I think everyone noticed how little I updated during the championship weekend. The less I talk about that the happier I'll be.
Canada was a mess, and you can't convince me that everyone on the entire team wasn't aware of Nawrocki's intentions and supported them. He was apparently dumb enough to not realize that they were looking for an excuse to dump him...
Well, I'm actually going to Europe for awhile to do an appearance with the Volpi people and shoot a commercial for French television with Christi... among other things. Other than that, testing starts in a month-ish. Yaaay! I think our new engine might be a rolling grenade, boooo! Seriously, the new engine rules screwed us royally, and I'd be surprised if I made the finish of half the races.
I went to two Christmas parties and a New Year's party, so I'm pretty tired. Didn't really get that intoxicated. Not much for alcohol really... one thing I didn't get was much sleep. So I'm going to do that on this plane.
Bye for now!
- A.R.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Back to the Americas...
Sorry for the lack of updates. I've had a lot of stuff to do. Seriously, I haven't had a day to where I can just relax until ... basically now, and qualifying is just concluded here in Canada. I've had a lot of contract stuff to work through... that stuff is annoying and too time-consuming.
But yeah, I have a few other things in the works. I can't tell anyone what they are yet!... You'll all find out! ^_^
But a quick recap of the last few races...
Russia had rain, and I love the rain. Me and Matti Taube could really hammer the crap out of the brakes, but I noticed there were a few cars that had NO business being on the grid. The 75 and 09 cars were way off the pace. They were five seconds off of my pace and they were racing very aggressively. The guy in the 75 car is apparently a Russian rally star, but he has no business on asphalt. Don't know who the 09 car was, don't care, but if I see him again, then he'll wind up in the dirt post haste.
Spa was a lot of fun, me and Jules got to fight it out for the lead with Leonid and Arto, and I almost got a traffic ticket. There really isn't much to say about Belgium on the track other than it was a blast. I think the win did a lot for Jules's confidence level. She's moving to a team that's basically going to be at the back of the grid, so I think she really needed to win in order to help her out but to also shut up the Russian media. Apparently they're a bit jingoistic and expect a lot from her.
I also apparently made everyone piss their pants when I pointed out the bleedingly obvious about the American race stewards. Fine. OFFICIALS. -_-
But all that I said is pretty true, and it annoys me because Benny Dwyer used to say those kinds of things back in the day and it was considered cool. I think the reactions I've gotten sort of proved my point really...
Then Italy, which was... interesting. Everyone thought they had enough fuel if there would be one yellow flag towards the end -- which never happened until the last lap. Other then that there's better tracks in Italy to visit, but it's probably the best oval in Europe that I know of.
But yeah, I'm back with VRT in the Master Cup cars. Woo! Time to go get Volpi's first championship in its first year! At least, I'm hoping so, but this big superspeedway in Canada is a piece of crap. ARLA is better here, because it's just what ARLA needs, something big, flashy, and showy. However, it has no substance. No character. Kind of like Daytona, which also has no character...
Talladega has character, I normally like racing at such high speeds because it's a real thrill. I love to push the limits and go beyond them, and because there's a very real chance that once I get into that car, I won't get back out! I like to scare myself when I'm driving, because I figure that if you haven't scared yourself, then you haven't gone fast enough.
Time to go see the press... yay press releases... -_-;
Bye for now!
-A.R.
But yeah, I have a few other things in the works. I can't tell anyone what they are yet!... You'll all find out! ^_^
But a quick recap of the last few races...
Russia had rain, and I love the rain. Me and Matti Taube could really hammer the crap out of the brakes, but I noticed there were a few cars that had NO business being on the grid. The 75 and 09 cars were way off the pace. They were five seconds off of my pace and they were racing very aggressively. The guy in the 75 car is apparently a Russian rally star, but he has no business on asphalt. Don't know who the 09 car was, don't care, but if I see him again, then he'll wind up in the dirt post haste.
Spa was a lot of fun, me and Jules got to fight it out for the lead with Leonid and Arto, and I almost got a traffic ticket. There really isn't much to say about Belgium on the track other than it was a blast. I think the win did a lot for Jules's confidence level. She's moving to a team that's basically going to be at the back of the grid, so I think she really needed to win in order to help her out but to also shut up the Russian media. Apparently they're a bit jingoistic and expect a lot from her.
I also apparently made everyone piss their pants when I pointed out the bleedingly obvious about the American race stewards. Fine. OFFICIALS. -_-
But all that I said is pretty true, and it annoys me because Benny Dwyer used to say those kinds of things back in the day and it was considered cool. I think the reactions I've gotten sort of proved my point really...
Then Italy, which was... interesting. Everyone thought they had enough fuel if there would be one yellow flag towards the end -- which never happened until the last lap. Other then that there's better tracks in Italy to visit, but it's probably the best oval in Europe that I know of.
But yeah, I'm back with VRT in the Master Cup cars. Woo! Time to go get Volpi's first championship in its first year! At least, I'm hoping so, but this big superspeedway in Canada is a piece of crap. ARLA is better here, because it's just what ARLA needs, something big, flashy, and showy. However, it has no substance. No character. Kind of like Daytona, which also has no character...
Talladega has character, I normally like racing at such high speeds because it's a real thrill. I love to push the limits and go beyond them, and because there's a very real chance that once I get into that car, I won't get back out! I like to scare myself when I'm driving, because I figure that if you haven't scared yourself, then you haven't gone fast enough.
Time to go see the press... yay press releases... -_-;
Bye for now!
-A.R.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
From Russia With Love
Yeah, I know, I couldn't resist that headline. Even though I'm not a huge fan of the James Bond movies (I have to admit having a soft spot for Goldeneye though), I couldn't resist calling this post "From Russia With Love". Especially since ... who was P1 here last year? Oh right... :P
I love this layout because it's not very hard for me to drive and plus it's one of the tracks where the driver makes a bigger difference than the car, but that really long front straight does mean the car can come into effect. I'm talking specifically about Dillon Mosco's finish here last year. What ever happened to that guy? That was the only race he was marginally competitive in last year...
But yeah, down that long front straight into this really silly chicane/turn thing (they really should make that just one turn, guarantee you'll see more passing over there), there's a few corners that it's faster to take the outside than the inside due to the surface.
Then there's those twisting S curves that some people call The Serpent. Gradually getting faster. It's the perfect place to wreck someone on purpose. Hello Collin Evans! Hello Stan Rosenstreter!
By the way, the big news is that Kevin Dwyer is coming to TM Lights, and I'm really looking forward to watching him race. Kevin is like his father in that he just races for fun and for family pride, but he's a more reserved person. I really don't think he cares who he roughs up on the racetrack.
Which reminds me, I think he set a new track record at the Dwyer Speedpark in a GT1 car last weekend...
I just checked the time, practice is about to start!
Bye for now!
- A.R.
I love this layout because it's not very hard for me to drive and plus it's one of the tracks where the driver makes a bigger difference than the car, but that really long front straight does mean the car can come into effect. I'm talking specifically about Dillon Mosco's finish here last year. What ever happened to that guy? That was the only race he was marginally competitive in last year...
But yeah, down that long front straight into this really silly chicane/turn thing (they really should make that just one turn, guarantee you'll see more passing over there), there's a few corners that it's faster to take the outside than the inside due to the surface.
Then there's those twisting S curves that some people call The Serpent. Gradually getting faster. It's the perfect place to wreck someone on purpose. Hello Collin Evans! Hello Stan Rosenstreter!
By the way, the big news is that Kevin Dwyer is coming to TM Lights, and I'm really looking forward to watching him race. Kevin is like his father in that he just races for fun and for family pride, but he's a more reserved person. I really don't think he cares who he roughs up on the racetrack.
Which reminds me, I think he set a new track record at the Dwyer Speedpark in a GT1 car last weekend...
I just checked the time, practice is about to start!
Bye for now!
- A.R.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Hello Australia. =D
I have to admit, this is the first time I've been to Australia, and I'm going a week early by myself. First thing I have to say is that it's a wonderful place, and it's a nice change of pace, I'm not recognized by many people. Plus I had some time to just get away from everything.
I went to a few V8 races and almost everyone in the garage recognized me, which I didn't really expect, and they clearly didn't expect me to be there. Leonid Roderick was there the second day and talking to people about running the 1000 kilometer race in Bathurst.
He must have had that deal in place in advance, because nobody was surprised to see him except me. Makes me wish I had a deal to run that race. I think I could learn the Bathurst track pretty quickly.
The V8 races I went to weren't too bad. One of the junior V8 races had a massive pileup in the first corner after someone just forgot to brake. Amazingly nobody retired from what I can call a big fender bender.
Apparently, Lance Andrews and Cyrus LaTerza are really big in the garage and with the Aussie fans. Andrews I knew raced down here, and Cyrus races under the American flag this season but apparently he also raced in the V8s down here before going to the GRL.
Lance is going to be the crowd favorite almost definitely, he won the Bathurst 1000 twice, in 1988 and 1999. The 1999 win I don't recall ever hearing about, though to be honest I wasn't much aware of the Australian motor racing scene until I was 20 and doing college and karting. C'est la vie.
I haven't read who else is entered in the race down here, but I heard that one or two of the V8 drivers are going to give it a run, and so is Thomas Duke, a TM Lights driver from New Zealand. Duke is a really good guy, and it's a shame he's not in the TM Master Cup series, because I think he's got some serious talent... he'll run a third Blitzkrieg car or something like that.
Oh yeah, I was meaning to talk about the on-camera crap post-Talladega. That's probably the most open I've ever been on-camera. I think I'm getting a bit less pressured in front of the cameras and even here these days... other then that, Talladega sucked, Quincy sucked, end of story. :P
Bye for now!
- A.R
I went to a few V8 races and almost everyone in the garage recognized me, which I didn't really expect, and they clearly didn't expect me to be there. Leonid Roderick was there the second day and talking to people about running the 1000 kilometer race in Bathurst.
He must have had that deal in place in advance, because nobody was surprised to see him except me. Makes me wish I had a deal to run that race. I think I could learn the Bathurst track pretty quickly.
The V8 races I went to weren't too bad. One of the junior V8 races had a massive pileup in the first corner after someone just forgot to brake. Amazingly nobody retired from what I can call a big fender bender.
Apparently, Lance Andrews and Cyrus LaTerza are really big in the garage and with the Aussie fans. Andrews I knew raced down here, and Cyrus races under the American flag this season but apparently he also raced in the V8s down here before going to the GRL.
Lance is going to be the crowd favorite almost definitely, he won the Bathurst 1000 twice, in 1988 and 1999. The 1999 win I don't recall ever hearing about, though to be honest I wasn't much aware of the Australian motor racing scene until I was 20 and doing college and karting. C'est la vie.
I haven't read who else is entered in the race down here, but I heard that one or two of the V8 drivers are going to give it a run, and so is Thomas Duke, a TM Lights driver from New Zealand. Duke is a really good guy, and it's a shame he's not in the TM Master Cup series, because I think he's got some serious talent... he'll run a third Blitzkrieg car or something like that.
Oh yeah, I was meaning to talk about the on-camera crap post-Talladega. That's probably the most open I've ever been on-camera. I think I'm getting a bit less pressured in front of the cameras and even here these days... other then that, Talladega sucked, Quincy sucked, end of story. :P
Bye for now!
- A.R
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Third at the Brickyard! ^_^
So I scored a third at Indy, despite a car that was pushing too much for my liking. I was a bit disappointed since I thought that one was mine if it went green to the finish, but I'll take the third.
Congrats to Kurt and the Power Steering bunch. They had this one coming for a long time, and good on them. Same goes to Joseph Howard. The McCallister cars are dogs this year, and I think Chris Johaanes is a contractual #1 driver, if what Howard tells me is true.
Speaking of contractual #1 drivers, it was funny to watch Tony Durbin go off on Stuart Sandoval. Now if Durbin's not a contractual #1 driver then I don't know what they are.
There's not many drivers like that in the garage anymore. Roderick never was, I'm not, I think Enzo Medina is (and that wouldn't surprise anyone), Chris Johaanes I think is, Tony Durbin, well no duh. I'd say Danny Savin might be but the thing with Danny is that he's on the same pace he has been on for the past two years and still beating Milano Rossini hand over fist...
James Dalton doesn't really give driver preference, if he was I don't think it would be to Marcos Leonard, who seems to tear his stuff up a lot...
I find myself not being able to say much more, so...
Bye for now!
- A.R.
Congrats to Kurt and the Power Steering bunch. They had this one coming for a long time, and good on them. Same goes to Joseph Howard. The McCallister cars are dogs this year, and I think Chris Johaanes is a contractual #1 driver, if what Howard tells me is true.
Speaking of contractual #1 drivers, it was funny to watch Tony Durbin go off on Stuart Sandoval. Now if Durbin's not a contractual #1 driver then I don't know what they are.
There's not many drivers like that in the garage anymore. Roderick never was, I'm not, I think Enzo Medina is (and that wouldn't surprise anyone), Chris Johaanes I think is, Tony Durbin, well no duh. I'd say Danny Savin might be but the thing with Danny is that he's on the same pace he has been on for the past two years and still beating Milano Rossini hand over fist...
James Dalton doesn't really give driver preference, if he was I don't think it would be to Marcos Leonard, who seems to tear his stuff up a lot...
I find myself not being able to say much more, so...
Bye for now!
- A.R.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
New York and Salem Recap + Interesting Question a Fan Asked Me
DATE: July 27th, 2009
New York is not really a good track. Yes, we had two surprise winners but it doesn't make it a good track. To be honest, Parker is not as much of a surprise as West. JP Junior (as people call him) everyone in the garage figured would win or get a bunch of big results once he got a hang of the Nemoto and the way it handles. He is really good, just hasn't had too much in the way of luck.
But why does the New York Autoring suck? For one, the track is not much fun to drive on, and while you can run four wide in the turns easy, that hole closes up coming out of the corners and you get a wreck, and usually a really nasty one at that.
That makes it two years in a row that a FLASH Racing driver was injured at the New York Autoring. Matt Taylor last year, and Palmer Stiles this year. I'll get into Palmer in a few minutes.
Then we have Salem. It's a short track in the middle of Indiana. Woo, short tracks! The problem I have is that this track has no high lane of any sort anymore. All marbles. So that was disappointing.
I tore up the car here pretty bad. Actually, Cyril Volpi came on the radio and told me to run it till it dies, and that was what I was planning to do anyway. I gave Zach Duff a big hug after the race, I think he needed it seeing all the flak he's been getting this season, and for all the wrong reasons.
The officials then called me to the hauler because I was apparently a moving chicane out there. What it means in their language is that I spun enough times to warrant a penalty, or rather, did something questionable. I'm used to it by now, and I don't care. I still won the championship last year despite 75 points in penalties which would have made the title a no-contest if they didn't give it to me.
On a related note, Julia is a bit stressed about her lack of success so far this season, and me hitting her (oops!) didn't help. After the race I got her and her boyfriend dinner. Speaking of Julia's boyfriend, he's pretty cute. :3
I got an interesting question from a fan during autograph signings here at Indinapolis. It's perhaps a random personal question, but they wanted to know how religious the drivers are. I think anyone but me would have been a bit offended by the question.
I can say this much. As far as the TM Master Cup series drivers are concerned, almost all of them fall into one of two categories. Either devoutly religious or nonreligious/athiest (same thing really, if you ask me), and I fall into the latter category. I'm pretty sure all the female drivers fall into the latter category (except Rachel), I don't know any self-respecting woman that is devoutly religious.
But I know Tony Durbin, Todd Wodarczyk, Garth McCallister and Stuart Sandoval are pretty religious, and I get the feeling that Tyrone Stanley and Scott Bates are too. Damien Snyder (Does anyone honestly think he's religious?!) and Leonid Roderick (I think he's too obsessed with racing to be religious) aren't really either. I don't think Alan Hodges is too big on religion.
David Krikorian and Louis Kingston were both raised Jewish, but Kingston isn't really religious. DK hasn't been around me long enough for me to know if he is still religious or not.
Bye for now!
- A.R.
New York is not really a good track. Yes, we had two surprise winners but it doesn't make it a good track. To be honest, Parker is not as much of a surprise as West. JP Junior (as people call him) everyone in the garage figured would win or get a bunch of big results once he got a hang of the Nemoto and the way it handles. He is really good, just hasn't had too much in the way of luck.
But why does the New York Autoring suck? For one, the track is not much fun to drive on, and while you can run four wide in the turns easy, that hole closes up coming out of the corners and you get a wreck, and usually a really nasty one at that.
That makes it two years in a row that a FLASH Racing driver was injured at the New York Autoring. Matt Taylor last year, and Palmer Stiles this year. I'll get into Palmer in a few minutes.
Then we have Salem. It's a short track in the middle of Indiana. Woo, short tracks! The problem I have is that this track has no high lane of any sort anymore. All marbles. So that was disappointing.
I tore up the car here pretty bad. Actually, Cyril Volpi came on the radio and told me to run it till it dies, and that was what I was planning to do anyway. I gave Zach Duff a big hug after the race, I think he needed it seeing all the flak he's been getting this season, and for all the wrong reasons.
The officials then called me to the hauler because I was apparently a moving chicane out there. What it means in their language is that I spun enough times to warrant a penalty, or rather, did something questionable. I'm used to it by now, and I don't care. I still won the championship last year despite 75 points in penalties which would have made the title a no-contest if they didn't give it to me.
On a related note, Julia is a bit stressed about her lack of success so far this season, and me hitting her (oops!) didn't help. After the race I got her and her boyfriend dinner. Speaking of Julia's boyfriend, he's pretty cute. :3
I got an interesting question from a fan during autograph signings here at Indinapolis. It's perhaps a random personal question, but they wanted to know how religious the drivers are. I think anyone but me would have been a bit offended by the question.
I can say this much. As far as the TM Master Cup series drivers are concerned, almost all of them fall into one of two categories. Either devoutly religious or nonreligious/athiest (same thing really, if you ask me), and I fall into the latter category. I'm pretty sure all the female drivers fall into the latter category (except Rachel), I don't know any self-respecting woman that is devoutly religious.
But I know Tony Durbin, Todd Wodarczyk, Garth McCallister and Stuart Sandoval are pretty religious, and I get the feeling that Tyrone Stanley and Scott Bates are too. Damien Snyder (Does anyone honestly think he's religious?!) and Leonid Roderick (I think he's too obsessed with racing to be religious) aren't really either. I don't think Alan Hodges is too big on religion.
David Krikorian and Louis Kingston were both raised Jewish, but Kingston isn't really religious. DK hasn't been around me long enough for me to know if he is still religious or not.
Bye for now!
- A.R.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Post Karjala Blues
JULY 9, 2009
I FUCKING HAD THAT ONE.
But that little prick Durbin got in the way and deliberately kept me out of winning the race. He would brake a bit early in all the turns and make me smoke the tires a bit.
Gah, I'm tired of his crap.
I don't know if the Karjala officials hate me or what, but they didn't do anything to Durbin, or to Todd Wodarczyk for stomping on his brakes like that in the pits.
The worst part is we're now off to one of these big showy superspeedways. Yeah I know there's (some) skill in driving these, but they're too random to be a proper racetrack. Not to forget we'll be going 230 miles per hour or so around there...
...so if we get through the weekend without a big incident I'll be amazed. Those aren't so much about driver skill as much as they are about slotting in the right place in the draft. In theory you can make the winning pass of the race with 5 to go, and it will be for like, 7th.
Because then you'll just shuffle up to the front at the right time.
These races make the American fans happy but worldwide not too many people like them, and there's a reason why. Just one big circus. Let's get some proper oval racing in and not this bullshit.
Oh yeah, the New York promoters pulled a sharp one on the officials. Since they didn't like the Daytona Superspeedway rules, they opted for no restrictor plates.
PARDON ME... but GROW A FUCKING SPINE, OFFICIALDOM! Why make a rule like the half and half race when track promoters can easily squirm out of it like that?! What the fuck were they thinking?!
Anyway, John Calton called me not too long ago. I met him a few times when I drove the Calton-Morel Nova for the past two years, but he's mostly in charge of the Formula A operation.
Julia drove for him for two seasons, and she didn't have a problem with him, but she said some of the other people on that team are really nasty, like their technical director and such...
Gotta go, practice is about to start!
Bye for now!
- A.R.
I FUCKING HAD THAT ONE.
But that little prick Durbin got in the way and deliberately kept me out of winning the race. He would brake a bit early in all the turns and make me smoke the tires a bit.
Gah, I'm tired of his crap.
I don't know if the Karjala officials hate me or what, but they didn't do anything to Durbin, or to Todd Wodarczyk for stomping on his brakes like that in the pits.
The worst part is we're now off to one of these big showy superspeedways. Yeah I know there's (some) skill in driving these, but they're too random to be a proper racetrack. Not to forget we'll be going 230 miles per hour or so around there...
...so if we get through the weekend without a big incident I'll be amazed. Those aren't so much about driver skill as much as they are about slotting in the right place in the draft. In theory you can make the winning pass of the race with 5 to go, and it will be for like, 7th.
Because then you'll just shuffle up to the front at the right time.
These races make the American fans happy but worldwide not too many people like them, and there's a reason why. Just one big circus. Let's get some proper oval racing in and not this bullshit.
Oh yeah, the New York promoters pulled a sharp one on the officials. Since they didn't like the Daytona Superspeedway rules, they opted for no restrictor plates.
PARDON ME... but GROW A FUCKING SPINE, OFFICIALDOM! Why make a rule like the half and half race when track promoters can easily squirm out of it like that?! What the fuck were they thinking?!
Anyway, John Calton called me not too long ago. I met him a few times when I drove the Calton-Morel Nova for the past two years, but he's mostly in charge of the Formula A operation.
Julia drove for him for two seasons, and she didn't have a problem with him, but she said some of the other people on that team are really nasty, like their technical director and such...
Gotta go, practice is about to start!
Bye for now!
- A.R.
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