Esben's simracing blog

Vader Trophy - Nürburgring and Montjuïc

2009-09-08T13:24:00.004+02:00

[Wednesday - 22nd of July]

Track Map

Got punted off in the long left-hander after Flugplatz as I was re-joining the track (barely missed the guy in question when he went off in Quiddelbacher Höhe). Which was a shame, because I had a patient and well though out strategy that was going beautifully until then. The rest of the race was just anger and not fun in the slightest.

[Wednesday - 5th of August]

Track Map

Race 1: A horrible disaster of a race. Punching bag of the field. Quit in a seething rage after defending my position into T1, and all the way to Rosaleda, where I got flipped onto my head by some genius who forgot to take into account just how sluggish my BRM is under acceleration compared to his car.

Race 2: Got into a good rhythm, but got tagged by a Ferrari during a slow spin (sorry) and that was the end of it. Kept plugging until about two laps to go when, upon trying to reset my car, the sound flipped out and made the car un-driveable.

Vader Trophy - Vallelunga sprint event

2009-07-15T01:37:00.010+02:00

[Wednesday - 8th of July]

For once, it had come to my attention that the next round of the Vader Trophy series was happening. I had a look at my calendar two days before the race, and saw that I wasn't doing anything on Wednesday, so I decided to download the new track (Vallelunga) and do some practise before making my GPL comeback. I'm really glad I did, because although it's quite a simple track to learn, Vallelunga takes a long time to master. Added to the fact that it's a really fun place to drive as demonstrated in the onboard video below as well as the little blurb of a video below it showcasing one of Vallelunga's hidden surprises... It also lends itself very well to the VT Sprint race format, where we run two shorter races with superpole qualifying for the second race.

Track Map

Those of you familiar with Grand Prix Legends will notice that I'm driving the BRM. Those of you who aren't: There are seven available chassis available in GPL, and I just so happened to pick the heaviest, most powerful and "slowest" of the seven. To answer both demographics with the same response: I've always enjoyed a challenge! Besides, it's kinda my "thing" to drive the BRM. As a result of this, I was obviously not expecting to win any prizes in qualifying and fulfilled my expectations by qualifying dead last in the 12-car field.

Fortunately I was able to drive with my patented "Clean head in lap 1" and subsequently dodged all six cars that had the compulsory Vader Trophy Lap one enormous accident. I pootled around in P6, having a jolly good time for about a lap before Gavin Wilson, in his Cooper, caught me halfway through the second lap (following a massive tankslapper from me coming out of the "Trincea" kink). I managed to superbly defend my position until my outside wheels caught the grass coming out of "Curvone" on the third lap, spun, and lost four positions. P10 after 4 laps. Rats! I did, however make up two positions thanks to Stewart Grove having a little spin in his Cooper entering the esses, and Stuart George's race turning into a disaster on that very lap. P8 afer 5 laps.

I then started to experience the concertina effect: I started closing in on Max West in front, at the same time as Nick van der Voort was baring down on me in my mirrors. Fortunately I managed to avoid getting squeezed completely, no thanks to my braking a bit too late for the "Cimini" corners, and having to stand on the brakes in order to avoid an embarassing accident with West. For whatever reason, he stuck to the inside and ended up going over the grass on the inside and then running wide, allowing myself and Nick through. There never really was any doubt that Nick was quicker than me, but I thought I'd make life hard for him as I valiantly defended my position until he finally snuck by with a well executed move into the first corner at the start of the 8th lap.

I managed to stick with him until the tight hairpin just before "Semaforo" where I spun out under acceleration, also letting Graham Bridgett through (who'd had a spin of his own a lap earlier). I rejoin the action with Stuart George hot on my tail. He hounds me until the "Cimini" corners on the next (and final) lap where we catch up to Graham Bridgett. Unfortunately, Max clips Stuart and Graham pulls away, leaving me to cross the line in P8, a substantial improvement from where I started the race!

I set a new PB in qualifying, and thanks to Kevin Williams, Stuart Knibbs and Gavin Wilson's misfortune, I found myself 9th on the grid. Once again, taking it easy, I picked my way though the smoke, debris and flying cars/body parts to find myself in 6th going into the first corner. Neil Stratton span off the track coming out of "Trincea" and I was in 5th. I then had a spin of my own under deceleration coming out of the first of the "Cimini" curves and dropped down to last at the end of the first lap, chasing Stuart Knibbs' Ferrari. I then proceeded to throw away what little chance I had at an exciting race with a spin coming out of the infield hairpin (in exactly the same manner as in race 1) and losing a bunch of time. The rest of the race was basically plugging in consistently fast laps and picking up the pieces left from other people's accidents and other suchlike misfortune.

That is, until the penultimate lap where I had a massive slide coming out of "Curvone", which allowed Gavin Wilson to close right up on me in his Cooper. We went side-by-side through the final corner, me on the outside, and I have the inside line for the first corner. Somehow I manage to accelerate sufficiently to surge slightly ahead of Gav before the esses, but inevitably out-brake myself and wash over to the right side of the track for the right-hander with Gav right beside me. Luckily for me, Gav suffers a small dose of wheelspin and I get the racing line for the hairpin. Had I been forced to the inside there, he surely would have made it past into and through "Semaforo". Naturally I get a small slide exiting the "Trincea" kink and Gav pounces, going for the outside heading towards "Cimini" for the last time. We go side-by side through both corners and it's now turned into a manhood/stupidity challenge as we accelerate towards the super-fast right hand kink. We actually touch going through the right hander, but GPL's netcode was feeling generous for some reason and didn't propel us both sky-high. I drew ahead and clinched 8th position by a single tenth of a second.

To briefly sum up the race: There's still life in the old girl, and Gav is the best guy for side-to-side battles!

The next round is at the Nordschleife, a track some would call my speciality. I've already started practising a tiny bit, and I can't wait for another exciting evening of Grand Prix Legends!

2008 GPL World Cup - Round 1

2008-01-28T01:18:00.000+01:00

For the third time ever, there is a Grand Prix Legends World Cup, and this time I'm in it! The format is much the same as in any international tournament, with group stages before the elimiation rounds. Norway is in Group F together with the Czech Republic, Spain-3 and Québec. Now on to the race!

Track map

I qualified my BRM in 10th, a mere hundredth of a second ahead of the second BRM of Radek Petera from the Czech Republic. I was running comfortably in 9th, chasing Radek who had gotten ahead of me, until I spun off exiting the final corner on lap 4. This dropped me down to 15th, but I gradually worked my way back up to 10th until I spun off again in the same place on lap 20, losing one spot. I managed to re-take my position, and was catching the 9th placed Québec Ferrari towards the end, but the leader caught me and screwed everything up :p. The gap was 2 seconds at the line, compared with about 18 fifteen laps earlier.

The only BRM I didn't beat was Radek, who finished in 8th, but I reckon I could have finished ahead of him had it not been for mistakes early on in the race. In the end, though, Norway was the strongest team and I'm looking foreward to the next round :)

VT6 summary 2006/2007

2007-03-26T17:18:00.000+02:00

There's still one race left to be run in VT6 at Sebring, but here's a quick summary of my season so far. The season started off at Mosport Park where I had an average race following not a whole lot of practise. I had a few good fights with Chris Kirk in the Ferrari, but he was always going to be the quicker of us two and I saw the last of him on lap 16. From then on it was just a matter of cruising in to a strong 8th position, unfortunately one lap down due to going off just after the Andretti "straight" near the end of the race, and winning the Division 2 race. We then moved on to Clermont Ferrand, a track where I've raced at many times before and have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was having a hell of a time before the race, fine-tuning my old setup and smashing my old best times to smithereens. Sadly, something happened come raceday and I'd lost quite a lot of pace and consistancy. I qualified 14th on the grid and after much spinning and crashing somehow found myself in 8th when I crossed the line, winning the D2 race yet again.

Next up was Watkins Glen, one of my favourite tracks, to be run with the shiny new sprint race and superpole format! For the first race there was a 15-minute qualifying session where I managed 8th on the grid and was running way up in 4th at halfway before spinning and dropping back to 8th. Then came the superpole, where one driver each had one shot at a pole time! I managed 9th on the grid this time and had a similar race as the previous one, except I didn't quite manage to get up to 4th, but in return managed to salvage 7th for the finish. Once again, D2 winner in both races. We then moved on to Dundrod, a smaller version of the Isle of Man TT Circuit. This was a complete disaster of a race, COMPLETELY unrelated to the fact that I hadn't even installed the track until 5 minutes into qualifying....ho-hum!

I fared slightly better at Spa-Francorchamps, but more inconsistancy didn't produce more than a 7th place from 8th on the grid. I had an exciting race, though! The most exciting I've ever had at Spa, seemingly always with a car nearby. Once again I won the D2 race, and this is about the time when the league admins started questioning my being in the second division due to romping home with the victory whenever I raced. Another D2 victory at the Watkins Glen 1948 course, despite much crashing, confirmed my jump up to the first division. This is when Dutchie newcomer Nick van der Voort came along, not only taking a fairly easy victory at Mexico but also beating me in the process! What nerve! I managed to win back some dignity at the next round at Leipzig, coming home in 8th after fighting tooth and nail for position with him in the closing stages.

Given how closely matched me and Nick were in the last two races I was allowed back into the second division in time for the next round at the principality in Monaco. Unfortunately for Nick he had rather a bad race and didn't really put up much of a fight. Not much happened in my race and I cruised in to a relatively safe 7th position overall, winning D2 again. It was all to go Nick's way at Snetterton though, when my internet mucked up and disconnected me in the middle of both sprint races. Needless to say, Nick won both races in D2 (the only D2 driver running that night apart from me) and took a large chunk out of my lead as we headed on to his home race at Zandvoort. Unfortunately for both him and the D2 championship he had a dreadful race and ended up finishing last out of all the 10 cars entered for the race. I had a smashing event, clocking up a new PB in qualifying and driving my nuts off to finish 5th from 8th on the grid. I wasn't able to attend the next race at Bathurst but even though Nick failed to finish, the D2 championship was already secured. The final round at Sebring will be run next Wednesday, on the 4th of April.

NGPLS Autumn 2006 summary

2007-03-25T00:40:00.001+01:00

For me, the NGPLS Autumn season started at the second round at Monaco, having missed the first race at Kyalami due to reasons explained in the "summer holiday" post. Due to my awesome memory I forgot to tone down the graphical add-ons for the Monaco race and I found myself having to retire due to the horrendous framerate I was getting. Quite a disappointment after my last NGPLS race here where I romped home to a superb and controlled finish. It went slightly better next time round at Spa-Francorchamps, where I finished a brilliant second only seven seconds behind the winner, from seventh on the grid. I had a similar performance in the next round at the fast and twisty Solitude track, finishing third from fifth on the grid. At Silversone I was faced with the largest grid of the season, with 19 drivers squeezing onto just one server this time (we usually split into two servers due to 19 drivers being the maximum server capacity for GPL). It was an average race, nothing special, and I finished pretty much in mid-pack in eleventh after starting fourteenth.

Then we moved on to Le Mans Sarthe, a race I was very excited about because I love the track. Unfortunately I suffered a catastrophic mechanical failiure (unvoluntary disconnect) and was forced to retire, salt in my wound after being involved in a crash early on the first lap. Then it was my favourite track of them all, the Nürburgring, the Green Hell. For the first time in my NGPLS career I managed to pre-qualify for the top server (more than 19 drivers, remember) but in hindsight it wasn't any fun at all. I was all on my own near the back of the 11-car field and came home in eighth after starting ninth. The NGPLS circus then made a stop at the Snetterton circuit where I had yet another mediocre race where I both started and finished in seventh. For the final race of the season at Watkins Glen we had another full fielded single server where, considering that, I did rather well to finish tenth from fourteenth on the grid!

My three non-finishes (one of them being the DNS at Kyalami) were my three results scratched from my total points. I ended up in fifteenth overall, not bad at all and pretty much where I'd expected to be. On the whole, not counting the retirements, I had a pretty stable season with a few good results which I am quite proud of.

Autumn 2006 roundup

2007-03-25T00:08:00.000+01:00

Some of you may have noticed a distinct lack of postage since the autumn of 2006, and I can only say that I drastically lost interest in writing out my race reports on my blog. However! Since I'm feeling very bored at the moment I have decided to give a quick summary of the massive amount of races I have raced in since then. I shall split it into three parts, the first two parts being my GPL Leagues (Vader Trophy and NGPLS) and the third being GTP Endurance races (SSCA). Be prepared for some very long posts, but I hope you'll find it at least somewhat fun to read. With that out of the way, let's get cracking!

End of summer, start simracing!

2006-08-24T20:47:00.000+02:00

My summer holiday has ended, school has started and so have the simracing leagues. But first, let me tell you what I've been up to. First I flew to England with nobody but my 14-year old sister for company to go and visit our Uncle and two of our three scottish cousins-via-marriage. We stayed there for ten days before driving back to London Stanstead airport...where we missed the check-in by one hour. This is when things get eventful, folks! Luckily we had Grannie and Grandad to keep us company/look after us/buy us another plane ticket, but this plane didn't go to the local airport but to one on the other side of the country on the east coast. So mum and dad phoned a friend back home who agreed to drive us to the train station where we'd hop on the night-train and arrive at Kristiansand the next morning where we'd leave for Denmark for our family vacation. Confused yet? No? Well, my sister has a boyfriend and she hadn't seen him for a good...i dunno...two weeks? She was feeling quite distraught (oh, please) so she got dad to change our train tickets to take us all the way home to Stavanger on the west coast.

Our seats on the night train was very (and I mean very) VERY inadequate. BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T BLOODY RECLINE SINCE THEY WERE UP AGAINSTE THE FUCKING WALL! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Ahem, sorry about that. So, I left in search of two vacant seats next to one another so I could catch some sleep in a highly comfy foetal sleeping arrangment. Dad picked us up when we eventually arrived and I went straight for the bed, where I stayed for a long time before I got woken up and told to pack my stuff for Denmark. Enya (my sister) wasn't coming since she so badly wanted to be with her boyfriend. Fine by me to be perfectly honest, it saves me being squashed together in the back seat with her and my other little sister like a tin of sardines. We arrive in Kristiansand sometime later and catch the boat to Denmarkland. Here's a map which I hope will settle the confusion induced by this last paragraph...

We got to the apartment we rented and in our two weeks there I went karting in the wet (drifts ahoy!), went to legoland (great pictures ahoy!), went karting in the dry (speed ahoy!), went to the zoo (lions ahoy!) and just hanged around (TV ahoy!). Then we travelled all the way back to Kristiansand and onward to our hut on a relatively small island in Mandal. My other sister came over with her boyfriend on the second day before I left on the third day to take the train home by myself. After a good month away from my hometown, my bed, my computer...I was feeling rather homesick. I got home, lugged my bags the 0.7 miles/1.2 kilometres (mainly uphill), had a shower and REEEEEELAXED! The rest of my holiday was spent here at home, sweet home.

I've already had one race, that being the dLeague race at Le Mans. But I retired before half-distance with a broken camshaft, so I didn't feel like it was much to shout about. I was also supposed to race in the NGPLS opening round at Kyalami this Tuesday, but school (and waking-up-at-7:30) induced fatigue plus the fact that we only had one server with limited room for drivers meant that I sacrifieced my spot so fresh and happy drivers could race instead of me. Next Thursday dLeague will be racing at Oulton Park, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, here's one of my many shots I took at Legoland (I'll post a link to the full gallery when I get that sorted out).

Vader Trophy - Le Mans

2006-06-22T13:10:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 21st of June]

Track Map

After a series of 3 quick laps, all within about a second of each other, I was looking forward to this one. I sandbagged the first part of qualifying due to the crash magnet that is Dunlop corner here at Le Mans. I then realised that on PB pace I could qualify well up in the top half of the grid, so I emptied the tanks and got ready to do a flyer. Coming up to the end of the outlap I was brutally denied due to the screen freezing up. With only a handful of minutes left in qually I instantly hit the reset button, and made it back in with about three minutes to spare. So I was still at the back of the grid, back to plan A.

Instead of the usual dump-the-clutch-and-blast-away I leisurely engaged first and let the field build up a small gap. As soon as I saw the cars start to fly through the air I had plenty of time to slow down and avoid them. Unfortunately I fluffed it in Tetre Rouge and re-joined in the middle of a group of three cars. Jannis Koopman in his Ferrari couldn't seem to get past me and my dual-engined BRM on the Mulsanne straight (or Hunaudierés), and was constantly ducking in and out of my slipstream down the massive straight. We eventually reeled in Richard Dickson's puny little Cooper (haha!) and I went side-by-side with him under braking for the Mulsanne Hairpin. He was later on the anchors than me and so was Jannis, as he couldn't get his car stopped in time, thus punting me into the sand bank.

There must have been an accident in Indianapolis on the next lap, because I was suddenly right back up there with Max West's Cooper. We catch another Cooper under braking for Maison Blanche (and not wanting to exit the track in a ball of flames) so I ease off a bit to give them a bit of room. I get a good run on Max exiting Dunlop, but he moves over to the left and I have to ease off. He runs wide though, and I can pass him on the outside of the right-hander in the esses.

Rich misses his braking for the Mulsanne Hairpin and re-joins behind me, and Jannis has a spin in the esses on the next lap. Ian Woollam also makes a mistake on the lap in Arnage which brings him within striking distance, and a little mistake in Maison Blanche sees me zip through to 7th overall! Apart from having a small spin in Tetre Rouge on the next lap the rest of the race is just a cruise to the finish. Not exactly a leisurely cruise though, with a 3:21.8 on the last lap.

All in all I'm happy with the result, but it's a rather bittersweet one. With this result I jump back into the lead of the second division championship, but not being able to make the last round will almost surely make me lose it again!

Vader Trophy - Mexico

2006-06-16T14:37:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 7th of June]

Track Map

Viva Mexico! Every time I've raced here I've had a cracking time. This race was not to be an exception, as I managed to qualify my BRM 8th with a new PB just under the 1:50 mark. The start, however, was not quite so good. I got a good getaway - better than anybody in front of me - but there was no room to get past as the road was blocked with cars ahead. I moved to the left to slot in behind a BRM, but the Ferrari of Stuart Knibbs was in my blind spot and we're both send spinning. Fortunately nobody else gets collected, but we do lose quite a bit of time to the others. There must have been an accident exiting turn one as Simon Steele's Brabham is going very slowly, and the rest of the pack is within eyesight heading into the hairpin.

I run a lap in 8th due to a spin from Chris Kirk, but a small off by myself relegates me back to 9th. Another spin by Kirk two laps later bumps me back up to 8th, two seconds behind Gav's BRM. Gav pulls away and a few laps later I pass Jannis Koopman's spun-off Ferrari. Unfortunately I suffer a spin of my own only a few laps later in turn one and drop back down to 8th, and spin again in the exact same spot on the very next lap. Jannis spins off three laps from the finish in turn one and I have an un-dramatic drive from then on, en route to a 7th place finish.

A quick lap in qualifying, a good getaway, managing to only take myself and one other driver out in the crash, being within eyesight of a car most of the time and a good result. I couldn't have asked for more. Well, I could've done without the start crash but meh, those things happen.

WOSEC - Nürburgring (take 2)

2006-06-04T02:30:00.000+02:00

[Saturday - 3rd of June]

Track Map

Server issues last week meant that the race had to be postponed one week, and subsequently more time to practise. Good thing for me as a matter of fact, as I managed to improve my pace a bit vis à vis last week. Neil Stratton qualified my car (VTR4) 6th on the grid, and had a single fuel run before handing over to me. Apart from a small 360 spin on one of my early laps it was smooth sailing, I was even running (comfortably, might I add) way up in third at one point! After handing back over to Neil we were in 4th, with VTR1-2-3 in first second and third: A clean sweep! However, it was not to be, as I...er...made a small mistake with only a handful of laps to go (lifted a bit too late and turned in too late for Flugplatz) and ended up straddling the fence. When I was finally allowed to re-join we'd lost 4th to SFH, and as if to add insult to injury the car blew up at Hohe-Acht on the very last lap. It was a good race for VTR though: A clean-sweep of the podium!

Endurance racing at the 'ring, it doesn't get any better than this. I had a great time chatting over the radio with VTR3 drivers Ian Woollam and Neil Pearson while driving, and we were constantly taking the piss out of each other. I do whish I'd tried reversing back onto the track after my crash though, but hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing.

WOSEC - Nürburgring

2006-06-01T19:57:00.001+02:00

[Saturday - 27th of May]

The race was originally scheduled for today, but last minute server issues has postponed it to the 3rd of June.

Vader Trophy - Lydden Hill

2006-06-01T19:57:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 24th of May]

Track Map

Woo, a short track, time for chaos! I'd done no laps beforehand, but for once that wasn't too big a problem due to the tiny length of this track. That doesn't mean I had an easy time driving the track though, because this baby is not only short but also very undulating. Add a quicker car wanting to pass every two corners and you've got yourself the lovely Lydden Hill circuit of death.

Can't remember how I qualified (can't be arsed to look up the replay this time), but it wasn't too much to shout about. I managed to thread my way through the T1 carnage, and from then on I was holding on for dear life. My fingers slipped momentarily, though, and I plummeted into the doom that is the tyrewall in turn three. The rest of the race can be summed up with: Angry driving, spin, angry driving, spin, get lapped by field, drive smoothly and catch back up with car ahead, have small scrap, have accident, have spin and fall back and finally having my PC freeze up with only a handful of laps to go.

An interesting track, just a shame that I sucked so badly.

dLeague - Bridgehampton

2006-06-01T17:45:00.000+02:00

[Thursday - 18th of May]

Track Map

Well, the final race of the dLeague season wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. I qualified in third after an hour's practise on the server (lovely track, by the way) and was running nicely in third until lap 10 until I lost concentration for a split-second. Thus slamming into a tyre wall and subsequently requiring a tow to the pits costing me three laps vis-à-vis the leader. I somehow manage to have a spin one corner after the pit exit, and bring out the safety car (n00b admin! You forgot to turn off yellow flags :p). I pit to fix additional damage during the safety car period and was just farting about until I finally made it to the finish.

The future of dLeague isn't bright, as there were only about six other entries. Hopefully we'll be able to recruit some more drivers for the post-summer season. If you're interested, there's a link to the right of this very post which will take you to dLeague's website.

NGPLS - Watkins Glen

2006-05-31T17:48:00.000+02:00

[Tuesday - 16th of May]

Track Map

Due to lag, I got qualified 4th on the grid as opposed to 9th where my quickest non-lag would have put me. Luckily a reboot fixed the network issues, and I could proceed on to the NGPLS season finale at Watkins Glen. I got a very good start, actually beating the Brabham of Kristiansen ahead of me off the line. He goes for the pass in Big Bend, but I gather more speed on the outside line and re-take third. Two laps later another Brabham, this one belonging to Myrvold, passes me out of the Esses but I get third back when we pass the spun-off Eagle of Stolze just before the last corner. But then on lap 7, disaster strikes. I move back in line after having a look down the inside at The Loop, but I clip the grass and that pitches me into a big slide. I hold the slide for what seems like an eternity, but eventually I run out of track and spin off. Thus losing me three positions as I drop down to 6th.

The car in front has an accident in the Esses and bumps me up to 5th, a good nine seconds behind the next car. Up until the start of lap 17 I'm pretty much all on my own, but now I've been caught by Espen Baklid in his Ferrari, and he's quicker than me right now. Luckily (for me) he spins off exiting The Loop two laps later, and I now get a comfy 9-second gap to play with. Wanting to make the most of it I have a large slide exiting the Esses, almost going off in the process. Unfortunately another massive slide, this time in the final corner brings the gap down from a steady 4-5 seconds to two tenths of a second. Making the most of my costly mistake, he gets into my slipstream and passes me on the run down to The Loop. After pootling around on my own for a few laps I have another spin and lose more time. Luckily, again (for me), Espen has another spin. This time he's completely off the track, and this gives me 8 seconds to spare with four laps to go.

Eventually I bring it home in 5th, quite happy considering the spins and offs. Could have been better, but what couldn't have? The NGPLS season will resume again after the summer holiday. I'm not sure what car I'll be driving then, and I'm torn between the fun of the BRM (but in second division due to pace) or the speed of the Ferrari (but a possible first division due to pace).

Vader Trophy - Nürburgring

2006-05-26T00:56:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 10th of May]

Track Map

So I'm watching my (now) favourite show on TV, "I Shouldn't Be Alive" which is about stories of survival accompanied with great re-enactments. Just as the show goes to it's last ad break with about 20 minutes to go, I take a look at the clock. Then it hits me, isn't there a league race now? At my favourite track no less? CRAP! Thankfully this league is always pretty slow when it comes to getting the server up & such, and I made it in with about five minutes left of qualifying. I tell you what, it's a damn good job I drive at least one lap a day at this track or I'd be in serious trouble...

So there I am at the back of the grid, quite content as a matter of fact. The first corner here is notorious for causing accidents, and a slow start from the back will minimise my chances of being collected. There's a minor accident in turn one and I manage to avoid it with relative ease. I'd told myself before the race that I wasn't going to push, I was going to stay on track and let everybody else have all the accidents. For once in my life this strategy actually worked, and I ended up finishing in 4th from 16th on the grid. I have to say, I don't feel that deserved the final position up to 4th. Mattew Parry had crashed in Tiergarten on the last lap, and flat-out refused to let me let him past again. So cheers to you Matt, a true gent!

Finally. I've managed to have a good race at the Nürburgring, my favourite track and probably the one I've done the absolute highest mileage on of all the tracks in GPL. I'm extatic!

dLeague - Road Atlanta

2006-05-11T18:22:00.000+02:00

[Thursday - 4th of May]

Track Map

I signed back up to dLeague a few days before the race, and didn't turn a single lap until the practise session on raceday. This time I decided to challenge myself and drive the Toyota, an often neglegted car in GTP. As some of you may remember, WOSEC raced here last season so I didn't have any problems learning the track but I was still off the pace. Somehow I managed to qualify third, but after the polesitter Jan Larsen got a black flag for some reason my row on the grid was pushed up one notch and I was on pole. But just as the safety car was pulling away to start the pace lap, disaster struck and I was disconneted. I managed to reconnect before the race started, but had to start from the pitlane and (as if to add insult to injury) one lap down. The original plan was to be smooth and consistant, but being a lap down I entered bezerk-o driving mode and was pretty much flat out. It was to be the end of me though, as I plowed into the wall between T3 and T4 and that was that.

I'm hoping to be able to mount more of a challenge at the next round.

NGPLS - Rouen

2006-05-11T18:21:00.000+02:00

[Tuesday - 2nd of May]

Track Map

I'd been suffering from pedal spiking as early as before the WOSEC race, and my times were so badly affected that I decided to open them up and see what was the problem. After cleaning out a year's worth of dust and putting the pedals back together the spiking was gone, and my laptimes improved accordingly both in GTP and GPL. I qualified 5th on the grid, and was hoping for a clean and uneventful race so I could at least keep 5th.

I got a reasonably okay start, and slotted myself nicely in line still retaining 5th position. After a 100% clean first lap for (at least) the top eight drivers, quite a rare occurance, I passed the Ferrari of Vidar Langseid as he spun off down the ditch in turn two. I didn't see a single car apart from the ones I lapped (about two) until Scierie on the second to last lap, when Vidar had managed to reel in a 20-second gap in just under as many laps. But he promptly spun off in the following corner, and I could cruise in to what I easily consider to be my most consistant race ever.

WOSEC - Bathurst

2006-05-11T18:20:00.000+02:00

[Saturday - 29th of April]

Track Map

I was given the honours of starting and qualifying the VTR3 car, paired with Ian Woollam. Surprisingly I managed to put the car 10th on the grid, in the 20-odd car field and got away to a nice clean start. Unfortunately I got stuck behind the OATAS Jaguar, and in my bid to find a way past I had a spin in the very tight Park section. I had to wait for a long time before it was safe to re-join, but apart from another minor spin later on I gradually climbed back up the order. I even had quite the fun little scrap with the ADC69 car, but he fell back after a failed passing attempt in the Esses spinning us both around. I handed the car over to Ian in 6th, and within half an hour he was right back up to 6th again :D

Ian's stint was quick, very quick. Unfortunately it was only rather consistant, and the car I took over wasn't exactly up to showroom standards. After pitting though, I got back the missing miles per hour at the end of Conrod, and my laptimes improved acordingly. I took on less fuel than originally planned at the end of my first fuel run, as continuing with full tanks would mean that Ian would only have about ten laps before finishing. I wasn't that far off running on fumes when handing back over to Ian, one more lap and we would have run dry! Ian drove the car in a smooth and controlled manner (bloody quick at times as well, he did a 1:52.9!), and cruised in to a formation finish with the winning VTR1 car in 6th.

VTR1: 1st
VTR2: 3rd
VTR4: 4th (Quicker drivers, pre-race connection problems)
VTR3: 6th

I'm very happy with this race, and it is my best overall result in an enduro to date. The backmarkers were generally very decent, especially in the mountain section, and made the race a whole lot safer. Safety does tend to make humans a bit cocky and, well, mad, though. In Vader Trophy Racing alone we had about three seperate three wide incidents, me being one of them! The next race is at the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife, don't miss out on live driver radio on the 27th of May!

Vader Trophy - Solitude

2006-04-27T14:12:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 26th of April]

Track Map

The start was an absolute mess, the field taking over a minute to actually make it through the first two corners. I'd started in 9th but due to me not getting too badly involved in the carnage, I crossed the line after lap 1 in 6th. A small spin late in the lap relegates me to 7th, and another one exactly one lap later puts me back down in 9th. On lap 6 I overtake Chris Kirk's slow Ferrari, I also get to practise my three point turn after spinning in the twisty section near the end. Two laps later I have a rather exciting completely sideways moment under braking for Schatten, but luckily my front wheels in the grass bring the car around and I continue unharmed. A mass disconnection on the next lap bumps me up to 4th, and that's where I (un-offically) finish. The offical result had a coutback to the last lap before the mass-disco, so I actually ended up in 8th.

They didn't call this place "Solitude" for nothing!

NGPLS - Snetterton

2006-04-19T15:47:00.000+02:00

[Tuesday - 18th of April]

Track Map

I did some testing beforehand this time, and actually came pretty close to my old PB. From 11th on the grid in a 13 car field I shoot through to 10th by Riches, due to two cars blowing up. Another car is passed between Riches and Sear, but I leave my braking a bit too late and go off. I get going dead last, but manage to pass two spun off cars in the esses plus two more in the Bomb Hole. A good little scrap is had with my quasi-namesake Espen Baklid until I have a little off at the end of the fourth lap. He is gradually reeled in, and by the eighth lap I'm within striking distance. It takes me until the end of lap 10 to get by, as he makes a slight mistake exiting the final chicaine. He manages to stay close for several laps, but when trying to pass me six laps later in the hairpin he spins, almost collecting me. A Lotus has also spun off, so I advance one position up the order.

A few laps go by, and my sock is feeling a little loose. I bend down to adjust it on lap 21 heading towards the Hairpin. Whoops! Was that my left rear wheel that just overtook me? That's right ladies and gents, I broke the third rule in Esben's Big Book of Racing Rules: Never, under any circumstances, adjust your socks while driving. I lose two positions after resetting, but one of them pops their engine on the run down to the esses. Despite this, I still have another Eagle on my tail, and can't do much as his superiour straightline speed promotes him to my position on the run down to the hairpin. Espen spins off in the esses on lap 24 and hands me 6th. I spin in the hairpin with five laps to go, but keep my position. Unfortunately this means that I get lapped by the leader (embarrasing, I know) and I pretty much cruised in to an alright 6th place.

I could have done much better, I really need to cut out this crashing/spinning off business. It's not doing me any good :P

I now have a mascot!

2006-04-10T21:39:00.000+02:00

That's right, the ever unlucky prehistoric squirrel Scrat is now my mascot. I went to the cinema with my little (6 year old) sister today to watch Ice Age 2, and the little feller was such an inspiration. Watching him getting up and trying again and again and again to get that ever elusive nut, despite the most heartbraking of failiures and injustices. His never-say-die attitude makes him a true role model, so here's to Scrat!

SSCA - 12 Hours of Daytona

2006-04-09T23:50:00.000+02:00

[Saturday - 8th of April]

Track Map

This was quite the spur-of-the-moment decision, as Brendan Kaczmarek (Northstar Racing captain) didn't ask me to join in until the day before on Friday. He originally had enough drivers to comfortably enter two cars, but now he only had himself and Andras Kiraly (from SFH, VTR's toughest rival in WOSEC). I hadn't planned on doing anything that day, and Brendan is a good buddy of mine, so I was glad to help out. It did mean learning to drive the Mazda though, the only car I haven't actively driven in GTP yet. The Mazda runs in it's own class for this series, due to it being so incredibly slow.

I started the race in the #24 Sauber and Brendan in the #124 Mazda. Not surprisingly, he out-qualified me (come on, I had a day to prepare :P) and ran near the top during all of his stint. Then, right on cue, directly after starting my second or third (can't remember) fuel run, mum and dad announced dinner. Brendan had already decided that the Mazda was taking priority, he wanted the class victory. I agreed, and simply parked the Sauber in the pits and rushed off for dinner. When I returned, I found that Brendan had let some random guy do a stint in our car. He wasn't all that good, and actually got us an un-clearable black flag. The car got disqualified and I was fuming. In hindsight though it was a good thing, because three drivers sharing two cars for 12 hours doesn't add up anyway.

I then go to do some testing offline, and just when I'm happy with the setup Brendan comes on the radio and reminds me that he's lost second gear. A few minutes of tinkering and I've got a setup ready, then Brendan comes on the radio again to tell me that we've also lost third! I quickly set the ratios for fourth and fifth (going all through the box to include first would be too risky). I then hop in and do a fuel run without much drama at all before handing over to Brendan, who did half a fuel run. During which he also lost fourth and mysteriously CTD'd, I jump in with my sequential shifter set to first and fifth gears only. I did another fuel run before handing over to Andras Kiraly, who just arrived, who did three very quick fuel runs. I then do one final fuel run, before handing over to Brendan who was set to do the last three.

By that time we were leading in class, but another CTD for Brendan suddenly put us back to second behind the 336team from Russia. He eventually caught and re-passed for the class lead, and the 336team also had another disconnection. Basically we were in the clear as long as Brendan could keep the car on track for another hour or so. By this time it was 3 am for me, but I wasn't willing to leave because that would involve missing the finish! He eventually cruised home to an easy class win, and also his first finish in an endurance race for a long time. The win also secured us each a free shifter! There was much rejoice :D

Vader Trophy - Buenos Aires

2006-04-01T23:15:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 29th of March]

Track Map

I managed to completely forget about this race, and the only real reason I actually took part was the fact that I randomly joined VROC because I was bored. I'd done a few laps beforehand, but not really enough to really know the track all that well, and after practise I was still way off the pace. The actual race consisted of me plodding around by myself, spinning off and getting lapped. More exciting things have happened to chartered accountants...

WOSEC - Spa

2006-04-01T23:14:00.000+02:00

[Saturday - 25th of March]

Track Map

Richard Dickson qualified the VTR3 car 5th on the grid, with VTR2 and VTR1 in 3rd and 2nd respectively. He did one stint before I was due to take over for two fuel runs. Nothing too major happened during the two fuel runs, apart from the leading ruGTP car flipping me in the Bus Stop. I was trying to pit in, I announced my intention to pit in well before the braking zone, but he still managed to clip my right rear and send my flying. Luckily I had enough fuel to make it around the lap, but I wasn't far off running on mere fumes.

Aussie Neil Pearson then took over for a fuel run, and during it actually lost second gear. I do some testing offline, and manage to adapt the ratios rather well. Laptimes drop, obviously, but not by much. Now I have three fuel runs, all of which go smoothly and drama free. Except for a 10-minute period in the middle of the second fuel run in my final stint, when looking for the adjust spoiler setting, I accidentally set off Fraps capturing. As a result, my framerate drops to 20 FPS and my microphone suddenly doesn't work. This was obviously going on without my knowledge, so thank heavens it automatically stopped before it melted my HD. I then hand over to Neil Stratton who drives a stable two fuel runs to the finish. Final standings for VTR is as follows:

VTR1: 1st
VTR2: 3rd
VTR3: 4th

Gav got a stop/go penalty for speeding in the pits on his last stop in the VTR2 car while in second. Exiting the pits with 11 laps to go, the SFH car ahead was exiting Rivage. Twentey minutes later Gav had narrowed the gap down to single figures, and would surely have caught right up with him if he'd have had another lap. Below are two laps, one onboard with me live during the race and one onboard Gav during his alien-esque stint at the end. Both are encoded with DivX 5.2.1.

Gav Onboard

Esben Onboard

NGPLS - Brands Hatch

2006-04-01T23:13:00.000+02:00

[Tuesday - 21st of March]

Track Map

I actually practised this time around, lapping rather competitively without too much trouble. It's really easy to screw up on this track, particularly in Paddock Hill Bend and the compression at Dingle Dell, so I was going to be prepared for this one. For qualifying I just loaded the car up with race fuel and pootled around for the whole session to get my consistency up. 9th on the grid.

The start was actually completely accident-free, and I could easily settle into a rythm as cars gradually started falling off. Blam, I'm up to third. Unfortunately I spin in South Bank on lap 8, and drop to 4th. I catch him a few laps later, and pull a pass on him in Hawthorne on the next lap. He stays on my six for quite a while, a great help for my concentration, and I keep lapping consistent and quick laps. Gradually I pull away, and I'm all by myself but still going strong.

Then, with two laps to go, the engine starts spluttering. Out of fuel! I reset without losing any positions and set off again. But on the last lap, forgetting about the cold tyres and full tank of fuel, I outbrake myself in South Bank and lose two positions en route to a heartbraking 5th place finish.

Vader Trophy - Rouen

2006-04-01T23:12:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 15th of March]

Track Map

I qualified 9th on the grid, but the car ahead got a slow start and as a result so did I. Repassed a car who spun off in T2, but while trying to pass Alex Martin's Brabham on the outside in T3 (he used a lot of the road :P) my rear wheel hits the grass and I spin. I turn the car around, and before I could say "Oh crap!" I got nailed from behind by a good three cars. One of which went flying into the stratosphere. I get going again behind a slower Eagle, who I collide with under braking for Sanson. Luckily I get going without any spins or damage.

Three laps later I pass Max West just before Paradis, up to 10th! Then on lap 7 I encounter a spun off Ferrari in the Hairpin. I try to pass him on the inside, but lag happens and we both spin. I attempt a reverse 180 (Trust me, I do it all the time), but this one backfired and I....kinda hit him :P. I get passed, but re-take the position when he spins exiting Beuval. Simon Steele has spun in the hairpin, *yoink* up to 9th. Gradually, I start reeling in Alex Martin in the Brabham.

He messes up the hairpin bigtime with three to go, but fearing for my own safety I couldn't get past. He screws up again on the next lap, I get the inside line, but due to him being in the Brabham and me in the BRM the bastard gets ahead again :P. So I resort to the ultra-lunge of death in Sanson, and I would have made it stick if only I'd remembered to shift down to second from third. I stay hot on his six through all the last lap, ready to pounce at any opportunity. He waits until the very last corner on the very last lap to mess up. I go right, he moves over, I go left and get alongside, he moves over on me and we cross the line in a shower of sparks...

He beat me by 0.011 seconds.

The race overall wasn't that great, but the closing laps more than made up for it.

NGPLS - Monaco

2006-04-01T23:11:00.000+02:00

[Tuesday - 7th of March]

Track Map

The plan here was to not, under any cirumstances, crash. A tall order considering the track, but that's why I devised this cunning plan. Thinking everybody else would fall off and I'd just pick my way through the wreckage(s). During qualifying I slowed right the way down at the end of the lap to make sure I started near the back. This division in this league isn't exactly know for clean starts, so I thought I'd maximise my chances of survival by starting at the back.

Sure enough, there was a huge wreck in Saint Devote, and thanks to my low starting position I missed it all. The rest of the 31-lap long race consisted of me driving smooth and consistent laps while most of the rest of the feild crashed and burned. With only a handful of laps to go, I overtook the last car I would pass that race, and cruised in to a strong third position. The plan worked, and for the first time in a while, I was genuinely happy with my result in a GPL race.

WOSEC - Elkhart Lake

2006-04-01T22:53:00.000+02:00

[Saturday - 25th of February]

Track Map

Happy birthday to me, as of the 24th I am officially 17 years old! Woo yay hooray and stuff!

Sim qualified in 23rd, and after almost one hour he'd climbed all the way up to 19th. After Sim handed the car over to me, it was in 17th. Somewhere in my stint I had a somewhat interesting overtaking of the Ringrace car. Where I went left, he went for the middle and the third placed SFH car went for the inside. I go around the Ringrace car, and the SFH car flies into the gravel right in front of my nose, hehe. I hand the car back to Sim in 11th, hoping for a top-10 finish. Unfortunately it was not to be, as I took over the car with 30 laps to go. Going through the last corner, I hit an invisible bump at the end of the kerb. This sends me flying into the inside wall on the right hand side. I hit the wall with the left front side of the car, and the impact actually killed the engine. Game over.

On the plus side, VTR1 won yet agaon, VTR2 came home fifth and VTR3 rounded it off with sixth. I'd post a picture, but I forgot to save the replay and the league admin STILL hasn't posted the server replay yet.

NGPLS -Zandvoort

2006-04-01T22:51:00.000+02:00

[Tuesday - 21st of February]

Track Map

Qualified 4th on the grid with relative ease, and was looking forward to consistantly running to the finish. Unfortunately I got boxed in in T1 by a guy in front braking too much and a guy behind not braking enough. Pretty much the whole field (apart from the leader) got caught up in the carnage, and it took a while for the pack to settle into the race. Crossed the line in 7th and steadily climb my way up to second place 32 laps later, although I almost lost second on the last lap when I went off in the last corner...

Vader Trophy - Silverstone

2006-04-01T22:48:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 2nd of February]

Track Map

Get ready....for the world's shortest race report!

Got good initial getaway. Took it easy. Got caught up in L1 carnage. Lied on head for long period of time before being allowed to reset. Drove a bit. Passed a few cars. Spun. Lost will to continue. Continued. Spun again. Lost will to continue. Continued. Spun in Stowe and ripped off wheel. Retired.

NGPLS - Clermont Ferrand

2006-04-01T22:45:00.000+02:00

[Tuesday - 1st of January]

Track Map

Unfortunately I didn't practise much for this race beforehand. Fortunately I've raced here before, albeit not in the BRM. Things loosened up in qualifying though, and somehow I was able to do consistant laps. I qualified 4th on the grid with race fuel in the tank. The start and first lap was a catastrophe, with me crashing in T1, T2, Le Belvedere and the last corner. Next lap I manage to pass a car and I'm up to 9th.

The rest of the race was just a massive crash/spinfest, luckily a lot more so for the others than me. I eventually ended up in 4th, extremely tired and slightly disappointed with myself for messing up so badly on the first lap.

WOSEC - Norisring

2006-04-01T22:39:00.000+02:00

[Saturday - 28th of January]

Track Map

Ah, Norisring, 2.2 miles/3.7 kilometres of german streets. A perfect place for a 6 hour race! This is the first race of WOSEC's second season, and not only is it at the shortest track yet but we've also set an attendance record with 35 cars qualifying. Vader Trophy Racing enters this race with the simple aim of surviving all the 6 hours. The attendance record is applying for VTR as well, as we entered four cars with two/three drivers per car.

I was given the job of qualifying and starting the race for the VTR4 car, paired with Simon Steele and later with Neil Stratton. I qualified in 16th, in the top half of the grid, and amazingly managed to avoid killing myself to death in the first few laps. And let me tell you, being one of 35 GTP cars snaking through the Norisring circuit is nothing to sniff your nose at. The first laps were really tense, and it took a long time for the field to settle down to a calm (for this track) rythm.

I was pretty consistant throughout my first stint, but I did manage to flip/get flipped about four times (one of which was actually a James Bond style barrel roll). The car was a bit down on power, but she kept going at it until I handed over to Simon in 3rd. In the midst of all these flips, the dE Racing car got taken out by a runaway car in the hairpin, right in front of me. After the driver change we were down in 9th, and Sim did a nice and steady stint without too many moments. Neil Stratton - who was originally going to do a stint in VTR1 but decided to let Gav Wilson, who'se car had been wrecked early on, drive in it instead - then took over and brought us back up through the order.

I took over with about an hour to go, and drove relatively drama free all the way to the finish. I came home in 7th, and VTR1 actually won the whole thing! Forza VTR!

Vader Trophy - Lime Rock Park MC

2006-02-02T16:30:00.000+01:00

[Wednesday - 1st of February]

Track Map

I procrastinated practise for some reason, so I wasn't expecting much for this race. I qualified in 10th after tweaking the setup a bit to stop me from spinning off every other lap. Enough with the heart attack inducing excitement, now on to the snorefest that was my race.

I got a good start, and passed the wreck just as it started. I pass a spinning Kev at the top of the hill and I've gained 4 positions up to 6th. Passing the finish line on the next lap I pass a spun-off Rich and apparently someone else, as I'm now in 4th. He goes for the outside (or rather, I defend the inside) at the hairpin one lap later, but puts a wheel in the grass. Thus granting me half a lap's peace and quiet before he's snapping at my heels once again. He passes without much drama at the top of the hill, and I'm left to the doom that is solitude. I did have a minor high speed slide near the end of lap 9, but due to me being awesome I saved it without much effort at all :P

Hot racing action on lap 12

Exactly 11 über consistant laps after the minor slide, I decide to go for a good laptime and brake a bit later for T1. Thus breaking the first rule of Esben's Big Book Of Racing Rules: "Don't brake late for T1 with less than 5 laps to go". I spin, Kev catches, Kev goes off in the last corner and lets my blood pressure drops slightly. While racing for position a lap or two later I brake a bit late for the hairpin on the second-to-freaking-last lap of the race. Thus breaking the second rule of EBBORR: "Don't brake late for the hairpin on the second-to-freaking-last lap of the race". Slightly miffed, as one might expect, I drive like hell on the last lap and smash my old PB by a second while crossing the line sideways and pouring out tyresmoke.

Here are som pictures of me making a fool of myself with less than two laps to go: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

This is the same story as the last two races: Consistent as f*ck, but get screwed over in the dying laps. One of these days I'm gonna complete a race without spinning off at all...

NGPLS - Monza

2006-01-29T00:12:00.000+01:00

[Tuesday - 24th of January]

Track Map

I hadn't done much practise between the VT race and this one, as my mind was set on beating my old BRM PB at the Nürburgring. To read all about my chase for the PB, and the reason I dedicated it to a girl in my year, go here and read down the page. The lack of practise wasn't to be a problem however, as I was consitently doing 1:30s in practise, and actually managed two laps under 1:30 thus getting me a new PB and 6th on the grid.

My start wasn't exactly world class, and I was passed by a Lotus on the way down to Curva Grande. He braked very early for the Lesmos, and I barely avoid hitting him as I swerve to the left. Riding the wall of death round the outside of the Lesmos doesn't help, a little lag happens and I spin off. Into the path of a Cooper who collides rather spectacularly. Despite this I get going pretty quickly, and actually cross the line in 6th, so I didn't really get that badly affected. The rest of the race was me just basically driving along all by myself, although I did get caught up in a little accident with ten laps to go (video clip at bottom of post). I lost a position due to that, and as a result drive the last ten laps under the red mist. I cross the line in 4th. Not bad, but I seriously think that could have been a 2nd....at least a 3rd.

(8,3 MB - 31 seconds)
Larger image

Vader Trophy - Monza

2006-01-20T14:25:00.000+01:00

[Wednesday - 18th of January]

Track Map

After a day's break (where nothing worked) everything fell into place. I was doing constant 1:31s on race fuel, and 1:30s after emptying the tanks during qualifying. My quickest time was a 1:30.34, which got me 11th on the grid out of 17 drivers. Not bad for Monza :D

I got a good getaway from the line, but got stuck behind a row of 3 cars going 3-wide. My racer's sense started tingling and I lifted off, just enough so I didn't get too involved in the ensuing carnage. Although I hit one of the cars, I only did a 360 and could continue without losing a single position. In fact, I gained four positions on it!

The rest of the race was as un-dramatic as it gets. Consistently hammering the times in and just driving my own race in the Division 2 lead. Richard Dickson did catch me though, and I out-braked myself into the first Lesmo which let him by. I made the same mistake two laps later while looking for a way past, and I lost him. This didn't stop me from getting a new PB on the very last lap, a shiny new 1:30.072.

Finished in 8th overall, and won Division 2 rather comfortably. The season ahead could be very exciting if I can keep up this good form.

Press release

2005-12-31T14:07:00.000+01:00

On the 5th of July earlier this year I announced my quest to get my monster rank under -200 by new year. As it is right now, my monster is at -123 and therefore way off what it should be right now. So seeing as I've failed spectacularly I've decided to up the ante a few notches.

I want to go sub-8 at the Nürburgring in the BRM.

Woah, easy! Have a seat, deep breaths....how many fingers am I holding up? Good, now bear with me.

I am of course well aware that this will be no easy task. I'm just under six seconds away from sub-8 in the Eagle and Ferrari, so doing it in the BRM will take an immense effort. During this quest I will most definately reach the big 7:59 (or under :D) in one of the other cars, but my main objective is to do it in the Beast from Bourne.

My other new year's resolution is to keep this blog more up to date. Most of my reports come out several weeks after the races are finished. That's just not good enough is it? :D

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

NGPLS - Lime Rock Park MC

2005-11-21T20:56:00.000+01:00

[Tuesday - 1st of November]

Track Map

I hadn't done much practise beforehand, and it showed in qualifying: My best time was a 1:50, and that was on my outlap. For some unexplainable reason I was spinning off everwhere, and as a result of that I was unable to clock a respectable time. I ended up 13th and LAST on the grid, boy did I have it all to do...

I got a good getaway for the start, but slowed right the way down for the first corner so that I could pass the spun-off and crashed cars with ease. Unfortunately I got taken out on the run down to the hairpin (1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5). I managed to continue without resetting the car, but it was to be the cause of much pant-wetting later due to the damage I suffered from the prang. After frightening a Lotus off the track in "The Uphill" corner, I could cross the line in a reasonably comfortable 10th.

Two cars in the roadside in Klee, and I advance to 8th. Two Ferraris are fighting into T1 on the next lap, one of them goes off and I advance yet another position. I then screw up exactly one lap later and lose a bunch of positions, re-take a few at the top of the hill due to a minor wreck and 9th is mine. Yet another lap later the Lotus I'm chasing goes off in Klee (where a Ferrari has already had an off) and I go two positions up the standings. I have a spin in the Hairpin (after several lockups on previous laps) but continue without resetting. I suffer yet another spin one lap later in Klee, drop down to 9th, and still don't reset. In hindsight that was rather daft of me but meh, c'est la Vie...

I re-gain 8th after passing a spun off Ferrari in Klee on the next lap, and 7th one lap later in the Esses. A few laps of peace and quiet are to be had, before I get bored and screw up in the Hairpin on lap 12. I take that long-awaited Shift-R and can continue with a car in much better condition than the one I'd had since my L1 prang. That didn't stop me from driving like a....rubbish driver for the next few laps while trying to catch up. Position: 9th after getting caught by someone, me passing him after him spinning off, and finally me having an off and losing two positions.

The leading Honda then decides that now was a good time to approach/lap me, and I have a real brown-trouser moment in T2 (Video clip here). He eventually gets by, and we pass yet another spun-off Ferrari by the roadside and I advance to 8th. I manage to keep him pretty close until his last lap, when he let me through (1) to do battle with the 7th placed car ahead. Unfortunately for him, his engine started disagreeing with him after "The Uphill" (1) and I could sail through to an easy 7th place.

Overall I'd say this was a very disappointing race. I went off far too many times, both due to my lack of practise but also the damage I suffered on lap 1...

Lime Rock Park MC slide

2005-11-21T20:52:00.000+01:00

Right click, Save As (1 MB)

NGPLS - Mexico

2005-10-30T13:26:00.000+01:00

[Tuesday- 18th of October]

Track Map

In the weeks before the race I'd been chasing PBs in other cars on other tracks. Not exactly the best way to practise but hey, it's practise. I started practising BRM/Mexico the weekend before the race, and that's when I realised that I wasn't doing that bad at all. I did a lap two mere tenths of a second slower than my PB, so I was confident in a new personal best time in either qualifying or the race. Unfortunately that was not to be the case but I still managed to put my car 5th on the grid, and practised my starts in the last minutes of qualifying.

The practise starts turned out to be very useful for the start, as I managed to out-drag the car left (and slightly ahead) of me. I braked slightly early for T1 on the inside and he got up alongside me but as the corner tightened, I pulled away and actually passed the car ahead of me. Unfortunately, due to GPL's ancient netcode, he got punted off the track despite us not even touching (sorry!). All the way up in 3rd place, I tried to keep up with the car ahead but he eventually pulled away and I was all alone. Trying to keep the gap at a minimum I pushed a bit too hard and did a 360 in T3, I rejoin just ahead of a Ferrari who pushes me quite hard through the esses. But I pull away entering the straight leading to the last corner, and I can lower my heartrate. Out of T1 I pass a crashed backmarker, and I can see the two leaders on the following straight...

The Hairpin on lap 7

The two leaders collide in the esses on that very lap, and I zip through INTO THE LEAD MOTHERF*CKER! Due to the accident behind me, I get quite a gap down to the next car and can lead the race all alone for 3 laps until he catches me. I take the inside line for T1 but he still tries to sneak inside me...with obvious consequences. Amazingly we can both continue without any noticable damage, and I'm still in the lead. I actually start pulling out a bit of a gap down to the next car, but then my engine goes "KABOOM" on lap 14. After being passed by a good 4 cars and smashed into by one, I continue filled with rage.

I got to spank around the track in a fit of rage all by myself until lap 18, when a Honda caught me in the esses. He goes for the pass in the hairpin on the next lap, but spins and I pull out a small gap. I pass a spun-off car after the hairpin on the lap after that, advancing up to 3rd. The Honda catches me, but this time I take the inside line for the hairpin. I lose all grunt out of the hairpin, however, and he out-drags me. He pulls away and I curse and swear at myself for letting him past. Then on the last lap, he crashes heroically in the hairpin and I can retain my 3rd position for the finish.

Third is alright taking the whole race into consideration, but without that damn blown engine I could bloody well have won, dammit!

(Yet another) Pointless quiz

2005-10-03T12:28:00.000+02:00

The Completely Pointless Personality Quiz

Thundercars mod installation

2005-09-28T23:07:00.000+02:00

Step 1: Download absolutely all necissary add-ons (1.2.0.1 patch, BW Patch, etc.)

Step 2: Download GEM+2
http://55and65.speedgeezers.com/gpl65/downloads.html

Step 3: Install GEM+2 Update
http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=200429

Step 4: Download and install TC mod
http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.php?t=200457

Step 5: Enjoy!

Watkins Glen GTP - Onboard!

2005-09-28T14:54:00.000+02:00

Track Map

Now, for the first time in your life (unless you already own a copy of N2003 and the GTP mod), can see a full onboard lap of the Watkins Glen circuit. This lap is my PB in clear weather conditions, and was done online together with Gav and Rich as practise for the WOSEC race later in the month. So without further adiéu, here it is!

Right click, Save As (18,3 MB)

WOSEC - Watkins Glen GTP

2005-09-27T17:58:00.000+02:00

[Saturday - 24th of September]

Track Map

As always, practise for this race started in the week after the previous one (Tunlanta for those who can't remember). I quickly crafted a setup (basically the gear ratios) for clear conditions, and soon modified it for ultra-long lasting. My pace in the first week suprised the top drivers in mye team (Gav and Rich), as I was never more than a few tenths off them in our online practise sessions (Look to the next post for an onboard lap ^). Heck, I was even leading one of them at one point! Unfortunately this is about the time my PC started acting up. Fortunately I got it up and running the Tuesday before the race, and managed to get back into the groove after my (rather miserable) NGPLS race.

By now the rest of the team had pulled away in terms of laptime, but I was still within about a second of the quickest times, and I was consistent! The time sheets in practise showed mainly 1:34s in clear weather and 1:32s in cloudy. All in race trim of course, so I (as well as the rest of the team, were) was more than ready to take on the 6 hours ahead. But I was also due for another team event, on pretty much exactly the same time as the race itself. Namely a floorball match, in wich I had to take part due to our team being rather down on numbers. So I qualified and did the first stint before dashing off to the game, but here's the qualifying, plus the first stint, in a bit more detail:

I put the car in 8th on the 19-car (or so) grid. Quite impressive if I do say so myself. Got away well without losing any positions and settled nicely into a good rythm, with a 2 second buffer down to- and up to the next cars. I passed a handful of spun off cars littered by the roadside every now and then, and could have found myself in 5th had I not hit one of them. That accident resulted in me being thrown up onto the barrier with nothing to do but call the tow truck, and wait the minute it took to bring my car back to the pits. I Re-entered the track, and I was down to 18th and a lap down. Within half an hour I had clambered my way up to 13th before handing the car over to my teammate "Koop", and rushing off to my match.

Well home a few hours later, and we were in 5th, the VTR2 car was in 2nd and the VTR1 car had lost a gear and crashed because of that. Gav, who was originally going to drive in the VTR1 car, had taken over for Koop and thus saved Koop the agony of a huge stint (or the car just sitting in the pits). After 20 or so laps, I re-took the wheel of our black Jaguar XJ9 and set off for what was going to be my best stint ever. I started off pretty slowly, mainly with 1:35s plus a 1:34 here and there, but gradually made myself feel at home in the 1:34s. Because of Gav taking over, we had reached the minimum amount of required driver changeovers. And since a changeover loses us a lap, I wasn't too keen on doing so as the two cars behind (SFH VROC and Hillcrest Racing) were barely two laps down on me. We all knew they were catching slowly, so I stayed in the car until the end. When driving I never felt particularly nervous, although I can't imagine how Koop and Gav felt, only hearing the occasional update from me via radio.

Hillcrest did a driver change, VROC did a driver change, Hillcrest spun. Hillcrest was now 3 laps down on me, and VROC down 2 due to the fact that they needed more pitstops to do. In the end I trundled home to a very respectable third, in formation with the VTR2 car (white) who came home second. A very impressive drive by everyone in the team, and I'm proud to have been a part of it. Good job guys!

NGPLS - Nürburgring

2005-09-26T10:22:00.000+02:00

[Tuesday- 20th of September]

Track Map

It's the mother of all racing circuits, Nürburgring übes alle!

...and I haven't practised one bit. My copy of WinXP was, um, let's just say it was acting up. Managed to reformat on the day before the race, and got about three laps of practise in. I was experiencing a wierd swerve just before Quiddelbacher Höhe, so I wasn't able to drive 100% as I normally do here. Because of this, no laptimes were logged and I had no idea what to expect for the race, on the very next day. Good thing I know my way around here already...

I entered the server, did the usual outlap and first hotlap. But something was wrong, no laptimes were being logged on my pitboard. I did another lap, but the same problem happened: No laptime! Great. Here I am, at my favorite track, and the server is acting up by not registering my times! I feared the worst for the race, and sat around waiting for the qualifying session to end...

On the grid, second-to-last, and all the other cars disappear within 5 seconds of me arriving. This can't be good. I start off really slowly, well aware of the fact that cars might suddenly appear right in front of me. And that's exactly what happens, in the Südkehre. After picking the bits of debris from my teeth I set off again, slightly demotivated. The rest of the race can be summed up with: Cars disappearing, no laps regisered and severely demotivating. It turns out I ended up in 3rd, so theoretically I could have won the bastard! As I had several unnecissary spins and accidents (the latter beng due to the laggy stuff problems). All I've got to say is: Nice time to pick to be a crappy server!

RIP Michael Park

2005-09-18T20:59:00.000+02:00

Markko Märtin's co-driver, Michael Park, died today in a crash during the Rally of Great Britain. May he rest in peace...

More info

NGPLS - Snetterton

2005-09-11T00:21:00.000+02:00

[Tuesday- 30th of August]

Track Map

This was to be my first NGPLS race in the BRM, and I put in quite a lot of practise beforehand. I set a 1:27.67 quite early in pre-qualifying, and quickly improved to 1:26.1. Was doing consistent 1:27s and set a new PB (1:26.01) on the day before the race, gunning for a 1:25... I didn't get much qualifying done unfortunately, as my pc was acting up and generally just being a nuisance. So I only got 15 minutes to qualify, where I ended up in 10th with a 1:27.5.

This was actually one of my better starts. Probably due to the fact that my BRM is a hell of a lot louder than the other cars, and I could much more easily hear my revs as I dumped the clutch. Because of this I actually managed to ease away from the guy to the left of me, and get alongside the guy ahead by moving across the track. Not wanting to go off in T1, I braked early and I settled into 9th. Unfortunately I ran wide in T1 5 laps later, and lost a load of places. From here until 10 laps from the finish I was on my own, doing 1:28s and 1:27s with the occasional 1:26 blasted in for good measure.

I passed two wrecks, two laps in a row, in T2. As an obvious result of this I gained a crapload of positions, and actually found myself looking at a potential 5th, and very likely 6th. Unfortunately I stuffed it up in the hairpin a few laps later, and dropped down to 8th. I then passed a spun off Ferrari, and could see that I was catching another Ferrari on my pitboard. But with 3 laps to go, he'd had a spin in The Bombhole. I went for the gap on the inside, but he didn't see me, and as a result of that pitched me up on two wheels, and then onto my head... Down to 8th and filled with anger I pushed like the madman I am, and eventually passed a spun off Ferrari in T1. Looking at the gap up to 6th I settled for my current position, and cruised in to finish a highly respectable 7th out of 14 starters.

WOSEC - 6 Hours at Tunlanta

2005-09-08T19:22:00.000+02:00

[Saturday - 27th of August]

Track Map

This was my best ever WOSEC race ever, despite me not having done a single lap before raceday. I was very consistent, rarely lapping outside the 1:17-1:18 range with the occasional 1:16 hammered in for good measure. 3 laps in the middle of my stint, however, were quite the mess due to a lapper not catching my hints about where to pass me. Causing me to go off in T1, and then go off several more times trying to make up the lost time.

Because of my very little practise, I only did one stint in this race. When I wasn't driving, our car had managed to get a stop&go penalty, get flipped on it's roof and have to cope with a fair amount of backmarkers! Despite all this, we managed to clamber our way up to 3rd place overall, a well deserved result if you ask me.

Back on track

2005-09-08T19:15:00.000+02:00

Sorry about the massive break. My PC had gone tits-up, and my simracing carreer kind of ground to a halt as a result of that. I've gotten a new HD (120GB, whee) and a clean install of XP installed a few weeks ago, so everything should be running much more smoothly now.

Another personality test...

2005-08-10T13:18:00.000+02:00

What military aircraft are you?

EA-6B Prowler

You are an EA-6B. You are sinister, preferring not to get into confrontations, but extract revenge through mind games and technological interference. You also love to make noise and couldn't care less about pollution.

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

---

ph34r...

WOSEC - 12 Hours of Sebring

2005-06-29T16:03:00.000+02:00

[Saturday - 25th of June]

Track Map

I got the honour of doing the practise/qualifying/first stint job in the VTR3 #86 car. I spent most of practise just moseying about, checking the gears and trying to be consistant. My qualifying outlap went fine, but for some whacky reason I disconnected entering the corner before the back straight. Connected again, got half an outlap done before another disco. Sprinted upstairs, nicked the network cable from dad's room and plugged it into my PC. Reconnected fine but Happy Hour had started, so we were dead last. No matter, this is a 12 hour race and grid position means nothing for us slower folks.

On the grid I had some graphical glitches, due to my computer not being the most up to date, so I took it nice and easy in the start. Settled into a nice rythm a few laps in, after passing the TPTCC car on the outside into the last corner. There was a small gap up to the WR Racing car, that kept expanding and decreasing. Can't really remember what happened next as the rest of my stint was pretty standard without much action. I handed over to Sim after having a small spin heading onto the backstraight, originally planning on doing an extra lap "just to be safe".

When Graham's gremlins arrived, Gav hopped into the car and reported a smokey and nonresponsive engine. Refusing to belive it I hopped in myself and the car was fine, so I did 6 laps while the rest of the guys tried to figure out what to do. Eventually we all agreed on putting Rich in the car, and he could set off on his extremely ultra-mega-bloody quick stint.

Edited my setup a tiny bit offline, so it was pretty much perfect when I took over after Sim at around the stroke of midnight (here in Norway). We were two laps ahead of the TPTCC car so I just took it really easy (but still doing 1:52s, actually pushed for a few laps near the end and got a 1:49 almost immediately). Unfortunately it got a bit too sloppy near the end after lapping a mono-geared Mazda, when I rode the kerb a bit too much onto the backstraight and I got T-Boned. Minimal damage, I continued, while listening to the soothing and calm words of Rich and Gav. If they would have had their houses to themselves I'm sure they would be yelling "GET THE F***ING CAR TO THE FINISH IN ONE PIECE ALREADY!!!" so thanks for restraining yourselves.

On another, not too important note: I felt a bit like Tiago Monteiro crossing the line: Torn between being happy for the 4th place (wanting to scream "WOOOOOOHOO!" at the top of my lungs) and slightly ashamed for having messed up so much near the end.

Vader Trophy - Oulton Park

2005-06-26T17:54:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 15th of June]

Track Map

I knew there was going to be chaos at T1 so I sandbagged my way through qualifying, almost managing to qualify last. After the green flag was dropped, I engaged first and patiently (read: slowly) made my way toward T1. Sure enough a bunch of cars go off and this time I have loads of time to avoid them, but then I get blasted off the track in Cascades just after saving a huge slide. I reset the car and rejoin dead last, but pass 3 of the cars involved in a 5 car wreck in the hairpin. I pass the two remaining cars as they tangle into Knickerbrook and I'm all by myself in 8th.

I get caught by Gav exiting the hairpin on lap 5. Unfortunately I try to hard to make it through Druids quickly and I exit the asfalt. Needless to say Gav got by, as did Ian so I'm now in 10th. I then proceed to spin off at Cascades on lap 7, luckily without losing position. Then on the same lap, I make a meal of getting around the right hander after the hairpin, and I have a little excursion on the grass. The same happes, on the same lap, at Druids (Sim passes). Another spin in T1 on lap 9 while chasing down Sim, plus an off at Cascades... After a few laps without spins I pass Sim exiting the final corner on lap 13, and can let Neil through to lap me. Sim sneaks through down The Avenue, and we both spin out of Cascades. Of course he is allowed the first reset, so I had to wait twice as long before I could reset my car.

A few laps (and a stupid amount of spins) later I crossed the line in a lousy 11th.

I belive in miracles...

2005-06-06T20:46:00.000+02:00

...so where ya' from?

Download (Right Click - Save As) - 681k

Photos that will never make the news

2005-06-06T08:38:00.000+02:00

http://www.veteranscava.org/photos_that_will_never_make_the.htm

Please take a look and pass it on.

Back with a vengeance

2005-06-04T12:39:00.000+02:00

Jumped into a pickup race today with my fellow Monster Masher, Topi, at Rouen a few hours ago. After the race I submitted my player.ini to GPLRank and this is what came up...
-----------------
Update time: Rouen-les-Essarts 1967, BRM time 1:58.748 session P improvement -0.761
Update time: Rouen-les-Essarts 1967, BRM time 2:00.210 session R improvement -0.121

GPLRank score = -33.814 (no change)
Monster of GPLRank score = -109.930 (change of -0.761)
-----------------
If you have GPL, you can download the replay of my lap here.

Vader Trophy - Rouen

2005-06-02T21:23:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 1st of June]

Track Map

As you already know, I have taken a (some say unhealthy) liking to the BRM. Due to this I decided to swap to the tank for Vader Trophy, as I could see myself having a lot more fun in it as opposed to the Cooper. An hour or two before the race I was consistently doing 2:00s so I was looking forward to the race.

I beat my old PB in qualifying with a 1:59.5 placing me 11th on the grid, a tenth of a second behind Jannis Koopman's Ferrari and over a second ahead of Jamie Mason's Cooper. My start was not exactly good seen as I spun off in the first corner, but I didn't collect anyone and I actually avoided the customary lap 1 wreck. By the end of lap one I was all the way up in 7th place, having passed several crashed/spun out cars. I drove steadily until lap 4 when Gav in his Cooper made a wee mess of his braking for Scierie, and we touched. I got going without getting passed, but I made a real mess of T1 and got passed by two Ferraris.

I didn't trust Gav with the inside for Scierie for the next lap (:P) so I moved over, barely keeping him behind. I run wide in T1 and Gav is alongside me, we go into T2 side by side and I exit just ahead of him but I also run wide. He goes for a run around the outside for the right hander, but unfortunately I squeezed him off the track. On lap 7 I catch Gui's (ridculously slow) Lotus into Gresil, and in my rush to get by I touch him and do a complete corkscrew, thus losing two places. I do a series of pirouettes in T1 on lap 9, but can keep my 11th position. I drive more or less all by myself from lap 7 to lap 15 when I pass my teammate Chris Kirk (Brabham) plus Gui after the last corner, and a flying Mark Egan after T1.

I cross the line just over a second ahead of Kirky, and eleven econds behind Ian Woolham. Finally I managed to finish a VT race and not feel disappointed with the result.

"It puts hair on your chest!"

2005-05-31T13:36:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I joined a pickup race at Monza, 'cause I was bored and that was the server with the most drivers. I moved the shifter knob to the left side and entered the server in the Beast From Bourne, I was ready to kick ass! And indeed did I kick ass, doing a 1:30.77 in qualifying I beat my old PB by half a second, and this was with a shifter knob as opposed to the paddles I used to use. The race was good fun, with various battles with various cars. Most fun was a pass I made on a Lotus into T1: I slipstreamed all the way from Parabolica, he took the inside for T1, I downshifted and slid around the outside of him :D

After that I had a nice chat with the aliens in VROC, before quitting and going to bed a happy camper.

WOSEC - Spa (Night)

2005-05-29T00:30:00.000+02:00

[Saturday - 28th of May]

Track Map

After the disaster that was Silverstone, I had no intentions to start the race whatsoever. Besides, Spa is a very narrow track when in a Sauber C9 at night and I still haven't gotten the hang of close proximity racing in the Sauber. The start, or should I say starts, were a joke. The race had to be restarted at least 10 times due to The pacecar refusing to go up Eau Rouge, Pileups and cars going missing after the said events.

When the race eventually got going, my car got pushed off the track at Les Combes. No damage done and we continued, eventually settling into a 15th place after the first few laps. Everything went really smooth until not long after refueling/changing tyres, when the car suddenly went off on the exit of Stavelot. The car was too damaged to continue and we were forced to retire our car.

But there was still hope that the primary car could win, as it was leading by well over 40 seconds after the first driver change. But after a mere 3 laps the ignition died on the way to Blanchimont, also being forced to retire... The VTR2 car lasted until a while into the first driver's second stint, when his PC crashed causing him to crash hard into the wall and severely b0rking up the car. There you have it, all cars out of the race.

Now you, my screaming fans, can watch me race :P

2005-05-28T12:11:00.000+02:00

Download NRTV and type in 195.20.109.80 in the IP adress field. I'll be in the VTR3 #86 car doing the 2nd stint and 4th & last stint, the race starts 12:30 BST / 13:30 CET.

It's here!

2005-05-25T17:34:00.000+02:00

My beloved MOMO Racing arrived at the post office yesterday at 15:00, and I picked it up 2.5 hours after that (had to wait for dad to come home+have dinner). As soon as I got home I went straight to the PC, put it all together and fired up GPL. Now I knew that there'd be no Force Feedback, since GPL was made before the days of FF, but it still felt a bit wierd. It also felt rather strange in GTR, but after increasing the sensetivity a few clicks it was perfect (despite the lack of FF). I raced around Donington all the rest of the night, trying to "find my car" until it was almost 23:00 and I had to go to bed, boo-hoo.

Had a few practise laps at Spa to get a feel for the track/wheel, and I now know how it works to put it that way. I still need to work on consistency, so I'll devote most of tomorrow to that. I'll also be re-formatting the PC to try and fix a few problems I've been having (not a virus, but it's messed up my fonts) and see if the FF will also start working.

Can't wait! :D

2005-05-22T21:25:00.000+02:00

Ordered the wheel last night, it should take 2-3 business days to ship so I'm eagerly awaiting Wednesday to come. As soon as I get it I'll have to:

*Test GTR which I bought on Saturday
*Test a new track (Panchine) released for GPL
*Practise for the WOSEC race at Spa on Saturday

The WOSEC race is during the nighttime, so I have also gotten a pair of Nightvision goggles for that little edge.

Still out of stock

2005-05-21T18:01:00.000+02:00

I went down to the electronics shop today, and it still doesn't have any MOMO Racing wheels in stock. It's quite a sought after wheel, so I'm not the only one anxious to get one...

I did, however, get my hands on GTR. Something I have been looking into doing for quite some time now. I still have no idea when the wheel will be back in stock, so I might just order it online. The shipping has to be quick, as there is a WOSEC race next weekend...

I am Jaques Villeneuve

2005-05-20T21:59:00.000+02:00

Take the F1 drivers quiz on supersonicsquirrel.net

OEGL here I come

2005-05-19T22:14:00.000+02:00

I have submitted a request to join the Open European GPL League, which is a casual league ideal for the occasional race in the summer. Several other fellow racers from NGPLS will be participating as well, Espen Baklid among others. I think I'll chose the BRM despite it's reputation as "The Tank", because it is one of my favorite cars and it's a casual league so results won't matter.

I'm looking into buying a new wheel, as my old Logitech Wingman FGP has gone senile (see previous posts). I've got my eye on getting a Logitech MOMO Racing, I'm just looking for the best offer. There is a really cheap alternative but doesn't ship outside the UK, so I'll probably be walking out of a shop with it rather than down to the post office...

NGPLS - Watkins Glen

2005-05-11T21:09:00.000+02:00

[Tuesday - 10th of May]

Track Map

I spent most of qualifying in vein trying to help someone get into the server, he was on his brother's PC with orders not to d/l anything. So he couldn't d/l the necissary programs to get into the server (long story short). My poor old veteran of a wheel (Logitech Wingman Formula GP) has gone senile, as you might already know after my dLeague race at Magny Cours. Both the wheel and throttle were spiking, plus pushing the brakes not even half way down would lock up the wheels. Because of this I filled up the car for 10 laps worth of fuel as I knew I wouldn't last 33 laps with the state of my wheel...

Needless to say I was way off pace. I started last, and the only reason it didn't stay that way was because of other people crashing. I miraculously avoided a massive crash at T1 on the next lap (or so) and stumbled on. Pitted brutally by smashing myself into a wall of hay (no time to lose, who needs those silly "brakes" thingies?) after a while and carried on, this is when the crappiness takes over. I get passed time and time again, and when I spin off in the loop after starting lap 16 I realised that this wasn't fun anymore. So I retired, sad but true.

Quote of the week

2005-05-08T01:22:00.000+02:00

"We have all the bloody problems..." - Peter Gethin

I dropped out of the WOSEC race due to my brake pedal failing, for then the camshaft to go bust on lap 81 out of 298. Then the pedals stopped bloody working, after clening out the pedals for a ridiculous amount of crap (thanks dad, btw) they worked again. I got smashed and bashed and crashed in the VT Nurburgring race, my favorite track of them all, working my arse off for a non-point 8th position.

Then in dLeague I arrive late for the start, despite practising on the same server for several hours before the race. Problems start brewing near the end (read report for more detail) and now my accelerator pedal is spiking and my brakes are so good I only have to push them halfway down before my wheels lock up.

I'm hoping to be able to reformat my computer tomorrow, since I've also been having a ridiculous problem with fonts not showing up. If not I might miss the last race of the NGPLS season at Watkins Glen on Tuesday, and that might just make me blow up due to severe stress and frustration.

Rant over.

dLeague - Magny Cours

2005-05-06T12:58:00.000+02:00

[Thursday - 5th of May]

Track Map

I had to reboot, due to me not being able to get into the server, and once I made it in the race had already started. Luckily I got to start from the pits (1 lap down) so I set off into 62 laps of pure mental and physical fatigue. Had a spin once every 10 laps or so, and got a black flag for spinning while cutting a corner, there is no tjustice in this world... A few cars fell out of the race and I eventally found myself all the way up in 7th place from 12th. But those bloody brakes started fading (despite my recent cleaning of them), so I pitted and recalibrated the wheel. Re-entered and everything was fine until around 5 laps left, when the wheel would spike to the left into the quick right-handers. The throttle also hung wide open into the last corner, causing some damage to the nose. Spun while cutting a chicaine with 1.5 laps to go, and just went for the finish. Punishing me for that would be like rewarding Tony Blair for accidentally killing Derek Bell.
The Finish

Vader Trophy - Nürburgring

2005-05-06T12:39:00.000+02:00

[Wednesday - 4th of May]

Track Map

I took Turn 1 niiiiiice and sloooooow. A bit too nice and definately a bit too slow for the dude who sent me flying in T3 (cheers, m8 :)). After waiting for everyone to pass I could embark on an übercrappy first lap, including the out-taking of a ridiculousy slow Lotus just before Kesselchen.

I saw a loose wheel passing "The Tree" on the nest lap, so I knew I was catching someone. I almost avoided a Ferrari/Eagle crash in the hedges (The wheel probably belonged to one of them), I only grazed the hedge so I continueed unharmed. No lift at Tiergarten, and a new lap. Unfortunately I El Crappified the triple left after Breischeid and smashed my poor Cooper against the wall, luckily I managed to stop the car and reset before anyone came and stole my position. No lift at Tiergarten this time either.

Around 30 seconds up to Stuart Knibbs so I pushed. But I had a lazy little spin just after the Karussell and the gap was up to around 50. Blitzed the next lap and the gap was down to 27, blitzed again but never got Stu within eyesight (although I heard him into T1 and Karussell on the last two laps).

All in all, a pretty lonely race with not too much going on after Lap 2.
The Finish

Test post

2005-05-06T10:35:00.000+02:00

Here comes a test post, I hope this works. Laa-dee-daa.
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