So the “race everyone was dreading” turned into the one with probably the closest overall times and only one crash out. 7 minutes between 1st and 6th. with @keets prevailing in no small part due to a blistering Stage 12 performance. @chipwich lost the lead on the final stage but still finished 2nd and mr consistent here @Camembert took 3rd.
Overall I thought it was a fun race, even if I think we all were being super cautious, or at least more than usual.
It all comes down to New Zealand in the H2 (RWD)'s and I’d say 7 drivers still have a shot going into it. If you’ve bowed out recently, try and give this last one a go!
It was hugely enjoyable battling @keets in Greece. I knew that I would need to drive a perfect SS12 to hold off my opponent. Unfortunately for team Chipwich, I turned a 10 second lead into a 1+ minute deficit with a slow pirouette in a narrow section which left my car’s driving wheel hanging in the air. It took me almost a minute of rocking the steering right/left and rowing the gearbox to ultimately get free. Never mind, the battle was intense and just being in the hunt a worthy reward.
Y’all have to drive that alt league rally in New England. Now! You have only a couple of hours left!
I drove a pretty good rally there finally. And @Roo didn’t make it. So I am first place, which is cool. But I don’t want to win my first rally like that!
So @chipwich, @mudcat, @keets@DanTDBV, @TeTeT and @weaponz248 do something!!!
I was hoping to sneak in a time later, actually this afternoon but that never materialized, so before it ends at least. I haven’t been doing the recap and advertising on the alt rally because i know it caused a bit of confusion.
Well I think that re-inforces that it’s not advisable to drive a high performance rally car with a few beers inside you.
Apologies @aginor I couldn’t do justice to your times. Puncture 1 min in on the first stand and I forgot a spare, so the first stages were with a flat.
3 mins down, is a big ask, coupled with the way @aginor is now racing demonstrated but the fact on the odd occasion I was going green, it was 10-15 seconds max per stage.
I persevered through to the 10 or 11th stage, still trailing by 3 mins when I went over a cliff and terminal damaged
Thanks for giving it a try!
It is humbling to see that drunk @keets on three tyres actually is not that much slower than me… I still have a lot to learn in racing. Half of the time the only thing that is doing some real racing is my heart. Racing is stressful!
Anyway, guys, there are four hours left, you can still make it!
In the meantime here are my stages 2, 3, and 12 on video.
In the last one you can see how nervous I am, I make a few stupid mistakes there.
(Last one isn’t HD yet, will be in a few minutes though)
I am sorry Aginor, but am just to busy moving files around preparing for my new PC build.
Now I am learning why it is not a good idea to put both games and software for both operating systems onto the same 4TB HDD in a dualboot system. I have to move my DCS, P3D, RBR, SB and Steam installs to a transfer drive. That is about 1.5TB and I can only move about 200GB in a stint as the HDD’s get to hot.
Add to that, that I am also emptying the other 4TB HDD that I will transfer to the new build as I want to have a compleately clean slate. That is another 2TB to move.
I won’t be doing any Rally or Rallycross until after I have my new PC up and running.
BTW, I washed out on stage 5 of Hawkes Bay. I’m officially retired from online rally racing LOL! Thank’s for the experience @Mudcat! It was a helluva ride!
New England was disaster after disaster, I did manage one good stage though, Stage 7 where I got within .5 a sec of @Aginor so yay! Here’s the video because that’s the only thing worth showing.
I don’t know what language I’ve written that in, but what my ramblings above were supposed to say, was that most of the time when I was running properly I wasn’t that much quicker.
So having a few beers down wasn’t an excuse and not to take anything away from you.
Well I’d just like to say that I’ve really enjoyed racing along and with you guys. It’s certainly revitalised my online racing and I’m really grateful to Mudcat for organising and being the inspiration behind these events.
Personally, I’d like it if we could get at least 10 racers consistently for anything in the future. Which probably means having to recruit some folks from elsewhere and I don’t frequent any other forums anymore. Guess I’ll have to go looking somewhere for a few more folks.
I’m not saying no or anything, just for long term health it would be good to get a few more consistent racers, so if anyone knows somebody who wants to race…
I’m thankful that someone else did make it in the US of A. I’d feel really weird winning the event after crashing out on the second stage. So thank you!
Oof. Sad to see that you won’t be back, and that you had such an inglorious exit. Was lots of fun racing you!
For the overall QL championship, we’ve got an interesting scenario shaping up. If my calculations are correct, if I win, @keets is second, and @Camembert is third, that means we would all tie on points (if the scoring works like F1, I’d win on countback for the two wins). Could be very interesting.
So, @chipwich, I need you to finish second please.
I like the sound of that. Numbers have definitely been dropping lately, so getting some new blood can only be a good thing, even if it does potentially mean my dethroning.
I had planned to jump on 2 1/2 hours before the end of Rally New England last night, but I spent too much time modding cars in AC and DR2 yesterday and then was dominated by my family the rest of the day/night. Oh well, on to New Zealand and Wales.
Do y’all know that feeling when you like something, it feels great, but you are not particularly good at it?
That’s me in RWD cars.
I drove the first half of New Zealand in the Kadett and I really like that thing. But I cannot keep up with the really fast guys. I was not too far behind but then I rolled the car in stage 5 so I had to drive 5 and 6 pretty slowly.
Going to do the rest tomorrow.
Definitely one of my many weaknesses. I learned a little bit from the last one, and that was at low speed in 1st or 2nd gear to not come completely off the gas, especially on slick surfaces. Compression braking will lock the rear and the back end comes around. Or run a gear higher. At least that’s my theory.
I’ve been incredibly lucky these last 2 rallies (so far, touch wood). I’ve put up some decent times but I’m living on a knife edge. The way the back of the car is swinging around is giving me kittens and fortunately every time I’ve lost control, a bend has come to the rescue by turning the way I’m spinning
I’m definitely punching above my weight at the moment but don’t worry, the knockout punch is waiting to floor me around every turn. Hang on in there Aginor you are doing great and lots of drama to come yet I’m sure.
