Park.

Compared to the value for money testing at Donington Park (the other option) - Blyton wasn’t exactly offering the same deal (track-length/complexity).

31st December

Initially, I was supposed to work New Year’s Eve - and being the afternoon shift, had I gone to the Isle Of Wight, I wouldn’t have arrived home until the following year!

A colleague of mine was an absolute GODSEND and wanted to work New Year’s Eve (wanted/needed work) and it’s because of him that I got to celebrate New Year’s Eve with my family - I truly believe in fully ending one year before starting the next, not leaving a thing overhanging the next year.

To him, I thank him very much.

On my way down to the Isle Of Wight (for the second time) on the 31st, I dropped off “a mysterious letter” which will become relevant later

New Year’s Day - like Christmas was a bank holiday, and I had off - much to the relief of bus drivers nationwide whom didn’t have to sober up in less 8 hours before work!

2nd January 2025

On the 2nd, it was straight back to work.

On my way up to Essex, I had a phone-call from “The Citroen C1 Cup Man” and was sold in an instant.

Moments later, the universe got in touch with me to say…

It was a sign…And so I saved about £10,000 deciding to race with the Citroen C1 Cup - and that was WITH a £10,000 cushion included!

The year started off on a slightly strange note as I worked 3 Saturdays in a row

4th January 2025

On the Sunday (4th), I met up with my parents, brother and his partner.

No sooner had the year started, 2025’s motorsport events were already underway on the first weekend of the year.

Friday 3rd Jan: Dakar Rally Podium & Prologue

Saturday 4th Jan - 17th Jan: Dakar Rally

Saturday 10th Jan: iR ROAR Before The 24 & 24 Hours of Dubai Sunday 11th Jan: Formula E - Mexican E-Prix

Saturday 17th Jan: iR Daytona 24 Hours// Real Life ROAR Before The 24

Saturday 24th Jan: Real Life Daytona 24

6-12th January 2025

The following week - and full week of 2025 marked one of my favourite iRacing Special Events of the year - The iRacing ROAR Before The 24.

In the beginning, we just had the Daytona 24, then we had the ROAR - for GT4’s at 2.4 hours - I love this week because we also get two FURTHER Daytona races in the GT4 - the lovingly named “Purr and Meow” before the ROAR.

After an absolutely stellar charge of + iRating - I was looking forward to a good week…but unfortunately Lady Luck just wasn’t in the office that week.

I crashed out of Turn 1 of Lap 1 of the Purr (FalkenTyre SportsCar Challenge).

The MEOW didn’t go any better - The internet cutting out moments before I was due to race - I attempted to start the race (from the pits) but the internet cut out again on the following lap, resulting in retirement.

The ROAR was pretty unspectacular, starting 14th and finishing 13th.

Collecting aero damage along the way didn’t help matters - especially as it was as clumsy as out-braking myself.

Whilst in the land of iRacing, it was raining, in the real world, I was absolutely reigning!

On the 10th January, I received a response to the letter sent out on the 31st - as I had done it by post, I failed to realise I had to send a cheque or banking information.

So, I completed the form online and sent it off, this time sending £32 along with it - 3 days later, it has been processed and was due to arrive within the next 5 (working) days - THINGS ARE HAPPENING - AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE MORE!

My stride continued as I found a (motorsport) school who helped provide more information on my ARDS test - another contact in the book - and yet more money needing to be spent - of course, only when I go for my ARDS of course!

13th - 19th January, 2025

The week of the 13th I'm going to now coin the "anniversary week" - this week seeing 3 different "anniversaries!"

13th - 14th January - iRacing

On Sunday 13th January, 2019, after complaining "it's too expensive" for YEARS, I finally caved in - and probably made my ̶w̶o̶r̶s̶t̶ best financial mistake...ever. I joined iRacing. iRaced.

My first race was on the 14th (another anniversary) and honestly, I haven't looked back since - coming from RaceDriver Grid - the amount of immersion you get is second to none.

6 years down the line, do I care how much I've spent on the subscription and content? No. The amount of fun I've had on this sim has absolutely made up for it - and hey, when a team event comes along, I socialise with friends!

15th January, 2025

It's hard to believe, but on the 15th January, 2024, I was voluntarily homeless - and without a job - I would not believe you for a second if you said "oh you're going to be renting a room, and you're going to be a bus driver - driving double deckers..now and then"

I can't for a moment believe how quickly this past year has gone - and how well it's all turned out - with cheap rent in a convinient location - and the job...I honestly have no words about the job!

19th January - 24th Anniversary Of...Moi.

This weekend has been absolutely NUTS.

After finishing work at 11pm, then getting home for midnight, I had 3 hours sleep, before booting up iRacing for the IMSA SEC (SportsCar Endurance Series).

Just as I had left it, I was still in 3rd place in Division 6.

Why am I doing a 4am race? Double the chance of a good result - and I will ALWAYS score more points in one race than the other - it's just best to do both, and have as viable opportunities to score (potentially) more points.

It was a long old race - it had just finished raining and the track was still soaking wet - strategy and when to put on the dry tyres was EVERYTHING.

I pulled the longest strategy - mis-judging the conditions and "jumping the gun" a little early on the dry tyres by 3-6 laps.

Eventually everyone did swap over onto the dry tyres later on in the race, but it took a monumental effort to go from 25th in class to a solid 10th.

No sooner had I crossed the start finish line, I leapt out of the Aston, over the pit-wall, over a fence, sheep, confused farmer, cow, crashed space-ship and launched myself into the HONDA (because it is) NSX GT3 ready for the Daytona 24 hours which was due to start in less than an hour.

After meddling around with teams and liveries and ensuring everything was fit and ready to go - I qualified...

On my first lap, I put a wheel a blade of grass off-track and the lap was invalidated, and on the second, my internet cut out, also invalidating the lap.

Not off to a great start.

But what WAS off to a great start was the 2025 iRacing Daytona 24 Hours - I managed to complete my first stint (the start of the race) with very little drama.

And that's as much as I'm going to say, because the race is still running as I type - and I'm VERY supersticious when it comes to jinxing things!

The mad weekend continued deep into the night as midnight saw the start of my birthday - but I wasn't to stay up much later with a 4am double-stint, before shooting off to work at 7am.