A CHAOTIC START TO VIRTUAL FORMULA VEE! - RTA Round 1 Review

 By Evan Dalton for RTA Virtual Motorsport and Bwoah Motorsport 

Foreword - This review was wrote solely from the perspective of Peter McCann's onboard 

As the stretch in the evenings slowly disappears, and the dark wintery nights loom large, one thing is bound to keep sim racers cosy in the October and November evenings and that is the return of RTA Virtual Motorsport. In a collaborative effort with Formula Vee Ireland, the RTA Formula Vee Ireland Series was born and sim racers across the country flocked to the entry forms in an attempt to impress in the virtual version of Ireland’s budget single seater class. 

The virtual paddock arrived at Silverstone for three races at the famous circuit’s National variation. An iconic track in global single seater racing and RTA. Qualifying started in interesting fashion, with a sudden rush out of the pit lane resulting in contact between front runners left right and centre. With a lot of previous champions struggling to get laps in, it was the early qualifying pace of Shaun McGoldrick that saw him take pole position. An impressive debut qualifying performance from karter Peter Brett saw him line up alongside the Oxford resident. 

The opening race, Heat 1 of three, was carnage from the offset. Front runners were battling like it was “the last lap of the Leinster Trophy,” to quote Sean McClements, from the very first corner. The front four cars were four wide into Brooklands on the opening lap, and later followed that up with three wide into Copse on lap two. The dream unfortunately did not last long for Brett, who spun very early on and bowed out of contention. 

He would not be the only one, by quite a number. 

Broadcaster turned racer Ronan Hederman would be the next victim of Brooklands tomfoolery, with Sean McClements making contact with Peter McCann not long after. One time RTA race winner Darragh Halley was allowed to run away at the front. 

Unfortunately for Halley he would buckle under the pressure a few laps later, and allow two time champion Dylan McClements to be the sole race leader. A position he wouldn’t relinquish. 

In a moment described as, “one of the biggest crashes I’ve seen” by Conor Melia, pole sitter McGoldrick and Buncrana’s Jordan Kelly would crash in the last sector while running second and third. This allowed a steady Ken Doyle to claim a podium from tenth. 

Heat 2, was slightly calmer. Dylan McClements led early on and dragged his brother and teammate Sean, and Melia with him. 

The trio shared their fair share of sketchy moments, but working together managed to bridge a gap to all but a few. Hederman, Halley, Kamto Chukwureh and another debutant, Syvlie Barlett, stayed with the threesome. 

Towards the back, the return to RTA for Grace McCallion was not off to a flying start, as she made significant contact with Pavlo Kyshkan. With no quick car resuscitation available from the marshalls, it was the end of Heat 2 for the Derry woman. 

More bad luck plagued the field. McCann would end up backwards at the same corner as Heat 1, Hederman’s VR decided it no longer wanted to make it to the race conclusion, and Ross Wheatley and Rory O’Shea decided a game of wrestling was apt on the run to Becketts. 

A scintillating last lap fight between both McClements brothers and Melia resulted in a drag race to the line, which saw Sean McClements take the win in a Team DDR one - two. It marks the first ever opening week victory for the older brother. Melia took third, with Doyle in fourth. 

The beginning of Heat 3, the main 20 minute heat of the evening, wouldn’t have looked out of place in a collection of ego-filled Walter Hayes Trophy finals. Pandemonium from the offset. Something straight out of a NASCAR Talladega playbook. You could catch a four wide moment quicker than you could catch a perch in freshwater. Ryan Coon started on pole position for his first reverse top 8 grid start. 

After three laps of racing, the top 11 were separated by nine tenths of a second. Half the grid was in a constant abyss of fear, almost crippled with anxiety at any given moment, while others [Sean McClements and McCann] described it as “ a bitta craic.” 

The first to fall was Coon, who went barrel rolling all the way down to the international section of circuit. The Team DDR teammates made contact several times and somehow survived. At one point, on the Wellington straight, there was four wide for the lead, five wide for fifth, three wide for ninth, and three wide for 14th, simultaneously. 

You would think as the dying embers of the race approached ambition would outweigh adhesion but it didn’t. The front runners were still going four or five wide whenever they could. It was the utmost perfect balance of idiocy and driver skill, and boy was it entertaining. 

As the white flag raised, Sean McClements led into Copse corner, with his brother in hot pursuit. Melia managed to get involved in Maggetts. McCann dove for the outside, and went clean around the outside of three of the, but not McClements. McGoldrick went for the hero's move into Brooklands, and made it work around the outside of four of them. His best ever overtake in RTA. “I still haven’t got it” he exclaimed, as Sean McClements pulled to his outside for the side draft, but McGoldrick held on for the win. 

It was the perfect example of virtual Formula Vee racing, and an unbelievable start to what should be an incredible eight weeks. Post race coverage can be found on Bwoah Motorsport with official standings updates on RTAVirtualMotorsport.com