The Valiant Knight

16/08/2024

WE DID IT! - TOP 10, nobody handed us this one, sure some things went our way but that's just racing and I can confidently say I earned this result - which, if you know me, is a pretty rare admission. This is my top 10 in any competitive field after 2 long years - oh and my first Pro-Am class win too!

My very first race with was almost exactly 2 years ago at Silverstone in the 2022 Rookies series. So it's surprisingly fitting to not only take my very first top 10 here at that same track, but to even do it in exactly the same car as well! - who says the GTR is dead?

After last week, I had pretty low expectations here and was merely aiming to prove that my race craft is still worthy of the high standards I put out there. In the end however, despite the car not being anywhere near as strong as it was in previous rounds - it all just came together.

We not only managed a clean race with no incidents, but we got the result we thew away last week as well.

Couldn't be happier - we have a break now but very keen to keep going and see where we end up next time out at Paul Ricard!

WE DID IT! - TOP 10, nobody handed us this one, sure some things went our way but that's just racing and I can confiden...

31/05/2024

Sometimes you get to work on something "for the love" this was a fun project to work on, bringing my sim racing together with my experience in video editing to create something for the community.

31/05/2024

02/03/2024

Last weekend was a blast! - read the full report here:

https://thevaliantknight.com/stories/2024/5/2/duos1r1

24/02/2024

Kicking off Tonight! - It's time for the Duo Series where teams of 2 battle it out on track over 3 hours. The first season will be a tour of the United States, kicking off with crowd favourite Watkins Glen.

I'm joined by Scarnie in the GTR for this series and it looks to be a cracker. It all kicks off at 6:30pm AEDT tonight so come on by and show your support!

twitch.tv/thevaliantknight

31/01/2024

it's been a week and I've already backflipped right back into the old GTR 😂

This wasn't a problem with the Porsche - I actually really enjoyed it, but in typical fashion a new update came out for ACC that gave the old Nissan a really big boost (the first in a very long time) - so I just had to try it out.

Racing again tonight at Silverstone, jump on twitch at 7:30pm AEDT and check it out! - twitch.tv/thevaliantknight

24/01/2024

New Year, New Season, New Colours and a New Car!

Racing kicks off again tonight with Octane Online Racing at COTA. Looking forward to getting the new wheels out on track, it's quite different to the old Nissan and a bit more challenging but it's really engaging to drive so I'm looking forward to getting it out there under race conditions.

Been quite sick for the last week so haven't had heaps of seat time to prepare and my voice is still a bit croaky but I decided I'll stream the race still anyway. We're back in a more reasonable time slot for once, with the race kicking off at 7:30pm AEDT - hope to catch you there!

twitch.tv/thevaliantknight

23/01/2024

07/01/2024

Let's talk about AI art for a bit? I've been doing a lot of reading and reflecting on the topic.

I find myself at a strange intersection with it and I'm curious to see where others stand.

I have no problem with the 'tech' itself (other than the label "AI" being misleading). It can be an amazing creative too, be it for generating quick ideas, or simplifying that which previously took tedious amounts of manual labour (rotoscoping, background replacement etc.).

Where it gets tricky for me is the actual implementation in practice. While the potential of the above is fantastic, what we actually seem to be using it for most of the time is generating more cheap, generic and forgettable 'content'.

Now, those out there will wonder what's different - we did that before anyway. The difference now is that we can generate this content faster than ever before, with less effort than ever before and because we've removed any actual artists from the equation - there's not even jobs being generated - let alone the chance of any actual artistic merit or personal voice being developed.

It's enabling lazy 'content' to fill out screens and time. Again, not a new thing, but the speed and volume is a concern for me because how can an individual or even group keep up with this using more 'traditional' methods.

I feel like the real victims of this movement will be all those artist's voices we never see or hear because they are buried in the sludge of 'content'.

This is independent of whatever tools they might use, as I do believe there are ways to use this new tech that have artistic and commercial merit without loosing a sense of uniqueness or individuality.

That is however ignoring the ethical issues with many of these tools - but that's probably something best left discussed another time...

31/12/2023

Happy New Year! - Here's my final top selection of liveries from the year.

Once again, thank you to everyone who kept me going through 2023 - be that through financial support or just being there to listen. It's all been really appreciated and I'm hoping for bigger and better things in 2024

Quite a few changes to come on the streaming/content side, so stick around - still plenty more to come from me in this new year.

31/12/2023

Here's the next batch of my favourite Livery designs from the year (7 - 4)

Hope everyone has a good night tonight - be you out partying or just relaxing at home, cheers to you all!

Thank you again for sticking around this year. It's been a tough one for me, lots of big changes and I'm still waiting for it all to settle down - but Sim Racing, streaming and sharing all this content with you has kept be going through some of the hardest times.

a few more to go yet, see you on the other side!

31/12/2023

Figured I'd close out the year with a showcase of some of my favourite Livery designs I've done for 2023. (10 - 8)

These are in no particular order but they represent my overall top 10 of the year. Thanks to everyone who reached out for designs this year, I got to experiment and try a whole bunch of new techniques which taught me a lot.

I think I've produced some of my best work this year and it wouldn't be possible without people bringing me all these challenges - so thanks again.

Stick around, more to come.

23/12/2023

Kicked off the holiday season by checking out some Assetto Corsa mods that I've been sleeping on. These 60s Prototypes by the awesome folks at THRacing (thracing.de) not only look great, but they're fantastic to drive too. Where better than classic Le Mans to test them out?

Look out for a stream with these lovey babies soon.

21/12/2023

We've reached the end. Final race of the season and my last proper event for the year.

We're closing out our little tribute season with Godzilla herself, the venerable R32 in the livery it sported as Jim Richards told everyone "you're a pack of ar**holes" for booing the monster at Bathurst in it's final year there.

Not a stunner as far as liveries go, but a classic and is how I always remember the GT-R. A fitting way to farewell the year, season and car itself (for real this time 😂)

Come by for the race tonight, 9pm AEDT on twitch ( twitch.tv/thevaliantknight )

14/12/2023

Back to Sprint racing this week at Oulton Park and we're bringing the next tribute livery with us.

This round we pay tribute to something more local. This livery was used in the late 80s by Gibson Motorsport - basically the defacto Nissan factory team in Australia at the time.

While the R31 GT-R was never quite able to deliver on Nissan's lofty ambitions at the time, it wasn't far off - and would be an important stepping stone.

It wouldn't be long before they'd awaken the real monster...

Livestream as always @ 9pm AEDT tonight - twitch.tv/thevaliantknight

12/12/2023

Results from the big race!

Was a bit of a rollercoaster ride, in typical Spa fashion we were unlucky on lap one and had to put early to fix damage. However thanks to an amazing stint from Sasha we absolutely blitzed back up the field and even lead the race for two laps! 😂 (Thanks to being out of sequence with everyone else on pit stops)

This trend continued for a while, I had a great first Stint in wet conditions, Defending and keep our place long enough for the rain to stop and the track to dry out.

From there we kept it very clean for a good while, Jumping up to 1st in Pro-Am fairly convincingly. Unfortunately it wasn't to last. As the race wore on into the twilight hours we found our pace dropping off and a lot more mistakes started to creep in.

This resulted in a slow drop back as the hours flew by into Sunday and we just weren't able to recover come morning. My stint early in the morning was one of my worst, fatigue clearly set in causing me to incur a lot of track limit violations and eventually a drive through penalty (a death sentence at spa). More misfortune would follow but I won't dwell on it. I was last in the car, and it once again rained so I ended up doing a longer stint just to bring the car home. It was a great final few laps, I had a great battle with the eventual 20th place getters - but they just had more pace and a car that was in better shape by the end.

Regardless we still came away 7 positions higher than we started and 4th in our class.

Most of all, we finished the race. 24 hours is an insanely long time, and we all survived!

09/12/2023

It's Race Day! - Literally 🤣

We've got 24 hours of racing kicking off right now - jump on twitch, hang out and wish us luck! - twitch.tv/thevaliantknight

Photographer, Graphic Designer and 100% Average Sim Racer from Sydney Australia. Mostly streaming Assetto Corsa and other racing games here.

09/12/2023

Was great to create this video for Octane Online Racing and Permobil to promote the big event today!

03/12/2023

Well this came up quick! This coming weekend I'll be driving in the Octane Online Racing Spa 24 Hour!

Participating in an event like this has been a goal of mine for a very long time so I'm both excited and nervous as the day draws near.

It's going to be a busy week ahead as the team prepares the car and formulates a race strategy.

30/11/2023

Round 3 is here, and we're at Watkins Glen - so what better place to feature the iconic American Oil Brand Pennzoil!

This is another one of those classic GTR liveries that really stands out. The bold yellow against the black pairs well with the little touches of red thanks to the brand colours. This was really fun to create, mostly sourcing all the tiny little brand logos for a fair few obscure Japanese and international brands.

Very happy with how it adapted to the R35 - let's see how it does in the race!

Tune in on my twitch (twitch.tv/thevaliantknight) @ 9pm AEDT!

25/11/2023

Another race tonight, this time it's a 2 hour solo endurance around Bathurst!

I was a last minute wildcard entry so given my lack of time to prepare I went with the Honda for this race as it's the car I've had the most success with at this track. It's also a chance to give this livery another run as I designed it a while back but didn't get to use it much.

Race will probably get to very dicey race given the distance and the murderous nature of the track itself, Should still be good fun!

Race kicks off at 7pm AEDT so tune in live over on Twitch: twitch.tv/thevaliantknight

23/11/2023

Round 2 and time for another tribute livery.

This is one I don't really have the greatest personal connection to honestly. It is absolutely iconic and clearly recognisable to any motorsport fan or even just the casual Gran Turismo player. It is also a team that has run for many years throughout the multitude of changes the former JTCC has undergone over the decades. It's just one of those liveries that everyone has kinda seen before.

For me personally however, as much as I'm a fan of minimalism - I've always found it was just a little basic and perhaps doesn't engage my 'designer' brain all that much. All that said however, there is something to say about just how iconic it is despite it's bare basics simplicity - which is something all designers should keep in the back of their minds. Regardless, I hope I've captured it well enough here!

We're at Zolder this week, so come by and tune in for the race on my twitch (twitch.tv/thevaliantknight) @ 9pm AEDT!

16/11/2023

Round 1 of the last Octane Online Racing sprint series for 2023 kicks off tonight. We're at Imola this week, a favourite of mine so should be cracking good fun.

This is a shorter season than usual to bring us to the end of the year and I've decided to just have a bit of fun with it all rather than focusing on peak performance - so we're giving the GTR one last run (for real, pinky swear this time, promise 🤣)

As part of it, I'll be running a different livery for each round adapted from a classic livery to celebrate the GT-R's legendary legacy. This week it's the famous Tomica livery sported by the famous DR30 Skyline Silhouette - the car that really showed Nissan were taking this whole racing thing very seriously.

I love the colour scheme, with the gold accents playing beautifully against the black and red - it's a striking design that I think fits surprisingly well on the modern R35 body.

Come by and tune in for the race on my twitch in an hour (twitch.tv/thevaliantknight) @ 9pm AEDT!

10/11/2023

Couple more shots from the Octane Online Racing Misano 12 hour last weekend. This was earlier in the race where things were brighter and a little bit drier.

12 hour events like this are great because you can get more variety in lighting position, weather and skyboxes. Looking forward to the big finale next month where we do a full 24 hours!

09/11/2023

It got wet on wild at the Octane Online Racing Misano 12 hour over the weekend. Made for interesting racing, tricky strategic calls and some pretty nice photos.

Here's a look at a few of the competitors towards the end of the race.

03/11/2023

🔴 Live! - twitch.tv/thevaliantknight

03/11/2023

We're Live tomorrow @ 9am AEDT!

It's a long one so come by any time during the day to say hi! ❤️

www.twitch.tv/thevaliantknight

17/10/2023

A great thing about having multiple days to shoot the same subjects is that it lets you be experimental and creative.

With these shots I just wanted to do something a little different, it took many attempts and I really only got these two shots but there's something about them I really like. The fact that the car is obscured, but can still be identified was really my only goal and I think I achieved that here.

16/10/2023

One of the best things about going to a Supercars event that runs over multiple days is seeing all the support series.

I've always like variety in my motorsports, so getting to see everything from Porsche Cup to inventive production cars and racing classics is very appealing to me.

Unfortunately the length of the circuit at Bathurst meant all these cars had pretty limited track time so I wasn't able to get quite as many shots of each as I'd like but still pretty happy with what I did manage to get.

16/10/2023