Britpoint

I definitely have lots of fun memories of 2010, same as many of you. There was one race in our league, and it should have been my first ever win. I wasn't the fastest driver, but I was pretty quick this time out and the guys ahead got into some sort of drama. So there I am, final lap of the Bahrain GP (remember the 2010 layout of that circuit...?) 20 seconds ahead of the pack. ...Of course I'd forgotten to turn my fuel down. Ended up running out with three corners to go! ^_^ Do you guys have any stand out memories like that from your favourites?

It's funny the different reactions you get to these concepts depending on where you go. On the idea of an 'orange' McLaren, Reddit seems to love it, Facebook seems to hate it! Personally, I'd rather orange on the McLaren than chrome again. Actually, I've had enough silvery-grey McLarens to last a lifetime, so anything with colour on it will do just nicely. Even if they paint it pink and purple like the BT60 from '92.

I think the gap between Mercedes and their rivals will be a bit smaller, but they will still dominate. They have too much of a head start, a good team with lots of resources, and will probably be more reliable this year as well. I'd love to see Williams get a race win or two.

As long as they pass before the first test, failing a crash test shouldn't be too much of an issue. I imagine it gets them a lot of useful data actually. The biggest question mark is going to be that Honda engine. On the one hand, they haven't homologated yet and they've been able to watch the others for a season while they work on it.  On the other hand everyone else has a season's worth of running under their belts. My money would be on something fast but unreliable. Maybe a bit of a repeat of the MP4-17.

There we go ^_^ And yeah, its 'target audience' is probably supposed to be women, but don't ever let anyone tell you that X is 'for boys' or 'for girls'. Everything's for everyone! As for the emotional stuff, I kinda get what you mean. They can go a bit over the top sometimes, although I think if it's a genuinely sad moment I'm too busy weeping myself to notice if any of the characters are doing it!

Nice! I'm also re-watching it at the moment as I needed something to cheer me up. By ep 4 you'll have met most of the characters. They're all very strange. As for the other thing... do you have any specific examples? I don't want to draw any premature conclusions until I know what you're laughing at XD

I love these series and watch every race that I can. Very annoyed that they're going to have DRS from next year though, it really doesn't need it. I don't see how it's going to make it 'more relevant' to F1 either; it's not like DRS is a difficult system that they need a ton of experience with. You press a button, you go faster down the straight. Easy. In F1, DRS exists as a solution to the problem of trying to follow closely in very downforce reliant cars. In GP2, the cars are slower and they have less downforce, so that problem isn't significant enough to damage the racing. I worry that just introducing this system to be more like F1 will only serve to cheapen the racing.

I actually quite like the sausage kerbs. or at least very high ones. Not everywhere, but in certain places. They made the last chicane in Montreal a real challenge, it was thrilling to get through there even just in time trial on the game. Now they're just a little more friendly... Although maybe that's a one off. On the Formula E circuit they were probably somewhat unnecessary!

Yes, or it's just another bug!! Like the split times in qualifying aren't accurate either.... if you add up the 3 sector times of the AI in the timing screen you will see the 3 sectors never equal their lap time.... It's always been like that...... The lap times are invented, not actually created! :smiley:  Ah, the timing screen doesn't show the sector times of your best lap though. They show the most recent sector time, which will be a different colour if it happens to be your best. :) You can find the sector times for each lap in the Race Director. Those ones should add up to the overall lap time.

@Britpoint I've heard great things about Fate series. That's the next series I'm watching. Right now, I've restarted FMA:B, and this time I'm finishing it. What order were they produced in again? Is it Fate/Stay Night, Fate Zero and then Unlimited Blade Works, or is Fate Zero the original and Night the prequal? So there was: Fate/Stay Night. Produced by Studio Deen in 2006 and adapted the first route of the visual novel the series is based on. I quite liked it, but it was far from perfect and felt a bit low budget at times. I don't think you need to bother with it.Fate/Zero. This is the direct prequel to the current series. I didn't watch all of it as it was a bit grimdark in places, but very well received by a lot of people. If you watch it, watch it before the current series because it does reference back occasionally. You can skip it if you like though.Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works. Currently airing. UBW is the second route of the visual novel, so the story is somewhat different from the 2006 anime. This is the one you definitely want to watch IMO, we're 9 or 10 episodes in at the moment. If you use Crunchyroll they're simulcasting it.

I guess I might check out OreGairu. Especially as it's got a second season as a) things that earn a second season are often pretty good and b) if it is good there's more of it to look forward to. Yuyushiki not getting a second run remains a great tragedy. Recently finished the first season of Hitsugi no Chaika (or 'Chaika the Coffin Princess' if you prefer). I wasn't expecting much but it surprised me with fun characters, interesting antagonists and some good action. Second season of that is currently airing. Top action anime at the moment has to go to Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works. It's nice to see this franchise living up to its potential

My anime buddy at work insisted I try Steins;Gate, she was pretty distraught when I revealed I hadn't watched it. What's it actually about? Never really looked into it much. I think mainly I'm just resisting it because that's a stupid place to put a semicolon.

Yeah the novelty factor had worn off quite a lot. And the early start time, as you say. And it's being somewhat overshadowed this weekend by another motorsport event... A perfect storm really. I'm grateful the wait to the next race isn't so long.

Not exactly much to go on at the moment! I dunno, I never really got into DBZ. Maybe I was just too young when I watched it.

Another really good race. They have no right having such close races around these really tight street circuits, but so far so good! I like that they dropped the formation lap as well. It was a bit of a joke in the first race and it meant they all had a bit more energy to use this time.

Selfishly, I'm quite glad RBR are at the back of the grid. Regardless of what else happens tomorrow, watching Daniel Ricciardo drive through the pack should be a treat!

Good decision. They learn quickly

I've read prose like that before when someone wants to make themselves sound sophisticated so they right click -> 'Synonyms' on every word.

The plank should have got more than 8 months for this. Sniff Petrol had a good response to this. In other news, the imaginatively nicknamed "Mr. Le Mans" (9 times winner of some obscure French motor race) Tom Kristensen is retiring at the end of this year. He will be missed, I am a big admirer of what he's accomplished.

Nico beating Lewis in Brazil was probably the best thing for the championship, because it makes a result only won by double points much less likely. Let's face it, the most likely outcome for not getting a Mercedes 1-2 is if one of them retires. The chances of Nico winning and Lewis finishing 3rd or lower are pretty slim.

Also as that pic is from Nozaki-kun, possibly the *best* anime, that is extra awesome

I also keep reading conflicting reports about how it's utilised. The latest Autosport article about it suggests it's done by sector, not the full lap.

There are two things the VSC gets you over a Safety Car: 1) Safety Car 'Delta' times are faster than the Safety Car can drive. This is why pack always catches the Safety Car, even when they're not doing racing speeds. Because cars won't be catching an SLS and slowing down even more under a VSC, they will maintain their gaps to each other. So the VSC only neutralises the race, where a full Safety Car bunches the pack together. 2) Time. It takes time to deploy the Safety Car, pick up the leader, bunch up the pack, let lapped cars unlap themselves, and then bring the Safety Car in. By taking the SLS out of the equation, you can save *multiple* laps and have significantly more green flag racing. 

Good news for those of us in the UK re FR - it's back in Britain for 2015! Hopefully that'll mean a free weekend of racing again around August/September time. I went to the last two World Series meetings before they ditched the UK, and it was great stuff.

I'm pretty sure it's been around for a little while. Certainly there are lots of pics on my Facebook of my friends going to cool conventions I didn't know were on! ^_^ You know Manga is a really big deal for a lot of people but I've never read one all the way through. I've started some but get bored. Anyone got some good suggestions for some light reading on a commute to get into it?