Really bozo'd out at the GPLBRASIL Tripoli race.
Absolutely no excuses.
So this is just a little hopefully helpful explanation and little commentary on why stupid driver's race.
Had been training for the race on iGOR about three weeks, early morning and afternoon, two or three sessions a day, maybe an hour altogether.
So, maybe 20hrs of training?
Sometimes, like last Saturday, spent a few hours on track including a 14 lap run in the Eagle on 18 laps fuel. At one point the Friday before posted a 2:50xx. Pretty much figured on a very close grid and a race with position challenges on every lap.
Sunday morning was on track early, glad to see friends and a few laps under 2:52.
Then a fruit and protein shake and making sure to stay hydrated.
This has been a special problem lately due to an incredible heat wave here.
Feels-like temps around 110F.
This is when necessity scheduled building a big wall lamp structure in the over-heated garage.
So after the morning session went out to get it done.
Sort of. More like two steps forward, one or two back, then off to the hardware store hopeful a better idea will get it all back to even.
Been at it a few days, holding on in brief sessions until persperation soaked clothes thru, which signalled time to take a break.
Around 1PM a friend showed up. Sitting around in the heat mentioned thinking I needed a nap. By two o'clock he had left and by 2:20 had decided it was imperative to rest and maybe even sleep a bit before the race or otherwise there would be no chance of thinking clearly and finishing the race.
Must have fell asleep in about two minutes.
At 2:59 woke up, stared at the clock long enough to focus on it, jumped up, realized I was still asleep while stumbling out of the bedroom and across the hall into the race room, fell into the seat and clicked the iGOR icon seconds before the password showed up on chat.
Whew. Made it. Didn't over sleep.
Am I awake? Oh well. Too late now. Time to qualify!
Got a few laps in and settled on a 2:51xx and second place at the start of qually. By the time it was over that got me 6th (I think).
Almost a full field.
Fajanko showed up! We were glad to see him.
Alex GPL67 showed up after a long absence. We were glad to see him too.
Pedro Ramalho set pole with a 2:47xx. Amazing. It was good friends and old friends having fun.
Lots of BRMs on the grid, suggesting lots of drivers going for bonus points. Think that means they fear a very competitive season?
Renato Jungle sat behind me in a BRM, only a few fractions slower than me in the Eagle. He is typically at the front, so I never race with him.
But now with more top end my guess was if my car could stay ahead off the grid he would be left behind on the long straights where I could peak the Eagle at 201mph.
Got out safely at the start and held on between Killer Miele in front and Renato behind. Made it thru T1, slid over the hilltop turn and sure enough, put some distance between me and Renato while the guys up ahead seemed to be slightly pulling away.
Made it around the first lap, staying safely inbetween with a hundred yards or so either way to another driver.
At T1 watched as Alex hit the miserable dip midway through, slid off up the slope and out of the race. A little panic there but made it through with everyone else, happy to be still racing and hopeful I was not still asleep while still having trouble waking up.
Left Renato on the back straight. But knew well that he would come in close at the end as we headed into one of the weirdest turns in Grand Prix Legends. Sorry I am not a fan of it at all.
It might not bother me so much now if I had finished the race.
Instead, chose to go brain dead somewhere after entry and suddenly found the car heading too far inside, tried to correct that and dang it all added too much brake, maybe, overcorrected steering, maybe, hit the sand bags and lost the left front wheel!
What the heck? Again?
Duh-uh. Race over...
Which brings me to the reason for this post.
Two DNFs to start the season is not a great start.
It does give one the opportunity to think about it a lot.
Thinking about it takes a similar path on each occasion.
First, an immediate de-brief exercise in the form of a rapid wandering walk around the house back and forth from room to room to sluff off simmering rage before it reaches the point of breaking something or making promises to myself that won't be kept. This takes several minutes before smoldering off-and-on for several days.
Now, after a total of five DNFs, the routine has narrowed down to a quicker and quicker resolution. Actually, yesterday's tragedy really left no wake at all compared to a 3rd place wipe out in old town Weisbaden a few months ago.
There is no good answer to the question, "Why am I an idiot?"
The only answer is: It does not matter, just keep going. The sooner you once again figure that out, the better chance of a better long term outcome.
The point is to help create the story.
It is qually and getting to sit there on the grid waiting for the flag. It is taking in the whole picture and setting it all in memory. It is not just the race or whatever result.
Most of all, and more than anything else, it is the reward of being there.
Joining chat and touching base with friends from around the world, sharing the track during practice and training sessions for days before the race, getting out there for qualifying, watching the grid form up...all of this very great fun makes any result worth the effort even when the effort was not the very best.
Just an idiot no doubt. But, the more races entered, the less significant these last two will be. And despite the losses, maybe a few good finishes and earning some bonus points will help the season?
You don't quit because you didn't win.
You don't quit...because being there is way way way too much fun.
You race to stay in front of the driver behind and to catch the driver ahead. It is the same at the back of the field as the front. Beyond that you have no control over what happens beyond your own capacity to stay on track.
Or in some cases to wake up or stay awake.
What you can control is how you deal with not finishing.
That depends on your point of view. There is no point in lamenting the past if the whole point is to look to the future.
So, in the near future look for a particular idiot in a BRM, Cooper, or Honda sometime soon, hopeful of bonus points and finally finishing a race this season.
Pedro won, Killer came in second, Renato finished third.
That's just part of the story.
Grats to all.
Next up: Bathurst!
Practice and training daily on the Willow server unless there's an upcoming oAo or GELI track there briefly.
Undelay!
Onward thru the fog!
Edited by John Woods, Jul 22 2019 - 12:09 PM.
3
Well, today it is normal, but not back in 2003/2004, at least not for me.
), I remember when Aleksi Elomaa started livestreaming ten years ago on a website called Justin.tv. He did a Monaco Lotus WR while doing so. It was a new idea at the time and I remember watching for the first time.
