Exige Challenge

Well, today clearly wasn't one of the best days of racing for me.
I started out bad, crashing in the qualify and having to "escape" because the engine died, and I didn't want to leave the car on track.
In the race I just crashed a lot. I was so bad at the track that I even took the guy in first position with me in one of my crashes; I'm really sorry for costing you your position Carson.
In the end I crashed again and wasn't able to get back to the pits because apparently, while trying to get out of the sand trap my ride overheated and the engine shutdown and still hasn't started again after multiple tries to get it to start.
If I had to resume in one word how good I drove in this race I'd have to say the word is "BAD".
You'd think I din't spend time in the track or made adjustments to the car, but I did spend about 4-5 hours trying the track and setting up the car. I'd blame the fact that I just got the steering wheel replaced today and only had about 20mins to practice with it before the race, instead of using the controller to race in the track(since I used the controller to make the settings and all yesterday)
Also, I stayed on the trackside when the engine overheated instead of "escaping" in hopes of not causing the lag that accompanies it.

Once again, Sorry for the crash, Carson.

Well done to all who finished on this very unforgiving track.

This is certainly not my favorite venue. I clobbered the first chicane on my qualy out lap, so could not even set a time. Hit it a couple more times during the race. Around half way, holding forth, I was feeling comfortable to probably stay ahead of Mike. There was no way I was going to catch Dennis, seemed he didn’t make any mistakes.

THEN ……….. I clipped the second chicane and spun into Mike’s path, sorry Mike. That gave me a puncture, and caused me to pit. A long pit stop dropped me to sixth behind Paul. A lap later I noticed Paul in the pits again, so I thought I should just settle for fifth, as Mike was well over a minute ahead.

Then I hit the second chicane GOOD AND PROPER!!!! My car took off, spinning through the air, seemingly higher and higher and higher …………….. I reached 400 km per hour heading into space lol.
Hence the DNF.

See you all next week.

Hard luck Ricardo. But big up for previously racing with a controller. Once you get the hang of that steering wheel the times will come tumbling.
Well done to everyone!
I started off slower, those darn cold tyres, and Andrew went past. This track is all about minimising mistakes, so I thought I'd try to hang in there with Andrew. Stayed with Andrew until his coming together with Ricardo. I narrowly avoided hitting Andrew, I did everything to just just miss him. I was a little concerned AC, you were flying. Thought I'd drive a bit "slower" for AC to catch up, who then came to within 2 seconds, but then dropped off suddenly, I suspect a spin or off-track excursion. Decided to go for it and made some decent laps, was concentrating hard on getting the first 2 chicanes and corner in between right, because they make a difference on this track.
Last few laps came up behind Mike, but he was also going fast and consistent. Mike let me past though, then I spun, Mike came back and so I thought I'd just stay behind, push him a bit ;-) but there was no need, Mike was plenty fast enough.
Thanx again all!

Very good read, Ricardo and Anton. Like your explanation of crashes Anthony

Had a good time.
My Q wasn't my PB, and knew it was a long race and that Boyd and Andrew would be gone in a few laps.
I was happy with my start, I may have gotten a bit wide on Mike exiting T2, sorry Mike. I settled into 3rd, with both Mike and Anthony going back and forth behind me. I seriously thought both were going to reel me in.
IT was a loney ride, a few mistakes, but a real good time.
I really like this track, gotta be spot on, can't be overly aggressive in the chicanes but you can push it.
Good time, thanks, see ya in Spain.....that track I don't care for.

Wow Anthony, I had one of those 'caught ya' moments to end my qual session. only a couple of barrel rolls for me though.

Race started clean, I went in with a late pit strategy - to take fuel only. After Boyd lapped me - I made a ham footed slide into the wall to bust a tire and nursed it back to the pits for the stop, only to get dinged twice - once by my own dumb self speeding into the pits (really, the speed limit starts 2 inches off the track? sheesh) and another by my dumb pit crew - who didn't feel it was necessary to put the 5.3 gallons I had set before the race into the car. I hate pits in this game.

So I served the stop n' go, and drove a bit more until I had to come in again for fuel to finish the race. And what do they do? put in 1 gallon. I should have taken more time to get it right - I just don't get how fueling works on the pit board. It seems to be 'total' sometimes and 'on top of' other times. Why can't the f'ing crew just do what makes sense to finish the damn race?

But taking it easy on my 1 extra gallon, I was able to finish, but I was 3 laps short of 50, so that helped.

This track is a toughie, as the description says an oval with seven after thoughts - it's a cross between Indy and Spa, only the curbs are much bigger and the chicanes narrower. I'd call it a bowl full of alligators, you'll be fine as long as you drive on the edge and try like hell not to fall in. ;)

Good racing all, til next time.

Doug, will a replay be available? I forgot to turn on my replay setting.
Hard luck Ant. Everytime I went through those tyre's I held my breath. On this track slow-in-fast-out pays off on most of the corners. I see some of the guys stay clear of ALL the curbs, but there are some you can cross safely. The last chicane right before the start and the first tyre chicane can be attacked at speed. But the first few chicanes after the start, woohooo, stay clear. Them be nasty curbs!
Cheers

This track is deadly but so much fun. Unfortunately I couldn't get enough balls to go as fast as I did in practice - too careful. Even then I still screwed up several times in that silly first chicane. Had a decent qualifying run - gave it up to Dennis in T2 (no hard feelings Dennis) then battled with Anthony back & forth until his major wipeout. I thought that I could've avoided him but I watched the replay & there was no way out. We both pitted after that - guess he got the worst of it cuz he was still in there when I left. I treid to catch up to Dennis (again) - he was 30 seconds up. I got it down to 20 or so then f**ked up again & lost another 5 or so seconds. As I said to Andrew last night, if I was more consistent I'd be more of a threat -guess that'll come with more practice.
During the last laps Boyd showed up behind me. My car was pretty fast on the straights so I tried to race with him. I knew he had plenty of time ahead of Andrew so I used his pressure for experience.
Once again it was great to race you guys. Cya all next week.

BTW, congrats Ricardo on your new wheel - you'll get used to it & wish you'd bought it many moons ago.

Here's a copy of my replay(I suppose it's the same):
http://rapidshare.com/files/144026448/Enna_Pergusa_080909_2158.Vcr

Ricardo, If I may suggest that rather press esc in future. I don't think it would cause a lag, and if it does, it would probably only be for a few seconds.

I didn't realize that you had effectively retired, and each lap as I approached the chicane where your car was, I was not sure if it was going to appear in the same place or if you had managed to move, making my approach to the chicane a bit of a nervous affair. :)

Boyd, i'd say its more like "fast in, faster out" :-)

I had a good qualifying, but just didn't have enough on the last lap to get those 2 tenths I needed to surpass Boyd. Was fun.

Race came and I had a decent start, followed by taking the pressure to boyd. I passed him and pushed hard to make a gap. It started to work and I gathered a few seconds, when ricardo hit the barriers in front of me and spun in front of the chicane. Bad news for me, as I slammed right into him and boyd somehow managed to get past unharmed.
No hard feelings though ricardo, it happens to all of us at some point. Wasn't too upset. Thanks for apology too.

So continued on 6 seconds behind boyd, and slowly started to knock it down until I had an off in the final corner from being too aggressive. Had this same off a time or two more.

Ricardo, you can safely leave the game without lag, its joining that causes the lag.

See you all next time!