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Formula GT Championship drivers are always looking for innovative ways to compensate for the droniness of the series and provide entertainment for the fans. So for the 4th race of the series (High Speed Ring) they decided to prepare a little flying acrobatics with some help from the Blue Angels acrobatic team.
Rather than have the Blue Angels don Formula GT overalls and do the show they agreed to have Orange Dude perform the manouver with one of the Blue Angels standing in for Gray Dude. Blue Angel Gray would walk Orange Dude through the manouver whilst acting as the background car.
The manouver is known as "Missile Dodge" and it goes something like this: A missile is shot at a fighter plane. The pilot waits for the missile to be close enough and deploys a decoy whilst changing trajectory abruptly. This sends the missile into a series of turns trying to re aquire the target and finally running out of fuel. It is a faily simple stunt but since it was their first time doing acrobatics the FGTDA (Formula GT Driver's Association) didn't want to tempt their luck by getting too fancy.
After a few warm up attempts on laps 2,4,10 and 14 the big attraction was scheduled for lap 30 or just about half way through the race. Here is how it went down:
Gray Dude is GD
Orange Dude is OD
GD: Acrobatics 1 ready, roger.
OD: Acrobatics 2 ready, roger.
GD: Check Speed and commence manouver, roger.
OD: Speed at 70MPH over target. Commencing manouver, roger.
GD: Deploying decoy and swinging to the left, roger.
OD: Engaging decoy and flying past target, roger
WD: Swing left, swing left! roger.
GD: Swinging left and hitting kerb, roger.
GD: Careful to not to be on the grass too long before engaging the spark blower, roger.
OD: Will do, roger.
OD: Spark blower on, swinging right, roger.
GD: Remember right-left and hit rail head on to achieve 360+ rotation, roger.
OD: Copy that, roger.
GD: Looking good, steady on the follow through, roger.
OD: WWWWOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAA... roger.
GD: Hold steady, finish rotation, roger
OD: WWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... roger.
OD: I just remeber I had a big lunch, roger.
GD: Focus man, Focus! Finish rotation and engage target head on, roger.
OD: Co-co-copy that, roger.
OD: Engaging target head on, roger.
GD: Swinging right, roger.
OD: Initiating low flying rotation, roger.
GD: Almost there OD, roger.
GD: Perfect execution OD, you sure you wanna stick with FGT driving?, roger.
OD: Thanks GD, I'll stick with FGT driving. Not a fan of tasting lunch twice, roger.
Race Control: This is race control. Great manouver guys. The fans loved it. Program director wants to do it again on lap 74, roger.
OD: Lets get Red Dude to do it this time, shall we? , roger.
GD: I'm up for that OD. What did you have for lunch RD? , roger.
RD: Screw you guys. I ain't tasting that mayo salad twice!
Rather than have the Blue Angels don Formula GT overalls and do the show they agreed to have Orange Dude perform the manouver with one of the Blue Angels standing in for Gray Dude. Blue Angel Gray would walk Orange Dude through the manouver whilst acting as the background car.
The manouver is known as "Missile Dodge" and it goes something like this: A missile is shot at a fighter plane. The pilot waits for the missile to be close enough and deploys a decoy whilst changing trajectory abruptly. This sends the missile into a series of turns trying to re aquire the target and finally running out of fuel. It is a faily simple stunt but since it was their first time doing acrobatics the FGTDA (Formula GT Driver's Association) didn't want to tempt their luck by getting too fancy.
After a few warm up attempts on laps 2,4,10 and 14 the big attraction was scheduled for lap 30 or just about half way through the race. Here is how it went down:
Gray Dude is GD
Orange Dude is OD
GD: Acrobatics 1 ready, roger.
OD: Acrobatics 2 ready, roger.
GD: Check Speed and commence manouver, roger.
OD: Speed at 70MPH over target. Commencing manouver, roger.
GD: Deploying decoy and swinging to the left, roger.
OD: Engaging decoy and flying past target, roger
WD: Swing left, swing left! roger.
GD: Swinging left and hitting kerb, roger.
GD: Careful to not to be on the grass too long before engaging the spark blower, roger.
OD: Will do, roger.
OD: Spark blower on, swinging right, roger.
GD: Remember right-left and hit rail head on to achieve 360+ rotation, roger.
OD: Copy that, roger.
GD: Looking good, steady on the follow through, roger.
OD: WWWWOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAA... roger.
GD: Hold steady, finish rotation, roger
OD: WWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... roger.
OD: I just remeber I had a big lunch, roger.
GD: Focus man, Focus! Finish rotation and engage target head on, roger.
OD: Co-co-copy that, roger.
OD: Engaging target head on, roger.
GD: Swinging right, roger.
OD: Initiating low flying rotation, roger.
GD: Almost there OD, roger.
GD: Perfect execution OD, you sure you wanna stick with FGT driving?, roger.
OD: Thanks GD, I'll stick with FGT driving. Not a fan of tasting lunch twice, roger.
Race Control: This is race control. Great manouver guys. The fans loved it. Program director wants to do it again on lap 74, roger.
OD: Lets get Red Dude to do it this time, shall we? , roger.
GD: I'm up for that OD. What did you have for lunch RD? , roger.
RD: Screw you guys. I ain't tasting that mayo salad twice!
