Comedian Dom Joly and writers India Knight, Jill Mansell and Caitlin Moran, who was particularly interested in my project, obliged sending my blog stats crazy and inbox full of new follower notifications.

BBC: Doppelganger: Desperately seeking my lookalike

Finally, after a quick check of my realtime blog stats, I took a deep breath and pressed the restart button.

FORBES: Say Hello To My Little Friend (Or How I Became The Web's Tony Montana)

Barry Ritholtz called me and shared with my Google Analytics stats that said his site had 367k uniques in the month of August, versus the 172k which Compete says he had.

FORBES: Another Cut at the Top Business Sites

What if I try to stop judging the experience using Internet stats as my only yardstick?

FORBES: I Don't Care if You Read This Article

You may be able to tell from my desperate clutching at stats that there is little in the way of paddock gossip this weekend, although some major changes are afoot on Lorenzo's side of the Yamaha garage - more details of which are likely to emerge as the weekend progresses.

BBC: Matt Roberts' MotoGP column

The minute or so he spent on his phone gave me just enough time to fire up my iPhone, check email, web stats, and incoming Tweets.

FORBES: Cell Phone Time Machine

My friend Bret Swanson has great historic and prospective stats and insights on all this.

FORBES: WikiLeaks Fallout is Bullish for Boeing, Airbus and United-Continental

What I found more surprising than the NASCAR stats, though, was the abject shock from my green friends when I shared the information.

FORBES: NASCAR Green Is Really Purple

I've never been one for stats and milestones, I just try to do the best for my team.

BBC: Ponting passes Test run milestone