The Diary Of a Platinum Racer

These are the notes I was taking while playing Bizarre Creations' Project Gotham Racing 2 for Xbox, in February 2004.  Originals were posted on the xbox.com forums, and since pinned (you will need to sign in with your .NET passport to acces the forums).  For your convenience, the notes were sorted by car class, and feel free to jump quickly to a class by clicking its title from the list below.  As a result, the narrative thread is often broken (indicated by the horizontal lines), and in a lot of cases, the chapter introductions and signings off have been removed.  The gamers referred to in the text are other players who supported me throughout the journey, and they can be found on Xbox Live under their appropriate gamertags. 

Please note that the notes refer to 99 Kudos World Series events. The remaining 73 (including the entire Sports Convertible Class) were completed prior to The Diary, including about 20 in the days immediately preceding the Chapter 1 (February 11). If you're looking for my thoughts on any of those 73 events, I think I can safely sum them up in two words: relatively easy. Also, this Diary does not include any Arcade Racing events.

I hope this helps.

Compact Sports     Sports Convertible     Coupe     Sports Utility     Pacific Muscle     Roadster     Classics   

Sports Coupe    American Muscle     Super Cars      Grand Touring    Track Specials    Extreme    Ultimate

Compact Sports

By now, I already have more Platinums than Golds, I'm in the zone, but it's late and the body aches for sleep. Let's give that elusive Compact Sports Speed Camera a few dozen attempts, shall we? Um, how about three attempts? Yes, my friends, I finally nailed the sucker, just the way ausinator told me to in the other thread. Kudos total good for #1483, got the Slide, Good Line, Good Line combo.

Let's keep this going and close out the Compact Sports, shall we? Street race, Stockholm, Gamla Oval, 3 laps, field of 6. Here's what I learned from Civic's #3 ghost: snuggle up behind the Golf (VW R32) on the opening straight. Lots of drafting, lots of speed. Let go of him just before the corner and hope you don't have too much speed. If you come out in second, not much more than a second behind the lead Focus, you have a shot. Basically, there are three corners on this track: the one after the straight, the one after the river run, and the one before the straight. It took me a while to figure out how to take them. The river corner is especially tricky because of the bumps in the road, so brake early and hug the right side of the road. Lead Focus always lost it on the third corner, so if I took the previous one right, I'd use him for drafting and pass him before the end of the straight. The problem was keeping the lead, because there's no margin for error - if you bump a wall in these cars, it takes forever to get back up to speed. Since I was holding on for dear life for most of the race, my kudos were pitiful, and my scoreboard placement a regrettable #3506, but I wouldn't do this one again if you paid me.

Sports Convertible

 (Class was completed prior to The Diary)

Coupe

I vented my frustration on a Stockholm Hot Lap with a BMW M3, it was "The Boot" track. Had to improve my Gold time by, what?, four, six seconds? That first tight right hander (the heel) was a b!tch, bumpy and narrow roads all around it. And as if by rule, if I nailed it, I would hit the wall later, on the tip of the boot. I downloaded a ghost from the top 10 and raced it and figured out what he was doing - braking. Brake into the heel corner, keep the gas through the S-section, brake into the toes corner. Don't slide. Sure enough, I beat the required time by .034 seconds. Check the scoreboards - #809, baby, 5650 Kudos! Hanover beat me by 13 Kudos points, but look at that maniac Greggoth - #24! Hm, wait - if I had a clean race (which I didn't), I would have been in the top 5. Maybe it would be worth trying again.

Next up - Coupe Overtake, also Stockholm, one of those tracks that include that impossible 270-degree right hander downhill. Racing in my BMW against Sports Convertible cars, caught up with the Toyota MR2 at the end of the first lap. Passed a few other cars in the second lap, but then there was a lonely third lap, where I almost lost hope. But, sure enough, here comes that S2000 (I think), and I left it in the mirror with some 45 seconds to go and the Boxster (I think) in sight. That hot lap really helped because the track includes some of the same elements. I caught the bastard in the hairpin and passed him with 10 seconds to spare. Placed #920, 31 kudos behind neoscopic, but Greggoth is again out of reach - #82! Clean race would land me in top 100, but that may not be worth it. I see ZRob used a Z, naturally....

We’ll get back to Track Specials, but right now, let’s go to Coupe and take care of that final Street Race in Stockholm, Island Hop. I went to the left of the Mazda at the start and was able to catch up to the lead pack of BMW, Audi and a Z. Few corners later, I had my screen filled with yellow of the BMW in front, and I managed to outbrake him in one of the turns. He stayed close, but I hung on. Not stellar, only #1003, but still 13 points better than Greggoth. Neoscopic was an excellent #99, with more than 500 points ahead, and Furious D was #405, so we know he got at least one Platinum medal. It’s worth noticing that I took a peek at the Cone Challenge here, and saw that Greggoth has the exact score he needed – an even 20000. What are the odds of that?

Let's pause here to commemorate the four hours of my life that I'll never get back during which I tried to complete the Coupe Cone Challenge. I had alex's walkthrough printed and ready (see FAQ), I had the Audi going where I wanted it to, I even finished the darn thing two separate times, both times several hundred kudos short. I even had one winning run, (I checked the replay afterwards and I had enough), but a sneaky yellow cone in the last corner did me in. At this point, I just about conceded the race to ReverendTom, but I was so wired, I did the following four events in less than an hour.

So then I went back to the event that cost many a gamer countless hours of frustration - Coupe Cone Challenge. I felt good about using the Audi, although I understand the BMW works just as well. Here, it's all about execution - you know exactly what to do and when, but if your finger twitches just a fraction too much or too little, you'll lose it. Alex's walkthrough (see FAQ) is very good, but I will add a few things. When you cross the first checkpoint, you'll take an easy right and go through three sets of cones. After those, alex suggest sliding around the easy righthander - I recommend Good Lining. You have the skid marks going throughout the corner to guide you, so you can keep your speed up, keep turning, watch for the welcoming committee of yellow cones on the right, and you'll get a Good Line, reach the next gate in time, and likely save a second or two. I failed to get the Good Line here on both laps one time, and ended up with 14800 kudos - argh! Then, the tight righthander that's just down the road has some Good Line/Two Wheels potential, but don't try to hard for either - if it happens, it happens. Nevertheless, alex is right about the section that's in the Compact Sports Speed Camera - you need three Good Lines here for best results. Still, in my winning run, I had 2xSlide, 1xGood Line in the first lap, and 1xSlide, 2xGood Line in the second lap. I finished with 20309 kudos, 8 lousy kudos behind ReverendTom, but I landed at an even #1000. As I mentioned before, Greggoth had the luck of a champion on this one - he scored an exact 20000.

Sports Utility

I tried that SUV Street Race in Moscow, but I can't seem to find a way to catch up with the lead Cayenne. I'll have to study Civic's ghost a little more, he seemed to have had no problems with it, even after the opening pile-up.

SUV, Hot Lap, Edinburgh, Princes Street East, 58 seconds... I thought I had the thing figured out, but I was still almost a second off the pace. Then I saw a top 10 ghost (can't remember which one), and he slid around the first checkpoint. I never thought I would say this as advice for Hot Lap, but here it goes: slide around the first checkpoint. By doing so, you position your Sherman Tank on the right side of the road for the following left-right that takes you down the hill. If you don't slide, you'll end up going too wide or too slow, and you won't make it. In the end, lots of friendly names around my #737 - neoscopic 50 kudos ahead, RTom 2 kudos ahead, Hanover 22 kudos back.

To close out my seventh class, SUV, I had to do the Moscow Street Race, Red Square 1. Civic's #6 ghost was again a valuable tool. He wrapped around the first hairpin, stayed tight for the left hander, etc. etc, but two corners where he gained the most on the lead Sherman were the long lefty after the first checkpoint (brake early and in a straight line, power through it), and the little section just before the jump (brake early and in a straight line, wrap around the inside of the righthander). I tried it myself and was playing with the lead Sherman until I figured out it was only a 2-lap race. I restarted and made sure I was ahead at the finish. #568, 44 behind Greggoth. 

Pacific Muscle 

Pacific Muscle came calling first, Harbour Run in Hong Kong, race of six cars, I used an RX7. The 3000 GT and the Supra were behind me by the tunnel, and the other RX7 messed up in the S shortly afterwards. Impreza was sliding, so I passed it before first lap ended, and the remaining Lancer goofed up big time in the tunnel of lap 2. Fairly easy, I landed on #1631, but most everybody was better, including CivicRacer at #2! Most guys used the Lancer, I guess it slides more, so it has a higher Kudos potential, Hanover did it with a Subaru and Furious D with a Skyline.

Then we were off to Yokohama Bay Tour, I took the Subaru. Patience is the virtue in this one, and I weaved my way through pileups on each of the first three corners, and was in 3rd going uphill to the first checkpoint. Lancer and another Impreza were fighting for position later in the lap, so I took them both, one before the chicane, one after, just before the start/finish line. I messed up corner 1 in lap 2, and lost the lead, but recovered enough to use drafting to overtake the leader. Did it in first attempt, too. Nice scoreboard placement of #311. Oh, yeah, CivicRacer is again #2.

Admiralty, crowd favorite. Followed the Skyline in front of me, and got extremely lucky in the tunnel, where several cars had issues with the median. I passed the lead Skyline in the tunnel, lap 2, and never looked back. AI drivers have a really hard time with this one, so if you can handle your car, you have a shot. Made top 1000, barely. Neoscopic, Furious D and Greggoth were ahead, and Civic Racer must have had an off day, as he was only #18.

Final event of the series, Minato Mirai. I remembered why it was the last Gold I got here. Lots of slow corners and crowded streets. If you can bang your way to 3rd place after the first 180, you're in good shape, just as long as you take the ensuing double apex corner with 50% gas and no sliding, because you want to get a good start for the straight afterwards. This one took a while in my Lancer, but eventually I placed #465, ahead of mostly everybody. Well, Civic racer was #22.

Roadster 

Took a break to see American Idol and looked for the next victim. And there it was, Roadster, Street Race, 5 laps in Sydney, Downtown Short, crowd favorite. It's easy to blow by five cars in the back of the pack in the AC 427 MKIII, but then you have to worry about both that first hard lefthander and Caterham 7 that doesn't seem to slow down for it. Still, you can overtake it in a few corners, and set your aim onto the AC in front. The AI driver must have used AR to get the car, because he made the same mistake in each and every lap - he banged the wall on top of the double-jump hill, before the last left hander going into the start/finish straight. If you brake after the second jump and turn left across the apex, you can power out of it and pass him by the end of the first lap. From then on, it's just a question of not screwing up the first corner too much, because that's the one he seems to take perfectly every time. Number 1200 on the scoreboards, behind neoscopic, but barely ahead of Hanover.

That's it, classics are done! I decided to celebrate with a Roadster Timed Run, Sydney, Opera House view, 2 laps, 1:41.500 required (50.750 per lap). As in many Sydney tracks, key is the section under the bridge, those two really long fast corners. You have to learn how your car moves around them and at what speed you can take them without sliding. It took me quite a few attempts to get everything right, and put two perfect laps together. But, when I was done, the clocked stopped at 1:41.095. Number 565 on the scoreboards, but most of the guys were within 120 kudos on each side. Civic Racer led the way at #25.

I tried two other events, the other Roadster Hot Lap (also in Sydney) and the last Compact Sports Street Race (even watched CivicRacer's ghost, he's #2), but it wasn't meant to be.

That was it for the night. I figured my pace can be three events per weekday, eight on a weekend day, and I'd be done by Oscar night (29th). I already completed four, but I got greedy and started shaving off tenths from my Gold Timed Run in Roadsters (Sydney). I have the laps figured out (1:50.500, 2 laps, average 55.250), I even broke the 55 second barrier once, but could not put two of those together, until I finally passed out, controller in hand... So, rest assured, there will be more to come.

Roadster, Timed Run, Sydney, 1.50.500 needed. I mentioned I was trying this one already. Careful around the hairpins at the beginning of the lap, don't go full throttle through the sweeping S section around the second checkpoint. Winning time was 1:50.044, #436 on the scoreboards, 24 more than Furious D, 45 less than Greggoth. Civic led the way at #41.  

Roadster Timed Run in Edinburgh was one of few remaining, and it took a bit of practice. Ghosts are useless Kudos whurrs on this one, so don't bother. Key is the superslow section after the first checkpoint, to the second one. A lot of times you'll feel you're barely moving, but that's a good thing. Easy on the gas, steering and Good Lines are everything. My AC 427 crossed the finish line .611 aheead of Platinum time, #903 on the scoreboards, 14 behind ReverendTom.

Some online racing was in order, and Shelby and ZRob provided it again. But, I was itching for some more cones and went to Edinburgh, to do a Roadster challenge at Grassmarket Eight. It took a while to get used to the AC 427 again (I tried this one a few times in the Lotus 340R), but it took even longer to get used to incredibly bumpy and tightly laid out course. The bad news is that there are three very sneaky places, inviting you to mess up. The good news is all three of them are in the first third of a lap. The first one isn't that bad, it's the gate in the tunnel, where the straightaway changes directions. You have to remember that AC has more power than handling, and won't be able to pull you away from the wall on the left side. So, I took this entire section and half speed, which allowed me to have better control, and didn't slow me down much, so I was still able to catch up with the other gates down the straight, with no problem. And here's the second tricky place, by far the worst - it's the hairpin left, on top of a crest, with the wall so close you can taste it. And taste it you will, until you learn - brake early. It's ok to brake even on the straightaway, before the slight left. Brake some more going uphill, and then brake some more. Pull off a slide, whip your car across the checkpoint and hope for some extra Good Line or Two Wheels. Slalom through the next three or four gates and come to the final tricky place of the lap - a righthander that takes you uphill. It's not that tricky really, but the walls are close, so you can't go too fast, but the gate is far, so you can't go too slow. It will take some practice, and, inevitably, if you get past the other two spots, you'll mess up on this one. But, if you don't, the rest of the lap is pretty straightforward; slide where you have room for it, you'll have plenty of time to get to any gate, and you’ll even have plenty of time for the whole event. You'll need almost two full laps, though, because the requirement is 19225. I got to 25593, 336 behind ReverendTom, and 800 more than Greggoth.

Classics

So, I felt like Spain next and found a Classic Hot Lap, Las Ramblas. Improved my gold ghost a bit, and went at it. First corner is tricky and it's ok to slow down a lot for it. Stay as straight as possible through the S and gun it for the straight. Sweeping righthander is best taken without braking, if you get two Good Lines, you nailed it. Pretty simple track, best time was 51.229, rank #254, 30 Kudos better than even CivicRacer. Let it be known that I used a GTO, although it's about half-and-half between it and GTB on the scoreboards.

And looky there, one of the street races is a 5-lapper on the same track. All I needed to do is repeat my Hot Lap five times. Total time was 4:28, average lap 53.6, which is around gold Hot Lap time. Furious D did the 5-lap race on platinum (#1035), but not the hot lap? Come on, man, you're close.

The day wasn't as glorious as the previous one, but the momentum was unstoppable. I felt especially good about those Classics escapades in Barcelona, so I decided to do another Hot Lap, Edinburgh, Grassmarket West. I've seen most of this track while running Super Cars events, and I still had the feel for the GTO, so this wasn't that hard. The platinum time to beat was 1 minute, and I beat it by more than a second - 58.952. Kudos income was decent, brought me to #637, only 7 points behind Greggoth and 54 behind Civic Racer, but 47 ahead of neoscopic.

Two more left in the class, and I was feeling it. One-on-one, Edinburgh, Princes Street Long, 3 laps in the rain. I'd beat the AI GTB on the straights and fast corners, but there's a technical part of the course where you really have to know how your car behaves. Lots of double apex corners, and brake points messed up with the rain. Be gentle on the steering wheel and on the gas, and you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. Three laps in the rain can be pretty frustrating, but I thought of it as a Timed Run while racing a ghost, and I managed to beat it. Not enough Kudos for top 1000, though, and I have three friends in the Top 100 - neoscopic #37, Greggoth #65, Civic Racer #94.

And here it is, the moment of truth - last event of the series, Cone Challenge, Lothian Road Eight Long, 11850 Kudos required. It seems as if it's the longest Edinburgh track, includes pretty much everything I've seen over the past few nights - bumpy weaving streets, sharp corners, unforgiving walls... and lots and lots of cones. It starts innocently enough, with two fast corners, then a straight that takes you violently over a few bumps, then the first hairpin, this one to the left. No problem, plenty of room to slide and power out going into the underpass. You have to go full gas here to connect the Clean Section line with the next gate, but look for the last gate before the clean section line, you have to lift off the gas for a moment, or you'll bump the left side wall. Easy left, let go of the gas, when the time is right brake hard and slide around a tight right hander. Another slide and you're on a long straight. If your bonus is around 1500-1700 here, you have a shot.

Plenty of room to slide at the end of the straight, and now we come to the key part of the challenge. Connecting all cones with a few slides is NOT enough for this one, my friends. Imagine going through the last gate, pulling off a finish-line slide and thinking you got what you needed, only to realize you're 300 or 400 Kudos short. Well, that happened to me last night. TWICE. That's how I found out this little technical section is the key. Basically every corner has either Good Line or Two Wheels potential, often both. If you hear the clicks in between the cone gates, you're doing good. Pick them all up here, because you'll need every single one of them. Slide around the right hander and across the section line, pray that you make the ensuing gate which you don't even see on the right, and then it's pretty much all down hill from here, literally. More room for some slides at the foot of the hill, and you should have your bonus around 7000 by now. Careful around that gate that leads you into the straight, it's too close to the wall. I barely made it with 12133 kudos, good for #813 with the platinum completion bonus. That's still 236 ahead of neoscopic, but most others were better, including Furious D with a score over 20000, at #25. This one took me a while, but the keys are: easy on the power, easy on the steering, keep your car straight, and pick up as many Good lines through the final third of the lap. And, I don't know if it makes a difference, but I switched to the GTB for this one, it seems it slides a bit more.

That's it, classics are done!

Sports Coupe

Playing online the other night, I did well in the TVR Tamora, so I took a look at the Sports Coupe class. First event was a Street Race in Stockholm, Bridges, 2 laps. TVR's acceleration helped put me on top after the second corner, and since the track doesn't have much room for overtaking, I just needed a clean enough run. Alas, I messed up on the right-left chicane on top of the map, and couldn't catch the Iceni that blew by. I restarted a few times, but it wasn't too hard. Good for #302 on the scoreboards, a clean race would have surely put me in the top 100, around CivicRacer, who was #109.

Another relatively easy race is the 5-lapper in Wan Chai Run, Hong Kong. There's another TVR, but it plays safe, so I took him in the long right hander. Look out on the last corner of the lap, where the wide square funnels into a narrow street. Try not to brake there, and take it wide enough to have a lot of speed through the finish line. Surprisingly, I landed at #52, my best overall placement. Not for long, though.

In the race in Admiralty, the field is again only 4, one of which is a useless Jaguar XKR. Morgan Aero gave me some trouble, but Admiralty is a track I know pretty well by now, so this wasn't too hard. Solid #417.

I decided to mix it up a bit, so I went to Extreme, One on One, Chicago, Lower Wacker Run. Your opponent is a pitiful Porsche 959, it never stood a chance. Number #92. Sweet.

First one was a Sports Coupe street race in Hong Kong, Cotton Tree Drive. This one seems to go up and down each of the impossibly narrow ramps, not to mention a tricky blind lefthander downhill that opens the lap, followed by a sharp right uphill. It inevitably led to a pileup, it was just a question of enough restarts that would put me past the Iceni and the Morgan Aero and give me a good run at the lead Tamora. There are lots of blind corners here, so you'll have to learn the track well, some can be taken almost at full speed, while others have some pretty stiff surprises. In the end, it was done, and I was #1082, behind pretty much everybody, including ReverendTom, with 50 kudos more and neoscopic with 300 more.

Now I'll take you back to the first page of this thread and quote Hanover:

I can't wait to read about your exploits on the 3-lap timed run in Sports Coupe - Stockholm track...also known locally as the "TVR Tamora ******* piece of *** challenge"

I only remembered this quote about half an hour into the event, and here's why. Gold time is 2:52.500. I watched my ghost bang every wall in the city and still beat it by 8 seconds. Platinum time, my friends, is 2:31.350. That means three laps of 50.450 or better, improving my Gold time by four seconds per lap. On a lap that's not even a minute long? After the aforementioned half an hour, my best time was barely under 51 seconds, but no way was I able to do it three times in a row. That's when I downloaded a #10 ghost, "Aumas" and started racing it. Soon enough, lap times began to drop. I even broke the 450 barrier once or twice, but still couldn't string three of them together. Still, there was no way in h*ll I was going to bed without this one.

Then, out of the blue, my lap time on my first lap dropped under 50 seconds. I was so excited, I had a wipeout on the next corner. It was just a matter of time now, literally. Few attempts later, I had an impossible first lap of 49.4xx, but I still didn't make it. Finally, after what seemed to be hours, I managed to beat the Platinum time by .300. But, my mind was incapable of pretty much anything else at this point, so I did the sucker again and again. The ultimate goal was a clean race, but even a better time would do. I did nail a better time, but didn't have enough Kudos to make it count. When I finally gave up, my best score stood at #639, 106 ahead of Hanover, but 70 kudos behind ReverendTom, while Furious D was way up there at #34. I didn't have a clean race, but I did run a scorching 2:30.598. You proud of me, Hanover?

Oh, I guess I had another Timed Run waiting to be completed - Sports Coupe, Hong Kong, Hennessey Road. Pretty easy in the Tamora, you can take most corners at full speed, and you don't have to brake too much for the banked ramps. Last corner is somewhat tricky as the road narrows, but this one shouldn't be a problem. I beat it by almost a full second (.983), and placed at modest #944, 33 ahead of neoscopic, but 72 behind Hanover.

nyykid said yesterday that Sports Coupe cone challenge isn't that hard, so I tried that one first. I was experimenting with cars, and found that the Iceni could almost do the job - it's twitchy, but in a good way, I seem to be able to control it. See, the problem with the Tamora is that it's nearly impossible to get it to slide. Well, at least I thought that was a problem, until I found out there's only one place I needed to actually slide - the first corner, square left. For the longest time I couldn't figure out how to solve one section - after you go uphill and across the checkpoint, you take an easy right, then a square left, and the next square left was a mystery. If I slide too much, I can't reach the far gate. If I slide before it, I can't reach the next one (the one that begins a corridor, lined with yellow cones). I needed to find a way to keep the speed through that second square left. I found a way when I got back to the Tamora: do not slide. Yep, how's that for Cone Challenge advice: do not slide. The key is to clip the apex of the corner at a reasonably high speed (Tamora is awesome at keeping grip through fast corners), you'll get a Good Line (which, as pointed out elsewhere, may even give you more Kudos than a slide would), and you'll have enough speed to go through the following few gates. From then on, it was simple. Once you go through the back straightaway, you can slow down a lot and make sure you're hitting all the cones in the up-and-down, left-and-right section, including the left-right kink before the start/finish line. You don't need two full laps, but you should have at least a lap and two-thirds (when your combo reaches a 100 or so, you should be there). I scored 25767 kudos, all told, good for #270, about 400 more than neoscopic, but about 900 less than Civic.

American Muscle 

OK, I felt ready for some American Muscle action. One on One in Chicago wasn’t too difficult. Alright, maybe I bumped the other StingRay just a bit, but nobody saw it. Important thing is, I did it, and placed a very modest #1187. Heck, even Reverend Tom has me beat on this one; in his Diary debut, he’s at #1120, ahead by merely 23 kudos. Don’t worry, Reverend, I ain’t doin’ this one again!

It was time for a Hot Lap again, Square Dancing (best track name in the game). We needed 1:18.500, and my gold time was way off. I restarted this so many times I became the master of the first corner, but I needed to put together the whole lap, and that wasn’t happening. Either I was sliding too much or too little. Keys to driving a StingRay are simple, forget about the e-brake, keep your car straight when accelerating, and learn to control the slides. You need a perfect balance of steering and power to pull you through this one. I was inching closer (including a 1:18.6xx lap), and when it finally happened (.348), it was good for #29. Look, ma! Top o’ the world!!!! (well, not quite, but you get the idea)

In the end, I decided to do an American Muscle Hot Lap, Wells and Lake. I only needed to improve my Gold time by 3 seconds (to 1:38.750), and on a 1:40 lap, I knew I could do it. Just like a few days ago, with that DC Hot Lap, it was all about patience, steering and power. As in any other lap, soon you'll become an expert in the first third of the race, but the final few corners will be a mystery. And here, there are a few dandies at the end, including the hairpin left leading into three square rights. Once I dropped down to .081 away from required time, I knew I was there. The winning run was clocked at 1:38.397, enough Kudos for #118, 6 ahead of Greggoth, 14 more than ReverendTom. Top 100 included alexgreenbank at #62 (56 kudos ahead) and Civic Racer at #56 (70 kudos more).

Next, American Muscle, Street Race, Capitol Thrill 2 (can't you tell I was frustrated)? Soon, I will learn the hard truth about leading the American Muscle race, but this time, the StingRay trying to catch up with me took the scheduled dive with half a lap to go. I landed at respectable #336, 96 ahead of neoscopic, with Civic (#12) and Greggoth (#98) making the Top 100 again.

Then I did an American Muscle Timed Run, Up and Over in DC, two wet laps. Don't go too wide into the first hairpin, keep some power through the next two sweeping corners, and do not slide around the next double apex 180. Another sweeping lefty, pretty much at full power. When you get ready to head uphill, try to use body roll to your advantage, but don't go too fast. I usually oversteer the lefthander and fling it back right to go uphill. I think it may also be acceptable to tap the brakes and just steer into it, but I had fun this way. And is the final time an error? I don't know, but it says here my time was 2:27.636 (29.250 is required). That's more than a second and a half! I scored #654, 58 ahead of alex, but 165 behind Tom. Clean race would put me in Civic's neighborhood, he was about 300 kudos ahead.

Since I warmed up to the Sting Ray, it was time for a Street Race, Wells And Lake, three dark laps. I studied Civic's ghost again, he saw the TransAm and Mustang fighting in the first corner, so he just banged into the back of them and made the corner right behind the lead Sting Ray. A little drafting and a nice corner later, he was ahead. Easier said than done. I was mostly able to pull off the first corner demolition, I even managed to pass the Sting Ray a few times. And that's where I learned

First rule of American Muscle class Street Races on Platinum: No lead is safe from a scorned Sting Ray.

I don't know what it is about Chicago, but that same StingRay that took a dive in DC, drove just about perfectly here. All it took was braking a foot too late in the underground tunnel, just 1 mph too fast going over the bridge into a sharp right, one tiny mistake and he was off, never to be caught up with again. It took not one, not two, but three perfect laps to beat it. I also beat everybody else (except Civic, of course), closest was alex with 42 kudos less. Yeah!

Opening event of the evening was American Muscle Street Race, DC, Capitol Thrill 2. I took a peek at Civic's #5 ghost, and saw that it isn't that hard to muscle your way through the field in the first two tricky corners. I was able to catch up with the lead Sting Ray by slowing down when I needed to, and being careful when applying the gas. It was fairly easy, and I landed at #611, 58 ahead of Greggoth, but 51 behind Hanover. Worth noting is that I had the same score as a guy with the absolutely best gamertag I ever saw: "voight kampff"

By this time, I was feeling cocky again and went back to Chicago and American Muscle. Four laps on North Wabash Overpass. I braced myself for a tough race, but I soon realized the amazing truth about this race - there is no AI Sting Ray in the field! After that point, it was ridiculously easy. The Mustang Cobra put up a fight, but not for long. I landed at #321, neoscopic had 115 more, Civic was #15, but I was ahead of mostly everyone else.

The Day is "very far away, but it's growing day by day". I took care of two more events, both in American Muscle, both what I thought would be insurmountable challenges.

First up was a Cone Challenge in DC, Northside Slide. The track cannot be simpler or wider. There are three square turns, a long straight and a hairpin. First two square corners are easy enough, tap the e-brake to get the USS Sting Ray going, floor the gas, keep the car straight. Then you do a little jump, brake to avoid the wall, pull off another slide and go through two gates on the left side of the road, with yellow cones on the right. That's the first critical point of the lap. The idea is to swing around the gate in the corner while at full throttle, so you can cross the checkpoint line and make a beeline for the next gate, which is not as much of a problem to reach as the next one is. I cannot imagine doing these two in a less powerful car without having to slide in between.

Barrelling down the straight, look out for the sweeping left hander. This one took me a while, because I would pass the gate at the beginning of the corner, and the one on the apex, but I couldn't reach the first gate up the hill in time. Sometimes a small slide would help me, sometimes I'd retain enough speed from the straightaway, but most times I'd miss it. Anyway, go uphill, brake before the next-to-last gate. You have a choice of wrapping up tightly and getting a good line, or going a bit wider, which gives you a longer slide and more time to aim for the next gate. After that gate is the final tricky place of the lap. You'll lose way too much speed in the hairpin and you won't make it to the second gate down the hill in time. Sometimes I would pull off a little slide before going down, and sometimes I would have enough speed (kind of like the last tricky spot). This is where I ended my combo in the second lap, and banked 17000+ kudos. I finished the race with 17 seconds to spare, which I could have used for some slides and/or 360s, but I wanted to get this baby over with. I placed #409, 1100 behind Civic, and a whopping 3500+ behind neoscopic, who sits at #39.

I went online and celebrated with ZRob and some other guys, but went back for more. It was going to be the last street race of the class, five-lap Lower Wacker Run, the very last Gold I got, back in December. Somebody called it "exercise in restraint", and it's a perfect description: easy on the gas, easy on the steering, easy on the e-brake (if at all). I waited for the right pileup and gave chase to the lead USS Sting Ray. Two laps into the race, it was 3 seconds ahead, but I wasn't giving up. If you stay clean, you'll catch up. It's worth mentioning that I looked at the #10 ghost and it wasn't a kudos whurr; it showed me the best line through the sharp lefthander after the long straight - go tight, brake hard, steer carefully, power out of it. If done correctly, this turn alone can gain half a second on the AI car, which goes way too wide and corrects its line a few times. Another good one is the righthander at the end of the divided tunnel. Brake early and clip the apex (not the wall), creep forward and dive back left. In any case, I caught up with the thing at the beginning of lap 4 and never looked back. Good for #401, 43 kudos ahead of alex, but almost 3000 less than Civic at #12. How he does it I have no idea (especially since his ghost was bumped in favor of the Kudos whurrs).

I'm that much closer yet - I just finished the American Muscle Cone Challenge in Chicago. It was actually pretty easy, it took less than an hour, with all the attempts, near misses and restarts. First section is pretty tricky, five consecutive 90-degree corners, and then a long straight underground, where reaching the gate at the end isn't that easy. After a few attempts where I got a full lap combo, but messed up shortly afterwards, I discovered

The Great Truth About American Muscle Cone Challenge In Chicago: You have more time than you'll know what to do with.

Once I realized this, and that I'm not that great at Kudos whurring, I just took my time. Do a little slide, pass a little gate, do a little slide... The only place where I needed to be careful is that underground passage - going in, you want to stay off the wall, and going out, you want to reach the gate before the lefthander. All other cones are within reach of Sting Ray's powerful engine, provided you have it going straight, so you don't have to go too fast anywhere on the track (which also helps keeping you away from those walls).

Another small word of warning goes for the gate near the end of the lap, it's on the far left side of the road, right next to the wall. You'll be crossing the bridge and coming from far right, so aim a little before the gate and pull of a little slide, but be ever-so-careful not to hit the wall. Powering out of that gate, you can slide and then go for the next one and across the finish line. As a reminder, unless you're negotiating one of the 90-degree turns, you don't need a handbrake to have the Vette sliding. Full lock, full power for a second, opposite lock, full power, and listen to the Kudos tick.

After it was all done, I had a whopping 24693 kudos, 557 less than Hanover, but 1172 more than Civic (that's the pattern, he trounces me in Street Races, I catch up in Cone Challenges), good for #219. The key thing is that I crossed the line with 40 seconds left on the clock. I could have done about 20 little slides along the way, and gotten into the realm of the Kudos whurrs, but like I said, I'm not good at that. I just wanted to get the thing over with and move on to the Grand Touring Evil Cones Of Doom. Don't worry, that one will have its own entry in The Diary, too.

Super Cars 

Alright, what's the next class that should be easy? Correct, Super Cars. I'll sum up the following 7 events by saying this: Delfino rules. Once you get used to its weight and learn to brake early, this class is a pushover. On one of the Hot Laps, I even scored #78 on the scoreboards. Hot Lap times for Platinum are just a second ahead of Gold, so you only need minor fine-tuning to make it. One-on-one was laughable, poor Vette never stood a chance. It was so easy, I redid it to get a clean race bonus (my first time was better, however). A lot of the street races don't have the Delfino in the field, so you can pretty much blow by everybody before the first corner. Worth noting here is that CivicRacer did all of these with regular cars (Modena or the TVR), and still had a double-digit rank every time, including #29 on the 6-lap Timed Run in Florence.

Grand Touring 

Grand Touring, Street Race, Yokohama Challenge. Two long straights for the Maranello to stretch its legs, but the handling kept the lead Mercedes in front for quite a while. Time to take a peek at Civic’s ghost (#2!!). He had a mad slide on that double apex corner (some 120 kudos, I think), and took the Merc in the hairpin right. I wasn’t so lucky, but I managed to get him in that left-right kink just before the finish line of lap 1. Once in front, Maranello stayed in front. Good for #470, it could have been better if I didn’t bang every other wall…

Another track perfect for the Maranello is Kremlin 2, 2 lap Street Race. The AI cars have no clue about how to take the first two corners, and by the time they wise up, I’m way ahead, with another large combo. Testarossa tried to keep up, but gave in to the Merc in the final corners. This one was fairly easy, #166, 67 kudos behind Greggoth.

I became one with the car that I learned to love when I went on my Gold Rush; Maranello made it so easy. Another Hot Lap in Barcelona was calling, and it was a tricky one. Long fast corners, and Maranello doesn’t turn very quickly, so it took some persuasion, and calculated slides. Keys are two chicanes in the second half of the lap, you have to slow down almost to a stop. I shattered the 1:02.000 time with a 1:01.636, and landed on #57, just 24 kudos ahead of Greggoth. Civic, you gotta do this one again, you’re all the way back in #707!

I went back to Grand Touring and tried an Overtake in Barcelona, Place de Jaume. I already know Barcelona very well, so this wasn’t too hard, I scored #214, just 7 points more than Greggoth, but a whole 500 behind Civic Racer. Hey, at least I got him in that Hot Lap.

I was a bit lazy yesterday, I had energy only for three new platinums, all three in Grand Touring. It's not much, but it's better than nothing.

I started with a One-on-one, a 5-lap race in a super short track in Barcelona, average lap was about 25 seconds. I took the lead Maranello by taking a tighter line through the opening sweeping left hander. From then on, it's all about defensive driving. There is no room for overtaking, and all you have to think about is a hard left just before second checkpoint. You can connect mad combos here, and I managed to break into top 100 again, at #65, with Civic Racer still 200+ Kudos ahead.

Trying to follow the pattern of two Street Races for any one other event, I went to Capitol Thrill 2. There's 8 cars in the race and that makes for a very crowded first few corners. I remembered the Extreme Hot Lap on the same track and made sure I go through the carnage with as much speed as possible going downhill. This one took quite a few restarts, and the field contains two other Maranellos and a pesky Mercedes, so when it was finally done (good it's only 2 laps), I was very happy with #170, 33 kudos behind neoscopic. A clean race would put me in Greggoth's neighbourhood (#44), and Civic was his usual self at #9.

Finally, I did my last remaining Overtake event, Yokohama, Kishamichi. You're racing against American Muscle cars, and a great overtaking spot is the one on top of the hill after a long straight. The AI cars have issues with handling, so if you can hug the inside apex, you'll be fine. Simple, fast track, but a few sharp turns, so look out. I scored a moderate #1116, behind mostly everybody.

Alrighty then, let's throw that Overtake aside. Grand Touring, KGB Corner. You'll make two and three-quarters of a lap in the 3:20 (or was it 3:30), and the #7 car, the Iceni, will be in the left-right-left section leading up to the straightaway. So, you'll likely have to employ some bumping tactics, unless you're able to take it on the back straightaway (along the river). Lap two is almost all solitary, until you catch up to #4 car, the Morgan Aero. If you take him by the river, you're on pace. Audi RS6 and a Porsche will be in your rearviewmirror by the end of Lap 2, and then you have about 50 seconds to catch up to Iceni. Learn how Maranello moves, lift off the throttle slightly in long corners, tap on the brakes in the sharper ones. Not very difficult, I got to #270, 48 kudos behind Greggoth, but ahead of mostly everybody else... except Civic Racer, who's at #9. Side note: judging from my Friends list, platinums on this event end between 738 and 1239 on the scoreboards.

Grand Touring, Street Race, Hong Kong, Harbour Run. A pattern emerges: AI car, when trying to catch up with you, inevitably makes a mistake. This time, a Merc did it in the AI cars least favorite spot in the game, the median in the tunnel. He was on my tail pretty close until that point, after that it was a scenic drive. #702, 12 behind neoscopic, Civic was #2.

First up was Grand Touring, Street Race on, conveniently enough, The Tour. Get to second place by the righthander after the uphill jump and catch up the lead Maranello, pretty straightforward. #688, 103 kudos behind alex, Civic is at #5.

And so came Sunday. It started with a Grand Touring Hot Lap, last Hot Lap I had. It's the one on Red Square 1, 2:21.500. First few times were way off, so I remembered the things Civic's ghost taught me about this track yesterday. Brake early and in a straight line, keep your corners tight. The only ghosts I was following this time were my own, and when I finally beat one of them, I was ahead of Platinum time by almost a full second (2:20.566). Enough Kudos for #558, 15 behind neoscopic, 39 more than Hanover. Civic was #21, alex #46.

That's it - The Grand Touring Evil Cones Of Doom have been defeated. They put up quite a fight, the toughest so far by far.

Last night, I invested at least three hours in it. Following alex's advice (see FAQ for the link), I found that I had to slide in between every cone on the back straightaway. However, that proved to be a very dangerous and time-consuming process. Hanover mentioned that he found a speed route, so I decided to find it today. And I did. And here it is.

Starting with the first checkpoint (clean section), you'll brake, and go through a cone gate, and pull of a slide to the right to start the S section. Keep the speed through the left hander, and get a Good Line before going through a gate. Now you have to slide, go through the next gate and immediately slide. Build up speed for the next corner and keep on the gas (but not 100%) through the next lefthander. Get a good line, go through the gate, and floor the gas. If you're lucky, you can reach the next gate in time and go from there.

Now, if you're not so lucky, and your score "swishes", find some comfort in

The First Rule Of Grand Touring Cone Challenge: Even if you break the whole event into three large combos, you can still make the required score.

Here's what I mean: The required score is 12,250 - 12000 plus the clean race bonus. If your combo swishes after that S-section, you'll have about 2500, with a lap and a half to go. If you can make two combos, each lasting for two checkpoints (including the start/finish line), you should still be able to get the 7500 you need - alex says in his walkthrough that he had 8000+ after the first lap (he did those extra slides, but you can assume a full lap is at least 7000). It's important not to hit any cones and not to hit any walls, but, again, if your score swishes once, even twice, you can still make it.

Now, the final half hour, I had several different runs that were oh-so-close, including the one where I had the score, but bumped a wall and lost it all. Still, the very next time, I scored enough for 21756 total score, good for #186 on the scoreboards, 66 ahead of Civic Racer, but 86 behind erod550 (the only one on my friends list that's better).

So, here we are - all that's left is the 2-lap race at Nurburgring. Soon, that'll be done, and then, let the party begin!

Until then, may you never see another cone gate in your life.

Track Specials

It started where it ended the other night, Track Specials. Street Race in Florence, Battistero 1, 3 laps at night. The opening straightaway is long enough only for two overtakes, but after a few attempts I found the right way through the next few corners. I usually hold up behind the two Porsches and a Challenge, and they take each other out. In my winning run, I had a mad combo of 3x drafting, 3x nice slides, 3 overtakes, 3x good lines and a clean section, total around 900 points. When all was said and done, I was #25 in the world! That’s a good start, don’t you think?

Went back to Track Specials and did the Florence Overtake, Piazza della Signoria 2. It was fairly simple, you’re racing against Grand Touring cars. Second car was the Bentley, got him in the corridor, Aston Martin just before the end of the first lap, Rossa wasn’t too far ahead of him, then almost a full lap to the Mercedes. Two remaining cars were Maranellos and it took again almost a full lap for each, both struggling to wrap around that hairpin just before the corridor. I even did this one again to get the clean race bonus, and that moved me from #625 to #278. Civic is #33, Greg #96.

It was time for a spring cleaning, so I decided to wrap up the remaining Speed Camera (Track Specials) and Overtake (Grand Touring) events. After that, I rewarded myself with a nice American Muscle Hot Lap.

Speed Camera was first up, I thought it wouldn't take long. However, it took a little experimentation to find the best line through the Karussell. I tried sliding on top and cutting across it, I tried holding my revs in the banked section, I even watched a ghost (waiting for it to finish its Krispy Kreme factory...). In the end, it was just dumb luck and the right throttle level. I dipped in early, kept the revs at a mid-level and floored it on my way out. Well, I did that about 30 other times, but the last time it worked. I placed at #519, 1 kudo ahead of Furious D, 13 ahead of alex and 16 ahead of Civic Racer.

So, I thought, since I'm at the Ring, I might as well do the last Street Race in Track Specials, Nordschleife 10. The start is at Hohe Acht, just before the Karussell, and Karussell is a make-or-break point for the race, because AI drivers have no clue what to make of it. They brake too early, they try to correct their lines, they just drive confused. Several times I was able to power out of it and zoom past the two other Nobles in the field. Even if I didn't, one of them was surely going to bite the grass in some of the tighter corners soon thereafter. If you drive the Ring regularly, this one shouldn't be a problem - get ahead early and hang on. It ended on a straightaway, I scored a decent #896, 14 kudos ahead of neoscopic, bur 25 behind alex. Civic (#56) and Greggoth (#82) made the Top 100.

First up was a Tr. Spec. Hot Lap, Stockholm, Island Hopping, in the rain. Noble handles great, but the rain messed up the braking points and slide parameters, so it took a little bit of adjustment. Gold time was 2:09.500, Platinum was 1:58.000. This track is bumpy with lots of slow tricky corners, but once I started treating a Noble like a Sting Ray with better brakes, the tenths started coming off my lap times. Winning time was 1:57.333, scoreboard place #146, 101 kudos ahead of alex, with Civic way ahead at #24. It may be worth noting here that this event took me about as long as all the following ones combined. So, if it gets frustrating for you, take some comfort in the fact that it was so for me, as well.

Then I decided to do a Stockholm Timed Run (Bridges), and because the track uses 80% of the previous track, it was pretty easy. No rain, either. Gold time 3:48.500, Platinum time 3:32.000, LionTX time 3:31.684. #654 on the scoreboards, 27 kudos ahead of neoscopic, 88 behind Greggoth.

I was craving some company, so I stayed in Stockholm for the Street Race (Gamla Island Hopping). Barreling down the straighaway, I saw that the lead Noble takes the hairpin turn way too wide, so I brake early and wrap around it tight. I managed to get enough speed downhill to pass it, and luckily for me, it soon got busy with a fast charging Viper. I held on to the lead despite some third-lap screwups. Respectable #607, 9 kudos ahead of alex, 24 ahead of ReverendTom. Civic was #16 on this one.

Final event of the class, Timed Run, Florence, Piazza della Signoria 1, 2 laps, at night, 2:05.500 required (1:02.750 per lap). I did an Overtake in this class on this track, just going the other way (Piazza... 2). The key to the track is how to go through the first two corners. They are fast, but decieving, and you have to pick your speed. The rest of the lap is pretty straightforward (tight streets, corridor, hairpin, tight streets, long straight...). I downloaded a #4 Ghost, "Karu" (I needed a short name for minimum distraction), and he had a scorcher of a first lap, somewhere close to 1:02.000. He'd mess up badly a few times on the second lap, so I would catch up to him, but the chicane before the start/finish line gave me some trouble. Once I remembered to brake early, steer hard and hit the gas just right, it started happening. Winning run was 2:04.897, #289, 104 kudos ahead of ReverendTom, but 109 behind alex. Top 100 included Civic #48 and Greggoth #82.

That's it, Track Specials is my sixth completed class.

Extreme

Time to take it up a notch, to Extreme, Hot Lap, Capitol Thrill 1, time needed 1:03.100. This one wasn’t easy. The first three corners are pretty tricky, and you want to retain speed for the downhill run. A few hairpins are tempting, but try not to slide too much. F50 handles great and has awesome brakes, so the turn-in point may be a bit after the skid marks begin. Remember, Good Lines are better than Nice Slides. I finally got 1:02.798, but only enough kudos for #440. But, look at those clowns neoscopic at #30 and Greggoth at #50…

After a break, I went back to Extreme, Overtake, Chicago, In the Loop. First time through, I banged so many walls, it’s a wonder I did it at all, let alone place #694. However, I finished it with such a large margin (took the last car with 30 seconds to spare, I think), that I decided to do some Kudos whurring. I was sliding all over the place, and landed in #95, but I was getting cocky and tried it again. In the end, I barely made it ahead of the Maranello by half a car length, but I had enough for #26. But that darn Civic Racer is still ahead by 23 measly Kudos. Argh!

I wanted to do something harder now, and tried a few different things. Extreme race in DC, Up and Over seemed innocent enough, being just two laps and all (and Civic having a top 10 score, again), but it was pretty difficult (even Civic had to hang on to dear life at the end, wheel-to-wheel with a charging F40).

I looked around for the next victim, and found an odd thing in the Extreme class. Every race except one I was 2nd. Good enough for Gold, I guess, but won't work for Platinum, so I wanted repeat the one I won - Yokohama, Minato Mirai, 3 laps in the rain. Oh, yeah, Civic is #1, but I wanted to do it myself. Just as in Pacific Muscle (see Chapter 1), you have to bang your way to the front by the second corner. If you're at least third going into the first hairpin, you can slingshot around it and seriously mess up the lead F40. I took a tighter turn than him on the last corner of Lap 1 and never looked back. #373, 114 kudos behind ReverendTom. Neoscopic made Top 100 again at #70.

Extreme, Timed Run, DC, Square Dancing. I thought I would learn from the Master, so I raced Civic's ghost on this one. He goes for Kudos the first few corners, but he wipes the smile off my face by nailing a sharp lefthander just before the second checkpoint. Still, his first lap wasn't that great, but he makes no mistakes on the second one, so I had to make sure I keep up. It took a while, but I beat the time (not him), by .066, #366, 1 kudo ahead of ReverendTom!

First event Saturday was Extreme Street Race, Chicago, River Tour, three laps at night, 6 cars. It took a little rubbing and bumping, but once I got in front, I waited for the scheduled AI screwup. Sure enough, two Jags argued over who's going to go through the right-left kink first, and gave me a solid lead. 15 kudos ahead of Hanover, Civic was #10.

Extreme, Street Race, DC, Northside Slide, 4 laps in the dark. This is a fast one, so the only chance you got in the F50 is to nail every single corner, including a hairpin on top of the hill, just before the finish line. Even then, you'll have your rear view mirror full of Ascaris, F40s and/or Jags in the back straightaway. Tap the brakes for the fast lefty that follows, go uphill and brake hard. All the other cars go way wide on this one, so spin your car and head downhill. On that last corner of the last lap, Jag was still half a car length ahead, so I did what I had to do, I hit him in the rear quarterpanel and zoomed past to take the checkered flag. Ended up with 126 kudos more than alex, but ReverendTom was way ahead, and so was Civic Racer, at #1.

One more Extreme Street Race for the road, this one on The Tour. Nothing unusual, same as the GT race, including an AI dive, this one by a F40 on lap 2... #826, well behind Civic (#2), Greggoth (#33) and neoscopic (#57).

Finally, last event of the afternoon (before the hockey-Sex and the City-SAG awards evening) was another Extreme Street Race, Yokohama, Seaside Loop, three wet laps against 7 tough, evenly matched cars. The pileup at first corner was so debilitating, that even if I came out in third, I would still have a hard time catching up with F50 and F40 in front. So, rather than bang with everybody, I stayed on the left side of the road, slowed down for the corner, and waited for the Ascari to clear the apex. Then I dive in the hole that's made on the right side of the road (the pileup is over on the left) and floor it. To my amazement, I was able to pass both the 40 and the 50, and it was pretty easy from then on. Slow down just a bit for the fast righty after the downhill run, but brake hard for the righy after that. If you can pull of a slide, it's fine. Civic is #1 here, but I'm #673, barely 10 kudos behind Hanover.

Next up was Extreme Street Race in Yokohama, Bay Tour. I remember this being a banging track, so once I got up there, F40 would pull away on the straight, but my F50 would catch up in the technical sections (make sure you brake waaaay early for the first corner of the second lap). Sure enough, when I passed it, the F40 got confused, and I cruised. #290, 69 behind greg, almost 300 behind neoscopic (so clean race would have put me there).

Last remaining Street Race in Extreme was Up And Over in DC, only two laps, and I needed a way to catch up to the F40 on a pretty fast track. Another peek at Civic's #6 ghost, he did something similar to what I tried yesterday in Yokohama - wait for the first corner carnage, draft and give chase. I decided to take a different approach. I would slam the red 959, which would cause a chain reaction in the opening hairpin, and I often came out right behind the F40. On the winning run, they messed up F40, as well, so it was pretty easy from there. Look out on top of the hill, the bumpy righthander should be taken much slower than you think. #545, 109 kudos ahead of that PreacherTom person, and a clean race would put me again in neoscopic's neighborhood, in Top 200.

I felt confident about my F50 and about DC, so I decided to give the Cone Challenge a try. It took a while to complete more than half a lap, but on one of the runs I got to the last corner and didn't make it to the next gate in time, so the score "swished", and showed I had 7000+ (required is 14,750). That practically means that you can have two separate 1-lap combos and still make it. That took all the pressure off, and I soon scored a run where I connected a lap and three quarters. It ended at the bottom of the double jump straight, at the double-apex 180. I coasted through the remaining gates and scored a grand total of 31,332 (with all bonuses), which was 3000 kudos behind PreacherTom, but 5700 ahead of neoscopic. Wow.

The last event remaining in the class was a Timed Run, Chicago, River Crossing, two laps in pitch black. I turned to my buddy Civic Racer again (#2 ghost) and tried to follow him. I realized soon that I'm having no trouble doing so. The reasons are twofold: the time given (3:28.500) gives you a little time for kudos whurring, and Civic took full advantage of it. He lost his clean race bonus at the first corner, and bumped another wall later on, but he was still plenty fast in the other corners. I scored 3:28.115, #350, 99 kudos ahead of alex, 121 behind PreacherTom. My first lap was 1:43.7xx, which is about a half a second faster than the required average.

So, who said Extreme was hard? It just became my eight completed class.

Ultimate

This is when I made a list of what’s left, and next to “Speed Camera” there were two tallies – Track Specials and Ultimate. I decided to go with the latter. I remember most people used the Koenigsegg, even though the top 10 is now full of TVR-glazed donuts. With no ghost to guide me, I tried everything, and every car. I even backed up from the camera all the way to the hairpin turn, so I can accelerate in a straight line, and the Segg almost got me there (111 instead of 112). I don’t know what got into me that one time, but I made a clumsy donut and powered out of that turn straight for the camera. I broke 113 mph! I was amazed myself, it was a total fluke. I landed at #261, and wanted to do more donuts to get up the ranks, but couldn’t repeat it. It was a one-in-a-million lucky shot.

I wanted to do another Ultimate event, and picked the Street Race in Nordschleife 11, the long one that starts on the straightaway. Front pack was Enzo, Segg and Zonda, but the first few corners usually wreaked havoc. I managed to pull through in a GT1, and after a few attempts, finished the darn thing. The scoreboards had a slap in the face for me - #2798, even some gold racers were better than that! I couldn’t have none of that, so I did it again. No clean race, but much more kudos (some 600 or so), which moved me up to #1325, barely 1 kudo ahead of alexgreenbank, 18 more than neoscopic, but 14 less than Hanover.

I was looking around again, and saw that, while there's four of them, the Cone Challenges in Ultimate class are on pretty short tracks. On top of that, the Platinum requirements are not that much higher than Gold standards. So I started with Sydney, The Wharf. Remember that you have an Ultimate car, so the cone gates are never too far away for you to slow down and make sure you have control over your car before thrusting forward. I used a Porsche GT1, and pulled off a few slides on the wide area around first checkpoint. The layout was simple enough, and I was done in 10 minutes or so, getting #340, barely 54 kudos behind Furious D, but 300 ahead of Hanover.

Next up was Chicago, East Kinzie Crossover. I took a practice lap around the course. It's a bit trickier, because some gates are dangerously close to walls, but there's still a wide area in front of the bridge where you can pull off an extra slide or two. Not great, but got the job done, #1419, 148 kudos behind ReverendTom.

Florence, Uffizi was another easy one, as long as you don't go too fast down the corridor and you're unable to wrap around the hairpin. Porsche gives you plenty of slides potential, there's plenty of time (I had 8 seconds left), and the layout is simple again, so this one was gone quickly, as well. Excellent #137, way ahead of everybody else, including 5500 kudos ahead of Civic!!

Final Cone Challenge was in Stockholm, Northern 3. It's a bit tougher, since the streets are tight, twisty and bumpy, but still straightforward. The time limit is an issue, I was done with 5 seconds left, had 825 Kudos more than Hanover, but about 1600 behind Civic and Tom (who are close together). Keep in mind that I connected every cone on all these challenges, but the scores could surely be improved by adding some more Good Lines and Nice Slides.

Ultimate, Street Race, Stockholm Speed Freak. This one wasn't pretty. The track is narrow, and if you keep to the inside of corners, you can't be overtaken. I smashed into the lead Enzo on the first hairpin turn and hung on. Kudos were down in the Gold range, good for only #1821, 200 kudos behind alex.

Then I took my CLK for a drive, with three Ultimate Street Races. First one was Chicago, East on Wacker, five dark laps. Draft the brown Saleen at the start and bang your way through the righ-left and into the second place. You should have no problem with the Koenigsegg in front if you do it right. Still, he has a buddy coming up hot behind you, so look out. In the end, I was an excellent #154, but Civic was an even better #32.

Next two were of the "Survival of the fittest" variety. Five dark laps in Hong Kong, Cotton Tree Drive is no fun. You can get to second after the start, and the lead Enzo doesn't know what to do with all those narrow ramps, especially some of the tighter corners. I took him at the end of Lap 1, in the last hairpin, but he seems to have messed up later, as well. Still, I messed up plenty myself, and landed on #1227, 68 ahead of alex, but behind everybody else, including neoscopic at #63.

Finally, there was the Yokohama Challenge, four dark laps. This race is just a carnage, so I was quite pleased with #1122, even though I was behind everybody. Try to get as good a position as you can by the time you go uphill and across the first checkpoint. Look out for the chicane on the back straightaway.

I went to Barcelona to celebrate, I wanted to do five Catalan Challenge laps in Ultimate. It was time to stretch CLK's legs again, and all I needed to do is catch up with the other CLK. His bane was the left right kink after the long straight and a sweeping lefthander. Well, I did bump him a bit, so what? Quick track, takes some getting used to the traffic, but very doable. #584, 39 kudos ahead of Hanover, 331 behind Civic, who, I won't forget to mention it this time, did the entire class mostly in a Koenigsegg.

For the final event of the evening, I wanted to take a stab at the 6-lap Ultimate Street Race in Edinburgh. My CLK blew by the field and took the lead in the third corner. Tried as he might, the GT1 couldn't keep up. One time he came close, he wanted to take me on the inside in the first corner, but couldn't recover his line and fell even further back. Even though I never paid too much attention to people saying "CLK >>>> GT1", after this race, I became a believer. As in most of my other Ultimate events, this one had pitiful kudos score, good for #1166, but still 48 kudos more than alex.

I'm happy to report I became a Platinum Racer tonight (February 28, 2004) around 6:15pm, CST. Yes, the final race was pretty simple, especially provided the fact that the TVR in the lead took a dive at the same spot on each lap, just before the long straight that leads into Karussell (I believe the curve is called Bergwerk). So, at the beginning, I drafted the black Enzo that was in front of me, and we soon caught up with the GT1 in second. I allowed both of them to take each other out and zoomed past. The TVR kept the lead at about 5 second until Aremburg, where it dropped to 3.5 seconds. By Karussell, I had a nice lead, but I squandered it towards the end of the lap, and the TVR was behind only by 2 seconds going into the start/finish straightaway. He caught me right at the first corner, going into stadium section, but he slammed into me and spun both of us out. When I got back on track, I was 5 seconds behind. Basically a repeat of the first lap, gained a second and a half in Aremburg, had the lead by Karussell. This time, I wasn't messing up, and I had a comfortable lead going into the straight - with "We Are The Champions" blaring from my soundtrack. I probably never ran a sub-7-minute Ring lap, but in this race, with a major wipeout on each lap, I did two 6:42 laps. It was a great moment, a culmination of a three-week effort.

Sure enough, I took my shiny new TVR for a drive, and I'm already in love with it. I put about 250 miles on it just tonight. It's wild, somewhat twitchy, but if you can control it, it's a lot of fun.

So there, my friends, if I can do it, so can you.