Saturday Night Recap
New Pilots, Diagnostic Service Showing Promise!

An event scheduled with the P-51 race plane guarantees excitement and close competition. Saturday night was no exception.
It was great to see three new pilots come out and I hope more on the roster become involved as Varo eliminates connection issues. MachToo was unfortunately unable to connect, apparently due to router settings. Don't despair, buddy! We will get to the root of the problem and look forward to your continued participation. Wombat and Raven11, fresh off their checkrides, were also in attendance and ready to race. Wombat has experience with a well known commercial racing sim and showed great skill as he flew the course at KMSO. Raven11 came ready to compete and demonstrated his desire to become a player. His flying had improved a lot in only two days since his checkride session. Great to have you aboard, guys!

The event was held as a mock/practice race and featured some excellent flying. West Coast ATC once again provided the servers and evaluated our connection throughout the event. I'm extremely grateful and excited that Varo has access to an excellent Support Technician.

Heat1A was a barnburner! Sryth, Flatline and Wombat put on a fine show. Roscoe was attending and got a chance to fly the pace plane.
The racing was close and as Sryth led the pack, Wombat and Flatline had an excellent battle for 2nd and 3rd. Wombats' prior pylon experience really showed as he was in the heat of competition from the start!

Heat1B brought more connection issues to light as GriffonJET and GOferBROKE tried to race together. The lagging problem was again a factor as GJ was seen to lag behind while claiming to be in a close race. More to come on this very difficult anomaly!

Heat1C was called to the line. Raven11 got his first taste of real competiton, racing together with Wombat and Roscoe. Roscoes' experience prevailed while Wombat put up an excellent fight for the lead! Raven11 was not to be counted out, as he wasn't far behind.

A three lap, standing start was proposed between Roscoe and Wombat, as it appeared a lag had marred the outcome of their prior engagement. The duel was settled with Roscoe leading and Wombat second.

Silver Race participants were called to the holding point and as GOferBROKE paced, the field gathered for a chance to race into the Gold. Raven11 had a chance to fly in the Silver Race and disappeared. Possibly another connection problem cost him a chance to get into the final. Anything can happen during a race and he might've made it into the Gold had he been able to return in time! More lag issues were apparent as the field circled the course.

The Gold Race included all pilots, as to be fair considering the problems with determining a definite finishing order in the Silver event.
After witnessing the earlier difficulties I contacted Erik, Varo Support Technician, before the Gold Race began. His monitoring of Varo events over the last three weeks has shed light on many difficulties.

A standing start was agreed on, as no pace plane was available. All pilots departed and the lag gremlin reared it's ugly head, again. Some close competition was again tainted by an airplane being unscoreable.

It seemed apparent what Varo had to do. The earlier postponement of points racing certainly appeared to be the correct move as it was obvious we had much to do to solve all the issues. Much frustration in trying to hold a fair, competitive event has many changes being implemented. Varo and West Coast ATC is working hard getting to the root of this and all pilots will be notified soon as to what will be required.

I can't thank Erik Thompson and West Coast ATC enough for devoting the time and knowledge required to raise Varo to a higher level.
The prospect of seeing the end of this era of glitches and gremlins has your reporter very excited! A clear-cut plan will be implemented soon. It will take time, but the end result will be worth it.

Again, welcome to our new pilots! Good to see more interest in the fly fast, turn left crowd!

#19 GOferBROKE, Over and out!