OK, Race B / Seaside appreciation post. I simply love this track, and when the racing is great, nothing is as fun as battling it out there in Gr4 cars.
The TT isn't META anymore but I don't care... I am so comfortable with it as a race tool, I wouldn't dare try anything else. It's so flexible and forgiving, yet still has 99% of the pace of the Astons (which I can't seem to squeeze the speed out of).
Had a fantastic series of races yesterday, in some of the closest fields I can recall (0.2 sec separating 10 drivers on the grid... one small mistake in QT means a difference from starting 3rd to 13th...). So finally pounded out a 1:44 time, without the benefit of a CoD Hail Mary (which is worth another 0.2 sec... the only difference in my time to the real Aces on my friends list) and was able to start somewhere decent on low A grid, though often bottom half as my DR increased a bit during the night.
Will also say that being able to repeat my best QT fairly consistently... you can see that some guys are living off the flyers of qualifying laps... so slow on the apex, unable to keep it clean in the race.
Want to tip my hat to the BMW driver here, who I battled with but also worked with me to move up through the field. Gaining 5 places in a race this short is not easy, especially while defending... but we had a great race start to finish. He was stronger from the CoD until first chicane, I was able to extract the best out of the TT over the other part, and we had a great run through the field, even while battling each other. (I don't know if Wes2K is on GTP or not-- I've raced with him plenty, but this was our most engaging battle by far).
Full Race:
In another fun race, a Slophy, in the hands of a guy who was running a Mustang earlier (so I think he was just experimenting) caused quite the Trulli Train, which made for a fun race, with the pack bunched up and manic, but for the most part avoiding dirty stuff... I was able to get cleanly thru from 10th at the start to a podium 3rd after clearing the Renault. SO FUN!
Things got a little tougher once I started getting matched in what I assumed were the top splits, but I was still able to take positive DR in those races, too, which was rewarding.
So was able to get my Alt account back up to A ranks, after not managing it well at all (by jumping into races that I was less prepared for than this week's), in time for some FIA fun if time allows, perhaps in another marque than my main account.
(Race A is also fun but I was getting punted too often to enjoy it for any longer. Scrounged a podium before focusing on the Race B.)
Been pushing the limits at the CoD more than ever this week... have to when the competition is so close. Got the worst of it twice so far, but been able to really churn out some great finishes with good race pace in the TT. (Survived this one, but that looked pretty hairy!)
EDIT/UPDATE: even managed a win... which was really sweet because I was running second to a guy from Columbia that had been purposely ramming everyone off track for two races before, in the top split... CoD got him on lap 3, before I had to contemplate the moral decision with a lap to go. KARMA, B---!
Also sweet because wins in true A/S lobbies have been hard for me to come by... DTS is really my best track for sure.
If you see this guy: be warned, he's literally just running people wide off the track to earn positions. Total ban candidate, if only there was a mechanism. And surprisingly resilient, no doubt honed his recovery skills when vigilante justice is attempted... so frustrating, but there were any number of people trying to police him and he just kept on like a zombie that wouldn't die.
Dead silence in the post chat. 
