Last night I did a race on iRacing.

It was IMSA Multi-class LMDH, LMP2 and GT3 cars. It was at Long Beach.

You are not supposed to finish this race without damage.

I finished this race without damage.

Tonight, I did it again.

After these two races, my safety rating jumped so high after a combined 1.5 hours of safe, quick driving that I was fast-tracked into an A-Class road racing license, which allows me to compete in high-level iRacing series.

GRIP. AND. RIP.

I don't know how to explain to the uninitiated just how imperceptibly difficult this is. Driving fast & safe on an active race track with cars that have more power and grip than your car is incredibly dangerous even on a wide track like Silverstone or Daytona Road Course. Long Beach is a temporary track built on real city streets in Long Beach, California. It's fenced in by concrete barriers on both sides of the track. There is no grass, gravel or asphalt run-off on the edges of the circuit here; if you brake too late, turn the car too early, or get on the gas too early, you are going to hit a wall and end your race.

In two nights, I was able to drive this race on multiplayer with drivers of a wide skill gap, and managed to keep my car off the wall and other cars the entire time. There are professional racing drivers in real life who are incapable of saying they've run a sprint sportscar race without a wreck. I accomplished this feat twice in two nights.

Your safety rating on iRacing basically tells other drivers how safe you are as a driver, and also determines your access to iRacing's official series. If you improve your safety rating enough through a 13 week season, you will be promoted with a higher license. Getting higher licenses mean you can race in series that are taken more seriously the higher you go.

Recently, I've been participating in a series called the ABN Super Sprint Championship. It involves some of my favorite sportscars on iRacing, the GTE class cars. These are essentially track-ready supercars with no ABS, but they have traction control. I'm driving the Ford GTE, which also has one of the most unique engine notes on iRacing. It sounds like a barrel of bees when it whips by the replay cameras.

For the past couple weeks, I have been lamenting the seeming lack of official iRacing series that utilize the GTE class cars. As it turns out, they were always there - they were just A-Class exclusive.

Since I have my A Class now, I can drive my broken gently used Ford in an official series. By the graces of the gods, I can finally race my favorite car against other people without having to participate in a special league!