The one night package for two at the "Comet Inn" was won by Mitch Lennard from Race Control at Round 5.  A huge thank you to all the officials who helped make the event happen - in the rain and cold! Thank you also to Rod Gurney Racing and Comet Inn.

Our volunteer officials help make iRace the great series it is. We have an awesome group of people who are always ready to lend a hand, and make our race meetings possible.

We work hard to give something back to the officials, and a team who have helped us do that over and over again are Rod Gurney Racing. The Gurney family have helped us say thank you to the officials on many occasions.

And they've done it again. This time, a one night package for two at the historic "Comet Inn" at Hartley Vale in the Blue Mountains is on offer.

The "Comet Inn" was built in 1879 and has been lovingly restored by it's owners Greg and Kathy Knoble. You can find more information on the Comet Inn here.

The prize includes meals and accommodation for 2 and is valued at over $300.

A huge thank you to our awesome officials, and thank you to Comet Inn and the Gurneys.

We've put together three full race videos for each of the West End Mazda Production Racing Cars races held at Lakeside for Round 3. The videos are shot from onboard three of the category cars - Richard Mork, Paul Leabeater and Neil Byers. Hopefully they give an idea of what it's like to race in the Production Racing Cars category.

We've embedded the videos below, or you can view them (and a host of other videos) on our Vimeo page.

Enjoy.

Round Two of the Independent Race Series was held at Sydney’s Eastern Creek 29 April. The one-day format saw the action coming thick and fast, with wet and changeable conditions thrown in to boot.

Photos from the round can be viewed here. Thanks to John Smith and Ezanee Cooper for providing the terrific photos.

Round results are available here. Congratulations to all our round winners.

In Acuform Muscle Division, it was John Bright who took overall honours in his Nissan Skyline. Second went to Joe Wolvey and third to Michael Hiscoe. John Bright also took out the Japanese Turbo class, with Hans Riehs taking the honours in Improved Production/Sports Sedan, Paul Boschert in HDT Cup and Rod Gurney in Classic Tourer.

K-Mac Touring Car Challenge saw some great battles between the Oz Trucks and V8 Supercars, with the trucks taking the honours in the changeable conditions. Steve Coulter was overall round winner, and class winner for Oz Truck. Michael Coulter placed second overall, with Graham Struber third. In the V8 Supercars, Stuart Inwood took the class win.

West End Mazda Production Racing Cars was the scene of some fast and furious action, with Daniel Flanagan crossing the line first in all three races, and taking out the V8 Class. Class X went to Adam Dodd, fresh from Targa. Class A was won by Clark Stott, Class B by newcomer Jayson Darke and Class C by the windblown James Flanagan (he lost his windscreen early in the day!).

Austbrokers Coast to Coast Formula Tasman saw both races held in wet conditions, making the open-wheeled beasts particularly twitchy to drive. The win went to Sam Dale, with Guido Belgiorno-Nettis taking second. LeMans Sports saw some very spirited drives by the Radical racers, Michael Shaw won both races to win the round, and second was Greg Smith, third for the round was Simon Haggarty.

In the RocketSports, the Future Racers were able to make the most of the tricky conditions, and they filled the top three outright placings. First was Nathan Jess, second Robert Free, and third was Matthew Dyer. In the Holden Roadsters Graham Smith took the class win.

Congratulations also to our Smartest Racer winner, Daniel Flanagan – who is no doubt working towards going even quicker at the next round, using some of the knowledge from the great book “Think Fast”.

Some onboard video from the round is available here. Thanks to Launch Helmet Cams for providing some great cameras.

A big thank you as always to our great volunteer officials. At this round, thanks to Gurney Racing and Karcher, iRace was able to express our gratitude to the officials by presenting Garry Oliver with a Karcher pressure washer. If you know anyone who may want to help out by officiating at one of our events, put them in touch here.

TV coverage from the round will screen on Fox InsideSpeed in the near future, and when its available, it will also be online here.

Round Three of the Independent Race Series will be held at Lakeside Raceway, 18-19 June. Entries are now open for that round.

This Friday night at 8.30pm a special show will go to air on Fox InsideSpeed. The Motorsport panel show will feature three hardcore iRacers - Rod Moynahan, dedicated competitor in the Rocket Sports category, Greg Smith, mover and shaker in the LeMans Sports category driving a Radical, and the popular Adam Dodd, driver in, and supporter of West End Mazda Production Racing Cars (as well as a variety of other machinery). All three drivers were kind enough to give their time to be on the show and promote our sport, so tune in Friday night to see what they had to say.

Coverage from Round 2 at Eastern Creek will screen on InsideSpeed in the near future, we'll post details as soon as we have them.

Entries for Round 3 at Lakeside (18-19 June) are now open. Click here to get your entry in now.

At iRace we work hard to make sure everyone enjoys their motorsport. Sometimes for our volunteer officials, the weather conditions can make this a challenge, as was the case for Round 2 at Eastern Creek, with cold conditions and heavy rain making it particularly tough. Every competitor is grateful for the job done by the officials, and Gurney Racing teamed with Karcher at Round 2 to offer a fantastic Karcher Pressure Washer to one lucky official. This time around it was Garry Oliver, from Dapto whose name was pulled from the hat.

Congratulations to Garry, and a huge thank you to you and all the officials.

Thank you also to the Gurneys, Karcher, and all our fantastic supporters. See you at the next event!

In another exciting announcement for iRace in 2011, West End Mazda are joining the series to support Production Racing Cars as naming-rights sponsor.

West End Mazda is Australia's oldest Mazda Dealership, established at North Parramatta in 1962. They have since expanded to boast a Blacktown Dealership, and they are the most awarded Dealership in New South Wales having won 7 Dealer of The Year Awards for Sales, Service and Parts, and 12 Mazda Master Dealer Awards for Dealership Excellence.

The Production Racing Cars category came to life in 2008, with the Independent Race Series. The category caters for production-based cars, in effectively showroom specification with some essential safety modifications. The category pits a wide range of manufacturers against each other, with very close racing, and an excellent development ground for young drivers.

If you are looking for a new or used Mazda, service or part and accessories, West End Mazda are the people to see.The next round of the Independent Race Series, including the West End Mazda Production Racing Cars, will hit the track at Sydney's Eastern Creek, 29 April.

Think Fast – the Racer’s Why-To Guide to Winning

As racers, we're always chasing more speed, better laptimes, more wins. We spend hours and days preparing our cars, and a lot of money maintaining and improving our cars. Reducing laptimes is not cheap, and sometimes we spend more only to end up going slower. When someone is willing to share information that they have spent a lot of time and money figuring out, it can be hugely valuable. A $30 book can be worth it’s weight in gold if it contains even one bit of information that can help you improve your laptimes. That is why Carroll Smith’s books are so popular. For a small outlay, you get the wisdom gained over many years and many millions of dollars development costs. And so it is with Neil Roberts' new book, Think Fast – the Racer’s Why-To Guide to Winning.

Think Fast is written in an easy-to-read, engaging style, and is devoid of complex jargon, impenetrable formulas and unnecessary information. Roberts has filled the book with gold. Every page features lessons he has learned during his career to date, as a driver, engineer and chief designer. One of Roberts' key themes is “simplicate and add lightness”, and he has applied this principle in constructing Think Fast. The explanations are simple and do not require a degree to understand. There is no filler, just plenty of useful information. Some long-standing myths are dispelled and some rules to live (win) by are presented clearly and simply.

Topics covered in Think Fast include: reliability, driver development, car setup, tyre and suspension, driveline, aerodynamics and one of the best explanations of shock-absorber setup available in print.

The author, Neil Roberts has been a budget racer, just like us. He has engineered Indycars, he has worked with some of the finest engineers in Motorsport, and been a chief designer at Swift, where he led the design of the Swift 014.a Formula Atlantic (as raced by Chris Farrell in Formula Tasman). Roberts still works for Swift, and has recently designed jets for the company. On top of all this, Roberts has a relaxed and readable writing style, and an ability to get to the point without leaving those less knowledgable than himself behind.

Think Fast is available now through the website: thinkfastbook.com

We will have a signed copy to award to the “Smartest Racer” at each round during 2011, but if you're interested in winning, we recommend getting your copy now.

Full disclosure: Neil Roberts has supplied six complimentary copies of Think Fast to iRace to be awarded to competitors, this review is NOT a paid endorsement, the book really is that good.