by Dean Chapman, Northern New Jersey Region PCA

Congratulations! Welcome to our SIM Racer Special Edition!

You have found yourself on the pole position at the Dean’s List!

The Dean’s List is the place for me to ask questions of fellow PCA Sim Racing competitors and sometimes Real-life Pro’s, hopefully gleaning tidbits of information about their likes, dislikes, and equipment.

 

Today’s special guest… is our very own- Major Chris Walsh, Carolina’s PCA region, currently running a 2006 Cayman S (987).

Chris is chief organizer of the Operation Motorsport (OpMo) charity event taking place May 30th Go ahead and sponsor a race team now!


Tell us a little about yourself

Chris Walsh, I am an Air Force Special Tactics Officer, which is a ground-based special operations career field that specializes in air-to-ground integration and that can work solo or attached to special operations units such as US army special forces or Navy SEALS.

I got introduced to OpMo through a PCA post and initially into the OpMo iRacing league, I loved their mission and the stories all hit very close to home so I got more involved.”

 


Tell us a little about your forthcoming event?, what cars are running?

Chris Walsh, I am happy to be involved with the Operation Motorsport team as their Military Liaison, and through my connection with Operation Motorsport and PCA sim racing the idea to put on a charity sim race was born.  Through the collaborative efforts of Doug Atkinson and the PCA staff as well as Jerry Widner and Jim Hess at Carolina’s Region PCA.

The race with be a 4-hour event with a 3-hour race and act as one of the PCA Sim racing’s Team series rounds.  It will take place at the Le Mans track in the Porsche RSR.

All funds raised will help support Operation Motorsport who aids injured, wounded, disabled, and ill service members who have been medically retired or separated.  The money helps with the costs of embedding these heroes into professional motorsports teams aiding in their recovery, rehabilitation, and mental health by providing a new sense of team identity.”

 


What is your favorite car-specific movie or documentary?

Chris Walsh, Ford vs Ferrari or Endurance.”

 


What is your favorite movie with a car featured? (i.e action scenes: James Bond, Baby Driver, 6 Underground, Mission Impossible, Bullet, etc.?

Chris Walsh, Gone in 60 Seconds”


What equipment do you use for your rig?

Chris Walsh, I have a custom aluminum extrusion rig. Fanatec DD1 with Fanatec Porsche GT3R wheel, F1 v2 wheel, and McLaren GT3 wheel. Pedals are Simcraft’s Tilton Pro’s.”


If you could, what car would you like to drive?

Chris Walsh, Porsche 917k or Porsche RSR”

 


What’s your favorite non-Porsche iRacing car?

Chris Walsh, BMW M4 GT4 or GT3.”

 


What’s your favorite iRacing Porsche?

Chris Walsh, Porsche GT3 Cup.”

 


Do you have a favorite iRacing circuit?

Chris Walsh, Virginia International Raceway.”


Shoes, socks, or slippers when you drive your rig?

Chris Walsh, Racing Shoes. I try to get as close to real-world feeling as I can.”

 


Gloves, au-natural, or …mittens? when you drive your rig?

Chris Walsh, “I wear Alpinestars karting gloves, nice grip, and comfort without the added heat.”

 


How long have you sim raced?

Chris Walsh, “I have been sim racing for almost 2 years.”

 


Is there another sim car race platform you’ve tried? (or like?)

Chris Walsh, “I like rFactor 2 from a physics standpoint, Assetto Corsa is good and I like to dabble in Dirt Rally 2.0.”

 


What are your most used steering wheel hot keys (mapped buttons)?

Chris Walsh, “Pit speed limiter, crew chief microphone, multiplayer microphone, Discord chat, brake bias adjustment, ABS adjustment, TC adjustment, hand clutch.”

 


Given a few hours locked away, what would you prefer to watch? NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Rallycross, GT racing, other…?”

Chris Walsh, “MotoGP, Formula 1, IMSA, GT racing.”

 


“Does sim racing ’scratch your itch’ for car racing? or would you always prefer to race in real life?”

Chris Walsh, “It fills the gaps between real racing and acts as a way to keep some skills sharp and prep for races, but nothing ever beats the real thing once you have crossed into that world.”

 


“If you were the boss at iRacing, what new feature, improvement, race category or class would you make?”

Chris Walsh, “I’d fix track limits and align them with real-world rules, fix off track physics, and introduce some other tire wear things like flat spots.”

 

Thank You, Chris!  Have fun at the Operation Motorsport Special Event this Sunday, May 30th. We look forward to seeing you out on the virtual track at one of our next PCA events!

 

Read other Dean’s List Installments here!