The Un-official "Let's Chase Blooze" Hotlap Challenge

[larryCR]

PS: Nice to see another mature (as in attitude, not age) member here Larry - hope you're settling in

I assure you I'm mature in all aspects. Although I do curse at the AIs once in a while.

I'm settling in fine. Nice place. Now if I can just get my laps within a few secs of you guys...

[larryCR]

LOL - welcome to the fracus.

You will find I'm not hard to catch.

$

I've whittled my deficit down to about 70 seconds, but I'm afraid my lowly Mk5 GTI just doesn't have what it takes to get all the way. Either that or my driving needs to be improved. 

Whatever the reason, I think I'll continue the chase by starting at R1 and working down the classes. I like Jay's notion that this is the direction to proceed. And it reminds me of when I played snooker as a young Army Private. After trying to stuff those little balls in the tiny snooker holes the big balls and pockets on a normal table seemed pretty easy.

- Larry

[Blooze]

One of the things that has been shown to me as I flog about in this Leaderboard chase is that the car that shows up well on Diamondback Reverse is not necessarily going to be a force on the Sebring International Raceway.  A feller needs a sprinter, as well as a marathon dude...

I have run at the Hotlaps from both directions, top down and bottom up.  I can't see or react fast enough to be a force in R1.  So by contending in S and U before tangling with all the prototype GT cars is my way of trying to physically/mentally come up to speed before climbing in the seat of these quickest of the quick cars.

So by the time I get to R1, I'll be chasing you...

And if you ran  the #12 Ferrari, you're a dirty dawg...

$

[larryCR]

It has been weeks since I've been in an R1 car. Jumping in the Audi R10 on Laguna Seca last night was like being in a fast forward video. It will certainly be a while before I get my reactions tuned. Got a spreadsheet for that?

In D class I drove a mostly-untuned Mustang for New York and Nissan. (Never did like those Chevelles. I guess it is my Ford man upbringing.) But I drove the Mk5 GTI everwhere else. I've decided to pretty much stick with one machine until I've convinced myself that the driver has the optimum tune. That definitely isn't the case yet.

No #12 Ferrari for me. I'm going to play in the big Audi for a while. I'll bet it will be an interesting beast on the autocross-like snake tracks.

[Blooze]

Now, personally, I think this is cool - it is the first 10 spots on my friends list and the D Class Overall leaderboard...

R2P Flying Scot	7
R2P Blackbird	15
Detrick 2006	159
QMole	161
Blooze46	163
Tonka Crash	200
LarryCR	210
MooseJaw	213
Fit4aKing	228
Ron1977	298

Not too shabby for a bunch of ole Muscle Inc-ers.
I am more than proud to be part of a list like that.  Good job guys!

$

[Spiny Anteater]

Now that is good. 10 guys, 10 places.

Hopefully one day I can make it onto that list But, I have to finish the darned career before I'll even let myself try.

[Blooze]

Hell, there's room for 20 people on that first page...  we'll be waitin' for ya

$

[Fit4aking]

I see that my D-class rank has slipped since I set it initially. 

I'm about 1/2 way through runnin my 500KR on all the tracks.  It is faster than my Solstice on some tracks but not all of them.  I will be excited to see how it shakes down on the smaller snakes.  Then its off to R1, where my LMP-01 Panoz and a poorly ranked Cadillac are awaiting my arrival.

I'll have to go check and see how many of my career times were wiped, I don't look forward to resetting any of the initial races but I know I'll be more successful in my more finely tooned lesser ranked cars.  It may be a good idea to reset my times while doing the Proving Ground races over again.  At least I'll be makin money while I'm runnin.   

Thanks for the list Blooze, glad to be takin up a bottom portion of it.  Eventually I'll find a lighter weight slightly gripier D-classer to make a better run at your times, as soon as I get out of my RWD kick.

[larryCR]

I see that my D-class rank has slipped since I set it initially. 

Chasing a good placement on the leader boards is like an infinite endurance race. Stop in the pits to sleep or eat and your position immediately starts eroding. Friday I completed all the tracks in R1 just to get some times laid down so I could start tuning and improving my driving. I ended up as #135. (A pretty poor placement considering there aren't many people who have completed all the tracks.) This morning I went to a few tracks and whittled off 10 or 12 seconds in total. At the end of that effort I was #136. 

[Blooze]

Concerning Erosion, one of the things that I track is my position percentage. 

	Rank	Percent	Population
Now	163	.99979616	799,665
Then	76	.99989571	728,743
Diff	87	.00009955	70,922

So even though my rank has doubled, my actual position in relation to the population has only dropped one ten thousandth of a percentage point, while the population increased by nearly 10%.

I can live with that.  Holding a position requires a constant level of improvement that is hard to maintain, especially across ten classes.

For overall hotlaps...
1st position - the top dawg - improved 222 seconds since 11/04
Position 100 improved by more than 30 hours!
The best that I can tell, only 75 people have completed the whole thing (12 hours and some change).

You are so right Larry - infinite.  You may quit, but you'll never be done.

$

[Blooze]

Okie Dokie...  A 104 in S class and I am moving on.  I may run some more S stuff, but the Snapshot will stand.

This moves me to 169 over all - the space in front of me is getting all cluttered with Hotlapping teams.  I spect it is going to get tough to move up much further.

$

[Blooze]

This barnstorming the Hotlaps is growing the hell out of my Round Tuit list 

My list manifests itself by strike through car names (#126 Viper GTS-R for instance) in the Stable Table.  Class A is by far the worst... S isn't far behind.

[Aside]As you can see, I've become enamoured with the "glow" button...[/Aside]

Everyone of those names is a promise to return.  A project not done.  And the list grows and grows.

I should have R3 finished today.  Then all I have left is...

• 3 Events with the R1 Cars to finish the Career.
• R1 Hotlaps - (run concurrent with Career Races)
• U Class Hotlaps

Then I will be FREE!

... to roam around and start taking care of the Round Tuit list.  I will start in A for that.  So many cars...

$

[Moosejaw]

Just finished the R2 hotlaps with a stock #17 Zonda GR and hit position #100 with 1h4m44 secs. This is where things could get tough as the guy at #90 is currently 30secs quicker than me!!

Overall, I'm halfway through the hotlapping and my position/total times are as follows:

D class  - #222 - 1h 21m 40s (was as high as #197)
C class  - #169 - 1h 18m 21s (#129)
B class  - #176 - 1h 15m 39s (#135)
A class  - #179 - 1h 11m 58s (#155)
R2 class - #100 - 1h 04m 44s

What next?

[Blooze]

Good Job!! 

Your overall is 72:40:28 - means you still have 60 Hrs to go...

I am down to R1 and U then I will have 'em done.

There ya go... $

[PureStankonia]

D is done... for now.  220 at 1'21"37.  Got a lineup of C class all tuned up and ready to go, so here goes, re running the hotlaps, erasing the wipe.