iRace Round 3 - Tim Willis Interview from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

iRace Round 3 - Richard Mork Interview from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

iRace Round 3 - Bob and Josh Townsend Interview from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

iRace Round 3 - Paul Dickson Interview from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

iRace Round 3 - Steve Coulter Interview from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

iRace Round 3 - Rob Oshlack Interview from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

iRace Round 3 - Rod & Phillip Moynahan Interview from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

iRace Round 3 - Production Racing Cars Montage from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

iRace Round 3 RocketSports Montage from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

Drift HD Hot Lap - Josh Townsend from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

iRace Round 3 Touring Car Challenge Montage from Sam Dale on Vimeo.

Round Three is fast approaching. If you'd like to be a part of it you can get your entry in here.

If you don't have a racecar ready, the Oz Truck guys have the awesome #85 car ready to go and available for lease, more details available here. If you're keen to lease something else, get in touch with Rod Dale, and he will point you in the right direction!

Round Three will be held at Morgan Park, 16-17 June, with practice available on Friday 15 June.

We've put together three full race videos for each of the West End Mazda Production Racing Cars races held at Lakeside for Round 3. The videos are shot from onboard three of the category cars - Richard Mork, Paul Leabeater and Neil Byers. Hopefully they give an idea of what it's like to race in the Production Racing Cars category.

We've embedded the videos below, or you can view them (and a host of other videos) on our Vimeo page.

Enjoy.

 

Every iRace meeting (every race meeting in general) can only happen thanks to the support and effort of our awesome volunteer officials. We are grateful to each and every one, and at our most recent round we were lucky enough to be able to express this gratitude in a unique way.

Thanks to Fastrack Racing, we randomly selected one of our officials to receive a gift certificate for 3 Hot Laps around Eastern Creek with Fastrack. The prize was won by Flaggie Ross King, from Wyong.

A big thank you to Fastrack and all our awesome supporters, and to the great bunch of volunteer officials who help make our racing possible.

The next round of the Independent Race Series will be held at Lakeside, 12-13 June. For more information, click here. We'll be working to offer more prizes to our officials at future events.

To learn more about Fastrack Racing, click here.

And to find out how to get involved in the Independent Race Series as an official, click here.

We're into the second quarter of 2010, and we've already seen plenty of action in the 2010 Independent Race Series. Here are some of the highlights since our last update:

• Round 2 took place at Morgan Park: friendly atmosphere, great racing
• Speedweek coverage from Morgan Park available online
• Round 3 was held at Eastern Creek: one day format proved a success
• Speedweek coverage for Eastern Creek scheduled for 6 June
• More onboard footage than you can poke a stick at!
• iPhone application released
• Flag signals feature article
• VHoldR ContourHD Helmet/Onboard camera review
• Basic editing of onboard footage tutorial
• Blackberry Store comes onboard as official communications partner
• Loads of photos in the gallery (mostly from R3)
• iRace Series Rules & Regulations available for download

Our next event is Round Four, to be held at Lakeside in Queensland. Spaces are limited at this event, so if you haven't already, get your entry in asap!

UPDATE: Please note that due to a scheduling change with SBS (as a result of their cycling coverage), the telecast dates have changed by one week. The date shown above is the revised date.

TV coverage of the latest round of the Independent Race Series from Eastern Creek will screen on SBS Speedweek Sunday 6 June from 1pm onwards. As always, check your local TV guide to confirm.

The coverage will also appear on Fox Sports InsideSpeed, Wednesday 9 June.

Put it in your diary to make sure you don't miss any of the action!

UPDATE: Please note that due to a scheduling change with SBS (as a result of their cycling coverage), the telecast dates have changed by one week. The dates shown above are the revised dates.

Round Three of the Independent Race Series was held at Eastern Creek on Friday 9 April.

The event was the first time iRace has hosted a one-day format on a Friday, and it proved to be a big hit with the competitors, with plenty of track time for everyone, and a full weekend left to recover, rejoice or reconstitute.

Qualifying was held in the morning, with two sessions for each category. Despite threatening clouds over the circuit on the Thursday evening as many teams unloaded their cars, Friday morning brought clear skies and warm temperatures, which would remain in place for the whole day.

Once qualifying was out of the way, the racing action came thick and fast, with eleven races between noon and 4.20pm.

The Super Hoist Plus Production Racing Cars saw another very strong grid do battle, with Anthony Soole setting the pace in qualifying, his nimble Lotus Exige a full two seconds clear on pole position. In the racing, Soole was equally quick, but a DNF in Race Two cost him the Class X round win, that honour going to Franck Donniaux in his Subaru WRX STi. In the V8 Class, Steve Briffa impressed everyone with his immaculately turned out VE HSV Clubsport. Briffa never finished outside the top three outright, and won the V8 Class convincingly. In Class A, Clark Stott took a well deserved round win. Class B was hotly contested, with the popular Bryan Fitzpatrick returning to the category getting the upper hand to take the round win. Class C went to John Willmington in his very fast Pulsar SSS. Save of the day goes jointly to Steve Briffa and Mal Smith, the pair doing a synchronised spin in the high speed turn one (photos here, video here).

Formula Tasman and LeMans Sports were combined, with Chris Farrell running very strongly in his Swift Formula Atlantic, and dominating all sessions. Sam Dale had hoped to offer more of a challenge to Farrell, but a slipping clutch saw him limp home in both races. Geoff Rands performed well to take out the LeMans Sports honours.

RocketSports saw a solid field of Future Racers do battle with the Holden Roadsters. Father and son duo, Rodney and Jade Barnes turned out a pair of immaculate Future Racers, and were split in Qualifying by the Canberra Milk-liveried Future Racer of Steve Dascarolis. Jade Barnes went on to take the outright round win, winning two races, while the other race was won by his father Rodney. In the Holden Roadster stakes, Graham Smith took the honours.

HDT Muscle Division and McHitch Touring Car Challenge were combined for this round, and the action was fantastic. Norm Stokes and Joel Knott were split by just a hundredth of a second in Qualifying, with Stokes taking the pole. In the opening scratch race, Stokes took the outright win, with Knott best of the Muscle Division cars. Adam Lloyd and Adam Tipping pushed each other all the way, and were the leading HDT Cup runners. In the first of the handicap races, Race Two, newcomer Michael Nordsvan took the win, with a number of battles right throughout the field. In the final race (another handicap affair), 4 cars jumped the start, but the racing didn't suffer at all. Joe McGinnes wretched day (he'd already suffered two DNFs) came to a heartbreaking end with just one lap to go, and after he'd driven an epic race to take the lead at the beginning of the final lap. Joe's right front tyre let go, and he was out of the running. It then looked as if Michael Nordsvan would take another race win, but he was one of the jump starters, and received a 30 second penalty, handing the race and round win to another newcomer, Tim Miller in his fire-breathing Mazda RX7. Rod Gurney drove solid races to take out the Improved Production/Sports Sedan honours, with Adam Lloyd best of the HDT Cup. Norm Stokes took out the McHitch Touring Car Challenge.

All in all, a fantastic day's racing, and there were plenty of smiling faces at the trophy presentation at the conclusion of the event. A huge thank you to all the volunteers and officials who made the event possible, and for those of you who missed this one, make sure you come along to our next one-day event at Eastern Creek, 9 July. Before that though, the Independent Race Series heads to the fantastic Lakeside circuit in Queensland, 12-13 June. Entry forms will be available soon, so watch this space!

Round Three of the 2010 Independent Race Series is rapidly approaching, with just under three weeks until action gets underway.

iRace will visit the fast Eastern Creek layout for the first time on Friday 9 April. The event is an action packed one-day schedule, with qualifying and three races for all categories except Formula Tasman/LeMans Sports (which will have two longer races). The full schedule and supplementary regulations are available by clicking here, or use the buttons below.

The circuit will be available to unload cars/trailers on the afternoon immediately preceding the event (Thu 8 Apr) at a time to be confirmed, ensuring the action can get underway straight away on Friday morning.

Entries are now open, so head over to either the online entry system, or the printable form, to get your entry in now!

Round Three of the Independent Race Series scheduled for 19-21 June at Morgan Park has been postponed.

With thanks and acknowledgement to those competitors who had shown their support for the round by getting their entries in, the organisers took the step of postponing the event due to insufficient competitor support. The series plans to shift the event to a date sometime in September or October. For all those competitors out there who want a chance to race at the fantastic Morgan Park layout again in 2009, it's up to you to get behind the event, get your entries in when they open, and encourage your friends and fellow competitors to do the same.

Because we know many of you need your regular speed fix, Marulan Driver Training Centre (MDTC) has stepped up to host an iRace Open Day at the facility on 20th June. The day will feature a "better your best time" track day for production-based cars plus passenger rides as well as a public launch of the HDT Cup with displays and a presentation on the new category. Visit the MDTC website: www.mdtc.com.au for more info, and to register your interest for the iRace Open Day.

Entries for Round Four at Sydney's Oran Park are now open. The round is scheduled for 14-15 August, and will be hosted on the GP circuit. To access the Round Four online entry form, click here. To download the form to fax or mail in, click here.

Round Three of the Independent Race Series is just one month away. The event is scheduled for the excellent Morgan Park circuit at Warwick, in SE Queensland.

Entries are now open, and competitors are urged to get their entries in.

To access the ONLINE entry form, click here.

To access the PRINTABLE entry form, click here.

As at all rounds in 2009, the first competitor to submit their entry is eligible for half price entry at the following round. Congratulations to Formula Tasman competitor Michele Guyer for being the first to enter for round two, and therefore being eligible to enter for round three for a 50% discount.