The rally community lost one of their most spectacular drivers to ever grace the rally tracks.

Colin McRae died on September 15 on a stupid helicopter crash, along with his 5 year old son, and two friends.

Born in 1968, he was the son of 5-time British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae, and was the older brother of WRC pilot Alister McRae.

He started his career in 1986, competing in various Scottish Rally Championship events, driving a Talbot Sunbeam, and acquired his first WRC victory in 1993 driving a Prodrive-built Subaru Legacy, and after that, driving a Subaru Impreza, he took Subaru to 3 consecutive constructors championships from 1995 to 1997, catapulting the Subaru Impreza to stardom.

1995 was also the prime of Colin McRae's career, winning the WRC Drivers championship after an emotional duel with team mate Carlos Sainz with the legendary "555" Subaru Impreza. This title was historic for the WRC for two reasons:

• He was the first English driver to win the Drivers Championship
• He's currently the youngest Drivers Champion, winning the title with just 27 years of age.

In 1996, he was appointed a Member of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

He continued rallying until 2006, even taking part on the X-Games, going against Travis Pastrana, and only lost due to a spectacular crash of his modified Subaru Impreza.

Besides being a great pilot, he was my childhood hero. I watched WRC back in 1992-1997 just because of Colin McRae.

Here are some videos of his awesomeness as a pilot:

2006 X-games against Travis Pastrana

Top Gear Special putting a Ford Cougar against a Focus WRC and a Stewart Ford F1 in Silverstone

McRae driving the legendary "555" Impreza in the Rally of Portugal

RIP Colin McRae

1968-2007

Here I am again! How are you doing? I know what you're thinking: another 200 A-Spec race. Yep, that's true!

This time, we went to mess with t3h 1337 tun3rzz, on the Tuning Car Grand Prix.

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Car used: Amuse S2000 R1 '04

Specs: All non-power/weight upgrades, R3 tires (Alternative: R2 Tires, NA1)

Against: TRIAL Celica SS-II (ZZT231) '03, Opera Performance S2000 '04, AMUSE S2000 Street Version '04, Mine's Lancer Evolution VI '00, NISMO Fairlady Z Z-Tune (Z33) '03.

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Tracks:

Apricot Hill Reverse: Since this was a championship, it was easy to spot the lineup, and store it for later use. The main threat on the whole lineup is the Opera S2000. This car is really good, and it's ready to own you if you don't apply to your fullest. Fortunately, Apricot Hill has a critical place where you can win BOATLOADS of time: the tight S-Section at the beginning of the track, after the first corner. This place can decide the outcome of your race. I overtook the Opera S2000 at the hairpin on the 2nd lap. After this, you may only need to worry about blocking him on the stretch, since he is much faster than you.

Fuji Speedway 90's: Ah... Fuji 90's! Shortcut ahoy! And it's definitely needed, since it's a very fast track, with a BIG stretch, and the Opera S2000 doesn't want to ease things up, so you better rely on cutting the chicane at least once. Another good place to win time is the first corner. Since you bought Racing Brakes, you should be able to out-brake the competition, braking much later, and doing the corner much faster. Overtook 1st place after cutting the chicane on the second lap.

Tokyo Route 246: A very fast track! This is definitely not good for me, but it is good for the Opera S2000. Fortunately, you're running in R3 tires, so you can make some very fast corners. At the beginning, try to use your opponents as cushions to gain a very early lead, and win lots of time for the lead. Then, capitalize on the following corners: the long right sweeper, the banked S-Section (they brake unnecessarily here), the quick left hander after the double apex corner (same as before, but they brake even harder), and the last corner (they brake on the approach, and INSIDE the corner, which is something very unusual). Overtook the leader on the last corner on the 1st lap. Don't forget to block the S2000 on the long stretch.

El Capitan Reverse: No matter how many races I do here, and it doesn't matter if it is the Normal version or the Reverse version, I ALWAYS find 200 point races in here EASY. Seriously, either I'm too good of a driver, or the AI simply sucks driving here, or both. You can win time almost anywhere in this track, but the most crucial point is the hill section. Overtook the leader on the right bender before the bridge. Just to give you an idea of how easy this was: I won by 8 seconds.

Tsukuba Circuit: This was also an easy race, thanks to the blocking that the TRIAL Celica did to avoid the Opera S2000 to take over the lead (the TRIAL Celica started in the lead, and the Opera in 2nd). If that didn't happen, I'm sure I would have a much tougher time, especially taking into account the HUGE straightaway of Tsukuba. You can win some time on both hairpins if you do them smoothly, and on the last corner. Overtook 1st place before the first hairpin on Lap 2.

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There you have it! One more race done! And currently at 44380 points

Ratings:

Sunday Cup: 5.8/10
FF Challenge: 6.6/10
FR Challenge: 7.1/10
4WD Challenge: 5/10
MR Challenge: 6.8/10
Lightweight K: 7.6/10
Spider and Roadster: 7.2/10
Sport Truck Race: 1.5/10
Clubman Cup: 7.3/10
Tuning Car GP: 6.5/10

There's nothing of too much difficulty here, only some blockage to do, and some driving skills

Next up: NA Sports

*looks at last post*

Wow. Been a while since I last updated this...

Anyway, I've recently decided to do another race for 200 A-Spec, since I was already missing these races!

I've turned my head to the Clubman Cup; let's see what's in store for me...

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Car used: 10km Special Toyota Supra SZ-R '97

Specs: All non-power / weight upgrades, S2 tires, 100 ballast, Nitrous at max, no driving aids, Gearbox auto-setup at 7

Against: Toyota MR2 GT-S '97, Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 '85, Opel Speedster Turbo '00, Honda Integra Type R (DC5) '03, Clio Renault Sport V6 Phase 2 '03

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Tracks:

Apricot Hill Raceway: Started pretty tough in here. Since this was a pretty fast track, I would have to resort to Nitrous to win here. It took a bit for me to adapt to the extra weight on the car, but it turned out that this car was really fun to drive. The AI can't say the same about the 205, since it looked like the 205 was being driven by someone who just came out of the distillery, and drunk every bottle of whisky in stock. Anyway, I overtook the leading MR2 on the second lap on the hairpin about halfway through the track. Good places to win time are the long left hand sweeper, since the AI tends to do almost half the corner on the outside a la Ayrton Senna (RIP), and the tight S-section before the last corner. Oh and use Nitrous whenever you have a patch of straight road. Block the MR2 on the stretch.

Twin Ring Motegi East: Another fast track, but surprisingly, I thought this one was a bit easier than the last one. Don't expect the AI having the same trouble driving the 205 as it did on the last race, because that's not going to happen. Use the whole width of the track to your advantage. Overtook 1st place on the first corner of the last lap... I guess...(did this yesterday, at high night hours, so I can't remember much >_>). The technical section after the first turn is good to win time. Use nitrous on the many straightwaways.

Seoul Central Reverse: Crap, another fast track. But with a lot of straights, you can use Nitrous to your advantage. I don't know why, but the AI does the 2nd 90º turn too much on the outside. So you can win some time by using other cars as a cushion for that curve. Another good place is the S-Section before the last turn, since you can do it pretty smmothly, gaining some time. But this isn't enough to guarrantee 1st place, so you need to wallride the last corner. That's where I overtook 1st place: last corner, 3rd lap.

Clubman Stage 5: This was a pretty easy race. In fact, I don't think you need nitrous for this one at all. This used to be one of my favourite tracks from GT1. And since the Supra has a rather good weight distribution, you can do some corners (like the corner after the tunnel) almost without braking winning A LOT of time. The quick section after the tight left hander is also good to win time. Overtook 1st place on the 3rd lap, on the second to last curve.

Deep Forest Raceway: Another easy race. I can't really explain why the AI drives so badly here. You can win a lot of time almost through all of the track, but the last corner gets the award for "Most time winning corner", since you can do that corner well into 4th gear, maybe into 5th. Overtook 1st place on the last corner on the 2nd lap.

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That's it! That's all he wrote! Another rather easy event, with the 2 last tracks being extremely easy. But you need to be careful with Apricot Hill, since the AI drives pretty well in here.

Ratings:

Sunday Cup: 5.8/10
FF Challenge: 6.6/10
FR Challenge: 7.1/10
4WD Challenge: 5/10
MR Challenge: 6.8/10
Lightweight K: 7.6/10
Spider and Roadster: 7.2/10
Sport Truck Race: 1.5/10
Clubman Cup: 7.3/10

The tuning car cup is right next door. Pretty fitting, since there will be a tuned car meeting here in Portugal next week!

So I decided to go back to the 200 A-Spec points challenge, and finish the Beginner Events for good.

The last event means a lot for Americans, since they are the No. 1 producers of Pickup Trucks. This event is a good example of how raw the American power can be *cough* Toyota Tacoma *cough* .

Anyway, let's start:
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Car used: Dodge Ram 1500 LARAMIE Hemi Quad Cab (that's a long name...)

Specs: Stock on S2

Against: Chevrolet SSR, Chevrolet Silverado SST Concept, Dodge Ram 1500 LARAMIE Hemi Quad Cab, Toyota Tacoma X-Runner, Ford F-150 Lightning. (The cars are always the same, the only thing that is different is the positions in which they start)

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Tracks:

Fuji Speedway 90's: This race was very easy. If you get used to the stiff handling, that is vintage of the pickups, you'll get around this course pretty easily, even if you don't cut the chicane. Gained 1st place on the S-section at about 1/3 of the track. Word of advice: be very careful on the stretch, since the Silverado is much faster than the Ram. Block him.

Laguna Seca: Another very easy race. Although you need to be careful in some corners, since you can't do them too fast, or the Ram will understeer your ass into outside the track. Special attention on the downhill corner after the "corkscrew",because the car can tailgate a lot on that one. I even drifted my way on that corner on the second lap! I'll upload the pic as soon as I have time. Overtook first place on the corner before the quick lefthand corner.

Seattle Circuit Reverse: I guess I won't be able to find an event as easy as this one. Not a lot of things to point out, other than the fact that you need to be careful while doing the chicane, due to the size of the Ram. Overtook first place on the corner after crossing the railroad tracks.

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So that's it! Beginner events are all done for 200 A-Spec points. Now we will enter the Professional events.

Current A-Spec: Around 42612 points, I think

Ratings:

Sunday Cup: 5.8/10
FF Challenge: 6.6/10
FR Challenge: 7.1/10
4WD Challenge: 5/10
MR Challenge: 6.8/10
Lightweight K: 7.6/10
Spider and Roadster: 7.2/10
Sport Truck Race: 1.5/10

Very, very easy challenge. 0.5 points are there because of the roadblocking you need to do in Fuji

Off to the next one!

It's been a long time since I last updated this. But now, with some much needed vacations, I felt this was the perfect time to do a 200 A-Spec point race!

So without further ado, let's do this.

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Car used: Lotus Elise Type 72 (told you I would use this car in the future )

Specs: S1 Tires, all non-power upgrades (except weight reduction), 120 Ballast, Nitrous at max (for Twin Ring East). Reads 122 Hp at the Parts Change/Settings menu

Lineup: Vauxhall VX220, Toyota MR2 GT-S, Opel Speedster, Nissan 350Z Roadster, MG TF160 (an easy way to get this lineup: Instead of entering the race, preview it, then enter. You'll get this lineup)

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Tracks:

Twin Ring Motegi East: I was in a really bad mood when I decided to do this race. And when I am in a bad mood, this can only mean one thing: the AI better be careful, or they might find themselves eating some dirt after I ram them into oblivion. Anyway, I already knew this was going to be a tough one, since it was a track that had very few technical corners, and a lot of high speed straights. But the race was pretty fun, since I almost used everyone as a cushion to overtake them. But I had to use Nitrous on the second lap, otherwise I would lose. I overtook 1st place on the second lap after ramming it on the tight corner before the bridge overpass. The technical section after the first corner is a good place to win some time.

Trial Mountain Reverse: Nothing like a good technical circuit for an easy race. The AI brakes too much on this track, and you can use it to your advantage, if you know what you're doing. But be careful on the stretch before the tunnel. The competition is fast enough to overtake you here (you'll overtake them on the next corner, anyways...). I overtook 1st place on the last corner of the first lap. The whole downhill section after the second tunnel is a great place to win a lot of time, since you can make those curves pretty much without braking.

Infineon Raceway Sports: Another technical circuit, but much faster than Trial Mountain, so you'll have a bit more trouble here. Good places to win time are: the quick corner before the uphill S section in the beginning of the track, the long downhill corner at about halfway, and the two S-sections after the double-apex turn. Overtook 1st place after ramming it on the double apex turn, on lap 2.

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That's another one! My current A-Spec lies in 42042. Funny number, eh? Didn't add much points this time, since I did these races before for about 170 points (with the Chevrolet Bathtub..... I mean, the Chevrolet Corvette Convertible).

Rankings:

Sunday Cup: 5.8/10
FF Challenge: 6.6/10
FR Challenge: 7.1/10
4WD Challenge: 5/10
MR Challenge: 6.8/10
Lightweight K: 7.6/10
Spider and Roadster: 7.2/10

The only really tough one is Twin Ring, and it's made easy with the Nitrous equipped.

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There's only one race for me to complete the beginner events: The Pickup Truck race. So let's save this game.....

Uh Oh... this isn't good...

As soon as the game finishes saving, the controller turned itself off. And now, I can't do anything with it! . Even after opening the controller, I can't seem to find anything wrong!

Well... it looks like my controller is dead... It held on its own for more than 5 years...

Luckily, I have a spare one, since I bought my slim PS2! Time to give some work to that DS2!