UniBlog: Homeward Bound

Hello! Welcome back to UniBlog! It's been a busy 3 days! Last time I blogged, it was Thursday 1st October, So, let us resume!

Friday 2nd October

After Thursday's (person-to-person) lecture, Friday was the first day after my 4 Month Anniversary with my girlfriend, Annie (started dating 31st May) during which I had no lectures, but Alex (a European storm in which we had the remnants of) had other plans - bringing a fair bit of rain, and a little bit of wind.

Since I wanted to do something nice outside to celebrate the occasion, myself and my significant other decided to unfortunately postpone it.

I also planned to visit my cat who had just recently moved in with my brother, however, this too was postponed, as this would likely stress/unnerve her since she is used to seeing at my home address.

This left one plan left - the one to see my parents.

It was a "gnarly" trip down south, (not "dangerous" as such, just low visibility) lots of rain and spray - and I even saw a couple of cars that had got caught up in the conditions - fortunately both only had "minor" damage (one had moderate rear end damage, the other with front wheels pointing in opposite directions). I eventually got to my house in one piece (despite originally forgetting my wallet and having less than 70 miles left before running out of petrol) I said hello to the parents, we exchanged greetings and best wishes, and I went up to my room to where my rig is located.

I was incredibly surprised to find it spotless and looking like a hotel room! I smiled, and thanked my mum for polishing it all up after it looked a little past its best when I left on the 21st Sept.

Formula 3 At Suzuka

Prior to uni, I used to do weekly races (or in Week 13's case, Daily) and always tried to do the 3pm race, or the nearest to it.

Every race comes with an attached practice session (no need to manually switch between practice & race sessions) which starts 30 minutes before the race does...

so a 3pm race would have a practice which starts at 2.30pm.

I always like maximising these and having every minute of the 30 minutes to practice (not arriving late/not arriving moments before the race start)

After leaving my accommodation at 11.30 or so, the plan was to arrive well in time for either the race, and/or the practice session before.

Due to me forgetting my wallet, needing fuel and the less than desirable weather, I arrived home shortly after 4pm, but with races every two hours, I only managed to get into the 6:15pm one, which was a little later than I would have liked, but still.

The only picture I have of me (Pre-Race) at Suzuka

I would start 15th, and through others' mistakes climb to P8 (P7 at one point), but after another driver messing up his braking into the final chicane, I was rear ended and fell to 12th.

More mistakes came and I managed to get back up into 8th, before falling back down the order as the final laps approached.

It may have been a little bit of a lacklustre result, but after a hiatus of almost two weeks, the sound, handling, out-right speed, redline (revving) and Tyre Model all came together to produce a thoroughly enjoyable experience and and race - especially through the Esses and 130R

Split Strategy

By default, iRacing provides you with five setups to choose from (other paid/free setups are available from third-party sites, but must be downloaded prior to the race)

(excluding the baseline setup) These five are:

- Low Downforce (fast on straights)

- High Downforce (fast through corners)

- Medium Downforce

- Oval

- Formula Sprint

Suzuka is certainly not an oval, and I've never tried Formula Sprint - which leaves the three downforce setups...choose High Downforce and you'll gain the advantage through the esses and 130R, however really suffer on the straights but choose Low Downforce and the opposite is true.

I chose high downforce, simply because of the fact that I wanted to have 100% confidence through 130R - however I was naturally mobbed on the straights by the drivers who chose the other setups. Myself already being a slower driver, this probably wasn't the smartest choice, but I survived 130R every time!!

Following this I had dinner, before having one of my most intriguing experiences on iRacing since starting in January 2019.

V8 Supercars At Le Mans

After doing the 6:15pm (BST) F3 Race at Suzuka , I headed back to mainland Europe to try out one of the oddest combinations iRacing could offer...

The V8's at Le Mans perfectly coincided with the weekend I came home, despite marking it (the series schedule) in my calendar, it was never my plan to come down on the week of the race at Le Mans.

I had dinner (lasagne!) and came back in time for the 9:15pm (BST) V8 Supercars race - Usually in the 30 minutes before the race, I usually join (a race) when there's a good 30 or more registered...when I registered there were two. "That's odd" I thought, and as it neared 9:15pm, (BST) the number didn't budge...in fact it dropped, and I had a massive chuckle to myself...

To my total surprise, everything happened as normal, the "warning" telling me my race was starting appeared, qualifying happened (me SOMEHOW Qualifying on pole - not sure how) and then the race started as normal*

*by normal, I thought I'd have 2 minutes to put the fuel back in the car, but I missed the start, and then thought it kicked me from the session, but after towing for 5 minutes, I realise that this race was legitimately going ahead...

So I gave it my best shot, and despite a photo-finish with the ghost of Captain Jack Sparrow, I just won!

Here's a few of the pictures I got from that very, very crazy race:

TL: There were hundreds and thousands of fans who turned up at the track just to see one driver...

TM: 2 Registered...not the kind of numbers Truswell wanted to see...

TR: Truswell waiting patiently at the end of the pit-lane...

ML: Twelve laps later, Truswell finishes....alone.

MM: Truswell crossing the line MR: Proof of the results BL: The flagman didn't even have the courtesy to wave the flag for the singular finisher

BM: "Hello? Anyone home?"

BR: Locals were far from impressed when the solo competitor ruined the evening's silence....

Following this, I needed a bit of entertainment, so I booted up iRacing's AI Race Feature...and went to town...

iRacing AI Races

Since earlier this year, iRacing has given racers/members the ability to race against AI (Artifical Intellegence) - which are basically non-player-controlled vehicles.

With the knowledge that I would not be ending some poor, innocent person's race - and the fact that both my iRating and Safety rating (and even small reputation) was not going to be affected by racing against AI, I decided to go on a little rampage - F3 Lovers, shield your eyes!

(Top Row) 1 & 2: Introducing my 60 victi- no, sorry, "Test Subjects" (Top And Second Row) 3 & 4: No big deal, just a little bit of contact with the wall (Second Row) 5 & 6 : Car #1 stops after getting damage...however, those behind don't see him... (Third Row) 7: Look at the bending of the front wing...

(Third & Forth Row) 8 - 10: Damage BeamNG.Drive would be jealous of

(Forth Row) 11: Thankfully nobody is speeding out of the pits at 130mph (Fifth Row) 12 & 13: Oh.

(Final Rows) 14 - 15: Bit of lovely damage! (No drivers were made in the "making" of this accident

Following this absolute blast, I went to bed!