A good month or so ago, I did an article discussing the life of being a Team Principal, and I was very positive...but you can't have a rainbow without a little rain - I just want to briefly highlight a couple of things you may need to put into consideration before rushing straight into the "Team Manager" position - remember there is nothing wrong with being a driver for hire, learn the ropes as a driver, pratice and improve as both a driver and a team member and most importantly: Learn how the professionals manage a team, before taking a page out of their metaphorical book and starting your own. I did a little bit of "team-hopping" between teams to ensure I found the right one. Eventually RSR Esports ticked all the boxes: Small (20 - 50 members), not too competitive, friendly, etc... So I stayed for a short while. Later, I wanted to do endurance racing, so, I asked whom (from RSR Esport) would want to do VRS Endurance with me in the the following season. I got up to four answers, two or three of them joined the new discord server I created (which I made so that we could do primarily VRS Endurance stuff, and split it up from the regular RSR Esports shinanigans. Which worked out nicely, RSR Esports was the daddy (like Red Bull) and Kabort was the little baby/toddler/son (like Toro Rosso). Without RSR Esports as a base/platform I don't think I would have got the skills or the knowledge or the "stepping stone" to create Kabort Motorsport as it is. And that is why, still to this day, I use the setups from their members or the ones their members give to me. It's like what's happened in MotoGP & Formula One this year
As you can see Red Bull/Toro Rosso (which is "Red Bull In Italian) have used their Formula One designs, and put them on a different series of racing - MotoGP. That's essentially what I have done with Kabort Motorsport, I have created my own team using the ingredients (or livery in this case) used from RSR Esports into something, new....and hopefully those ingredients blend together to create something delicious.
"To be a good Team Principal, you need a damn thick skin - but not skull."
You are the equivalent of Toto Wolff - Christian Horner - Maurizio Arrivabene - Claire Williams - you are the head of the team, you are the boss, you are in control...this also means that you need to accept responsibility - for good and for bad. If your team has a rubbish race, you've got to motivate them to keep striving, to keep going, to keep racing - even if you get disqualified, motivation is key. You also need to (learn to) take criticism. If a driver doesn't like the way something is run, he should be able to speak to you about it, and you should reflect and be able to tell the rest of the team. Don't be in denial, and most importantly, don't make your drivers feel imperior/less important/unable to talk to you. As I mentioned in the previous post, you've got to manage your drivers - you are the shepard, and they are your flock - you are not superior, they look up to you and they want you to guide them - and you should be able to guide them, otherwise they'll just be grazing. Tell them when races are, and who you want racing, organise stints - don't leave it until the very last hours before the race. This applies to hiring drivers too, don't hire drivers barely hours before a race is about to start, give it days - weeks if necessary. Ensure that the driver is good for you, and you are right for the driver - ensure the skill levels of your current team, and the new driver match. Finally, Drivers are not robots. They are not AI, they are humans, they are real people with real shit going on in their lives - they will not be free every second of their lives to practice or race, but this is why it is VITAL to build up your team - not as quick as possible - but as strong as possible - hire/employ drivers that WANT to race for you, that LIKE racing for/with you, that are truly happy to be there. Those who are enthusiastic, because that way, the driver will prioritise iRacing over other things, like playing Minecraft.
"The taller you build your tower, the more bricks there are to crumble..."
The more drivers you have, the more likely one of these will stop enjoying himself and ask to leave, and as long as you are keeping the leavers at the newcomers at roughly the same level (just like money really) your team will be a striving success
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