Fanatical Gamers - Blogs http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/blog.php Fanatical Gamers, PS3 PC and Xbox community gaming fan site. We are crazy about games en Sun, 20 May 2012 09:40:32 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/images/styles/Playstation/misc/rss.jpg Fanatical Gamers - Blogs http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/blog.php Las Vegas 2011 - Nascar/Hoilday (Final Part) http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?42-Las-Vegas-2011-Nascar-Hoilday-(Final-Part) Wed, 23 Mar 2011 06:49:39 GMT _ _Saturday halfway here_ - A much more calmer and sedate day than friday except for one thing when I arrived I went striaght to the neon garage I... _
Saturday halfway here - A much more calmer and sedate day than friday except for one thing when I arrived I went striaght to the neon garage I was walking around having a look around at some of the garages to see how teams were preparing their cars fors the practice session when all of a sudden Carl Edwards entered the neon garage where he made his way to victory lane (ironic - sunday), he was getting swamped pretty quickly so security step in as such and asked everyone to back away and move back to the seating area of victory lane.

Carl was there because some couple had got married I don't know how/what/why Carl was there for (probably paid for it is my best guess) but he was having pictures taken with the Bride and Groom then also with the whole wedding group. As this was happening I moved away slightly to a guard rail where no one was, the thing was though he would have to pass me as there were guard rails down nearly all the way out but it was a wide opening so I wasn't guaranteed anything. About 5 minutes passed and after he finished this wedding, he began to walk quickly to the exit and the best part was he was walking close to the guard rail towards where I was standing, so without think I got my program ready on Carl's page and walked alongside him and he signed it I was delighted as I said thanks, he carried on his way whilst about 100 people started to swarmed him Carl left the neon garage 5 seconds later, one bloke who waited on the end of the guard rails didn't even bother he wanted to get a poster signed by him. I said to the man "it's a hornets nest in there" and he agreed.

I had a walk down the inside of pit lane during final practice of the sprint cup during which the nationwide teams were soughting out there pit box and equipment ,again I got some good photos and like before I went back to the neon garage as practice was ending but because of the nationwide race most drivers left there garages pretty quickly apart from a few. Jamie McMurray did sign about 5 autographs I was next but he just left much to my bemusement.:(
Then in the garage next to him Ryan Newman was standing around talking to his his crew chief, a few people myself included had waited 15 minutes to see if he was going to sign anything problem was the nationwide race was starting very soon so I decided to leave, I'll never know if he signed autographs after I left.

So the nationwide race, this time there was no nagging vendors though they could have been drowned out by the noise of the cars but there weren't to many about from what I can remember, the nationwide race was very entertaining not only with Mark Martin winning on fuel mileage but Brad Keselowski's tire going down to hand the win to Martin on the final lap and top it all I witnessed history as Danica Patrick finished 4th! the best ever finish by a woman in one of the top 3 series in the entire history of Nascar!:D

After the race that was it for the day in terms of racing I ended up gambling during the evening/night.

Sunday the Grand Finale! - After what happened on saturday regarding getting only one drivers autograph I contemplated leaving my program at my hotel room but I decided against it and thank fu*k I did,;) I had intended to get to LVMS really early but it just wasn't possible, anyway when I arrived at the track I changed a tire on a mock nascar as such (I do have a photo of "the change a tire on a nascar") I also had a go at a race simulator though it wasn't that realistic in my opinion (I finished 2nd out of 16 cpu cars) I then took a few photos of outside the speedway such as the Richard Petty Grandstand and how crowded it was outside the speedway.

So after that I made my way to where the driver media center was as around 10am the drivers were having their pre-race meeting, and surrounding one half of the building was a lot of people at which point I decided I just wanted to get to pit road so I went round to the other side where there was hardly anyone in comparsion, anyway as I was waiting to be able to walk down the alleyway onto pit road, I was shocked when Jimmie Johnson appeared out of nowhere on the other side of the alleyway and as he was crossing I hurriedly got my program out, but he went on the opposite side of a fence which lead to the driver media center. I quickly spoke to Jimmie as I was walking alongside him on the opposite side of the fence and said to him " Jimmie I've come all the way from London mate" In which he stopped momentarily and with the gap big enough in the fence he signed the program, he said "you got me" he moved quickly on his way again I said thanks mate as he left.:cool:

When I walked backed to where I was Dale Jr then appeared he signed a couple of autographs for people but I was unable to get his autograph then to top it off, a minute later Kasey Kahne took the same route though he signed nothing he said he was in a hurry. I couldn't help but wonder if I said the same thing to Kahne and Dale Jr that I said to Jimmie about me being from London whether they would have signed my program for me, the truth is I'll never know:confused: though in the grand scheme of things if I was told I would only be able to get 1 autograph out of the 4, 48, 88 then to get Johnson's autograph is still amazing.

Though what did dawn on me as I finally got on pit road was the fact 3 of NASCAR's most popular drivers had deliberately took the back door entrance to avoid as many fans as possible it does make you think.:rolleyes:

Anyway I'm on pit road and I mean the actual track this time and I've taken tons of photos and videos which I will upload soon, while I was down on pit road the Red Bull 83 pit crew was there I pointed to my hat (83 Vickers) and I got to talk to the jackman of the 83 car we chatted for a couple of minutes about what happened to Vickers in 2010, so I basically just said I wanted to pass on my best wishes to Brian for the rest of the season and the jackman said he would pass on the message I said thanks and moved on. (I had to admit I thought it was doubtful he would pass the message on but I believed he must have as Vickers finished 10th ahead of 14th placed Kahne!)

One other thing to note theres was one pit sign that did amuse me to a certain extent and it might amuse you as well: J.P.Montoya's pit sign has a colombian flag background but has Marvin the Martian in a driver's suit:rolleyes: make of that what you will.;)

After I left pit road, I left the neon garage very quickly as well as it can pile up in terms of queues the closer to race time you get, anyway as I take my proper seat for the sprint cup race I ended up with a guy who was probably 6ft 5" sitting in front of me it wasn't that bad but it slightly affected some of my videos I took during the race.

It was a good race with anyone of 4 drivers that could still have won it right towards the end, however the only slight downer was no green-white-checkered I was desperate to see a 2 lap shootout at the end.;)

After the race I made the foolish mistake of taking my time to get to the shuttle I spent 10 minutes taking some last photos, when I got to the queue for shuttles to my hotel all the shuttle were gone I had to wait 90 mins roughly for a coach.!

Though it was a damn sight worse for the people who were at the back of the queue I took a photo of it you'll know it when you see it.

So as I left LVMS I had mixed emotions as I was pleased it was finally on a coach back to my hotel but yet sad as this was probably my last journey to watch Nascar for the forseeable future, though I did get a hell of a lot more out of the experience this time, like getting the autographs of 7 drivers (48,18,99,31,21,13 & 60),meeting Kyle Busch but most importantly taking a crap load of photos and videos.:cool: (which I wasn't able to last time)

------------------------------------------------------
For a brief summary of the second week for those who are interested was playing blackjack and quite a few poker tournaments without much success I must add.

Though one thing I did do which was completely different to previous Vegas holidays was I went to a gun range and learnt how to shoot a handgun, machine gun & shotgun!!! I 'll add photos of the gun shop and the list of what guns I shot it is pure madness!!!

Lastly if you're thinking of going to take a holiday to Vegas but you want to take the family with you in my opinion don't, it doesn't matter how they spin this place, but it's not a place for parents to take there children to its simply not family friendly sure there are places like the grand canyon and hoover dam but what it doesn't mention is how women dance around poles wearing nothing more than their lingerie on tables in the casinos near the card games like blackjack, 3 card poker etc.
Obviously as a single guy in his 20''s thats constitutes toward a good night out, but the fundamental problem is that these women are in open view to anyone and they begin dancing around 10pm even as early as 9pm I've noticed on certain occasions. There not in all the casinos but 2 years ago it didn't exist at all! Theres no way in a million years that I would want to expose my son/daughter to the women dancing on tables, with that and other things happening in Vegas now that didn't exist 2 years ago I can only wonder should I return to vegas in 2 years time what it will be like.

Anyway I know it was a long read but thanks for reading, if you have any question regarding Las Vegas I will be more than happy to try and answer them or offer my opinions on certain things Las Vegas related. ]]> Shadow Sylar http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?42-Las-Vegas-2011-Nascar-Hoilday-(Final-Part) Las Vegas 2011 - Nascar/Hoilday (Part 2) http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?41-Las-Vegas-2011-Nascar-Hoilday-(Part-2) Wed, 23 Mar 2011 06:41:51 GMT *NASCAR Weekend* _Friday It begins the start of the Nascar weekend_ - When I arrive at LVMS I have the minor aggrevation of collecting my tickets... NASCAR Weekend

Friday It begins the start of the Nascar weekend - When I arrive at LVMS I have the minor aggrevation of collecting my tickets at the speedway this takes about half an hour, after which I bought myself a official program then I went about buying myself some new Nascar gear as I didn't bring any with me. I was looking to buy 00, 1& 83 merchandise, the first hauler I found was McMurray's merchandise hauler I had a look around it but his stuff had McDonalds all over it and at the end of the day I could not condone buying a Nascar jacket with a Mcdonalds symbol on it and the phrase "I'm lovin' it".:rolleyes:

Next was Reutimann's he had ok stuff but his Nascar jacket was not the standard twill it was like a puffa jacket and considering how hot I would get wearing something like that I decided against it.:(
Finally I found Vickers though in truth it was a Red Bull merchandise hauler selling Kahne as well as Vickers though to my surprise there weren't no jackets so in the end I brought myself a 83 hat.

With no jacket bought I decided to look around others although I had no intention of buying a 24 or 99 as I've already got nascar jackets of these two, I had a look at the 21 hauler but they only sold hats, then had a look at the Richard Petty Motorsports hauler (9,43) they weren't selling jackets, then I saw the Childress haulers (27,29,31,33) I might of brought a 27 jacket but they didn't even sell much Menard stuff. Finally the 5 hauler caught my eye and I brought myself a 2011 Mark Martin jacket.:cool:

So with my newly acquired nascar gear I was about to enter the speedway to make my way to the neon garage when I realised I couldn't find my ticket for friday yet strangely enough I still had saturday's and sunday's.:confused: I ended up going back to the ticketing office and explained that I had lost my ticket, after showing my other tickets and some ID they replaced the lost ticket free of charge.

Despite all of the delays I had I manage to get to the neon garage before practice 1 started (at this point most of my photos and videos will do the talking) during practice I was on the inside of pit road and I walked nearly all the way down to turn 4 to take photos and videos of the cars entering pit lane and exiting turn 4, when practice was finishing I went back to the neon garage and started to walk around looking inside all of the garages to see if any of the drivers would be signing autographs.

As it turned out my luck would be in, as I was reaching one end of a side in the neon garage the next side I was about to walk to to Jeff Burton was starting to sign autographs so I quickly made my way there and he signed on his drivers page in my official program after I said thanks I got out of there pretty sharpish as a crowd was gathering. I then carried on my walk around and as I reached the opposite side to which Burton was none other than Trevor Bayne was starting to sign autographs, I was quite a way back in this mass of a queue technically its not a queue its a free for all,:p but I eventually got my program signed by Bayne which once again I said thank you and got the hell out of there.:)

I will say this much about Bayne the guy has got a lot a class while I took a minute to watch the chaos it very soon disappeared Bayne had signed them all, I had heard a rumour on sunday that he had signed the most autographs during the week which may not be a surprise considering he had won the Daytona 500 2 weeks ago, but considering the amount of fans & media he must have had asking for his time most drivers would probably be a tad sick of it yet Bayne was just enjoying the ride so to speak so fair play to the man.

After walking round some more I noticed Casey Mears in his garage talking to a couple of people I waited 5 minutes and he was still talking so I once again had a quick walk around when one of the lesser known drivers Landon Cassill was signing a autographs, I had a look through my official program and there was no 60 car of Cassill so he had to sign somewhere else in the program not on another drivers page though. I than went back to Mears and after 5 minutes he finally signed autographs after which I thanked both drivers and I left the neon garage to watch qualifying.

I decided to buy some headphones (or sound blockers as they call them in the states)to block out the noise of the cars as it can be very loud, anyway during qualifying something that caught my attention was the method that the vendors who were selling booze, they were just constantly shouting out almost like nagging they just wouldn't move on until they sold a few beers near their area and its not even like the beer is cheap, it was $6 a can for Miller Lite, Budweiser now I don't drink alcohol but even I can tell thats a shite price.:p

Anyway after qualifying finished I left the speedway and got on the coach back with thoughts firmly on getting to the hard rock casino before 8pm and then getting to the mirage at 10pm for the Waltrip comedy show.
When I got back to the Riviera one of its shops was selling nascar jackets and they had one 18 Jacket left so I decided to buy it with the hope that Kyle would sign it.

So after a quick change and bite to eat I made my way to the hard rock, on my way there I was walking down the strip and there was a huge mass of people I asked a policeman what was going on it turned out that Kim Karadashian was opening a new shop called sweet or sugar I think. Anyway there must have been at least a 1000 people there and she hadn't even arrived yet, all I knew though was I had to keep moving as time was tight it was around 7:30pm and I hadn't begun the 25 minute walk from the exit of the strip to the hard rock.

But as it turned out I got there just before 8pm and was expecting a long queue for the shop Kyle was suppose to be at, but to my amazement there was only around 70 people infront of me. So after a 10 minute wait a woman came out of the shop and announced to everyone that Kyle would sign 2 items! It was quite a surreal moment to be able to meet and talk to Kyle, when I said I came from London he thanked me for coming out to Las Vegas to watch the race for the weekend, anyway I got my program signed, my jacket as well and to top it of I got my photo taken with him as well!:D:cool:

After that I decided to take photos of the music memorabilia in the hard rock as i didn't do so the day before after I finished I went to the top floor of the car park and took some photos of the strip from afar, when I got to the ground floor I took some photos of the neon hard rock guitar, then I finally got a taxi back to the strip.

I was quite hungry though so I went into bally's casino and ordered a couple of hotdogs when I went to pay though thats when I saw the Waltrip comedy ticket I immediatedly looked at my watch it was 10:40pm.
I had completely forgot about it and wasted $50 in the process though when I got back to my hotel room I realised I still had a great day regardless of this one mishap.:) ]]> Shadow Sylar http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?41-Las-Vegas-2011-Nascar-Hoilday-(Part-2) Las Vegas 2011 - Nascar/Hoilday http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?40-Las-Vegas-2011-Nascar-Hoilday Wed, 23 Mar 2011 06:31:28 GMT So where to begin...
Well for a quick brief summary for those who didn't know this was my third holiday to Las Vegas and my second specifically for Nascar.:)

However despite this being the second time I was going to watch Nascar at LVMS I wasn't 100% sure how much more I would enjoy the experience than what I had before, but even to my surprise this year surpassed all my expectations and then some.:D

In 2009 there wasn't much news about Nascar related events taking place on the strip apart from the hauler parade which happened on a thursday, but this year I had done my research and there was events taking place in Las Vegas and the strip during the week so obviously I marked certain ones in which I wanted to attend.
On tuesday I went around some of the hotels to have a look around to see what changes if any had taken place, anyway I was in the Mirage when I noticed them advertising: Michael Waltrips Comedy Garage!:confused: So I went to the box office and asked them what it was all about and it turned out that Waltrip was having a go at stand up comedy, without hesitation I brought a ticket at the cost of $50 figuring it would be priceless regardless how good he was. There was also 2 other proper comedians who would be starting the show before Waltrip was on stage this was taking place on friday.

After that on wednesday I attended the Dale Earnhardt Foundation Celebrity Poker Tournament, it didn't feature top nascar drivers/celebrities but it did feature Kerry Earnhardt, Kelly Earnhardt, Matt Crafton, Eric McClure, Jeff Green, Carl Long, Robert Richardson Jr., Tommy Baldwin, Mike Skinner, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Michael McDowell, Charles Lewandoski & 6 others from the world of Nascar, what slightly intrigued me though was the fact there was no Dale Jr there. Now to enter this poker tournament cost me $150 with a top prize of $2500 so considering it was for a good cause I was happy to pay the tournament fee.

When the tournament took place I found out it had a strange format, basically you had to finish in the top 3 on your table and play would last 30 minutes, after that all the top 3 qualifers entered the semi final round but you needed to win your table to make the final table. Well to cut a long story short I finished 3rd in the semi final but it could have gone either way for me, though I did get to play against Kerry & Kelly Earnhradt during the tournament.

As for thursday there was a few events happening around 7pm such as Tony Stewart signing autographs at a office depot, Kyle Busch at M&M's world and David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip at the Monte Carlo Casino. Now I had planned to go to LVMS as there was a free driver autograph session featuring: Trevor Bayne, Justin Allgaier, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Mark Martin, Danica Patrick, Elliott Sadler, Kenny Wallace & Steven Wallace.
But to my disappointment I found out on wednesday that the bus shuttle service operating that day was only going to the 1/2 mile dirt track which was 1/2 a mile away from the speedway itself also shuttles wouldn't start returning until 9:15pm which would mean I would miss the hauler parade at 6pm and the autograph sessions so I decided to not go to LVMS that day.

So with a bit of spare time on thursday morning I ventured out to the Hard Rock Casino which was a good 25 minute walk from the strip! But it was well worth it I was left astounded at the sheer amount of music memorabilia inside the place there was literally hundreds of items, It must have taken me around an hour to see everything the hard rock casino had on display. As I was about to leave I noticed a advertising board outside one of the hard rock brand shops, it said "Kyle Busch Autograph session here friday 8pm-9pm"
I was quite surprised as nothing had been mentioned on Las Vegas TV or the internet, so I asked a member of the hard rock casino and they confrirmed this was happening.

So later that day after returning to the strip from the hard rock I watched the Hauler Parade as planned and recorded it on my camera (I'll upload it youtube) after which I went to the Monte Carlo Casino to try and meet Reutimann & Waltrip, if you're thinking why didn't I go to Stewart or Kyle Busch the answer's simple, Stewart's office depot appearence was quite a distance from the strip and as for Kyle I was planning to go to the Hard rock on friday, also I figured it would be borderline insanity trying to meet Kyle Busch at M&M's world would be packed and you required wristbands to meet him.:p
Anyway I got to the Monte Carlo and saw both Retuimann & Waltrip however as I was getting a 00 card Reutimann had left much to my surprise, I did get Waltrip's autograph but I didn't get the oppotunity to speak to him as a radio station had been setup there and he was on the radio show. So I left to try and catch up to Reutimann but he was gone.:(

So I made my way back to the MGM grand (where I would get the monorail back to the Riviera) as I was starting to make my way through the hotel I noticed a long line of people, curious I investigated and discovered that Matt Kenseth was signing autograph's he also had a 17 car next to him inside the casino, I thought about whether to get his autograph but I decided against it as there was a long queue and I'm not a fan of the 17 either so I just took a picture of him and his car and left. ]]> Shadow Sylar http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?40-Las-Vegas-2011-Nascar-Hoilday 3 round 30laps championship gt5 tuned http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?23-3-round-30laps-championship-gt5-tuned Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:01:45 GMT ---Quote (Originally by bandit202)--- 3 round 30laps championship on gt5 1120kgs 650hp class tuned no racecars please tuned car championship all rwd...
Quote Originally Posted by bandit202 View Post
3 round 30laps championship on gt5 1120kgs 650hp class tuned no racecars please tuned car championship all rwd and fwd cars welcome 11 places on the grid up 4 grabs 10 minute qualifier between each race starting time and track's 4 coming event will be posted in next 24hours anyone interested post reply on thread hope 2 see all soon at the track mega money and points up 4 grabs:eek:
]]> bandit202 http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?23-3-round-30laps-championship-gt5-tuned Euro Gamer http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?21-Euro-Gamer Mon, 10 May 2010 15:26:04 GMT Looking forward to meeting some of the CLAN at the event. Should be a good laugh ;) Looking forward to meeting some of the CLAN at the event.
Should be a good laugh ;) ]]> Stuoo http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?21-Euro-Gamer Borderlands http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?20-Borderlands Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:47:41 GMT I am fuming was nearing lvl 50 and went to load my game up, when a lovely little message popped up informing me my game save is corrupt. Well I think... I am fuming was nearing lvl 50 and went to load my game up, when a lovely little message popped up informing me my game save is corrupt. Well I think I have spent far to much effort on it, when I don'tbelieve it that great (was just after the trophy's really). :mad: ]]> Stuoo http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?20-Borderlands Tuition nights for Supercar challenge?? http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?19-Tuition-nights-for-Supercar-challenge Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:31:03 GMT How about hosting tuition sessions for driving and track tips on Supercar challenge?? Looking at the interest in set up tip's and general advise on how to keep up!!
Is there a way this could be sorted?? Obviously in a closed lobby for Elite members only:??? ]]> BarnVader http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?19-Tuition-nights-for-Supercar-challenge Flying Supercar ! http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?18-Flying-Supercar-! Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:31:51 GMT Have any of you guy's out there had this problem on SSC with the car flying up in the air:mad:
Please follow link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK2-pG7YQp4 ]]> slickstone http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?18-Flying-Supercar-! The Racing Elite News Letter #1 http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?17-The-Racing-Elite-News-Letter-1 Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:41:31 GMT Whats going on with the TRE Supercar Challenge, We are organising practice/fun nights every Tuesday and Sunday from around about 8pm GMT.... Whats going on with the TRE


Supercar Challenge,


We are organising practice/fun nights every Tuesday and Sunday from around about 8pm GMT. The purpose of the fun night is not only to make friends and have a good social event each week but to also get ready to challenge other clans that currently play the game. We know there's a few good clans about so it would be fun to see which teams come out on top!


Please put your name down here..... http://www.theracingelite.com/showth...=3717#post3717 if your interstead in challenging other clans


Need for Speed Shift


One of newest members Stig_007 is trying to get members to start a Shift league and requests that all members wish to participate put there name's down so we can get a count of who's planning to join in the fun. So for rule's and sign up please click..... http://www.theracingelite.com/showth...=3674#post3674


MAG


The time has come and a few members now have the beta, we have a poll to decide which team we should play as and also we have slots for squad leaders and regular soldiers to join in, We would like to run the MAG army as fair as possible, whilst having squad leaders to organise each squad in game will be having rotating squad leader assignments so everyone gets a shot at being the boss. For more information click here…... www.MAGARMY.com


General news


I have recently received an e-mail from a member of the PS3M Magazine requesting details from my self about our clan so that he can make us clan of the month in a future addition which should give us a nice boost in members, this is all thanks to the help and support of each and every member of the community. So a big thank you everyone


If anyone would like to start a league or be involved more in any way in any aspect of the clan/ community then please send myself (Firedshot) or any of the admin team a PM.


Thanks for being a great group again guys ]]> Firedshot http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?17-The-Racing-Elite-News-Letter-1 O.o whas this blog http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?14-O-o-whas-this-blog Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:06:07 GMT Well about time i posted SOMETHING on here so here it goes SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING ... Well about time i posted SOMETHING on here so here it goes

SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING


xD ]]> DrSt01NeR http://www.FanaticalGamers.com/entry.php?14-O-o-whas-this-blog