Meet Connor.
The guy behind the wheel.
Hey — I'm Connor.
I own this place.
I built Start Your Engines because Buffalo deserved something like this, and because racing has been in my blood since before I could reach the pedals.
I'm 23. Born and raised in Western New York. And I'm not going anywhere.
Where It Started
My earliest memory is sitting in a go-kart next to my dad at a track somewhere in Western New York. I couldn't tell you what year it was or exactly where we were.
But I remember the sound. The vibration. The smell of the fuel. And my dad next to me, smiling.
That memory stuck.
For the next 20-ish years, I was the kid who watched every race, memorized every driver, and rebuilt every RC car I could get my hands on. Cars were the thing.
Then Sim Racing Happened
About 5 years ago, I discovered Assetto Corsa. I threw on some mods, hopped into a virtual F1 car, and lost the next three hours of my life.
I was hooked. Not because it was a game — because it felt real. Real physics. Real tracks. Real challenge.
I spent the next few years going deep. Learning the cars. Studying the tracks. Racing online. Getting my ass kicked, then getting better.
Buffalo Had Something
Around that time, there was a place in Tonawanda called SendIT. They were doing sim racing right — real rigs, real community, the whole thing.
I never made it there myself. I always meant to.
And then one day I looked up and they were gone.
That hit me harder than I expected. Buffalo had something. And now it didn't. If you wanted to try a real racing simulator — the kind pro drivers actually train on — you had to drive 2+ hours or drop $10,000 building a rig in your basement.
That was it.
So I Built It Back
Four Alpine F1 Team rigs. The best software. Real direct-drive force feedback wheels. Real load-cell pedals. Right here in Orchard Park.
Shoutout to SendIT for planting the seed. This is us carrying the torch.
Buffalo doesn't get enough cool stuff — and we sure as hell don't get to keep it when we do. Not this time.
Every time I watch a first-timer sit in one of my rigs — that "oh damn, this is real" moment when they grab the wheel — I'm 5 years old again, sitting next to my dad in that go-kart.
That's the feeling I'm trying to give people.
Whether you're a Bills fan looking for something different, a dad bringing your kid in for the first time, or a couple on a date night that's not another dinner-and-Netflix — this place is for you.
I want Start Your Engines to be the place people come to make the same kind of memories I made with my dad.
I'm here almost every day. Come say hi. Ask me anything. If you've never touched a sim before, I'll walk you through it. If you've been racing on iRacing since 2010, we can talk setups.
Either way — the first session is on me.
