Just a short summary of how the first NFSUnlimited race meeting went... while it’s still fresh in my mind.
GT, Bojan, Morty and I had a pretty epic day out on Perth’s Barbagallo raceway yesterday evening, driving the Ultrafast karts. They were pretty quick machines. Twin engines, which reach a bit over 100km/h
![Cool 8)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)
. Acceleration wasn’t too brisk, so setting a quick lap required very smooth driving and maintaining good speed through the corners. Because of the slow acceleration, it was quite difficult to overtake... but this generated many epic battles on the track. It was common to see three karts wide leading into corners, like one giant game of chicken to see who would dare to brake latest.
There were five races overall (8 laps each), with one 10 minute practice session before the opening race. About 20-30 karts participated in each race
![Surprised :o](./images/smilies/icon_surprised.gif)
... so racing was very packed and competitive. The starting grid was often ordered by kart number, my kart #26 and Bojans #25, which meant the both of us started side-by-side a number of times.
The first three races for me turned out to be a bit frustrating, as I ended up with underpowered kart. From my experience, I found that I was doing a better racing line then some other people around me... but I couldn’t catch up. My top speed on the main straight was also considerably lower than everyone else, and I think I finished off losing about 6 or 7 places for the first two races. Bojan ended up with a pretty awesome kart. He had good starts, then disappeared into the distance in both races.
GT also tried to kill me on the first corner in one of the first races. Took me on in the inside, and pushed me out of the racing line (
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
).
The third race was quite short for me... but was also real fun. As I turned into the first corner on the opening lap, the kart didn’t feel quite right. No matter how steady I took a corner, the rear of the kart kept kicking out... which made it drift everywhere, which slowed it down. About 3 laps into the race the drifting became considerably worse, and I started to hear a knocking noise coming from the rear. Moments later the kart completely bottomed-out, and I watched my rear-left wheel suddenly fling off into the distance. XD
I’m glad it happened in a nice wide open area, instead of the first of final corner. I probably would have been killed otherwise
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
. At least I got a replacement kart for the next two races, which was much better than the dog I was driving before.
The fourth race was going to be very close... but like an idiot, I accidently pressed the kill switch (on the steering wheel) on one of my engines just before the start of the race. Had a quick pitstop to get it started again, but I ended up rejoining almost a lap behind the leaders.
The fifth and final race actually went to plan. The new kart was very competitive, and I managed to score the best laptime of that race, along with second. I also nearly had an accident with Bojan after he spun to avoid another accident. That was kinda crazy!
At the end of the day, Bojan walked away with a pretty schmicky looking 2nd place trophy for overall championship points of the day. Then I’m pretty sure it was Morty, GT then me in the NFSUnlimited battle.
Real awesome day anyhow. ST34LTH accelerates pretty fast from what I saw
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
.