Ryan Littlemore: "In my blood I always put helping others before me in any scenario."
- Castor Chan
- Feb 10, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 31, 2021
This week, I talked to Ryan, who makes content as a Twitch Partnered streamer and on Youtube “for one goal… to entertain and put smiles on people’s faces!” He streams iRacing races, F1 open lobbies and also hosts his F1 Community E-Prix series. During the interview, he gave us a deep dive into his personal perspectives on streaming, partnerships and future goals.
Castor: So how did you get into streaming, and when did your interest in racing games and motorsports start?
Ryan: For me, it all started back with streaming in 2013 when I was away at University where I had started my YouTube channel and was doing podcast style streams as a starting point. Over the coming months I went ahead and started marking F1 content on livestreams which at the age of YouTube was unheard of. I was a unique channel that streamed F1 and created the unpredictability of what would happen in the races.
I was brought into motorsports by myself actually, it was in 1999 on a Sunday morning when I walked down the stairs to the living room to see my parents browsing through the television to see F1 on my screen. For those few moments I was glued and sat down watching The Japanese Grand Prix. On the gaming side of things my first ever Racing game I got as a kid was F1 1997 on the Nintendo 64…. crazy! From that point on I was glued to the F1 game and have now got a crazy collection at my parents house.
C: What would you pick out as your favourite part of streaming and who are some of your favourite other content creators?
R: The most important factor in streaming that I like is not to show that I’m the fastest, but to be the most entertaining. There are streamers in the F1 community that are known for the Esports series like Brendon Leigh / Marcel Kiefer / Jarno Opmeer that have people viewing them for their outright speed, but for me I like to show my personality and entertaining side where you talk to the viewer and with interaction. I always say to anyone that asks me in the chat, to be successful on any platform is to be interactive whether it’s 100 viewers or just 1. To pick just one favourite part is tricky as every stream I do is a favourite because I bring a smile to everyone’s faces when I stream.
To be honest I don’t really watch a lot of streamers/content creators. I’m more of a private person that keeps things away from the public eye. But if I have to pick I would say Corpse Husband and Valkyrae. Different platform to F1 but their enthusiasm drives me to be like them as streamers.
The most important factor in streaming that I like is not to show that I’m the fastest, but to be the most entertaining.
C: What has your most memorable moment of being a content creator been or what has been some of the best opportunities to come out of it?
R: For me every single stream is a memorable moment. To stream to hundreds and see them all interacting with me and others puts a smile on their faces. It ain’t about the followers/subscribers/hosts/views, if they are enjoying themselves then that’s a win for me!
Streaming has got me some great opportunities, from recently joining Codemasters’s partnership program Racing Ahead to teaming up with sim racing sponsors in Abruzzi and from a clothing line perspective Scenario7. Like streaming I love to help out and work with companies to get their name out there. It benefits them more than me but in my blood I always put helping others before me in any scenario.
C: On that note, you recently participated in iRacing’s 24 Hours of Daytona with RLR Abruzzi eSports and even won the race in your car category. What was that experience like, and would you be open to repeating the same or similar experiences in the future? R: I mean first off, representing a major real life motorsport team is crazy! To represent a brand that competes for a spot at the Le Mans 24 Hours is an amazing feeling. I signed with them late last year (October 2020) and the stuff behind the scenes is really interesting to understand and develop them onto the virtual world! I’ve been on iRacing for nine years now, and while I’ve come close to winning Special Events before, I’m delighted to have notched up my first ever road course win at Daytona. The number of entries has boomed in the last few years and our split reignited long-standing rivalries with some familiar teams and drivers from other leagues. We knew winning wasn’t going to be easy, but we were confident we would be competitive with all four of us able to run at the same pace.
“Much of our success came down to strategy, which we developed over the course of a month. Having considered every possible outcome and calculated how far we could take our fuel and tyres, we felt very well prepared. We were third with four hours of the race to go, but others had issues and we decided to change tact by simply mimicking our rivals and keeping it clean on-track. We won by a relatively comfortable margin. For me, it’s a big achievement that’s dedicated to my Nan, who passed away a few weeks prior to the race, but it’s also a statement of intent by RLR Abruzzi eSports. The target is to achieve more wins in major endurance events, with a special focus on qualifying for the biggest endurance eSports event out there, the 2022 Sports Car Open (SCO).”
C: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
R: To be completely honest, with where I am in my life, I need to consider my options and get down to a proper schedule for streaming as other things in my life will be prioritising such as starting a family. People will be saddened of course that there will be less but to be the best streamer, you do need some time to relax and spend with your loved ones! People will understand and look forward to seeing any of my streams!
From a sim racing side of things I want to continue building the RLR Branding throughout the streams I take to bring in new audiences.
C: Does content creation/streaming sometimes feel like an obligation? How often would you say you have to think of new ways to keep your viewers entertained and how do you stay positive on stream?
R: Absolutely not! I feel that streaming, especially during these difficult times in the world, it’s a nice way to keep yourself busy. In my case with myself and the wife working, when she wants to chill watching something, I can go stream for a few hours.
I love streaming and especially over the course of the year has helped me massively with my mental side. I do suffer from social anxiety and don’t really mention it on stream. I feel now is the time to talk about this and get better over the course of this year and beyond. There’s always a place in my head telling me to keep my head in the sand and stay quiet because they worry you won’t be accepted. It’s the reason I haven’t done any collaborations with streamers or content creators. I do have to thank a few people that are helping my anxiety and that’s Chloe and LiamRBS for creating a F1 Discord server with me and bringing people that love the sport of F1. Without them I wouldn’t be better than I was a year ago.
To keep the channel fresh it’s always to keep rebranding the most popular things like in my case it’s The EPrix Series and Open Lobbies. With the EPrix for example this year's format will be completely different to last year and we got a special EPrix event hopefully coming in a few months time.
C: And lastly, favourite F1 team and driver?
R: For me McLaren, have been a fan of theirs since I first started watching F1 in 1999. Their way of approach and interacting with their fans, shows why they are one of the most popular on the grid. The driver without a doubt is Lando Norris. His personality and passion that comes across is so good with the added mix of being a very fast driver makes him popular with me and the community. I can see him as a future world champion down the line and one that will be in F1 for a very long time.
Many thanks to Ryan for giving me the opportunity and taking the time for this interview, be sure to check out his socials down below. I would also appreciate it if you subscribed via the form to keep up to date on my new articles, especially with this new content creator series, and share if you enjoyed it!
Ryan's socials:
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ryanl83
RyanL83 Official Discord: https://discord.gg/hsJuzg2aJq
Above photos provided by Ryan
Comments