Gran Premio d'Italia

sorry justin for hitting you, after brian went straight into the back of me (for the 4th time) my car was stupidly understeery and i couldnt avoid you.

Lots of disappointment.

Qual:
Lag was unbelievable for qualy. What else is there to say. Nice lap from David.

Race:
The start lights flickered so I jumped the gun when i thought I saw them go out, and got a drive-thru. Midway thru the race, my game locked up four times for split-second lengths of time, causing three unprovoked spins, including the most disastrous which ixnayed my rear wing out of Lesmos 2. Tried to hurry back to pits, but goosed it out of parablica and rear ended the pit entrance tire wall, killing my engine. That last bit was of my own doing. F#&$ing S%@<!

I will miss the next two events most likely, so I wish you all some good racin'.

1 lap away from getting the 8th position and a point, and the engine expires on the 2nd to last lap. UGH! And I helped my teammate Scott B into a DNF, so this event just sucked all around.

I never even made it to the warm up lap. Screen went black, then night, then froze completely. Hope the powers that be will not consider this a DNF but a DNS. Terrible.

Edit by TM - Yes, I will fix this Fran.

Qually was rubbish, I was 1 second away from starting another lap when the chequered came out and I had 0.5 in my lap easy, so may have got 3rd. Oh well....
The start was nice for me, I got straight up ahead of Darren and then Tristan so I was 4th out of T1. Sorry for the contact with Kent but I think you came from off the track to try and pass me so I wouldn't call it my fault (might be wrong though). After Tim spun I was 3rd, then David spun and I was breifly second before I let him back passed (I figured I was probably racing Heinz for about 3rd in reality). David pitted (stop & go?) which put me in 2nd again and I chased Heinz hard. He pitted a lap earlier than me so I was able to gain a couple of seconds, so I whacked up the boost and went for the pass. I made one at the first corner (totally by accident, I couldn't slow down as quick as Heinz) but it was under yellows so I let him ease back through and tucked right back into his slipstream. Got on his outside into the second chicane and broke as late as I could, just squeezing around the outside and taking the lead. I was able to pull away from there (as much as Allen Cotton tried to stop me as I came to lap him), and Sam and Heinz got tangled a bit so I was able to pull out a 5 second lead and drop the boost way down to save the engine. Heinz got within 3 seconds of me before making a big mistake on what turned out to be both of our in-laps for our final stops, which gave Tristan 2nd place as we started the final stint, 17 seconds behind me with 17 to go. I let Tristan gain a little and took care of my brakes and engines, but after a few laps he disapeared so I dropped the boost down to one and cruised home... at least that was the plan. With 5 laps to go I had 23 seconds on Heinz, when my front left brake blew up. I cruised even slower and with 3 to go my other front brake blew up. I tried to compromise between slowing the car down with the engine and the brakes but Heinz was closing too fast, and on the last lap he was 5 seconds behind. I conteplated cutting the first chicane but obviously that wouldn't be fair of me, so Heinz was able to gain 3 seconds right there. I whacked the boost up to 8 and went for it around the rest of the lap, with only rear brakes, and held the gap steady. Then, out of ascari, the engine blew up. I coasted around parabolica but stopped at about the 10th place grid spot and watched everyone else finish. Todd was kind enough to give me a push while Heinz did donuts infront of me >:(

Unbeleivable. This series is cursed for me. I don't know what to say, I'm absolutley gutted.

I lost the car in the 2nd chicane in lap 3 or so. :-( Took of my rearwing and my left front wheel. Limped back to the pits for a 93 sec repair and by the time I rejoined I was 2 laps down on everyone in 20th. The whole race I tried to be carefull with passing cars so there wasn't much racing for me. Finishing in 12th was due to other people dropping out but I just didn't want a DNF. Let's hope for better luck in the next on. Grats to Heinz, Darren and Davd. Good job today guys. First V8, now F1. Amazing.

Firstly: HUGE congratulations to Apex Predator team. That was a huge showing. Both qualified very strong and then the top 2 to finish. Incredible. Heinz/Darren you've set the bar high for the humans.

Rough race. This was the first time where I have felt really good in practice days leading up to the event but come race day I did not feel right on the track at all. My qualifying went better than I expected, but in the race I was inconsistent at best. Going into T1, Allen was ahead of me and locked himself up and slid wide and I gave him a little unavoidable pat on the behind. It wasn't enough to put him off or spin or anything and I followed him on through. I was sure that it wasn't a call for a stop and go, but if I'm wrong, I'll take my post-race penalty. But I recall the rules saying that you had to knock him off line or spin him for it to be considered a stop-and-go punt. Sorry about that Allen. I was going wide already so that i would avoid punting you if you slowed down in the turn, but since you went wide also, that nixed that plan. ;)

I had climbed really far ahead after about 4 or 5 laps (I think I was in 4th) and that totally didn't seem right given how fast everyone else was and then I realize that I forgot to drop my boost! I was driving on 10 boost for like 5 laps solid. Thank god I didn't blow the engine...

The rest of the race was just lapping around trying to keep it clean which I wasn't doing terribly well at and then as Sam mentioned, he slammed into me in the second half of the T1 chicane and my car flipped right over and lost a wing. At that point I was already looking to be out of points contention but that just sealed the deal. Apology accepted Sam, just try to keep those sorts of things in mind and come in slower next time you see my ass ahead of you. :)

The final bit of drama for me came late in the race when I was heading down the front straight and started braking into T1 and suddenly my car lurched really hard and slid through the corner onto the run-off. I thought my engine had just blown and swore bloody murder waiting for the engine to die, but it didn't. Having started the race on 5 or 6 laps of max boost, I deserved it. I let everyone behind me through and then continued on and in the next corner ahead I shot way off again. I looked more closely at my damage screen and realized my front-left brake was gone. I'd never had that happen before, so I didn't recognize what had happened. There were still a handful of laps to drive, and sadly I smashed my car up again in the final turn with the dead brake and that gave up a spot to Tim and I ended up driving it home slowly for a surprising 10th.

Happy to have finished in the top-10 given all that happened.

I see I got DNF, never even made it to the Start...it ain't right [he shuts down computer, box of kleenex in hand, curls up in fetal position] it ain't right...

Edit by TM - I will fix it Fran

Drive thru and then a speeding penalty when entering pits to serve it (was furious and slighy insane for a minute) cost me 40 seconds.

Sincerely sorry to hear you might miss next two races Tristan.

Big congratulations to Heinz and Darren.

*SPRAYS THE CHAMPAIGNE OVER EVERYONE*

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/

I'm so happy about this, never did i EVER think i would win one of R2p's F1 events, and along with darrens help get the first 1-2 team finish in the F1's.... shocking!

First of all, congrats to Darren on his 2nd place .. and David making up 3rd

Scott, that was so unlucky mate, really feel for you, but 2 laps from the end when i saw your time dropping, i shat myslef .. was this it.... was this going to happen?

Quali: Had all week to knuckle down and pick myself up from my last race DNF, and i was really hammering the car to get the most out of it. Had managed faster laps in free prac, but still getting a 1m19.7 was good for me, 5th .. awesome!

Race started well, tristan scrambled early, and darren got a bad start, Tristan spun out on lap 1, and then i watched Tim battling with David for the lead. not long after they started duelling Tim spun it at the second chicane ... I was now in second and 2 odd seconds behind David.. David was not gaining to much on me, so i was fairly confident of my setup.

David spun it on lap5 or 6, and if 2nd wasnt a dream come true already, i was leading the race from lap 6.... Scott was always behind, but i was able to keep the gap constant, and managed it well till my stop. I came in earlier than scott, but not long after coming back out, i had the lead back again .. Scott was catching me in stint2, and i wondered if i should try and race or preserve my engine, and be consistant instead of race for glory and put myself in harms way.. But when scott came round to challenge for the lead, i thought lets have a go, and RACE! I didnt even notice scotts first pass into T1 was under a yellow, but after he lifted and let me back he was soon trying again for the 2nd chicane, and he pulled off such a sweet pass...
Scott then pulled away, and at this point i was getting myself used to the fact i had lost the lead, but while i had it, it was awesome

Then Came Scott lapping Sam, and when i got behind sam, I kinda felt like sam was trying to race me, or hold me up for scott to get away .. Sam was weaving all over the place, and i really wasn't too impressed with him. but when i finally got passed i just had to forget about it and carry on.

then came the biggest mistake i could have ever pulled, and that was loosing the car on the final corner on my inlap to pits, was so upset that just happened, because i knew tristan was gonna steal 2nd now, and i could possibly loose 3rd... but midway through 3rd and final stint, I closed the gap to tristan after he had an off, and took 2nd back ... I was comfertably in 2nd and scott was just gone .. on the podium if i could keep it here, and darren was now in 3rd ..

then .. the mother of all suprises, started seeing Scotts time dropping by 2 or 3 seconds every corner .. wondered if he was short shifting or something, but i thought it was way too drastic, and started getting goosebumps that scott was in trouble... when we started the last lap, scott was in my sights, he was struggling with something, I was screaming, it was almost mine, coming out of ascari, i just saw an engine blowout and flames........ heart stopping, tears start rolling, adrenaline pumping ... Passed scott to take the lead... and took the chequered! .....

still cant believe it.... AWESOME

Grats to all that finished, unlucky to those who didnt..

see you next round