The delay in posting is expected

Respected racers and readers!
Yesterday, while I was dealing with my real life, our whole neighborhood was experiencing the internet outage, so, with all my eagerness to bring you the material in time (and attend Summer League Series Awards ceremony at Racers Island that was), it was simply impossible for me. Now, it's back, alive and kicking, and hopefully will stay this way. The articles will be posted soon - stay tuned!

Kay T. Burnett

R.I.R. Challenge Cars @ Watkins Glen

R.I.R. website
Watkins Glen in-world

(Race of 8/17/12)

Challenge Cars competition has totally changed since only the non-pro racers are allowed to participate in one. Before, I hardly could see any difference between this one and other races held at RIR - all the same people kept on winning, and the only thing that differed from race to race is last positions. And today, the Top 3 is never the same. Besides, even those who finish behind them, might show a performance that makes you forget about the Top 3 during the race!

Most of the racers have shown the great improvement since the last week - also, the newcomer of the race, Kev Kiranov, has impressed people during the practice and the qualifying round, even though it didn't seem like he practiced a lot. But, if you're good on the clean track, this doesn't necessarely mean you'll manage to go through the traffic... 

There were no problems at the start, so, when the gates were open, the competition began! And - at the same time, racers got enormous lag all over the track. 

JP Paneer, who got the pole position, did a great headstart, but Kiranov, in spite of the 5th place on the grid, made it through the crowd and got into a battle with Panner for the lead. Behind them, Garth Moonites, MidnightRambler Frostbite and Clifford Market started a battle for the 3rd place. Soon, the positions have been established in general: Paneer successfully held the lead, expanding the gap with each lap, the 2nd place was uncertain - both Frostbite and Kiranov were intended to take it, and the battle was so hard that racers couldn't even pass them by. Moonites, being crashed too hard, dropped far behind.
So did Frostbite, at the 18th lap. But then the battle between Kiranov, BanningBairde, Market and Firehawk  began. Kiranov was doing excellent, but in a few laps, with his driving style that was more suited for the clear track, he got into a few accidents in traffic and dropped to the end of the pack. Also, it's possible that he was just getting lag throughout the race.
Closer to the halfway (lap 25) Frostbite caught up with the rest, after passing the battle petween Kiranov and  BanningBairde (for the 4th place, then - for the 5th). He ended up involved in it and, after a while, dropped behind again. In front of them, BanningBairde was holding the 2nd position and Firehawk - 3rd.
2nd and 3rd positions were very lucky not to get involved into their rumble - they just maintained their positions, carefully avoiding traffic... only battling at times with each other. During one of the battles, they traded positions (Firehawk got 2nd, BanningBairde - 3rd) and, after that, traffic came by, so the gap between them was only increasing. That was almost the end of the race, so they've finished in this order.

The race was very messy - I guess it was not without a little help of lag. Nevertheless, racers have showed a great level of the competing ability, and the race itself, with all the battles, was very intensive - I haven't seen such a heat lately. Guess the fact it was a road course had its effect on the race as well... Whatever the case, thank you for the amazing performance racers, and keep on practicing - I can hardly wait for next Friday!


The grid:

Pole Position. JP Paneer  20.663
P 2. Garth Moonites,  20.699, -0.035
P 3. MidnightRambler Frostbite,  21.257, -0.594
P 4. Clifford Market,  21.378, -0.715
P 5. Kev Kiranov,  21.459, -0.796
P 6. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk),  21.556, -0.893
P 7. Aangel Cortes,  21.771, -1.108
P 8. BanningBairde,  22.498, -1.834
P 9. unknown Kanya,  23.929, -3.266

Final Results:
1st. JP Paneer, 50 laps. Total Time : 1053.845
2nd. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk), -1 laps.
3rd. BanningBairde, -1 laps.
4th. Clifford Market, -2 laps.
5th. Kev Kiranov, -2 laps.
6th. Garth Moonites, -2 laps.
7th. MidnightRambler Frostbite, -2 laps.
8th. Aangel Cortes, -2 laps.
9th. unknown Kanya, -6 laps.

Fastest race lap: Kev Kiranov, 19.061

R.I.R. Sprint Cup @ Speed Park Raceway

(Race of 8/12/12)

R.I.R. website
Speed Park Raceway in-world

It's very well-known that the pitstop strategy might turn out to be more crucial than anyone expects. Made  at the right time, without a rush - you're at the top. Stop at the bad moment and lose positions. Better be careful about that.
This race, just like the Nationwide, had its participants intended to fight till the end. And what guarantees you a good start? Position! Both Grosmanteau DeCuir and Badguy Boozehound were the leaders of the qualifying session, but Boozehound was a bit faster...
At the start, when the countdown was over, everyone rushed ahead, but just to line up again: one racer overslept the start. Second time was a success, and the competition began!

On the first laps, the leaders were those who took advantage of their grid positions (Boozehound, ZZ and Broly Blackheart Sr.) - DeCuir wasn't one of them, and he dropped to the end of the pack, where already was Eagle Clawtooth, whose qualifying round wasn't successful at all. Top 3, of course, were in the battle for the lead, far behind them Clawtooth and DeCuir were fighting for the right to make their way to the top (in the end of the pack, what else 2 best racers can fight for?). Clawtooth was leading, while they were there, but after a few laps DeCuir caught the right moment to pass him by. Of course, Clawtooth kept up with him.

The moment they made it to the head of the pack, where the Top 3 were still battling (Lap 10, Blackheart and Boozehound got damage, so their laps were very slow) was one of the most exciting ones, because the battle for the lead between 3 racers turned into a battle between 6 racers - MidnightRambler Frostbite joined them from the 4th position. Places were divided at the next lap - Frostbite gained the lead, DeCuir and Boozehound competed for the 2nd position, Clawtooth was a bit behind them in 4th and ZZ saved the 5th place - heavily wrecked Blackheart dropped to the 8th position.
Frostbite didn't expand his lead in time, was battled by Boozehound and DeCuir - and in a few laps was left behind then. The challenge for the first place remained, but now between only 2 racers.

The pitstop time has come, and things began to change. Boozehound got a black flag and had to make a stop and go - which knocked him off the 2nd place that was redeemed by Eagle Clawtooth. Needs to mention that DeCuir had the latest pitstop, also the fastest one (confirmed by logs) - so he still remained 1st!
Nevertheless, the gap between him and Clawtooth was slight, also the 3rd (ZZ) and 4th (Frostbite) positions weren't lapped yet ... but they couldn't get any closer partly due to the driving skills.

Second pitstops haven't changed a lot; expanded some gaps and Blackheart retired from the race. The difference between DeCuir (1st) and Clawtooth (2nd) was 5-7 seconds now - still an opportunity to catch up, despite the fact Clawtooth would have to overpass other drivers (all lapped, double-lapped etc.). Though the traffic between them was changing, the wideness of the gap remained. Then, time for the third pitstop had come.
The gaps between racers were only growing (half a lap and more), so their positions by the halfway got into a pretty stable condition. DeCuir had to maintain his position between Clawtooth, who was struggling till the end not to get lapped, and ZZ behind him eagerly trying to get ahead. But at the 74th lap Clawtooth scratched the wall which caused him damage, slowed him down and let DeCuir pass him by. ZZ eventually fell off his tail again.

4th pitstop reminds us about the necessity of respecting the speed limit at the pit area again. ZZ, who was going 3rd, got a black flag at the 4th pitstop and was obligated to make a stop and go - which dropped her 2 positions down. This allowed Boozehound to move up to the 3rd place without any competition - 4th place (FFred Koolhoven) was 1 lap behind him.
5th pitstops only firmed the positions.

Though it didn't influence the race much, I still would like to direct your attention to Grosmanteau DeCuir's pitstop strategy - because it's really an interesting one. While everybody else had to make 5 pitstops during the race, he managed to make 4, how? You can drive a certain amount of laps with a full tank, which at Speed Park Raceway is equalled 21-22 laps... out of 110. 6 stretches in total, but, if one drives carefully and make a pitstop every 22 laps, when the tank is almost empty, 6 stretches turn into 5 - you finish with an empty tank, but you don't do an additional pitstop! It requires to pay a lot of attention and keep in mind all the time which lap you'll have to make a pitstop on (skipped one, and the whole system is failed - the pitstop will be mandatory at the next lap, if, of course, you'll make it to the pits). So, if you do some calculation before the race, maybe it will turn out into the winning strategy? Think about it!
Thanks all the participants for yet another impressive race, congratulations DeCuir, Clawtooth and Boozehound with the Top 3, and see you at the tracks!


The grid:
Pole Position. badguy Boozehound  13.383
P 2. Grosmanteau DeCuir,  13.446, -0.063
P 3. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu),  13.743, -0.360
P 4. Broly Blackheart Sr. (Broly Yakubu),  13.879, -0.495
P 5. FFred Koolhoven,  13.894, -0.511
P 6. MidnightRambler Frostbite,  13.919, -0.535
P 7. Saphyre Cyberstar,  13.941, -0.558
P 8. Eagle Clawtooth,  13.962, -0.579
P 9. Clifford Market,  14.246, -0.863

Final Results:
1st. Grosmanteau DeCuir, 110 laps. Total Time : 1666.517
2nd. Eagle Clawtooth, -3 laps.
3rd. badguy Boozehound, -4 laps.
4th. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu), -5 laps.
5th. FFred Koolhoven, -6 laps.
6th. Saphyre Cyberstar, -8 laps.
7th. MidnightRambler Frostbite, -12 laps.
8th. Clifford Market, -20 laps.
9th. Broly Blackheart Sr. (Broly Yakubu), -68 laps.

Fastest race lap: badguy Boozehound, 13.547

R.I.R. Nationwide @ Speed Park Raceway

(race of 8/11/12)
Co-author: Grosmanteau DeCuir

R.I.R. website
Speed Park Raceway in-world

While Camping World Trucks was a pretty messy race yesterday, Nationwides turned out to be a very exciting and spectacular one, especially with the leading positions being totally unpredictable until the very end. Only professionals raced and the qualifying times show it. The last position (11th) was under 1 second from the pole and there were no more than 0.1 seconds gap between most of the drivers. The race was promising to be very tight!

The drivers were eager to start and launch themselves toward the front of the pack. The green was given and it happened: one of the racers got delayed at the start, another one got stuck behind him, and that forced a red flag and a restart of the race, giving drivers time to re-think their start strategy. The second attempt yielded a large incident forcing yet another restart. Third time's a charm and the race started on a good foot!
On the first lap, Miku Hatsune managed to claw her way in front of Eagle Clawtooth and led the pack. However, it was unfortunate to JP Paneer as he battled through traffic but fell down from 2nd to 8th place after the initial lap. Miku managed to narrowly keep the lead in front of Eagle and JP but had to relinquish the lead when these two passed her on lap 14. The trio would remain close to each other, with JP briefly taking the lead until the first pitting window opened up. Meanwhile, battles were raging behind them as drivers frequently exchanged positions.

With so many cars on the track, doing a pit stop is even more hazardous. Miku learned this the hard way by being tangled between drivers entering and leaving the pit area and thus losing valuable seconds. JP managed to take the lead after the first pitstop from Eagle started to build up a lead on the drivers behind him.

While the first three drivers were seemingly on their own for a long time, the other drivers must not be forgotten! A surging Saphyre passed Miku for the third place on lap 28 and a ferocious battle ensued between these two drivers for several laps. As laps went on and tires wear could be seen on the cars, many drivers started facing issues keeping their cars off the walls. This led to several positions changing and a tightening of the first four positions. It was thus time for Pit stop #2 and JP was the first to execute himself, trying to secure a clean way within the pit area. Unfortunately, in his haste, JP triggered a speed limit penalty which forced him to do a stop and go (which consists of doing an additional pit stop without having the right to change tires or refuel), which he did on the following lap.

Following the second pit stop, Eagle took a large lead over Miku and Saphyre, who both encountered traffic in the pit area. While they may have lost time on Eagle, this advantaged neither of them toward each other and they resumed their battle upon exit of the pit area. JP, who had to serve his penalty, came back fourth, trailing Miku and Saphyre by a few seconds. By lap 50, Eagle had made himself a lead that allowed him to coast through victory. Miku and Saphyre, who were still battling for second place, noticed a third player in their battle: JP, by driving alone and cleanier than the two people in front, managed to get back and thus a three-way battle started. Two would get on the podium and one would be left out. The battle raged on, the drivers traded positions all the time until the end of the race. Eagle won the race, but it was Miku who managed to edge out JP and Saphyre respectly for the second place.

JP finished third, but would have had second place if it were not for his speed penalty. Let's this be a reminder for everyone, folks, respect the speed limits!

That is all for today! The next race will be held at Watkins Glen, a technical road circuit that will force the drivers to adapt to the sharp turns and possibly new pit strategies.

(K.T.: I'd like to say big thank you to Grosmanteau for the impressive job he's done (I know myself it's not an easiest one) and for freeing my hands pretty sensibly - yes, this article is mostly written by him, I made a few stylistic corrections. Very nicely done, in my opinion, and lets me finish the Sprint Cup article today faster. Thanks Grosmanteau!)


Number of laps: 80
Race length: 24 minutes

The grid:
Pole Position. Eagle Clawtooth  14.138
P 2. JP Paneer,  14.224, -0.086
P 3. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki),  14.272, -0.134
P 4. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu),  14.316, -0.178
P 5. FFred Koolhoven,  14.517, -0.379
P 6. Saphyre Cyberstar,  14.581, -0.443
P 7. Broly Blackheart Sr. (Broly Yakubu),  14.601, -0.463
P 8. Vickster Freiin von Kühn (Vickster Kuhn),  14.668, -0.530
P 9. Snuffy Smith (Snufman),  14.721, -0.583
P 10. MidnightRambler Frostbite,  14.786, -0.648
P 11. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk),  15.001, -0.863

Final Results:
1st. Eagle Clawtooth, 80 laps. Total Time : 1267.447
2nd. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki), -1 laps.
3rd. JP Paneer, -1 laps.
4th. Saphyre Cyberstar, -1 laps.
5th. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu), -1 laps.
6th. FFred Koolhoven, -3 laps.
7th. Broly Blackheart Sr. (Broly Yakubu), -4 laps.
8th. Vickster Freiin von Kühn (Vickster Kuhn), -5 laps.
9th. MidnightRambler Frostbite, -6 laps.
10th. Snuffy Smith (Snufman), -7 laps.
11th. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk), -8 laps.

Fastest race lap: Eagle Clawtooth, 14.134

TXT Racing Series Summer 2012 - THE FINISH

Winners of the series:
1st place - Millennium Sands - 328 points for 8 races
2nd place - Grosmanteau DeCuir - 295 points for 6 races
3rd place - Brave Ashbourne - 275 points for 6 races
CONGRATULATIONS!!!


The series has ended.
And I, on behalf of 2RAW Team, as a race director, would like to thank all participants - whose who came over to watch the race, whose who supported the sim and their favorite racers, and, of course, whose took part in the series, particularly or the whole season. The summer is closer to the end, and I'm happy to say - I had a great time with all of you, and the whole series has left nothing but the best memories about it.
I can assure you that we're going to have more races at 2RAW, and, as always, everybody's most welcome to join the racing world of Second Life. Have a great time in both lifes and compete hard!

And now - the points for the final race and the whole series:


10th race of the series - 8/11/12:
Brave Ashbourne - 50
Grosmanteau DeCuir - 45
Sharon Densmith - 40
Ronin Zane - 36PhiloSophical Vervain - 32
Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ (Excess Lemmon) - 28
Cameron Geordie - 25
RiotSlit - 22



Total series points (up to the present day,  8/11/12):
Millennium Sands - 328
Grosmanteau DeCuir - 295
Brave Ashbourne - 275Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ (Excess Lemmon) - 261
Sharon Densmith - 228
Eagle Clawtooth - 148
PhiloSophical Vervain - 164
Cameron Geordie - 152
flea Fang - 81
Dalton Aiten - 45
Durron Sockington - 40
Rosie Varnish - 40
Ronin Zane - 36Stoney Maloney (Hagbard Hyx) - 32
acrazymanルナ (aCrazyMan Aries) - 28
Foreman Farshore - 22
bradock Randt - 16

TXT Racing Series Summer 2012 - 10th, the last, race!

It was a very tough series at 2RAW - the first series at 2RAW after a very long break. Nevertheless, we made it to the end, and it's my pleasure to cover the last and, I could even say, the most intensive race - because it took place at the Track 8, a crossroads 8-shaped track (devil knows, was that a shape that just asks for being placed as 8th, or was that the name that gave this track a shape). That was more of fun race - the series is over, so we wanted to give our racers a little variety.

There were not just those you know by the whole series - Pomponia LeMort, PhiloSophical Vervain, Grosmanteau DeCuir and others - but also a couple of new people dropped by, and one of then was someone you've probably heard of if you come often at 2RAW - Ronin Zane, a very skilled 2RAW racer. Well, it's never late to have fun!
Of course we had the qualifying round, but that was more of a formality than a nessecity. Because in a few laps after the start it has turned into the biggest mess 2RAW have seen - grid positions didn't matter anything, it depended more on a recovering-after-accidents skill than on a driving one.

The leaders were, of course, the same people, who expanded the lead in the beginning of the race - Grosmanteau DeCuir and Brave Ashbourne were going together, and despite the fact DeCuir was being pushed off his course several times, he was catching up with Ashbourne very quickly. But not all the time... It seemed that Ashbourne was more lucky with a traffic, and once DeCuir got stuck in a pile of cars too badly, the gap between them sharply increased. At the last laps of the race, DeCuir began catching up with Ashbourne again... and, when they both got piled up with Sharon Densmith, he climbed over cars and fell off the track. Coming back costed him about 30-35 seconds, but the rest, while messing up with each other were more than 2 laps down, so he remained at the 2nd place (finished driving the different color car though).
Also, I want to mark Sharon Densmith and Ronin Zane - most of the time they were going 3rd and 4th, but when the battle came over (some of the leaders dropped behind, or someone else was catching up with them, but mostly it was between them) - they never refused one.

But I have to admit, it's pretty hard to judge the race at the same level with a regular one (road course or oval) due to constant non-logical changes - cars literally were all over it, some were inverted several times, but nothing to be aggressive about - it's not a war, it's a competition.
I want to thank all the racers and spectators for coming, only you could make this race so exciting and fun to watch, I hope all of you had as much fun as I had, or even more - the race was definitely outstanding. Thank you all!

The grid:

Pole Position. Grosmanteau DeCuir  17.285
P 2. Sharon Densmith,  17.318, -0.033
P 3. Ronin Zane,  17.432, -0.146
P 4. Brave Ashbourne,  17.479, -0.194
P 5. cameron Geordie,  17.957, -0.672
P 6. Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ (Excess Lemmon),  18.760, -1.475
P 7. PhiloSophical Vervain,  18.959, -1.674
P 8. RiotSlit,  19.741, -2.455


Final Results:
1st. Brave Ashbourne, 50 laps. Total Time : 906.131
2nd. Grosmanteau DeCuir, -2 laps.
3rd. Sharon Densmith, -3 laps.
4th. Ronin Zane, -3 laps.
5th. PhiloSophical Vervain, -7 laps.
6th. Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ (Excess Lemmon), -7 laps.
7th. cameron Geordie, -8 laps.
8th. RiotSlit, -38 laps. (dropped out)

Fastest race lap: Brave Ashbourne, 17.057

R.I.R. Build Your Own Car @ Speed Park Raceway

(race of 8/10/12)

And, right after one hour, we're having totally different type of racing, where racers not only show their driving talent, but also demonstrate their artistic skills with the cars they drive.
And again, Saphyre Cyberstar wins the first prize for the originality of her car - yerterday it was a stylish motorized trike that not only looks fantastic, but also set up correctly to win, if there's no... Well, just continue reading.

But before I go on, I'd like to say big thank you to one of the greatest racers, also a very good friend of mine - Grosmanteau DeCuir - for his help with the race analysis. Plenty of facts you'll read in this article I owe to him.
Like it was mentioned, this track has a pretty easy layout to drive, so qualifying round was very important - there was no doubt racers will pile up after the start and keep on going together for, possibly, even a few laps. At first MidnightRambler Frostbite was leading with 14.499 seconds, then DeCuir (last but two in the qualifying queue) got the pole with a very close time - 14.466, but JP Paneer (last but one in the queue) took it from him with 14.317.
But position on the grid works only if you manage to avoid the traffic that promptly surrounds you.
Grosmanteau's predictions were right - it was a really messy race in the beginning, battles occured here and there, racers were trading places in a blink. After the start, it was barely possible to determine who's on which position - the biggest mess took place at the second turn, and at the lap 2, after what DeCuir was pushed onto the pits by ZZ and Market was pushed there by DeCuir. Both dropped on 8th and 9th places.
However, if Market's catching-up skill still needs more experience, DeCuir made no doubt he can make it to the top - and he began making his way through the traffic. First one to pass was Eagle Clawtooth who's qualifying time didn't allow him to make a headstart, and therefore he was pushed back. But he, along with DeCuir, definitely wasn't going to give up, so it was the battle during which they both have passed ZZ, then Sweet, and it turned into the battle for the 5th place. Ought to say, Clawtooth is one hell of an opponent, so definitely wasn't an easy win for DeCuir. Meanwhile, ZZ and Sweet challenged each other for the 7th place.

Right ahead of him, Paneer and Moonites were in a battle for the 3rd place, and even though DeCuir got close to them, they were going with the same speed, so DeCuir stayed back. Opportunity caught him by surprise - at the 14th lap when one fighter crashed against another, DeCuir pass them by without any effort, Clawtooth almost made it through too - and, right before finishing the lap, also took the 2nd place from MidnightRambler Frostbite, who, after a couple of laps, got challenge for (now) 3rd position by Clawtooth.
The only one opponent who's left was Saphyre Cyberstar. An accurate driver, but she does wide turns what, of course, affected her lap time. And DeCuir got it at the 22th lap, but then the traffic appeared - that was ZZ, who chose the aggressive tactics and slowed him down. Cyberstar gained the lead. Not for long though - when ZZ dropped behind, DeCuir regained the lead in no time. Meanwhile, Clawtooth was going 3rd expanding the gap between him and Frostbite.
At the last third of the race, traffic multiplied, gaps expanded and the positions remained till the end of the race.

The moral of the race? Even if you have a bad start, don't give up! - these words are addressed to all of you,  racers, and they're by Grosmanteau DeCuir, the man who, if it comes to racing, doesn't use words lightly. This race's example shows it pretty well - and this is the lesson plenty of people have to learn over and over. Wish you're not one of them. See you at Second Life tracks!

Number of laps: 60
Race length: 15 minutes

The grid:
Pole Position. JP Paneer  14.317
P 2. Grosmanteau DeCuir,  14.466, -0.148
P 3. MidnightRambler Frostbite,  14.499, -0.181
P 4. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk),  14.583, -0.266
P 5. Garth Moonites,  14.646, -0.329
P 6. Saphyre Cyberstar,  14.811, -0.494
P 7. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu),  14.837, -0.520
P 8. Clifford Market,  14.849, -0.532
P 9. Eagle Clawtooth,  14.970, -0.653


Final Results:
1st. Grosmanteau DeCuir, 60 laps. Total Time : 885.626
2nd. Saphyre Cyberstar, -8.231 seconds.
3rd. Eagle Clawtooth, -9.045 seconds.
4th. Garth Moonites, -1 laps.
5th. JP Paneer, -1 laps.
6th. MidnightRambler Frostbite, -1 laps.
7th. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk), -1 laps.
8th. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu), -2 laps.
9th. Clifford Market, -3 laps.

Fastest race lap: Grosmanteau DeCuir, 13.970