Riley Philips, the lead driver for The Sidcot Karting Team has not been deterred since the school has closed. The team were on track to smash the British School Karting Champs this year but had the accolade tugged from under them when Coronavirus hit.
Riley instead used this opportunity to keep racing and see the green shoots of a brand new business. Riley, a Year 13 Student who was bitterly disappointed not to take his exams this summer, has put his knowledge and learning to great use alongside his hobby.
Riley has always raced VW Beetles in the Fun Cup series ‘FunCup Uk’. In normal times he travels around the country doing endurance races as part of the Fun Cup Uk. He had 2 race wins last season and was the youngest ever race winner in the series.
So when Covid-19 hit, the brakes were on for his season and he was gutted. So instead he turned to his computing, maths and physics skills he learned doing his A Levels at Sidcot.
He designed a 3D model of a VW Beetle race car and had it developed as an virtual car. He then put the car into a game set up and tweaked and played with all of the physics and maths to ensure that the car felt right compared to the original real-life car.
He created it as a simulator and based on grip, speed etc and the virtual car became an accurate model of the real car. He was going to use it as a training tool but with the on-set of COVID-19 he finished the car and put it out as a game for a virtual ‘Fun Cup Uk’ series for him and his colleagues.
The Other drivers in the Fun Cup were thrilled about the possibility of racing this season, albeit virtually, and they set about ‘buying cars’ and designing their liveries from Riley who created the car and put them into the races. They were ready to race.
Two weeks ago (12th April) it was the first round of the Virtual Fun Cup Race with all of the teams from across the country taking part. 18 cars were racing in the first round!
There was brilliant, positive feedback from the national virtual race and everyone was thankful for Riley to have put this together as they were missing racing including the drivers, mechanics and the whole team! He even pulled in favours from cameramen and commentators so it’s all quite professional.
Check out the last race from Spa in Belgium by clicking this link – it looks amazingly real!
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/603785721
Things are looking very exciting for Riley as he is hoping to expand the races and the types of races. Even VW are having talks with Riley.
The British Racing and Sports Car Club wrote a fab article about Riley… you can ready it here: https://brscc.co.uk/phillips-wins-virtual-fun-cup-race-at-spa-francorchamps/