F1 2011 Race Report-RaceDepartment Random Fun Series 8 Singapore

Team: McLaren
Participants: 4 + 8 Legend AI
Qualifying: P3
Race: P2
Objective: Finish 10th or better PASSED

Qualifying:
Run 1 Slight damage to front wing after I locked up under braking coming out of the pits too fast and got into the barrier. 1:37.759 on the option tyre, good for P2. Run 2 Go out again on options with enough time for 1 hot lap. As I start my hot lap, Jaegermeister pips me and I drop to P3. I clock a 1:35.446 and get back into P2 behind FrenziedSine. Benny is on a hot lap as time expires and I'm doing my in lap. He JUST pips me for P2 by THREE THOUSANDTHS OF A SECOND. On PRIMES. Well done, sir. *clap clap* I was still extremely pleased to out qualify Jaegermeister, who only managed a 1:36.647, 1.2sec slower.

Race:
Lap 1 Get a fantastic jump at lights out. I keep Jaegermeister behind me going into turn 1. Benny goes way wide into the runoff giving me P2. FrenziedSine goes wide as well, but recovers quickly enough to keep me behind him. He then gets wide into the runoff at turn 7 and I go by to claim the lead!!! Lap 2-3 Holding on to P1. Lap 4 Set the early fast lap of the race! Lap 5 Defending against FrenziedSine. Lap 6 FrenziedSine gets DRS on me coming down start/finish, but WAY overshoots on the inside trying to outbrake me into turn 1. I say a thank you prayer that we didn't collide and drive on still in P1. Lap 7 Defending against FrenziedSine. The tries an outbraking maneuver again on the inside at turn 14 and overshoots across in front of me into the runoff. Another thank you prayer for no collision. Still P1!!! Lap 8 Major mistake as I overshoot the pit entry and end up back out on track. Surely in real life this would have gotten me a major penalty? At least I didn't take my front wing off on the pit wall. I thought for sure I was going to. Jaegermeister does get by though. Down to P2. Fortunately, FrenziedSine has pitted behind me. Lap 9 Pit stop for new options. Come out P6. Lap 13 Having passed a couple of AI drivers while they pitted, I am running in P4 (but last of human drivers). Up ahead, benny has gone off at turn 17. He comes back on track just in front of me, but his tires must be gone because he gets sideways out of turn 19, letting me past for P3. Lap 15 Scary moment when an AI car coming out of the pits hits me as I'm going past the exit. Tires skid, but thankfully I save myself from spinning. Up ahead, Jaegermeister destroys his car and the safety car comes out. I am now P2. I decide to take a strategic gamble and pit now for primes. It just might have paid off too... Benny goes past and I come out just behind him in P3. Then I make a major mistake going too fast out of the pit exit and I take my front wing off going wide into the barrier. Really. The safety car holding up the field is a blessing somewhat, but I'm gutted about the opportunity lost. Lap 16 Go into the pits for a new wing and drop one spot to the AI, dropping back to P4. My crew has fitted some scrubbed options. Time to make some hay and see what I can salvage. Lap 19 Another safety car! Pass FrenziedSine while he's pitted for P3. Lap 21 I passed one of the AI cars while they were pitted to get P2. Telemetry has been showing benny in P1, and I see him on screen driving behind the safety car. The game suddenly unlags and I find that I am actually the one in the lead! I must have passed benny while he was pitted or something and didn't know it because of lagged telemetry. Through a little luck with the safety car I have the lead back, and FrenziedSine and I are about to start round 2 of our duel when the safety car goes in at the end of the lap. I get a good jump at the restart and the fight is back on. Lap 22 Defending as FrenziedSine and benny swap back and forth behind me. Lap 23 I've been doing a good job of making my car as wide as possible and holding FrenziedSine back but I make a mistake, a mental lapse, and distracted, I brake too late for turn 7 and get wide, letting him by. Damn. Back to P2. I've got benny right on my tail, and one stop yet to make, but I get a gift when he goes wide into the runoff at turn 8 and drops way back behind at least one AI car. Lap 29 Final planned pit stop. I ask for primes, which should get me to the end of the race. AI driver gets by just as I'm coming out, dropping me down to P3. Lap 30 Get P2 back from AI coming out of turn 13 (pretty much the same pass that FrenziedSine made on me to take away the lead back on lap 23). Lap 38 Benny destroys his car. Another safety car! Scary moment when I take turn 18 a little too hot, but I keep it out of the wall and get back under way without losing much. With benny out and the AI no threat, I decide to make an extra stop to ensure I have tires that will easily make it to the end. Lap 40 I've caught up with the queue behind the safety car before the restart. I'm within about 6sec of FrenziedSine when the green flags wave. Lap 41 By turn 14 FrenziedSine has added another 3sec to his lead. He's too fast. 6sec per lap faster than I am on max revs. Lap 46 Finish P2 under the lights at Marina Bay on the lead lap!

This race was a lot more fun than I expected with only 4 real human beings. It was also pretty fun racing at Singapore when the real life Grand Prix had just taken place earlier that day. There was no shortage of drama, that's for sure! It was more outlast than outrace for me, but knowing the nature of Singapore, and its ultra low margin for error, I figure my P2 and how I got it means a little more than it would somewhere else. I certainly appreciated the help I got from the safety car! Whether it was a worthy, honest podium or not, I came away from it really happy because I felt that I was able to demonstrate another real step up in my racecraft. And I had a race with no spins! Finally! I do know its likely that I would have at least beaten benny for P3. I don't think that he had the pace to catch me before the end, so his crash out was moot. Jeagermeister? Well, he made a serious mistake that I didn't. You have to be able to keep it out of the wall, and its becoming clearer to me that I excel at that kind of discipline. My only DNFs were both at Monaco, one of them a rookie mistake, and the other a freak touch of the wall (I consider what happened that time to be more of a glitch). That discipline is earning me positions and creating opportunities over "faster" drivers. What's really been putting a smile on my face though are the words FrenziedSine himself had to say on the forums post-race:

"Great racing from both SLIDERZ and Benny who must have the widest cars on the planet but sill kept it clean."

"SLIDERZ still did a great job of stealing the lead and driving sensibly. I was thinking to myself the whole time I can't let a girl beat me and I don't want to mess up her race either by running in to her."


"I was probably desperate at that point...making so many passing attempts (that I couldn't make stick) that I probably thought it was now or never."

So I did well enough to get him frustrated back there eh? Hehe...Really means a lot to me since defending properly against real human players is still so new to me, and something I've really been concentrating on improving. I take it as a huge compliment coming from a driver who is so much better than I am. Did a great job once again in the early laps keeping it controlled and on track, capitalized cleanly on mistakes by the other guys, and really did a good job defending. I was also happy to see that starting on options worked out for me. Super happy with this race! And all under the lights at Marina Bay...


By the way, here's Jaegermeister's race edit video... It gives a good look at the defending I was doing against both he and FrenziedSine in the opening laps of the race.


Race Department Random Fun League Stats
Starts: 6
Finishes: 5
Best Grid: P3
Best Race: P2
Podiums: 2
Wins: 0
Points: 65
League table rank: 5th of 10

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Race Department Lifetime Club Stats
Starts: 10
Finishes: 8
Best Grid: P3
Best Race: P2
Podiums: 2
Wins: 0
Points: 84

F1 2012 The Game First Impressions (XBOX 360)

At first blush, the temptation was to hate F1 2012. But I gave it a chance, and I started to realize pretty quickly that perhaps what I was disliking was the loss of unrealistic elements of 2011 that had me super spoiled. In short, F1 2012 no longer lets you get away with any shenanigans. No more mashing on the accelerator, no more charging in and braking late, no more going wide...and no more holding full throttle for lights out. You heard me. You have to start properly now, or you will quite literally stay in place spinning your wheels and wasting some perfectly good rubber. Mash on the accelerator too much or too soon out of a turn, and you will spin, even with full traction control. Better make sure you are completely finished braking and are hitting the entry speed for a corner spot on before you turn in, and don't just whip into the turn either, or at best you're going to slide...at worst you are going to spin. You will spin if you begin to turn in while still on the brakes. A lot of this I think comes as a result of not having the blown diffuser effect as part of the handling model this year. I think too that it's just more realistic handling in general compared to what we could get away with in F1 2011. F1 2012 requires smooth, properly placed inputs in combination with a good setup to get around the track without incident. You can no longer throw the cars back and forth with the kind of gay abandon we were all used to before. I admit to balking at this somewhat when first going through the Young Driver Test mode. Definitely spoiled by the old "on rails" way of doing things, which was a bit of a stretch in terms of realism, blown diffuser or no. I found that I got used to the new handling pretty quickly, and was actually finding the more challenging nature of it a bit more fun because I did have to use proper technique and I did have to be more careful. Soon enough I was flying around the track pretty easily, and I noticed, a lot more like the real life drivers.  The hardest thing for me to adjust to has been the behavior of the car under and immediately following braking. Very hard not to slide at all unless your entry speed is spot on. And we do want to keep sliding to a minimum so as not to destroy those sensitive tires!  There does seem to be something underlying about the handling, perhaps the things they brought back from F1 2010, that seem like a step backward from F1 2011. But again, maybe its just that we had it too easy last year. I do think we could have done without the return of the hyper sensitive curbing though. Gave me fits at Singapore!

It seems that things have been evened out between assist vs no/low assist drivers, in that I felt like the assists were far less help but still enough (I use ABS, full TC & auto gears), or in the case of auto gears it seemed like the gearbox was smarter, if that makes sense, though I will have to see what happens once my racing club makes the move to using F1 2012. I do know that the advantage manual gears drivers used to have is gone, since you can no longer rapid downshift the way they do in 2011 without blowing the engine. I am also happy to report that going wide off track is now punished and if you're not careful you will even spin if you try to keep going flat out (I know, because it happened to me). Track cutters and go widers, you have been warned.

More care required in handling, more discipline with respect to the boundaries of the track...it definitely seems to me that it is the disciplined driver who uses the right amount of care who will be most rewarded by this game. Music to my ears! The shenanigans of old will no longer work.

There is just one thing I am disappointed with. The graphics. Now I freely admit that I am playing an HD game on a standard def screen, but F1 2012 looks almost cartoony by comparison. I much preferred the looks of F1 2011. Everything is too smooth and somehow off, although the car liveries are gorgeous. The cinematics and replays got a great upgrade too. In particular, while I like the new cockpit view as far as what it offers me for driving view, I think the lack of detail is almost laughable. It isn't much better than the cockpit view on F1 2011 for the Vita. Not too good. I can overlook it though. Its a great game. And maybe it'll look different when I get my HD tv.

For some people this game might be a try-before-you-buy, but I encourage everyone to give it a fair chance before you make a final decision. It was a must buy for me just for the inclusion of Circuit of the Americas. It is not broken by any stretch of the imagination. Just different. I'm of the opinion that a little more discipline and care in ones driving will bring them back up to the level they enjoyed in F1 2011. If you don't have one of these F1 games yet...well. Get F1 2011 first.

By the way, I was using my Microsoft Wireless Speed Wheel. I found a dead zone of 2% and throttle saturation of 50% with everything else default to give me performance equal to what I had before in F1 2011. I was peeved that I couldn't navigate some menu screens because it was mapped to the LB/RB that my wheel lacks, but nothing that was required for playing was affected at all. I will warn speed wheel users that you have to do some finagling to get through the part of the Young Driver Test where your are first in the garage and they want you to press the shift up/down buttons. I assigned them to A and B, then pressed them as instructed in the test. Then I paused, reset my configuration by selecting the default xbox 360 wheel profile (if I didn't do this it said my configuration was invalid when I changed buttons back for some reason), then reassigned my buttons the way I wanted them. I have KERS on X, DRS on Y, car status B, and Look Back on A. Everything else is default.

Below are videos of me participating in the Young Driver Test at Abu Dhabi (for Red Bull of course), doing the RaceNet challenge at Singapore, and doing a 5 lap race with quali at Circuit of the Americas (again driving for Red Bull).

F1 2011 Race Report-RaceDepartment Weekly Fun Series Valencia & RandomFun Series 7 Silverstone

Weekly Fun Series Valencia

Team: Red Bull
Participants: 15
Qualifying: P14
Race: P5
Objective: Finish P15 or better PASSED

Qualifying:
Run 1 Mistake turning in at final turn. Cut the corner and disqualified what would have been a decent banker lap. Run 2 forgot to close DRS around turn 1 and spun. On second hot lap attempt I get hit from behind and spun into the wall, puncturing on of my rear tires. I never got in a hot lap and finish the session in P14.

Race:
Lap 1 Ground into the wall by Warleb as he goes past into turn 1, dropping me to P15. Jaegermeister goes wide at turn 4 but shoves back past. Bloodybullet goes wide at turn 8, and I go past for P14. Nachirri goes wide at turn 12 and I scoot past for P13. Pass a couple drivers having an apparent yard sale in the runoff area at turn 17. Wave at them as I go past and move up to P11. Lap 2 Carnage ahead of me around turn 5, but I'm not quite able to capitalize and squeak past Rob. Hit from behind by bloodybullet as I'm slowing and turning in to turn 8, but it works to my advantage as I stay in control and slip past Rob on the inside of turn 9, claiming P10 as I cross the bridge. Then Rob disconnects. Bloodybullet tries to go outside into turn 12 and hits me heavily, pushing me into the wall. Fortunately only slight damage to front wing and I'm able to continue with no ill effects. Drop to P11. Bloodybullet gets wide around turn 17 and I take back P10. He pulls into the pits at the end of the lap before disconnecting. Lap 3 Scing collides with me around turn 8 and shoves me over through turn 9, dropping me to P11. Lap 4 Chasing Scing and the rest of the pack. Have DRS but can't capitalize. Too hot into turn 17, then wide around turn 19. Pack gets away. Lap 6 Mistake at turn 2, but fortunately I don't take my wing off. Scing has gone WAY off at turn 17 and I go past for P10. Lap 7 Pass MurKzZz while he's pitted for P9. Lap 9 Chasing BB Juggernaut. Lap 10 Jaegermeister has gone into the runoff at turn 2. Then BB Juggernaut makes a mistake exiting turn 5 and pinballs off the wall and across the track. I avoid getting tangled up in it and move up two spots to P7. Pass Anthony while he's pitted for P6. Lap 12 Pass Carver while he's pitted for P5. Lap 13 Pass MurKzZz while he's pitted for P4. Lap 16 Near collision with lagged FrenziedSien car! Pass Warleb while he's pitted for P3. Lap 17 Being lagged out, I am unable to defend against Anthony and Giles coming up behind. Drop to P5. Pit stop for options. Come out just in front of MurKzZz in P7. Lap 19 MurKzZz gets into the back of me and pushes me wide at turn 8. Drop to P8. Acceleration mistake out of turn 9 onto bridge. Slight damage to wing but I'm ok. Lap 21 Catch MurKzZz while he's pitted for P6. Lap 24 Caught up to Warleb, then he pits, giving me P5. I just get in front of Anthony coming out of the pits to grab P4. Lap 25 Pass Carver while he's pitted for P3. Lap 27 Set fastest lap of race up to that point! Lap 28 Anthony hits me from behind going into turn 8 and goes past, dropping me to P4. Lap 30 Final pit stop, for options. Carver gets past. Come out in P5. Lap 31 Warleb shoves me wide around around turn 4. Drop to P6. Then the game suddenly drops me to P7??? Get DRS on Warleb, and almost get him at turn 12. A little contact but no harm done. Lap 32 Warleb overlooks turn 2 and I go past to take back P6. Lap 38 Battle for P5 with Carver. Almost catch him at final turn. Lap 39 DRS is on the fritz. Even then I almost get the pass on Carver into turn 12. Almost get him again in final turn. Lap 40 Overtake at turn 2 for P5, but I can't make it stick and Carver shoves me wide into the wall exiting turn 3. I get hit heavily from behind by Scing braking for turn 4, driving me into Carver who's turning in and spinning me around 360. Somehow I escape with no damage. Drop to P7. Valer disconnects giving me P6 by attrition. Lap 41 Chance at Carver when he goes wide at turn 8 but he recovers too fast. Lap 42-43 Battle to the checkered flag with Carver. Finish on the lead lap. At the post race screen I see that I have actually finished in P5. Lag was giving me incorrect telemetry. Best fun series finish so far woo hoo!

It would be tempting to be disappointed with P5, but really based on pace I think it was what I deserved. Maybe more than I deserved considering that I had major lag issues again. It was just super frustrating to be unable to defend against anyone coming up behind. Still any way you look at it, P14 to P5 is one hell of a drive. And I ticked so many boxes on things I wanted to accomplish and improve. Had a best finish in this series, massively improved race craft across the board that kept me out of trouble and really moved me up in the early going. I even clocked a fast lap of the race, and held on to it for quite some time! Also, this epic drive was a very honest one, which is to say I was only gifted one spot courtesy of attrition in front of me. All the rest happened behind, and I was out racing them anyway when the incidents occurred. I managed that race stellar from top to bottom, and my spin wasn't something that I could do anything about. It wasn't over aggression, just bad positional luck in an unfortunate spot on track. It may not have been a podium but it feels like it was, just because of the vast improvement I had in my driving, and the fact that I was flying around that track. Not to mention I beat Giles and Jaegermeister fair and square, two guys that I usually can't even get close to. That by itself was almost as good as grabbing the win would have been.

Race Department Weekly Fun Series Stats

Starts: 4
Finishes: 3
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P5
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 19


Random Fun Series 7, Silverstone

Team: Red Bull
Participants: 8 + 4 Legend AI
Qualifying: P4
Race: P4
Objective: Finish 8th or better PASSED

Qualifying:
Run 1 1:29.760 on primes, 1 hot lap. This was good enough for 2nd behind FrenziedSien right up until about 5min to go, when Jaegermeister bumped me down to P3. Run 2 During my 1 hot lap, again on primes, Dizz bumps me to P4. I improve to 1:28.563 but stay in P4.

Race:
Lap 1 Didn't have the best getaway at the start. A bit of wheel spin and I drop to P5 as we get up to speed. Also didn't really have room for any kind of maneuver through turn 1. Better to be careful. Big off from Jaegermeister at turn 6 and I go past to take P4. Lap 3 Little hot on exit of maggots/becketts and I lose my opportunity to get superman. Lap 4 Almost get superman inside at turn 3 and again through 4 & 5 but can't make it stick. Starting to have to pay attention to benny behind me as well. Lap 5 Contact with superman at the chicane. He doesn't hit me very hard at all, but I still get spun. Benny gets by, dropping me to P5. Lap 6 Benny loses control coming out of turn 5 and careens back across the track. I'm able to avoid him and take back P4. Lap 9 I've reeled superman back in. Lap 10 Superman starts gapping me but pits at the end of the lap giving me P3. Also catch Dizz while he's pitted for P2. Lap 12 Just get in front of FrenziedSine as he comes out of the pits to grab P1! Lap 13 I'm doing a good job holding off FrenziedSine until I get a little wide going in to turn 15 and he shoots past on the inside. Maybe I should have protected the inside a little better, too, but it was almost inevitable with me on worn primes and him on fresh options + being a faster driver period. Down to P2. Lap 17 Primes are pretty shot and whole lap was off race pace so I pit a lap early for my options. Dizz and Jaegermeister go past. Come out in P4, but I'm still leading superman. Lap 20 Superman had gotten within 10sec, but I've built a gap out to 13.3sec. Catch Jaegermeister while he's pitted for P3. Lap 28 Last stop, for options. I had 25sec over Jaegermeister when I hit pit lane, but it's not quite enough for the delta and he passes me just as I'm coming out, dropping me back to P4. Lap 39 Finish in P4 on the lead lap.

Was not happy about having another spin. I think I'm still somewhat lagged out in these smaller races and drivers keep turning in on me thinking I am further back. Frustrating that I can't really use the inside under braking attack because of it. I don't think it cost me much in the end since I beat superman by 35+ sec. Don't know if I would have beat benny had he not crashed out but that's moot really. He made a mistake that I didn't and I had it all over him from there up until his DNF. I was far less happy about being held up by 3 different AI backmarkers at critical points during my attempt to charge down Jaegermeister for a podium in the closing laps. I could have been within 1-2sec if not directly fighting it out with him to the flag. Ah well... I did learn a lot about how fast a driver I really am in this race, and based on that I am contemplating a change in tire strategy that may give me a better crack at the podium going forward.

Race Department Random Fun League Stats
Starts: 5
Finishes: 4
Best Grid: P4 (x3)
Best Race: P3
Podiums: 1
Wins: 0
Points: 47
League table rank: 5th of 10

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Race Department Lifetime Club Stats
Starts: 9
Finishes: 7
Best Grid: P4 (x4)
Best Race: P3
Podiums: 1
Wins: 0
Points: 66

F1 2011 Race Report - RaceDepartment Random Fun Series Budapest

Team: Lotus
Participants: 5 + 7 Legend AI
Qualifying: P5
Race: P3
Objective: Finish 11th or better PASSED

Qualifying:
I set my best lap on the first of two runs on primes doing one hot lap. 1:16.420 gave me P4 up until the very end when benny nipped me for that spot, dropping me to P5, last place among the human drivers.

Race:
Lap 1 Spin coming through the first corner after some minor contact with Giles. The rebound off of him in concert with my trying to accelerate ruined traction and around I went. I DID come into the turn hotter than I wanted. Unfamiliar car + wet setup + high fuel = oops. All of us coming in there 4 wide probably didn't help either but of course I was the only one that spun out *sigh*. Really must learn how not to continue having this problem. I righted myself pretty quick and press on in P12, dead last. Then benny wrecks out in the final turn! P11. Lap 2 I'm finishing my pass on Schumie (AI) for P10 just as the safety car is deployed and I get a drive through penalty for passing under safety car. UGH. Lap 4 Safety car goes in, and I dive for the pits to serve my drive through. Drop back to P11, dead last again. Lap 9 Get the DRS pass on Schumie (AI) AND Maldonado (AI) to claim P9. Lap 10 I've caught up to Giles and start pursuing through traffic. Lap 11 DRS pass on Massa (AI) for P8 but I overcook it going into turn 1 and go wide and he takes the position back. I finally get him for good entering the chicane. Lap 12 DRS pass on Webber (AI), but again too hot into turn 1 and I get into contact with Rosberg (AI) as he turns in on me and have another spin, which drops me to P10. Lap 13 Catch pitting drivers to claim P6. Lap 14 Catch Massa (AI) when he pits for P5. Lap 15 Pit stop. I ask for another set of primes instead of the scheduled options to make sure I don't have to stop again before the rain comes. Drop to P9. Lap 17 Pass on Schumie (AI) for P8. Lap 18 DRS pass on Webber (AI) for P7. Lap 19 DRS pass on Hamilton (AI), but he gets it back when I get wide through turn one after he hits me going aggressively inside. Scary moment as I come up on and thankfully drive through a ghosted crashed car. Now P6. Lap 20 DRS pass on Hamilton (AI) and this time I make it stick through turn one to take P5. Rain drops start to fall. Lap 23 DRS pass on Alonso (AI) for P4. Lap 24 Its getting pretty wet, so I decide its time to pit for inters. Drop to P8. Lap 25 Pass Hamilton (AI) for P7. Lap 26 Massa (AI) goes buggy and I drive through him (!!!), but he gets back in front of me as we exit onto start/finish. Lap 27 Finally get the pass on Massa (AI) at turn 1 for P6. Webber (AI) ahead spins out and I drive safely through his ghosted car (but it scared the buhjeezus out of me!) to pass him and take P5. Lap 29 Pass Alonso (AI) while he's pitted to take P4. I am last among the remaining human drivers, but my pace is really good now that its wet. Lap 37 I've been slowly reeling in Giles when something happens to him (he took his wing off battling AI driver) and I blow past to take P3!!! He goes into the pits for repairs at the end of the lap while I carry on. Lap 39 I've got the delta over Giles and I make my last pit stop of the race for a set of fresh inters. I come back out still in front of Giles in P3 by 20+sec. Lap 42 Giles behind me in P4 destroys his car. I had accumulated and was maintaining about 24sec gap over him since my stop. Lap 52 I finish 1 lap down, but ON THE PODIUM!!! WOO!!! FIRST PODIUM WITH MY CLUB, FIRST MULTIPLAYER PODIUM EVER!!! YEEEE-HAAAWWW!!!

I do wish that it had been a more, shall we say, "honest" podium. Even being able to race Giles to the end would have done the trick in spite of the small grid since he usually beats me. The two humans I beat both had DNFs, and after they were out, the AI was no threat at all. BUT...benny's crash is something that happens in real life, and Giles crashed out due to a controller disconnect, which is the same as a mechanical. Giles taking his wing off on the AI a couple times tho? Legit mistakes that I took advantage of. I'm not sure that he would have caught me after I passed him, had he not wrecked. And I'm not so sure that I wouldn't have caught him anyway, sans wing losses. I had such good pace even in the dry, and especially once it got wet, that I think I could have challenged for P2 against Jaegermeister, if not for the spins, the one involving Rosberg in particular, and penalty setting me back. FrenziedSine (the winner) was on another planet with his pace though lol. Ah well. Part of racing is being able to take advantage of whatever luck is thrown your way, and I was certainly able to do that. After spending most of the race thinking I wasn't even going to beat all of the AI drivers, which would have been massively humiliating, it was still a sweet podium, and I think a heck of a drive. I was super fast once the rain came. I think P3 or P2 is what I had the pace for and about what I deserved if I had made no mistakes. Rainmeister? Perhaps I am. I'm certainly starting to think of myself as the comeback kid.

Race Department Random Fun League Stats
Starts: 4
Finishes: 3
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P3
Podiums: 1
Wins: 0
Points: 35
League table rank: 6th of 10
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Race Department Lifetime Club Stats
Starts: 7
Finishes: 5
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P3
Podiums: 1
Wins: 0
Points: 44

F1 2011 Race Report - Race Department Weekly Fun Series Montreal & Random Fun Series Monte Carlo

RaceDepartment Weekly Fun Series - 75% Montreal

Team: Red Bull
Participants: 16
Qualifying: P4
Race: P6
Objective: Finish 13th or better PASSED

Qualifying:
Went out 3 times during the session, each time on primes per my plan to start on primes for this race. Run 1 Did a 1:09.494 on just one hot lap. Run 2 Had a SUPERB lap and did a 1:08.860, again on just one hot lap, which got me to P2. Run 3 Another one hot run, no improvement. Finished the session in P4.

Race:
Had network trouble this time that really ruined what could have been a much better race. You'll see in the video that it looks like I'm getting unfairly barged and punted around but its because to the other drivers I am lagged out and they can't see me...

Lap 1 I have a decent enough start, until MurKzZz shoves me over and nearly puts me in the guard rail, dropping me to P5. I get P4 back when someone in front overcooks the entry to the hairpin and goes wide. Lap 3 Scing shoves past around turn 2 putting me back in P5, then Giles does the same through 3-4 and I nearly say hello to the guard rail again. Now back to P6. Lap 4 I get inside on Giles going around the hairpin and I'm gaining on Scing using DRS when Giles comes up along side me, behind Scing, and is bashing into me, very nearly putting me in the wall. We brake for the chicane and he cuts across me on the exit (I'm also getting hit from behind so I can't stop), hitting and spinning me and I lose my front wing in the barriers. I get stuck trying to safely right myself. To make matters worse, I am beyond the pit entry, so I have to do a whole lap without the benefit of my front wing. Going into and through the hairpin I am driven into by both marksman and jaegermeister. I am P13 when I finally hit the pit lane. Hemps goes past while I am pitted. I leave the pits P14, dead last among the remaining running drivers. New wing. A set of new options. Nothing to lose. Time to make some hay and see what I can salvage. Lap 7 I have caught up to Hemps at the end of the previous lap, and I get the DRS pass on him down the back straight. Lap 11 Deja Vu of a recent race as I exit a corner to find boothy crashed and spinning across the track. By the grace of the racing gods I am not tangled up in it and I press on.  Lap 12-13 I just get past Gavos as he's coming out of the pits. Safety car is deployed for boothy who has wrecked out. Lap 14 I just miss my chance to jump some cars that have pitted. They come out right in front of me and we are queued behind safety car. As a result of lag, as I'm warming tires benny appears out of thin air beside me and I can't react fast enough - drive through penalty for passing under safety car. At that moment Giles and Scing are both disqualified, due to an event caused by lag (they hit the safety car when lag reset their position!). I pass a pitted car and move up to P7, but I have a drive through yet to serve. Lap 15 Benny has been grinding into the back of me all down the back and across start/finish due to lag and gets past around turn 2. In hindsight if I had backed off and just let him pass and get a penalty I might have been ok...There seems to be a moment where I just get back in front of him as we're going around the turn, "passing" him, so...ta-da ANOTHER drive through penalty for passing under safety car. Down to P8 now, and TWO drive throughs to serve. Safety car goes in at the end of the lap, and I dive in to serve my penalty along with a group of drivers that got caught out by the lag and got drive throughs. Gavos barges past as we go into pit lane. I come out of drive through number one in P11. Lap 16 have a bit of a duel with benny but I'm unable to get it done (partly because of the caution I'm having to use being lagged out to most of the field). Lap 17 Serve my second drive through and come out P11, once again dead last among the remaining running cars. Lap 18 Pit for primes. Lap 23 I've caught up to gjones. Lap 24 Very scary mistake on the curbing at turn 8 that could have easily ended my race. Lap 25 I have DRS on gjones but I don't quite get close enough. Lap 26 I get the DRS pass on gjones this time and catch benny while he's in the pits, bringing me up to P9. Lap 27 Getting a bit wide in turn 2 I lose the spot again to gjones. Back to P10. Lap 28 I get the pass on gjones in the same place where he got me on the previous lap, and this time I make it stick! Get a bonus when he pits at the end of the lap. Lap 33 Catch Gavos while he's in the pits for P8. Lap 40 Coming into the hairpin I get squeezed out by benny and get spun. Gavos also gets past. Back down to P9 as I head into the pits. I don't realize until its too late that benny, my teammate, has pitted in front of me. PIT FAIL. I sit there for an eternity and come out in P10 on a fresh set of options that will take me to the end. Lap 43 Catch gjones while he's in the pits for P9. Lap 45 Catch Gavos while he's in the pits for P8. Lap 49 Hemps gets disconnected, moving me up to P7. Lap 50 Out in front somewhere, Warleb retires from the race, giving me P6, where I would finish.

Honestly, considering my lag situation, I think I did well to finish at all, let alone finish in 6th. Can't ignore that this is my best performance in the weekly fun series so far, either. And I loved that mid race fight that I had with gjones!!!


Race Department Weekly Fun Series Stats

Starts: 3
Finishes: 2
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P6
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 9




RaceDepartment Random Fun League Race 5 - Monte Carlo 75%


Team: Lotus-Renault
Participants: 7 + 4 Legend AI drivers
Qualifying: P4*
Race: DNF
Objective: Finish 9th or better FAILED

*Pole was held by AI driver Trulli who, due to a glitch got an impossible 5 second lap; I was third fastest human driver

Qualifying: 
Did 2 different runs, on primes per plan to start on primes. Run 2 gave me 1:11.990 on second hot lap, good enough for P4. Never really got a chance to get good speed on the first run.


Race:
Lap 1 Had an excellent start that got me right around FrenziedSine, but Giles squeezed by inside as we went through St. Devote. I got around Trulli(AI) easily at Mirabeau for P3, then...lap 1 safety car! Giles went into the pits for some reason (maybe damage), moving me up to P2. Lap 4 I get an excellent restart after the safety car, then in front of me benny overcooks it coming into St. Devote and I take the lead!!! Gift on a silver platter.

For 7 more glorious laps me, the Monaco specialist, is in control. I am not rattled by the excitement of leading, knowing I am in an amazing position so early on. Nor am I rattled when Giles catches up to me. I hold him off without a single mistake until he pits at the end of lap 11. Lap 12 goes perfectly... until I head into the tunnel, and disaster strikes.

This DNF was a heartbreaker. I don't know that I would have won...but I'm fairly certain I was fast enough to have gotten third as long as I didn't screw up with my stops. I could have had a podium...at Monaco...*sigh* One thing made me feel much better though. I watched Giles have exactly the same accident when he was winning another Monaco race with not a ton of laps to go. For some reason the inside wall of the tunnel is very sensitive, and even the barest touch is often game over. It is very strange how easy it is for that terminal crash to occur there in multiplayer, especially since the same thing does NOT result in a terminal crash in offline GP/career. Ah well. I did do one better and made it 12 laps this time. I'll just have to be a little more careful in the tunnel.


Race Department Random Fun League Stats

Starts: 3
Finishes: 2
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P5 (x2)
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 20
League table rank: 6th of 10

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Race Department Lifetime Club Stats

Starts: 6
Finishes: 4
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P5 (x2)
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 29