View Single Post
Old 2010.11.23, 03:57 PM   #9
hrdrvr
MBMZR
 
hrdrvr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC
Posts: 3,274
In LMP1, I was fighting a glitching car almost all day. I went through two motors in each of the first two qualifiers trying to sort it out. In the third qualifier I ran an ATM USA motor which was slow, but didn't glitch for the third round. I hit a mid 26, which was off pace from my other two cars, and in the middle of the B. It would have put me at the front of the B, but Eric and Jay both improved their times, and finished in the same heat right in front of me. Right before the B when I put batteries in my car I had steering, but no throttle. It wasn't a good way to start things out. I re-binded and it seemed like everything was normal. Collin had some glitch problems with his, and had to drop the race, so I wasn't the only one having troubles.....With him dropping out, I started behind Eric with Jay on the other side of the grid. I had a great start on Jay, and moved into second before turn one. I cruised behind Eric for a while, but then the glitch bug got me. It hit me a couple of times early, then mellowed out. I lost a lot of ground to Eric and couldn't make it up. In the middle of the race I made a couple of mistakes while pushing, and the next thing I knew, Eric was cruising behind me. I was quick enough that he couldn't get by easily, so he just stayed right there on my bumper for the remainder of the race, while I tried to keep it clean. Eric, Chad, and I all ran the same pace a lap apart, right next to each other til the end....

F2 was what I really wanted to excel at. I wasn't doing too well in the qualifying rounds though. In each round I got to a 27 lap pace, but mistakes kept me form grabbing it. In the last round I just missed out with a 26 4:02. I was on a 27, but with a minute or so to go I plugged it in the chicane and got stuck under the extension and rail liner combo. I had a good position on the grid though, starting in the front. I made it through the infield the first lap, but made a mistake on the second, which dropped me to third. Matt and I immediately began trading positions and within moments we were trading positions with James as well. Early on, Chad was in the action too, but our pace soon left him behind. James, Matt, and I had some of the best close racing that I have ever been involved in. We traded positions between each other cleanly many times, as well as giving it up to each other a few times. in the end, Matt and I gained a little lead on James, but every time we started dicing it up he would stick is nose in the re close enough to let us know he wasn't going away quietly. Matt and I traded positions 5 or 6 times right at the end of the race. I cant wait to see the video to refresh my memory, and relive the excitement. In the end I ended up squeaking under the bridge right in front of Matt and James and pulled out an extra lap. It was pretty epic though, and the first time I have finished in front of Matt in a while. My win put up to the back of the grid in the A. On the horn, I got an awesome jump and moved in front of Jay and Pedro before the first turn. Wade and Rodney must have tangled up, because I dont remember seeing either one of them, but I found myself right behind EMU in second just two laps into the race. I didn't follow him more than a few corners before he parked it and handed over the lead. I wasn't in the lead more than a few corners before Rodney was on my bumper hounding me. I fended him off for 2 or 3 laps, but was very nervous and shaky. His car was far superior to mine, and I could tell he was having to back off to not run into me. I could also see a field of other hungry drivers moving in on us. While pushing I made a mistake and gave up some time and the lead. It was a small enough mistake that I maintained 2nd, and just tried to drive my own race. In the beginning of the race Pedro crept near me a few times with EMU and Wade close behind. Through the middle I remember Wade and EMU both challenging for my position but never for too many laps in a row. I held it together pretty well, considering I was coming off of an intense battle with James and Matt. Towards the end I made a couple of big mistakes and let EMU catch up to me. He and I traded positions back and forth, and matched each others mistakes making the trades less eventful. I got stuck under the rail coming onto the straight, and it took the marshall some time to get to me. EMU was right behind me when I plugged it, so I kind of wrote the position off. Coming into the infield on the ensuing lap I heard a big smack, and looked down to see EMU hung under a different board in the center where marshalling wasn't that easy. The marshall ran out from beside me on the drivers stand, so my vision was almost totally blocked. I went through the corner any way, and came out on the other side just in front of EMU as he was dropped back onto the track. I held him off for a few more corners until he made a mistake pushing to get by and left me a little space. He was setting a much faster pace at this point and ran me down again and pressured me into a mistake. This went back and forth until the end of the race. On the final lap he made a mistake and let me by coming into the chicane. I came through the left part of the track, and there was an accident coming onto the straight. I made it through cleanly, but noticed EMU did too. I also noticed that he was too far behind me to make any moves, so I just made sure not to take turn one too aggressively. On the approach to the bridge I let off, and then low and behold, I got my first ever F1 glitch My car took off into the far wall, and bounced back only to be facing EMU as he passed by me under the bridge My first thought was utter disappointment, but when I turned to my left I saw the biggest smile I've seen in a while. It was on EMU's face At the world finals he caught a glitch on the last lap of the A1 main that let me by for the third spot. I guess the mini-Z gods returned the favor to him this weekend, and bumped me off of P2 Even under the tense circumstance, I laughed about it immediately. I had a great run and was proud to trade positions with him as well as I did, so I couldn't be anything other than happy. I came in something like 2.5 seconds behind him if you combine the GT2 ad F2 splits

That pretty much how I felt at the end of the day. I had 5 clean runs in the mains, and aside from glitches, pretty much didn't have but a handful of unforced mistakes. I know I might have complained a little bit to a couple of y'all at various points during the day, but in the end, I would do it again this coming weekend the exact same way
__________________
Landon

LET's Go Racing!
hrdrvr is offline   Reply With Quote