F1 Fanatic

Y’all really needs to get a DVR. Like your glorious leader here.

@brooksy007 With all due respect, I really wish you wouldn’t do that. Fair enough if you don’t want to get in others way, but that’s what the blue flag is for. I get lapped every single race and I am conscious that there are faster cars out there than me, and so I drive accordingly to not get in the way, but I keep doing my own race. You could well have finished in the top 5 or 6, so you should have stayed.

ok my video will hopefully be up tomorrow.

Quali: 6th.
Only managed 2 good laps near the end, was pretty satisfied with the grid slot.

Race: 4th.
Got a good start off the line, i watched as @shyguy1992 and @electrolite went in was too deep into turn 1 luckily the outcome wasn’t too bad for the people they hit. I moved up to 3rd heading into eau rogue. I see @slr looking a bit wobbly ahead of me so I let off the throttle slighty and also get a speed boost from @jamiefranklinf1 behind. Jamie gets me down the straight but i keep infront. I then am tagged by him pushing me down a few places (probs my fault as I should have given you more room). Then i’m spun by @david-a a few corners later. not a happy bunny at this point.

The next few laps involved some epic battles between @alfie , @brooksy007 , @supernicebob , @david-a and the very laggy @shyguy1992
I eventually come out ontop much to my delight and surprise!

I decide to pit late so that I could battle with @slr on lap 11-12. I knew he was at a different stage of the race so i didnt make any risky maneuvers.

After i finally pitted I had @electrolite breathing down my neck but I was confident in being infront. the disconnects probably saved me from seeing his true attacking potential however.

good race overall. team mate @alfie got some good points too (although seeing supernicebob’s video i think you need to find some patience when overtaking. when you spun me out is a strong example from that vid. just a friendly bit of advice!

@Alfie Bump drafting? If there was contact, then it must have been lag. You were jumping around a little bit at times.

I see @slr looking a bit wobbly ahead of me so I let off the throttle slightly

The reason I looked “wobbly” was because I had part of my car besides Common Monsoon, and because of the Brit-Aussie lag I was afraid that I wouldn’t appear to have part of my car alongside him from his view. Because of this I was slightly worried he was going to move right onto the racing line and squeeze me into the wall like what happened in GP2 last year.

I know you weren’t trying to criticise me, I just thought I’d let you know why I was apprehensive on the run to Eau Rouge. And thanks, it was nice to get on the podium, and you yourself have driven well all season.

@supernicebob What was the problem with the wheel, in the end? That looked pretty frustrating! I find the connector at the back of the wheel where the pedals plug in to be pretty dodgy, and sometimes it falls out (luckily hasn’t happened in a Collantine Cup race yet). I think you had the opposite problem though!

@slr Sorry if I scared you into lifting a bit as we ran down to Eau Rouge. I kept checking behind and I was really worried you might have “actually” been alongside. I’m glad to see this at least wasn’t the case, though.

@jamiefranklinf1 @sato113 Just a quick tip: make sure you select “Widescreen (16:9)” rather than “Standard (4:3)” in Windows Movie Maker. It’s under the “Project” tab and it will prevent the letterboxing.

And everyone, judging by the videos, it appears the start lights go out about half a second later for me (and probably all Australians) due to the lag. So… yeah. I’m not really going to be leading into turn 1 no matter where I qualify or how well I start! But that’s probably why it seems as though I keep missing the start and getting swamped (and involved in collisions).

So here’s my shortest highlights video ever! But honestly, I haven’t left anything out. That’s genuinely all that happened. And apologies for the dialogue — someone was watching the tennis final in the same room and then at one stage my cat jumped up onto my wheel and blocked my view!

In summary:

• Messed up at Pouhon on my first qualifying lap, messed up Pouhon even worse on the second (which I aborted) and didn’t make it back out of the pits in time for a third. Thankfully, the first was enough for pole.

• Got probably my best start of the season. Counted for nothing considering the lights apparently go out at different times depending on where in the world you live.

• Saw a proximity arrow for Jamie on the left, but there was none (as you can see) for @Electrolite on the right. Consequently, I had no idea he was up the inside and I turned in on him, which meant I ricocheted into Jamie and scored a penalty.

• Drove as smoothly as I could, built a sufficient gap back to Jamie to compensate for the penalty.

• Everyone disconnected.

Overall, I was happy with my race and I’d probably say not making any real mistakes for a change (actually, must be the first time ever!) helped me hold onto a lead rather than throwing it away. Anyway, the most uneventful Collantine Cup race I’ve ever taken part in… Happy to win, annoyed by the disconnects.

And Jamie, don’t worry about my points lead so much. It’s very unlikely I’ll make the final two races, and virtually certain I’ll be missing the finale at least. :-)