The Independent Race Series staged a very successful Drive Day at "The Farm" on Sunday, the circuit instantly a favourite with the drivers.

Inclement weather in the lead up to the event held off, and the entrants were blessed with dry running pretty much throughout. What little water was on the circuit in the morning quickly dried off after the initial familiarisation laps around the circuit behind a pace car.

Drivers were let loose on the circuit mid-morning, and then spent the rest of the day learning the nuances and subtleties of the 5.1km, 25-turn circuit, purpose built to be the ultimate challenge.

An excellent roll up of officials made the day possible, and as always, everyone is extremely grateful for the time they give up to allow our events to run safely and smoothly.

Entrants all made the effort to make their cars quieter, to adhere to the 90db limit, and only two cars were required to stop running as they were unable to reduce their noise enough. All the participants really embraced the spirit of the event (and the spirit of iRace in general), and treated the venue with respect, and looked after it like it was their own - everyone made sure they didn't leave rubbish laying around, and left the grounds in as good condition as possible.

Driver behaviour was under the microscope, with 'racing' strictly forbidden. Driver behaviour was excellent, with just the one group of three drivers black flagged and cautioned for getting too serious.

The circuit itself was a magnificent challenge, with just about every type of corner imaginable on offer, making putting together a consistent lap a true feat. The entire venue passed 'evaluation' with flying colours, with only one small mishap in the final session of the day.

Photos from the event are available here.

Finally, a huge thank you to the venue owners for allowing us to use this great facility. We hope to see you again in the not too distant future.

Round 6 entries are now officially open, and we can now reveal that the event will feature two endurance races.

Round 6 will be held on the popular Oran Park South Circuit 13-15 November, and will feature all the favourite iRace categories. In additional to the normal program of races, the meeting will also feature a 1 hour endurance race for MX5 Challenge cars on Saturday afternoon, and another 1 hour endurance race for iRace Sedan cars from Touring Car Challenge, Muscle Division (including HDT Cup) and Production Racing Cars on Sunday afternoon.

Both endurance races will include a compulsory timed pitstop for all cars. A second driver is allowed, but driver changes are not compulsory, the stationary time will be the same whether a driver change takes place or not.

Competitors are encouraged to get their entries in early. All races will be subject to maximum grid density, and we're expecting the enduros in particular to fill up quite quickly.

Entry fee for the normal events at the meeting is $395. Competitors who are entered for the normal meeting can enter one of the enduros for only $100 more. Competing only in one of the enduros is also permitted, the entry fee is $395.

Access the online entry form by clicking here.

Access the printable PDF by clicking here.

We've had a section of the iRace website that has laid dormant since the site was launched last year - the "Features" section. Other things have always seemed to take priority over getting a feature article online.

Not anymore though. We've now published our first feature article, and hopefully these become a more regular occurrence.

The first article is on how to be interviewed, and is mostly aimed at competitors. To check out the Features page, click here, or use the link in the navigation bar on the left.

Due to unprecedented interest, entries are now closed for our special event Drive Day at "The Farm".

Thank you to everyone for their interest, and to those competitors whose entries have been accepted, you will receive further information regarding the event (and instructions on how to get to the secret location) shortly.

Independent Race Series competitors have been invited to preview a fantastic Road Course one hour north of Sydney on Sunday October 4th 2009.

An exclusive "Drive Day" has been secured for Independent Race Series competitors at this 5.1 km, 23 corner road course situated in a beautiful parkland setting. The amazing layout (pictured right) has been described as "Australia's Nurburgring", and by Garry Willmington as the best piece of track he has ever driven. The venue has previously only been available to friends of the owners, but has been secured by iRace for this very special event.

Secure your place early as numbers are limited.

Entry is $295, and includes a BBQ lunch for the entrant. BBQ lunches will be available for $10 for everyone else attending.

Access the online entry form here. Please ensure you select the correct payment option if paying via PayPal.

Access the hardcopy entry form here.

Entries are now open, and close 25 September. Don't miss out!

UPDATE: Entries have now officially closed.

As always, competitors and officials at Round 4 of the Independent Race Series were in the running to win some great prizes from Kumho Tyres.

The winner in the Production Racing Cars class, with the prize for this round going to the winner of Class X, was Franck Donniaux. Franck wins a pair of Kumho race tyres.

And the volunteer official drawn out of a hat was Wayne Johnson from Goulburn. Wayne worked at the event as a flag marshall, and wins a set of Kumho road tyres.

Kumho helps the Independent Race Series recognise our hard working officials, with one randomly chosen at each round to receive a set of Kumho road tyres. To find out more about being an official for the Independent Race Series, click here.

To find out more about Kumho Tyres, and F Sport, click here.

Television coverage from Round 4 of the Independent Race Series will be screened on SBS Speedweek this Sunday, 23 August. Coverage will start at 1pm (remember to check your local TV guides), and iRace is expected to lead the show.

The coverage will then be repeated on Wednesday on Fox Sports Inside Speed - check your TV guide for exact timings of the program.

The TV coverage will feature highlights of the action from Oran Park, of iRace's biggest meeting so far. Don't miss it!

The Independent Race Series hosted its most successful round ever at Sydney's Oran Park on the Grand Prix layout on the weekend.

Record fields in a number of categories boded well for the event before it even started, and the spirit of the competitors, and quality of the racing all added up to make it a great weekend of racing.

Action got underway on Friday (14 August) morning, with unofficial practice. Qualifying kicked off after lunch, and the first of the races were held late Friday afternoon. The weather was perfect throughout, and Saturday morning brought more sunshine, and plenty of racing.

Muscle Division saw the inclusion of HDT Cup at this round, and some great racing. The outright honours were dominated by Stuart Inwood in his impressive Nissan R33 GTR Skyline. Inwood was victorious in three out of the four races, only missing out on the handicapped Race Three when his handicap proved too huge to overcome. Brett Morse (Mazda RX7) was also impressive, taking second outright for the category. Third outright was Greg Boyle (Nissan). In the sub categories, Rod Gurney was top Muscle Car, Merrick Malouf was the winning Ute, Todd Betland took out Saloon Car honours, Steve Berry was the best of the Improved Production cars and Stuart Inwood also took out the Japanese Turbo category.

In HDT Cup, there was plenty of action, and Adam Lloyd emerged the outright victor for the weekend. He won from Adam Tipping and Keiran Macklyn. In the sub categories, Troy Harrison won Class B Classic and Keiran Macklyn won Class A Classic. The HDT Cup proved to be a massive success, with the combination of affordable machinery, a recognisable brand, and close, fair racing proving very popular!

In the Production Racing Cars, there was an upset at the front of the field. Anthony Soole has had the upper hand all year, with Franck Donniaux plagued with reliability issues at earlier events. Not so this time out though - despite some VERY close racing, Donniaux (Subaru WRX) took a clean sweep of wins to end up victorious in Class X. Soole (Lotus Exige) secured second in Class X, with Daniel Flanagan (Commodore Ute) taking third in his first run in the car.

In Class A, Clark Stott (Mazda 3 MPS) proved too good, to take the class honours over Geoff Kite and Hans Riehs.

Class B was very nearly a family affair, with Carly Black (Peugeot 206) fighting it out with father Barry Black (Peugeot 306), Neil Byers spoiled the party though, pushing his Mitsubishi 380 to take class honours ahead of Carly followed by Barry.

Class C was another family affair, husband and wife duo John and Kylie Willmington taking on the class in a pair of Nissan Pulsars. John dominated the category (outdoing a number of higher classed cars), ahead of Chris Reeves (Proton Satria) and Josh Riehs (Proton Satria). Kylie did very well on her debut though, finishing fourth in class, and just one point behind third!

Formula Tasman & LeMans Sports saw a promising field, with some truly exotic machines fighting it out. Chris Farrell brought along his beautiful 2001 Swift Formula Atlantic, and was never headed all weekend, the car looking planted on the track, and Chris driving very nicely. Farrell took out the Formula Tasman win, and outright victory. Ed Singleton pushed hard in his immaculate Singletini Radical, taking the LeMans Sports honours. The placings in each category were: Formula Tasman - second Craig Dawson (F391 Dallara), third Chris Lynch (F397 Dallara); and LeMans Sports - second Andrew Macpherson in the formidable Mosler MTR, third Neil Kenny (Mallock MK31).

The Touring Car Challenge saw a diverse field do battle, with some excellent racing, and plenty of spectacle. Andy Cantrell in the ex-Glenn Seton Falcon V8 Supercar was untouchable throughout the event, taking pole and victory in two of the races, to take the outright victory. Close behind though was Dameon Jameson in his awesome Jaguar, who took two race wins, and second outright. Third outright went to Joe McGinnes in his crowd pleasing XT GT Falcon. Class honours went to Cantrell for V8 Supercar, Phil Groeneveld for V8 Giant and Dameon Jameson for Muscle Car.

A welcome addition on the card at Oran Park was the MX5 Challenge. The large field of these nimble machines joined the RocketSports ranks, and enjoyed two standalone races. In the RocketSports outright, the MX5's proved unbeatable, with David Raddatz taking the victory. He was closely followed by Matilda Mravicic, and Nick Martinenko. The Holden Roadsters mixed it up with the MX5's, putting on a great show. Graham Smith ended up on top in the Roadsters, with Rod Moynahan second and Terry Mayfield third.

In the MX5 Challenge, honours in the Turbo category went to David Raddatz, in the NA Slick category, Shane Otten took the win, and in the NA Road category Corey Stevens took the honours.

Overall, the whole meeting was a huge success, and thanks must go out to everyone who helped make it happen - the outstanding competitors, new and old, the volunteer officials and marshalls, Oran Park management and of course the hardworking iRace team.

The next confirmed event for the Independent Race Series will be held at Oran Park (South Circuit) 13-15 November. The team are working hard on securing an event in October - details will be announced as soon as they are available. We're working hard to keep bringing you our trademark brand of mate-against-mate, affordable racing.

So, watch this space!

Press play to start the slideshow. Click the fullscreen icon (lower right corner) to view in fullscreen, then click show info to see the details on each driver.