diff --git a/.github/workflows/inspircd.yml b/.github/workflows/inspircd.yml
index 3c51ec0..d7dd335 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/inspircd.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/inspircd.yml
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Build InspIRCd
       run: |
         cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/inspircd/
+        patch src/inspircd.cpp < $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/inspircd_mainloop.patch
         ./configure --prefix=$HOME/.local/ --development
         make -j 4
         make install
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5e06fef..d2904d6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -97,6 +97,10 @@ To run (server) tests on InspIRCd:
 cd /tmp/
 git clone https://github.com/inspircd/inspircd.git
 cd inspircd
+
+# optional, makes tests run considerably faster
+patch src/inspircd.cpp < ../irctest/inspircd_mainloop.patch
+
 ./configure --prefix=$HOME/.local/ --development
 make -j 4
 make install
diff --git a/inspircd_mainloop.patch b/inspircd_mainloop.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5be30ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/inspircd_mainloop.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+When a client registers (ie. sends USER+NICK), InspIRCd does not
+immediately answers with 001. Instead it waits for the next iteration
+of the main loop to call `DoBackgroundUserStuff`.
+
+However, this main loop executes only once a second. This is usually
+fine, but makes irctest considerably slower, as irctest uses hundreds
+of very short-lived connections.
+
+This patch removes the frequency limitation of the main loop to make
+InspIRCd more responsive.
+
+diff --git a/src/inspircd.cpp b/src/inspircd.cpp
+index 5760e631b..1da0285fb 100644
+--- a/src/inspircd.cpp
++++ b/src/inspircd.cpp
+@@ -680,7 +680,7 @@ void InspIRCd::Run()
+		 * timing using this event, so we dont have to
+		 * time this exactly).
+		 */
+-		if (TIME.tv_sec != OLDTIME)
++		if (true)
+		{
+			CollectStats();
+			CheckTimeSkip(OLDTIME, TIME.tv_sec);
+