I entered in the second heat of the Formula De tournament, out of four total heats. Our group picked the Monico track to compete on. I placed a strong second; after two competitive laps. The GM, Winston Forrest, announced that all second place winners qualify to for a time trial event at the final. The second place winners with the best time in the time trails would advance to the final. The number of finalists that showed up to play in the final, would determine how many second place winners advanced to the final. I wanted to play in an additional heat, in order to try to secure a first place win, but I was unable to due to scheduling conflicts with other games.

The number of first and second place finishers that showed up to the final allowed all but one second place finisher from the time trials to not advance. The final was to consist of sixteen racers. All second place finishers were to start behind the first place finishers for starting position in the final. I placed third in the time trials, which placed me in the tenth starting position for the final. The final was a three lap race on two combined tracks with all advanced rules in play. Racers were allowed to build their own cars by deciding where up to twenty four total wear points would be allocated.

There were three options racers could choose to construct their vehicle which did not cost extra wear points. These were experimental engines, wing settings and tire type. Two finalists opted for experimental engines. This option gave these racers rocket like engines, which allowed them to move up to an extra five spaces on certain die rolls. The down side to this option was that the racers were required to roll two dice for all engine checks, which meant they would be taking a lot of engine damage. Another option was a high wing setting. This option allowed racers to move one less space in corners if they wanted to. While this option acted like a free brake, the down side was that maximum move spaces were reduced in fourth, fifth and sixth gears. Several racers, including myself, chose a high wing setting for the race. Racers could choose between hard, soft or rain tires. I chose soft tires, which allow you to move an extra space, while costing more wear points when you overshoot a corner. In the construction of their vehicles, most players placed extra wear points for their tires, while the other five areas of wear varied.

The race was under way under sunny skies. Within the first half lap of the race, I was rolling well and I moved up to fourth place. The two racers with experimental engines were more than one third of a lap ahead of the rest of the field. Both these racers had already started taking some engine damage. Then the weather changed to rain. This slowed the race down considerably, as all the racers had to slow down due to the wet track conditions. The rain continued until the start of the second lap, when the
weather became party cloudy. My position had dropped and I was now somewhere in the middle of the field. Most of the racers chose to take their first pit stop, due to extreme tire wear and other vehicle wear. To most racers surprise, one of the two players with the experimental engines chose not to pit. This was a very risky decision, but he only taken minimal engine and tire wear during the first lap.

The weather changed briefly back to rain during the second lap, but to everyone?s happiness and sanity the weather became permanently sunny shortly thereafter, for the rest of the race. The two racers with experimental engines were now almost half a lap in front of their closest competitor. My position had worsened and I was now in the back part of the racing field. Two thirds of the way through the second lap an one of the experimental engines had taken too much damage and blew up. The second experimental engine racer just barely made it into the pits at the end of the second lap. Most of the field stopped t