What about Team SloWmo, Ola Braaten?

Team SloWmo raised more than 15.000 $ for charity in 2021. We talked to Ola Braaten about what to learn by being part of a Team, and why it might be better to fight for position in practice than to focus on hotlapping.

Sandro: How did you find your way into simracing?

Ola: I’ve been into cars and motorcycles all my life, but never really had the chance to do any motor sports, outside the occasional track day. So when a friend introduced me to simracing a couple of years ago, and I learned there was more to it than Gran Turismo, I quickly understood this was a hobby for me!
So in late 2020 i started rebuilding my hobby room and gather parts for a proper simrig. Building and modding the rig is also a big part of this hobby for me.

Sandro: Has that friend been part of Team SloWmo – or did you join them later?

Ola: No, he was just racing for himself in officials. I got my rig going in January 21, and had a lot of fun in officials for a year. Then I got invited to join Team SloWmo in late March 22, which was really good for me – to join a group of good guys to spend time practicing/racing and sharing experiences with.

Simlab P1-X with Sigma DK2 Motion System in front of 32″ Triples.

Sandro: I guess one can learn a lot joining a team dedicated to getting on track together for practicing and racing. Is there something in particular that stands out for you?

Ola: I think what has helped me the most, is to find lines and pace together. And fighting each other in practice without the goal of winning the race. In official practice, people tend to let you pass to get a hotlap, while both drivers would probably benefit a lot more of fighting for position.

Sandro: What’s the ambition of this “group of good guys”?

Ola: It is mostly about having fun in a group of common interest. Tons of good laughs, and no hard feelings at all if a race ends badly. But still everybody wants to do as good as possible of course, and there are ambitions to get more attention to the team through social media and in races. Perhaps even get sponsors to work with us .
The team has participated in many endurance races with good results, and even held races to raise money for charity organisations with great success. (in 2021 they raised more than USD 15.000 for charity)

Sandro: Team SloWmo also organizes races on and off track?

Ola: There have been some iRacing events done by the team, yes, but the main activity is more official events, especially endurance for a big part of the group, and some of us race in specific leagues like RSR. The recent Karting event was attended by approximately half the team as a get-together, but there were more ideas after that weekend, so there might be more fun like this in the future!

Team SloWmo live-streamed their 6h Kart Race on Twitch.

Sandro: 25 drivers being part of the team is an impressive number.

Ola : It is a big team, but especially at summertime not everybody is that active. I’d say half the group is quite active on a weekly basis, more in the winter time. If there`s a big event coming up, many in the team join together to help with practice, setups, etc.. This and the FBL broadcast (former Radical Simracing), also led to the increasing number of SloWmos entering the next season of RSR, as many found my and Glenn-Andre’s FBL season fun to watch and practice for!

Sandro: You are using a motion system. Is that something that primarily enhances immersion, or does it benefit your performance on track?

Ola: Both motion and belt tensioner are mainly for immersion and fun. It makes the rig come alive, and tracks with a lot of elevation feel really awesome! They do help to some degree, to understand surface, angle, weight-shift and how hard i brake, but at the same time they can be a little distracting. I drive about identical laptimes with or without them.

Sandro: What’s your take on the SR10?

Ola: I liked the SR10 right away and even more as I learned to drive it better, even though I still miss the SR8. I think what most people enjoyed so much with the SR8 was the raw behavior, and the power suits the traction/grip well. The SR10 has a lot more power but not more grip, so it’s easy to enter turns a bit too fast. It also overheats tires quite a bit, which makes it hard to control after 15+min of hard racing.

Sandro: What’s your impression of the new setups?

Ola: The new setups have been both positive and negative, but I think they are necessary to mitigate tire heat and change of handling through a race. At Nords I had a very positive experience, same with Okayama and Bathurst setup, while at Spa I was a bit underwhelmed as the car feels more loose all over. Need to put in more practice to adapt I guess.

Sandro: Where might we meet you and Team SloWmo on track in iRacing?

Ola: Team SloWmo drivers can show up in most tracks and diciplines! Mostly GT3 and Radical these days, but also MX5, F3, GT4, and the occasional iRX and Oval. On the big endurance races, there can be 1-4 teams from SloWmo attending – often in different splits.

Sandro: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Wish you all the best for the next season.

Ola: Thank you, and thanks for running the RSR league for us all, really appreciate it!