A Difficult Daytona 24hrs & Rounding Out January

Welcome to the blog. I hope you are well.

2023 IRACING DAYTONA 24 HOURS

I'm not going to beat around the bush - Daytona was difficult. Very difficult.

I put in a lot of prep - from AI Races, to solo practice, to racing in as many series and online practice sessions as I could given my availability - even ROAR in of itself was a massive practice...but come the race...it all very much crumbling down not four corners in.

It seems I have a little bit of a curse when it comes to Daytona.

2018 - Didn't have sim

2019 - Didn't have licence (Rookie)

2020 - DNE (driver registered with wrong team)

2021 - DSQ before my stint, 4 Hours into race (3hrs 58 Mins technically)

2022 - DNF - Lasted a good 20-ish hours? I can't remember, but someone didn't get in after my stint.

In 2023 - the trio of me, Dominik Ryser (Swiss) and Kelson Penn (USA) managed to finish my first Daytona 24 Hours - but after a lap 1 crash cost us 3 laps - it was sad to know that we couldn't fight for the lead - or positions, it was more about capitalising out of other people's errors.

All things considered, I think it was a good drive from all, despite various adventures - I just wish we could have been on the lead-GT3 lap for a little longer - but, there's always next year - and even still - I've managed to "break" a curse of not finishing - but I'm always striving for more.

Unfortunately various of my replay's corrupted during the race, so I wasn't able to re-watch great portions of the race - and as iRacing doesn't display classes on lap-charts, it's difficult to see what positions gained were for class, and which were for overall position - but it's the very first race of the year - so plenty more to come.

This year truly is an absolute head-scratcher, as despite only finishing in the Top 9 twice in 7 races (2/7 times) this season, I've only lost iRating on one occasion.

Excluding a 2nd at Rudskogen and 5th at Long Beach:

Monza (F4/IR-04/Formula D) 10th --> 14th (1431) (-35) - Only loss of Season

ROAR (Daytona, Aston GT4) 34th --> 16th (1469) (+38)

Okayama (F4/IR-04/Formula D) 8th --> 10th (1477) (+8)

Daytona 24hrs (Lambo GT3) 22nd --> 10th (In Class) (1482) (+5)

Montreal (F4/IR-04/Formula D) 11th --> 10th (1489) (+7)

Next up is Bathurst 12hrs - I've finished here 7th & 15th - so we'll see how 2023 goes.

23/01/2022 - 26/01/2022 (I MEANT 2023!!!!)

After Daytona, the chaos of January only kept coming - later on in the week, I was due to be headed off to Germany to see my grandmother - but first, I had to quickly pack, as well as help a friend.

From Monday (day after Daytona) until Wednesday, I stayed at my friends house.

On Monday night, I saw the movie "M3GAN" (or Megan) - a twisted "horrocom" (horror comedy) about a girl who has a robot built for her to be her friend after she loses her parents in a car accident.

On Wednesday night, I returned to the Isle Of Wight - upon arrival at the ferry-port I had about 10 hours before I'd have to leave for Germany in the morning.

27/01/2022 (I'm truly hopeless. 2023.)

Due to a lack of communication, I somehow began thinking that we'd be taking the Skoda (my car) to Germany - so I awoke at about 6am (4hrs before we were set to leave), had breakfast, got dressed, packed the last of my things and got the Skoda all prepped for the trip to Germany - freshly pumped-up tyres, a full tank of fuel, cleaned out interior, had to wait for the petrol station to open (because I was so early lol)

It turns out we weren't - and I was slightly miffed having woken up so early - I could have had a lie in...but at least I was ready to go.

It's such an upper-class problem.

"Oh, Gerald, which automobile do you think we should take on our travels? The Rolls or the Bentley? The Bentley has the better fuel consumption, but the Rolls Royce is much more comfortable to sit in"

It was very much a competition between the Kia and the Sko- no. The ferries had been booked months ago, the Kia would be driven hands down every week - no question about it.

As tough a pill it is to swallow, it makes sense - I'm the only one insured to drive the Skoda, and if the KIA is taken, then it doesn't matter if I'm here, Essex or Scotland - however, if the Skoda was booked and I was in Scotland for some reason - we'd have a big problem.

It's difficult, because I want to follow in my father's footsteps of driving my own car to Germany (an estate) - and be him - when he drove me to Germany. The Skoda too has better MPG (miles to the tank) - but at the end of the day - as difficult as it is, I've got to accept it: my parents prefer the Kia.

It's got a newer number-plate (apparently meaning better reliability - although my KIA died), it's got all the new tech and gizmos - heated seat, steering-wheel, in-built satnav - and according to both parents, it's more comfy - which I'm not going to argue - because they are entitled to that view.

Sure, I bought the Skoda for...a big boot and long journeys, but the decision was made.

Just like the car issue - we also had an abundance of drivers - if dad drives, I get jealous and if I drive...dad gets jealous, as he also likes driving - why not take two cars? Because we don't need to.

We then set off.

It was a good journey - traffic was alright, everything went pretty smoothly.

On the way to Germany, we stopped off overnight at a rather large hotel - the exact same one we stayed at in April the previous year.

I would just like to insert a small disclaimer here, that the next/final part of the blog gets a little sad/emotional/personal - something very close to the heart.

27/01/2023 - 30/01/2023 (That's more like it!)

Germany went...

I'm just glad I went. I'm glad I was there. I'm glad I visited.

I'll say this much.

It's difficult enough trying to process the feelings I have myself, and then having to balance what I do and don't say about my feelings (and feeling exposed) on the internet is another whole challenge in of itself.

I guess I'll put it this way:

Having a stubborn child not willing to learn a language is hard enough.

Having a kid with learning difficulties and being told by medical professionals to not teach him another language in case it confuses him - whilst he's learning language/s at school/college is even more of a minefield.

Coupled into 50% of my family being German/born in Germany/being fluent in German and you can't win.

My grandfather passed in 2019 - and as my maternal Grandmother is my last remaining relative of that generation - whilst I was in Germany, it was always on my mind - how long do I have left with her?

I want to spend as much time with her as possible - but given her age and condition - this can be hard to do - especially with a language barrier - but it gives me solace that she's not in any pain, and is being cared for by some pretty incredible women.

So long as she is content, isn't in pain - and can find some form of happiness - within herself, or by watching telly - it eases the worry.

The reason I raise this, is I lost practically half of my trip due to an illness.

With three days lost travelling to and from Germany - my family only had about two days at my grandmother's house.

The illness very much knocked me out - leaving just one day in the house - which is a bit difficult, given how rarely I've seen her (been minimal - if none during pandemic/lockdown)

Day 1 (26/01/2023): Isle Of Wight --> Netherlands (hotel)

Day 2 (27/01/2023): Netherlands --> Germany

Day 3 (28/01/2023): Germany (spent the day recovering - possibly food related?)*

Day 4 (29/01/2023): Germany - spent much of it in my room, but feeling better - also kept up the family tradition of going to a local Chinese restaurant (we've been going for at least 10 years!)

Day 5 (30/01/2023): Germany --> Home (England).

I am trying to remain upbeat, as I'm headed back to Germany in March/April for a German tradition called "Osterfeuer" (Easter Fire) where I can get lost - and be mesmerised by the flames of a large bonfire

Upon arriving home, I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a CD of Sam Smith's new album "Gloria" - and after listening to it (the following day) I was absolutely in love. It was a "banger" of an album - with many songs of different genre's - but all very catchy.

I feel, with Monday being the start of a new week, this is a very good time to bring this blog to a close - especially as January was...rounded out, as the title alludes.

Thank you ever so much for reading, and apologies if it got a bit too personal.