The pre-F1RWRS/ARWS career of Douglas Mann

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The pre-F1RWRS/ARWS career of Douglas Mann

Post by dr-baker »

"Welcome to Planet B, where you can be whatever you want to be..."

Ancient Rome, schools, freak shows, the Wild West - not for me, thought Douglas Mann. This is supposed to be a motor-racing career, not a role-playing game with cyber bullying, rogue avatars and game players being murdered "in real life" (Douglas Mann hated the acronym IRL as it kept reminding him of the American Indy Racing League... Actually, he hated acronyms full-stop, but that was another story... He could never remember what they stood for).

"Welcome to the World of PSP, where you can go from Formula Ford to Formula One."

Yeah, British Formula Ford was available on TOCA Race Driver 2 and there were a number of F1 games for the PSP, covering 2005, 2006 and 2009, BUT there was absolutely nothing inbetween - no F3, F2, GP3, GP2, A1 GP, SuperLeague, Renault World Series, Formula Master - just a few fictional single-seater categories that were unrealistic to make a coherent fictional single-seater career from. So you could have gone from FFord to F1 but with nothing inbetween.

Then it hit him - NASCAR! In the NASCAR PSP game, you could go into career mode and compete in the Whelen Modified, Craftsman Truck, NBS and Nextel Cup series. "Found it!" thought Douglas Mann. A fictional career that will take me, a 20-year-old (as of 2006, when the career game starts), from London, the capital of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to an American home of Orlando, Florida (an ideal base for a Reject career, being based in the home town of Mickey Mouse!). Douglas Mann had always lived in London, despite his mother hailing from the Isle of Man. It was this that led to his name, as Douglas is the capital of the Isle of Man... So Douglas Mann it was. Thank goodness his friends knew him as Dougie and his mother married a Mr Mann... He also had an older sister, born almost exactly 2 years later, give or take a day or two. But more on her later, in 2009... (Guesses who that might be).

Anyway, for his fictional PSP NASCAR career, the following criteria were set:

AI Difficulty - Rookie/Veteran/Legend
Race Length - 25%
Unlimited Fuel and Tyres - Off
Damage Repair - Visual only/Normal
Yellow Flags - On

Only one contract is offered initially - with Rising Dragon Motorsports in the Whelen Modified Series in the #105 Notme Mufflers car, with Lou Stanton, Nate Beasley and Alan Walker as teammates. Salary would be $3,600 per race, plus 5% of merchandise and 12% of winnings. And there is a signing bonus of $3,488! Contract signed.

The first race would be on Wednesday 8th February 2006 at Richmond ("Wonder if it's anything like the Richmond in South-West London? Probably not..." thought Douglas Mann to himself) for the Bell Tower 150, the first of 16 races, over 37 laps, with a purse of $10,500. "Now we're ready to hit the ground running!"
Last edited by dr-baker on 06 Apr 2020, 17:37, edited 5 times in total.
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by dr-baker »

Just an extra note to say that I am useless at running in traffic, not too bad at making a comeback from last if I started in the mid-field (once the field has spread out a little) and I have never got to grips with the superspeedways like Daytona but love Martinsville (tight hairpin corners) and road courses - anywhere with proper corners.Starting from pole usually gives me a decent result, unless I get punted early on in the race, where I would drop to the back, and finish either at the back or in the midfield.

And could anyone guide me how to capture Screenshots? I've never had a clue and have no idea where to start getting these. Otherwise I'll leave them out. (I probably will leave them out anyway...).
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by DemocalypseNow »

dr-baker wrote:And could anyone guide me how to capture Screenshots? I've never had a clue and have no idea where to start getting these. Otherwise I'll leave them out. (I probably will leave them out anyway...).


Use a PSP emulator on your PC and take screenshots using Print Screen! (It doesn't work in PCSX2 but it does in ePSXe for reasons I cannot comprehend).
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by dr-baker »

kostas22 wrote:
dr-baker wrote:And could anyone guide me how to capture Screenshots? I've never had a clue and have no idea where to start getting these. Otherwise I'll leave them out. (I probably will leave them out anyway...).


Use a PSP emulator on your PC and take screenshots using Print Screen! (It doesn't work in PCSX2 but it does in ePSXe for reasons I cannot comprehend).

Huh? Now I think I know why I haven't done it. Because I don't understand! Already lost the cable that connects the PSP to a laptop/PC long ago....
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by dr-baker »

OK, so I've just experimented for the first time with "Print Screen" and copying images from this thread onto a Microsoft Word document - I can do it! But probably won't bother... Anyways...
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ok, so first race ever," thought Douglas Mann to himself (because he likes to do a lot of thinking apparently, and thinking to himself? Who else is he going to think to?) "Take it easy, no need to impress anyone, 16 race series, but it is to establish my career, and I do want it to be going somewhere by 2009, when my sister makes her American racing debut (although this is an entirely fictional career...). So here goes, deep breaths, focus, and all that stuff."

Richmond International Raceway, Whelen Modified Championship, Race 1, Bell Tower 150.

Qualifying

2 laps. 19.770 s followed by 19.716 s. Don't know anybody else's lap times, but it was good enough for the pole! Now just need to ensure a good start...
Teammate positions: Stanton 8th, Walker 20th, Beasley 22nd - out of 22. So it was not a bad debut, particularly without a practice session...

The Race

The start. Well, it didn't go too bad. Battling for 1st/2nd round most of the first lap, then the driver in 3rd punted me slightly out of shape towards the end of the lap, then as I recovered, I got a much larger push, and ended up in a massive slide across the infield grass, which dropped me to last place as I crossed the line for the first time. Here comes the recovery drive I had in previous plays of this game... And a 37-lap race should give me enough time...

Already caught up with the back of the pack by lap 5. By the end of lap 6, I was up to 17th. From 6+ seconds behind at the start of lap 5 to around 4 seconds behind at the start of lap 7... Lost a bit of time on lap 8, rubbing against a rival, but kept going in 16th, with a bit of clear track ahead, and two other cars up my exhaust pipe...

By lap 20, I am up to 12th, with a bit of argy-bargy being the unfortunate tactic being used as I take the low line into each turn, and then being turned in onto... And still around 4 seconds behind the leader... OK, more like 4.75 s behind...

However there was a major external distraction on lap 27 - I hit the wall! And there had already been major damage from the lap 1-2 contact... And I was now back into about 15th/16th place and about 7.75 seconds behind...

Lap 30 - up to 13th and close behind 12th and several others running in single file, but it seems the leader has an advantage over 2nd place, with the others reasonably matched... By this point I was just hoping for a decent top-10 finish, which I got by lap 33. On lap 36 (of 37), I was up to 6th and again just 4 seconds behind the leader, when again I was pushed sideways with just 1 1/4 laps to go! Cost me 2 seconds to the leader (and to the 5th place runner!) but lost no places, and thus held the 6th place to the finish.

Happy to be in the top quarter of the field, but dissappointed not to get a podium or a win, considering I was often gaining on the leader. Just need to avoid those clashes and sideways moments, enforced or otherwise...

So I was paid $3,600 in start money, $592 in prize money, and $1 in merchandise income! Now got $7681. Average speed was 131.94 mph, race time 12:37.154, with a winning margin of 2.932 seconds. 6th in the championship, 30 points off the leader, Stanton in 12th, Walker in 15th and Beasley in 19th. All my teammates thus improved on their grids position, except me, but I did overtake them all during the race.

And pit stops and yellow flags don't apply in the Whelen Modifieds...
The next race is at Milwaukee a week later for the Badger State 150 on Wednesday 15th February 2006, on the same day as qualifying for the Daytona 500 Craftsman Trucks.
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by thehemogoblin »

Paste your stuff into Microsoft Paint instead of Word to be able to save it as an image.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by dr-baker »

thehemogoblin wrote:Paste your stuff into Microsoft Paint instead of Word to be able to save it as an image.

Thanks. Just need to find a way to connect my PSP to a laptop now!
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by Phoenix »

I'm sure Douglas Mann will emerge victorious from this series. His raw pace is daunting and it can still improve, as this was only his first race.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by dr-baker »

So Wednesday 15th February came round quickly for Douglas Mann as he prepared for the Badger State 150 at Milwaukee (the preparation involving charging up the PSP). 37 laps for the 2nd round of the Whelen Modified Series with a purse of $20,000.

Qualifying was a two-lap run, and normally the second lap is faster. Not this time for Douglas Mann and so his first lap time of 25.620 seconds had to count, leaving him 7th. Gulp. Normally this means getting involved in a midfield tangle, falling to the back and making a recovery drive through the field. Done it once in this career though, thought Dougie, so nothing is lost yet. And you've outqualified all your teammates again so not a total disaster - Stanton 16th, Beasley 11th, Walker 19th.

So the start. Not as bad as anticipated. Got up to 4th by the end of the first lap. Lost a place again on the second lap by running wide but was 4th again by the end of lap 2. An attempt at third could not be made until lap 7 however, by which time Douglas Mann was some way ahead of the fifth-placed runner. It took until lap 9 to make the position stick. The now-4th place runner quickly fell back, though, so by the time Mr Mann started battling with the two leaders on lap 13, it was purely a three-horse race. There was a lot of position changes amongst these three, Mann, the #127 and the #156, the 2nd and third drafting past the leader, only for the leader to take the inside line at the next turn etc. Dougie only became a lap leader for the first time on lap 24, only to be third again a lap later. This continued until lap 29, when the inevitable mistake happened - Douglas ran wide and brushed against the wall, loosing himself 4 seconds. The pace of the leading three meant that Mann was still 3rd, 4 seconds to both 2nd and 4th places. It was now a comeback drive to attempt a higher position but despite gaining around .25 seconds a lap, he finished a clear third, 1 second behind the leader and 1/2 second to the first of the losers.

Fourth was held by one of Mann's teammates, Beasley, while Walker was 12th and Stanton finished 20th (down 4 places from his poor qualifying...). Paid $3,600 salary, $1,488 in winnings and $199 in winnings, meaning Douglas Mann now had $12,968 earnings from his career. In championship positions, Mann was 2nd=, 50 points down on the leader, Beasley was 10th (-109), Walker 15th (-130) and Stanton was 17th (-145).
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by dr-baker »

Douglas Mann noticed that there was a two-week break until the next Whelen Modified race, on Wednesday 1st March 2006, but thanks to his de Lorean with a fitted flux capacitor and TARDIS interior (and his PSP console), got straight onto the Appalachian 150 at Martinsville, another 37 lap race with a purse of $11,000. It was a floodlit race, just as the last race had been.

In qualifying, his second lap was 7/100ths faster (18.303/18.237) which put him 2nd - and on the outside for the start. Mann normally made a better start from the inside where he could dive up the inside of the opposition/not run wide into the wall/not collide into the person alongside him... His teammates were nowhere close to him - Walker was 13th, Beasley 14th and Stanton 21st - out of 22...

The start didn't go as badly as it normally did in previous attempts at this game - he went round the first half-lap in 3rd then finished the lap in... 2nd! By the end of lap 2 he was... in the lead! 35 laps still remained however. The lead very rarely streched beyond 0.4 seconds (ranged between 0.19 and 0.39 seconds and once upto .52 briefly) so the pressure was always there. The first retirement of the season was on lap 26 - a car entered the pitlane not to exit again. But come the end of lap 37, Douglas Mann still found himself with a lead of 0.284 over the second runner and 1.085 over the third runner. He had won! What made the day better was his championship situation - in the lead with 515 points, with an advantage of 13 points from the next-best placed runner. Beasley finished the race 14th and was now 11th in the championship (- 128 pts); Walker race 10th and champ. 13th (- 136 pts); Stanton 20th/20th= (- 182 pts) - the reject member of the team. The 22nd-placed driver in the championship was 203 points now behind Douglas Mann.

Money: Salary $3,600, Winnings $1,320, Merchandise $199, running total $18,087.

In celebration of this successful race and championship outcome, he didn't know whether the most appropriate music was something celebrating his cultural heritage or something cheesy/rubbish so he had both, in that order. And the in-game calendar told Dougie Mann that the next race was on Wednesday 22nd March 2006 at Nazareth, another 37 lap race with a larger prize fund of $21,000... But at a larger speedway, not a favourite of Mr Mann...
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by dr-baker »

Wednesday 22nd March 2006 was now here and for Douglas Mann, that meant another Whelen Modified race, this time the Lehigh Valley 150 at Nazareth, strange considering it closed in 2004, thought Douglas, maybe that's why it's listed as a fictional track? Never mind, it's the next race and let's get to it.

Qualifying. The first lap was a 26.6, the second lap was a full 1/2 second quicker, 26.1, which was just as well because that meant Douglas was to start 6th. Now he realised that he always was negative after his qualifying and not confident, and this was not a track he liked but the races had always turned out alright in the end. Just don't get too involved at the start... However, the worst-performing teammate of Douglas so far, Stanton, was starting 5th - the first time that Douglas Mann had been outqualifyed by one of his teammates. :o Beasley wasn't far behind, in 10th, and Walker had performed at a relatively pedestrian pace this time and was 19th.

The start came round quickly and it wasn't too bad - accidently turned in on somebody on his inside but held onto his position albeit dropped a bit to the competitors ahead. But It looked like Stanton had hit the lead! Ran in 7th until the third lap when two others tried diving down the inside of Douglas at the same time, costing Douglas speed, time and 7 positions as he clashed with them and was now 14th! By the end of lap 10, he was back up to twelth, with 1.8 seconds or so seperating him from the lead, but it was going to be hard to make progress this time, he felt. He managed to make a move for 11on lap 14, bumped past him and fell to 2.6 seconds behind he leader while retaining 11th. It took over 10 laps before he could get into a position to think about making a move for the top 10... Which he got on lap 28, and there he remained for the rest of the race. He finished the 37-lap race 1.441 seconds off the leader and 0.3 seconds from 9th. He felt that this was his weakest showing to date from the first quarter of the season, and not what he expected afer his first win. And he got beaten by a teammate for the first time, with Stanton also losing places from his starting position, finishing 8th. Walker was less pedestian in the race, getting up into 13th position while Beasley fell the other way to 18th. Generally a bad race for the Rising Dragon team. (The margin of victory was 0.118 seconds).

After this race, Douglas Mann fell to second in the championship, just one point behind the championship leader, Walker and Beasley were 13th and 14th in the championship, 147 and 154 points behind the leader and Stanton was 17th, 170 points behind. The one thing to make Douglas's day was an email informing him that he may get a pay rise soon... :)

For this race, Douglas Mann earnt the usual $3,600 salary, earnt $882 in winnings and the usual $199 in merchandise. He wondered why the merchandise earning each race was always the same, but then realised it was just a haldheld games console game, but still... Total earnings $22,768.
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Wednesday 12th April 2006

Round 5/16, Market Street 150 at Meadow Creek

This was yet another 37 lap race ("Will they all be the same length?" asked Douglas Mann to nobody in particular) but because this was to be this was to be the only race in April for Douglas Mann, he wanted this to be a good one (and also to take the championship lead again...) He was quietly confident because his pre-career races ('track days') here had not been too shabby...

Qualifying was another 2-lap attempt. The second lap was an improvement on the first and was good enough for the pole. Confidence was now high - so long as he could resist the pressure and not make any mistakes... His teammates also went well with Lou Stanton in 7th, Nate Beasley in 9th and Alan Walker just missing the top half of the grid in 13th.

The race start did not go well for Douglas Mann - falling to 2nd. He and the leader ran as a pair, pulling away from the rest of the field for 4 laps until they both got very sideways while running alongside each other. Mann lost over a second to the leader while only just remaining in 2nd himself. A lap later and Mann brushed the pit wall, lost a bit of momentum and before he knew it, he was down in 15th! However, there was still time to make a recovery... (although this did knock his pre-race confidence a bit). Gaining 3 positions in one turn on lap 8 helped restore confidence a bit, although he thought it best not to take too many unneccessary risks. By now he was 10th. He briefly brushed the wall on lap 14 but without consequence... this time. By lap 26, he was in 4th, with the top 3 as one group, the leader having had his early large advantage wiped out. Amongst these top 3 was Nate Beasley, Douglas's teammate. Would he gain any help, or was he just running his own race? Douglas assumed the latter, just to play on the safe side. Douglas retook the lead on lap 31 only to run wide on lap 32 and clash with one of his fellow leaders on lap 34, dropping to 8th and eventually finishing 10th a few short laps later. Having shown so much promise, he felt gutted. Distraught. Upset. But then he remembered the analogy with a pair of curtains - he had to pull himslf together. After all, his teammates had scored the best combined result of the year - Beasley finished 2nd, Stanton came 7th and Walker just beat Mann into 9th. Actually, this didn't help matters - Douglas no longer felt like he was "de Man"...

Championship positions

2nd - Douglas Mann - 788 - 14 pts behind.
10th - Beasley - 666 - 136 pts behind
14th - Walker - 641 - 161 pts behind
15th - Stanton - 626 - 176 pts behind

Earnings

Salary $3,600
Winnings $918
Mechandise $199
Running total $27,485
Last edited by dr-baker on 20 Dec 2010, 10:04, edited 2 times in total.
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by DemocalypseNow »

Mr Mann, we've heard rumours Mike Skinner will make a one-off appearance at Rising Dragon Motorsports at the next race - is this true, and are you afraid he'll shove you into the wall if you get in his way? :lol:
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by AndreaModa »

Just thought I'd say, I love the new layout you've given your race report, it makes it much easier to read :)
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Mann

Post by dr-baker »

AndreaModa wrote:Just thought I'd say, I love the new layout you've given your race report, it makes it much easier to read :)

Thanks. Just thought I'ld experiment, and it seemed to work so I'll stick with it.
kostas22 wrote:Mr Mann, we've heard rumours Mike Skinner will make a one-off appearance at Rising Dragon Motorsports at the next race - is this true, and are you afraid he'll shove you into the wall if you get in his way? :lol:

Nah, in this reality, driver changes in any of the NASCAR championships seem to be virtually non-existant, allowing people like Douglas's teammate Lou Stanton to have absolutely rejectful races only to redeem himself a race or two later. To be honest, Douglas himself feels worthy of being dumped after April 2006 - only one race and he finished last of his teammates depite having had the chance of becoming championship leader? Rising Dragon Reject of the Month right there. But the next race is the first road course race of the year so Dougie is confident of holding his head high there - it will be the Door County 150 at the Old Spice Raceway a 25 lap race on Wednesday 3rd May 2006. And anyway, why would Mike Skinner have anything against a young upstart in a junior category, who has only competed in 5 races to date (albeit competively against the opposition)? He has made some self-inflicted mistakes... Seen as a threat already? :)
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Wednesday 3rd May 2006

Door County 150 at Old Spice Raceway, 25 laps, $20,743 purse

The first non-oval of the season, of Douglas Mann's career. He came here confident. "Can't be any worse than last time, could it?" Well, he had yet to finish outside of the top-10 in any event yet, but his career was only 5 races old so... "Oi, Mr Narrator Sir, stop tempting fate and get on with it, will you?" shouted Douglas Mann. So here we go...

Qualifying was a one-lap affair, so the pressure was on, and... Douglas Mann was oblivious to it, comfortably scoring another pole position. Not so good for his teammates relative to the last race however, as Walker was 11th, Stanton was 12th and the worst of the Rising Dragon drivers, Beasley, was all the way down in 20th of 22...

The race was uneventful for Douglas Mann. After a few defensive moves in the first half-lap, Douglas pulled out a bit of a gap. A bit of a gap? Well, a second every three of four laps. Lost a second on lap 8, but still led at that point by 1.3 seconds. Eventually won by 6.676 seconds. Exactly the way Douglas had wanted the race to turn out. No pressure, only one or two very slight errors with no penalty. Lap times varied between 44.5 and 45 seconds with a total race time of 18 minutes 47 seconds.

His teammates ended up 7th (Walker), 12th (Stanton) and 16th (Beasley), which was at least a bit better overall than qualifying was, although one entrant had pulled into the pits on the penultimate lap - only the second withdrawal during a race this season that Douglas Mann was aware of.

The Championship positions now looked a bit like this:

Douglas Mann - 1st! - 978 pts - +6
Alan Walker - 11th - 191 pts behind
Nate Beasley - 12th - 197 pts behind
Lou Stanton - 15th - 225 pts behind

So Douglas's teammates are all quite close to each other, seperated by 34 points, yet all around 200 points behind Mr Mann. Is he outperforming the team, or is it something else? He had certainly caught the eye of Ryan Newman, however, who is challenging Douglas to a 1-on-1 showdown at the Texas Infield, in Nextel Cup cars, over 3 laps, on Monday 8th May 2006. Douglas let it be known that nobody would expect him to win so has nothing to loose and so will take him on!

As an aside, the earnings for the race:

$alary - $3,600
Winnings - $2,489
Merchandise - $199
New total - $33,773
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Monday 8th May 2006

Showdown on the Texas Infield against Ryan Newman, 3 laps, Nextel Cup race

Douglas Mann was not given the chance to practice or qualify before the start of this mano-a-mano showdown so was nervous but knew that going up against a Nextel Cup star (currently 2nd in the Nextel Cup standings after 10 rounds, 4 points behind Jimmie Johnson; and 5th in the NBS standings, 247 points behind the leader Tony Stwewart and 173 points behind 4th placed Greg Biffle) may affect the way some in the business perceive him.

First thing Douglas Mann noticed is that he would be starting on the outside and alongside Ryan Newman. Second thing, it would be his first clockwise race. Thirdly, the track was kidney bean shaped, with a few tighter corners. Anyway, Ryan got away faster so Dougie just followed round on the first lap, learning which way the track went and catching a bit of draft all the way round. On the second lap, Dougie tried a move on the inside of one of the tighter bends. It paid off! Although he did give Newman a tap as he cut Ryan up moving back across on him. A lap later, Dougie suddenly couldn't quite figure out where the right hand turn off the oval onto the infield so clipped the wall... But Ryan was over 8 seconds behind! What had happened? Dougie had no idea, but with the pressure off, he just drove round to finish the race and won... with a winning margin of 27.456 seconds! Had Ryan Newman had a problem? Douglas Mann did not have that much of an advantage surely? But that was as it was. so he was content, although it did feel as though his was a hollow win, such was the winning margin.
Last edited by dr-baker on 08 Oct 2014, 12:39, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Wednesday 24th May 2006

Railway 150 at Redball, 37 laps, Purse $17,654

Off the back of a Whelen Modified race win, and beating Ryan Newman in a Nextel Cup car Showdown (regardless of whether Newman had problems or not), and being the championship leader, (after all of which Douglas rocked out to more of his favourite Eurovision cheese) meant that Douglas Mann went into the next 37-lap race as favourite, whether he liked it or not...

Qualifying went as per usual for Douglas Mann - he had two laps (as per normal oval qualifying), heis second lap was faster than his first, and hey presto, good enough for pole. But would he be good enough for the race win? He would just have to slog it out and see. His teammates managed 5th (Walker), 8th (Stanton) and 12th (Beasley). Seems like the Rising Dragon team as a whole are becoming more on form as the season goes on.

The race was... interesting. Managed to pull away on lap 1, but needed to adjust his glasses on lap two (from the Christan Albers book of excuses) which led to him running wide and a weakness of Douglas Mann was running on the outside - it always lost him places, particularly when there were other cars on the inside, with no space in the whole field to cut back again. But he 'only' fell to 21st - one car started to run slowly, presumeably back to the pits. Started to make a comeback through the field,.... until lap 11, when he came across his teammate Lou Stanton in 11th, Mann ran wide and got punted into a spin from behind, and fell to last again (particularly as Mann spun again trying to face the right dirction!) and was lucky not to get lapped. Anyway, onwards he went, 12 seconds behind, hoping just for a top-10 finish. By lap 20, the gap was halved to just over 6 seconds when he then had to pull off his overtaking manoeuvres. "Why can't I just run in free air all race with no competitors around me?" screamed Douglas Mann over his radio to his crew chief. "It would be so much easier." The crew chief's reply? "You're a race driver, not a rally driver, Mann! Or maybe that's what you want to become, eh? Look good that, wouldn't it? One season in a race championship, win a title, and leave again? Now shut up and get on with it!" And that he did. The field was now more spread out so Mann could pick off a few drivers each lap, nay, each corner, so by lap 25, he reached the top-10, having just passed two of his teammates. After this, his rate of overtaking slowed so that by the end of the race, Mann was seventh. All things considered, thought Mann, it could have been a lot worse. But why didn't I just adjust my glasses on my nose before the race instead of lap 2? Could have won otherwise. Too late now. At least the Risng Dragon team still won the race - Alan Walker had taken the lead from Mann and had dominated the race by leading every remaining lap. Stanton lost places from his qualifying position, falling from 8th to 13th, while the driver in 22nd place was Nate Beasley, finishing one lap down.

Championship positions

1st - Douglas Mann - 1124 pts - 25 points ahead of 2nd
8th - Alan Walker - 977 pts - 147 pts behind
14th - Nate Beasley - 878 pts - 246 pts behind
15th - Lou Stanton - 877 pts - 247 pts behind

Earnings

Salary $3,600 ("Where's my promised pay rise?" thought Douglas)
Winnings $932
Merchandise $199
New total $38,504

After the race, Douglas went to check his emails. And there was notification of his pay rise. $4,500 per race. "Now that's more like it!" Just what he needed, especially after extending his championship lead further.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Wednesday 7th June 2006

Dodge Racing 150, Tiburon Raceway, round 8/16, 37 laps, Purse $20,000

This was one race that Douglas Mann was excited about - the shortest oval on the calendar. His only fear was lapping traffic towards the end of the race... In previous 'testing' (playing the game before), he knew that this could happen from around lap 20 or so, so could be a factor, particularly considering his previous form in traffic.

Qualifying - Douglas Mann knew that nothing less than pole position was now expected of him. First lap - 10.904 seconds. Second lap - 10.866 seconds. And guess what? It was indeed pole position. All he needed now was a decent start... And he had his teammates as reargunners as Alan Walker was 2nd, Lou Stanton was 3rd and Nate Beasley wasn't far behind in 7th. Was this extra pressure from within or would they be as cooperative as Nelson Piquet Jnr.? Only time would tell. (Although Douglas Mann suspected that they would just run their own race and treat their teammates the same as any other competitor - no more and no less).

The race started well, quickly broke away into the lead and held it, pulling out a gap then running in free air - conditions ideal for Douglas Mann, with a 2 second gap by lap 13. By lap 28, Mann was already drifting the backmarkers, and with a 4+ second advantage. To avoid trouble, Douglas started going wider round the corners, trying to just not get involved in anything that might get messy. So his advantage shrunk to 3 seconds by lap 33, and won with an eventual margin of 2.085 seconds. Nate Beasley was 2nd, making a brilliant run from 7th. Alan Walker lost a couple of places in the race, falling from 2nd to 4th while Stanton's race was relatively disasterous, falling to 10th by the flag.

The championship positions were now looking better for the Rising Dragon team:
Douglas Mann - 1st - 1314 points
(2nd place - Humphreys - 1170 points - 144 points behind)
Alan Walker - 3rd - 1137 points - 177 points behind
Nate Beasley - 9th - 1048 points - 266 points behind
Lou Stanton - 13th - 1011 points - 303 points behind

Mann's earnings were looking pretty healthy after this race:
Salary $4,500
Winnings $2,400
Merchandise $199
New total $45,603

With 180 points for a win, Mann was looking quite comfortable at the halfway point in the season. And, to make it sweeter for Douglas, he was being offered a Craftsman Truck test for the following Tuesday (13th June). As the next Whelen Modified race wasn't until the end of the month (28th June), Mann accepted the offer. Particularly as a contract was on the cards...
Last edited by dr-baker on 10 Dec 2010, 20:05, edited 1 time in total.
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

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Tuesday 13th June 2006

5-lap Craftsman Truck Test at Indianapolis Raceway Park

The test is to join the Bob Wire Fences truck, and the target lap time is 21.200...

Once the test was complete, Douglas Mann looked back at that target time and could NOT believe how unrealistic it was. "Is that all they were expecting of me?" Because his worst lap was almost 1.2 seconds faster than that, over 5.6% better! Anyway, the lap times:

1 - 19.933
2 - 20.017
3 - 19.932
4 - 19.915
5 - 19.966

Douglas Mann decided that there wouldn't be any harm signing the contract - he would concentrate on clinching the Whelen Modified series, and have a few races for the Rossi Racing team, running the #103 Bob's Wire Fences truck, unless it started to interfere with his other campaign. After all, how could he say no to a salary of $6,489 per race and 10% of winnings (but only 1 % of merchandise)?

Oh, and there was a bonus for signing the contract of $6,509!
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Douglas Mann went ahead and checked the calendar for the rest of the season. He was now used to Whelen Modified qualifying and race being on the same day, but the Craftsman Trucks were not like that. They always had qualifying two days before the race. But there were no overlap or clashes between these two series... until the end of November, when the final round of the Whelen Modified series (at Tiburon Raceway, where Mann had not long ago races very well) was on the same day as qualifying for the final round of the truck series. But he would worry about that when he got there, depending on his performances at the time.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

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Mr Mann FTW! :mrgreen:
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

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dr-baker wrote:while Stanton's race was relatively disasterous, falling to 10th by the flag.

What...the...f***?!
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by shinji »

kostas22 wrote:
dr-baker wrote:while Stanton's race was relatively disasterous, falling to 10th by the flag.

What...the...f***?!


Kids TV these days...
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by Phoenix »

kostas22 wrote:
dr-baker wrote:while Stanton's race was relatively disasterous, falling to 10th by the flag.

What...the...f***?!

You can say whatever you want (and it actually feels ridiculous), but these are the kind of songs that get stuck in your head and you end up chanting involuntarily when you're on the shower.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Phoenix wrote:
kostas22 wrote:
dr-baker wrote:while Stanton's race was relatively disasterous, falling to 10th by the flag.

What...the...f***?!

You can say whatever you want (and it actually feels ridiculous), but these are the kind of songs that get stuck in your head and you end up chanting involuntarily when you're on the shower.

I (Mr Mann?) was hoping for that with the earlier Eurovision entries but alas... And glad that people are taking an interest!

And I forgot to mention who Douglas Mann's teammates in Craftsman Truck series were: they are B.J. Fisher (glad I don't have that first name...) and Wilson Eubanks (no relation, I assume...). Their championship positions are as such - Wilson Eubanks is 12th on 972 points, 280 points off the lead, and B.J. Fisher is 41st, on 561 points, 691 points away from the lead. Normally, teammates are highlighted in the championship tables; Eubanks is here but Fisher isn't. I'll double-check that after my first race in the series. Drivers' names that I recognise in this series are few but they do exist (for whatever reason!) (few being one!): Erin Crocker, who at this point in the series is 4th, 123 points off the lead and 45 from 3rd. (At round 10 of 25.)

EDIT: Oh and about those kids' songs - I work with disabled kids for a living so I've got lots of these stuck in my head permanently...
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Thursday 15th June 2006

Qualifying, Michigan 200, Craftsman Trucks, 2 laps, Round 10/25

In Douglas Mann's first season State-side, he couldn't believe that he would progress to the next level so quickly, although he realised that his Whelen Modified success still wasn't complete yet and so this weekend would just be "a bit of fun" and to gain experience. He didn't want to run at the back but didn't want to get carried away too soon either. Anyway, he went faster on his second lap to set a time of 36.592 seconds which left him 23rd of 36. Lower mid-field. Might well be crowded at the start, Douglas thought. Not ideal, but it'll be good practice at running in traffic... The other problem was that the truck was having a very serious tendancy to pull to the right/understeer round the bends so the race was going to be difficult for the 25 laps.

His teammates were 7th (Fisher) and 9th (Eubanks) while Erin Crocker was 8th.


Saturday 17th June 2006

Raceday, Michigan 200, Craftsman Trucks, 25 laps, $26,305 purse

This was the largest oval that Douglas Mann had yet raced on in his short NASCAR career and wasn't looking forward to it, particularly considering his starting position and ill-handling truck. But it was what it was so he just got on with it.

He managed to hold his position for the first half lap... then got tapped into a sideways moment. And at this point in the race, it meant he fell to 35th. It took until lap 3 to catch up to the truck in front. "Just take it easy and steady, don't risk anything yet, particularly with the way it's handling," Douglas was telling himself. Still, he barged himself a position on lap 6, now being 33rd. And he could start feeling the tyres going off on lap 9 but still managed to go from 33rd to 29th in one lap on lap 11. This became 31st again soon afterwards just by running wide a few laps later - Mann suspected tyre wear causing it. Mann pitted at the end of lap 15, the first to do so. Unfortunately, he was caught speeding entering the pits so had a time penalty added before he could leave the pits. Once everybody had pitted by lap 19, Mann was up to 23rd - his qualifying position. But of course by this point, his tyres were older than the others round him and fell from 24th to 29th in one lap on lap 21. Regained 24th by the penultimate lap but lost it all again on the final lap to eventually 29th. Douglas Mann was glad that he was within the top 30 but realised that there was more unrealised potential there, which disappointed him. A top-20 was on the cards without the mistakes and a better-handling truck. The gap to the leader at the end was 11.599 seconds.

His teammate Eubanks was the winner, Erin Crocker fell to 20th, while Mann's other teammate, Fisher, made Mann's day by falling to 32nd, having qualifyed so much better than Douglas had managed.

Naturally, Mann is last in the truck championship by some margin so isn't concentrating on this, but if Mann ever sees the top-40 (there appears to be more points-scorers in this championship than drives, so a chance of making progress), then he will want to boast then.

Earnings

Salary - $6489
Winnings - $526
Merchandise - $149
New total - $59,276
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by DemocalypseNow »

Mr Mann, was your 'ill-handling truck' story just an excuse not to run at the front - as secretly you are afraid of getting your ass shoved into a trashcan by a very pissed off Mike Skinner?
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

kostas22 wrote:Mr Mann, was your 'ill-handling truck' story just an excuse not to run at the front - as secretly you are afraid of getting your ass shoved into a trashcan by a very pissed off Mike Skinner?

Mr Mann has not yet encountered Mr Skinner on the racetrack and so would have been very surprised to have had his "ass shoved into a trashcan" if it had happened. No, it was just to gain more experience of running and racing in the mid-field and to lull the others into a false sense of security about his ability.

And this is the second time that you have mentioned Mr Mann in connection with Mr Skinner, Mr Twenty-Two. Are you trying to insinuate a feud that has not yet had a chance to manifest itself? Or are you trying to detract from some personal vendetta that you yourself actually have against the charming Mr Skinner?
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

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dr-baker wrote:Are you trying to insinuate a feud that has not yet had a chance to manifest itself?

Yes. Yes I am.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Wednesday 21th June 2006

Qualifying, Milwaukee 200, Craftsman Trucks, 2 laps, race 11/25

The truck continued to have the same handling difficiency as in the last round and left Douglas Mann in 21st for his second Craftsman Truck race. Fisher qualified in 9th, Erin Crocke rin 11th and Eubanks in 14th. Douglas suspected that his race in the same truck at a similar track starting in pretty much the same position would result in a similar race.

(As an aside, I've been playing this NASCAR game on PSP for a long time now, and most of the time, I just switch on the game and get a decent handling car/truck. But suddenly, it will just give me an ill-handling vehicle and I have no idea how to get it to handle properly again. It just happens every so often. Anybody got any idea what's going on?)


Friday 23rd June 2006

The race, Michigan 200, Craftsman Trucks, 50 laps, $60,000 purse

The start was as Douglas Mann anticipated. Fell to 25th by half-distance round the first lap but up to 24th by the end of lap 1. Down to 25th again by lap 1.5 and up to 23rd by the end of lap 2. Douglas was really struggling with turn 1. Turn in too soon and he would hit the pit wall - not a problem at the other end of this oval as the pit lane entry was there so could put the inside wheel over the white line if necessary. Turn in too late, as he thus often did and understeer was what ensured, and often with other trucks in position to take advantage of this, particularly in these early stages of the race.Round the first turn of lap 3, Douglas decided to just keep his foot in, was going three wide, drifted into the side of the truck on his right, who took out the truck on his right. Douglas was now 20th. Nothing more happened until lap 6, when a battle ahead of him led to several trucks all running wide together, allowing Douglas up to 15th... And by the end of lap 10, Douglas was up to 9th! But he wasn't holding his breath, surely it couldn't last? Almost immediately he fell to 10th and ran there for several laps. He had to protect himself from falling to 12th between laps 14 and 16, before regaining 10th comfortably on that 16th lap. It was at this point that he had his warning that he had 1/2 a tank of fuel left so he decided to pit at lap 25, exactly half distance, and hope that not only would the pitlane be quiet but also that he wouldn't speed on entry... The truck was also gaining a decent balance at this point, bizarrly. Entered the pits at the end of lap 25. The tyres were still fine as this point, but decided to change all 4, just to be on the safe side. He just had the feeling that if he didn't, a puncture would occur on the last lap of the race, just as Lightening McQueen did at the start of the film 'Cars'. And he avoided a pit-lane penalty this time. And he was 6th as he started breaking for the pits! He emerged from the pits in 36th and last... and lapped. Although he did have clear air as he exited, he had many trucks up his exhaust pipe, which did not make it easy. He soon left those immediately behind, opening up a gap. Other trucks started to come into the pits on Douglas's 29th lap (which would have been the leaders' 30th lap). On lap 32, Douglas took the lead! And with a couple of seconds' advantage... It had fallen from over 3 seconds to under 2 by lap 35, but with access to map information and where everybody else was on-track, Douglas was quietly hoping for a podium still... He finally lost the lead on lap 39, although it was not quite as smooth as he had hoped - his back end was pushed wide, but Douglas held on and continued in second. But to his surprise, having fallen over a second behind, he was then gaining on the leader! He was in the leader's draft by lap 43, but decided that if he could, he would just take it easy and sit in his his draft. Why? Because he was going to try for a move on the last lap of the race, when the leader would be unable to respond. Did it work out like that? No. Round the first bend, Douglas managed to push the leader wide, but this cost Douglas more time than the leader and just didn't get another chance. Douglas Mann finished 0.201 seconds off the lead in 2nd, and a fair way ahead of third. Much better than the previous race and qualifying suggested, particualrly helped by the truck's handling mysteriously improving mid-race... The female racer Erin Crocker finished 16th (having started 11th), Fisher finished 22nd from 9th on the grid and Eubanks had an equally torrid race, from 14th on the grid to 25th at the chequered flag.

Race Earnings

Salary $6,489
Winnings $4,200
Merchandise $149
New total $70,144
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

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After his most recent race, Douglas Mann was invited to take part in a Whelen Modified charity race on Monday 26th June 2006, which Douglas decided would be good preparation for his next Whelen event two days later on Wednesday 28th June.

Monday 26th June 2006

Charity race, Indianapolis Raceway Park, Whelen Modifieds, 37 laps, no purse/winnings

There would be no qualifying, as places would be drawwn at random. It was a 10-car race, and as luck would have it, Mann started 10th and last. He took turn 1 in 10th place, allowing the others to spread themselves slightly then soon, Douglas made his progress through the field so that by the start of lap 5, he was 0.07 seconds in the lead. This became 0.29 seconds one lap later - still close but larger than 0.07 s. One car entered the pits on lap 8, with several others having fallen away significantly from the leading pack, which until that point, all ten had been running together as one group. Dougals was glad he had avoided whatever incident had led to that situation... He was able to stay in the lead OK but the lead never got beyond 0.4 s, often varying regularly between 0.2 and 0.4 s. By lap 29, the lead group had reduced to 4, with the next two not far behind. The tenth car was still in the pits with the remaining three some way behind (although also some way from being lapped). Douglas Mann ended up winning by 0.334 seconds, having never lost the lead once he had taken it. 1 second covered the top 4, 3 seconds covered the top 6 and all 9 finishers were covered by 7.7 seconds. Douglas was satisfied by this and by the handling of his car, which gave him confidence for his next race 2 days later at Allstate for the 36-lap race for the Aloha 150 Whelen Modified race.
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by TomWazzleshaw »

Aloha... now that is a word that invokes some memories... I still haven't forgiven United for not stepping in to save them but that is a story for another day...
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

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Wednesday 28th June 2006

Aloha 150, Allstate racetrack, Whelen Modifieds, 36-lap race, $11,000 purse

Qualifying was held with the sun low in the sky, providing a beautiful orange backdrop to the on-track action, included Douglas Mann racing to 4th on the grid. And in a rare occurance, Mann was outqualifyed by one of his teammates, Wlker, who obtained a position of 2nd. Unfortunately for the other two, Beasley was 15th and Stanton was all the way down in 19th out off 22.

The race started fine, with Dougla quickly gaining third, which became 2nd at the start of lap 2 as he slipstreamed his temmate into the lead. However, he quickly got pushed back into third and then 5th before he knew it, with the driver in 6th harrassing him. But almost immediately Douglas started pulling away from 6th and back towards the leading 4, but as soon as he got amongst them, he got turned sideways, directly facing the wall! This was lap 8, and he was still running, albeit 3.75 seconds off the lead. His position? 4th! This gave Douglas the chance he needed to drive his own race for a while, in clear air, with just the leaders to catch up and pulling away from the rest of the closely-bunched field. As he slowly caught up with the leaders, he was glad to see that his teammate was still up there in second-place. Thank goodness it wasn't him with whom he had clashed! Started battling amongst them again on lap 18 and finally gained the lead on lap 24. It was several laps before the gap grew to as much as 0.1s, such was the relentlessness of the race. Even by lap 30, it was still only a lead of a few tenths of a second, with second and third running very close together. But come the penultimate lap of the race, the gap had shrunk to 0.07 seconds again temporarily so Douglas pushed hard on the final lap to finally win by 0.234s. Alan Walker eventually finished 3rd, having led 7 laps (compared to 13 for Douglas), while Nate Beasley improved on his qualifying position to finish 8th while Lou Stanton finished 18th. And once more, there was a driver who pulled into the pits on lap 22, not to emerge again (this was aroung the time Douglas Mann was lining himself up to take the lead of the race).

Championship positions

Douglass Mann was now feeling rather pleased - his chapionship lead was now greater than the number of points awarded for a win, a 197 point advantage over Alan Walker. And the driver in third in the championship was the same who parked his car in the pitlane in the Aloha 150... Anyway:

Douglas Mann - 1st - 1504 points
Alan Walker - 2nd - 1307 points - 197 points behind
Nate Beasley - 9th - 1190 points - 314 points behind
Lou Stanton - 15th - 1120 points - 384 points behind

Earnings

Salary $4,500
Winnings $1,320
Merchandise $199
New total $76,133

And thanks to all this success, Douglas soon had an email to say that he may get another pay raise soon - is this to tempt Douglas to stay in Whelen Modifieds for the final race of the year, where he has his only clash with his fresh Truck career, or just a simple reward? Douglas had already made his mind up about which race to compete in, but this might change things if the offer is good enough...
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
MCard LOLA
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Douglas Mann suddendly realised that he had won two races recently but had not celebrated with a victory sing-a-long, partly because he was taking his time to make his mind up. Now what song would be appropiate this time? After a long deliberation, he decided that it was finally time to make up his mind so he opted to make his mind up with... Making You Mind Up.
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
MCard LOLA
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Thursday 29th June 2006

Qualifying, O'Reilly Auto Parts 250, Kansas Speedway, Craftsman Trucks, 2 laps, round 12/25

On both laps, Douglas Mann started and ended the lap well, but managed to scrap the wall for 3/4 the way round turn 1. This left him good enough for 11th. Douglas wondered how well he might have done without running against the wall. At least the truck seemed to be better handling...His teammates were 8th (Eubanks) and 35th of 36 (Fisher). Erin Crocker was 22nd.


Saturday 1st July 2006

Race day, O'Reilly Auto Parts 250, Kansas Speedway, Craftsman Trucks, 41 laps, round 12/25, $42,396 purse

Douglas Mann was planning to run a quiet race, without much communication, just running his own race. But on lap 2, while in 13th, he got tagged, pushed towards the wall, got flipped onto his side before righting itself again, and was now last. Time for another of his comeback drives... With the driving imbalanced having returned! He finished the lap about 9 seconds down. He slowly was making up places, getting up to 30th by lap 16, when he got flipped again. He thought that, judging his tyre wear and fuel mileage, he could probably get away with pitting at the end of this lap to repair all the damage as his truck was now in a pretty bad way. Unluckily, he also got rear-ended as his truck uprighted himself, which forced his retirement from the race. :o :evil: :cry: "At least I'm nowhere in this championship," Douglas consoled himself afterwards. His teammate Eubanks finished 2nd, with a losing margin of 0.002s! He had led 0 laps and the winner had led 2! And the guy who had led the most (15 laps) finished 14th. Nobody else had led for more than 4 laps. Erin Crocker finished 26th and Fisher crossed the line 34th.

Earnings

Salary $6,489
Winnings $699
Merchandise $149
New Total $83,470

Douglas Mann had now scored 306 points in the Truck series and was still about 115 points away from no longer occupying 45th and last place in this championship. At least here, in this half season of truck racing, while I get up to speed, thought Douglas, The only way is up...
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
MCard LOLA
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

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dr-baker wrote:The only way is up...

Gotta love the 80s...
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

Post by dr-baker »

Thursday 6th July 2006

Qualifying, Tropical Oasis 200, Allstate, Craftsman Trucks, round 13/25, 2 laps

Douglas Mann was confused after his qualifying run. On his out-lap, the truck felt fine. So as the first of his two laps started, he pushed on, only to discover that he had understeer round the bends. Having brushed the wall, he had to back off round each bend thereafter and the shock came to discover that despite the understeer and lifting off, he was still on pole! At least Douglas could reassure himself that whatever happens in this race (having to back off mid-corner with 35 cars behind him scared him...), he was last in this championship by a significant margin and that this was purely for experience...Erin Crocker was 8th, Fisher was 9th and Eubanks would start 12th.


Saturday 8th July 2006

The race, Tropical Oasis 200, Allstate, Craftsman Trucks, round 13/25, 49 laps, $11,000 purse

The first half-lap went fine, but maybe that was because they were entering the first turn at a slower speed. Douglas Mann managed to retain the lead until the second half of the first lap, when he had to lift off the throttle to avoid brushing the outer wall. Three cars slipped up the inside of Douglas to leave him fourth by the end of lap 1. The second lap got worse, where other competitors saw their opportunities of someone struggling ahead of them and started employing door-rubbing tatics, whether Douglas Mann was ready or not. By lap 3, he was being spun round which caused a yellow to come out. By now, Douglas was already in 26th with a fair bit of damage to the car so he thought that now would be a good time to pits for some serious repairs to ensure he would not be an early retirement. This dropped him to 35th and last. The mild understeer was not cured by solely changing the right-side tyres. And come the restart, Douglas started to slowly fall behind. Between the restart and the end of lap 11, Douglas fell from 6.5 to 7.0 seconds behind the leader. By the start of lap 16, he was 9.9 seconds behind. Making up that amount of time in the pitstops would be hard, even to gain 1 place at the pace he was running. But at least he was running and keeping out of trouble... Shame he couldn't expect mid-1990s F1 levels of retirements! On lap 18, he accidently got the turn-in to a bend wrong and bashed the truck up a bit, but was able to continue, with running repairs now planned for his mid-race fuel and tyre pitstop. By lap 21, he was 14 seconds off the lead. With the rate he was off the pace (he was over 16.5 seconds off the leader on a 22-or-so second lap), he decided to go for a risky strategy - the tank only read 1/2 empty at lap 21 and the tyres were still fine by lap 28, so Douglas decided to only pit either only when he had to for fuel or when the traffic lapping him got too thick. Other trucks started to pit from lap 31, with pit stops taking long enough for Douglas to lap some people. This tactic meant that from lap 33, Douglas was able to lead the race by over 12 seconds! But it also meant that the field was more spread out and he would have to start dealing with traffic, not easy in an understeering truck... Lap 34 and he had a message to say that his lead was now 18 seconds, having just had a tap from another runner to cause a bit of a tankslapper! Anyway, Douglas now had a long chain of cars behind him, so now would be a good time for a pit-stop. Only, they all were overtaking on his inside, between him and the pit entry! And while being passed, he was hit from behind which pused him into the air in an already damaged truck - which brought out the yellow flag. His pit stop oppotunity! And after the green flag, he'll be at the back of the pack, able to run his own pace again... The limiting factor for the pitstop time was changing all four tyres, so Douglas quickly asked himself why he didn't just change two tyres again? After all, the left tyres were still OK. But then, he was the only truck pitting, and after the pitstop, he was still waiting for the field to pass the pit exit so he was safe. When the race got underway, he had one truck behind him which he let past, which dropped him from 20th to 21st, but Douglas thought that this was the safer tactic and hoped that he could hold onto the position to the end of the race, a safe thought as everybody was bunched up and Douglas was last of the unlapped and the lapped would be, well, a lap back from him after the safety car period. Only 10 laps to hold this position, from lap 40 to 49 inclusive... And he managed it, finishing 8.8 seconds from the leader and in 21st. Not the result you would have expected from the pole-winner, but then it equally wasn't the result you would have expected from someone who had to pit early for repairs and then lose between 0.5 and 1 second a lap between then and the routine pitstops. So Douglas was both happy and unhappy about the results. It was experience. The winner was his teammate Eubanks, so was able to take joy in that his team won. Fisher came home 12th and Erin Crocker had a shocker of a race, finishing 32nd.

Earnings

Salary $6,489
Winnings $264
Merchandise $149
New Total $90,372

Championship standings

Douglas was still last in the Craftsman Trucks, but now only 105 points away from the penultimate position of 44th! And then Douglas's manager had the nerve to phone him to say that he was underperforming and that he could still win the championship - he had 411 points, 1453 points less than the leader, and he was only doing a half-season! :shock: :?

Later that night, while asleep, Douglas Mann had a vision of the then-future NASCAR driver Mattias Ekstrom having a similar start to himself in a DTM race in Brands Hatch, England, in a Red Bull car about 4 years and 2 months in his future... And guess what? That vision came true!
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
MCard LOLA
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

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Thursday 13th July 2006

Qualifying, Red Ball 200, Redball, Craftsman Trucks, race 14/25, 2 laps

It had seemed some time since Douglas Mann had last raced his truck, but within the reality of the game, it had been less than a week since his race in the Tropical Oasis 200 at the Allstate oval. But he was prepared to give it all he had, while remembering that he was absolutely nowhere in this championship and would be doing exceedingly well just to break into the top-40 in this championship (it was the Whelen Modifieds where Douglas was currently dominating). So Douglas went out to qualify. Immediately he felt in control, the truck was handling beautifully and the track suited Douglas's driving style. Hense pole position was his. He felt that if he was able to make a decent start and not have too much pressure in the early stages, he could win this. Eubanks qualified 26th, Fisher would start 31st and Erin Crocker was 33rd - out of 36...


Saturday 15th July 2006

The race, Red Ball 200, Redball, Craftsman Trucks, race 14/25, 50 laps, $50,000 purse

The start went well, keeping the lead. Douglas went slightly wide on the exit to the final bend at the end of lap 1, meaning he crossed the line in 2nd, which he quickly regained round the next bend. The lead quickly stretched to over half-a-second over the next few laps, which subsequently disappeared just as quickly over the next few laps, until he was just nudged on the entry to one of the bends on lap 9, which would have been innoculous if the start of the pit wall hadn't been just there! So the slight nudge meant that Douglas thumped the pit wall hard, which brought out the yellows. But the angle and position of the truck meant that when Douglas got going again, he was forced to drive through the pits! He was now hoping that his pit stop would come at the right time and that he would be able to overtake from the rear well... By the end of lap 15, he was in 27th, having initially lost time to the rest of the pack on the first lap after the restart. The truck was not handling perfectly any more, like it was in qualifying, but the fact that he was able to get up to 20th by lap 20 meant it it was not a piece of (C)rap music. Unfortunately, on lap 24, about to start lap 25, he got nudged again as he was crossing the start/finish line, bringing out the yellows again. He decided that this was the perfect time to pit and have some damage repaired, but hoped that nobody else would, meaning that they would need to pit under green-flag conditions. And he was certainly the first to enter the pits... And Douglas would remain on the lead lap throughout in this situation! He rejoined in 1st, meaning that everybody else must have pitted subsequantly under yellows. But within a few laps of the restart on lap 30, everybody else were diving into the pits (again???). This confused Douglas but was not concerned as he still amnaged to pull away from the pack by half-a-second a lap after the restart on lap 30. All this meant that by the time the pit stops were completed on lap 39, Douglas had a two-lap lead! The truck was handling fine again, barring a tendancy to run a bit wide on exits to the turns, as it did at the end of lap 1, but with a 2-lap advantage, Douglas was just going to coax the truck to the end now. Which he did. A two-lap victory, having led 31 laps in a race that had apparently seen 12 changes for the lead. Fisher had risen from starting 31st to finishing 21st, Crocker gained just one position to finish 32nd, 3 laps down, on the same lap as Eubanks, 35th.

Earnings

Salary $6,489
Winnings $5,000
Merchandise $149 ("A mere pittance," thought Douglas...)
New Total $102,010

Championship positions

Douglas was now no longer last in the Craftsman Truck series! The last 5 positions were now as follows:
41st - Zach Van Dyke - 812 points
42nd - George Teague - 762 points
43rd - Douglas Mann - 601 points
44th - Stewart Claibourne - 575 points
45th - Casey Fletcher - 516 points

After the race, Douglas Mann received an email from Matt Kenseth, with the subjest line, "Showdown!" It read:
Matt Kenseth wrote:"A lot of people have been noticing your performance on the track, including me. If you think you can beat me, I'll see you out on the track."
The 3-lap race was scheduled for two days later in New York, on the Monday, which again, was 2 days before his Whelen Modified race in New Hampshire for the New England 100. The showdown, like the previous one, would be in Nextel Cup cars so he would be in three different cars within a week. "No matter," thought Douglas, "So long as I win in the Whelen Modifieds race and preserve my championship lead there, I'll be fine!"
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
MCard LOLA
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Re: Yet another fictional computer game career - Douglas Man

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Monday 17th July 2006

Showdown against Matt Kenseth, New York, 3 laps

This was going to be a Singapore-style night race through the streets of New York for 3 laps (would be like in the film Driven, if only the streets were not closed off for this event!). Despite getting wheelspin while puuling off from the standing start, Douglas Mann still crossed the line to start the race in first place, and was under pressure for the first 1.5 laps, with the lead always remaining below 0.25 seconds. But, just in Mann's first showdown, the person declaring the challenge suddenly slowed and pulled into the pits at the end of lap 2, leaving the third and final lap as a parade lap for Mann, the man with ancestors from the Isle of Man. But at least the first half of the race let Mann show what he could now do against a top-line Nextel Cup racer.

Now onto his Whelen Modified race!
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
MCard LOLA
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