All entries are in and validated! Since all the competitors were racing on PC, I have repurposed that column to show the final positions.
It was a busy final day with a total of fourteen entries, including some improving on times in the same period and some from CMDRs new to this race and to Buckyballing!
Unlimited saw six entries and the first of those was from CMDR New Model 15 in the Asp Explorer
Try Not To Breathe. This CMDR has improved greatly over the course of the race and the final time achieved of
26:37 is only 7 seconds behind CMDR Martinjameson, so very well done! The next came from CMDR Darplata94, who was finally able to work out the time to put a decent run in in their Diamondback Explorer
Rolled Gold and it was not just decent but a podium-claiming
18:26. This would have been second but an improved time from CMDR Alec Turner in the
Bananery Fandango was enough to claim second, managing to complete a run in
18:17 despite an obscured jump. The final run in Unlimited came in hot in more ways than one, with CMDR crotalus daring to take the mobile bonfire that is the Lakon Type 7 Transporter around the course - without heat sinks! The
Celosia managed to complete the course in
28:23 despite needing a reboot to repair heat-damaged sensors.
The winner in Unlimited is Shaye Blackwood in the Dolphin
Athena with a time of
16:56. Congratulations! Well done to everyone who took part and who submitted an entry. There were some interesting builds on display, engineered to different extents, with ships stuffed to the gills with heat sinks in some cases or set up to run cold in others. Ultimately, almost everyone ran with at least one heat sink launcher in the end: the installations at Hedetes are inside the fuel scooping zone and it gets super-toasty when they are in between the A and B stars!
Regulation class saw eight entries and first up, with a great sigh of relief, was CMDR sulu who finally managed a sub-30-minute time in the
Cook Me Mamma, achieving a final time of
29:53 that is good enough for 3rd place overall. CMDR Chief Eng. Parker (HRDiagram on the forums) made multiple entries in the
A tough little S-O-A-B, culminating in a final time of
34:17, just 2 seconds ahead of CMDR Martinjameson who submitted a time of
34:19 in the
Now Then Young Whippet, after which there is a gap of over four minutes to the next entry, by CMDR Leeya Geddy. One of many new faces to Buckyballing, CMDR Leeya Geddy flew the
Necromancer around in a time of
38:29, moving ahead of CMDR Erratic Spawn by 12 seconds. Another first time run was even more impressive, with CMDR RockyStar flying
The Heat Trap around in only
33:21, which is good enough for 7th place overall. Yet the fastest time from a newcomer goes to CMDR IvlePhisto in the
Apollo, who recorded a time of
32:25, showing their mettle in both Unlimited and Regulation class and clearly a pilot to watch out for in future (as are the others - I have to say that all the newcomers recorded impressive times). CMDR Epaphus made an attempt to break the 30-minute barrier on the final day and achieved
30:07 in the
Talkie Toaster that is still a remarkable time and finishes 4th overall. The battle for 1st place continued right up until the last day with CMDR Alec Turner in the
Triple Cooked Chips and CMDR Ozric in the
Blue Thunder posting improved times. CMDR Alec Turner's time of
29:26 held the lead for hours until CMDR Ozric revealed a run of
29:24 to claim the golden heatsink launcher (not yet a thing, subject to future game development, no ETA no promises!) and 1st place!
Well done again to those who flew in Regulation class and who competed in this race. It has been especially good to welcome so many new CMDRs to Buckyball Racing and I have been impressed by your flying so o7 to you all!
The racing calendar is clear for the remainder of 3308 but there are ideas afoot for more in 3309 and anyone is welcome to pitch an idea. In the meantime we have a number of standing challenges, which you can read about on our website or Discord server (link to the website is in the OP, where an up-to-date invite to Discord can be found).
Until then, have fun and fly fast! o7
I have discovered my throttle likes applying full left lateral from time to time - I'd say randomly but just after take-off seems to be a favourite. That's what was happening in my "How to start" video a few pages back; and there was one glorious moment when I couldn't jump because my vector wasn't aligned with the destination, and then I noticed all the space dust moving rapidly sideways... I think I've also repeated 
), but because of other commitments I haven't had the time to complete it and race 
