Racing Loss

There is often a time when one grows attached to something. Something, as in a thing, as opposed to a person or any other kind of living being. An inanimate object.

Nonetheless, one grows attached to this object because... who knows? Do you have one? Something you may have had by your side for so long, or that has become a trusty sidekick, maybe the secret of your success? Or saved your life? So many reasons...

--

I know it sounds silly.

Capsuleers, for us it it usually our ships. And for me, it was 'A Wing and a Prayer'. Oh, how I love her... my second racer, ever, and together we grabbed the T1 championship, what, four years ago already? Large polycarbon rigs which I crafted myself, some other special equipment and that nice emblem on her sides...

I did something very stupid today.


5 November 113, NE-RA Season 2.0 Race 1
The Bleak Lands

Hello, I am Catherine Delorois and I am team Scuderia Caille's manager in the pro racing circuit. I do not race anymore, or so they say. If you remember last season...

Well, for starters I did retire last season and went planetside. (Of course we all know how this goes, hotshot retires then keeps away from the sport, runway, politics, movies or whatever, then after much expectation comes back to glory and sponsors. Then more often than not gets injured, falls on her behind, melts down, is caught red-handed or whatever, then hotshot retires for good). I am still retired.

Today was the first race of a new season. A full hour before the race I was still retired. A few minutes before the race I decided to support the team an show up flying a frigate... of course it would be fine, being the hotshot that I am, with the best implants and racing equipment, with my racing legend ship and kickass team, what could go wrong?

I am feeling like such a idiot voyant: I so fell flat on my ass. To make a long story short, the Amamake waypoint was camped, I was not careful enough and out of practice, so horribly out of practice.

My clone I can restore, but I am going to miss the Wing.

For the details, you can check Kay's account of the race.

The Wing. It feels as if I have been unfair to her, putting her at risk in racing so... carelessly. She was (is? Do frigates go to ship heaven?) unique and she was mine. But otherwise, what could it have been, a museum piece? A ship belonging to a pre-nerf era long gone? Or a comme-si comme-ça racer, a slowpoke relic racing amongst Dramiels? Museum or last place? Forgotten until sometime I go planetside for good? And then what?

But she went in a shower of sparks. Racing fearless at the forefront, unafraid of tricky waypoints and fighting for the top spot in the class. I had not felt this way since a couple of years when I stopped racing, and it felt great. I like to think she was meant to go that way, in an electrifying move, doing what she does best.

So, my Wing, we both died today and although only one of us is back, I am going to miss you. I am happy it happened when we were racing together. You were truly my wingmate and you were my Champion Ship.

Merci pout tout.

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Racing not

It feels odd that, upon the start of a new racing season I should be writing about not racing. Yet here I go.

Hello, I am Quin and I am not a racer.

Well, for starters I did retire last season and went planetside. (Of course we all know how this goes, hotshot retires then keeps away from the sport, runway, politics, movies or whatever, then after much expectation comes back to glory and sponsors. Then more often than not gets injured, falls on her behind, melts down, is caught red-handed or whatever, then hotshot retires for good). I am still retired.

Then there is this little thing about the team. We were once two teams, Kay's Dragonstar and Quin's Scuderia Caille. Then we were Scuderia Dragonstar and it was the best of times. Now due to corporate politics we have had to split the team, which albeit done on the friendliest of terms still resulted in, you guessed it, two teams. Kay will race with Dragonstar and I will not-race with Scuderia Caille.

Which leaves us one little problem: racers. DS is welcoming all racers her corp's bigot policy (sorry, I just said that - but it's a sport for goodness' sake!) will not allow her, which leaves SC quite weak in numbers. Demon, our frigates champion, seems to be as retired as I am; Searaph is around but not with SC; Lief is probably racing away from police as the good smuggler he is. Our roster so far includes two.

Which by the way is ironic as we started out as an the University of Caille racing team, an inclusive bunch that reaches across borders, affiliation and ethnicity in order to go fast, have fun and learn. And this gets us? Two racers.

Not that I have been doing much team management work either. I went planetside, remember?

So I am not racing and am torn between placing my racers with someone else, while maybe putting SC on ice... or coming up with something for the team that is completely crazy and as fun as competitive racing once was. I have talked to some of the other team managers about placement and they have been nothing but supportive. Thank you, by the way :)

Anyway, last Saturday was the first race of the season and what did we have? One racer showed up.

Nicoletta's first race ever (did I mention she is also a rookie?) ended up with her taking 3rd place in the AF podium. Not bad. Even though she was a team unto herself (I refuse to say 'racing alone') we were on comms during most of the race, sharing tips and hints and trying to figure out where she was. Besides, she did not blow up which is like doing twice better than I did on my very first race.

Waitaminute...

First race, not blowing up, podium? Hey, not too bad at all!

Still, I'm really wondering about what to do next.

Maybe we need to be closer to our roots as a team - remember when in season 3 we kicked ass and took numbers? And though we were the best frigates team out there we still got zero season score due to our not meeting the requirements to register as a corporate team. And we did not care a bit about not getting points.

Or maybe our mission is to really be the little league of the sport. All we need is a few good newbies and good instructors, as when we registered for S4. To teach the racers of tomorrow! And looking back, I do feel proud about SC racers joining other teams and showing what they've got. That's what we said back then we would do: teach people. And we did it!

Or this could be a business opportunity. Want to race? Want to ride shotgun with the pros? So we go into the consulting business to help a team, any team or teams, beat the others. Our racing R&D is still unrivaled off and on the track - who flies frigates with large polycardboard rigs? Who developed the away-from-can opening? The jump-clone shortcut? The blind warp? SC did, that's who.

Possibilities, endless possibilities...

So be warned. We are still at the track, one way or the other. A blip in your overview, a shadow in your rear-view mirror, a system ahead, sniping at you in chat. One way or the other...

We are good. We are creative. We are Scuderia Caille.

And we are BACK.


Q

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Racing Blob

November 109, ISGC Season 4
Race 3: Sinq Laison

This race was nuts. I mean, I can barely recall all the way back to Season 4* but whoever was there for race 2 will remember that one, such a complete and utter mess that it was. Complete. Utter. Mess.

The race region was Sinq Laison, home of Uni of Caille (rah!). Back then we were mostly a UC student team, we flew as Scuderia Caille and were the shiny underdog to Kay's all-star DragonStar and Takashi's challenging Venture Racing Team. But Sinq is our region and we were flying as locals. We had something to prove.

Speaking of locals, by the way, Sinq is also home to Rancer and a whole lot of fun people who like to hang out with blasters and gatecamps. They do not take lightly on trespassers because, you know, it is their region.

You do not have to live in 0.0 to see the problem there.

That was, at least, what we expected.

We started out in Auberulle for the pre-race. Gyra had warned us that she would be a bit late, she had been having other commitments during the week and had had to outsource the track to someone else, but finally made it to host the race. She gave us the undock signal and, like lovely little lemmings that we are, we hit the first few waypoints: Olettiers, Rancer, Miroitem. Not finding the dreaded space pirates was a big relief but also a bit meh, we had been wondering how to evade them. Maybe it was pirate day.

We did not stick around for long anyway and went on to the next waypoints deeper into lowsec, Lamadent, Otou and Rorsins.

I know you must be thinking but Quin, what about the race itself? Like, who was in front and who was falling behind?

The answer: what difference does it make? It all went wrong starting waypoint seven. But now that you ask and just for the record, I would like to point out that I got there first.

Waypoint seven, Thelan.

[ 21:01:09 ] Quintrala > can 7 empty?
[ 21:01:26 ] Kayleigh Jamieson > Can 7 empty
[ 21:01:28 ] Takashi Kurosawa > Yes I think so too
[ 21:01:33 ] Saithe > is it just me or is there notging in wp7

There, see? I just wasted twentyfour perfectly good seconds, waiting.

A racer ages about a year in that time.

Gyra directed us to WP eight, Crielere which meant going back through Rancer again, ugh :/

[ 21:05:50 ] Quintrala > wp8 empty too?
[ 21:05:59 ] Kayleigh Jamieson > Um, WP8 appears empty as well.
[ 21:06:22 ] Kazuo Ishiguro > Ok, where's wp 9?

How is it that they say? "Once is an accident, twice is coincidence..."

We were directed to WP nine, Ambeke

[ 2007.11.11 21:08:37 ] Takashi Kurosawa > I cannot open can at WP9
[ 2007.11.11 21:08:44 ] Quintrala > bad password at Ambe
[ 2007.11.11 21:08:49 ] Kayleigh Jamieson > This is so not my day :(

From there onwards, almost every single waypoint was messed up in some way or another. WP10 had the wrong password, as did WP12 to WP14. While we waited, we even appreciated the irony of WP11 being okay. Gyra only knew the right password so she could not help beyond following the rules, that is, waiting for the second racer to report an error and then direct the pack to the next waypoint. Every time this happened, the few in front of the pack got delayed and the ones in the back had time to catch up.

The result? We were pretty much a racing blob.

WP15 Olettiers VII - Asteroid Belt 4

[ 2007.11.11 21:25:01 ] Quintrala > bad Wp 15
[ 2007.11.11 21:25:11 ] Kazuo Ishiguro > Finish line?
[ 2007.11.11 21:25:12 ] Takashi Kurosawa > confirmed
[ 2007.11.11 21:25:13 ] Kayleigh Jamieson > Coonf

See, right there? That was me, 10 seconds in the lead. Which, by the time ISGC confirmed, looked up and typed the finish line, would have evaporated. That's like a hour of flying, with 10 seconds to show for it, already gone by in the time it took you to read this but now that everyone was around I could be first as easily as last.

Unless... it occurred to me that it was not the destination but the journey what mattered: I would just pick a gate and warp. What was the worst that could happen? Did anyone know where to go next? Tell you what, certainly not at the can.

So how many gates did we have in that system? Four. Eenie, Minnie, Manny, Moe... Dondenvale!

I warped off, fingers crossed. If I was wrong, I would just have to do the exact same thing everyone else would: warp to the correct gate. Nothing lost with trying, that is, if Gyra so kindly waited to announce until I had already landed at the Dodenvale gate. Now if the announcement caught me mid-warp...

Of course, the announcement came in when I was nine seconds into my warp: FINISH: Unel IX - Chemal Tech Factory

I frantically punched the new navi data as my destination and, as a result, one gate in my overview lighted up in yellow. It was Dodenvale.

Just in time, I jumped on contact while they were all in mid-warp behind me :)

As it turns out it was a short, mad dash to the finish line. The entire blob was docked within two minutes of the winner. Kay was fourth, Tak was second and I... I had beaten him by those exact same nine seconds I had gambled back at Olettiers, yay!

After all that practice, after trying so hard... my first interceptor win!

Race results: annulled

ISGC Gyra: ... for those that attended will attest to the complete chaos that ensued during this evening's race.

...

This event will be considered an exhibition, or practice exercise, and will not be counted towards the League scores. We will return to Sinq Laison at the end of the season as a make up event. For those interested in the details, I have provided track information and a raw data of the performances from the participants that attended this evening.

Damit.

At least we met no pirates on the way. **


--

* ((I can not remember so I cheat. Having a crap laptop helps, it is full of logs that go back forever.))

** ((Stay tuned if you want to know what happens when you get this false sense of security around dodgy places..))

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Racing Spy #3

December 109, ISGC Season 4,
Between Races 5 and 6

It had been weeks since my racing interceptor had been scanned at a training session, by a friend. Only problem was, this friend was the owner of a rival racing team, had scanned me and Kay unawares while on a friendly flight.

To mend our friendship, I had entrusted him with something of incredible value. To get even, I had asked him to promise the impossible.

I had offered him a miracle and a curse. He took them both.

Oh boy.

--

Races 4 and 5 went by and ISGC had lifted Ken's suspension from racing; he had already brought the ship I gave him to a race already and much to everyone's surprise.

The cynics thought it was just a rumour, that it could not really be my beloved Wing; others really believed it was -and it was, mind you- and chided me for being too kind with Ken, after what he did.

Maybe I was too kind. But I also wanted to get back at him.

Yin. Yang.

In spite of everything I still wanted to remain friends with Ken so, sometimes, I invited him to tag along when I explored in my Covops. The idea was, I would go in and find a radar site, Ken would then warp his Domi in and deal with the Sansha rats, and finally I would hack and salvage.

That's how we ended up in lowsec Sukanan.

It seemed such a good idea at the time.

Making a long story short, there was this radar site that took ages to pinpoint, we were a bit careless... and ended up with me hastily cloaking and Ken warping out in his pod. Before that, I had no idea you could be probed out so fast.

I know what you are thinking but, no, it was not my doing. Too crude and, besides, we were genuinely making up.

Afterwards, he gave me the chance to speak at the Fed Navy for the dedication of his replacement Domi.

As I prepared, I could not help but notice the irony. It was him that was being too kind to me. I did not deserve it.

Damit, he did not deserve it.

That was what I had in mind when, blinded by reflectors in my eyes, in front of the assembled crew of the Enduring Friendship (awww) I made my way to the podium and read a passage from one of my favorite poems.

If you can make a heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

People must have thought those were tears of emotion.

They... were, but not quite the one they would expect.

--

As soon as I got back from the ceremony I called some files to my desk.

"Mirror, mirror, may I see the files tagged dagger and twist please?"

The nice synth baritone voice replied "Quin, I do not have anything to show. Additional files may be available to you if you plug in, would you like to try again?"

He can be so discreet. "Yes please."

I plugged. Two files were conjured and appeared as if hovering over my desk. Anybody else would have seen me stare into thin air.

I checked the dagger file carefully to make sure it was what I was looking for. Anonymous contract for a mercenary hit on an Executioner-class racing frigate.

Yes, that one.

Ken had promised to race to win and had also promised to bring my ship back. No one, not even Ken himself expected to... but it was still possible. Unless one made sure that, ah, expectations would be met.

The twist file was a draft of a personal note where I explained everything: "Ken, it was me all along..."

Drive the dagger home. Then twist it.

But there was no need for it anymore. "Cancel the contract, discard both files and please confirm no backups remain."

"Quin, all done and confirmed."

Sigh.

We were even already, my friend and I.

--

((OOC: Now again, who says that roleplay is dead in this game?

Anyhow if you are wondering, we only got halfway there. Eventually, Ken himself withdrew from the season, returned my ship safely and would not race ever again. In the meantime, he wrote some short pieces of fiction based on this, which I think were beautiful.

There is some difference between what I am willing to do in-game and out-of-game. Ken's player became more and more absorbed by RL and at some point in time I felt that going ahead and hurting him in game would hurt him in RL. That was a no-no, so I just dropped it. A few months later the Ken character died in his sleep and was biomassed. I am still friends with the player or at least I like to think that.

I do not think I ever told him about the entire plan, I certainly did not warn him in advance of the RP angle. Yes Ken, I would have had my ship blown up from around you. Or maybe you would have surprised me, and I would have had to deal with the guilt. Real surprise gets you real emotions -> great RP. Now I can only wonder how this would have played.

What I do know is that by giving you the ship I loved the most, I did get to see some of the best RP I have seen, and most of it was actually for real.

In any case, if you are reading this I hope you can forgive me for being such an awful person. And enjoying it. Immensely. Thank you!))

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Racing dev Blog

(Originally posted here)

I think we have learned a thing or two during the last couple of seasons... like, we are still too few racing and even fewer organizing, and that organizing does take a lot of time. That we need to keep the attention of spectators, sponsors and, if possible, of ISD (I wonder if that piece on Season 7 will ever be published?). We have learned that it is not good to race during holidays -wait... I think we knew that one already.

We also learned that we are not Gyra. We have been trying to do things Gyra-style and while she was good at that, we will never be as good as she was.

So we will change the rules.

We have been thinking about how to make ISRC-style racing more appealing to more racers, how to make it a bit less dependent on so few organizers, how to bring in and involve sponsors, how to make the calendar more flexible.

Finally, we have learned that sometimes good things in life come with dev blogs. A dev blog is a statement that says that what we are doing is not baked but under construction... under constant improvement, if you will. A dev blog says 'change!' and gives you the chance to prepare. A dev blog represents opportunity to change and the will to improve. It gives people (that's YOU) the chance to discuss what is on their mind and a forum to influence what kind of changes will come in the future.

So with this in mind, I give you the first ISRC dev blog.


Out of the comfort zone, shoo!

One of the issues that has plagued the ISGC first and then the ISRC have been related to the multiple-class racing format. I mean the part where ships of different classes like Interceptors, Frigates and AFS run on the same track at the same time.

One of the problems is that people tend to stick to the same classes so we would never truly know how great a racer is, for example the Frigates Champion vs. the Interceptors Champion? Also, there have been semi-deserted racing classes, first a destroyer class and then an AF class (with what, one race out of four having, you know, racers?). We have frigates and assault frigates overtake Interceptors because of team tactics, which is actually cool if you are on a good team, but maybe it lends lots of impact to team makeup. Finally, we have the same people winning the same classes season after season.

Based on the "Exhibition Race" concept that we have been running once in a while, it is actually fun when people step out of their comfort zone and race something different like Cruisers, Industrials or that little Frigate on the 0.0 rally. Also, we have found that more rookies tend to show up for exhibition races, maybe because the field is even, as opposed to season races where teams and scores are important.

So the idea is that now each race (or most of them) should be a single-class race. We would vary the class from race to race, but now everyone get to compete head-to-head with everyone else!

Update: Optional slowboating? KJ has suggested that we could allow out-of-class racers compete, as long as they fly a slower class. In other words, you could enter the Interceptors race on a T1 Frigate. It allows rookies to participate and gain experience, while keeping the competitiveness of the class race intact.


Roleplay Races

We will be giving each race a unique personality. Up to Season 7, we had ultimate bland "Race 1, Race 2, Race 3..."

Next season will see these, for example:

The Federation Grand Prix (Frigates)
The State Open (Interceptors - the Gariushi Cup?)
The Empire Championship (Assault Frigates)
The Republic Derby (Faction Frigates)

These would be our four big events. Each race will be held once yearly; 200M prize each one and, say, 2000 ISRC points to the winner (1200 to the 2nd place, etc, etc) . We go out there and get regional sponsorship and stuff, maybe local celebrities to host or race or just give it some flavour. Heavy ISRC publicity would be devoted to the race the region and the sponsors.

Then we could have the little ones: Interceptor races, Frigate races, AF races, 0.0 Rally, whatever races, worth 1000, 500 points and with varying prizes. Depending on the race and the score awarded, we could have the new hires (see the Organisation part) start out with the smaller races and earn the right to host the big ones. And if someday someone wants to scam us, like EBANK was, at least he would have to host a whole lot of races.

What changes with this?

Entry is easier. Anyone joining has a shot at a cup and a prize, no need to play the entire season.

Easier to skip races. We schedule the Grand Slams for dates no one has trouble with. We schedule little cups for conflicting dates. We could do this bi-weekly.

Vacant classes are no longer an issue. Everyone runs the same class on a given race. Or they can skip it if they do not like flying AF's or whatnot.

((At Roland Garros people either play on clay, or stay home.))

More Roleplay. Some of the ISRC executives, whom I am not going to name by name ;) , object to having races in the Amarr Empire. I feel this is a legitimate position to take... and I really look forward to working this out together. Maybe this is a challenge that the ISRC will have to meet?

Update: Militia? Eek. I thought I had no issues but then someone comes along and offers to sponsor in the name of a Government-sponsored Militia. I am not sure why, but I am not comfortable with that... we will see what happens.


Scoring

Did I mention score changes? We are currently thinking of having yearly scores. You add 52 weeks of scores back, and that is your ISRC ranking at any given time.

This has a couple of cool things. Someone may be the champion at any given time; at the same time, someone else may still be the unbeaten ace of the Republic Derby. Maybe winning all Grand Slams is an achievement worth looking forward to...

From an organisation perspective, this allows us to run stuff in a more flexible schedule too... as opposed to having two yearly seasons with weekly races that should not overlap summer nor holidays. We did not want to interrupt the season because of holidays, nor wanted to spend the best days of summer laying track no one would race. With the yearly thing, the pressure to keep going during holidays goes away. If you race, you are scored, as simple as that.

What do we lose? The seasonal aspect. Bye-bye Season 8, hello ISRC Circuit. There is some sense of loss there, maybe you guys have some comments about that?


No more remedial races

We tried this officially for Season 7: best 10 races out of 12 are scored. The result was people skipping races, less racers showing up, less competition and less excitement.

Well, no more remedial races.

That's why we are also setting up a handful of big races and many small ones, so the pros can skip small ones if they want, and the rookies may catch everything and still have a fighting chance. So you can still skip races if you are ahead enough...


More people and mini-professions

There has never been enough people organising. From Season 1 to 5 we had Gyra Rho and her many alts. That's one person -albeit with superpowers- organizing the entire thing for a full five seasons and then half of season 6.

Starting Season 6 and then 7, we had Killjoy Tseng organizing the races, with some help by myself on the PR side. But, we were not truly backing each other up, he was race host and I was racer. But now that I have retired, we are two.

I do not think that two is enough.

So for season 8 we are introducing the mini-professions "Race Host" and "Race Designer" for all of you to play with.

(Yah, we could have called these 'roles' but, if we are already stealing the devblog concept, why not go all the way and steal some more? Plus, mini-profession sounds cooler.)

Someone willing to help as a Race Host will have the opportunity to, well, host any of a number of races. In the host role, he or she will be present during race time (Sunday 20:00 usually), act as referee for that race, call the start, make judgement calls during the race (ohmygosh, the waypoint is not here!) and note the official times. Two hours of work in exchange for the princely sum of... well, we are thinking about that. Maybe 20 million, but don't quote me on that.

Someone willing to help as Race Designer will have the opportunity to design and lay the racetrack. This has a theory part which is easy and a practical part that sucks. First, think where the real and fake waypoints go, some fifteen minutes. Then, prepare the waypoint cans and go anchor them, some 3-4 hours. Again, there is money on this one but we are thinking how much and how.

Eventually we could put a tutorial up on EVElopedia about these aspects of organizing. And speaking of tutorials, we could have one for racers too (it is a profession after all, right?)


Points exchange

The racing community is more than just the ISRC. We have friends in the House Rigel races (hi Julius!) and would love to make more. With all these different leagues and racers, the wild thought is that maybe we could have some other races assign ISRC points on a per-race basis.

In this mode, owners of the race would organize and operate the race as usual, ISRC would do some checks to confirm the race adheres to our so very strict quality standards (Got track? Check. Got racers? Check. No cheating, mkay? Good to go.) There would be some cross-sponsorship and publicity, and racers would get points for the ISRC circuit. Maybe ISRC could help run the race if needed.

This gives ISRC more people, more visibility, gives other races more visibility and staff, and bring the racing community together.

Update: Keeping it simple. Julius had told us it looks like a great idea but that we seem to be throwing too much complication into this. I guess there is only one way to find out...



The Official ISRC Pace Frigate

The Gallente Navy Comet has a blinky on top. That's our new official pace car.

We are withdrawing our petition for ISD to lend us some Polaris frigates. We did not want them anyway ;)

(Credit to Julius Rigel for having the same idea before we did and, no, we did not ask for Polaris frigates. Teleport feature on the Comet would be nice though. Killjoy must train Gallente Frig up to 3 now :P)



Live Race Tracker

It is an insanely cool idea of Killjoy's and coded by Takashi, this one: sometime in Season 7 we started testing a live tracker. Basically each racer opens a browser window to the Racer URL, this will update the racer's location as the race progresses. Meanwhile the Spectator URL has a list of all the racers and where they are, and constantly updates the overall location.

We would like to make the Racer URL mandatory now...

Early on, this means that the Race Host will have a picture of what is happening with the race. As he knows the track layout, this enables him to do... live commentary!

Eventually, if we do this right, this could result in a cool live tracker in NOHi-color for the general ticket-buying public ;)

Update: The dog ate my tracker! Really. We got word from some of our racers in Singularity that the tracker would no longer work and, sure enough, come Dominion it stopped working. It has something to do with session changes not being reported anymore.

So, bad Moondoggie, bad!

We will have to send the code back to Tak for fixing, or wait for Moondoggie to learn this trick, or have the Teleport ability added to the Comet (so we can track everyone, right?).


Racing bets

Some time ago there have been several efforts to run bets on the ISRC circuit. It has sort of worked but it has never been permanent. It would be nice to have it done on a more official/permanent basis.

Personally, I have absolutely no idea how betting works... so I would be asking the expert: Kazuo, what would it take to make the betting side of races permanent?


So these are our ideas for now... The floor is still open!

Cheers,

ISRC Quin

Racing Future?

Season 7 is over. So what happens now?

We start all over again.

With one little difference, mind you: I will not be racing. I am done, I quit.

No, no, I retire.

Wow. I look back at three years in space and this has been what I have been doing: racing.

Getting up on Wednesday to look at the next racing region, setting up spares and moving jump clones... bookmarks... spying on the locals... jumping into my race clone on Saturday afternoon so I am ready for race day on Sunday, to either clonejump during the race (ha, ha :P but it worked only twice out of maybe thirty I prepared) or right after the race, for flying free.

I feel as if pro racing has been a freaking job.

And I am so going to miss it.

Also, I have the feeling that I have done so much. I got blown up many times. I started my own racing team, recruited people into, and gently kept people off it. I have been racer on the track and manager off the track; spent so much time coming up with ways to outrun, outlast or simply outsmart. We went through a merger with the best of the best. And then, I won three championships, one for each class. Who's the Quin?

I had to train skills to build wonderfully weird ship fittings. Sure, speed in the low slots, tank in the middle and who cares about the highs. Shield-tanked badass-neut large-polycardboard cloaking racing Malediction anyone?

I have met many interesting people within, around and outside the racing circuit. Fostered friends and grapevine the size of half of Auvergne. Kept deadly secrets, and saw mine revealed.

It has been so much fun.

So, there. I am done because I feel that I have done everything now.

So what happens now?

I think I will have more time to write my racing memoirs... Season 4 still halfway, there is quite a bit of writing yet to be done.

I am sure that Kay will do a wonderful job running our team. Her team now. It feels funny to say that.

I will take up that part-time job at ISRC and help KillJoy with race organizing. I will probably get to write on the races from a sports commentator point of view -I never really liked Bouchard's style anyway.

Maybe I will have some free time to try stuff I have never done, outside of the races.

It feels like an entirely different game. I have some ideas...

It should be fun.

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Racing Finale

August 111, ISRC Season 7 Final, Race 12
The Bleak Lands
(You can also read this race from Kay's point of view)

It was the last race of the season and there were so many loose ends.

One of these was Ayre Rowan, our team rookie. She had been doing wonderfully during the season and this was her last shot, ever, to capture the rookie title. You can't be a rookie forever.

Then we had Demon Flir. He had been frigates champion once... and again, and this season he had again collected enough score to go home and have the cup shipped to him afterwards. But nooo, this time he did not want to just win: he wanted to bowl perfect.

Then there was me. The AF class had suddenly heated up, with Venture Racing Team planning to make a last push for the team AF title. And I was the designated AF driver for Scuderia Dragonstar.

Bad things happen on the last race.

Especially when there are loose ends...

--

Pre-race was livelier than usual. There had been this huge preparation and discussion, about where the track would go from the Bleaks. Would there be pirates? Would there be shooting among racers?

The plan involved lots of ammo, lots of drones. And lots of clones.

Ayre was uneasy. "Does this mean I can race safe? As long as I don't shoot anyone?"

Maybe it was all that talk about clones. We were all a little bit uneasy though, not about losing ships, but about losing time.

"Ayre you should run like the wind..."

So we had placed our team racers, four of them, at the starting line at Netsalakka. And then some seven spare ships across three or four regions.

I would start in a Jaguar.

It would be fun.

--

ISRC gave the starting signal and everyone but me undocked. As the slowest in my team, I held back and called gate - "First gate, Iesa, Iesa!" then dived the Feline Fatale into the undock blackout.

If you ever see space and you do not know where to warp, then you are falling behind. It was my job to set the course and make sure they knew. I slipped out just in time to see Takashi's Malediction warping away, chased by Demon, Kay and Ayre.

Have I mentioned we have such a kickass frigates team? They all fly like interceptors.

And now we knew who was racing. VRT had Tak in his Malediction and Koronakesh in a Retribution; this meant that Tak would fly slow to anchor Koro at the waypoints. And he could afford it, he was definitely getting his own interceptors cup shipped home regardless of what happened on this race.

There were also three independent racers, an Executioner and a couple of Rifters.

Waypoint one, Uusanen. Warp in, approach, wait, get the waypoint, warp out. Same old, same old.

Waypoint two, Kamela. "Holy crap," came Demon's voice through vent.

He was point. Just in case you are wondering, no, a racing team point does not point people. It is the racer in front, pointing stuff out for the rest of the team coming behind.

"Four cans... four cans, five cans. Pedaling towards waypoint two."

"Kay going to two."

This place had containers marked as waypoints two, three and up to seven! Everyone dreads this in a race, a waypoint so confusing that no amount of experience or fitting will beat blind luck. If you make the right guesses, about which cans to open and which ones to ignore, you can make a podium finish. Go ahead, you have a full split-second to decide.

My second favourite behind blind luck is team tactics.

"Two is open, points to three in Lamaa, so the three here is fake. Pedaling waypoint four now."

"Kay going on to waypoint three."

"Quin approaching five."

Demon swiftly took the role unto himself to stay behind in Kamela, accessing every one of the five, while Kay sped ahead to Lamaa and other places; we would still figure the track out faster this way. Ayre had somehow dropped from vent but was still racing, and I was doing everything at AF speed.

Kamela, Lamaa, Kamela, Kourmonen, Kamela, Tannakan. We were racing in circles.

I reached waypoint five in Kourmonen. "Tak is here." He should not have been.

"Yeah, he is behind me," replied Demon "I'm still not sure what he is doing - is he waiting?"

"And he is gone. And Koronakesh is just warping in, he's just overtaken me!"

Crap. It did not matter how fast or how far ahead our frigates and interceptors were. If Tak could pull his AF team mate faster than I could go, they would win.

By waypoint nine, Kurniainen, Tak and Koro were slowly but surely overtaking our entire team when Demon called ten.

"Ten is Oyonata control bunker."

I was a minute behind, still two systems from nine and jumping into... Oyonata! I smiled, I would collect ten, then nine and -with any luck- I would be closer to eleven.

Now I was calling for the team: "Eleven is Gratesier, ha!"

See, that's why I love blind luck, that move put me a minute ahead of Demon.

"Anyone has eyes on Takashi?"

Kay was wondering where VRT was. The last we knew of them was Tak leaving everyone in the dust at nine, not to be seen again, with Koro in tow and thumbing his nose at our best. With any more luck -please?- Koro would slip and I would catch up.

Four jumps to Gratesier, then five to Archee. Somewhere in between I noticed this blue blip in my overview, so brief I could not see who he was. I jumped and, as I warped away, the blip reappeared on this side of the gate.

Takashi was gaining on me.

Excuse me? That does not really happen in real life? I was actually racing my AF ahead of the entire pack. I was in the lead!

Three to go and I could see reality catching up anyway. There was no way to keep that up. Tak, my team, the pack and Koro would all fly by me. I asked my team about Koro's position on the track again and again, while I tried to figure out how to keep him behind. Three to go, only three shots for Tak's flying to help; on the fourth one he would be docked.

In the meantime, Ayre had been cut off team vent and only on chat, which made her miss some of the Kamela waypoints. By the time she realised that... it had became such a long way back to the beginning of the track that she almost quit the race. Almost... but she pushed on.

Thirteen was Egghelende. We were so screwed.

Tak overtook me on the way there but at least he would be getting mugged before me. I arrived at Egghelende in third place, there was no one to bother us. Pirates must have been on a break.

The next waypoint was fourteen jumps away, Carrou. Jump, align, warp.

Maybe it was a short break. Kay's voice warned us "Oh, Koronakesh says Egg is being camped by pirates? I did not see anyone..."

Then my in-ship comms went crazy with our navigator suggesting a clone jump. Where to? There was no time. Jump, align, warp.

VRT had an impossible situation now. Tak was already past the Egghelende waypoint and Koro was blocked from it. He could keep staying close to Koro... or drop him to fend off by himself. He had fourteen jumps to make up his mind.

In the meantime I really needed to check, but you can't stop your ship in the middle of a race to check the map. And in space no one can hear you ask for directions. What to do?

Jump, align, warp.

Carrou was now eleven jumps off and geting closer. I had a spare and a jump clone at Jel, the same at Faurent. Jel was close to Carrou, right? Jump, align... dock.

"Oh whatever, I am docking."

A last look at the autopilot saved me from a stupid mistake: Faurent, not Jel, because it was on the way to Carrou. Doh.

The fit crew jumped on my ship as soon as it docked, extracted the pod and prepped me right there. No, I do not know how they do that and I doubt that we have a freaking racing-grade jump clone flash-freezer.

I jumped.

--

"Goodmorning everyone," I awoke to a bunch of unfamiliar crew in green jumpsuits.

I must have been racing.

They wasted no time briefing me on what was going on, what I had to do next and sending me on my way. There was no time for coffee or croissants, damit, and I would have to finish waking up on my way to -where had they said I had to go?- Carrou. They set me in a Ishkur and I undocked.

Kay updated me "I am now seven to destination, Takashi is... about to overtake me, it will take like, one jump maybe two for him to overtake me. I am lagged now, loading systems. Nice, Quin!"

I was one jump off the next waypoint and in the lead again!

"It's Crielere, right next door to Rancer," I said, calling waypoint.

"You did not post the next waypoint on chat, you know that?" complained Demon.

I warped out and then posted the full navi info. "Warp now, questions later," I would not let the lead slip away this close to finishing.

As I arrived in Crielere, Demon was being overtaken back in Carrou.

"Tak left, just as I was warping out. Slightly ahead of me now."

Apparently Takashi had made up his mind that there was no helping Koro. No matter how long he waited at Carrou, Koro would never catch up on the AF race. There was nothing to prevent Tak from going all-out.

I warped out as soon as my systems had locked onto the next waypoint, the finish line.

"Warping out. Ooooh, bad, bad, bad," I looked at my navi info "seven jumps to finish, I do not know if I can beat him."

Finish line at Stetille. The last seven jumps of the race, the last of the season. Last of my career.

Takashi is very good at long jump sequences. For all we know, he can gain five seconds on you on each system, and that is if you are racing the same ship. But his Interceptor vs. my Assault Frigate? Eeek. I only had a lead of four systems on him.

I docked at Stetille with a not-so-comfortable lead of 48 seconds.

Yup, I think I may have seen a blue blip in my overview.



--

After-race was livelier than ever.

We were all still feeling the adrenaline rush; everyone in the team had something to celebrate.

Ayre had survived the comms loss and finished the race to become the Rookie Frigates Champion, keeping in the finest Scuderia racing tradition. Demon had won frigates and scored a perfect season for the first time in history: every single race a win! Kay had risen from 3rd to 2nd place interceptors ranking thanks to this race and, although she had not won any championship for herself, she had led the team to our best season ever.

No one had been shot. We had used only one clone, mine.

And I? I had finished the race in first place and beaten the legendary Takashi Kurosawa, in an Assault Frigate! I had won the AF Team Cup for SDS, and the AF Pro Cup for myself.

And all those loose ends? Tied now, in a nice bow knot.

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Racing Challenge

August 111, ISRC Season 7, Race 11
Metropolis

This is going to mess all the right order in the racing reports that I have not filled yet... but the race last Sunday was so much fun I just need to!

You may remember that I started the season racing the Assault Frigate class. Although I won that one, by Race 2 I found myself bringing my Jaguar to the starting line and no one to race her against -maybe because AFs have never been the most popular class to race- so I switched back to interceptors, where all the action is. After nine more interceptor races and no one showing up to race AFs, funny, I was about become AF champion after winning just a single race. Talk about minimal effort...

It turns out some people had different ideas. Takashi, after securing an unassailable scoreboard place as Interceptors Champion, devised a cunning plan to make a play for MY AF TITLE. MINE.

Out of the blue, he showed up for Race 11 with two new racers: DeVinces and JinJup Han. One of them was even seen docking an AF at the starting line. We were prepared so I had registered to fly my AF just in case. Making things more interesting, both Kay and Ayre were busy planetside. With no interceptors, demon in his Firetail would be my warp anchor -now it all depended on demon's frig going as fast as Tak's inty, and on Tak having to slow down to pull his AF teammates. Possible, barely...

This race would be made or broken before even starting, just a mater of having the right people racing the right stuff. Oh, how I love racing tactics ;)

Only there was one additional surprise: upon starting, Tak undocked a racing-fitted Wolf AF himself!

If you ask me, that was a mistake. Big one. No one is faster than Tak, he had decided to handicap himself racing a slow boat and relying on his inty mate to pull ahead? Why him, was it the lure of the cup? Hmm... Me, on the other hand, I was not as fast but now I had the fastest, most experienced friggy racer to warp to on every waypoint, scout for me and show me the way.

Gues what... Handicap, my ass. Takashi still beat his interceptor anchor to the finish line, it was a good gamble.

But at the end of the race, our frigate slowing down turned out to be an even better gamble and we beat him handily! :)

I was fuming, waiting for him at the flight deck when he docked. What nerve! How dare he? To switch class at the last possible moment, unannounced? This close to the end of the season? Since when had he been planning this? I had not seen anything like this since Season 5, and it was... it was fun! OMG, it had been fun! It was a surprisingly fun race, one of the best of this season - the feeling that you have teams trying to outrun each other on the track, and to outsmart each other out of the track, all the maneuvering, tactics, ideas and practice. Kudos for a great challenge, Takashi. Thanks!

After the ceremonies, he made some remarks to the crown, er, crowd, I mean crowd:

I guess I wanted the AF title so much my subconscious wanted Quin to be in her usual Malediction. Grats on that title, Q - it does feel better now, doesn't it, when you've earned it in more than one race?

Sweetie, you bet it does :) Individual AF title, yay!

And you know what? It is going to feel even better next Sunday when we take the Team AF title for SDS.

See you on the track!

-Q

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Going places

Come on babe
Why don't we paint the town?
And all that Lag!

-Jita, the Musical.


Remember way back, when Kirith Kodachi came up with this meme, about posting the map with the places you have been? I think I may be a bit late... but anyway, here it goes:

Town, painted

Funny, I did not expect that. It actually does look like I have been around most of Empire. Come to think of it, it has been over two years in space and, with the racing scene, you do get to see places.

I am not a good shot, see, but that is not the same as being a scared shy little mouse that will stick to hi-sec only and pray she does not come across the cat.

I go places.

I still pray I don't see the cat. And if I do, I run like hell!

So, let's look a bit closer...



The interesting bit is realizing that I used to stick to familiar places because of friends and missions, and all that changed when I began racing.

Of course, a racetrack will send you through high and low-sec. That would be the obvious one.

But there is more than the obvious. Did you know that some of us move spare equipment into the race region prior to the race? Paint some more. Also, speed rigs are needed; we had to build our own when we started... that meant shopping for the best prices and hauling stuff out of lowsec. More red paint. And once you had your rigs, why not make some more and sell them? Haul it across the cluster. Or, getting the best racing implants, which in my mind happens to be the Nomad set, go mission in 0.0 for them Thukkers.

A little bit of everything, a little bit of everywhere.

Out of all this, some memories close to my heart would be:

• Tash-Murkon, God bless them space-billies who would buy anything shiny at retail.
• That line is my trade run through low-sec, from Metro/Heimatar/Molden (home of polycardboard) to Tash (space-billies).
• Providence and the Great 0.0 Rally Race.
• More 0.0, working for the Thukker tribe over at Syndicate/Placid.
  
• Exploration in Sukanan.
• Sinq Laison, home sweet home.
• The EVE gate.

I guess then, that next stop would have to be deeper into 0.0...

Racing Cookie

June 111, ISRC Season 7, Race 6
Black Rise, After-race party



That's a racing spec cookie.

• Triple-chocolate cookie (choco cookie, choco chips, white choco chips)
• The size of my open hand
• Yummy

I always buy one on the morning of a race day, at a café close to home. It becomes that day's lucky cookie until after the race, when it becomes... history.

Not that it has been helping much lately, Takashi seems to beat us, cookie or no cookie.

Maybe it needs more chocolate...

Racing Track

17 May 111, Preparations for ISRC Season 7 Exhibition Race 3
Tash-Murkon, Domain, Kor-Azor

At long last, I set up my first race :)

It went much, much better than I expected. It actually worked!

So, where to begin...

First, track design: I sat down with a map and doodled for fifteen minutes, was evil for another five and come up with 'special' ideas for multiple-can waypoints, but not too special. Check.

Then, waypoint setup. I bought as many secure audit containers as needed, click. Assembled each one, click-click-click. Named them as waypoints, click, tippety-tap, click. Filled each one of fifteen with FORTY copies of each waypoint bookmark, click-click-clickclickclickclick-coffeebreak-clickclick-giveup-comeback-click. Click. I mean, check.

Then, someone had to actually lay the track. Paul, being in the wrong corp (not ISRC) he had to ask his CEO for permission to set it up, which he got. Goodie. He flew all the way from Tash to Metropolis in a shuttle to pick his Covops, flew her back to Tash to pick up the cans and then went to Waypoint 15... only to realize he had no role to launch for corp.

A perfectly good hour, wasted.

I was up to me to fix his mess. So I fit a blockade runner for waypoint work, covops cloak, agility fit and token tank. On the up side, my hauler-turned-covops could carry all of the waypoints in a single load, as opposed to his little figate covops, which was good. All eggs, same basket. Check.

I started like an hour before the race, jumping and warping to each location, dropping the waypoint can and anchoring. It took so much more time than I expected, which delayed the race start for a bit. A lot more than a bit.

Anyway, I did build a track from zero, by myself, and I am quite proud of it. Check!

Is this what Killoy has to do before each single one of our season races? Wow, he deserves so much credit for this.

And, for those of you who did not know her, Gyra Rho did this for five whole seasons before KJ took over. And she ran PR before I took that over.

Gyra. She is probably in some beach having margaritas.

I miss Gyra. We all do. I wish she came back, if only for a while. Then she could have track setup, and I wold have her margaritas.

But I digress. We were set for the race!

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Racing Cancellations

27 April - 10 May 111, ISRC Season 7
Right before Race 5
Right before Exhibition Race 3
Right before Race 5
Right before Exhibition Race 3: Cruisers

So last Sunday we have had our third race cancellation, in a row. This month is turning out to be far trickier than we expected, with KJ and I alternatively caught in planetside stuff that we just can't avoid. I have had so little time to get anything done since last month...

Some of the racers did show up for the last one, Ayre, Cai Lun, demon, Kazuo, Searaph and Takashi, I am very happy they did... and so sorry that the race had to be called off. Promise to make it up to all of you.

Now the next race, that one should be a special one -at least for me. It is going to be the T1 cruisers exhibition race (exhibition as in, for fun rather than score) and it is going to be the first race I set up myself, starting from empty space.

I am terrified.

Not for me, mind you, it just that I don't want to get it wrong. Now I feel as if I picked the wrong week to hold the race and the wrong region to start. But, I have some ideas... You never know where Sunday's race is going to take you, or what you are going to find there.

This should be fun...

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Racing 101

January 110, ISGC Season 4
University of Caille, Campus Odotte
Racing 101

Lesson #12: Waypoint approach

The class murmured in the darkened auditorium as the holo of last race danced over the two of us down at the center.

"So the problem is getting close to the waypoint in a reasonably short time. As you see in replay, she overshot by fifteen clicks on the first pass, then seven on the way back, then four... how do you call that move, Quin?" Gina asked with a straight face.

"The yo-yo."

"Yes, the yo-yo," she almost smiled, "I wonder why. Would anyone please tell me why the yo-yo is bad?"

The Racing 101 course was unusual in the sense that we had a mixed class: half of the attendance were engineering, mostly guys from UC Astronautics, plus a smattering of our people from UC Business and those taking 101 as optional credit. The main tech lecture was done by Juvaan Vesper; if you don't know who Doctor Vesper is, good for you. For those of us who do, he's that guy everyone will step out of the way for, just to avoid getting caught forever in a conversation. Everybody calls him Lags. On the up side, you really learn to be a good listener with him.

Anyhow, he did the theory. Gina, Brax and I, we did the practical class as instructors. We had this great show going, where two of us would take Lags' lesson of the day and dissect it from two different angles. It took hours to prepare but it was a well worth it.

The class murmured, uneasy. Right then, some probably knew the answer but were not willing to raise their hand.

I took the open question. "Because not only you look silly but also technically, it sucks. I think it took me fifteen seconds to get to that waypoint after approach. Wasted time!" I looked back at Gina.

She took the cue, "If we could save Quin fifteen seconds on every waypoint, it adds up to three minutes over the race, so the challenge is to find ways to have the ship stay a click and a half from the can on the very first pass. Ideas, anyone?"

A hand went up timidly.

"Uh, what about turning off the microwarpdrive before hitting the can? You should go slow enough to be manageable."

Gina and I looked at each other. That question was definitely for me.

I explained, "I would say that's good, in theory, but MWDs are tricky; you can't just turn them off, you have to wait until they cycle out."

Gina Ducasse, ship designer, architect and artist, would come up with the craziest ideas to fit and fly. She is this smart, serene girl whose eye will twinkle at the mention of tinkering with something and making it better.

She's our Geek Fairy.

"A MWD has a cycle time of 10 seconds," Gina continued my idea, "so I would say it is a matter of luck, rather than skill to do it that way." She had turned to the desk meanwhile and was fiddling with the holo, which was then cycling repetition after repetition of waypoint approaches turning off the MWD: overshoot, overshoot, right on mark, overshoot, overshoot, short, overshoot... I think they got the idea.

"Yah, so don't do that, ever, or we'll flunk you!" Some laughter in the class.

Another hand went up "What about using a cloaking device?"

Gina beat me to answer that one. "As a braking device? It would have the same problem. Cloak or no cloak, you would wait on your luck until MWD cycles off."

"We tried that," I added, "and found that can't brake that way when you are overtaking someone close, or navigating close to asteroids, or in a gas cloud, or close to anything..."

"... so think of it, do you really want your brakes disabled if you are two clicks from anything?" my friend mused.

"But hey, please keep those ideas coming. We would like to be creative here, there is no such thing as a stupid idea!"

Gina rolled her eyes, smiling. She actually knew how many stupid ideas we had tried during the season and exactly how stupid they had been. But that was our strength, the secret weapon of Scuderia Caille: being creative. We would take ideas dismissed by others as silly, ineffective or hopeless, turn those onto their heads and into cool racing moves. Sometimes, winning moves.

"For example," she said, "how about bumping the can itself?"

Silence.

She explained "You are flying a frigate with hundreds of shield points, so you approach the can at top speed..."

"... you close your eyes..." I interjected, to some more laughter.

"... and just don't brake. It's a kinetic hit, your shields can take it and... you stop right on spot!"

The holo obliged, showing different takes of the bump-brake: good approach, good approach, good approach. You could hear the oooohs and ahhhhs in the crowd.

"Of course people said it was stupid before we started doing it, but we showed them how it works and then we won Season 3. We don't bump cans anymore because of the risk of crew injuries, by the way."

OK, so it was sort of stupid. But it was a winning move while it lasted.

Three hands went up. I pointed to the one with the Lumi hairdo.

"So in the end, what is the best way to approach the can?"

"The best we have found so far is manual approach. As soon as you drop from warp you set a 500 metres orbit on the waypoint and then turn MWD on. When you are at your braking distance -which varies from ship to ship- you slow down to 1 km/s and, if timed right, you will just slide into orbit while the rest of the racers," Gina paused, "yo-yo around you."

"For example in an interceptor coming in at 9 per second, you brake at 25 clicks; if doing 13 per second, you brake at 60."

"But what if you do not have 60km? What if you landed closer to the can?"

"Then you may need to use your judgement. You can always go slower than full speed..."

The class was starting to flow...

Gina asked "now, what would be the optimal orbit for waypoint approach?"

"And remember, after-race tickets for good stuff we can use," I offered.

Fifty hands went up in the air.

Racing Spy #2

December 109, ISGC Season 4
Between Races 4 and 5

It had been weeks since my racing interceptor had been scanned at a training session, by a friend. Only problem was, this friend was the owner of a rival team, had scanned me and another rival unawares while on a friendly flight.

To be perfectly fair, we fully expect competitors to scan us, especially before or after the race if we are stupid enough to loiter around station, or racing at Waypoint 1 before the lead goes all meep-meep on the rest. But scanning us would mean one of them would have to sacrifice 'race fitting' for 'spy fitting,' which hurts their race. Tradeoffs.

After the incident, Kay was angry and hurt; she would not talk to Kendar in friendly terms ever again -I thought it a bit too much but, then again, there was history between the two and maybe that's why it hurt her so. I was bouncing between indignation and indifference; what bothered me the most was the laughable punishment he had earned from his team. And Ken? He already felt miserable.

So I was totally not planning to get back at him anymore.

Well, maybe I wanted to, but was not planning. There is a difference.

Some time after the incident and while he was still suspended, we were chatting and Ken was lamenting how he was such a bad racer -yes, he was always sort of in the back of the pack- that it would take a miracle for him to ever win anything. "A miracle," was the word he used. I do not really remember, maybe it was something in the way he said it, maybe I thought he just needed a nudge, or the way he looked downtrodden in my comms... then I had this crazy feeling...

How often do you get a chance to grant a wish? To perform a miracle for someone?

Without thinking twice, I contracted him my dearest championship-winning racing frigate, A Wing and a Prayer. My ISK 150 million full-poly-rigged crown jewel.

My pony.

Oh, I was not flying her anyway.

Okay, if this does not sound exactly like 'revenge,' it is because it isn't. The idea behind was so Sisters-of-Eve-ish -smother him under a ton of syrupy sweetness- that he would feel even worse about the spying incident, then wake up one day and decide he would become all the racer he could be. I wanted him to feel better, myself to be impressed and everyone to be happy. A recipe for mending broken friendships. It felt right, weird but right.

Ken accepted the contract and, as soon as he saw what it was, his eyes widened and my contract list started blinking: he wanted to return it right away.

I then realized what a big burden it must have been on him.

Oh, so that's why it had felt weird.

Look, an Executioner may be many things, none of these remotely related to the word "resilient." As beautiful as she is, the poor thing is like made out of glass, you need all your senses not just to race but to stay alive -and I should know, having raced an entire Season 3 looking over my shoulder. My head was telling me that I would not see my ship ever again - the odds of him surviving a single race with her were, ahem, a bit on the low side. I was letting go of something very close to my heart, maybe forever. He knew that.

I had a knot in my throat as I asked Ken again to please, please take her and race like he really meant it. Naturally, I asked him to promise me -promise me!- to fly the entire season on that frigate.

"I know everything is going to be alright. Just bring her back safely, will you?"

Can you see where this was going, don't you? I had done a miracle. And then I had put an evil curse on it.

What can I say? I am just that well-balanced.

He hesitated. On one hand I was sort of expecting him to promise me the impossible and race to win. I really wanted to see him try. On the other hand, this was going to be interesting... five races remained and I wondered on which one he would go off as a shower of sparks. Would he still go ahead, knowing the odds? Which promise would he keep... would he be careful? Or would he be daring? I was secretly hoping for daring.

And then he promised.

Either way, my part was done. Ken would now carry out his: whatever happened, whether he wanted or not, he risked betraying this incredible act of kindness, either by not racing or by losing my ship. Unless he raced to win.

Maybe someone would have to make sure that the ship was lost.

We were even. Almost.

(continued...)

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Racing Tak

ISRC Season 7, Race 2
Derelik

Takashi Kurosawa is back.

I know. He is so good it is almost not funny.

Last Sunday's race was the first after the Seyllin disaster and after space started acting weird. Some people are still grieving Seyllin, I understand that several others have been going into "wormspace" to explore and some simply dropped out of sight. I am grateful, however, for those of you that checked in and let me know they were OK :)

Anyhow as a result, the mood before the race was a bit eerie... I think the DVR team showed up in force, but we in SDS were missing people and VRT brought a single racer, Tak. We briefly considered switching the race to "exhibition" and not score it, but decided not to. It would be for real.

Well, in a word, our inty team did not have a good race.

Did I mention I ran inty this time? No one else showed up in Assault Frigates, so I would be either racing myself, or having fun against the inty jockeys. I decided to go for fun.

We lined up and went off, and Takashi started doing what he does best, gain a few seconds on each jump. I thought I had fixed that, I could swear I was gating faster than before but, meh, he still was pulling slowly ahead. So was Kazuo.

Never mind. I would catch them at the multiple waypoints. That is what I do best.

Only I, ah, omitted turning off overload on my MWD at one of those waypoints. >POOF<

After a brief dock, repair, undock in system (got lucky, I had not checked whether there was a repair shop in system but it was there) I found myself one minute behind the pack.

Enter our lovely warp train. I was able to climb my way back into the pack and then into 3rd place overall, but it was not meant to be. This was a race with so many jumps, I was falling a bit behind on each one, only to recover several seconds at the next waypoint, then falling behind...

Note to self: work on figuring out how to gate faster.

Then there was this waypoint at a star and, surprise, surprise, we can no longer use the solar system map the way we could before. Pod changes. I must have lost another half minute there.

And in the end, demon overtook me I think on WP14 or 15 on his Firetail. He is doing that to us every race now, no matter how many times we fire and rehire him. It is good to have him on the team but, oh, does he have to humiliate us every time?

Not that we did not deserve it this time.

Anyway, Kay had an awful race too. Apparently she missed every single gate by a few meters, had a couple of misswarps and finally her pod shut down on the last stretch. Someone in the fit crew is going to get so fired.

We came in, I think FIVE MINUTES behind the lead and made 3rd and 4th places. But we carried frigates :)

So at this point I am considering whether I will be switching permanently to inties now. The AF class is OK, I guess, but interceptor racing is shaping up to be all the rage.

Because, ladies and gentelemen, the Tak is Back.

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Racing Backwards

March 111, ISRC Season 7 Race 1
Molden Heath



A good race, on so many levels. The track had a couple of surprises and was very, very confusing at times but our team had such a brilliant start of the season.

I could not decide what to race until the very last moment. Interceptor or Assault Frigate? Fast or Slow? Old or New? Safe? Fun? When I did, I picked my new Jaguar, la Féline Fatale. That was the first surprise. And then...

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00:16 - The World Upside Down

"One jump here" came in Searaph's calm voice.

We were all in a long jump trail -what, seven jumps or so?,- approaching waypoint four. We had listened over team comms as Nakatre made a nasty mistake fumbling the checkpoint a couple of waypoints before and then was almost last in her frigate. I was barely ahead of her, racing an assault frigate for the very first time. I wondered if switching classes had been a nasty mistake too...

Other than that, everyone was falling into familiar habits. Takashi in front. Kay catching up from a slow start, right there with Searaph and demon his usual insolent self, challenging the interceptors on a Firetail.

Then the world turned upside down.

"I think I miswarped, no can here." That was Searaph's voice.

Huh?

More racers piling on the waypoint... only there was no waypoint. "It's seven, belt two," "Aww, no can here" "Report it, ah, report it right now to KillJoy!" confusion in the comms.

The waypoint was reported and ISRC called waypoint five, Skarkon. Turn back and give me fifty jumps, racer, on the double!

Suddendly, being still halfway became being already halfway.

So we were all in a long jump trail -what, seven jumps or so?,- going backwards and approaching waypoint five. We had listened over team comms to Nakatre's glee as she was the first to get there in her frigate. I was just behind her in my AF, grinning inside.

Other than that, everyone was having a hard time. Takashi one of the last but catching up fast, Kay and Searaph barely ahead and trying to keep him at bay. Only demon was being his usual uppity self, somehow quickly moving from first place frigates (moving forward) to first place frigates (going backwards).

Really, ah, fired up.

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00:44 - That was EVIL!

Waypoint 9 was special. Evil. KillJoy is proving to be every bit a sadist about track design as Gyra was, and then some.

I think... one thing is putting waypoints in places you can get shot at and you come out feeling shaky. Cleverly setting waypoints together so you misread the instructions inside, is another -you come out feeling stupid. That hurts.

It turns out that 9, 10 and 11 were all together at an Ice Field 1. 10 was very obviously a decoy and everyone was confused thinking it was an error... The setup was such that people assumed, but did not read the waypoints... and what they missed along the way was that the real 10 was in the same object, Asteroid Belt 1. He helped us make a mistake. Very clever, KillJoy, very clever...

Let's do that again :)

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00:51 - Knock on Goo

By waypoint 13, my only AF rival Zeke was on League chat already congratulating me on my victory -quite a gentleman during and after the race. Although I was far ahead I was not sure not to have dropped any of the bookmarks myself; I needed to put 5 minutes between us to protect me from penalty time and I was not sure I would manage.

In the meantime, I knocked on goo.

Sure enough, the track was so confusing that penalties rained afterward. Our team mates got so many of them but so did almost everyone else -it almost did not change the results.

Zeke did not get a penalty. He came in 4:40 behind me.

I did not get a penalty either.

As I mentioned before, we won every class of the race, what an amazing start to our season :)

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00:58 - Join the Gate-Set

ISD reporters have this cool frigate, it's called a Polaris, have you ever seen one up close? They are quite bigger than the usual friggy, they do look cruiser-sized to me... but then again I imagine they must be packed with all sorts of electronics and recording stuff and, who knows, writing staff and watercoolers and anything a reporter may need to cover a story in deep space.

Point is, it is a cool-looking ship. Rumour has it, it is a very special thing to fly as well, can pull a few tricks that no one of us can and has some insane stats. Well, ISD had two of those at the finish line waiting for us. Apparently they were having their very own Rookies & Vets, with veteran race reporter ISD Zachary Zain showing ISD Ashtoth Varlon around the racing scene.


Come to think of it, I have not seen any of these new 'Sleeper' ships everyone is talking about. Now, I think I will and maybe in bunches. But a week ago, I got to see two Polaris frigates flying together.

How cool is that?

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Racing That

I still have trouble believing it.

We won.

It is not like, "we won a race," mind you. I am really trying to be polite and not gloat in public, I know there are people reading. Really. Trying. Hard.

But I can't stop smiling every time I think about it.

In a word, our team had a very good Season 7 start. All of us, even our rookiest racers arrived before any of our adversaries. We won every class. I think this is going to change once the times and penalties are known and this will be very hard to repeat, but right now I am savoring the result. The track killed the interceptors' speed advantage and Kay was less than amused (hey, it's not like it was your fault)... yet we made it! I am very, very proud of my team.

But I would not want to gloat. So I better keep quiet, and will come back when the rush has worn off, with a better report and maybe even pics I had a chance to take.

Oh, by the way? I race a Jaguar.

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Racing What?

After our first exhibition race, the serious competition starts this coming Sunday. This means I drop everything related to track design and hosting and get to race myself. I even forced my brother to resign ISRC, mwa ha ha. La Scuderia is ready, team-mates sort of ready, our competitors seem certainly ready, everyone is ready. Am I ready? Of course not...

I wonder, what should I wear to the party?

On one hand, I could keep going with my interceptor, nowadays the Speed Potion #2. I know her so well... I have raced inties for three seasons now, I have even come up with cool stuff and have ideas to improve. I would be fleet booster from the front -which gives us a faster team. With our kickass inty racers, Kay and Searaph, this makes for a very strong SDS team.

Now, remember that The Tak is Back. Since S4, we have never beaten Takashi's season... maybe the odd race here or there, but not a season. We will need all our team's strengths to beat him and his VRT team... and I make the team stronger if I race inty. And if we carry inties, the other classes benefit as well.


On another hand, I can go race an AF, something that I have never done before. It is all about following others' lead. I do not know AF race fitting, my fleet bonuses would work from the back which I guess is silly. I hate hyper rigs, such a waste of slots, but I would need them. Our team has been traditionally weak on AFs (speed-wise, 'cause our AF pilots can still shoot stuff out of the sky), this would be an opportunity to change that. We would go into FI's and Dirtside's turf. Also, if I do well it is a chance to go for a triple crown: Frigates Champion (S3), Interceptors (S6) and finally AF (S7?), first one ever! If I manage that.

So I was thinking that aloud... so loud in fact that I ended up buying and half-fitting a new racer: Féline Fatale, a Jaguar. It could have been a Wolf with all those low slots, but the Jag is lighter and I think I am more of a cat person. Plus, "I race a Jaguar" has such a nice ring to it.


And so... should I go for the safety of racing an interceptor, for the good of the team, guaranteed fun and a shot at beating the best? Or should I forgo team strength and my own, for a learning experience, possible pain and a shot at personal glory with the AF class?

I wonder...

-Q

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Pssst, ISD

Haha! Quick note to say that we made the ISD frontpage news.

Thank you so very much ISD, for attending the event and spreading the word :) My name is even there as the "organizer" of all that mess.

However, there is such a thing as a proper form of address. You know, it would have been nice to add something like, "Season 6 interceptors champion Quintrala." I have worked too hard for too long to get here, and I do not think I will be ready to let go of that until someone else takes the title away from my hands.

I am not here just to plan the party and pass the cheetos. D'accord?

;)

-Q

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Racing Rookies

And the race went well :)

Eight people showed up in T1 frigates, it was actually 3/5 rookies to vets, but I still split them 4/4. I had the rookies play hide & seek with me at the starting line until I decloaked, then whoever was closest got to choose his vet first and so on. Four couples flying on a "blind vet." They had ten minutes to get to know each other a bit, get on fleet and voice and off they went!

Five minutes later I was bored silly. Not much happens on chat while people are racing.

But, I had an advantage - I knew where the track went so I had my, ah, cloaked cam at a nice spot in Egmar, which proved to be the best vantage point for watching the action like I had never seen before, half an hour later.

Oh boy, where to begin? With the fleet of locals that showed up in the middle of our track? Pirate acquaintance Shae mentioned later that Egmar happens to be GIS's base, rather than our track -I think she may have a point there. What about the fleet vanishing minutes before our first racer arrived? And it was the best waypoint ever: I saw Takashi warping in, then Kay and the rest... then Kazuo overtaking them both right there, warping out followed out by Kay and then Tak. You don't see that kind of flying every day (and if you are racing, you don't have time to notice). After all, very nice view.

Kazuo ran a surprisingly good race, he was smart and consistent and even beat Tak to the finish line (Kaz got a 5-minute penalty for a silly mistake, which did not really matter for the standings anyway). Kay came in 3rd and NeonFolf closed the line -he seems to have run slow just to keep pace with his rookie Kira.

Our rookies were amazing. Cai Lun (not really a rookie but, hey) won the race for himelf and Kaz. Dracoknight carried second for Tak, and today I hear he was promptly recruited by Tak's team. Bloodpetal was engaged by... an interceptor? and not only managed to get out alive, but came in just 10 seconds behind Draco. Last but not least, Kira Storm was shot down, but she re-shipped and came back to complete the race. That was probably the best part, to see her finish -as they say, the last person to finish a marathon deserves quite a lot of respect.

In the end I think it was a good race: eight racers out, two hours, eight racers in. I am happy that there were no major disasters with the organizing and hosting. I was just surprised and a bit stressed out by all the time it took me to go through all of it from the organization point of view (8-9 hours all things considered), so I am really looking forward to having KillJoy back to organize. There is a reason I am PR...

Anyway, as a reward, I treated myself with a quick ski trip. It is a shame Mt. Kaala is no longer a destination, I used to love that ;)

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