New London ― They race on some of the most famous car tracks in the world, livestreamed via Twitch for all the world to see.

They run out of gas, blow out tires, slip sideways in the rain and survive some spectacular crashes.

But these are no ordinary car racers.

They are kids 11 years and older who meet after school from 3 to 6 p.m. every Monday on the second floor of the RD86 Space building on Golden Street. They are part of an organization called Drop the Clutch that has set up a virtual-reality race team that one day could compete on real race tracks.

They also could be a source of revenue for the nonprofit business development group perhaps best known for the RD86 restaurant it runs on site. The idea is to use the Drop the Clutch brand to create an iRacing team that will be followed and supported on social media.

“We want to create a platform where people want to join our hosted races every week and build a community around that,” said Niko Mazzella of East Lyme, 28, who mentors some of the younger drivers.

Simulated racing has been a big thing for about 15 years, and has only gotten more exciting as ever-more-powerful computing and graphics make the experience increasingly real to life. Famous tracks from around the world are laser scanned by the iRacing platform, where virtual drivers such as those with Drop the Clutch compete with each other for best times and, at major tournaments, for tens of thousands of dollars.

“It’s like a community, I like that,” said R.J. Taylor, 16, a home-schooled high school junior from New London.

His mother, Nubia Taylor, sitting nearby, said R.J. loves cars and enjoys working on them with his dad.

“It’s nice to have a relaxing place where kids can hang out,” she said. “You can’t practice at home with this kind of stuff.”

The dozen or so racers who show up weekly have a choice of three wide-screen monitors along one wall of the large room where they can maneuver a steering wheel, accelerator and brakes on any one of dozens of virtual tracks. On a recent Monday, three players were driving on the same track in a race livestreamed on Twitch to just a handful of viewers.

To make some money, the Drop the Clutch crew will have to attract a few hundred, said Hannah Gant, one of RD86’s co-founders.

Eleven-year-old Jack Davis and brother Daniel, 16, of Groton are regulars, but Jack has taken more to commentating on the races, as well as helping Drop the Clutch founder Robert Ramsey with some of the technical issues that crop up during racing.

Ramsey, the other RD86 co-founder, said he started putting together the racing room during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the restaurant space that he runs downstairs had to shut down for a few months. He wanted to tinker with various forms of media as a hobby, but when he brought some kids in to take a look, “That’s when it kind of went nuts,” he said.

Gant said she likes the idea of virtual racing because it is so collaborative. She also saw an opportunity to derive a new stream of income for RD86 as simulated racing on Twitch can gain an audience of viewers willing to pay a few dollars for the entertainment of watching good racers compete.

“We’d already decided we wanted to grow into media production,” Gant said. “We’re building a virtual race team, and we think we could grow a viewing audience donating small amounts.”

The idea, she said, would be to find a steady stream of revenue for RD86, which otherwise is heavily reliant on grants that can vary in size from year to year. She said people might enjoy supporting a team of teens with dreams beyond virtual racing, as opposed to an individual driver.

Team members are generally age 13 and up who are interested in video production, graphic design and social media along with virtual racing. Besides all the fun, RD86 also provides food from local restaurants.

“It’s a great place to hang out and feel comfortable,” said Mazzella, a Mitchell College student who was set to graduate Saturday.

“These kids show up, and they’re from all walks of life,” Gant said. “I like the diversity. They all work together as a team to get better.”

Virtual racing is a real subculture, said Trent Ostrander, a virtual racer from California who has been helping Drop the Clutch get off the ground.

“To be successful with it, you need to do more than just race,” he said.

In keeping with the tradition of virtual racing, pretty much everything is recorded from multiple camera angles, so replays are part of the fun. In addition, a camera is trained on the drivers, so people can see their reactions to what is happening on the virtual track.

Viewers often react via chat to the action on the track, and sometimes the racers themselves respond. Drop the Clutch also has the potential of creating video highlights reviewing the results of an individual race or focusing on one particular driver. Even a web series highlighting local drivers is being considered.

Kody Davis, father of two racers, said the good thing about Drop the Clutch is that when his military career forces a move to Virginia later this year, his boys can still be part of the team.

“That’s the good thing about this group: They just jump in and race, and they’re very welcoming,” he said.

Gant said Drop the Clutch, now an official nonprofit, started out quietly, but now is ready to take on some more racers, giving credit to Boston-based iRacing for sponsoring licenses for everyone in the program to fully realize the potential of the platform. The aim long term is to develop a few drivers who could transfer their driving skills to a real race track, perhaps the Waterford Speedbowl or Lime Rock.

Mazella, who said he’d love to develop an adult race team who could meet after the kids are done on Monday, was definitely onboard.

“I would totally get into a real car,” he said.

l.howard@theday.com