The Checkered Flag will make its steps into the world of eSports and Sim Racing in a new partnership with The Online Racing Association (TORA). TCF will become the series sponsors for TORA’s upcoming ‘TASCAR’ championship.
The Online Racing Association have been one of the leading names in simulation racing and virtual motorsport since their beginnings. TORA have long been associated and have found great success with the Forza Motorsport title for the Xbox platform and have run numerous championships over their ten-year history.
With a member list comprising over six-thousand sim racers from all corners of the globe, TORA’s success has skyrocketed in recent years. This has led to partnerships with real-world racing series such the British GT Championship and Porsche Carerra Cup GB as well as many more. Such has been the success of the site, TORA became the first online racing body to be recognised by a real-world motorsport authority, the MSA.
The Checkered Flag is the latest group to get involved with eSports and Sim Racing through TORA. The two sites will partner for the upcoming ‘TORA TCF TASCAR’ championship that gets under-way in February.
“I’m delighted to be involved with eSports and Sim Racing through The Online Racing Association,” said Vince Pettit, Editor-in-Chief at The Checkered Flag.
“eSports and Sim Racing has been becoming more and more popular over the last few years with events such as World’s Fastest Gamer and I’m happy that TCF is now joining the fray as TASCAR’s series sponsor.
“I’ve been aware of TORA for quite a few years so it is great for TCF to be part of a well established community. Hopefully this is the start of something special with TCF and TORA.”
TORA TASCAR coordinator Jordan Groves is similarly excited for the upcoming TCF TASCAR Series:
“I’m over the moon to have The Checkered Flag on board as the series sponsor for TORA TASCAR,” said Groves, “The series has been utterly fantastic the last few years. We’ve had some of TORA’s closest ever championship finishes in the TASCAR series, including last year’s tie between myself and Nick Totten. The racing is always excellent and I expect more of the same this time around.”
TORA’s slogan is “As real as it gets.” This is very much the case for the TORA TCF TASCAR series. For 2018, the competing drivers will have to tackle the brutish power of the V8 American monsters with next to no driver assists such as traction control and anti-lock brakes.
TORA TCF TASCAR Season 7 will also utilize recent improvements to the Forza Motorsport 7 title to run realistic race lengths. Oval race distances will match those of the real-world NASCAR XFINITY Series, with the road course races running for between an hour and an hour and a half in duration.
The nine-round series will get underway at the traditional location of Daytona International Speedway. The season-opener will also comprise of the unique “Duel at Daytona” qualifying format that has proven popular amongst the drivers for the last few years. From there, drivers will head to Elkhart Lake for the first road course race of the year at Road America.
The third round of the series will see the drivers take to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the DeweyTee Memorial race before journeying to ‘wine country’ for the fourth round at Sonoma Raceway. The series will return to Daytona for the fifth round of the season which will take place under the floodlights. This race will also be the designated ‘throwback race’, where drivers will race vintage liveries for one night only.
One international race will feature on the TORA TCF TASCAR calendar for season 7. The drivers will journey across the Pacific Ocean to compete at the legendary Suzuka circuit for the ‘TASCAR Thunder Special’ on the East layout; the site of a NASCAR exhibition event held during the 1990’s. Another legendary location awaits them when they return Stateside for the seventh round of the season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The penultimate race of the year will take place at the fantastic Watkins Glen International, which will be the final road course race of the year. Finally, the drivers will head back to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the final race of the season; The Checkered Flag 300.
TORA TCF TASCAR Season 7 will begin on Saturday February 10 with the season-opening Daytona 300. If you want to get involved, be sure to sign up at theonlineracingassociation.com. If stock car racing is not your cup of tea, be sure to check out TORA anyway. The racing year is just beginning, with many other disciplines such as Endurance, Touring Cars, Single Seaters and club racing set to take place during 2018.