Grats to the oAo, then, for edging the UK brigade if only just. Quite fun dashing about Donington and a race that went well for the most part despite having the VROC steering glitch to contend with. Actually, it wasn't that noticeable this time but most definitely there.
Pretty intense stuff. 44 of 45 laps dicing with Bo either just in front of or just behind him. Pity he short-braked me into a spin on L38. I checked that lap in GPLRA and compared it to the four previous clean laps. No question that he got out of the throttle way early for McLeans and gave me only one option to avoid him. Rather a distasteful end to a roaring-good dice.
That's small potatoes, tho, compared to this:
Friends. Some grievous news...
Effective immediately, I’ve retired from all sim racing. This is a bitter pill indeed and one that I’m shocked, frankly, to have to announce.
Some of you have known for quite some time that I’ve suffered from eye complaints. Indeed, since 2006, I’ve been under the gun with Graves’ Disease.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000358.htmOwing to financial burdens, I stopped taking my medications in August, 2008, and that was the case for quite some months. In March of this year, I started to develop double-vision, aka, diplopia, and needed quick intervention to halt its progress. This has been accomplished and, in fact, the phenomenon is somewhat reduced now. However...
After running 44 of 45 highly intense laps of Donington in a UKGPL event today, I went downstairs to see how dinner...brats on a bun; mmm...was progressing. The main floor was all smokey. Not blurry...smokey. I asked the Boss, Donna, if she’d over-done the buns. She hadn’t started them as yet. I assumed, then, that the brats themselves were responsible for all the smoke and thru on the hood fan over the stove to clear the kitchen. The wife said there wasn’t any to clear in the first place. We went downstairs to the basement to fetch some items and it was as smokey as the Dickens down there. Donna assured me that there was no smoke to be seen by her. I then covered each eye. Both about the same with possibly the left eye displaying a bit more affect. THE WRITING WAS ON THE WALL.
In an instant, the clear and proper action for me to take was obvious. So long, GPL. Adieu, GTL. Bye, bye, GTR2 and PNG. Au revoir, rF. The eye strain is too much and I can’t risk further damage if that’s what’s going on. Certainly, such concentration as I had to exhibit today at Donington was extreme but I can’t in all good conscious risk more of the same.
I’ll still be quite active in sim racing but not on a participatory scale. I’ll be watching for new releases of tracks and MODS and will lay down some laps in those new offerings. No question of that. I’ll also be monitoring the grid layout situation for the ADC GPL events and offering my revised configs if I see a need. Re the America’s Division of the ADC GTL events, a new Director should be sought ASAP. In fact, if anything, GTL is harder on my eyeballs than GPL so the sooner this chair is filled, the better.
There is a bright side to all this. I’ve long neglected completion of my Calabogie track project for GPL. This now can take a top priority. I do not believe that track editing for GPL will be anywhere near as taxing as driving it for extended periods. I’ll look at completing my Nelson Ledges circuit as well. I have other plans re GPL tracks which I can address as well. All manner of stuff, in fact.
It’s a good hour now since the end of that UKGPL race and my vision is improved tho still slightly cloudy. I’m not fooled a bit, tho. C’est la guerre...
To all my very good friends at the ADC, the NAGPL and the UKGPL, thanks a million for all the laffs. It’s been a treat.
Doni
