S.N.A.I.L. will make you faster Testimonial.
The last few days I have been going back over a bunch of the license tests and special events in an attempt to "Gold" the ones I hadn't, a year or so ago.
Arguably, I've gone from this set up, which was about 12 feet from my tv and sitting on the couch.
to this. Sitting in a fairly comfortable office chair with wheel and stand raised off the floor on 2X4s to get a better ergonomic relationship, about 6 feet away.
I will also grant that I wasn't running series exclusive to SNAIL, but would argue the seat time put in for SNAIL is much greater than other series.
There are a couple people in SNAIL that can attest to just how bad I was during my first online series back in Feb or Mar of 2012. I improved some between the time I did that Honda Integra RM series put on by R1600Turbo, completed all of the license tests and special events with at least a Bronze, and first joining with this bunch . However, in the last 10 months, while running with SNAIL and a couple other series, I feel my driving and racecraft have improved exponentially.
This was clearly evident while going back over a few special events and license tests. I think, in the license test area I managed just under 40 golds. Over the last few days and as of tonight, that number has improved to 59. That wet braking test is giving me fits
. I spent about an hour on it last night and while improved from the previous Bronze rating, was not able to get very close to the Gold.
The TGTT with the Maserati was the 59th gold for me and while the track is not complicated and the car is fairly stable, the racecraft of the AI on that track is worse than the folks in F1 can expect from Mr. Grojean. I can honestly say it took me by suprise and I found myself getting fairly irritated with the AI when they would punt me into a cone or barrier, after I'd managed to get beside or a nose ahead. SNAIL members have spoiled me rotten in that respect. Pretty much had to throw out everything we preach here regarding racecraft, to get that done.
All the other tests I had silvered or bronzed seemed to come to gold fairly easily and I give most of the credit to participating in events and the people in this league.
Another large chunk of credit must be allocated to Owensracing (who dragged me into this league after meeting me in a PURE event) for his generous coaching and support during this and other series. No Jeff, I still haven't taken your advice and learned how to drift. While I know it will help, whenever I have to seriously get some "wheel sawing" done, my current "cockpit" setup is not stable enough to support it, so I haven't taken the time to develop that skill set.
All else being equal, I'd like to thank all the folks here for keeping the "shells" (someone needs to stand up a SNAIL series and figure out how to use that as an acronym) moving forward and heading down the track the right way.
This is a great league and one of, if not the best, online organizations I've ever come across.
Sincerely,