Season 8, Week 1 Recap

redlinederby Saturday, 3/24/2012
Site manager

The first week of Season 8 is in the books and I have to say I'm really bummed - but not real surprised - to see two rookie cars already getting retired. The A-Team Van shouldn't have been a shocker for anyone but the new Nissan Skyline wasn't as obvious. The other two cars driving their way to the retirement home is the Ford GT and the GT Racer, both long standing vets that are well deserving of their win.

We also saw the introduction of a brand new downhill track in the Redline Hill, a 20-foot all-hill track in Ohio. It's amazing what can change and how cars perform differently when you're looking at an all-hill track. Sure, the wheels still make a difference by gravity plays a bigger part this time.

Green Flag VII
SeattleGreyy smoked us all by not only picking well but by entering that Nissan Skyline. Personally, my money was on Nightstalker and his super heavy funny car, which had more trouble than you might expect. The big Dodge narrowly beat the McJiggles' Impala FTE and ConceptTA's 69 Camaro. And I'm certainly not out of line when I call the Nissan win over the funny car an upset. Multispeed's Acura FTE entry was possibly the darkhorse in this bracket, making little work of Worpex's HSW car, but the showdown between Iowa's Neet Streeter and the Acura was incredibly close...that one could have gone any way. There were a lot of very close races...just abut every C-grade race was bumper-to-bumper.

Mean Streets
Not many new faces in this tournament outside of GsR's heavy Camaro Wind, which I had high hopes for yet it failed to put up any numbers. In its defense, it was going up against the tried-and-true Ford GT-40 entered by Nightstalker so I suspect this is not the last we've seen of the stylin' Camaro...and it shouldn't be. Don't underestimate this car, it was a tight race. On the other side of the hill, Variation Jason's Studebaker truck put its heart into each narrow victory into the final round. If this little red truck doesn't end up in the winner's circle this season, I'd be very surprised.

Rolling Stones
The first race to roll on the new Redline Hill track, I got my ass kicked by failing to capitalize on later rounds. This bracket was filled with old favorites including GsR's Dieselboy and Multispeed's Brit Speed, but it was SeattleGreyy's GT Racer that made short work of every car in its path. The best action happened with ConceptTA's Porsche, which didn't left the gate behind in each of its races but making the difference up in the short stretch to the finish line. McJiggles' new Datsun FTE had promise being the newer sibling of the retired non-FTE Bluebird but the Nissan just didn't have the girth to put up any points. If there was any true surprise this weekend it would have to be the major upset in Jobe's Splittin Image over Variation's Screamin Hauler. Science favored the lighter car but only in the last 4-feet of track where it caught up from behind to eek by the giant Hauler.

Ohio Highlands
The A-Team Van most certainly holds a special place in all our hearts and seeing it win was not much of a shock but I'm sure I'm not the only one that wanted to see this big GMC keep rolling past more victims. I know this is only Week 1 but right now I might favor that van as a season champ already. GsR made a smart (and probably early) pick for that van which gave him top points despite my own perfect bracket! Filled with heavier trucks and wagons, and all running down the giant hill is a case study in going against the odds. The heavier car didn't always win and many of the races were far from tight. The only real drama sat between Jobe and Nightstalker with their two fire trucks...the Old 5.5 picking up each of its victories by only a hair. Bandeezee's entry was a testament to power of FTE cars. Off Track was the lightest car to hit the slopes but survived on FTE power alone in the home stretch.

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Next week's tournaments are split across the country. Two tournaments will return to the Redline Hill in Ohio while the other two brackets will head west to JDC's track in Washington. Good luck and happy racing!


Discussion

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GspeedR 3/24/12

I must credit 'tastelikedirt' for the A-Team Van pick...I would have never known that car's potential if I hadn't seen how well it did in his well documented heats.

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redlinederby 3/24/12
Site manager

That's awesome to hear because that's what I've always wanted to hear and see...using at-home race knowledge and experience to help play the game. Very cool.

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JDC442 3/24/12

I must credit 'tastelikedirt' for the A-Team Van pick...I would have never known that car's potential if I hadn't seen how well it did in his well documented heats.

That's why I picked it as well. Thanks TLD!!!

I'm gonna have to go look. I can't remember if I picked it.

I must have fell asleep at the wheel. I made picks for race 1, but not 2-4. I'm gonna have to get on the ball.

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GspeedR 3/25/12

That's awesome to hear because that's what I've always wanted to hear and see...using at-home race knowledge and experience to help play the game. Very cool.

I know I'm not the only FL player using similar tactics. I'm also finding myself racing the same and/or similar castings as matched in the FL brackets @ home to help make some decisions. Granted, there can be major differences in performance from car-to-car so I still get burned by "unknown variables"...but it gets me in the proverbial 'ballpark' more often than not.
.

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WorpeX 3/25/12

ouch! Not a good week for me! I didn't pick cars the same way I usually do this time because the new site design made it a bit difficult to access the profiles for all the individual cars so I just guessed... didn't work out too well! I think I need to go back to my old strategy!

Glad to see that GT Racer and Ford 40 finally picking up wins! They've both been at the top of a bunch of tournaments but just couldn't seem to get that final win!

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redlinederby 3/25/12
Site manager

@Worpex - What made it more difficult to lookup profiles? I know there are a lot of little changes to things but please elaborate and I'll see what's possible to keep things accessible.

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WorpeX 3/25/12

@Worpex - What made it more difficult to lookup profiles? I know there are a lot of little changes to things but please elaborate and I'll see what's possible to keep things accessible.

Well, at the time I had made my picks last week, you hadn't put in a lot of the features. It's fixed now. When I did it before the "Players racing in this tournament" page with the clickable links to each of the cars wasn't there (or if it was, I must have been drunk and didn't see it). Its present now, so its not an issue!

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