Dashing Towards December (Pt. 2)

Good Morning! Let's continue.

After staying home for two days, the first "interesting" day was Wednesday 23rd November.

23/11/2022

It being Wednesday meant that it was race-day once again.

On this particular week, the GT4 Challenge headed to Rudskogen, iRacing's only Norwegian circuit.

It was a pretty simple 14th --> 7th race, with not much to overly report on, other than Dominik not being present.

The biggest surprise came after the race, when I'd gain +27 of iRacing's finest iRating - pushing me up to a personal best of 2022, this iRating being my the 3rd highest in my career.

24/11/2022

On this day, Back in 2009, Mariah Carey released her single "All I Want For Christmas Is You" a rather famous Christmas song in "meme culture" and on social media.

26/11/2022

The 26th saw the start of a VERY chaotic weekend - two days, two races and a musical.

Upon looking at the calendar, my eyes lit up with joy - a track that I love DEARLY (Imola) and a track which rarely appears on the calendar (Indianapolis Road Course)

At the time, I was having a bit of a nightmare-streak in endurance races which had started (ironically enough), exactly a month ago.

This poor streak started when I lost -13 iRating (from 1310 iR) after finishing last at my final attempt of trying to get into the SCCA Run-Off Finals.

(W6/W12) 22/10/2022 - Barcelona VRS E - 20th (Attempt 1) | 11th (Attempt 2)

Attempt 1: (-13 iR lost, fell to 1284 from 1297)

Attempt 2: (+15 iR gained, rose to 1299)

(W3/W6) 23/10/2022 - Silverstone EES* - DNF (Didn't get to drive)

(W4/W6) 30/10/2022 - Sebring IMSA E - DNF (-92 iRating - 1219)

(W6/W6) 26/11/2022 - Imola IMSA E - DNF (Didn't get to drive)

*European Endurance Series

After a DNF at Imola, I headed out to see a musical at the cinema with my parents.

27/11/2022

My one and only finish that weekend came in the form of VRS E at Indianapolis Road Course - but even that wasn't without it's dramas.

The evening before the race, my team-mate said he had injured his foot and had to brake "using his toes".

We had a dilemma - he was quicker, yet I didn't want him to use some "funky" braking technique because - put bluntly - he's fucked his foot.

Lorenzo qualified us 23rd and, being my selfish self and worrying about the cars around us, I started the race.

It went about as well as expected - 1x in the first stint, but I fell to 31st and kept up pace with the drivers around this bubble.

After the first hour, Lorenzo said that he was happy to get in (the car). As we were pretty far down, I didn't see what we could lose (and by this point the cars were all pretty spread out) - so I let him "'ave at it" but it wasn't his foot I should have been concerned about.

After exiting the car, I re-winded the replay to have a look at a 0x/touch with another car (side by side contact) to see if he came up on me, or I slid down into him, when Lorenzo made a grunting noise, and then I notice the car being towed.

Usually, on exiting the pit, you floor it - but on this occasion, the car rolled out - like someone forgetting to apply their handbrake.

According to Lorenzo, his pedals malfunctioned (either stuck or didn't work).

Fortunately, the car was only at the end of the pit-lane, but it was certainly a lap-lost, and he asked me to get in.

About 15~ minutes into the stint, he asked if I could pit mid-stint and let him get in/drive, but I refused knowing with the length of the pit-lane and driver swap - and the fact I was rapidly closing on the driver ahead, it wouldn't be worth it.

I'll give credit where credit is due, as I came into the pits at the end of my double(ish) stint, the car was in 26th - 23rd, when Lorenzo finished, the car was in 21st - and I broke my iRating record for this year with a 1316.

Next week is Week 12 - 1339 is my all time record, 1322 sits in 2nd (of all time) - If I could get a good race either at Laguna Seca, Fuji or Red Bull Ring (or all three!) I'd be in a very good place starting Season 1, 2023.

That same weekend, it was also Motorsport UK's debut race: a 24 Hour race at Silverstone - I would have loved to be a part of Motorsport UK's first ever dive into endurance racing - but I hadn't the time - nor the interest from others.

There was just 9 days to go before Week 13 - What could I do?

28/11/2022

This week has been incredibly busy - and started very early.

My friend wanted some help moving a TV, and I immediately offered my services.

The only (slight) difficulty was that there was a Permit Session at 10am - which ended with me... dying.

I eventually boarded a ferry at mid-day and headed down there.

29/11/2022

As the final week of the season kicked off, I helped my friends with a TV, and saw my friend's relative who I'm good friends with - She even gave me a Christmas Present! (even though we see each other less than once a month!)

30/11/2022

I have no idea how I'm going to fit EVERYTHING I did on Wednesday into one blog, but here goes:

At about 11am, I arrived at my friend's Surrey house. That day we had two items on the itinery: a boat-viewing in West London (5pm) and one in East London (2pm).

It was one hell of a lot of driving - but therapeutic motorway driving - although coming within a junction of the Dartford Crossing and 4 miles of the ULEZ gave me great fear.

You're probably wondering why we're looking at boats, and there's two words to beautifully sum it up: House. Prices.

Everything is (excuse my French) batshit crazy expensive - and even those with two jobs and every benefit under the sun are struggling - and we (my friend and I) are at an age where we want to spread our wings and move out - I feel ready and I want to - my friend the same, but can't due to the cost of living and how much it costs to rent - or even get a mortgage.

Other than living like a neaderthal in a cave (there's very few caves nearby), buying a boat is honestly a last resort and the only way to live somewhere whilst not bursting the bank.

I've still got the headache of trying to find a job - or get to the interview stage, so whilst I may feel ready, I need to get the funds to support a move, where-ever that may be.

The first boat was on "stilts" in a "hidden"/hard-to-find area of London in a massive boat/vehicular/scrap metal site - but it was a "snug fit" but I wasn't the one who'd be living on it - so, I wasn't one to talk.

After a small "request stop" we headed to the second boat - by this time it was dark.

It was here when I drove down the weirdest road in London

Called "Bulls Bridge Road", its a single "track" road with driveways on the right.

Once you get to the end, you're greeted with this:

Yes. This is classed as a "Road".

I got there at the worst possible time: when pretty much everyone was at home (cars in the drive-way), so I sketchily had to reverse back up this road - Canal on one side, cars, houses and more on the other, before I found a driveway that WAS empty, and eventually found parking on a residential street.

Just like the last time, it felt very sketchy - a dark towpath (ahead), London, and just a man and his boat - or was it even his boat?

This boat was a lot more roomy, although still very cosy.

After one last request stop in North London (which was incredibly interesting - but it's not in my right to say where we went), we headed back home after a long day of driving, a bit of walking and a fair bit of talking.

Another friend wanted to meet the following day, so I headed up to Essex for the night.