A Dramatic December
- Kabort Motorsport
- Dec 22, 2023
- 6 min read
I won't lie, December has been a bit of a shit-show for me.
23rd November
After arriving on the mainland the day prior (22nd Nov.), On the 23rd November, I headed to a garage I have close ties with for some long overdue work (replacing a bolt to allow for my tracking/alignment to be fixed)
It feels like I've been trying to sort my alignment forever!
Following the work, the car should have been all over the place (hence tracking to straighten the wheels out) but the car drove fine.
After having my alignment done, it turned out that the garage made a mistake and I needed to return to have all the work done again.
The only positive in all of this was I got to drive my first manual car in 3 months and take the courtesy car for a spin - and see some new places.
29th November
Heading into December (29th Nov), I already knew it was going to be a wild month, realising I'd be doing two 24 hour races on subsequent weekends.
The first was the Silverstone 24 Hours on the first weekend of December (2nd - 3rd) hosted by Motorsport UK, who have MASSIVE involvement in real-life motorsport. I was pumped to finally compete in an "officially sanctioned" race held by Motorsport UK - it was going to be the closest I had come to real life racing since 2017 (6 years)
The second, held a week after was content creator Jimmy Broadbent's annual 23 Hours Of Zolder - this year the race featuring the Aston Martin GT4.
Moreover, some pretty big names were also due to compete such as Jimmy Broadbent, Jardier, Daniel Grey, Oasley Beattie (Traxxion GG), and a number of developers at iRacing.
1st December
Less than 2 days before the start of the race, tragedy struck and personal matters meant that I couldn't compete...this was just the start of my woes.
Something had occurred on the mainland and I didn't want to leave someone in a very difficult predicament.
I'd eventually return to the Isle Of Wight on the 4th December - just a day before Week 13 was due to start.
5th - 11th December (Week 13)
At the end of Week 12 (28th Nov - 3rd December) the iRacing Week 13 schedule and series were announced/released.
I had a pretty easy choice between driving the Lambo GT3 in the Shiny New Shakedown (celebrating release of Audi R8 LMS) or continuing my streak of success in the Battle Of The Little Wings series in the F3.
This was outstanding timing with the F3 celebrating it's 5th Birthday on the 3rd December (coming out in 2018), Week 13 starting on the 5th
I don't know what happened, but during Week 13, the little "talent" I had completely dried up.
W1 - Oulton (5/12/2023)
I qualified 6th, the leaders went off and I took the lead for 2 laps, before 2nd overtook me. I tried to keep up with the leader (whilst defending from massive pressure from behind) and just kept making small mistakes - and ended up finishing 4th due to going off...a number of times.
W2 - Okayama (6/12/2023)
Qualified 4th before getting taken out in a very clumsy accident.
(At 0:16, I'm the car directly ahead of the POV/Point of View, starting in 4th)
W3 - Mugello (7/12/2023)
Mugello was probably the best day during a bleak Week 13.
To begin with, the series schedule displayed Week 3 as VIR (Virginia International Raceway) - but to my utter delight, changed when the new updates installed on the Wednesday (W2) I don't know why, but I always seem to excel at brand new circuits - and the same applied for Mugello.
Mugello was the brand new content/track for that season and in an incredible turn of events, I ended up finishing 2nd after starting 4th.
W4 - Red Bull Ring (8/12/2023)
Things returned to normal at the Red Bull Ring as I managed to take the class lead, before taking a chicane too fast (was in 4th instead of 3rd) - and then spinning out all by myself. This was the second POTENTIAL win/podium I threw away.
After a long recovery drive, I managed to salvage 4th after starting 4th.
The Lamborghini Huracan GT3 was released on this day in 2020.
9/12/2023 - 10/12/2023
On the 9th, BOSW (Battle Of The Small Wings) returned to Mugello and I headed to the mainland for the day (or it was supposed to be for the day) for a friend's award ceremony before heading back to the Isle Of Wight on the 10th for that weekend's Zolder 23 Hours.
Things over-ran and I ended up trying to get the first ferry of the day but over-slept and managed to return to the Isle Of Wight/my rig just moments before the start of the Zolder 23 Hours.
Myself Will and Dominik Gahlow drove the Aston - I was terribly off-pace, and emerging from the pits for my first stint I sped in the pit-lane.
Due to my error and the tough competition we stayed nearer the back of the field, which meant we avoided getting penalties (being a charity event, you could pay for a competitor to get a penalty)
We'd eventually finish 8th after starting 13th and last in class.
W7 - Monza (11/12/2023)
The 11th was a long day.
It started at about 3am/3:30am, I woke up and half an hour later, I jumped on the sim ready for the 4:30am Battle Of The Small/Little Wings race at Monza.
Murphy was having an absolute field-day.
The one track I COULD NOT get aero damage at was Monza...and as fate would have it, I picked up just that before turn one. Brilliant.
Even with my Leaning Tower Of Rear Wing, I managed to salvage a 5th place.
Race done, I headed back to the mainland to have my car fiddled with (again).
I arrived at about 9am/9:30am and eventually the work was done, the car felt really strange to drive down to Eastbourne and with the wheels straightened up, she was (almost) as good as new.
Compared with last year's 6 "Week 13" blogs, this year, only Red Bull Ring and Mugello got their own dedicated blog - but even these were late
(Mugello being uploaded 5 days late and Red Bull Ring 4 days late.) It didn't help that:
5th Dec - Week 13 started (Oulton Park)
6th Dec - First blog since 29th November. (1 week worth of blogs) *Blog Day*
7th Dec - "Week 13 so far" (covering Oulton & Okayama) *Blog Day*
9th Dec - 10th Dec: Zolder 24 Hours
11th Dec: Week 13 finished @ Monza 12th Dec: Statacular (2023's stats once W13 had finished) *Blog Day*
13th Dec: Week 1, Season 1, 2024 (Monza) (Q: 10th | R: 8th)
14th Dec: On mainland for Netherlands the following day (went to Beauliau)
15th - 17th Dec: Netherlands
22nd Dec: First blog in 10 days *Blog Day*
so I was running both catch-up and Week 13 races simultaneously
12/12/2023
The 12th marked new year's day on iRacing - due to how iRacing's seasons work, iRacing's Season 1, 2024 began on the 12th.
13/12/2023
In a weird cross-over period, Week 1 of the FalkenTyre Sports Car Challenge (still in December 2023) was at Monza - but Monza without the First Chicane - and was a thrilling race with battles aplenty.
Lap 1 was particularly amusing jumping from 10th (in class) to 7th thanks to a monumental start pile-up.
I finished the race in 8th from 10th on the grid (in class)
14/12/2023 - 17/12/2023
14th December
With a flight to the Netherlands the following day, I decided to head to the mainland a day early so I didn't have to stress about about driving to the mainland on flight-day.
With a spare day, I finally went to Beaulieu after 3 - 4 months of telling myself I'd go.
I stayed in Fleet, about an hour or so away from Surrey in a surprisingly comfortable Holiday Inn Hotel
15th December
On the 15th December, it was 1 year since I started taking manual driving lessons - that's absolutely terrifying to think about.
The 15th was a busy day. I missed breakfast so I headed to wetherspoons across the street before returning to my car and picking up my friend before heading to to Woking to catch a bus (or parking my car, hailing a taxi and then taking the bus) to Heathrow.
15th - 18th December 2023
Due to a friend of mine having a birthday right next to Christmas, she rarely gets to do anything on/for her birthday, so, in 2023, we decided to dedicate a trip to the The Netherlands.
For a three-day trip, we crammed in an awful lot, including:
Madame Tussauds (16th Dec.)
Anne Frank House (The house she hid was converted into a museum)
Red Light District (of course we didn't go, we just got lost in the streets of Amsterdam (16th Dec)
PLENTY of walking through the city (15th - 17th Dec)
A bus and boat tour of the city (17th Dec)
ARTIS Zoo (18th Dec)
Hard Rock Cafe, Amsterdam
19th - 22nd December
Upon returning home I've had a tough week, almost losing two friends due to my actions (enough said on that part) as well as finding out I've lost my laptop.
On 22nd December, I found out I had a cold. With 2 days until Christmas, I really don't need any more bad luck - I've got to get better quickly and get into the festive spirit - being inspired for the New Year would also help.
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