The Production Racing Cars category has displayed excellent growth and fantastic racing in 2009. The class system within the category allowed competitors to race in a quality field, and also receive recognition and results for their performance relative to equivalent cars. It compared apples with apples. In fact, it meant that John Willmington in a Class C car was able to take out the overall Series Champion title (and a shiny Super Hoist Plus 2-post hoist with it!).

Heading into 2010, we see the announcement of a new class within the Production Racing Cars category. The new class will be known as V8 Class, and will offer competition for a variety of naturally aspirated, V8-powered production cars. (Forced-induction production V8s will be eligible to compete in Class X.)

The first round of the 2010 Independent Race Series, featuring Production Racing Cars, will be held at Sydney's Oran Park, 15-16 January.

To access the 2010 Production Racing Cars Sporting and Technical regulations, please click here.

The Independent Race Series team would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Have a great time, and if you're on the roads, please be careful and look out for each other.

See you all in 2010!

The 2009 Independent Race Series Presentation Night was held on Saturday 12 December. The event was well attended, and spirits were high as the Kangaroo Kid put on an impressive display on his various quad bikes - his successful jump over three cars a fitting finale, and mirroring the leaps and bounds the Independent Race Series has achieved over the past 18 months. From the many acceptance speeches throughout the night, the overwhelming sentiment was that 2009 proved how much fun racing can be, and that 2010 should be even better.

For a rundown of the championships presented on the night, check out our results page by clicking here.

Notable other awards presented on the night were:

• Best Presented - Rod Gurney
• Encouragement Award - James Flanagan
• Encouragement Award - Keiran Macklyn
• Rookie of the Year - Carly Black
• Sportsman of the Year - Hans Riehs

The big prizes, presented by Super Hoist Plus, went to overall Series Champion and Runner Up. The points for this were allocated based on position in Class in each race during the year, as well as the number of cars in class defeated in each race. The points rewarded consistency, superiority within class, and encouraging extra competitors to join your class.

The top prize went to John Willmington. John receives a YSJ-3000 two-post hoist from Super Hoist Plus.

Runner up went to Neil Byers. Neil receives a Resto Roller car rotisserie from Super Hoist Plus.

Super Hoist Plus also awarded a set of vehicle stands to each of the Encouragement Award recipients.

For those who were unable to attend the presentation night, below is a condensed video of the presentation proceedings:



Also, check out the pre-dinner entertainment - the awesome Kangaroo Kid, jumping his quad bike over three cars!



Round 1 of the 2010 Independent Race Series will be held at Sydney's Oran Park in just on a month's time. Mark 15-16 January down in your calendar, get your entries in, and start getting your cars ready to give Oran Park a fitting send off!

2009 is not quite finished yet, but the iRace season is over, and preparations for the 2010 season are already underway. A quick look at some numbers from the 2009 season as we look ahead to next year:

• 4
  awesome circuits visited in 2009


• 26
  tyres presented by Kumho


• 85
  races held in the 2009 season


• 152
  cars raced during 2009


• 1,444
  photos uploaded to the iRace galleries


• 1,679
  laps hosted by iRace in 2009


• 4,020
  points scored in the Super Hoist Plus trophy


• 18,075
  laps completed by our competitors in 2009


• 339,197
  pages viewed on iRace.net.au during 2009


• 3,011,662
  total hits on iRace.net.au in 2009

Already 2010 is looking even stronger! Don't miss it!

The Independent Race Series (www.irace.net.au) has announced an exciting partnership with Western Australia-based Launch Helmet Cams (www.launchhelmetcams.com.au). Launch Helmet Cams is now the official onboard camera and helmet camera partner for the Independent Race Series.

The partnership will see an onboard camera supplied at each round of the 2010 Independent Race Series for use in a specially selected competitor's racecar. The footage will be showcased on the Independent Race Series website, the Launch Helmet Cams website and The Hot Seat TV (www.thehotseat.tv).

Launch Helmet Cams is a Perth-based company dedicated to providing cameras for use in a variety of action and adventure sports. Launch Helmet Cams are the official Australian distributors for the VIO POV range of cameras (as used by AVE for the great iRace onboard footage in 2009), and a full range of all the best helmet and onboard cameras, including: GoPro, Drift Innovations, VHoldR, Elmo and Oregon Scientific. If you want to capture video from any kind of action sport, Launch Helmet Cams are THE people to talk to.

The Independent Race Series was formed in 2008, and is famous for it's mate-against-mate brand of racing. In 2010 the series features a seven round calendar, at some of Australia's best circuits, and showcasing racing by a huge variety of cars and categories, from flat-out open-wheelers to showroom-style production cars.

As part of the partnership between Launch Helmet Cams and the Independent Race Series, a selection of the best cameras for motorsport will be used, and product reviews made available on the Independent Race Series website. Of course, the onboard footage will also be available to help racers choose the best camera for their application.

Competitors from the Independent Race Series who choose to purchase a camera from the official onboard camera and helmet camera partner, Launch Helmet Cams, will also receive a free 16GB memory card to go with their camera, and store plenty of awesome footage.

Round One of the Independent Race Series will be held at Oran Park GP, 15-16 Jan 2010, and the footage from the first Launch Helmet Cams onboard camera will be available shortly after.

The Launch Helmet Cams online store is open now - an onboard camera would be the perfect Christmas gift for the racer in your family (or for yourself!). If you're an iRacer, don't forget to mention this to receive your bonus 16GB memory card.

Joe McGinnes, Touring Car Challenge competitor, and member of the iRace family has invented a fantastic new product. It's a new type of trailer coupling, and it looks set to be a huge success.

Joe had the opportunity to showcase the product during the iRace TV coverage on Speedweek last weekend, and it proved to be a massive hit. The McHitch.com.au website received a load of hits, and Joe received a huge amount of interest via email.

Head over to www.mchitch.com.au to find out all about Joe's fantastic invention. Check out the Speedweek coverage here.



And get involved in the Independent Race Series in 2010 to have the opportunity to give your sponsors this kind of exposure!

Round 1 for 2010 will be held at Oran Park 15-16 Jan. Don't miss out!

The TV coverage from SBS Speedweek that screened last weekend is available to watch again on Speedweek's awesome website. Click here to view the episode.

There's also a great interview with Darren Gillis from HDT, he talks about the awesome new Blue Meanie, and his support of the Independent Race Series. Click here to view Darren's interview.

Speedweek coverage will be back for the 2010 iRace season. Round 1 kicks off at Oran Park GP 15-16 Jan.

The 2010 model iRace website has plenty of useful features. Hopefully you're getting to know them already. But to help out, we're posting regular tips on getting the most out of the site.

To get the most out of the site, head over to the "Website Features" page (click here) and read some of the 'Did You Know?' articles. We'll be adding to these regularly.

For example, did you know you can connect with iRace on Facebook by joining our group? And that you can follow iRace updates on Twitter? You can do both of these things from every page on the site - the links are at the very top of the page.

If you have any queries about the site, feedback, or something you would like explained, please get in touch here.

Kumho Tyres, and John Mills' F Sport have been fantastic supporters of the Independent Race Series throughout 2009. At each round Kumho has awarded a full set of road tyres to a randomly selected volunteer official, and a pair of race tyres to a winner within the Production Racing Cars.

For our final round of 2009, the winners were as follows:

Official - Lance Smith, Chief Scrutineer
Lance wins a set of road tyres

Production Racing Cars - Geoff Kite, Most Improved Driver Over the Season
Geoff wins a pair of race tyres

The Independent Race Series would like to extend sincere thanks on behalf of all competitors and officials to John Mills and Kumho. See you in 2010!