a racer at heart
I’ve always loved motorsport, finding my passion in sim racing and now in motorsport engineering. I’ve leveraged my work with real race engineers during my time in sim racing into trackside performance during my time in Formula Student. Whether it’s using motec to compare driver KPI’s, understanding the kinematic performance envelopes of our cars, or finding the last few tenths in myself, I’ve been able to apply what I’ve learnt into laptime for myself and the car’s I’ve worked on.
years of experience towards the top of sim racing
Notable Achievements:
2019 Le Mans Esports Finalist and 2x Race Winner
2020 Autosport International LAN Competitor and Fastest Lap Holder
2020 Le Mans Esports Online Pro-Am Finalist
2021 WTF1 Invitational W/ Axle Sports
2021 Virtual Le Mans Sebring W/ Axle Sports
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My Start In Motorsports
Featured on Le Mans.Org
“At just 19, Cian already has eSports experience. This member of the Light Speed Endurance Motorsports (LSEM) team has made Forza Motorsport 7 his priority, and also races on iRacing or Project Cars. Motorsport? More than a passion, a vocation! Cian is studying the field at Edith Cowan University.”
2019
LE MANS ESPORTS SERIES - PRESENTATION OF THE MAD MOTORSPORTS TEAM
Written By Josh Suttill
“Robin Betka, Mexica driver Mariano Ocana and Esports first-timer Cian Butler triumphed in the two-hour race in a Ferrari 250LM around the pre-1990 version (pre-chicane) of Le Mans. They scoop $3,000 in prize money.”
2019
Mad Motorsport beats Veloce in first LMES Super Final race
Written by Natalie Turner
“GOA’s favourite speedster, and stream team star Cian Butler, will be competing in the 2020 Le Mans Esports Series Super Final. Pro and Pro-Ams teams will compete for a $150,000 (USD) prize pool. The event starts tonight, running from the 15th to 18th of September.”
2020
GOA’s Butler Races at Le Mans Esports Series Super Final
2021
Virtual Le Mans Series Points for Axle Sports
Super Sub to Points
After taking on the role of super sub for Axle Sport’s Sebring 500 efforts in the 2021 Virtual Le Mans Series, I was able to help the team secure their first points scoring finish of the season.
Taking The Race To Reality
During my time with the team, I've directly contributed to the scoring of 2388.8/2461 points across 7 disciplines in 5 competitions, attaining 97.1% of points on offer in events I was involved in.
Joining the Driver Squad
In 2021, I finally achieved my dream of stepping behind the wheel of a race car. During my first year in FSAE, I became part of the main driver squad, and marketing director for the team.
2021
First Drive in a Formula Student Car
Making Our Debut
At the end of my second year in the team, we took our first new car post-covid to competition. LA-7 was quick, but unreliable, suffering from high battery drain and overheating. After the latter brought a smokey end to our competition in endurance, I vowed I’d do everything I could to make sure it never ended that way again.
2022
First FSAE Competition
A cool Car
During the develop of WR-7, I spent months understanding the ins and outs of cooling system design, developing a motec driven transient simulation in excel which accounted for pressure head, cooling loop fluid cycle time, vehicle velocity, and fan behaviours. This simulation after on-track validation would be found to be within 3.5% error on key metrics such as fan on time.
2023
First FSAE Win
2024
FSUK Winners
Aussie aussie Aussie
With the team returning to their first international competition since 2018, we put our all on the line, and manage to come away with the largest points scoring margin in 20 years. Taking part in the team’s design event & finals effort was a personal highlight, alongside aiding in the team’s wins in autocross.
Back on Track
Given the goal of getting the team’s aerodynamics program back on track, GW-7 arrived in Australia with double the downforce of WR-7, it’s development involving a plethora of team firsts. From multi-reference frame corner case CFD, to vortex driven ground effect aerodynamics, the package was a major contributor to the team’s winning of the Leap Best Use of Simulation Award.
2025
Head of Aerodynamics
2026
Beating the Top Team in The World
Passion Powered Performance
Taking Australia’s first hybrid racecar to competition, the team gave it their all to become the first team since covid to take a second win at Formula Student UK. With all the previous winners there since 2020, including the 2025 ranked 1 team Unimore Modena, I was proud be part of the team that truly exemplified the phrase; “Passion Powered Performance”.