In today’s Community Spotlight, we had a chat with Matt Readfearn, Big Brain Racing admin. An endurance-minded community with a special consideration for charity events, BBR was founded back in July 2022, and since the beginning, they have always hosted their events at SimGrid.
Together from the very beginning
Big Brain Racing started its operations one year ago and the first steps were taken directly at SimGrid. “Big Brain Racing was founded in July 2022 with the aim to create a community and racing team open to everyone where people can race in a relaxed yet professional environment and we can help people to reach the very best of their abilities. We became affiliated with SimGrid from pretty much day 1, as a way to reach more people and let them know what we are about. We hosted our first race on the platform in August 2022!”, Matt told us.
Of course, Matt is not alone and can count on many other admins to help him out. Their approach to running the community is always about trying to listen to what people want by listening to their needs.
Among the admins’ group there are some interesting profiles too, with real-life motorsport experience. “We are a friendly bunch, and are always here to help and answer any questions. Interesting fact, one of our admins used to work in F1, and another has actually driven an F1 car!”.
BBR present and future projects
BBR is more focussed on endurance racing, but they run sprint events too. Right now the main active series is the Big Brain Racing Endurance League, which is drawing to a conclusion at the end of October. But there is a new championship going on, organised in cooperation with Sudo Racing. Races are held on Monday nights, but there is always that ‘endurance vibe’ in the air.
“We are hosting our inaugural Monday night driver swap league, with our partner Sudo Racing. There is a lot of planning going into next year right now. I think it’s fairly safe to say that we will be back bigger and better with another season of our Endurance League, and we also have a whole host of other events we are working on with sponsors and partners. So come and join our Discord or keep an eye on SimGrid to make sure you don’t miss anything”, Matt explained.
There is definitely more to come from the community with ideas and visions aplenty. An example? More charity events.
Racing for a good cause
Back in February, Big Brain Racing hosted a 24h race at Indianapolis. Aside from the usual fun provided by BBR, the community managed to raise a nice amount of money for a good cause. The event has been a success and that is why admins are willing to repeat this experience in the near future.
“We hosted a 24h race for Muscular Dystrophy UK in February this year and raised just over £600 through donations on our stream.
“We are in discussions now for what kind of charity event we want to do next, but definitely plan on doing something early next year. So watch this space! There’s some absolutely great charities out there doing some great work, so I think it’s important that we do our part in helping to raise money and awareness, using the great platform and community around sim racing, to help where we can”.
Make sure to visit Big Brain Racing’s host page on The SimGrid website now to keep up to date with everything they’ll be running in months to come.
