Hey Endurance maniacs. Nice to see that you are all thrilled 😉
As you have already noticed, we have been under a lot of stress in the background for some time now.
Let me give you a few insights:
We really wanted to wait for the release of the two mods (WSC60 and ACL GTC60)!
Big fantastic updates take time. Changes to the cars then influenced the selection of cars we will have on the track in the 5th THR Endurance race. (What's the point if we had a car in the selection that became too fast or too slow due to a last minute change.) So we had to test and adjust to give you a great experience.
We also made a change to the track that has been on our minds for some time. You can find more information on the detailed event website, which we are hereby releasing.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: We take into account that the described delays affect the registration. We want to give you time to study the classes, test the cars, decide and form your teams.
Therefore we will open the registration for the 5th THR Endurance race on Friday 2025-01-10.
This will also give you enough time to gather the necessary information. We have 50 slots available and if you want to be prepared, you can check the list below to see what information you need to have ready when you register.
Another year is behind us - and what a year it’s been! In 2024, we successfully completed five championships:
WSC P2
Grand Prix History
Renault R5
Lotus 25
TTM – Tourenwagen Meisterschaft
Special Events Highlights We also hosted some thrilling special events, including the spectacular 6 Heures du Mans - THR’s 4th Endurance Race - where 114 drivers from six communities battled it out for top honors. We were fortunate to have PirateLaserBeam and King-Kodiak providing English commentary, and Dennis, Guido, Florian, and Sebastian delivering a superb German broadcast. Another standout occasion was our 6th Anniversary Celebration Race, where we tackled a full-length GP at Mexico in classic GPL cars.
Community Growth and Milestones
Our Discord community surpassed 2,500 members.
Our YouTube channel now boasts 715 subscribers.
More than 550 people signed up on our website.
Our Facebook news is followed by 538 users.
Real-Life Meetups and Expo Visits One of the most memorable moments of 2024 was our very first THR Orga real-life meetup in September. After spending so much time together online, it was fantastic to finally meet in person! Special thanks to Remco from Heusinkveld and Modder Legend Bazza for joining us that weekend - if you’d like to see what we got up to, take a look here.
In October, we had the pleasure of meeting the teams from 3DRAP, the CEO of PIMAX, and the friendly folks at Newcomer Endgametec at the Simracing Expo in Dortmund. We’re excited about the prizes they’ve generously contributed, which we’ll be raffling off in the coming year.
A Great Year for THR Throughout 2024, our championship framework ran seamlessly, and we enjoyed countless fantastic races without technical hiccups. It’s been a joy to organize and watch everyone on track, even if I didn’t personally feel like racing much this year!
Right now, we’re hosting two Time Attacks (the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/2 at the Nordschleife and the Toyota 86 Tuned at Tsukuba) to keep things exciting during the Christmas break. Our next Endurance Race is set for January 26.
Looking Ahead I’m confident we’ll share even more fun in 2025. As the year winds down, I’d like to extend my deepest thanks to all of you. Our community keeps on growing, and it’s heartwarming to see our starting grids consistently full. It’s just as remarkable to watch members support one another with technical help and advice in Discord.
We’ve reached a point where many of us longtime THR drivers all know each other’s racing style, strengths, and weaknesses - just like a real-life racing league. Thank you for being an essential part of THR.
The 6th Anniversary Race at the iconic 1967 Mexican Grand Prix circuit delivered an unforgettable spectacle. The race brought together a grid of skilled drivers in a celebration of THRs history and precision racing. From the green flag to the checkered, fans were treated to intense wheel-to-wheel action, strategic brilliance, and moments of sheer brilliance.
A Dominant Victory for Jaroslav Cerny
Jaroslav Cerny of Team Lotus proved unstoppable, clinching victory in commanding fashion. Leading all 65 laps, Cerny showcased a masterclass of consistency and pace, clocking a best lap time of 01:44.255 and achieving a stellar 99.08% consistency rate. His flawless performance left competitors in the dust and earned him the title of race winner, crossing the line with a total time of 01:54:06.626.
The Chase for Glory
Behind Cerny, the battle for the podium was fiercely contested. Florian Masse kept the pressure on throughout, finishing a mere 5.877 seconds behind the leader. Despite matching Cerny’s best lap time of 01:44.255, Masse was unable to close the gap but secured a well-deserved second place with an impressive consistency of 99.02%.
Simone Porcu rounded out the podium in third, delivering a standout performance that included the fastest lap of the race at 01:44.065. Porcu’s determination and skill earned him a 45.751-second gap to the leader and accolades for his pace on the track.
Midfield Magic and Battles
Further down the order, FMG of Vixen Racing Cars Ltd and meisterJaeger showcased their prowess, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. The midfield battle saw intense rivalries, with Nat Stevenson and Stefano Bucci pushing their vehicles to the limit to secure strong finishes in sixth and seventh. Each driver demonstrated remarkable car control and racecraft, highlighting the depth of talent on the grid.
Moments of Triumph and Heartbreak
Notable performances included gilvil77’s eighth-place finish and pitman’s valiant effort despite falling one lap short of the leaders. Kari Uotila and Mika Hakala rounded out the top eleven, each displaying grit and determination to navigate the challenging circuit.
The event wasn’t without its challenges, with drivers like Richard Rossier and Ian McIlroy grappling with mechanical difficulties and race-ending incidents. Despite these setbacks, the camaraderie and spirit of competition shone through, exemplifying the essence of sim racing.
A Celebration of Racing
The 6th Anniversary Race at Mexico was more than just a competition; it was a tribute to the enduring passion for motorsport. From the vintage charm of the 1967 layout to the cutting-edge precision of the GPL Mod, the event reminded everyone of the timeless appeal of racing. Congratulations to Jaroslav Cerny and all the participants for delivering a race to remember.
3DRAP is so kind to offer THR a pair of their Racing Gloves, which we will raffle short after race end. (Eligible to participate in the raffle are all drivers who finish the 6th Anniversary Race and have already raced in at least 3 Main Events of THR.)
On Saturday the 15th of December 2018 we had our first THR race. This means that THR will be 6 years old in a few days and we have experienced a lot in these four years:
First Race
Our first race was held with the GPL Mod at Silverstone and we had 4 Racers on track. Our race format in the first weeks was to run as many 20-minute races in a row as we were able to. Our first regular driver was Ben Barson. Thanks a lot for showing that the community idea was not that bad.
Our AC server
The first races were hosted on Duderei's home server. But we quickly moved to a professional hoster. The first entry in our STracker Database is from 2018-12-25. After that we changed the hoster 2 times until we moved to a rented LinuxMachine (thanks franglais) which runs the ServerManager and 5 AC-Servers.
Cause of lag spikes we decided to switch to another hoster and rented a more powerful server, which is our home since 3 years now.
Races in THR
Over the 6 years, 1,540 different drivers have raced on our servers. We have driven tens of thousands of laps and countless kilometers.
We had around 264 official events, more than 120 weekday races and many fun races. We hosted 18 Special Events and we have completed 29 championships and the next upcoming are already planned. Our former champions can be seen on the Wall of Champions.
Discord
The Discord Server has been set up on 2018-12-07. Our first member besides Dude and me joined on 2018-12-14. Currently we have 2,458 Members. Some of them are very quiet or bots, but no matter what time of day, there are always more than 400 members online. What I find crazy is that I have written nearly 32,000 messages in our THR Discord. The number of PMs are also high, but I can´t count them. On Top our THR Orga members have written more than 51.000 messages.
Website
The Website followed a little later. The first entry is from 2019-01-17. It contains 236 pages and 377 news and I wrote more than 183,000 Words. Funfact: You will need over 12 hours to read them all.
To represent our races we have made around 300 posters. Our Website has more than 270,000 visits and more than 997,000 views.
Nearly 1 year after our foundation we started our Youtube-Channel on 2019-02-17. At first we started with a short PromoVideo which was made by Bo Stamper. Another year later we started to stream our races and with the help of Klopstick and Ted we produced another brilliant PromoVideo which has been watched 1.509 times since then. To celebrate the start of our fifth GPL championship, Greg produced another stunning video which has been watched 709 times until today.
Evgeny deserves a lot more subscriptions. If you haven´t done it already hop over and subscribe his channel. And if you like, you can do the same with our THR channel.
The channel contains more than 323 videos/streams and has 712 followers. It was visited 59,500 times and more than 6.100 hours of our videos were viewed. The most successful Live-Stream was the one from our 6hour 4th Endurance race at Le Mans, which is still a blast to watch and had 3.901 viewers until now.
Social Media
Besides of the above we have a Facebook site, which get not much attention from our side, but has 538 followers, cause of the website news which get posted on Facebook automatically. Also an unused Twitch Channel, an equally unused Instagram Account and some other cool things which I might have forgotten.
Shop
We opened our own THR Shop on 12/21/2022. The idea behind the store was to send prizes to our championship winners / participants.
Since the opening we have donated 37 prices to our members and on top of that sold around 29 products. It doesn't sound like much 😉 but those who have ordered are very satisfied with the quality of the products.
I want to send out a very special thank you to the members of the Orga - Group. margar, Flashor, Flow, franglais and Valentin. I appreciate our meetings and the decisions we make! In September, we had our first real-life meeting, which was a great success and an amazing experience. Our teamwork is the reason why THR is running so well!
I would also like to thank the members of THR Race Control. Last year we have changed the process format, which reduced your workload significantely. It's great that you guys took and still take the job so seriously!
Also many thanks to everyone who supported THR with your help!
The most important part of THR > YOU
But the most important thing is the community that has grown up around THR.
Thank you all for being members of THR and for making THR what it is!
It is also nice to see, that you help each other in Discordand that you respect each other. I appreciate that very much!
I would also like to thank those who have made a donation via Paypal or started to be a Patreon of THR! That's phenomenal!
Your [THR] pitman
Full Length GP at Mexico
Following a tradition we will celebrate THRs 6th anniversary with a full length GP over 65 laps at Mexico which got a phenomenal update made by our driver Phil Noobson.
3DRAP is so kind to offer THR a pair of their Racing Gloves, which we will raffle short after race end. (Eligible to participate in the raffle are all drivers who finish the 6th Anniversary Race and have already raced in at least 3 Main Events of THR.)
THRs 5th Endurance Race
And in January we will have our 5th Endurance race (6hrs at Le Mans). Further details will be published in the upcoming days.
This time we have the GPL Mod cars on track. But fortunately the Belgian Authorities have banned the Mighty Three (Eagle, Ferrari and Lotus). That gives us the opportunity to let the slower (almost forgotten) cars shine on track.
FANATEC has faced challenging months recently, but CORSAIR has now taken over the company. Initially, it was unclear what direction things would take.
A few weeks ago, Boosted Media conducted an in-depth interview with Andy Paul, the CEO of CORSAIR. The interview shed light on CORSAIR's plans for FANATEC and what SimRacers can look forward to. After a period of uncertainty, this insight has brought a sense of confidence – CORSAIR seems committed to doing well. Yesterday, we had an online meeting with FANATEC where the upcoming Black Friday deals were revealed.
I’d like to share these deals with you here. If you decide to make a purchase, please consider using our links on this page, as THR benefits from the affiliate commissions.
Will from Boosted Media has conducted a long and interesting interview with Corsair CEO Andy Paul. The interview was about the acquisition of FANATEC. About what Corsair plans to do with FANATEC and what the future should look like. I found the interview very interesting and it gave me back some of the trust I had lost in FANATEC. I think Corsair means well and will do well. I've been holding back on promoting our FANATEC affiliate link for the last few months, but after what I've just heard, I'd like to mention it here: https://thracing.de/fanatec.html As written, the interview is really interesting, but if you don´t like to hear the whole interview, here is a summary:
Overview of the Interview
The video features an in-depth interview with Andy Paul, the CEO of Corsair, discussing the recent acquisition of FANATEC and the challenges the brand faced over the last year. Paul elaborates on the brand's history, the reasons for the acquisition, and how Corsair aims to revitalize FANATEC’s image, customer service, and product lineup to restore customer trust. ---
Context and Background
FANATEC’s Recent Issues: Early in 2024, FANATEC struggled with supply chain disruptions and delays, leaving many customers frustrated due to unanswered support requests. The brand faced significant financial difficulties, leading to leadership changes and ultimately Corsair's acquisition.
Corsair’s Acquisition Strategy: Corsair purchased FANATEC primarily to scale up in the sim-racing market. FANATEC’s existing reputation and customer base align well with Corsair’s experience in gaming and high-end PC components.
Interview Highlights
Current State and Immediate Goals:
Corsair aims to stabilize FANATEC's operations, starting with inventory management, customer service systems, and factory payments.
Initial steps include integrating FANATEC’s customer service into Corsair’s global systems, aiming to reduce response times from weeks to within a day by Black Friday.
CEO's Perspective on FANATEC's Challenges:
Paul noted that FANATEC’s previous CEO, Thomas Jackermeier, was more of an enthusiast than an experienced business leader. This lack of experience in managing rapid growth led to missed financial cues and increased debt.
Product and Design Strategy:
Paul emphasized that Corsair will focus on enhancing FANATEC’s product lineup rather than consolidating it. This includes creating a clear range of products to fit various price points and markets while still prioritizing high-end gear.
Corsair plans to help FANATEC leverage larger factories, which could lead to reduced production costs and potentially lower prices.
Distribution and Marketing Plans:
FANATEC will keep its brand identity but benefit from Corsair's larger global network, entering retail channels like Amazon and Best Buy.
Corsair also plans to introduce complete sim-rig setups to reach a broader audience and explore partnerships with sim-racing arcades, hotels, and experience centers.
Focus on Community and Customer Service:
Andy emphasized Corsair’s commitment to improving communication with customers and providing fast, reliable support.
They have structured customer service into different levels to better handle inquiries, with high-priority issues receiving attention without being held up by simpler inquiries.
Long-Term Vision for Sim Racing:
Looking ahead, Corsair intends to make sim-racing rigs as immersive and realistic as possible. Paul envisions future technology developments creating an experience that feels indistinguishable from actual racing, despite challenges like sustained G-force simulation.
Corporate Culture and Employee Engagement:
Paul underlined the importance of motivation and support for FANATEC employees to improve morale after a challenging year.
With a structured leadership approach, Corsair will handle FANATEC as a subsidiary, allowing the brand to maintain autonomy in product design while benefiting from Corsair’s resources.
Conclusion and CEO’s Message to Fans
Andy Paul expressed optimism for FANATEC’s future, noting Corsair's commitment to elevating FANATEC back to a trusted, market-leading position. He reassured fans of Corsair’s dedication to preserving FANATEC’s brand legacy, enhancing customer experiences, and exploring new frontiers in the sim-racing industry.