What an awesome 2 days that was!
Firstly, big thanks and congratulations to all the guys who made it to the national final. Was really cool to meet everyone and put names and faces to gamer tags. I had an absolute ball talking to all of you over the 2 days and had some awesome fun and laughs. Great bunch of guys and will be keeping in touch for the future.
To the competition, what a crazy and hectic 2 days!
Gaming day 1: 3 rounds in the pods to try and make the top 18 and got through that with no real issues, except for a scare in the 2nd round when the sound dropped out on my headphones and distracted me. Made it through to the top 18 and onto the next stage.
Fitness: Was in the first group which was arguably the most competitive in the fitness stage. Scored an 11.3 on the beep test which i was pleased about, not where i wanted to be, but happy in the sense that I could not physically have run any more than that, so pushed it to the absolute limit.
Then the pushups which were again OK, but struggled because the way they were run (on a slow count by the Nissan Motorsport Fitness guy) was not how I trained for them and only got 28.
The plank was next and again, struggled with very little gap between the beep test and the pushups, and having pushed my body to the limit in the previous 2, only managed a 2:32 in the plank despite getting 4:00 at home. But fitness was done and after looking at other peoples scores, was probably around 6th or 7th overall for the fitness section.
back to the hotel that night and struggled to sleep at all. Rain was hitting the window which was unusually loud, like a squirrel was tapping against the window all night, and the rock hard mattress made it tough.
Gaming: Was really happy with this part. Knew that with lots of pressure and no room for error, I only had to keep it on the track and post a decent lap in each to be strong here. I think I ended up the gaming part around P2.
Driving: This was the part I knew I killed. Being first up I thought was a bit of a disadvantage, but turned out to be fine as I put down a really good time first up and put the pressure on everyone behind. Explored the car limits and what it could do in my practice run, hitting a cone or two which was fine. Then my first timed run and I nailed it. Couldn't have gone much better. With having a strong banker posted. I thought I would push a bit more in the second run but clipped a cone, so had a bit of fun for the rest of the run. When the timer came over to get our names after the run, I got a look at the benchmark time and my times and saw that I was 1 second below the benchmark which gave me some confidence heading into the media challenge.
Media: This part is always hit or miss and you can talk yourself out of doing well here. Being first up again I went in and was really happy with how I went. I was getting smiles and nods from the journalists which was reassuring, and didn't get stuck in sentences or throw out any "ums" or "arghs".
waiting for the names to be called out, I thought I must have done enough to get through to Silverstone, but with the names called out in no particular order (they didn't tell us our rankings) and with only 1 spot left, I was crapping myself. Finally when they called my name out I almost broke down there and then. Was such a relief and such a good feeling to know that all the hard work and sacrifices paid off. Later one of the NISMO guys was talking to me on the side and told me that he called my name last just because he wanted to make me sweat. Well it definitely worked, I almost s#*& myself.
Have to say my commiserations go to MINT, Fastboy, Mustafur, R0T0R and all the other guys for not making it through. All I can say is, I know what you are going through as this happened to me last time. Use it as motivation to work hard and push for the next time this comes around. I waited 4 years for another shot at this and put everything I had into it.
I'll keep you guys updated with my progress and preparation for Silverstone in the coming weeks. Only half the job is done though, there is a long way to go and a lot of work to do. But I'll be doing all I can to win and live my dream.
Talk to you soon,
Josh
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