Autosport International LAN
So here we are, ‘LAN 2: Electric Boogaloo.’ It was an absolute honour to have myself and my team selected for the Le Mans Esports Autosport Invitiational event, but it didn’t come without it’s own set of uniquely motivating challenges. The first was, of course, the cost of travel to the UK. This being a mid season event, it meant that any teams competing in the Pro Series already, the situation we found ourselves in, would have to maintain the same roster for both the Pro season and the invitational. As such, we brought the most international roster of any team on the field, fielding myself from Australia, Mariano Rubalcava Ocana from Mexico, and Kallum Lawrence from the UK. This did cause a few issues, as we’d have to pay for our own flights, accomodation, and travel while in the UK, something that we thankfully managed with some savings, some of our left over winnings from the 2019 final, and a bit of loving support from our families.
Yep that’s right, my family came along. It was going to be incredible to drive in front of them, but it also added a layer of pressure I hadn’t experienced before. With all the money being spent on getting to the event (and admittedly, a short family holiday immediately following) and only one prize available, the stakes had been raised significantly. What was the prize I hear you asking? The winning team would get automatic qualification to the Le Mans Esports finals, and all other positions were considered bragging rights.
I’ll spare you the obligatory spiel about practising 5-6 hours a day. We flew out the tuesday before the competition, taking the 18 hour direct flight from Perth to London. Spending the first day rediscovering some of the gems of the city where I was born, we returned to the airport shortly before Mariano came in from Mexico, meeting Kallum in the process. Mariano and I would be staying at Kallum’s place for the first 2 nights while my parent’s camped out in London, so he took us back to his and we immediately began to do some practise on his albeit somewhat rudimentary setup.
On the thursday we took a little bit of R&R in the evening, meeting up with fellow Light Speed member Luca Townsend (currently SGR Mulsanne) at McDonalds near his school. We had some dinner, I of course going for the somewhat healther offering of the wrap, then procedeed to a nearby arcade/bowling alley. What ensued were a set of brilliant pool games and a few volleys of table tennis, culminating in a brief competition on the punching machine.
The next day we were back to business. Friday was our first day at Autosport, and more importantly our first chance to run in the rigs we’d be competing in the following day. The rigs were somewhat alien to us, using the same Thrustmaster kit as I had at home (TS-XW + TM Open Wheel Mod + T3PA Pro Pedals) all strapped into the brand new Playseat LMP model rigs. It took a bit of getting used to, but after running our practise programs and getting an idea of our comparitive pace we were feeling somewhat confident we’d be able to challenge for a podium. Our strategy would be simple. The race itself was 2 hours in length, each driver being required to complete at least a 30 minute stint. I was the quickest out of my team, so I was designated the rabbit, taking on the 1 hour stint and qualifying the following day.
And so here we are. Saturday up against some of the hottest names in sim racing; James Baldwin, Kamil Pawlowski, Darren King, Shaun Arnold, Jacob Bowkett just to name a few. Qualifying was a… messy affair. I had a couple of laps that could have put us into pole position, but the car (Ford GT40) being modelled the way it is in Forza Motorsport 7 was a boat, and was tricky to string together without dirtying the lap. So 6th place was where we finished, and while a lot of the teams would be fielding their 1 hour stint with their rabbit right at the start, we opted to go for a mid stint undercut. Mariano took the green flag, starting a 30 minute stint that was solid but riddled with a few mistakes, getting caught up in battles throughout his stint. Pitting 30 minutes in, I took the the wheel and got to work. That stint, to this day, was one of the best stints of my life, closing the gap to the lead cars by 30 seconds, taking us from 7th to 3rd, and taking the fastest lap in the process. Kallum took the checkered flag, having a few issues with his brakes and finishing a respectable P4 overall. For a first official outting for Light Speed, that was more than enough to call it a success, beating major teams such as Fordzilla, Veloce, Lazarus, VP Gaming, and Team Highlands Racing.
With all said and done, I parted ways with Kallum and Mariano, and rejoined my family, but not before one more wonderful day at Autosport. The folks at LMES were kind enough to provide me with a staff pass to enter the event, and I caught up with people I had met at Le Mans the prior year; Eric Mindjimba (TM International Esports), Ross May (Lazarus Esports), and Joshua Suttill (Autosport), as well as meeting a few new faces; John Armstrong (Rally Driver), and Charlie Martin (Sports Car Driver), and of course, had a go on every sim I could find!