Back to try again

 Well I am back to try again!  The goal is the same.  Life got in the way with the death of my father and Covid.  Several things have helped, time to grieve, I recently retired from full time at the hospital and Gotha launched a kickstarter for the second edition of Race.   It renewed my interest in the game and the project.  There is an excellent video of the upcoming solo system embedded in the kickstarter here.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s0L9NvRtUU.   So I looked for a season to simulate and have settled on 2006.  It was BMW's first official season and Michael Schumaker's last.  In addition I have found short rules on BGG and must say that I enjoy them.  I have played 2 solo practice races on the Brazillian track and think I am ready.  Rather than start in Bahrain I will start in Spain again as that is an official board and will give a little comparison to my previous experiences. I am using the short rules.  Since I am BMW and we did not have a great car I am giving myself 3 points instead of 4 used in the short game.  I am going to go balance with 1 point for cards, tires and damage.  

   I am using the Race robot rules with several exceptions; robots do pay to pass, any fast or super fast robot that initially pits before turn 9 will pit twice during the race as they are doing a 2 pit strategy.  Their first set of tires will allow them 1 blue chip.  Robots can challenge in curves against other robots.  I am using my modified contest table found at BBG and a special events table that I am testing. 

The field

Fernando Alonso           Super  Fast          +1 if same cards drawn

Giancarlo Fisichella     Super   Fast

Kimi Raikkonen           Super    Fast

Juan Pablo Montoya       Fast                  +1 if same cards drawn  Aggressive 

Michael Schumaker      Super Fast         +1 if same cards drawn  Bruiser

Felip Massa                   Super Fast

Me

Jacques Villenevue        Slow                 +1 if same cards drawn

Jenson Button                Fast                   reflexes,  rain expert

Rubens Barrichello        Fast

David Couthard             Fast                    reflexes

Christian Klien              Slow

Mark Weber                  Slow                  free passing, pass on corners for 1mp

Nico Rosberg                Slow                  rookie year

 

Aggressive will start a contest or take a ET or LB on a "6" but will only do this once per game turn row.

I hope the above will give me some variation in the drivers but still play fast enough to keep me engaged.  During testing I could play a clean turn in under 5 minutes.  As you can see the goal over the season is not to "win" with my car as that would be unrealistic.  It is to perform better than BMW did historically.  

So...

As qualifying approached I rolled for my skill.  I got "pitting" so a 2 stop was certainly in the works. The highest card I drew was a "3" so I added 1 and hoped for the best.  That put me 10th in the field!  As I was pitting turn 7 I decided on soft tires and went with "banging wheels" since there will be a lot of traffic.  

McLaren was well represented so it looks like they will have fast cars this year.  Raikkonen took pole and Montoya was third.  Mark Weber from Williams surprised everyone and was second.  Fan Favorite Alonso was fifth as he prepared to defend his 2005 crown.  

 The starting grid.  You can't even see me from here!   [ I haven't got new cars yet.]

A shot of the track.

So I am off to the races so to speak.  Will see if I like this game and format.  I know there are more experience players out there so comments and suggestions on the drivers or rule changes always welcome.

Thanks

Joe