Vader Trophy - Lime Rock Park MC

[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

[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.


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Vader Trophy - Monza

[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

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

[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

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NGPLS - Mexico

[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

The Completely Pointless Personality Quiz

Thundercars mod installation

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!

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!


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WOSEC - Watkins Glen GTP

[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

[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

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

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NGPLS - Snetterton

[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

[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

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...

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

[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

[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...

...so where ya' from?


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