BREAKING NEWS!

I FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!

Now I just need to wait for my diploma to be "officially" done....

...

Took six photos this week. Nothing very exciting happened, so it won't take long to tell.

First, the official shot for the two cars I bought last week.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage

And the SEAT Leon CUPRA, with the Works package

I did some more racing on the Hazyview Figure-8 track. Here are a couple of pictures taken when I was driving the Lamborghini Reventon.

I also took two pictures of my Vantage when I was racing on the 'Ring.

NFS Racing

Well, this week I really got into the Photo Mode. 8 photos altogether. Several pics, though, were taken in the same race, so it won't take as long to describe.

Ambush Canyon was the track that I used the most this week. First race was with the Audi R8. Here I out-braked the red R8 for 2nd place.

I must say that the R8 has grown on me. At first, I thought it somewhat bulky and not a nice handling car. It's definitely not as nice as the Zonda R, but it's good. I eventually went on to win the race.

Next, I took my Toyota Supera for a spin on a Dakota track. This is a view from the driver's seat. BTW, the Red Cross sign says: 'Text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10.'

Next I took my newly painted Koenigsegg CCX for a couple of races. At the Glendale West track, the action got a little intense behind me. (Thankfully!)

I came in 3rd in that race. 

Next, I took the CCX on Ambush Canyon. Once again, the start proved, well, chaotic. Here's me giving the car in front an unneeded boost.

Damaged my car so bad that I DNF'd. So, I tried again. Did better...

...Until we came to a sharp corner. The car in front of me dove into the inside line, I took the outside. The inside car got too close to the fence and shied away, but too violently. As he came toward me, I thought I could clear him, but he struck my tail at an acute angle, sending me straight into the concrete-and-metal fence. Bummer!

Badly damaged, I DNF'd. Again.

So I parked the Koenigsegg and took the Zonda R our for a spin. On the Hazyview figure-8 track. With 15 other opponents. Two words to describe the ensuing race: Hectically chaotic.

I won. Barely.

For my final race I took the R8 on Ambush Canyon. Passed a good number of cars right off the start, then braked slightly as I approached the corner. And got hit in the back.

Around I went. Damage: minimal. Continued racing and placed first. A great way to finish.

Also bought two new cars, which I'll photograph next week.

TTYL

What Can Happen in One Hour of Racing

Well, this week I set a record for picture-taking in Shift. I took 6, count 'em 6, photos! Guess I was trying to make up for last week....

To begin with, I took two more "official" photos.

The Porsche Carrera GT

And the Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Now, on to the action photos.  I spent my racing time on the Dakota tracks and the Ambush Canyon track, with 2 other races on the Hazyview figure-eight track. 

The Dakota tracks, particularly the Dakota National track, is notorious for being, well, a good place to crash. It combines a high speed half-oval with a sudden drop into the twisty infield track. Brake too late and you could end up in the wall, the grass, or the gravel trap. 

On the first race the the Carrera GT, I gained a good momentum as I dropped into the infield, but braked barely in time.

As you can see at the left, another car wasn't so lucky and ended up in the gravel pit. I went on to place 2nd in that race.

After racing for a while on the Dakota tracks, I decided to try my luck on the figure-eight track called Hazyview. As you can imagine, it's a small track. So, I set the number of opponents to the maximum - 15! I figured that it would make for some interesting fun. 

I first went with my Mercedes-Benz.

As you can see, I barely missed being rammed. For such a small track, the speed was pretty good. I wasn't hit in this race, though I came close, but others were, causing a sort of a traffic jam. After winning, I wondered what it'd be like to take my Pagani Zonda R for a spin. THAT was an interesting race. I was broad-sided into a wall, bouncing of it and a couple of other cars. Unfortuantly, I had my hands full, so I was unable to get a picture.

After that excitement, I wanted to relax. So off to Ambush Canyon I went! Turned out not to be as relaxing as I anticipated....

Having upgraded my Porsche GT2, I wanted to test it. I'd forgotten that Ambush Canyon starts can get pretty wild. Cars jostling for position get pushed into the dirt, raising clouds of dust and causing general chaos. Accidents are frequent at the start. I got into one. Everyone was accelerating when someone raised a cloud of dust, causing cars to brake suddenly. I braked, but too late.

I'm the car, front and center, with a wrinkled nose. I was able to solider on, but lost the race.

After racing Porsche for a while, I decided to unleash my three Bulls on the track. With the Gallardo, I won. With the Murcielago, I won but not without a fight. Largely thanks to this.

I'm the blue Murcielago, which has the works package. At the start, I accelerated very quickly, so quickly that I had to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting another car. The Lambo with the wrinkled nose didn't hit the brakes - he slammed into me and sent me spinning in front of the other car. Luckily, I spun clear of him before he hit me and, with my upgraded brakes and throttle response, was able to stop quickly and then accelerate fast, losing only one position.

Well, that's all for this week.

TTYL

P.S. I took the Reventon out on Ambush Canyon and succeeded in losing. 

Need for Speed

This week I did quite a bit of racing and not a lot of picture-taking, so I only got one picture.

I was racing the Aston Martin DB9 on the Ambush Canyon track. I had 15 other opponents. The track is pretty forgiving, but it does have a couple of sharp turns. Set in the desert, it's an awesome place to race! In this picture, I was on the longest straight, with first in sight, not to close to another car and with the beautiful scenery up ahead.

I ended up winning the race, with my car still in decent shape. (keyword being "decent")

By the time I finished racing for the evening, I had acquired over $3,000,000. So I went on a shopping spree! Purchased two more Porsches: the Carrera GT and the 911 GT3. It added over 800 Porsche-bred ponies to my stable. Next week I plan to unleash them on the Dakota tracks (where the action can get petty intense). I'll also get their "official" photos taken.

Well, that's all for this week.

TTYL

Need for Speed: Shift photos

To start with, I took my brand new Lamborghini Murcielago out for a spin on the Glendale East and West tracks. Got into some mix-ups, but nothing big. I then took some other cars out on different tracks and had varying levels of success.

Then I decided to take my Reventon out on the Dakota East track. Was that a ride! It was a half-oval, with some road course thrown in. You get going really fast and then have to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting either the wall or going into the grass. I managed to brake in time, but when I came to a sharp corner, a number of other Reventons were taking the corner slowly and I had too much speed. I braked hard, but only succeeded in spinning out and hitting another car. I whipped my car around and hit the gas to get going, so as to not lose more time. And I snapped this pic.

After finishing that race, I decided to take my Pagani Zonda R out for a spin on the same track. That was even more fun! More bumping and crashing. And I suffered one of the worst crashes I've ever done.

On the half oval, I was driving high up with several other cars under me, gaining speed. Suddenly a car just below and ahead of me hit a rough spot in the road. It wobbled, then spun around backward and came shooting up toward me. Instinctively, I jerked the wheel towards the wall in a useless attempt to avoid crashing. I snapped this pic just before he hit me.

He slammed into my tail, sending me smashing first into the upper wall, then into the side wall. Needless to say, my car was badly damaged and I was out of the race. 

This week I took two more "official" pictures.

First, the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 with the Works package...

And The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 Edition.

Well, that's all for now.

TTYL

What a Week!

Well, since last Wednesday, we've had some interesting thing going on at our place!

First of all, in the early part of last week, the weatherman was predicting a sever ice storm. So we, like other people, scrambled to prepare. On Thursday the storm hit. We got about 2-3 inches of snow and a little ice. Not to biggest storm, and certainly not as big as I thought it would be. But, unfortunately, it seems we were lucky. Other places got hit HARD! Electricity was knocked out in a number of places for several days. We can count our blessings here, that's for sure!

On Saturday night, I went to a party for our Youth Class. That was fun, but when I got home, I learned that our heater had gone out. *GULP* Fortunately, we have two gas heaters, one in the living room and the other in the patio room. So we managed to stay warm enough, albeit not as warm as we would have liked. On Monday the repairman came out and got it working again! :)

Also this past week, both my parents have been sick. I think they caught what I had a couple of weeks ago. Dad seems better now, but Mom, who got the worst of it, is still recovering.

Well, that's all for now.

TTYL