Another season is here for the Sim Auto Racing Association, and here’s what’s new and what you need to know about the 2018 Spring Season.
New Partners
SARA is proud to partner with all of our great sponsors below, and we couldn’t do a lot of what we do here without their support. We are thrilled to have a large amount of returning partners this season, and are excited for a couple new ones to join us as well. Thanks to these partners, we have nearly $400 in prizes and purse money up for grabs this season.
Returning partners include the TUNDRA Super Late Models and LOKOTOCO Designs who are the presenting sponsors of the Super Sim Series. Callaway Investments returns for their 8th season as the title sponsor of the Sportsman Series. Midwest Powersource is back for a second season and will be sponsoring two SLM races this season, including the big Springfest 300 (more info below). Hides Pride, Downeast Chassisworx, and Area52 Designs also return as SLM race sponsors.
New partners this season includes EPYK Media who are bringing you the EPYK Challenge Week later on this season, putting drivers to the test in four different cars on four different nights (more info below) Our Insurance Options, Back 40 Wraps, Doctor Noise, Oldskoolz Motorsports, Midwest Race Updates and Dynamic Autosports will all be joining as SLM race sponsors as well.
We can't thank these partners enough, so help us show support by clicking on the logos below and visiting their pages and social media outlets (if available).
SARA Partners
Click on the logos below for more info on our great sponsors.
Dirt Divisions
With iRacing continuously trying to expand their dirt content, it's made it even more difficult for us to decide which dirt divisions to run here at SARA. With multiple cars to choose from, we've made some changes to our dirt lineup this season.
The Dirt Open Wheel Series will make the switch over to the Dirt Midget which will run as the primary car for the division. It will be joined by a three-race Triple Crown Series for the Non-Wing Sprint cars which will make the jump up to the 410.
The Dirt Late Model Series will switch over to the Dirt UMP Modified Series this season as the UMP Mods take over as the primary car for the division. The Dirt Late Models will also return for their own three-race Triple Crown Series during the season.
Tuesday / Wednesday Swap
Although the Sportsman Series has traditionally been run on Tuesday nights, it will make the swap over to Wednesday nights this season, with our second dirt night switching over to Tuesdays.
Many of our asphalt drivers run in other series on Tuesday nights, including drivers that are running the iRacing Pro Series, so making the switch over to Wednesdays may allow a couple of those drivers to make an extra night of racing here at SARA.
And on the dirt side, while we are continuing to try and grow our current dirt series, another league that runs dirt has been quite successful with their series on Wednesday nights. So by us switching our second dirt night back to Tuesday, we could potentially gain some extra cars as well.
Moving forward, we'll monitor this swap and see how things play out during the Spring Season, but depending on some of our future plans that we're currently working on, this change may swap back in the future.
No Broadcasts
Over the past handful of seasons, we've been lucky enough to bring you broadcasted races every Thursday night in our Super Sim Series, and on some other occasions as well. However this season, we'll be taking a break from that and the Thursday night races will NOT be broadcasted. For now...
We have plans for broadcasts to return to the league hopefully by the Summer Season, and will have more information on this later in the season.
Midwest Powersource Springfest 300
This season, the Super Sim Series will run the longest race in SARA history with a 300-lap feature in the Midwest Powersource Springfest 300. The race will be the 7th race of the Super Sim Series on March 15th, and will be a regular season points-paying event.
With the race schedule for 300 laps, time will be valuable on race night, which means we'll run Qualifying for the event the week prior on Mid-West Race Updates Qualifying Night on March 8th. A special qualifying format will be used for the event, with the top 15 drivers in points leading into the event being locked in, and everyone else will have to Time Trial or race their way into the event.
A full schedule of events, and more information regarding the event will be announced #soon as it gets closer.
EPYK Challenge Week
New for the 2018 Spring Season, drivers will be put to the test, competing in four different cars on four different nights from March 25th to the 29th, earning points towards the EpYK Challenge Week.
Drivers will score points in each feature event during the week, that will go towards their overall combined points total, and the driver with the most points will be the EPYK Champion, and will earn themselves $35 for winning. What do you get for finishing 2nd? Nothing. “Drivers, put your big boy pants on and let’s race” - EPYK
For drivers to be eligible for the EPYK Challenge Week points, they MUST start all four feature races during that week. All drivers that make all four feature races, will also be eligible for a $5 random prize giveaway. If a driver misses a feature (via not showing up or not qualifying), they will be come ineligible for the points and the prizes, making it that much more important to perform each night. Each driver that is eligible, will have one drop race, and will count their three best finishes towards the final standings. A separate points system will be used for the week, but drivers will also still earn regular season points as well.
Dirt Track State
Previously for our dirt divisions, we've started the race sessions at a random tract state percentage between 20-50%. This season however, the starting track state for the race will begin at a lower percentage, between 10-30%. This should allow the track to develop a little better on it's own throughout the race which should produce better racing.