With a few iRacing seasons of the SCCA® Spec Racer Ford Challenge, presented by the Skip Barber Racing School behind us, we have learned a lot about online racing and how it relates to SCCA members. The biggest lesson? SCCA members want to race! With over 300 drivers registered for the single-class Spec Racer Ford series, it is clear that members want to compete against each other. Who would have thought?

One of the challenges of the current series is that it can be time consuming to stay competitive, having to sit down for a few hours every week. There is also a barrier in having to buy tracks to keep up with the season. We have seen some great competition, but it can be tough for new drivers to jump in and have some fun.

So with that, SCCA is launching a new series of sorts that will be a little easier for drivers new to iRacing to get into! It’s SCCA SIM Roulette, where the races are made up and points don’t matter! We will meet twice a month, to help cut down on the time commitment, and it will be a non-consecutive series. These will be one-off races from one week to the next, so drivers don’t have to be in all of them to be competitive. We will also be focusing at the start mostly on cars and tracks that come with subscription so new iRacers can jump right in! The best part, though, is that this new series will be held in a private server, available only to SCCA members! That means everyone on the track is an SCCA member, and is your competitor!

To celebrate the Runoffs at VIRginia International Raceway, we are going to have our first SCCA SIM Roulette race at VIR. To have some fun, we are going to start off with the Riley Daytona Prototype car, a pretty rowdy place to start! This car is included with the subscription, so jump in and get some practice going!

The hosted race will open at 9 p.m. EST on Thursday, Oct. 3, and we will have half an hour of open practice, followed by a 10-minute window for solo qualifying. That will be followed by a 20-minute race. For more information on our first race, and to learn how to join, sign up here.

Also, remember that as an SCCA member you can get three months of an iRacing subscription for free with the code found in your latest renewal packet! Dig it out, and get to racing! And if you need some pointers on how to get started with iRacing, look for some tips here.

SCCA SIM Roulette on iRacing: The cars may be virtual, but the adrenaline sure ain’t.