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The First Self-Funding Pipeline From Sim Racing to Real Racing

Updated: Feb 1

Capital Raise: $500,000


Purpose: Launch a fully funded Cars Tour West team and a scalable iRacing pipeline that permanently removes financial gatekeeping from motorsports.


THE CORE PROBLEM

Motorsports is broken — not because of lack of talent, but because of access.

Today:

  • Real racing seats are sold, not earned

  • Talent without money gets filtered out early

  • Teams rely on single sponsors or wealthy drivers

  • One crash can end an entire season

  • Fans and sim racers are disconnected from real competition

There is no structured, affordable, merit-based path from sim racing to a real car.

And that’s insane — because sim racing now produces real drivers.


THE INSIGHT

Three things now exist simultaneously for the first time:

  1. iRacing scale

    • 115,000+ daily active users

    • Proven skill translation to real racing

  2. Low-cost digital competition

    • Thousands of drivers willing to pay $500/season

    • Minimal marginal cost per additional racer

  3. Underserved real-world teams

    • Great regional series (Cars Tour West)

    • Incredible talent, no funding stability

The conclusion is obvious:

Sim racing can fund real racing — if structured correctly.

THE SOLUTION

Dark Horse Motorsports is a two-engine system:

🔹 Engine #1 — iRacing Championship Platform

  • Open-entry asphalt series

  • Mirrors Cars Tour West tracks & formats

  • Professional broadcasts

  • Full season → playoffs → championship

  • Everyone can enter

  • Playoff drivers are paid out more than their buy-in


🔹 Engine #2 — Fully Funded Real Race Team

  • Pro Late Model

  • Cars Tour West

  • Built and funded before playoffs begin

  • No dependency on future revenue

  • No pay-to-drive seat


The sim league feeds:

  • Talent

  • Media

  • Capital

  • Visibility


The real team provides:

  • Legitimacy

  • The prize everyone races for

  • Proof the system works

This isn’t a league.

This is a pipeline.


THE $500,000 RAISE

This raise is not aspirational — it is operational.

Funds Allocate To:

  • Pro Late Model (turnkey & competitive)

  • Engine + spares inventory

  • Trailer, shop, pit equipment

  • Full Cars Tour West season

  • Crew & logistics

  • Driver testing & development

  • Media & branding

  • $50,000 crash buffer

Result: A real race team ready to compete before the first playoff race concludes.

No scrambling.

No “if this works.”

No dependency.


WHY THIS MATTERS TO INVESTORS

This isn’t a moonshot.

It’s a scalable system with asymmetric upside.

Investors are backing:

  • A motorsports operating company

  • A digital competition platform

  • A media engine

  • A driver development system

And most importantly:

A model that can expand to multiple cars, series, and regions without reinventing itself.

THE DEFENSIBILITY

This is hard to copy because it requires:

  • Real racing knowledge

  • iRacing operational credibility

  • League-scale logistics

  • Media execution

  • Capital discipline

  • Trust from drivers

  • Trust from investors

Most leagues can’t run race teams.

Most teams can’t run platforms.

We do both.

THE EMOTIONAL CORE

Every serious racer knows the truth:

“If I just had one real shot, I could prove it.”

Dark Horse Motorsports exists to give that shot — without asking for a trust fund.

This isn’t about replacing motorsports.

It’s about saving it.

 
 
 

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