Inside Lane Challenge [Race 10 of 20]

Today's race is a 100-lap time trial, and the first to be run using the inside lane. A purpose-built track allowing for potential drift, running counter-clockwise with almost all left-turns.

An extra 1/30 curve added to the big curve in the upper left really throws the back ends out on the cars. Drift city, man....drift city.

Team Orders:
Shell Ford - body float
Alfa Romeo - body float
Gulf Ford - pod float/body float


RESULTS [Race 10 of 20]:

Car                           Time [100 laps]          Offs         Points
Shell Ford #8                   5:36.83                  5              2          
Alfa Romeo #2                5:01.44                  3              5            
Gulf Ford #11                  5:38.66                  5              1                                            

R18                                  5:25.39                  3              4                          
Safety Car                        5:33.66                  3              3                          

Absolute dominance today. There was nothing that could touch the Alfa.

Lots of surprises here. Both of the Fords handled terribly on this track, didn't have the quick acceleration and couldn't keep their butts off the rug. Every wreck with the Gulf #11 happened at the right turn at the end of the front straight. The #8 Gulf crashed on just about every corner at one point or another. I increased the braking on all the Class A cars, and it still wasn't helpful enough to keep the Fords on the track.
The Alfa, on the other hand, handled the track beautifully. One off was a fluke I can't even explain [maybe it ran over something on the track], but otherwise it was way faster than the competition, blowing away the field. It was the car I had to push the least and still felt the best.

I know that having magnets kind of takes the fun out of a track like this, but the R18 was still fun, and reminded me why it was so much fun to run prior to getting the Slot.it cars. Yeah, magnets...big whoop....the Carreras need them to compete. There's just no way around that. Either race 'em with magnets or shelve 'em. And I don't want to do that. I may not have to. The way the R18 ran I'm almost tempted to take out the magnets. It would lose, but it would be closer and more legit. It would definitely need more attention. I recently cleaned and rebuilt both Carrera cars and they run much better now, but the R18 needs tires if I'm going to take the magnet out of it.
The Safety car ran a surprising and respectable 3rd place, which is great. It wasn't fast, but it wasn't slow either. This kind of track equalizes the cars a bit, as it's got a good combination of straights and technical curves. Seems that whenever I would blow the technical section I would end up going off at the end of the back straightaway because I would over-correct. So it required a lot of rhythm to get through.

I pushed all the cars hard, which is why there are so many offs. I'm getting a lot out of the cars these days as I'm getting so much practice time with them. I ran casual laps with almost all the cars for a few hours before this race.

TEAM STANDINGS

Car                           Points          Total
Alfa Romeo #2            5                 31
Audi R18                     4                 13 [Class B]
Safety Car                    3                 11 [Class B]
Shell Ford #8               2                 36
Gulf Ford #11              1                 27

With 10 races to go, the Gulf Ford is getting dangerously close to not being able to get back into this championship. Already 9 points behind the Shell Ford and not doing itself any favors in this race is certainly hurting its chances of making a comeback. As a result, I'm going to rebuild and retune it for the next race.