9/7/12 R.I.R. Challenge Cars @ Speed Park Speedway

How difficult an oval track can be? Actually, "difficult oval track" itself sounds like an oxymoron. But it's not when we're talking about Speed Park. Pick the wrong settings for your car - and you can stop even dreaming about the 1st position.

Though, even then you can't be totally sure your competition will be smooth - no one can guarantee that others picked the right settings and don't crash you right into the wall on the next turn...

The qualifying session ran pretty seamless, what actually is the way it has to be - all the action was left for the race. And what action! What I really like about non-pros is the rage they compete with against each other. Where do they get it from?

In the beginning of the race, we had an intensive battle for the lead, and Garth Moonites was the first who managed to keep it; behind him was Clifford Market, who made his way through the wild traffic he had ahead of him from the start; and 3rd position was occupied by BanningBairde.

Due to the high amount of accidents, the pack has spread out by the 10th lap; several racers have been already lapped.
First 2 positions, Moonites and BanningBairde (Market, being slowed down by the traffic, dropped onto the 3rd position and remained there) were having a lot of traffic with them that, moreover, was multiplying with each lap. On the 19th lap Market and BanningBairde traded positions again, but the gap between them was uncertain. BanningBairde got the 2nd position back in 5 laps, but then was crashed by the traffic, so Market overpassed him again. And so on - there was a permanent battle for the 2nd position, which, however, depended mostly not on the racers' driving skills, but on how lucky with the traffic they were.

Could be heard: "Oh damn... I forgot
 to paint a section"

By the end of the race, after all the changes, BanningBairde got a stable lead over Market - again, not without a little help of the traffic that separated them. Thus, the Top 3 was formed about 10 laps before the end of the race.

I've seen a lot of races at oval tracks, but those that hang this much on the traffic are very rare. Was that the shape of the oval, or was that the racers' spirit of competition - but most probably both are responsible. Well, when the competition is easy - it's not competition, is it?
See you at the grid, racers and readers!

The grid:
Pole Position. Aangel Cortes  13.666
P 2. Garth Moonites,  13.697, -0.030
P 3. BanningBairde,  13.866, -0.200
P 4. Kev Kiranov,  14.111, -0.445
P 5. shishi90,  14.111, -0.445
P 6. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk),  14.200, -0.533
P 7. Clifford Market,  14.507, -0.841
P 8. MidnightRambler Frostbite,  14.688, -1.021
P 9. 丂øυbι Cøяιtђ (Soubi Corith),  14.732, -1.066


Final Results:
1st. Garth Moonites, 50 laps. Total Time : 720.732
2nd. BanningBairde, -4.642 seconds.
3rd. Clifford Market, -11.069 seconds.
4th. MidnightRambler Frostbite, -1 laps.
5th. 丂øυbι Cøяιtђ (Soubi Corith), -2 laps.
6th. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk), -2 laps.
7th. Aangel Cortes, -2 laps.
8th. Kev Kiranov, -4 laps.
9th. shishi90, -5 laps.

Fastest race lap: Garth Moonites, 13.356

9/6/12 Racers Island - Drift Series - Round 2 @ Skyline Track

Racers Island Raceway blog

Racers Island in-world (+TPer to all tracks)

Grid positions, final results and racers' personal stats are available here: Racers Island Drift Results blog

Skyline Track, a short and quite winding road course, welcomed the racers with its grey and dusty roads for the Round 2 of the Drift series. Although not a lot of racers were able to make it - there were 8 in total - and, therefore, they've spread out pretty quickly, the race turned out to be a great test for drivers' ability to handle all kinds of turns.

The difference between racers' qualifying times was impressively significant - and, during the race itself, the drivers have spread out and the positions turned out to be certain pretty quick. On the 6th lap, though, Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki), who was 3rd at the moment, cracked up on a few turns, while Biggs Braham (5th position) was successfully catching up with Eddie Mathieson (4th). There was a battle on the next lap between Hatsune, Mathieson and Braham which caused a crash and a 3 seconds loss for Mathieson, who dropped behind them on the 5th place. Hatsune and Braham continued battling, taking advantage of each other's accidents on turns.

By the 10th lap, wild traffic had been formed by a couple lapped racers and the gaps between 1st position (that, of course, belonged to Brave Ashbourne) and the rest had grown. Biggs Braham already had managed to overpass Miku Hatsune but was hardly catching up with Yuriko Nishi (2nd).
On the 19th lap, however, a couple of accidents in turns happened to Nishi allowed Braham to reach her, and a couple more (not without the help of a battle with Braham) on the 21th lap became crucial for Nishi - Braham passed her by, obtaining 2nd position, and then solidified his position. Thereafter, the finishing positions for the racers were obvious.

Miku Hatsune - not on the podium? But yes, that's what we've witnessed on Thursday. Different racers might be good on different types of track, and that's normal.
Congratulations to Biggs Braham with his first finish in the Top 3 of the season, and see you on the grid, racers and readers! Never forget to have fun - and compete hard!

P.S.: Big thanks to Grosmanteau DeCuir for handing me the gate logs after the race (because, for the unknown reason, I didn't get messages from the gate).

R.I.R. Super Cup @ Darlington Speedway

(race of 9/1/12)

I know, it would be more logical to finish the post about the challenge cars first and move to today's race only then. I would do that, if it was a regular race. But this series has just started - so I've decided to cover it as soon as possible. Because the start of the new series is always something special.
And racers are of the same mind with me - otherwise, how come that some people couldn't get to the region because it was full? R.I.R. patrons, including doobeedoo Littlething (one of the sim owners) decided to make  it even more special and dressed up like Kermits from The Muppet Show (that is well-known by most of you, I believe).

A few weeks ago, the cars have been tested - and, as you remember, I've mentioned the cars behave differently with what we have at other series. Also, the race includes the necessity of making pitstops, which, for sure, brings the additional unpredictability. Especially at Darlington Speedway, where the entry to the pitstop is right before the turn, so there's always a risk to go the wrong way.
And how did it go? Let's have a look!

I don't have much to say about the qualifying round, not any new racers to mention - everything was pretty usual. But the race itself, I assume it's going to be right to say, happened to be really crazy - seemed like the practice/qualifying round was not enough to get used to the new car, and what if you have traffic around you?

When I finally stabilized my camera, it was the 3rd lap already. ZZ, JP Paneer and FFred Koolhoven were leading, with MidnightRambler Frostbite at the 4th position and the rest waiting for their chance to move up.
Near lap 10, Koolhoven and Frostbite traded positions - and then Koolhoven completely dropped down (to the 8th position) at the 13th lap. 4th place was inherited by Snuffy Smith for a couple laps, before Koolhoven got it back. Yes, that's right, he got his position back only in a couple laps.

Certainly, when pitstop time has come, changes began. Koolhoven got a black flag and, therefore, lost some time doing stop-and-go; ZZ, comparing with others from the Top 3, made a very quick pitstop, and that gave her a 8 and 10 seconds advantage over 2nd and 3rd positions (which were taken by Frostbite and Paneer). A bit behind them, Smith was going 4th.

There were no major changes until the 40th lap, when ZZ, after an accident, got stuck in a wall for a significant while, and when she finally managed to get out, she found herself at the 5th position. Frostbite got the lead, Paneer became 2nd, and 3rd place was obtained by Saphyre Cyberstar. That's how it was until the 2nd pitstop.

No black flag took place this time - however, ZZ's clever pitstop allowed her to move back to the Top 3 (3rd place), and that put Cyberstar down to 4th. Paneer and Frostbite were still leading, having ZZ and Cyberstar 1 lap down. Frostbite, bit by bit, was catching up with Paneer.
Right behind them, meanwhile, Koolhoven has overpassed Cyberstar, caught up with ZZ and battled her for the 3rd position.

Then, the race was getting closer to the end, and the time for the 3rd pitstop has arrived. Not all the racers had to make it though - but Frostbite was the one who had to, and that moved ZZ, Koolhoven and Cyberstar 1 position up. So, the Top 3 was pretty obvious... but accidents change it all, and that happened with Koolhoven. After getting into one, he's lost 2 positions (from 3rd to 5th). Due to that, Cyberstar got the 3rd position - and that was the order they've finished in.

That has been said plenty of times, but seems like it's worth to repeat - well-planned pitstop strategy might spare your position, and even give you an advantage over others if they skipped this step. Not being late for the practice helps as well - so, if you take the competition seriously and plan to win, never underestimate your opponents. It might be even best to assume they're way better than you...
Have fun, compete hard, racers and readers, and congratulations R.I.R. with a great start of a new series!

The grid:
Pole Position. JP Paneer  13.761
P 2. FFred Koolhoven,  13.902, -0.141
P 3. Eagle Clawtooth,  13.922, -0.161
P 4. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu),  14.045, -0.284
P 5. Killian Sandalwood,  14.048, -0.287
P 6. MidnightRambler Frostbite,  14.151, -0.390
P 7. Snuffy Smith (Snufman),  14.171, -0.410
P 8. Saphyre Cyberstar,  14.266, -0.505
P 9. doobeedoo Littlething,  14.509, -0.748
P 10. Diana Frostbite (Beeswing),  14.565, -0.804
P 11. Durron Sockington,  14.698, -0.937
P 12. Soubi Corith,  14.956, -1.195


Final Results:
1st. JP Paneer, 75 laps. Total Time : 1150.905
2nd. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu), -1 laps.
3rd. Saphyre Cyberstar, -1 laps.
4th. MidnightRambler Frostbite, -2 laps.
5th. FFred Koolhoven, -2 laps.
6th. Snuffy Smith (Snufman), -4 laps.
7th. Soubi Corith, -5 laps.
8th. doobeedoo Littlething, -6 laps.
9th. Durron Sockington, -8 laps.
10th. Diana Frostbite (Beeswing), -10 laps.
11th. Eagle Clawtooth, -11 laps.
12th. Killian Sandalwood, -25 laps.

Fastest race lap: MidnightRambler Frostbite, 13.279

Racers Island Stock series Race #2

Hi everyone! Hopefully as a first official post article, this goes well :)

The second round of the Racers Island pro-stock series was held at the Sunrise track, a wide track that gives ample room to everyone to use different lines and attempt passes with each other. The qualification yielded close times, with Mystic Upshaw taking a second consecutive pole position. Behind her, four racers followed with a qualification time only 0.026 second of each other, which would bode well for an exciting race. Yuriko Nishi, despite a good fourth place in qualification, had to drop off the event due to technical problems. As such, the total number of drivers dropped from 11 to 10, which prompted the race director to make only one race and include everyone in it.

Starting grid

Here is the starting grid:

P 1. Mystic Upshaw 7.081

P 2. David Wetherby, 7.149, -0.068

P 3. Eddie Mathieson, 7.171, -0.090

P 4. Kurt Upshaw, 7.175, -0.094

P 5. Doll Kabuki, 7.208, -0.127

P 6. Shaft Laval, 7.251, -0.170

P 7. miller Tomcat, 7.290, -0.209

P 8. Nella Boccara, 7.308, -0.227

P 9. hippie51 OHare, 7.435, -0.354

P 10. Rabe9110 Resident, 7.436, -0.355

As can be expected from a race with that many people with different experience backgrounds on a fast oval track, a lot of close racing happened during the race as well as a large amount of contacts, or incidents, between racers. After the start of the race, Wetherby and Mystic managed to escape the start of the race unharmed and battled for the lead back and forth. Boccara, with her vast racing experience, managed a great start which brought her from eigth to fourth, fighting with Mathieson for third place. Kurt Upshaw, on the hand, felt the heavy traffic which resulted him to move to the last position on the fourth lap. Albeit being last during a race is never something that is wanted, it is by no means a reason to give up, especially on a track with a lot of racers close to each other, where opportunities to pass through other racers battling each other and getting into accidents abound.

Close racing

As laps moved on, Kabuki started her comeback: After falling to sixth place on the second lap, she gradually came back and managed to pass Mystic for the second place on the 22nd lap. Mystic, who had previously a great and close battle with Wetherby, had slowly lost ground on him after having some problems dealing with traffic. Starting on lap 31st, and for several laps, a great 3-way battle for the lead happened between Mystic, Wetherby and Kabuki: The three drivers were so close that, on lap 32, they passed the gate together only 0.198 second apart! This battle couldn't last forever and Mystic was the first to drop from it, falling to third place to be closely chased by Mathieson who was gaining ground on the leaders who were battling each other. There remained the battle between Kabuki and Wetherby

and Kabuki emerged as the victor on lap 36, after Wetherby became involved in an accident which dropped him as far as fourth position.

Doll and Mystic fighting each other

Can a race really be over so early in these conditions, considering that there were 100 laps? Of course not! Mystic, still looking for her first win of her season, made a charge against Kabuki starting on the 47th lap. Both drivers fiercely battled each other and through the traffic, exchanging positions and a bit of paint along the way. This battle lasted for 10 laps, at which point Kabuki steadily gained ground in front of Mystic who struggled to pass through traffic as easily as Kabuki. Behind these two, racers still had a shot at the third march on the podium. Mathieson kept that spot until lap 51, where he entered into a fight of it with Wetherby. Mathieson shrugged Wetherby off and managed to help himself to gain a good lead on the third place after Wetherby was yet again involved in a different incident, which this time moved him down to the fifth position, behind Kurt Upshaw, who saw his podium hopes become higher. Our leaders kept their respective positions until lap 79 when Wetherby, who worked hard to gain lost ground, managed to pass Kurt.

Doll, doing her victory dance in front of Mystic and David

These positions, at the time, seemed to hold until the end... but anything can happen in a nick of time! Mathieson, who held firmly on the last podium spot, saw himself get involved in a big accident on lap 90 which unfortunately made him lose almost a full lap! That was enough to allow Wetherby, who kept steady, to overtake Mathieson who found himself back down to fourth place. With a few laps left to go, nothing major happened and the racers ended in their respective positions.

While a ten racers race is uncommon at Racers Island, it is nevertheless a great opportunity to test oneself in the midst of traffic on a fast paced track. Everyone will certainly benefit from the experience, even more so for rookies Rabe9110 Resident and Hippie51 OHare, who respectively finished ninth and tenth. While it may be hard to be thrown into such a setting on a first race, races are not won on the first day and any experience gained is a step toward becoming a great racer and challenge for the top positions. Never let a race to waste, always learn something new from mistakes and events within races! On this, compete hard and never stop learning, racers!

Grosmanteau DeCuir takes over the blog!!!

...
Everybody welcome our new overlord (or slave, I didn't figure out yet), otherwise known as Grosmanteau DeCuir, the racer plenty of you know by winni... participaing in the races all over SL. Greatly experienced in racing, in racing history, also the one who witnessed the earliest generations of racing in SL - and I think it's a great luck for the blog to have him as a new author! Especially since I don't have enough time to cover everything I want, because the classes in my university have started, and there are several changes in my RL occur here and there... so, thank you very much, Gros, and welcome!
(All I ask you for is... please, please, don't mess it up!)

3 days of unplanned vacation... or something like this

Beloved readers, not a very good news has arrived. Just today, I've found out I'm going to spend the following 3 days (hopefully it's only 3 days!) without my laptop - and, due to my timezone, I won't be able to attend the races that are going to take place at these days, nor use any materials from here. So, since I'll have to share another PC with my family, the delay in delivering the articles might be expected.
Compete hard, racers, and I'm so hoping to see you again at the grid very soon!

Kay T. Burnett

Racers Island - Drift Series - Round 1 @ Nitro Track

You probably remember how I was pointing at one hairpin at the Nitro Track in one of the last season races article - and now, I want to apologize. I was all the way wrong. I underrated the hairpin that follows the first one - they both do a great job in changing the progress of the race, cause battles and do other very nice things.

All begins with the qualifying round, and yesterday it was even quite surprising.
Pole position was taken by Yuriko Nishi. Brave Ashbourne and Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki) didn't make it to the A race with their qualifying times. Read it again, please. Promising, isn't it? (Turned out Ashbourne had problems with his viewer during the qualifying round - tough luck, what else to say.)
Even though they, obviously, weren't at last positions on the grid, that doesn't guarantee the moving up to the main race, no matter how good you are.


So, before we move to the B race itself, let's take a look at the grid:
P 5. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki),  22.536, -0.184
P 6. ZeuStorm,  22.753, -0.401
P 7. Brave Ashbourne,  22.836, -0.484
P 8. Nella Boccara,  23.317, -0.965
P 9. ZeuCat (domilyon),  23.649, -1.297
P 10. Shermie Eames,  24.495, -2.143
Leader of the race was revealed at the very first lap - and it was ZeuStorm! Ashbourne, who, at first, was battling him, dropped behind in a few laps, getting closer to Hatsune (who was 3rd) with each lap - and, certainly, there the battle began. ZeuStorm was successfully expanding the lead while Ashbourne and Hatsune were slowing each other down, and the wild traffic wasn't any help for any of the Top 3.
Hatsune won the battle, not without a little help of the hairpins, so Asnbourne became 3rd.

Everything was pointing at a win for ZeuStorm. But, I gotta admit, I so love those hairpins! On the 20th lap ZeuStorm hit one... then another... and recovering on both of them cost him a few seconds which Hatsune used to catch up with him and get him into the battle for the lead of the race (Hatsune was winning). They barely slowed each other down, and I was already ready to watch the main race without Ashbourne.

However, the last laps can change it all... ZeuStorm kept on dropping down, getting dangerously close to Ashbourne - and at the last lap, Ashbourne overpassed him in the battle right before the finish!
Indeed, ZeuStorm did a great job through almost the whole race for saving his position, but what a main race without Ashbourne and Hatsune?

They've moved up, but were starting at the end of the pack anyway. How did the grid for the A race look like?
Pole Position. Yuriko Nishi  22.352
P 2. Shaft Laval,  22.384, -0.032
P 3. Zev Titanium,  22.417, -0.065
P 4. Eddie Mathieson,  22.485, -0.133
Race B P 1. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki)
Race B P 2. Brave Ashbourne
Have you ever seen a very, very close pack that remains through a few laps? Okay, 1 lap. Zev Titanium, Shaft Laval and Eddie Mathieson were the apparent leaders of it, but others didn't make their life any easier. Let me put it this way. The average time the average good racer can finish one lap with is 22-23 seconds (watch stats at the RI Drift blog). How do you like these times?

[18:59:44] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Shaft Laval P 1 Lap 1,  24.885
[18:59:44] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Zev Titanium P 2 Lap 1,  25.020,  TBL -0.135
[18:59:44] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Eddie Mathieson P 3 Lap 1,  25.265,  TBL -0.379
[18:59:45] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Doll Kabuki P 4 Lap 1,  25.622,  TBL -0.737
[18:59:45] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Brave Ashbourne P 5 Lap 1,  25.644,  TBL -0.758
[18:59:45] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Yuriko Nishi P 6 Lap 1,  25.752,  TBL -0.867

Bit by bit, however, the pack began to spread out, the hairpins were doing their job very well, and Laval dropped behind in no time. Mathieson and Titanium were battling intensively for the lead, right behind them was an intensive battle as well - all 4 racers were laying claim to be 3rd. After a few laps, the leader had been revealed - it was Laval.
A few laps after, there was an accident (guess where!) that cost Mathieson a whole second. Then another one on the next lap. Then one more on the lap after. And the whole thing took about 3-4 seconds, that, for sure, dropped him down to the last place, with a very pale chance to ever recover.

Halfway through the race, Titanium was still leading, Laval was still catching up with him, a bit aside Ashbourne was holding the 3rd position, and 4th was taken by Hatsune (who had a 1.5 seconds gap with Ashbourne). Mathieson and Nishi were just doing laps behind then. But the gaps between the first 4 racers were tiny, so every second was highly valued.
That's why an accident on the 22th lap, that cost Laval 1 whole second, dropped him 1 position down as well. Hatsune began to persistently decrease the gap with him and, in 4 laps, took the 3rd position from him. Ashbourne, who was quite close to them, was bound to defend his 2nd position from Hatsune - but unsuccessfully; although he was a tough opponent for her, Hatsune, once she obtained the lead over him, kept it until the last lap where Ashbourne made a final push to regain second place. Titanium managed to remain in front of Ashbourne to claim the first win of the Drift series.


Battles. Isn't that the reason we watch race events and - let's be honest - participate in them? Isn't that the one special thing that is expected during the whole race event and always watched with a lot of excitement?
The more battles occur, the longer they are, the more spectacular the race is.
And let's never forget how stressful it is for racers themselves - well, how else would it be when during a few laps, or maybe even half the race, if not the whole one, your position is totally uncertain because of someone who keeps on tailing you in expectation for that one moment when you make maybe a small, but extremely critical mistake?..
Love the battle you're involved, respected readers. Compete hard, and see you at the grid!