I agree with Codger, having a go at a Buckyball or two can really help your piloting skills, the one or two a year I have done have helped mine a lot that said I have studied training videos that some of them have done and can still barely see how they do some of the stuff. But it is great fun and if you can't be the best you can always try and pick up an honourable mention for something such as most inappropriate ship or most spectacular crash though IIRC that one is usually grabbed by one of the regulars.
And congratulations on your century Tyres.
Just a quickie to say that we have our first race of 3305 starting on the 12th Jan and running until the 22nd. Forum thread should be going up on Thursday at which point I'll change my forum sig to point at it and I'll also update buckyballracing.org.uk. Hope to see some of you folks there.I've had a fair amount of experience with the Buckyball crew, having joined a few races and lost terribly. The top guys can reallllly fly, like...superhuman stuff. I've seen it myself, and it amazes me what they can do!
That said, I think trying to do any of the Buckyball races will improve your own flying a lot. I know it has mine (even though I'm still at the bottom of the list, I'm better than I was! lol).
So don't just pass by those illuminating posts by Alec, etc. Join up! You'll have fun, at the very least.