Thursday, June 30, 2005
WR Racing @ Sebring 12hrs
WR Racing Finishes 12 Hours of Sebring!
This past Saturday, all day, WOSEC (http://www.wosec.co.uk/) held the 12 Hours of Sebring race. It was an insane 397 laps around the Sebring circuit in Florida, running GTP cars. Clouds had been in and out all week leading up to the race, but when race time finally came, the skies were clear, and the temperature a pleasant 75 degrees. Perfect racing conditions (especially since I never really altered the 70 clear setup I downloaded).
WR Racing have had problems finishing as of late, losing one of two cars to mechanical problems while running an impressive 6th at the 8 hours of Silverstone; then losing all three of the cars they had entered at the 6 hour night-time Spa race.
That trend looked to continue, when first-stint driver Tim Spencer reported that the WR Racing 18 car had lost 2nd gear, just 16 laps into the race. A shortage of drivers this month (4, down from the usual 6 or 7 or so) meant WR Racing only entered one car, and that car was already having problems. However, WR18 ran okay only using 3rd - 5th gear, and Spencer completed his scheduled 2-hour (2 fuel run) stint with few other problems, aside from the occasional off.
Sandeep Banerjee would then take over, having tweaked the car during the change-over for a 3 gear setup. (When you do driver changes in N2k3, it loads your default setup, so two drivers can have completely different setups; when we heard Tim lost a gear, we went in and changed the ratios for 3rd and 4th to provide better accelleration.) He also ran for 2 hours with minimal problems.
Then he handed it over to Tom Hakes, who ran the longest stint of WR's race at nearly 3 hours. It was scheduled for a full 3 fuel runs, but Hakes slipped up trying to pass a lapper and put it in the tires 10 laps from his scheduled race departure. The car was massively damaged, but still drivable. Hakes came in to fix the damage, and it was decided to do a driver change then.
Unfortunately, in the haste to change drivers, the crew didn't have time to fix the damage. (In 2k3, if you disco and come back, you get new tires and full fuel, but damage remains unless you wait for the pit crew to finish.) To add to the confusion, Spencer, who was set to run a 1-hour stint, twisted his ankle trying to get into the car (computer crashed). Time was lost in the confusion, but finally REDACTED (me!) stepped over Spencer's body and into the driver's seat. REDACTED was set to run the final 3 hours of the race as his one and only stint, but things change in the heat of the race.
REDACTED ran slow for his first fuel run, with the car still heavily damaged. He found himself getting passed in the fast sections, and keeping pace - sometimes even getting held up - in the slow ones. At one point, the SBRC 2 car attempted an ill-advised pass and spun them both. Luckily it was in a spot with all kinds of tarmac runoff, so both cars continued without problems. REDACTED pitted, fixing the damage, and was off again, at a much quicker pace now.
His old 1:53's became 1:49's; no where near the leader's pace, but decent nonetheless, and with only three gears to work with. At one point he came up on TPTCC Regulars #41, who were slower but laps ahead in the overall standings. The 41 slowed unexpectedly, and REDACTED rear-ended them. They both spun, but neither hit anything, and both continued on.
Banerjee took back over for REDACTED after 2 hours, running a "quick" 1 hour stint for the team. The stint was mostly incident-free, although at one point the Chilean Racing car waved Banerjee by only to block him, causing a spin.
Then Spencer - the man who qualified the car over 10 hours earlier - stepped in to run the final 2 hours of the race. It wasn't just a cruise to the checkers, though, as WR Racing 18 and the aforementioned Chilean Racing (#20) battled on the track for 7th place. Spencer closed in on them and worked them over for a number of laps before finally getting by them cleanly. A lap later, going into T1, the WR Racing car was punted from behind by the 20 car, spinning into the tires.
Spencer then set out on a mission to catch Chilean Racing and return the favor, even running a 1:49.1 with the damaged car - WR's best in the race - trying to catch them. With all this speed, Spencer used up his rear tires too quickly, leading to a couple spins, and leaving the punt unreturned. However, WR Racing finished 8th out of 20, a solid effort overcoming some problems in the race.
And while not pertaining to WR Racing, amazingly 5th place changed hands on the last lap - the last straightaway even - of the race. That's the 397th lap for those scoring at home. Absolutely crazy in a race that doesn't wait for anyone - no cautions, no rests, none of that oval racing stuff - a position can change on the final lap. The final 20 seconds of a race that ended up being over 12 hours long.
As a side note, this is the longest race I've ever been a part of. I was scheduled to run in last years 24 Heures du Mans, but our car crashed out 2 hours in. I only ran 2 hours in this race (was set to run 3 before plans got shuffled around), but it still took up my whole day between watching on NRTV and talking on Ventrilo.
But it was worth it, for sure. Great fun, and great drama watching Tim's final run on NRTV. I would even check the gap and tell him if he was closing... it was almost like being a spotter at times. "There's traffic ahead", I'd say. We came up on the 2nd place car (who had eased up considerably just trying to finish), and some of their team members were also on NRTV. So I asked them in the chat if we could get a let-by. And on the next straight, they pulled over and slowed. How cool is that? Like being a NASCAR spotter and making deals.
When the race was over, we all congratulated each other on Ventrilo, except Tom, who had gone to bed (it was something like 1 am where he was). I don't even know what kind of hours Tim and Sandeep (Australia and India) were up at to race. Tim especially had to put in quite a commitment, driving at the start and the finish of the race. I had it pretty nice with a 7am - 8pm timeslot here on east coast time.
Nice to finish one of these endurance races again, and it was great fun running it, even if I hated all things Chilean afterward.
This past Saturday, all day, WOSEC (http://www.wosec.co.uk/) held the 12 Hours of Sebring race. It was an insane 397 laps around the Sebring circuit in Florida, running GTP cars. Clouds had been in and out all week leading up to the race, but when race time finally came, the skies were clear, and the temperature a pleasant 75 degrees. Perfect racing conditions (especially since I never really altered the 70 clear setup I downloaded).
WR Racing have had problems finishing as of late, losing one of two cars to mechanical problems while running an impressive 6th at the 8 hours of Silverstone; then losing all three of the cars they had entered at the 6 hour night-time Spa race.
That trend looked to continue, when first-stint driver Tim Spencer reported that the WR Racing 18 car had lost 2nd gear, just 16 laps into the race. A shortage of drivers this month (4, down from the usual 6 or 7 or so) meant WR Racing only entered one car, and that car was already having problems. However, WR18 ran okay only using 3rd - 5th gear, and Spencer completed his scheduled 2-hour (2 fuel run) stint with few other problems, aside from the occasional off.
Sandeep Banerjee would then take over, having tweaked the car during the change-over for a 3 gear setup. (When you do driver changes in N2k3, it loads your default setup, so two drivers can have completely different setups; when we heard Tim lost a gear, we went in and changed the ratios for 3rd and 4th to provide better accelleration.) He also ran for 2 hours with minimal problems.
Then he handed it over to Tom Hakes, who ran the longest stint of WR's race at nearly 3 hours. It was scheduled for a full 3 fuel runs, but Hakes slipped up trying to pass a lapper and put it in the tires 10 laps from his scheduled race departure. The car was massively damaged, but still drivable. Hakes came in to fix the damage, and it was decided to do a driver change then.
Unfortunately, in the haste to change drivers, the crew didn't have time to fix the damage. (In 2k3, if you disco and come back, you get new tires and full fuel, but damage remains unless you wait for the pit crew to finish.) To add to the confusion, Spencer, who was set to run a 1-hour stint, twisted his ankle trying to get into the car (computer crashed). Time was lost in the confusion, but finally REDACTED (me!) stepped over Spencer's body and into the driver's seat. REDACTED was set to run the final 3 hours of the race as his one and only stint, but things change in the heat of the race.
REDACTED ran slow for his first fuel run, with the car still heavily damaged. He found himself getting passed in the fast sections, and keeping pace - sometimes even getting held up - in the slow ones. At one point, the SBRC 2 car attempted an ill-advised pass and spun them both. Luckily it was in a spot with all kinds of tarmac runoff, so both cars continued without problems. REDACTED pitted, fixing the damage, and was off again, at a much quicker pace now.
His old 1:53's became 1:49's; no where near the leader's pace, but decent nonetheless, and with only three gears to work with. At one point he came up on TPTCC Regulars #41, who were slower but laps ahead in the overall standings. The 41 slowed unexpectedly, and REDACTED rear-ended them. They both spun, but neither hit anything, and both continued on.
Banerjee took back over for REDACTED after 2 hours, running a "quick" 1 hour stint for the team. The stint was mostly incident-free, although at one point the Chilean Racing car waved Banerjee by only to block him, causing a spin.
Then Spencer - the man who qualified the car over 10 hours earlier - stepped in to run the final 2 hours of the race. It wasn't just a cruise to the checkers, though, as WR Racing 18 and the aforementioned Chilean Racing (#20) battled on the track for 7th place. Spencer closed in on them and worked them over for a number of laps before finally getting by them cleanly. A lap later, going into T1, the WR Racing car was punted from behind by the 20 car, spinning into the tires.
Spencer then set out on a mission to catch Chilean Racing and return the favor, even running a 1:49.1 with the damaged car - WR's best in the race - trying to catch them. With all this speed, Spencer used up his rear tires too quickly, leading to a couple spins, and leaving the punt unreturned. However, WR Racing finished 8th out of 20, a solid effort overcoming some problems in the race.
And while not pertaining to WR Racing, amazingly 5th place changed hands on the last lap - the last straightaway even - of the race. That's the 397th lap for those scoring at home. Absolutely crazy in a race that doesn't wait for anyone - no cautions, no rests, none of that oval racing stuff - a position can change on the final lap. The final 20 seconds of a race that ended up being over 12 hours long.
As a side note, this is the longest race I've ever been a part of. I was scheduled to run in last years 24 Heures du Mans, but our car crashed out 2 hours in. I only ran 2 hours in this race (was set to run 3 before plans got shuffled around), but it still took up my whole day between watching on NRTV and talking on Ventrilo.
But it was worth it, for sure. Great fun, and great drama watching Tim's final run on NRTV. I would even check the gap and tell him if he was closing... it was almost like being a spotter at times. "There's traffic ahead", I'd say. We came up on the 2nd place car (who had eased up considerably just trying to finish), and some of their team members were also on NRTV. So I asked them in the chat if we could get a let-by. And on the next straight, they pulled over and slowed. How cool is that? Like being a NASCAR spotter and making deals.
When the race was over, we all congratulated each other on Ventrilo, except Tom, who had gone to bed (it was something like 1 am where he was). I don't even know what kind of hours Tim and Sandeep (Australia and India) were up at to race. Tim especially had to put in quite a commitment, driving at the start and the finish of the race. I had it pretty nice with a 7am - 8pm timeslot here on east coast time.
Nice to finish one of these endurance races again, and it was great fun running it, even if I hated all things Chilean afterward.
Vic Mackey Racing @ Willow Springs
Vic Mackey Racing Press Release
Vic Mackey Racing's driver Jabroni was hospitalized after Friday night's TPTCC race. He crashed hard in the final turn at Willow Springs. He walked away from that, but was then severly beaten by team boss Mackey and his Strike Team.
Asked for comment, Mackey said, "What? He just fell down some stairs after the race. It happens."
Jabroni released a written statement to the press, as his jaw is broken and he cannot talk. It reads, "Guys, come on. I just fell down some stairs. It happens sometimes."
The reason for the beating was clear: Jabroni was in position to win the race at Willow Springs, and lost it through a series of stupid mistakes. We mean monumental. Hm... mon-u-MENTAL. GET IT!
Oh, right. Jabroni qualified 2nd, followed the leader for a while, until the leader "lost his sound", which we don't really understand, since this is a real race and not some video game, no sir. But anyway, he had the lead and all, and then ran into a lapper, and then went off and bounced off the wall in the final turn, giving up the lead. He chased the leader some, crashed again in the same place, and then piled on the stupidity when he drove down pit road without stopping, for seemingly no reason.
Before he was pummelled by Mackey, Jabroni had this to say: "Well, I mean, I thought we were going to need fuel. A bunch of other guys were pitting - myself and the leader were the only cars on the lead lap even. So I figured we would have to, too. Then I get onto pit road and check with the crew, and they say I don't need fuel. So I kept going, losing like 20 seconds."
Jabroni closed back in some - the leader had lost a gear - but it wouldn't matter when he crashed AGAIN in the last turn with only 8 laps to go, taking another car with him. This time his race was over.
To add even more pain to the team, the leader would end up retiring with only a couple laps left, handing the win to the new second place runner, who was a lap down at the time. If only he had just not crashed the last time. Even with all the stupid stuff he did before, he still could of won if he just didn't run into that guy. I mean, the guy is clearly stupid.
If you're wondering why a press release from Vic Mackey Racing is so negative toward the team, its driver, and its owner, well... that's because it's my last day bitches! I'm through writing your press releases, Mackey. You goofy looking bald dumbass. Oh and "Driver Jabroni put in a good performance"? All just nonsense that I write because I'm paid to. Well not anymore. I'm going to write the novel I've always dreamed about... it's about a young boy and his pet rabbit, and they travel through time, forward, at 1x speed.
In closing, Vic Mackey sucks and I quit! Have fun with yo
hello this is vic mackey i dont really kno much about comptures but i do kno about KICKIN YOUR ASS tommy you sonofabich. tommy says i cant delete the stuff he already rote but let me say this officially: jabronie fell down some staris it happens GET OVER IT ALREADY GOD
Vic Mackey Racing's driver Jabroni was hospitalized after Friday night's TPTCC race. He crashed hard in the final turn at Willow Springs. He walked away from that, but was then severly beaten by team boss Mackey and his Strike Team.
Asked for comment, Mackey said, "What? He just fell down some stairs after the race. It happens."
Jabroni released a written statement to the press, as his jaw is broken and he cannot talk. It reads, "Guys, come on. I just fell down some stairs. It happens sometimes."
The reason for the beating was clear: Jabroni was in position to win the race at Willow Springs, and lost it through a series of stupid mistakes. We mean monumental. Hm... mon-u-MENTAL. GET IT!
Oh, right. Jabroni qualified 2nd, followed the leader for a while, until the leader "lost his sound", which we don't really understand, since this is a real race and not some video game, no sir. But anyway, he had the lead and all, and then ran into a lapper, and then went off and bounced off the wall in the final turn, giving up the lead. He chased the leader some, crashed again in the same place, and then piled on the stupidity when he drove down pit road without stopping, for seemingly no reason.
Before he was pummelled by Mackey, Jabroni had this to say: "Well, I mean, I thought we were going to need fuel. A bunch of other guys were pitting - myself and the leader were the only cars on the lead lap even. So I figured we would have to, too. Then I get onto pit road and check with the crew, and they say I don't need fuel. So I kept going, losing like 20 seconds."
Jabroni closed back in some - the leader had lost a gear - but it wouldn't matter when he crashed AGAIN in the last turn with only 8 laps to go, taking another car with him. This time his race was over.
To add even more pain to the team, the leader would end up retiring with only a couple laps left, handing the win to the new second place runner, who was a lap down at the time. If only he had just not crashed the last time. Even with all the stupid stuff he did before, he still could of won if he just didn't run into that guy. I mean, the guy is clearly stupid.
If you're wondering why a press release from Vic Mackey Racing is so negative toward the team, its driver, and its owner, well... that's because it's my last day bitches! I'm through writing your press releases, Mackey. You goofy looking bald dumbass. Oh and "Driver Jabroni put in a good performance"? All just nonsense that I write because I'm paid to. Well not anymore. I'm going to write the novel I've always dreamed about... it's about a young boy and his pet rabbit, and they travel through time, forward, at 1x speed.
In closing, Vic Mackey sucks and I quit! Have fun with yo
hello this is vic mackey i dont really kno much about comptures but i do kno about KICKIN YOUR ASS tommy you sonofabich. tommy says i cant delete the stuff he already rote but let me say this officially: jabronie fell down some staris it happens GET OVER IT ALREADY GOD
Vic Mackey Racing @ Daytona RC
Vic Mackey Racing Press Release
Friday night, Vic Mackey Racing - along with driver Jabroni - finished a solid 6th place in the Group A category in the TPTCC Summer Season opener at the road course version of the Daytona International Speedway. TPTCC switched to GTP cars for the short summer season, and Vic Mackey Racing chose to run a Sauber Mercedes, feeling that it would be best for their driver Jabroni, as he also runs a Sauber in the WOSEC Endurance racing series for WR Racing. They chose number 47 because that Hitman: Codename 47 is a pretty cool game. Rain-X came aboard as a sponsor after a meeting with team boss Vic Mackey. Rumors of Mackey threatening various Rain-X higher-ups with arrests if they didn't comply are completely unfounded. Second in command Shane Vandrell did, however, kick a guy.
The night got off to a rough start in qualifying, as Jabroni stuffed it in the fence coming out of the pits, and didn't even make a lap. The chilly 45 degree temperature surely had something to do with it, but driver Jabroni has his own theory. "I'm pretty sure there was a rabbit on the race track. I didn't really want to hit it, because I'm a pretty nice guy, so I swerved to avoid it and caught the wall." When shown a replay of the accident in which no rabbit was visible, Jabroni said, "Well, I mean, it's tough out there. I got the air taken off of me and hit the wall." We didn't press Jabroni about it being single-car qualifying and there being no one out there to mess up his air, since Mackey was nearby and had already beaten up two fans looking for autographs.
The race - a 40 lapper - was an incredibly cold 34 degrees, with overcast conditions. Jabroni started 23rd, and recalled the first few laps. "It was tough - lots of traffic, everyone being careful and slow. Easy to rear-end guys, but we got through it. Cold temperatures made it very slippery... The low frame rates didn't help matters either. And the rabbits, by God the rabbits were everywhere." The Rain-X Sauber moved up to 14th after a lap, and to 10th by lap two. For a while, Jabroni just made steady progress, moving past a couple cars, and having very few offs.
Up to position 8th on lap 16, Jabroni was closing on 6th and 7th who were battling a lap car as well as each other. There was a big crash in T1 between the two, and the lap car slowed dramatically on the racing line, causing the Rain-X Sauber to pile into him. "Yeah, I don't really know what happened there... I looked up for my braking marker for just a second, and when I looked back this guy was almost stopped in the track. So I ran into him. Nowhere to go by then," Jabroni said. Team boss Mackey was seen rushing to the pits of the lap car, to talk things over peacefully, gun drawn only as a joke. Yeah, it was a joke, so enough with the lawyers.
Jabroni pitted that lap to fix damage and take the fuel needed to finish the race. With the aforementioned accident, Jabroni was up to 7th as one of the cars in the accident was forced to cut the track and track officials disqualified him. Shane Vandrell told us, "Yeah, that flagger threw the black flag... didn't seem fair to totally kick the guy out of the race since he didn't cut on purpore. It's almost as if someone told the guy if he didn't DQ that car that I wouldn't tell him where I stashed the heroin in his hotel room before the cops got wind--" A well timed smack from Mackey cut Vandrell off, and kept Mackey's second in command in line.
Meanwhile Jabroni was back a few spots after the stop, and found himself racing a Group B car for 9th. "I got by him going into one - I guess they had left the qualifying transmission in there, so he was kinda slow at the end of the straight there. But I spun on some rabbit blood coming onto the banking and he got back by. I caught back up and accidently rear-ended him coming into the chicaine... I hate it for him, but at least he still won his class, I guess... I didn't think I was going to get into him, but he slowed quciker than I thought he would at the last second and I got him. He plowed through some 50 or 60 rabbits spinning into the grass, too. Shame there."
As the race neared an end, Jabroni was up into 6th after pit stops cycled all the way through. He would hold station, turning mid 1:34's with the damage from the earlier crash. The leaders were doing 1:31's and 32's with the cold temps.
Vic Mackey Racing would finish 6th, picking up the 2 points for the "hard charger" award for gaining the most positions. Jabroni also had the 3rd fastest lap of the race at a 1:31.7.
"Overall, I'm satisfied with our race," Jabroni said. "This is only my second race with the series, and I'm pretty pleased. I'm especially pleased with the 3rd fastest lap, as it shows that we have the speed - we just have to get a little more consistent on track."
"What do you mean 'we'?" Mackey chimed in.
Friday night, Vic Mackey Racing - along with driver Jabroni - finished a solid 6th place in the Group A category in the TPTCC Summer Season opener at the road course version of the Daytona International Speedway. TPTCC switched to GTP cars for the short summer season, and Vic Mackey Racing chose to run a Sauber Mercedes, feeling that it would be best for their driver Jabroni, as he also runs a Sauber in the WOSEC Endurance racing series for WR Racing. They chose number 47 because that Hitman: Codename 47 is a pretty cool game. Rain-X came aboard as a sponsor after a meeting with team boss Vic Mackey. Rumors of Mackey threatening various Rain-X higher-ups with arrests if they didn't comply are completely unfounded. Second in command Shane Vandrell did, however, kick a guy.
The night got off to a rough start in qualifying, as Jabroni stuffed it in the fence coming out of the pits, and didn't even make a lap. The chilly 45 degree temperature surely had something to do with it, but driver Jabroni has his own theory. "I'm pretty sure there was a rabbit on the race track. I didn't really want to hit it, because I'm a pretty nice guy, so I swerved to avoid it and caught the wall." When shown a replay of the accident in which no rabbit was visible, Jabroni said, "Well, I mean, it's tough out there. I got the air taken off of me and hit the wall." We didn't press Jabroni about it being single-car qualifying and there being no one out there to mess up his air, since Mackey was nearby and had already beaten up two fans looking for autographs.
The race - a 40 lapper - was an incredibly cold 34 degrees, with overcast conditions. Jabroni started 23rd, and recalled the first few laps. "It was tough - lots of traffic, everyone being careful and slow. Easy to rear-end guys, but we got through it. Cold temperatures made it very slippery... The low frame rates didn't help matters either. And the rabbits, by God the rabbits were everywhere." The Rain-X Sauber moved up to 14th after a lap, and to 10th by lap two. For a while, Jabroni just made steady progress, moving past a couple cars, and having very few offs.
Up to position 8th on lap 16, Jabroni was closing on 6th and 7th who were battling a lap car as well as each other. There was a big crash in T1 between the two, and the lap car slowed dramatically on the racing line, causing the Rain-X Sauber to pile into him. "Yeah, I don't really know what happened there... I looked up for my braking marker for just a second, and when I looked back this guy was almost stopped in the track. So I ran into him. Nowhere to go by then," Jabroni said. Team boss Mackey was seen rushing to the pits of the lap car, to talk things over peacefully, gun drawn only as a joke. Yeah, it was a joke, so enough with the lawyers.
Jabroni pitted that lap to fix damage and take the fuel needed to finish the race. With the aforementioned accident, Jabroni was up to 7th as one of the cars in the accident was forced to cut the track and track officials disqualified him. Shane Vandrell told us, "Yeah, that flagger threw the black flag... didn't seem fair to totally kick the guy out of the race since he didn't cut on purpore. It's almost as if someone told the guy if he didn't DQ that car that I wouldn't tell him where I stashed the heroin in his hotel room before the cops got wind--" A well timed smack from Mackey cut Vandrell off, and kept Mackey's second in command in line.
Meanwhile Jabroni was back a few spots after the stop, and found himself racing a Group B car for 9th. "I got by him going into one - I guess they had left the qualifying transmission in there, so he was kinda slow at the end of the straight there. But I spun on some rabbit blood coming onto the banking and he got back by. I caught back up and accidently rear-ended him coming into the chicaine... I hate it for him, but at least he still won his class, I guess... I didn't think I was going to get into him, but he slowed quciker than I thought he would at the last second and I got him. He plowed through some 50 or 60 rabbits spinning into the grass, too. Shame there."
As the race neared an end, Jabroni was up into 6th after pit stops cycled all the way through. He would hold station, turning mid 1:34's with the damage from the earlier crash. The leaders were doing 1:31's and 32's with the cold temps.
Vic Mackey Racing would finish 6th, picking up the 2 points for the "hard charger" award for gaining the most positions. Jabroni also had the 3rd fastest lap of the race at a 1:31.7.
"Overall, I'm satisfied with our race," Jabroni said. "This is only my second race with the series, and I'm pretty pleased. I'm especially pleased with the 3rd fastest lap, as it shows that we have the speed - we just have to get a little more consistent on track."
"What do you mean 'we'?" Mackey chimed in.
WR Racing @ Silverstone
Okay, so, there's this GTP league I'm in. Maybe you've heard of it... WOSEC. I forget what it stands for, but it's monthly endurance racing. We're talking 6 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours at Sebring (coming up in June), or even the season ending 24 hours of Le Mans. With driver changes and all. (Bit of a hack job there, as the current driver pits, crashes his game, and the driver taking over connects using the same player name and car file... but it works good enough.)
Anyway, we had 8 hours at Silverstone last Saturday. It's a European based league, so the races start at like 7:30 am eastern US time. But I can swing that once a month, and I usually don't drive the first stint anyway, since our team (WR Racing) has guys all over the place. We're probably the most spread out of the teams, with guys from UK, USA, Finland, Germany, India, and Australia. That sounds like a lot of people, but it's really only like 8. When everyone can make it, we run three cars. We are definitely not any kind of powerhouse team, running almost exclusively in the bottom half of the field, which consists of around 20 cars at this point.
The races really - and I hesitate to say this as it sounds like some kind of PR nonsense - "come alive" with NRTV and voice chat. You can imagine how the voice chat sounds, with all the above countries I listed, and everyone being shoehorned into speaking the same language (English, of course). And NRTV allows you to watch the race from a top down view - like TrackPass on NASCAR.com. So when you're not racing, you're watching intently to see how your car is doing, and telling the current drivers who's around them. "That's the leader behind you." Or talking pit strategy. Or just sort of talking about whatever with the other guys who aren't driving for a few minutes, until you remember (or are reminded) that the ones who ARE driving have to listen to all of this.
So, Silverstone, Tim - nevermind introductions and descriptions - Tim is driving WR17 (our #1 car) for the first stint, after qualifying 15th out of 19th. His stop is coming up, so I get myself ready, closing NRTV, firing up GTP with the correct player, and making sure I've got the right IP in the multiplayer screen. Tim comes over voice chat: "Okay, I'm in the pits... changing tires... dicsoing... I'm out." I furiously click connect and close out the error box telling me the race is full until the server recognizes that he's gone, and it lets me connect. "I'm in," I say. The track is loading. Now the race director won't let me on the track until some other stuff loads, or something. Whatever, the "Drive" button is still grey.
After literally forever, it's turned green (okay, actually it's just dark grey in the GTP mod). I click it, and there I am, in my pit stall. I accelerate. "Limit's 70, keep it under 70," says my crew cheif with the accent. As I approach the end of the pitlane, I get a final message from one of my teammates over voice chat: "Good luck."
Then I'm clear of the pits and gassing it, quickly reminded of how careful I'll need to be for the next two hours when I almost spin out on the pit exit road. The chilly weather in England at this time of year (45 deg F) isn't helping things, either. Then I'm onto the track, right behind the Chilean Racing Team. After a lap, I pass them, although passes are rarely for position at this stage of the race, with some teams having done more of the required driver changes than others. I drive hard and work traffic, make a routine fuel and tires stop, and go back out for more. It's one of my best stints ever - I almost always spin at least once, but this run only saw me take to the grass once, with almost no time lost.
I got in the car in 13th place, and we're 7th as I come in for a driver change. Most of those positions were gained thru driver changes and people going off and whatnot, although I did manage to make one on track pass for position at the end of the Hangar straight. Now I'm the one crashing N2003, and saying "I'm out." Tim is in, and he's off and running. I watch a few laps, then announce to the rest of my team that I'm getting something to eat. I fail to share that it's a bowl of Capt'n Crunch. I come back, and we're still 7th - we haven't lost anything in the driver change. Excellent. Soon, there's a retirement, and we're 6th! Easily the team's best performance ever.
Now it's 15 laps until this run is over for Tim, and I get back in. I'm watching on NRTV, and Tim is really doing a good job - keeping in on the track, nice and smooth, good lap times. 5 laps until it's my turn. Everything's still going good. With one more retirement, we'll get a top 5! About time to close out NRTV and get ready.
"It's just quit running," comes over the voice chat. I thought it was one of the other cars - WR18 or 19. I certainly hoped it was. But it wasn't. It was Tim. "The car just quit running, I don't understand it. The guages were fine... I don't understand it." Everyone shared disappointed sighing noises as Tim got a tow. Maybe the crew could do something, and we could still get a decent finish. But they couldn't. We had to retire, because of "ignition" failure. That's what the game said. I know I didn't do anything to the ignition. We all agreed random failures the driver has no control over suck ass.
WR19 would crash out when a faster car came by to lap it, and WR18 soldiered on for a 9th place finish after more teams retired, some of them undoubteldy for something as arbitrary as "ignition". WR17 had been running 6th when it quit, with a two lap cushion over 7th place. If it had stayed in the race it could've gained two more spots with retirements. But, shit happens. That's racing. That's all part of it. All of those things that have become cliches because you hear all the time, but you hear them all the time because they're ultimately true.
What's more than the disappointment of not finishing is sharing that disappointment with a bunch of people I've never even seen before. Tim and I drove WR17, but everyone on the team felt it when that car broke. I mean, it was borderline devastating. And it's just from a game. It's really kind of great, in a way... that we can be that pissed off over a game... and not because we didn't get to have our top 5, but because WE didn't get to have OUR top 5. It wasn't just about being competitive, it was about getting a good finish for everyone on the team. I've run leagues before, and won races before, but winning on my own doesn't even come close to running 6th and blowing up and sharing that with a bunch of guys with funny accents.
Anyway, we had 8 hours at Silverstone last Saturday. It's a European based league, so the races start at like 7:30 am eastern US time. But I can swing that once a month, and I usually don't drive the first stint anyway, since our team (WR Racing) has guys all over the place. We're probably the most spread out of the teams, with guys from UK, USA, Finland, Germany, India, and Australia. That sounds like a lot of people, but it's really only like 8. When everyone can make it, we run three cars. We are definitely not any kind of powerhouse team, running almost exclusively in the bottom half of the field, which consists of around 20 cars at this point.
The races really - and I hesitate to say this as it sounds like some kind of PR nonsense - "come alive" with NRTV and voice chat. You can imagine how the voice chat sounds, with all the above countries I listed, and everyone being shoehorned into speaking the same language (English, of course). And NRTV allows you to watch the race from a top down view - like TrackPass on NASCAR.com. So when you're not racing, you're watching intently to see how your car is doing, and telling the current drivers who's around them. "That's the leader behind you." Or talking pit strategy. Or just sort of talking about whatever with the other guys who aren't driving for a few minutes, until you remember (or are reminded) that the ones who ARE driving have to listen to all of this.
So, Silverstone, Tim - nevermind introductions and descriptions - Tim is driving WR17 (our #1 car) for the first stint, after qualifying 15th out of 19th. His stop is coming up, so I get myself ready, closing NRTV, firing up GTP with the correct player, and making sure I've got the right IP in the multiplayer screen. Tim comes over voice chat: "Okay, I'm in the pits... changing tires... dicsoing... I'm out." I furiously click connect and close out the error box telling me the race is full until the server recognizes that he's gone, and it lets me connect. "I'm in," I say. The track is loading. Now the race director won't let me on the track until some other stuff loads, or something. Whatever, the "Drive" button is still grey.
After literally forever, it's turned green (okay, actually it's just dark grey in the GTP mod). I click it, and there I am, in my pit stall. I accelerate. "Limit's 70, keep it under 70," says my crew cheif with the accent. As I approach the end of the pitlane, I get a final message from one of my teammates over voice chat: "Good luck."
Then I'm clear of the pits and gassing it, quickly reminded of how careful I'll need to be for the next two hours when I almost spin out on the pit exit road. The chilly weather in England at this time of year (45 deg F) isn't helping things, either. Then I'm onto the track, right behind the Chilean Racing Team. After a lap, I pass them, although passes are rarely for position at this stage of the race, with some teams having done more of the required driver changes than others. I drive hard and work traffic, make a routine fuel and tires stop, and go back out for more. It's one of my best stints ever - I almost always spin at least once, but this run only saw me take to the grass once, with almost no time lost.
I got in the car in 13th place, and we're 7th as I come in for a driver change. Most of those positions were gained thru driver changes and people going off and whatnot, although I did manage to make one on track pass for position at the end of the Hangar straight. Now I'm the one crashing N2003, and saying "I'm out." Tim is in, and he's off and running. I watch a few laps, then announce to the rest of my team that I'm getting something to eat. I fail to share that it's a bowl of Capt'n Crunch. I come back, and we're still 7th - we haven't lost anything in the driver change. Excellent. Soon, there's a retirement, and we're 6th! Easily the team's best performance ever.
Now it's 15 laps until this run is over for Tim, and I get back in. I'm watching on NRTV, and Tim is really doing a good job - keeping in on the track, nice and smooth, good lap times. 5 laps until it's my turn. Everything's still going good. With one more retirement, we'll get a top 5! About time to close out NRTV and get ready.
"It's just quit running," comes over the voice chat. I thought it was one of the other cars - WR18 or 19. I certainly hoped it was. But it wasn't. It was Tim. "The car just quit running, I don't understand it. The guages were fine... I don't understand it." Everyone shared disappointed sighing noises as Tim got a tow. Maybe the crew could do something, and we could still get a decent finish. But they couldn't. We had to retire, because of "ignition" failure. That's what the game said. I know I didn't do anything to the ignition. We all agreed random failures the driver has no control over suck ass.
WR19 would crash out when a faster car came by to lap it, and WR18 soldiered on for a 9th place finish after more teams retired, some of them undoubteldy for something as arbitrary as "ignition". WR17 had been running 6th when it quit, with a two lap cushion over 7th place. If it had stayed in the race it could've gained two more spots with retirements. But, shit happens. That's racing. That's all part of it. All of those things that have become cliches because you hear all the time, but you hear them all the time because they're ultimately true.
What's more than the disappointment of not finishing is sharing that disappointment with a bunch of people I've never even seen before. Tim and I drove WR17, but everyone on the team felt it when that car broke. I mean, it was borderline devastating. And it's just from a game. It's really kind of great, in a way... that we can be that pissed off over a game... and not because we didn't get to have our top 5, but because WE didn't get to have OUR top 5. It wasn't just about being competitive, it was about getting a good finish for everyone on the team. I've run leagues before, and won races before, but winning on my own doesn't even come close to running 6th and blowing up and sharing that with a bunch of guys with funny accents.
Vintage Vic Mackey and the Fabulous Car Racers
Who is Vic Mackey? Why does he own a racing team? Do racing teams really have adventures?Those are all fine questions. Gramatically speaking, I mean. They're pretty stupid content-wise. But I'll answer them anyway. Vic Mackey - who you have probably heard of if you've seen the TV show The Shield (http://theshieldfans.com/) on FX - isn't good cop or bad cop. He's a different kind of cop. He even said so in the pilot episode. As you can see, he's a pretty angry kind of guy. Like a fat Stone Cold. He doesn't use the stunner on bad guys, sadly, but that would be pretty cool.
One day, Mackey decided he wanted to start a racing team. So he did. That's just the kind of guy Vic Mackey is. When some other nancy-boy is sitting around thinking about whether or not he should go to the store to buy the newly released serious Jim Carrey movie on DVD, Vic Mackey is out taking down gangs and starting racing teams. He doesn't give two shits about Jim Carrey movies. He probably doesn't even have a DVD player, since he's too busy kicking guys asses to care about watching the middle third of his TV screen.
Vic bounced around ideas of what to call his racing team during drug raids. Mackey Motorsports? Vintage Vic Mackey and the Fabulous Car Racers? Vic Mackey Presents A Racing Team? In the end - right around the time he was kicking in someone's skull - Mackey decided to take the direct approach and name it VicMackeyRacing.
Mackey wanted to win right off the bat, so he hired veteran driver Joe Walsh. Joe was immediately killed by some of Mackey's enemies. Perhaps a victim of the Armenian mob, or Antwan Mitchell, or maybe even Police Captain David Aceveda. Fearing that if he hired successful drivers, they would just keep getting killed, Mackey told his Strike Team to just go find a guy. And that guy was REDACTED. And boy could he ever drive. He even had a license.
Currently, VMR as I like to call it, fields a GTP car for REDACTED in the Pits Touring Car Championship (http://www.tptcc.com/) and a truck in the Utes Road Racing Series (http://www.wr-racing.co.uk/). REDACTED also drives for the WR Racing team in the WOSEC Endurance Racing series (http://www.wosec.co.uk/), which Mackey doesn't know about. If he did, he would probably kick in someone's door and burn their face on a stove.
So, there you have it. I don't remember all of the questions from the beginning of this, but I think they're as answered as they're gonna get.
