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

F1 2011 Race Report: RaceDepartment Random Fun League Race 4 - 75%

Team: Ferrari
Participants: 8
Qualifying: P4
Race: P5
Objective: Finish 8th or better PASSED

Qualifying:
Run 1 Dry qualifying. Went out on primes. 2 warmup laps, 2 hot laps, and an in lap, good for P4. I decided I wanted to go out one more time. Run 2 I put on fresh primes and, as I was short on time, did 1 warmup and a hot before the checkers waved. I improved a bit but stayed P4. My best qualifying result up until this session was P7 so I was very happy with 4th! Primes were at 91% so I was in good shape for the race. Have to wonder where I would have been on options, but I know a long first stint is my only chance to try and get something over on the 3 guys ahead of me.

Race:

Laps 1-3 I have great pace out of the gate. I'm able to take P3 away from Giles for a few laps but...Lap 4 Giles is back within 1 second. Lap 5 I make a mistake not covering the inside better on the straight after turn 2 and Giles gets the inside. Going around turn 3 I don't have as much room as I think and make contact with Giles, which sends me for a wee spin and drops me back to P4, but I get things right quickly and press on without losing any more positions, pulling away from Dizz behind me in P5. Lap 9 I jump FrenziedSine and Jaegermeister while they are pitted to take P2. This is the highest position I have ever had in a race. My pace is usually not quick enough to stay within the delta by the first pit cycle. Lap 10 I then jump Giles while he is pitted to take over the race lead! This is the first time I have ever led any laps in a race!!! Lap 12 Jaegermeister has caught up, but I do a good job keeping him behind me until I pull into the pits at the end of the lap for another set of primes. I debated going to options here, but I knew that some of the guys I had jumped had fitted primes and likewise some of my direct competition that were back a ways were going on a shorter option stint so I felt it wise to run long again while the car was still reasonably heavy and I would have less of a time disadvantage. I am P4 again after my stop. Lap 25 Pit stop for options. P4 held. I will have to make another stop before the end. Lap 32 Benny has been within 3 seconds of me since about lap 27. As we come around to start/finish he pits and I punch it wanting to gap him as much as I can for my planned stop at the end of the next lap. I figure this is better than coming out of the pits together. Lap 33 Last pit stop, for another set of options. Lap 34 I come out of the pits RIGHT in front of benny. I thwart him down the straight after turn 2, but I make another defending mistake by not staying wide out of turn 3 to cover the inside going to 4. He goes by on the inside and I drop to P5. At the end of the lap, I get a little gift when the lag gremlins put him back behind me lol. Lap 35 Benny gets a clean DRS pass on me down the first long straight, not much I can do. I kick it to mix 3 to try and chase him down. Laps 36-37 I get DRS on benny both laps, but its not quite enough to catch him. I have some opportunities when he makes a few mistakes here and there, but his acceleration out of the turns is just a tad better than mine. Lap 38 benny is getting away. Lap 41 Race finish, and I finish on the lead lap for the first time!

The only thing about this race that was a disappointment for me was dropping the one position from where I qualified. In the end though, I don't think there was much I could do about it. I'm not sure that the 3rd stop was necessarily what cost me, as I know at least one of the guys on the podium did 3 stops as well. I think benny really was just that little bit faster and it caught up to me by race end. Hard to feel bad about it when I had so many other great things happen that were real improvements like qualifying a personal best 4th, actually leading the race at one point, and being sufficiently fast to finish on the lead lap. All very very good things that combined to make it my best race so far.


Race Department Random Fun League Stats
Starts: 2
Finishes: 2
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P5 (x2)
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 20
League Table Rank: 5th of 10

ABS/TC/Auto Gears/Dynamic Racing Line/Penalties Realistic/Damage Full/Tire Sim/Fuel Sim

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Race Department Lifetime Club Stats
Starts: 4
Finishes: 3
Best Grid: P4
Best Race: P5 (x2)
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 21

Custom Halo Reach Spartan - Update #2

     

Priming on chest and shoulder armor pieces complete!

Click the 'Custom Halo Reach Spartan' link below to see more posts about this project, or 'Custom Figures' to view posts about all my custom figure projects.

F1 2011 Race Report-Weekly Fun Series @ Monaco & Random Fun League @Shanghai

 RaceDepartment Weekly Fun Series-100% Monaco Special

 After all the work I did to prepare for this Monaco race, this is what happened...

Needless to say I was gutted. This is my favorite track, and I had looked so forward to this event. Disappointment doesn't even begin to describe it. I did have some fun though, spectating and watching the battle at the front for the win.

Things would turn around shortly after the Fun Series race concluded when, just as I was about to power down my console, I received an invite from a RaceDept buddy to join another race.

Team: Red Bull
Participants: 16
Qualifying: Random Assignment-P15
Race: DNF (P15)
Objective: Finish 16th or better PASSED

Race Department Weekly Fun Series Stats
Starts: 2
Finishes: 1
Best Grid: 7th
Best Race: 10th
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 1

ABS/TC/Auto Gears/Dynamic Racing Line/Penalties Realistic/Damage Full/Tire Sim/Fuel Sim


RaceDepartment Random Fun League-75% Shanghai

Team: Virgin
Participants: 10
Qualifying: P9 (moved up to P8)
Race: P5
Objective: Finish 10th or better PASSED 

Qualifying:
Run 1 Its wet so everyone is out on inters, knowing that the forecast for the race is clear. I go out mainly to find out what I need to do to the setup, since I haven't got any setups saved for the Virgin car. I get up to P3 before packing it in back to the garage. Run 2 I've made a few tweaks to help me get around better, and get back up to P3 with about 30sec left in the session. At session end I was still shown as P3, but then in the garage before race start my display says P9??? lol. I would get a lucky break when a player got dropped as we were being put on the grid, moving me up to P8. Its ok because I setup with dry in mind and I am pretty sure to have a much better pace in the race proper.

Race:

Lap 1 I was committed to the outside coming into the first turn, and ended up doing a bit of lawn mowing in the process of trying to avoid any collisions. But I maintained position and then, because I got a nice entry into that first apex, right where it tightens up, and a few guys got it wrong and went wide, I was able to sneak past for P7. Lap 3 Things got interesting when I came out of a corner to see a crashed McLaren spinning across the track in front of me. Fortunately I got past without getting tangled up in it...until, at the next corner, I see that my fellow Virgin (Marussia) driver Benny has overcooked it and gone off. I tried to go wide to give him space, but we get into contact. Technically that was an unsafe re-entry, as I was far too close. Mired in the gravel as I try to get back on track, I lose a position. Coming onto the back straight, neither benny or I have registered the yellow flag. He pulls over to give the position back to me (for spinning me) and...I get a drive through for ignoring the yellow flag, which ironically was out as a result of benny pulling off for me. Lap 4 I decide to go around another lap before serving my drive through, seeing that boothy, who had also passed benny under yellow, go into the pits in front of me to serve his drive through. I pull into the pits at the end of the lap and benny and Ry go past. For now boothy is out of the picture and the damage is nominal. Lap 6 I've caught up to benny and Ry duking it out for P5. Ry makes a mistake around turn 8, getting his wheels up over the curb and onto the grass, allowing me to dive inside going into turn 9 for the overtake. This was my personal favorite moment of the race. Lap 7 Chasing down benny. He goes wide in the hairpin at the end of the back straight, but I can't quite capitalize. Lap 8 I'm in DRS range coming out onto the back straight behind benny. Benny has also gone a bit wide exiting. I select fuel mix 3, open the DRS, and punch KERS. Safely past, and it sticks through the hairpin. Lap 9 While I was catching benny, boothy has been catching me. Nice battle between the three of us for P5-7. I make a mistake not covering the inside coming down the back straight and he gets the DRS pass on the inside. I thought it was more than a little unnecessary for him to make contact with me a shove me off the outside edge coming into the hairpin, especially when he owned the inside completely. Fortunately it didn't cause me to crash. Lap 12 I get my revenge when boothy's options have had it and he pits while I fly by on my still good to go primes! Lap 15 Defending against benny. Lap 18 More defending. Looks like benny has an off/spin. Either way he drops way back. Lap 19 Pit stop for options. Position held. Laps 23-25 benny is really catching up...and then he gets disconnected! I'm all alone in last place (P5). Everyone else is DNF or DSQ. Early pit stop for primes to go for the easy finish. I realize in reviewing the video that maybe I should have stuck with my prime-option-option strategy, as I was taking a a second or so off Dizz every lap. Who knows if I would have caught up but darn I could have tried and I just didn't notice the time I was making. Lap 41 finished the race +1 lap.

It really bummed me out that benny got disconnected as we were having a good go at each other all race. Same for boothy and Ry. With them gone I had no one left to race and it was a very lonely drive to the finish. I would really have liked to see how our strategies would have played out. As it was, I was very happy to bag P5 and 10 points. Washed the bitter taste of Monaco failure out of my mouth nicely.

RaceDepartment Random Fun League Stats
Starts: 1
Finishes: 1
Best Grid: P9
Best Race: P5
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 10

ABS/TC/Auto Gears/Dynamic Racing Line/Penalties Realistic/Damage Full/Tire Sim/Fuel Sim

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Race Department Lifetime Club Stats
Starts: 3
Finishes: 2
Best Grid: P7
Best Race: P5
Podiums: 0
Wins: 0
Points: 11

Custom Halo Reach Spartan - Update #1

  

Left leg priming completed! I was in the mood to do some extra painting, so I also put the first coat on the shoulders and chest pieces. 

I'm ashamed that I haven't done much work on this in the time since my last post, but once again life has exploded in my face and I haven't had much time I could devote to this project. Hopefully more will get done now. Might take me a while, but this will get done. 

Click the 'Custom Halo Reach Spartan' link below to see more posts about this project, or 'Custom Figures' to view posts about all my custom figure projects.