I went and got one of them thar pickem up trucks. All I can say is...
!!!
After 3 hours of practice at NHMS, I felt done in. In any car I can hop in and get within .3sec of the top times, Trucks I was 1.2 off no matter what I tried. T2 of NHMS was kryptonite; after 3 hours of practice my long run without spinning was 7 laps. And the race was 90. :frown:
Hell with it, says I. I'll run my limit, in the back, and get some race feel. I found that Trucks is exactly the type of racing I was built for. The long haul, the save your stuff til the end, the race management, the strategy, the time to let stuff unfold and the ability to adapt to it. My 1.2 off lead pace resulted in a rookie debut finish of 4th and the best iRacing experience I ever had!
Second race, same deal. A full second off the leaders, crazy 5 lap door to door battles, taking chances when it was smart and letting it go when it wasn't found me in 2nd with 25 to go and the leader 2 sec ahead. We all already had 30 laps on our gear, but my steady on driving style gave me more than most, and I started reeling the leader in. Caught him with 10 to go and expected him to squirrel up under the pressure, but he was a good wheeler and held me off. With 3 to go I went for it, dove low, and we synchronized drifted out of the corner, fighting tooth and nail for the win. He was a better squirrel than I, though, and put a second back on me. I screamed the last two laps and caught him going into T3 on the white flag lap. I dive low, hold it, and he squeezes down on me. Contact! He starts to slide, I put the power down...and then let up so he can gather it back up. The Gentleman Racer finished 2nd.
3rd race was last night, my first ever top split action. I start 15th of 16, 1.3 seconds off the leader and of equal pace as 10th place. Yikes. Long story short, it was same ol' same ol' and come the yellow flag with 8 laps to go...I'm in 4th! Figuring everyone's going to pit I duck in only to see I'm the only S.O.B. in the pits >< No!!! The humanity!! Green / white / checker finish and I drove like a man possessed, avoiding the craziness of door banging and truck sliding as everyone hangs it out for the final 2 lap surge to the finish. Came back for a proud 6th.
I don't think I've ever been so proud of a stats page as I am of mine right now. Other than 1 Mod race where I got collected for a 10inc, start 8 - finish 8 result, it's a thing of beauty. NTM is broken? Who gives a rip! This is retarded fun