In Shane's words
WHERE IT BEGAN
2011 TTS Gran Turismo 5 championship where it really all began. I entered a Nissan Silvia '02 RM which is to this day one of my favourite SimTech cars I've ever driven. It was so beautifully set up and balanced I just couldn't stop driving it.
I was on the verge of taking the championship after winning everyone I competed in before it randomly stopped.
STAND OUT MOMENTS
FROM DAY 1
Take a look at our stand out moments from day 1 to now. We achieved a lot more in between but these are the key moments.
FIRST BIG STEP
2011 Me and Adam decided one day while in class to Google for a 24 hour race. We came across Racedepartment Nürburgring 24 hours on rFactor. Me and Adam had very little rFactor experience so common sense was of course we'd do it! Our first rFactor race being a 24 hour event.
We had Conor Keane, Marius Bert and Daniel Faber join us ( Marius and Daniel joining us was the start of 3Wide Motorsport ).
We qualified 6th and in the race were 6th in class! Then the famous driver swap failed nearly at the half way point..
FIRST STEP IN
PROTOTYPES
2012 We entered the SRO American Le Mans Series in LMP2. It was the first step in LMP2 which proved to be a good move as it suited us quite well. The car allowed us to extract the most from us as a team and ourselves which we hadn't done in GT.
We had lead a race, been on the pace but sadly the series closed down along with SRO Endurance series which was back then the biggest endurance series on rFactor.
FIRST PROTOTYPE
CHAMPIONSHIP
2013 We entered the Xtreme RPM endurance championship in the LMP1-L class. We entered with myself Shane, Adam, Luke, Nico. We won every round which lead us to our first endurance championship.
GTR24H
2013 Its the first time we travelled abroad to race. GTR24h is a LAN race in Denmark where some of the best sim-racers compete against each other at Le Mans 24 hours.
Looking back now I'm amazed on what we done, I was still in secondary school and was only 18 years old. To be able to go abroad, organise everything, go to a country where I hadn't a clue what people were saying.. Quite proud of that weekend especially since we finished 2nd! Sadly lost the lead in the last few hours after leading for a majority of the race.
FIRST KART RACE
2014 We entered our first kart race as a team at Teesside 6 hours. Myself, Luke and Alexander raced lead for the first stint of the race and even battled with a Le Mans LMP1 driver without realising.
In the end we finished 6th but it was the beginning of many trips and success in karting.
FIRST
GT CHAMPIONSHIP
2014 Our first GT championship came in 2014 thanks to Mateusz Bogusz in the SRP Porshce supercup. We won the driver and team championship which was mega as the driver level was quite high.
It was our last rFactor achievement before we moved to rFactor 2.
TEESSIDE
24 HOURS
2015 We entered Teesside 24 hour kart race which was our first 24 hour kart race. Luke Walsh, Jordan Weekes, Alexander vd Woude, Simon Green and myself entered with high hopes but the race was a lot tougher than expected.
We had numerous break downs and even had a engine fire! But it was the beginning of SimTech Motorsport in 24 hour karting.
VIRTUAL
ENDURANCE
CHAMPIONSHIP
2015 Virtual Endurance championship was the new big endurance league in rFactor 2 and we missed sign ups.. But we did team up with RGPL to take on LMP2. In that first season we won many races but the stand out was Le Mans 24 hours with Sherwin, Mateusz and myself driving. It was our first Le Mans 24 hours win which was always the main goal for us as a team.
LE MANS
24 HOURS
KART RACE
2016 The dream was to always race at Le Mans and we came close to the main dream by racing on the kart track for the 24 hour race.
We entered two teams with the goal of the #100 kart to go for the win but sadly it had mechanical trouble and finished well down the field but the pace was there.
WHO KNEW WE COULD TURN LEFT
2016 is the year we found out we could turn left pretty good! The last two rounds of the RD Indycar championship was ovals and were won by Tjeerd and myself in the Indy 200. Sherwin also got pole at Indy by a huge margin which showed people we aren't just a good endurance team but we can also do good in other things.
The win at Indy meant a good bit to us as we won at Le Mans and then Indy so all we got to win now is Monaco in a formula one car.
PROTOTYPES SUCCESS CONTINUES
2016 Our success in Sim Racing Club continues with us winning the first race of VLMS against the odds. Maciej and Luke shown that we could beat the big names which put us on the radars of some people.
CANT STOP WINNING
2017 continued on the momentum of winning in both VLMS and VEC. We won the last 3 rounds of VEC which included our second Le Mans 24 hours in a row. Also we wrapped up the D2 Virtual Endurance Championship in LMP2 after a close hard fought season with Feeder.
VLMS we won more races but bad luck hit us hard in the final 3 rounds meaning we finished 2nd in the championship.
We got promoted to Division 1 in the VEC where we won in LMP2. We also got our first VEC GT podium with Henrik and Sherwin.
In the VLMS we got our first VLMS podium by getting 2nd place thanks to Alexander, Sherwin and Tjeerd.
LE MANS 24H TAKE 2
2017 was our second attempt at Le Mans 24 hours but this year we changed up the teams, brought in new people and had 3 karts.
It was a real rollercoaster of a weekend. We had the pace for a top 3 and even lead! We lead at LE MANS! Thats something i'll always be proud of but sadly we didn't lead when it mattered. We were fighting back up the order after an issue and were on course for 3rd place until the engine gave up 3 times in the final hours.. Hearts broken, grown men ( more like big children ) on the verge of crying and myself full of anger..
But that weekend it shown how much of a great family I got around me. Honestly I think we have one of the best teams in the world.
BECOMING
ENDURANCE ERACING WORLD CHAMPIONS
2017 Becoming GTR24h / Endurance eRacing WORLD Champions is honestly one of the highlights of SimTech achievements. To travel abroad to Denmark for a sim-race is one of the most challenging experiences I've done. So much can go wrong and with set ups being so important with unlimited testing it really does bring out the best in you as a team.
We dominated the event by having a winning margin of over 4 laps to our nearest competitor.
The equipment was supplied by Nordic Sim Gear which was unbelievable to use! Just overall the whole experience and winning is something i'll never forget.
BACK TO BACK ENDURANCE WORLD CHAMPIONS
2018 was our second Le Mans 24 hours win in a row at the Danish event known as GTR24h or Endurance World Championship.
We had really no testing done as we hated the new Oreca but in typical SimTech fashion we winged it with great result.
FIRST FULL SEASON OF KARTING
2019 We had Paul enter the new Tillotson T4 Motorsport Ireland Championship with Shane as mechanic. We ran under OHR as they've years experience in the Karting industry.
Through his first year he achieved podiums and shown great potential.
INDY 500 WINNERS
2021 is another good year with three Indy 500 wins from Shane, Sherwin and Stefano. Including our rF2 Indy 250 success we've 7 victories at the famous brick oval of Indianapolis.
5 TIME LE MANS WINNERS
2021 After three unsuccessful attempts on iRacing to get an Le Mans 24 hour victory we done it on the fourth go! Shane, Mateusz and Luke won the Majors Series LM24h in split 3.
DUTCH PRO KART WINNERS
2023 In our first attempt in Pro Karts as a team, Nico and Shane took victory in Round 1 - Venray 5 hours.
BRITCAR 24H, INDY 500 WINS
2022 was a good year with Shane taking his 3rd Indy 500 win in a row and what is currently the last Indy 500 on iRacing for the near future.
Also we took TCR victory in the Britcar Silverstone 24 hours with Luke, Paul, Sherwin and Shane.
Also Shane had a win in the Indy 250 and 2nd at Le Mans 24H along with Luke, Sherwin and Mateusz.