I took a lot of panoramic photos, and have featured one larger right here. It’s well worth a look, as is the main gallery of photos… The five photos featured below is just a taste…

Click here to open the post in your browser and see the gallery.

Click here to view all the photos from The Badlands.

This is just one of 28 panoramic images created from my photos. This one was taken as we were exiting The Badlands and going out onto the Prairie. We also only visited a tiny amount of the area during our quick driving visit!

Some of the background on my new company:

ISI began with production of military simulators. They have worked on many different types of software but focused most of their development time over the years on racing games/simulators. Examples of older titles produced by the company include Sportscar GT and many F1 titles including F1 Challenge ’99-’02 – all produced for Electronic Arts.

Sportscar GT

F1 Challenge 99-02

Their software is currently used by other simulation developers and many real-world racing teams, these customers license a version of the software from ISI and modify it for their own needs. Examples of those using this software are RedBull F1 and SIMBIN Development Team.

The 2007 Sauber BMW F1 car which ships with rFactor 1.

rFactor was released in 2005 and has been updated a few times over the years. rFactor 2 is the next major update from ISI and from what I saw during my interview with the company in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it is something I am very excited to be involved in.

A 1960's era open-wheel car on a very familiar looking race track - rFactor 2.

Rain-Dry and Night-Day (see above) transitional racing for rFactor 2.

Dirt (above), Oval, Karts, Point to Point (eg: rally) and Road racing for rFactor 2.

The video really tells the story, but the basics are that I had a nice stable setup, was about 0.3s slower in qualifying, but didn’t expect to be far off during race conditions. Judging by practice I also seemed more capable of running without spinning than just about everyone else on the race track: If I held my car to the third or fourth lane up, I knew I would never spin out.

The Ford Mustang FR500S pace car pulls onto pit road for the race start...

One of those 'various incidents' as Brian Simpson spins out ahead of me.

I started to focus on Ryan and try to use him to help me stay consistent and this backfired in a big way when a Daniel Olszewski spin ahead of him bypassed my attention until it was too late… I’m pretty sure nothing I did differently would have helped (as Ryan made contact with Daniel before I touched him) but I still think my reactions were a bit slow and when Daniel spun both Ryan and myself were collected… The chain reaction also caught out Cary Bettenhausen and Kevin Cress who both spun out in avoidance, Kevin getting the worst of it as he slammed into the wall.

Daniel's unlucky number 13 car waited until lap 34 to strike us down...

’16th Street’ isn’t really a regular league as it is run by someone within racing and has many racing stars actually racing. The fact that you can go wheel-to-wheel with Will Power, Justin Wilson or anybody whatsoever with a name like ‘Foyt’ is simply amazing as a race fan. The real-world drivers become so aware of the sim racing talent that when I was at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May for iRacing.com’s ‘Indy 25′ with Justin, Mike Conway and Tomas Schekter it was sim racer Tim Holgate who provided the car setup all three of them used when racing.

I worked for about 30 minutes before joining the server on what I thought was a fantastic setup; much faster and more stable than the iRacing Advanced setup included with the simulation. Unfortunately after joining the practice I found myself as much as a second off the pace and knew I was in trouble… Much to my delight after expressing my bewilderment in the text chat, Tim “Mr Setup” Holgate came through for me this time and gave me a setup that allowed me to enjoy the race immensely.

I used Tim’s race setup – unmodified – for qualifying and this probably put me a little further down the starting order. I managed a 25.425 and while this was only 0.6s slower than pole I found myself way down in 23rd! This was a fast group!

The race gets under way and I'm waaaaaay back there...

By lap 14 Simon had begun to charge back through the field and I let him go low as soon as he got close enough to pass. The car of Bryan Heitkotter followed him through and I had now dropped back to 17th. A couple of laps later I also let Cary Bettenhausen by on the low side and I could start to feel my car pushing a lot more as I entered the turns, on lap 17 it caught me out and I ran very high, letting Gary Clark and Daniel by while I slipped to 20th.

There was a group of cautions between lap 20 – when I pitted – and lap 40. By lap 47 I was running 15th and starting to feel comfortable in a drafting pack with Todd and Sean Graham, but again got caught out by a sudden push in the turn and ran high, letting Robert Bohanek, Larry Foyt and Bryan drop me to 18th. Robert and I battled for position until lap 72 when Eric Palacio spun on the frontstretch and brought out a timely yellow flag… This yellow caught out most of the leaders who had recently pitted and allowed me to pit during the caution for the final time.

After the leaders got their wave around I found myself restarting in ninth on lap 78 ahead of a lot of fast cars, and after the car of Billy Wease spun on the restart quickly gained another spot for the next one. My lap 83 restart was absolutely abysmal and after restarting eighth I got freight trained on the low side by the former leaders and dropped all the way down to 17th. It wasn’t long before that huge group started to race each other and eventually there was a crash on the backstraight which brought out another caution and lifted me to 14th.

Hung out to dry...

For the final restart on lap 118 I got another bad one, but did manage to hold position from Daniel as we crossed the line to finish the race.

Very nice to be able to see the race leader cross the line, hopefully will finish a bit closer next time....

Of those things above, I think the biggest change to the Dallara Indy car from what I would normally race is the restarts… I think this will come with experience but I’m used to being able to make up for a bad restart and in these cars you just can’t do that.

All the oval time trials were won in Division 10. I hadn’t time trialled much and was really surprised to find myself in that division and decided to go for every oval series I could. It turned out to be a close fight in a few of them and in those I’m happy to have still got a top-three.

On the road side I only competed in two series and had been placed in Division 5. I finished fifth in the Spec Racer and third in the Skip Barber – I’m more delighted with that than I am with most of the oval certificates!

Advanced Legends Division 10 Time Trials

NASCAR Class D SK Modified Division 10 Time Trials

NASCAR Class D Late Model Division 10 Time Trials

Skip Barber Division 5 Time Trials

NASCAR Class C Division 10 Time Trials

Silver Crown Division 10 Time Trials

NASCAR Class B Division 10 Time Trials

NASCAR Class A Division 10 Time Trials

I ran a single qualifying session and amusingly set exactly the same lap time (down to the thousandth) as someone I had been communicating with about the Brickyard 400 on Twitter. I felt I probably could have done a faster time, but my qualifying time felt comfortable and I really wanted to not drive over the limits of my skill or the setup during the race. My time of 43.690 was enough to put me fifth on the grid anyway.

Starting on the inside was a definite advantage and I saw that quickly when I managed to start fifth and be third before the end of lap one. I stayed third until lap ten when Dwight Plesh got a little sideways and then eventually pitted under the next caution, allowing me to take second.

Leading the field into turn one at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

I restarted 18th on lap 44 and by lap 62 had worked my way back into the top-five, leading lap 66 due to drivers ahead of me fighting too hard for position and all losing out. I decided to pit on lap 68 and this put me 17th for another restart and back on-sequence with the leaders. I decided to pit again on lap 76, figuring that my off-sequence pitting and quick pace going through the field on previous runs meant I could win the race that way if I stuck with it.

The lap 76 restart from 16th-place was good and I quickly moved my way back to the front, leading by lap 91. I led until lap 100 when drivers with fresher tires started to come up behind me, and just like I had in the entire race I let them by as soon as they were close enough to do so. I comfortably ran in the top-five again though and eventually pitted on lap 104.

Chuck Chambliss hits the wall after contact from Tomas Klopp.

For the restart on lap 148 I ran in sixth-place and this is where the impatience of some of the drivers in the event became annoying… We had three restarts between laps 148 and the finish because people wrecked in the first turn on each green flag. I managed to pass two cars around the outside on the lap 148 restart (yes, on the outside), but never got a chance to get up to speed for either of the other two restarts, so remained stuck in fourth.

It became a terribly disappointing finish. I really hoped the race would not end that way, especially ending under a yellow flag.

Still, I suppose that’s racing… You win some, you lose some, and I can’t really say I am upset Michael Kundakcioglu got the win… He seemed like a really decent guy and was really pleased.

I am pleased, of course, to have had no incidents. Yes, that is right, I battled through the entire field multiple times and I fought for the lead, yet I emerged with no incidents and a massive gain of 1.02 on my safety rating. My fastest lap, on lap 116, was a 53.914.

So at the time of posting (Friday night, the week will end on Monday night), here are my TT results for the week:

The divisional championships look really good for me right now. I’ve secured first-place in the Silver Crown, SK Modified and Advanced Legends. I’ve secured second-place in the late model, NASCAR truck and NASCAR ‘Nationwide’ car. I’m probably going to finish fifth in the Spec Racer Ford.

The championships still open to change are the NASCAR Cup car, where I currently lead but could mathematically finish second, and the Skip Barber car. The Skippy is likely to be a tough battle and I expect to have to take another run before Monday night.

Firstly, here are some scientific facts and figures:
Scientific name: Gobioides broussonnetii
Name: Violet Goby
Size: Up to 2ft long
pH range: 6.5 – 8.5
Temp: 24–26°C / 76–78°F
Salinity: 1.005-1.008

As the article I linked above told you, I was sold this fish as a freshwater, semi-aggressive fish by Petland in Bolingbrook, Illinois. I specifically asked for something which could share a tank with aggressive Tiger Barbs and which could be a ‘centerpiece’ large fish for my largest tank. It was not long before I found out the ‘Dragon Fish’, as they named it at the store, requires Brackish water (with a little ocean salt) as they come from where ocean meets river mouths. It also wasn’t long before I saw my Tiger Barbs picking on this fish mercilessly, with me eventually discovering that not only is this fish not aggressive in the slightest, it’s also completely blind and couldn’t defend itself even if it wanted to. So after setting up a new tank for this fish, who was probably six inches long at the time, adding salt to raise the salinity and transferring bacteria over in both the substrate and filter media I saw him seeming much happier as he hid underneath a decoration in his new home.

I feel I should point out why I say two feet as maximum size. Every Web site seems to say 1ft, but then I saw these photos:

About 3½ years old.

4 years old. Massive fish apparently over two feet long.

My fish has been in two different tanks and has shown quite a bit of varying behavior. He has shared his tanks with a few different fish and shrimp. There’s been some interesting observations I’ve made which hopefully can assist you as you welcome your Violet Goby into an aquarium.

My Dragon Fish/Violet Goby - Intimidating, but harmless.

Water Salinity

Probably, along with tank size and feeding, this is the most important thing to get right with this fish. Although often kept in freshwater in stores and although they can survive in it for quite some time, it doesn’t do their immune system any favors and I actually noticed a lump on my Violet Goby when I let the salinity drop over a few weeks (I never measured too much for accuracy because these fish come from an area where salinity fluctuates), but it does seem that with a sustained lower salinity he became sick. I made no treatment whatsoever except another water change where I restored the salinity to 1.005 and after a matter of days the lump on his lip disappeared. Ever since this happened I have been very careful to keep the salinity fluctuating between 1.005 and 1.008 only and have never seen any signs of problems.

Tank Size

When I bought this fish he was supposed to go into a 55 gallon freshwater tank. Learning he required Brackish I decided to purchase a 29 gallon and it is in that tank that I noticed different behavior than I now see in his current home (55 gallon brackish).

In the 29 gallon I had two large Texas Holey Rock pieces (Limestone, so they help keep the pH high). The fish would spend all his time hiding, so much so that he would often miss meals. I am almost certain that this fish navigates based upon water movement as when my hand was in the tank he would often react to it even when it wasn’t possible for him to see it. So I think such a small tank left this fish feeling ‘attacked’ on all sides.

In the 55 gallon brackish tank (with the same rock type) I noticed him immediately exploring more than he ever had in the 29 gallon. I arranged the rock along the bottom of the tank in a way that allowed him to either have or be near cover at all times and the difference is astonishing. He comes out at feeding time and competes with the other fish for food which becomes trapped at the edges of the rock on the substrate.

I would really like to say that it’s more than the larger tank which made the difference (partly because I don’t want to feel guilty for having kept him in a 29 gallon), but I think that’s wrong. I think it’s totally down to the size of the tank that has allowed this fish to become more confident.

Feeding

Feeding a Violet Goby who lacks the confidence to come out of hiding is very difficult. These fish are scavengers and I often had to fully melt frozen food and drop it right infront of him for him to get any. He so seldom came out of hiding that he would miss meals entirely. In the 29 gallon tank I arranged the rocks so that with the direction of water flow food would become trapped inside his hiding place. This worked well and so did sticking my hand into the tank and actually placing the frozen food underneath the rock with my hand. It would eventually melt and dropped food ontop of him.

After moving the fish to my 55 gallon brackish, however, I haven’t had any issues with feeding. He must feel safe enough due to the combination of rock placement and tank size to come out and seek food whenever he smells it. Try to arrange things so that food becomes trapped at the level of the substrate as I’ve never seen my fish come to the surface in search of food.

For the record, this fish never ate anything living that I saw or noticed missing. He shared a tank with Ghost Shrimp, Platies, Guppies and Fry (babies) Guppies and Platies. If he did manage to eat Fry, it was purely out of dumb luck. This is not a hunter, it is a scavenger. I have seen him eating flakes, brine shrimp and bloodworms, all from the surface of the substrate.

Tank Mates

Never, ever, ever put this fish with any aggressive fish. These fish are harmless and cannot defend themselves from attack. All freshwater fish are out because this is also not a freshwater fish. There’s no way you can justify to me why, based on my experience, you have one of these fish with either of those groups.

So here is a list of fish I have successfully kept with my Violet Goby:

Bumblebee Goby – These tiny little brackish fish are lots of fun to watch and although definitely mouth-sized are under no threat from the Violet Goby. Again, an accidental meal is always possible with something this small, but I doubt it.

Platies and Guppies – As these fish can be acclimated to Brackish water they make a very nice tank mate for the Violet Goby. The Fry could accidentally be sucked into the Gobies mouth I suppose, but I doubt it.

Freshwater Flounder – This isn’t really freshwater, it’s brackish. This substrate-dwelling flat fish can overpower small fish but is no threat to the Goby. The Goby is definitely no threat to the Flounder.

Ghost Shrimp – No danger either way. The Ghost Shrimp can leap backwards too quickly for the Goby to even accidentally eat them. Ghost shrimp are at home in fresh and brackish water.

Knight Goby – Excellent brackish tank mates. They give the Violet Goby plenty of space but are usually territorial with other Knight Gobies.

Green/Silver Scats – Very large brackish fish that are relatively harmless. They will occasionally eat Ghost Shrimp, but everything else on the list above should be safe. They are no threat to the Violet Goby.

Ramshorn Snails – These snails can survive low salinity of 1.005. I have seen the Violet Goby suck in small snails and eat them while sweeping the sand, but I am certain it was accidental.

Malaysian Trumpet Snails – These snails can survive low salinities. I have never seen even an accidental meal being made of these snails.

I’ll say it once more: If you are adding something not in the list above, then do your research. If they are not Brackish or they are aggressive towards other species you should NOT keep them in a tank with a Violet Goby. It really is that simple.

A wonderful “oddball” fish that is very interesting to look at. The only real problem is that you don’t see them very often as they’ll only come out when they smell food (or if they are not confident, they’ll only come out when extremely hungry). Mine has a fantastic silver coloring with blue along the top and a purple hue around the body and head area especially.

Since the last gallery I have moved the Green Spotted Puffer into it’s own tank and raised the salinity it is living in enough to add marine life. The Puffer now shares it’s tank with some Blue Legged Hermit Crabs.

These are by far the best photos I have taken of my Puffer, helped no doubt by the extremely bright lighting in his new home.

Green Spotted Puffer

Green Spotted Puffer

Next comes a few photos of the Blue Legged Hermit Crabs. These photos aren’t that great because these guys are tiny – TINY! One of the photos shows a crab pulled out of it’s shell, the crab has since moved so I am not sure if it was dead or not, but I thought it was at the time of taking the photo. I expect I’ll get some better shots as these guys grow…

Blue Legged Hermit Crab

Blue Legged Hermit Crab

Blue Legged Hermit Crab out of shell.