Proud.

I have started writing this four or five times, and I just can't seem to get a right starting spot. I tried over
here.

Over here.

EVEN HERE.

But nothing seems to work, so I'm just going to ramble in a hope it'll get things in motion. 

I'm now going use the phrase I hate. The most over-used, cringe-worthy phrase that exists in every politician's speech, every TV program and behind-the-scenes story.

This is my journey to AOR.

A few years ago, I was scouring the YouTube, and I stumbled upon a video called Overtakes of the week, published by RyanL83 (F1 YouTuber), I looked through his back-catalogue and found a co-op series he'd done, with another F1 YouTuber, FisiFan91. I watched part of the Brazil race on F1 2012 and subsequently went to check out Fisi's channel, where I was blown away. I quickly started watching the Offical ARL Highlights of the Xbox 360 F1 leagues, I was immensly impressed at how well the videos were made, the great commentary by xMattyG1 and the racing that was being shown, despite Noble2909 winning nearly everything. 

I began following a lot of the Xbox 360 F1 drivers on Twitter and one day, early 2014, one night in particular, I remember Fisi, getting very confused why people were asking him what had happened to the site. Having never previously visited the site, it didn't mean much to me but the fact that so many people were raising concerns surprised me. 

Having been on and off the newly reformed and renamed site, AOR, I joined the site as a general member in August 2014 and despite not actively racing in the leagues, I still enjoyed my time on the site. It had all the F1 news posted there, a general chat section and a motorsport specific area, where I spent a lot of my time. The community were great and I enjoyed going through the league threads and reading up on how peoples races were going. The quality of the site always surprised me, everything worked, it was more alive, than sites like BBC and SKY, who only did news. So to have a community based website was rather different. It also amazed me to see how many staff members they had, including FisiFan91, who was basically the guy who owned it all. 

At the start of February, I decided that AOR was so good, that I would start donating my money to the site, to enable it to continue running. I upgraded my membership and became a Premium Member.

At a similar time, I started running social events on Forza Motorsport 4 in the SEAT Leon SuperCup, it was a single make race with no upgrades/tuning. A purely driver focused series. Over a few weeks they grew and started gathering a bit of momentum, I made highlights for a while to promote them and at one point even considered turning the into a league, I laid down all the ground-work on a 4 page Google Doc, I had help from a friend and we planned to run the league together. 

Unfortunately, after our 7th event and what was planned to be the final social before the league was set to start, the level of driving that was being produced was not at the high standard I was expecting. So I pulled the plug on the leagues, I didn't want to do it but I wasn't willing to put the work into a championship where the drivers in question can't respect simple rules.

The socials stopped and I just went back to being a quiet member on the site. Until Project CARS came a long. Interest and momentum gathered quickly on the site. One night, about 11pm, Fisi started a thread asking people to message him if they thought they had all the necessary requirements and fancied becoming a member of the Project CARS team, planning the upcoming leagues for the game and then helping run them.

I looked at it and thought, "... well, why not?"

I put forward my 'application' so to speak, and within a week I was one of three new staff members on AOR, Project CARS coordinator for Xbox One.

Over the past few weeks, I cannot express how much I have enjoyed my time as a staff member on AOR. It's been mad, we've planned, put into place and are almost running the leagues now. I was off work last week, and I devoted 90% of my time to AOR, even now I'm back at work, I check AOR in the morning, and as soon as I get home I'm back on it. The enjoyment I get out of doing AOR stuff is unparalleled.

There is such a sense of working as a team. And an even larger feeling of doing a good job. Everyone pulls their weight and everyone works hard. The effort that is put into the leagues and the site in general is just on different level. I have never worked so hard in my life, which is funny, because it doesn't feel like work. I get my enjoyment from 'working' for free on a website than I do in my actual job, where I get paid, which I've openly said before is a job I like.

However, I have already decided that if I were to win the lottery or come into considerable money, then I would quit my actual job, devote a few thousand to AOR to cement it's future and pay for any
extra stuff that would crop up and devote my time 100% to AOR.

I have never been a proud man, especially when I answer questions on Ask.fm and I just get angry or depressed, but right now, as a member of the AOR community, I am proud. 

Formula 1 Monaco Grand Pix 21 - 24th May 2015

Monaco. The Glitz, the glamour, the one they all want to win.

The one where the track limits are defined by a shiny barrier, more than willing to convert your fancy Formula 1 car into an immediate write off in a very short amount of time. It's been Nico Rosberg's home for the past few years (Quite literally)

Monaco is unique for me because it's the only track where I enjoy watching qualifying more than I enjoy watching the race.  Qualifying around Monaco is a delight, low fuel, fresh tyres, the best in the business absolutely on it. Even the McLaren Honda looked great around there, doing a little justification that they actually have a decent chassis/aero package.

From a virtual perspective, I love driving Monaco on my own. With others it's just carnage. My favourite bit has got to going through Tabac and then blitzing past the swimming pool, that is an absolute joy. Getting pole around Monaco is almost like winning somewhere else, and that's because in part, it is.

For qualifying, Monaco is great. For racing? Monaco is probably the worst track there is. It simply doesn't work. The first half of the race was pretty monotonous, the glorified convoy. Only after all the pit-stops had taken place did the race hot up.

First point of call is the Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean incident. There's a hype about the Dutchman that the paddock is buying into and I think he is running with it too. Whilst Verstappen was wise to use Vettel to get past cars, announcing it over the radio was not smart. It's a bit like running towards someone and saying "When I get to you, I am going to punch you in the face!" So they'll be braced and ready to thump you first... or simply step out of the way.

Grosjean put him in his place at Monaco and well done to the Lotus driver. He placed his car perfectly. He let the lapping Vettel pass him without allowing the 17 year old the opportunity to overtake too.

Unfortunately his hard work was undone when we went on-board with Verstappen through La Rascasse, and as soon as we did, I knew what was coming. Up through the final corner and along the pit-bend, I was telling Verstappen to go left because Grosjean will defend. And he did defend it and Max went straight into the back of him and straight into the wall at a fair old rate.

Totally Verstappen's fault, even if Grosjean braked early, it is the responsibility of the car behind to avoid the accident and he didn't do that.

I'm not going to lie, I'm not convinced about Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr. is doing just as good (if not better) of a job and is getting little to no credit. Monaco will have taught Verstappen a lesson or two.

Next point of call is Mercedes.

All I can do really is quote Ted Kravitz, from Sky Sport F1, "Where did they think they were? IT'S MONACO! Track position is king here"

The maths, the calculations, the data, whatever you want to call it. It's pointless, bringing Lewis in was dumb, and if he asked to stop, then he should have been told that nobody else had stopped. It's so easy to defend around Monaco. Plus, do you really think the Mercedes cars were going to start going wheel-to-wheel in the final few laps of the race with that annoying red car right behind them, ready to pick up the pieces?

The pack were closer in Monaco than expected, especially as Vettel held onto Rosberg the entire race. I'm sure it'll be normal service resumed in Canada.

Cheerio, 

Stevie. 

CONTROVERSY.

This will be very to the point.

I do not like kids. In fact, I despise them. I hate everything about them. I hate what is expected of you. I hate how you're judged based on your actions. I hate a lot of things.

I hate when they're babies. They're just gurgling, crying balls of human mush.
I hate when they're toddlers. They're barely aware, gurgling, crying and attention seeking little humans.
I hate when they're children. When they can communicate. When can interact.
I hate when they're teenagers. Moody fuckers that disagree with everything anybody says.
I like when they're adults. Because they're no longer children.

People with kids expect you to love their child as much as they do. They feel you should be happy that their reproductive organs work.

This rant is not without context. Let me elaborate.

I am currently, at home. Like I usually am.
I share my house with my Mum, Aunt and Uncle. My Aunt and Uncle have the bottom half of the house. My Mum and I have the top.

My Aunt and Uncle currently have their grand-kids over.

A few weeks ago, the kids came upstairs, ran along the corridor to my room, opened the door and ran off. Then repeated the feat 6 times. This behaviour is immediately annoying after one time. So by the 6th, I shouted "Enough now" down the corridor. And they stopped. Since then, I haven't seen or spoken to them.

I don't want to see or speak to them. I have no interest in them. I don't know how to interact with them and I simply don't want to. I'm quite content, sat in my room. ON MY OWN.

Now, about an hour ago, one of them, ran along the corridor, opened my door and ran off. Well, since they last did this. I've had a new door fitted. It has a lock. So I locked the door.

They came back, it wouldn't open. Hah. Stevie wins.


Wrong.
Obviously. Of course I'm wrong. Why would I be right?

Apparently, after discussing with my Mum. They have made me a thing. And want to give it to me. I'm the bad guy for not taking it.

Part of the bullshit production this is. I'm supposed to be all gratuitous and kind and be ever so thankful they've made this wonderful picture for me. I simply don't care. I have more important things in my life that need my attention. Why should I have to pretend to care. Why should I have to go along with the fake thing about being thankful for a piece of paper. This is my room. My domain. My space. They should be kept downstairs where they are supposed to be.

I accept this is incredibly selfish behaviour I am displaying. I cannot stand 'expected behaviour' I dislike doing what I 'should' do. I 'should' go to them and kindly accept whatever it is they have. I 'should' be willing to let them open and close my door as much as they want. Because they're just kids.

Whatever.

Do you know what?
If they'd opened the door and actually given me the thing, I would have done the right thing and been polite and said "Thanks very much" But because they fucking opened it and ran off, that's what irritated me.

Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix - 8th to 10th May 2015

Catalunya. Catastrophe more like.

The F1 teams at the Circuit de Catalunya. They say it's the perfect track for testing. A reasonable amount of high-speed corners to check your chassis and aero works fine, a whopping long straight to make sure you power unit has the legs and enough slow speed corners to allow you to work on traction.

It's not a bad track by any means, I quite enjoy driving it, (virtually) The first two sectors are quite technical and require absolute precision. The third sector isn't great, with that fiddly chicane at the end of the lap, but the undulation change through there is brilliant.

However. As good as the track is to drive, it has one fundamental issue.

It is difficult to overtake. Unless you're a Bottas, or a Massa and you come up behind a Sainz Jr. or a Verstappen with DRS. Then you may as well be an LMP1 car overtaking a Renault Clio. I felt for the Toro Rosso boys this weekend. They did a great job in qualifying, getting themselves in the top 6 for the race. Then they both got mugged. Nothing they did wrong by the way. Quite simply, their motors simply can't run fast enough. Mercedes and Ferrari have horsepower. Renault has donkey power and Honda, well they're using cows at this point I think. Sounds like a cows rear end anyway.

For Rosberg, it was merely a formality. Take his first win of the season from pole position. He wasn't challenged, he wasn't flustered and built a huge unassailable gap, according to Mercedes. Nico has been on it this weekend. On his day, he's a top class driver, he's just got to have more of his days. Although on the other side of the Mercedes garage, I admired Lewis' attitude towards the end of the race, "Is it impossible or just difficult?" Always up for a challenge, apparently.

The rest? Well. Not much really. Kimi's opening lap was brilliant. Passing both Toro Rosso's around the outside in the middle sector was impressive. But that was lap 1. That was a long time ago, even in highlights by the time you get to the end of the race.

I wish they'd get rid of Catalunya. It's not a track that allows great racing and when Alonso retires, I can't imagine the turnout being quite has high for the albeit impressive Carlos Sainz Jr. or the invisible Roberto Merhi.

I'd like to see it gone. Which is why it has just extended it's contract to the end of 2019...

Oh goody.

Cheerio,

Stevie.