Parnelli Bone (off the record): You can participate if you want, or not. I don't mind either way. If you don't I won't post (this) publicly
By the way....
close ratio transmission. Try that! If you've got the money for it, that is. I've found the CR transmission is actually a better upgrade during slower events than a power boost sometimes. [/off the record, but (GE1 apparently doesn't mind if this gets aired)]
That was my plan, but I thought the initial testing round was for points and prize CR, which is kinda why I chose the Mirage, I figured it would give me a good jump start in CR, being the best Weight/HP ratio. So much for the plan of getting the '97 Camaro Z28 Coupe or '97 MR2 GT-S by Week 5.
Now I'm thinking the best place for the Mirage, is to be pushed off a pier.
*Tape Recorder On*
Parnelli Bone: I apologize for not getting to you in Hong Kong. You were actually next on my list.
As you know, I was robbed on the day results got posted. I'm not sure what reporting a crime would have been like when Hong Kong was a British colony, but under Chinese rule, dealing with the paperwork can be a nightmare, even for such a petty theft as the one I had to deal with. Have you ever been robbed?
I have never been robbed in person, but I have been stolen from twice. Once at the apartments I was doing building maintenance at, the building manager stole my huge industrial exhaust fan I had locked up in the storage room, and sold it to a tenant. At the same building in Hamtramck (in-burb of Detroit), I had a '85 Buick Century stolen and taken for a joy-ride, then they ran it into a wall on the freeway, and doused it in gasoline, but they must of gotten spooked, because they never torched it; Luckily so, I was able to recover my $1,300 in tools from the trunk at the impound lot, even though the car itself was a lost-cause.
I have though been robbed by mother-nature, in the sense that I lost everything I owned, my place of living, my transportation, and the ability to make it to my job (so my job too), thanks to a Tornado that hit Hamtramck in July of 1997.
The upper loft was where my sister, two roommates and I were living. Three of us (including me) were in that building when hit by the Twister.
Parnelli Bone: Oh my goodness! Yea, I merely was approached by this thug, who asked for my money. I had no idea if he had a weapon or not, but he was wearing one of those "hoodies". He had the look. I was not about to argue...
Well that was my story. Hence, here we are a week later after results have been posted and I've had to chase you all the way here to Japan, here at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit. What are your thoughts on this particular race? I'm seeing you placed 2nd here.
This is one of the few races that the Mirage can compete in, as it can stay above 2nd Gear the whole race, and let that power/weight ratio work. I've always liked this simple little oval track.
Parnelli Bone: We're off to Seoul this week, which demands a much less hectic schedule. This track is comprised of long straight sections, but just four true corners and a roundabout. Do you think such a "track" will favor the Mirage's gearing a bit better?[/QUOTE]
I don't know, the straights help, but anywhere I drop to the low-end of 2nd, I lose time over the competitors. This happens like 5 or 6 times on this track, so I'm not so sure the straights will make the difference. My prediction is 4th if I'm lucky.
Parnelli Bone: I've been in the habit of wondering how people choose their name. Everyone's got a story. Parnelli Bone, for instance, is a play on words for one of my childhood racing heros:
Parnelli Jones. So the question on my mind *
a-huh huh huh* why so grumpy?
My nickname comes from when I was around 20 years old, I started getting into computer graphics, and came up with the name of a company I wanted to start "Grumpy Graphics", inspired by a simple little image I made poking fun at the "have a nice day" Smiley face.
Grumpy seemed a good fit, as I've always had a skeptical, bordering on cynical demeanor, and can tend to be very contrary. The handle GrumpEone came from setting up an free email account around the same time-frame as the logo, Grumpy and Grumpy1 were already taken, so I tried GrumpEone and it just kind of stuck. Still to this day most places I setup a username, GrumpEone is still available.
It's better than my previous handle used in my teenage years BBS'ing (back when the internet was still a Military and Educational resource only), Then I was known as "The Polock", and yes the mis-spelling was intentional.
Parnelli: A-
huh-huh well that certainly explains it then!
I started racing virtually years ago (in 1982) when I discovered Activision's Enduro on the Atari 2600. A far cry from Gran Turismo, indeed. So what got you involved in virtual racing?
My virtual racing career stems back to an old Apple II game made by origin systems called Autoduel (more car killing than racing), followed by some MS-DOS games like Street Rod and it's sequel, the Test Drive Series, and who can forget Deathtrack. Also one of my favorite early console games Mario Andretti Racing on the Sega Genesis
Parnelli: You've been a member of GT Planet's federation of drivers for some time now. Compared to BH-21 and the others, I think you've had the longest reputation of post counts. How did you come about your official invite into the Sunday Cup series, then?
Well, I befriended BH-21 during the time when he was setting up his Time Benchmark thread, through offering ideas, and participating in his testing. That quickly spun off the Stock and Extreme Benchmark challenges, which only the Extreme remains, due to the amount of questionable times submitted for the Stock version.
Also BH-21 asked my opinion on his ideas for this Sunday Cup before it was started, along with a few suggestions, I told him something like "there is only one way to find out if it will work, try and run it, and see if it flies", and warned him about those who may try to skirt the rules. So he did the wise thing, to make it an invitational, looking for others who seem to adhere to the rules, and have someone vouch for those he didn't know much about.
Parnelli: hmmm, interesting....
Because of my being a member for a long time here at GTP, I have seen a lot of competitions and competitors, and know just about every cheating method in the book,though I am highly annoyed by cheating in a competition, and/or not adhering to the rules (which is the why I have a Red Card Infraction on record). I think I make a good sounding-board, and decent judge of character for BH-21 to use as a resource.
Parnelli: Very good! It helps to know any cheats, I would agree, just to get a full spectrum of any racing situation. It's like knowing evil along with good, if you know what I mean...anyways...
Jet Badger stormed through the Sunday Cup series early on with his slightly-modified RX-7, yet seems to have faltered a bit with these past few races. It was assumed by some drivers that he would simply blow away every race, yet this seems not to be the case. Any thoughts on who could wind up being a more dominant player as the series progresses?
Well of course Jet Badger is dominant, and Car-less as well has the ability. I'm a little surprised at Dogbreath, I thought he would be higher up there, but I wouldn't count him out or Shotamagee either for that matter.
All us with the FF's will have a hard time as these tracks get longer with more turns, where the FR's can carry more speed through turns, where the FF's just lose speed and traction on the turns. Our only hope is for the resale values to go up, so we can replace our poor drivetrain choices. (but I already think I voiced that opinion)
Parnelli: Well, good luck with that.
Let's end with a softball,
huh-huh-huh.
Skython11 got involved in barbecuing during one of the earlier races, and almost missed a deadline due to his charcoal shenanigans. Did you try any of his roasted food? Including the dreaded pieces of apple?
Skython11 was kind enough to offer me some of his BBQ'd Chicken, after my poor showing at Hong Kong. He told me to eat something, when he found me kicking my fender and cussing out my car in disgust.
Then I showed him a trick with spraying lemon juice on the chicken while on the grill, and throwing a couple pineapple slices on top about a minute before it's done, Skython11 loved it. So much for never using fruit on the BBQ, but that char-coaled apple was pretty nasty, so I threw it at my car -with the rest of the garbage.
Parnelli:
huh-huh-huh Okay, then GrumpEone, hope you're not so grumpy next time,
a-huh-huh-huh. This has been Parnelli Bones, Twin Ring Motegi, Japan.
It's been a pleasure, Parnelli Bones... Grumpy is not a feeling... It's a way of life!
, BH-21 should know the rule on that one as the organizer.
)
I gotta actually sit down and study what's going on. Fortunately I got 2 days off in a row. That helps
We hardly ever get tornadoes in Maryland.