04-01-2016, 03:42 AM
I had pretty good race... not counting a real bone-head move on lap 5 that cost me a couple of minutes and positions.
I qualified in 8th with a PB on my first try so I parked it and got out of my chair until the start. The start was clean (WTG everybody!!) and I fell in behind my teamie John who trailed Ramon. I imposed team orders on myself and stayed close but made no move on John as he dogged Ramon for the whole of lap one. He then got by him at the looong straight and now I trailed Ramon for the rest of the first stint though I was never close enough to threaten. I was fairly content with this just hoping to make a gain if Ramon faltered. I think I was in p8 before I pitted after lap 4. Lost a couple but figured I’d get them back in the rotation. Was feeling pretty good.
Then disaster hit. On the long straight on lap 5 I needed to relieve some stress and pain in my wrists. So driving with one hand, I would wave, flop and rotate the wrist and forearm of the free hand. First the left hand and then the right. Well I got a little too wild with the motions and flapped my right hand into my keyboard! Instant black screen at 160mph! YIIIIKES! Nothing but audio of the screech, BAM, screech, BAM! I immediately pressed Esc to exit the race before someone hit me but it did no good. (I had no idea where I ended up.) I could not get any screen, be it rF2 or my desk top or whatever to show up. Finally I thought to try the Windows key… and that did it. Low and behold I was still in the car and it was upright and idling and had 4 wheels! I was in the pit entry lane for the tourist area. It took a while to figure out which way was the right direction but once I did I just drove past the gate arms and back onto the track. That all cost me about a minute and now the car pulled hard to one side. It was too late to signal the pit crew so I drove past the pits and took the next lap to assess the car. Ends up, thanks to 20% damage, it was drivable but of course not up to top speed. Edwin caught and passed me on that lap but once I got used to it I decided it was better to stay on track a few more laps than to pit early and take on a ton of fuel and have to make the new set of tires last for 7 laps. So that’s what I did.
The damage penalty added an extra minute or so to my pit stop but then I was glad to have a normally handling car again. I teetered between P7 and P10 depending on pit rotations for most of the rest of the race. I settled into P9 and finished there.
Being that at one point I thought for sure I was a DNF getting P9 was pretty satisfying. And with me finishing 2 spots ahead of Tobias, it looks like John and I claimed the “Best of the Rest” team trophy!!
Good racing everybody. Fun season. Huge thanks to all the Admin guys. We all know this stuff doesn’t just happen.
See you all next season!
I qualified in 8th with a PB on my first try so I parked it and got out of my chair until the start. The start was clean (WTG everybody!!) and I fell in behind my teamie John who trailed Ramon. I imposed team orders on myself and stayed close but made no move on John as he dogged Ramon for the whole of lap one. He then got by him at the looong straight and now I trailed Ramon for the rest of the first stint though I was never close enough to threaten. I was fairly content with this just hoping to make a gain if Ramon faltered. I think I was in p8 before I pitted after lap 4. Lost a couple but figured I’d get them back in the rotation. Was feeling pretty good.
Then disaster hit. On the long straight on lap 5 I needed to relieve some stress and pain in my wrists. So driving with one hand, I would wave, flop and rotate the wrist and forearm of the free hand. First the left hand and then the right. Well I got a little too wild with the motions and flapped my right hand into my keyboard! Instant black screen at 160mph! YIIIIKES! Nothing but audio of the screech, BAM, screech, BAM! I immediately pressed Esc to exit the race before someone hit me but it did no good. (I had no idea where I ended up.) I could not get any screen, be it rF2 or my desk top or whatever to show up. Finally I thought to try the Windows key… and that did it. Low and behold I was still in the car and it was upright and idling and had 4 wheels! I was in the pit entry lane for the tourist area. It took a while to figure out which way was the right direction but once I did I just drove past the gate arms and back onto the track. That all cost me about a minute and now the car pulled hard to one side. It was too late to signal the pit crew so I drove past the pits and took the next lap to assess the car. Ends up, thanks to 20% damage, it was drivable but of course not up to top speed. Edwin caught and passed me on that lap but once I got used to it I decided it was better to stay on track a few more laps than to pit early and take on a ton of fuel and have to make the new set of tires last for 7 laps. So that’s what I did.
The damage penalty added an extra minute or so to my pit stop but then I was glad to have a normally handling car again. I teetered between P7 and P10 depending on pit rotations for most of the rest of the race. I settled into P9 and finished there.
Being that at one point I thought for sure I was a DNF getting P9 was pretty satisfying. And with me finishing 2 spots ahead of Tobias, it looks like John and I claimed the “Best of the Rest” team trophy!!
Good racing everybody. Fun season. Huge thanks to all the Admin guys. We all know this stuff doesn’t just happen.
See you all next season!