Internet connections can be tricky things -- thankfully for me, this week's NASRL Vintage GT race (using the Power & Glory mod for GTR2) went off without a hitch, which was a refreshing change of pace after two consecutive DNFs for the first two races of the season due to discos (that's "disconnects," not something dance-related). Not sure if the stars were aligned, or if changing my "Connection Speed" in the multiplayer lobby from "ISDN" to "DSL/Cable" did the trick -- whatever the reason, it was definitely nice finally be able participate in an actual race.

And what a race it was! This week's scheduled event was Monaco -- beautiful track with lots of great scenery and history . . . not very high on my list of favorite tracks, though, but the racing was good so I'm not complaining.

I have no idea what went on in the front of the field but the mid-pack racing was tooth-and-nail all the way (with a few armcos and walls tossed in occasionally for variety's sake). I qualified 8th, moved up to 7th early in the race, and then finished 10th mainly thanks to a couple of driver errors on my part . . . well, okay, the highly-skilled opponents who were dicing with me probably would have gotten around eventually anyway, but I thought I'd show a little consideration by careening off the walls a couple of times (and BOTH times it happened in the Louis Chiron / Turn 13 section). I qualified higher than I thought I would and I finished about where I thought I'd finish, and I've gotta say I am pretty pleased overall.

I chose the Mini this time around because of its speed and its maneuverability -- around a track like Monaco, the Mini's front-wheel drive platorm seemed to be able to power around the tight twisties better than some of the bigger, faster cars. It was a fun ride, but Monaco has never been my favorite track -- beautiful scenery, to be sure, but it's just like I said when I finally got a negative GPLRank time there in Grand Prix Legends: If I NEVER see Monaco again, I won't be TOO disappointed . . .

My congratulations (and apologies if necessary) to Sheldon, Gord, Michael, Ray, and Bill -- there was some INCREDIBLE mid-pack action going on . . . lots of pressure but not one bit of poor sportsmanship or overly-offensive driving. Hope I didn't hold anybody up, or inadvertently mess anybody up with the couple of spins I had (DOH!). The nose-to-tail action was non-stop -- it was so intense, I found myself wishing that the Mini had a trunk, because I definitely could have used one of these:

The Trunk Monkey

Don't leave home without it!

Anyway, my first track experience with the NASRL folks using the Power & Glory mod was wonderful -- great fun with a great group of people. I look forward to running behind most of you for the rest of the season (but I plan to do my best to dog you every lap of the way, just to make sure you EARN that spot in front of me in the standings!).

One thing that I love about the NASRL league is the points system they use -- each race you earn Championship Points based on your finishing order, and you also earn "Rental Points" which go into your "bank account" . . . how many "Rental Points" you have comes into play, because each car that's available is assigned a "Rental Cost," and if you finish higher-up, you earn less points . . . which means you have fewer points to "spend" on your car choice for the following week.

This means that the faster guys have to choose carefully, and often can't afford the best/fastest cars, while the lower-finishing guys carry more points forward which affords them the luxury of choosing from the better/faster cars, giving them an edge against the faster drivers. It's a brilliant system, and from what I've seen it makes for some great racing, and it makes your race preparation a MUCH more important aspect -- with the "Rental Points" system you may find yourself trying to find speed in cars that you typically wouldn't drive, which adds to the challenge overall.

For me, this makes things considerably more interesting -- I don't know if there are any other leagues that use this approach, but after seeing how it works from a driver's perspective, I am completely sold on the idea.

GREAT fun!

Next week's race will be at Pau, France -- this will be the 2007 version of the track, not the more historic 1967 version from Grand Prix Legends. I won my third GPL online victory at the Pau 1967 track in the VOR league, so I'm familiar with the general layout, but the 2007 version is much tighter overall, with Monaco-type armcos and walls looming in all around you in the "tight" sections, making it a slower track than the older, more historic version.

At the mid-week point, I'm starting to settle in and I'm finding some speed as I get more familiar with the garage setup options in GTR2/PnG, so it could prove to be an interesting race. I'm shooting for consistency over speed, so I've been working my way up to a full, uninterrupted race-length run in preparation for Sunday's race. I haven't tried the AI yet, but with GPL I always liked to run a race-length practice run against the AI in preparation for the "real thing" -- I tried doing this at Monaco, but the AI in GTR2 was simply unable to run competitively at Monaco and I ended up lapping the field TWICE. Fun, but not exactly representative of what went down on race night against REAL drivers.