2015 RoLFS: Aston 24H: RACE RESULTS UP

[This]

hm, Fukuda isn't bad, but he hasn't done anything notable either, perhaps he could bring some stability into the team.

GTI is also looking for motivated pitcrew-members... (Garfünkel will be coming back for more!)

[Nuppiz]

hm, Fukuda isn't bad, but he hasn't done anything notable either, perhaps he could bring some stability into the team.

GTI is also looking for motivated pitcrew-members... (Garfünkel will be coming back for more!)

You might change your opinion on Fukuda after you read the latest qualifying results...

Your team must have some serious backing, considering that you have the only sponsorless car, while also having probably the largest repair bill in the series!

Aston GP - Qualifying - Round 1


Stern's bad luck in Q3 continued when he found himself blocked by Fukuda, who lapped much slower compared to his less experienced team mate. Larsen was also surprisingly off the pace, he wasn't blocked by anyone but almost turned into a blocker himself!

Aston GP - Qualifying - Round 2


Jancker was now off the pace, and in the process blocked Buyvolov from advancing further. ZimSport's horror qualifying continued when Hannesson foundhimself stuck behind Dorval, putting the Icelander out from Q3 and the championship contention as well.

Aston GP - Qualifying - Round 3


With three relatively slow cars still hanging on in Q3, some trouble for the front runners was to be expected. However, while the Ultimates got past Megumi and Dorval with relative ease (Johnson getting past Megumi only on his second flying lap, hence the time difference between the two), Battani was stuck behind Dinella, who apparantely cracked under pressure and posted a time that would have only barely gotten him into Q2. This qualifying might have already decided the championship.

Aston GP - Qualifying - Final grid



Feature race to be run tomorrow; I'm going away on Thursday so I might not be able to run the sprint race until next week.

[This]

Your team must have some serious backing, considering that you have the only sponsorless car, while also having probably the largest repair bill in the series!

who says GTI actually pays their bills?

[Nuppiz]

Aston GP - Feature Race

Standings after 12 laps:


The start is tight, and while the Ultimates get away with ease, Hannesson, Van de Schoot, Kibbutz, Kustova, Fukuda, Jancker, Buyvolov, Dorval and Bosevic all lose positions in various incidents in the first three corners. Stern goes wide at the second "S" curve, spins, and gets stuck in the kitty litter, ending his season there. Dinella loses a lot of positions, first in the 4th corner on lap 2 where Kustova, Larsen and both Jones Racing cars overtake him, with one of them damging his rear suspension in the process, and for the second time in the Hairpin on lap 3 when all of the other cars overtake him as well (except for the spun-off Stern, of course). Battani and Van de Schoot both try to get past Yamamura, but never succeed, exchanging positions every once in a while when the other driver goes wide as a result of a failed overtaking attempt. On laps 8 and 9 the cars pit, with Hannesson, Dinella and Bosevic being handed drive-through penalties for speeding in the pitlane.

The Ultimates take yet another 1-2, although perhaps not in the order the team would've hoped for with Prost scoring a Grand Chelem. Yamamura scores a fine 3rd, with the CaM cars right behind him in 4th and 5th, championship contender Battani eventually having to submit to his team mate. Megumi hangs on to the 6th place she got after all the first-lap calamities, and scores her first point finish in the penultimate race of the season.

With these results, Battani retains a very slim chance at taking the title: he must win and take the fastest lap in the sprint race, while Johnson mustn't score more than one point and Prost can only score two points. Prost has a slightly better chance by only having to score two-three points (depending on the positions) more than Johnson to clinch the title. While it's hardly believable that neither driver would make such miracles in the sprint race, I can't declare Johnson the champion as long as there's a mathematical chance at beating him. In the teams' championship, Ultimate Racing clinches the title with a massive difference over Coke and Magnum. Unless Bosevic scores at the last sprint race, he'll have the dubious honour of being the only driver to have driven the full season without scoring any points...

While I was unable to make a proper highlights video due to not having enough time to record all incidents, here's a video of Stern spinning: http://youtu.be/c-qGJEAlrDc

Updated championship standings are here, as usual: http://f1alternate.wikkii.com/wiki/2014 ... on#Results

And credits here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4751&p=137097#p137097

[Nuppiz]

Aston GP - Sprint Race



The season finale was somewhat eventful, although the top 4 remained the same after lap 1. A lot of overtaking occured further back, usually following two basic templates. Either one driver succesfully dived into the corner, forced the driver on the outer line to go wide and often forfeit even more positions as a result, or then a driver went wide after an unsuccesful overtaking attempt and had to forfeit places as a result. But eventually, Hannesson gets an easy victory along with the fastest lap, while Dinella makes a good sprint debut with a 2nd. Jancker and Fukuda round up 3rd and 4th; with these results, GTI gets past Parma Corse in the team's championship via countback. Battani's great charge through the field is not enough, and he has to settle with 5th and no points. Rather humiliatingly, Anton Bosevic remains the only driver to have driven the full season without scoring any points.

Final championship standings are here, as usual: http://f1alternate.wikkii.com/wiki/2014 ... on#Results . Johnson is now confirmed the WDC, with Prost being 2nd and Battani 3rd.

And credits here: http://f1rejects.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 97#p137097 . Of note should be the massive 40 point bonus Ultimate Racing received for grabbing both championships.

The championship will now take a slight break, before I finalize the rule and technical changes for the next season. If you want to update your car, it is now possible without limitations, although you might want to be careful with that before the new technical regulations and development prices are announced.

[Pointrox]

Hydook sign up Alexandre Dorval to driver development programme
Hydook have announced that Belgian driver Alexandre Dorval has been incorporated into the team's driver development programme. Dorval will be assessed over the coming months at private tests, using cars from different categories, and if he progresses well, he could enjoy an entire season for the Croatian team in F3RWRS.

"We are working so that one of the team’s signs of identity is to serve as a platform to launch young drivers, both nationally and internationally," explained Hydook team principal Anton Bosevic. "Alexandre Dorval is one those talents in which we believe and we want to help him in his career so that he can make it to F1RWRS."

[AndreaModa]

Bellisimo!! I cannot believe it! My-a second race and I finish on the podium! I made a good start and from there the race was okay - I made a good rhythm, my pace was good and the car was beautiful. I'm-a so happy! I must thank GTI for this chance, and my sponsor Lampre who have put me here today. Thank you, thank you!

Meanwhile...

Angry Jones declares "this is war" as sponsors back out

Following the conclusion of the final race of the 2014 RoLFS season, team boss of Castrol Jones Racing, Sammy Jones, has angrily declared war against the other teams in the series as preparations begin for the following year.

"Make no mistake, we're hugely disappointed with our achievements this season", fumed Jones, "and for 2015 we'll take no prisoners in our push for success in the RoLFS series."

Having finished bottom in the teams' championship with a paltry 3 points, Jones' team now face the huge task of re-building and re-grouping for a fresh assault. This has however been made much harder, as title sponsor Castrol has announced it intends to reduce its support of the team for the coming season, whilst fellow backers 3M have amended their contract with the team which will see their logos switch to Jones' F1RWRS cars instead next year. These fresh blows haven't deterred Jones and his team however, with Jones adding,

"The budget for next year's campaign has been slightly altered. We lost Carlisle's Nestle backing when he left the team, whilst we've had to renegotiate other aspects of the team's financing. It's something that we can't really avoid - obviously the F1RWRS is where the spotlight is and that is where drivers, teams and sponsors want to be. The RoLFS series is merely a feeder category, and consequently it's been hampering our efforts to raise more money for the team. Having said that, we do have some potential deals in the pipeline which should sort us out as far as money is concerned."

Ending the year with van Rijkens and Jung driving for them, CJR are now facing a period of uncertainty as they determine their driver line-up for 2015 as well. It's widely believed that van Rijkens will remain for the full season having only done the final four races of 2014, but there are question marks over Tristan Jung. Jones made it clear that he wants to retain the American in some way,

"We'd love to keep Tristan within the Jones Racing stable, whether that's in the RoLFS or elsewhere remains to be seen. We're still uncertain whether Shioya will sign to our F2RWRS team, and should that fall through, we may require someone of Tristan's calibre to partner Hawkin and get us out of pre-qualifying. He's been a good driver this year for us, and I personally feel we've let him down with a poor car and poor decisions on development. If he wants to remain with us in the RoLFS in 2015, then he's more than welcome."

It remains to be seen however whether Jung will want to stay following such a poor season at Jones' team though. Sources have indicated Connor O'Heagan could be in line for the seat should Jung leave, as well as Jones being open to offers from other drivers. The winter break will be one of transition for Jones and his racing team in the RoLFS series.

[Shadaza]

Champions!
Team Ultimate. Championships completed, 1. Championships won 1.

I should Retire now. But where would the fun in that be!

Team Ultimate and Cave Johnson will be back to defend their titles.

[Stramala]

Parma Corse reveals 2015 RoLFS plans

Parma Corse today set out their plans for the 2015 season in the Rejects of LFS season. After mixed fortunes in the previous season, it is all change at the Italian team, although rumour has it they have failed to develop a new car for the upcoming season and will be forced to recycle their 2014 car.

OUT
Ragnar Larsen (unknown) - Car One
Carsten Jankcer (promoted to F3RWRS, Hydook Junior Team) - Car Two
Stefan Kuntz (unknown) - Test Driver

IN
Marco Bizzarri (from F2RWRS, Scuderia Jones Italia) - Car One
Marcel Agyemang-Badu (from Formula Renault 2.0 Alps, Interwetten Racing) - Car Two
Martin McGovern (from British Formula Ford, Mygale Racing) - Test Driver

Hello all,

Many of you have had success running our academy drivers during the 2014 Rejects of LFS series. We would like to notify you all that we will still have a selection of young drivers available to you, with subsidy from ourselves. The following are available for the whole 2014 season;

Ólafur Ragnar Hannesson [ICE] - 4th in 2014 RoLFS
Nobushige Fukuda [JPN] - Podium finish in 2014 RoLFS part-time campaign
Martin McGovern [SCO] - 2013 Scottish Formula Ford Champion

Yours sincerely,
Alasdair Lindsay
Manager, Scuderia Alitalia Giovanile Squadra

[Nuppiz]

Also, I've finally decided on the trophy names. The drivers' trophy is named the Dave McFaste Memorial Trophy, in honour of so far the only RWRS driver to have been killed as a result of an accident (at least as far as I know). The teams' trophy is named more boringly, being the NLRK Holdings Cup of Garages (NLRK Holdings being the investment group behind the series).

[AndreaModa]

Also, I've finally decided on the trophy names. The drivers' trophy is named the Dave McFaste Memorial Trophy, in honour of so far the only RWRS driver to have been killed as a result of an accident (at least as far as I know). The teams' trophy is named more boringly, being the NLRK Holdings Cup of Garages (NLRK Holdings being the investment group behind the series).

I'm almost certain that one of the F1RWRS trophies is named after McFaste, though I forget whether it's one of the race trophies or a championship trophy.

[Stramala]

Also, I've finally decided on the trophy names. The drivers' trophy is named the Dave McFaste Memorial Trophy, in honour of so far the only RWRS driver to have been killed as a result of an accident (at least as far as I know). The teams' trophy is named more boringly, being the NLRK Holdings Cup of Garages (NLRK Holdings being the investment group behind the series).

I'm almost certain that one of the F1RWRS trophies is named after McFaste, though I forget whether it's one of the race trophies or a championship trophy.

I think it's the trophy for the winner of the Bud 800?

[Nuppiz]

In that case, I'll rename the driver's trophy to Shinobu Katayama Trophy, as suggested earlier by FMecha. Also, I'll slightly adjust the name of both the company behind the series and the teams' trophy: instead of NLRK, it'll be NVRT, and the teams' trophy is then of course the NVRT Holdings Cup of Garages.

[the Masked Lapwing]

Also, I've finally decided on the trophy names. The drivers' trophy is named the Dave McFaste Memorial Trophy, in honour of so far the only RWRS driver to have been killed as a result of an accident (at least as far as I know). The teams' trophy is named more boringly, being the NLRK Holdings Cup of Garages (NLRK Holdings being the investment group behind the series).

I'm almost certain that one of the F1RWRS trophies is named after McFaste, though I forget whether it's one of the race trophies or a championship trophy.

I think it's the trophy for the winner of the Bud 800?

No, that's the Dan Wheldon Trophy. The Dave McFaste Trophy goes to the winner of the Chinese GP.

And while I'm at it, ZimSport would like to retain Olafur Ragnar Hannesson for 2015, as he's proven to be a very good driver, much better than what Alitalia usually produce

[Stramala]

And while I'm at it, ZimSport would like to retain Olafur Ragnar Hannesson for 2015, as he's proven to be a very good driver, much better than what Alitalia usually produce

Just for that, you will be getting no extra lire as a driver subsidy, you cheeky git!!!!!

[Wizzie]

And with that, Alexey Buyvolov has qualified for the 5th and final reject superlicense spot for 2015.

EDIT: MRT will also like to reveal that with Tom Douglas becoming the new F2RWRS Commissioner and Marie Simon being sacked from the MRT Group, Jason Hamilton will spearhead MRT's return to the LFS series in 2015 (Provided the calender starts late enough for him to return from his injuries at Indianapolis) while the 2nd seat will be open to anyone who wants to dump a spare driver in there

[Stramala]

And with that, Alexey Buyvolov has qualified for the 5th and final reject superlicense spot for 2015.

EDIT: MRT will also like to reveal that with Tom Douglas becoming the new F2RWRS Commissioner and Marie Simon being sacked from the MRT Group, Jason Hamilton will spearhead MRT's return to the LFS series in 2015 (Provided the calender starts late enough for him to return from his injuries at Indianapolis) while the 2nd seat will be open to anyone who wants to dump a spare driver in there

If This decides not to retain Fukuda for next season, he will take the second MRT

[Wizzie]

And with that, Alexey Buyvolov has qualified for the 5th and final reject superlicense spot for 2015.

EDIT: MRT will also like to reveal that with Tom Douglas becoming the new F2RWRS Commissioner and Marie Simon being sacked from the MRT Group, Jason Hamilton will spearhead MRT's return to the LFS series in 2015 (Provided the calender starts late enough for him to return from his injuries at Indianapolis) while the 2nd seat will be open to anyone who wants to dump a spare driver in there

If This decides not to retain Fukuda for next season, he will take the second MRT

Works for me.

And I think that means the hatchet has finally been buried with Scuderia Alitalia winning 4-3.

And here's how the scoresheet looks. MRT scored an early sneaky goal by snaring Virgin before Alitalia scored the equaliser by giving MRT a 100 credit penalty for their troubles. MRT went ahead again with a 500 credit penalty in response between Alitalia scored two goals in quick succession by winning the appeal and having the penalty overturned. MRT fired back with a move which forced Mr Lindsay off the field. Finally, in the closing minutes, Alitalia scored the biggest scalp of them all with a brilliant long range shot which led to Don Rennis getting the sack.

Yeah, I think you can guess how bored I am based on that

[Stramala]

And I think that means the hatchet has finally been buried with Scuderia Alitalia winning 4-3.

And here's how the scoresheet looks. MRT scored an early sneaky goal by snaring Virgin before Alitalia scored the equaliser by giving MRT a 100 credit penalty for their troubles. MRT went ahead again with a 500 credit penalty in response between Alitalia scored two goals in quick succession by winning the appeal and having the penalty overturned. MRT fired back with a move which forced Mr Lindsay off the field. Finally, in the closing minutes, Alitalia scored the biggest scalp of them all with a brilliant long range shot which led to Don Rennis getting the sack.

Yeah, I think you can guess how bored I am based on that

Obiettivo! Scuderia Alitalia sono affondate MRT patetica nel dimenticatoio, con Lindsay rete una tripletta da infliggendo una pena di 100 di credito contro di loro, seguita da Alitalia avere il suo rigore annullato, e finire avendo Don Rennis licenziato come un risultato. Forza Alitalia!

[FMecha]

Both drivers will stay, with Tetsuya-kun also still the test driver.

And I have written an article on the wiki about IRDU (former organization that run the original incarnation of the series, telling how dodgy was this organization was.

[Nuppiz]

Alright, here's the rule changes for the next season; any other rules from the previous season still apply.

For 2015, the default performance settings are:
Added Mass: 50 kg, every team has this by default at the start of the season.
The teams can choose an engine from two specifications, the first one is heavier but also produces more horsepower (manufactured by Judd), while the other one is vice versa (manufactured by Zytek). The engines can be rebadged to each team's preferences. The distribution between the two engine manufacturers must be as close to 50% as possible, i.e. with 13 teams, at least six teams must use each of the configurations. Engine upgrades are no longer possible.
Tyres can be chosen from six different manufacturers (Goodyear, Bridgestone, Avon, Pirelli, Michelin and Dunlop), with each one having a slightly different performance. One tyre manufacturer can only supply a maximum of three teams.

Credit rules:
Each new team has 100 credits (50 credits for one-car entries) at the start of the season, this figure will be altered by prize money and purchases. Teams continuing on from 2014 will use the credits they accumulated from last year's championship standings with an added 90 credit bonus due to new regulation changes. To encourage one-car entries, they can upgrade their car with half the price of what two-car teams must pay, however two-car teams must upgrade both of their cars simultaneously (this is simply down to the fact that upkeeping 10-12 setups is much easier than 20-24). Similarly, sabotaging a single-car entry is half cheaper than a two-car team. The teams get bonus credits if they sign drivers from any of the RWRS series: 5 for F3RWRS, 15 for F2RWRS and 25 for F1RWRS. These bonuses are only applied once at the start of the season; any further driver changes won't give the team more credits.

The development/sabotage costs below apply to a standard two-car entry:
Develop Chassis (reduce added mass): 30 credits per each kg reduced, limited to three per race weekend.
Sabotage (increase intake restriction of one team): 14 credits per each percent, limited to five per race weekend. You can only sabotage someone else's team, not yourself!
DNQ bailout (ensure that your car(s) will qualify for the feature race, no matter what the actual result of the heats is): 10 credits per car, unlimited but must be bought before the heats take place.

Calendar:
The race calendar will have 13 events, with six race weekends consisting of two races on the same circuit (Feature and Sprint), with an additional oval endurance race at the end of the season. The endurance race will take place on Kyoto Ring Oval, and it will run for 300 kilometers. Feature races will now run for 175 kilometers, while the heat races are 100 km. Instead of having one feature and sprint race, there will be two heats with 15 cars each; the grids for them are determined in an earlier qualifying session. The points system for the heats is the same as in the old sprint races. From both heats 10 of the fastest cars advance to the main feature race, where the grid will be determined with another qualifying session.

Points system and prize money:
In the endurance race the points given are 15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, i.e. the top 10 will score points. At the end of the season additional prize money will be given for the top six teams and drivers in each championship on a system of 20-15-12-10-8-6, with all other entrants receiving 5 credits. The extra bonus money will move with the drivers should they move to another team.

Qualifying
There will be two heats with 15 cars each; the grids for them are determined in an earlier qualifying session (1st qualifier is 1st in Heat 1, 2nd qualifier is 1st in Heat 2 etc.). The race length and points system for the heats are the same as in the old sprint races. From both heats 10 of the fastest cars advance to the main feature race. Should there be less than 10 finishers in one of the heats, then more finishers from the another heat are permitted into the feature race until the combined total is 20 (for example, if Heat 1 has 9 finishers and Heat 2 has 11 finishers, then the 11th finisher from Heat 2 gets into the feature race instead of the last driver to retire in H1). Should the combined total still be less than 20, then the drivers who completed the most race distance without finishing are allowed to participate as well. After the 20 participants are confirmed, a final qualifying session is held to determine the grid for the feature race. The sole exception for this system is the last GP of the season, Nippon Super 300. There the grid is determined via a single qualifying session, with 10 of the slowest cars not being allowed to race.

If you wish to take part in this championship, please give me the following information:
Team name:
Driver 1: name, gender, nationality
(Driver 2): name, gender, nationality
(Test driver): name, gender, nationality

[Nuppiz]

Entry list for 2015:

Ultimate Racing (Shadaza)
#1: Cave Johnson (M) (USA)
#2: Sebastian Prost (M) (FRA)
TD: Thomas Muller (M) (GER)
Current credits: 46
Livery
Engine: Mercedes (Judd)
Added Mass: 46kg
Tyres: Michelin

Red Bull World Race Team (eurobrun)
#3: Dieter Hallenstein (M) (GER) / Antonio Fazio (M) (ITA) / Bobby Dollar (USA)
#4: Mika Paasonen (M) (FIN) / Daniel Melrose (M) (AUS)
TD: None
Current credits: 8
Livery
Engine: Autodynamics (Judd)
Added Mass: 47kg
Tyres: Michelin

ZimSport-Rosenforth (The Masked Lapwing)
#5: Ólafur Ragnar Hannesson (M) (ICE) / Dean Melville (M) (AUS) / Jiri Komárek (M) (CZE)
#6: Renato Bulku (M) (ALB)
TD: Mike Stern (M) (UK), Dean Melville (M) (AUS)
Current credits: 24
Livery
Engine: Holden (Judd)
Added Mass: 47kg
Tyres: Bridgestone

Aeroracing Engineering (Phoenix)
#7: Brucie Kibbutz (M) (ISR)
#8: Akira Yamamura (M) (JAP) / Tanner Jason (M) (USA) / Ragnar Larsen (SWE)
TD: Tanner Jason (M) (USA)
Current credits: 14
Livery
Engine: Audi (Zytek)
Added Mass: 46kg
Tyres: Goodyear

Ural Racing (The Lukas)
#9: Alexandra Kustova (F) (RUS) / Ivan Lanin (M) (RUS) / Yuki Matsudate (F) (JPN)
#10: Viktor Pasitchnjuk (M) (RUS)
TD: Ivan Lanin (M) (RUS), Yuki Matsudate (F) (JPN), Alexandra Kustova (F) (RUS)
Current credits: 23
Livery
Engine: Lada (Judd)
Added Mass: 47kg
Tyres: Avon

Grands Travaux Inutiles (This)
#11: Simon Garfünkel (M) (LIE) / Justin Case (M) (CAN)
#12: Nobushige Fukuda (M) (JAP) / Dorien Lamberigts (F) (BEL) / Justin Case (M) (CAN)
TD: Justin Case (CAN), Gia van Dycke (M) (NED), Diego Mauricio Batistuta (M) (ARG)
Current credits: 0
Livery (Case) / Livery (Lamberigts)
Engine: Trabant (Zytek)
Added Mass: 46kg
Tyres: Avon

MasterCard Lancia (kostas22)
#13: Marco Bizzarri (M) (ITA)
#14: Marcel Agyemang-Badu (M) (GHA)
TD: Martin McGovern (M) (SCO), Diego Mauricio Batistuta (M) (ARG), Ólafur Ragnar Hannesson (M) (ICE), Nobushige Fukuda (M) (JAP)
Current credits: 5
Livery
Engine: Lancia (Judd)
Added Mass: 47kg
Tyres: Pirelli

Takagi Racing Enterprises (FMecha)
#15: Hiroto Tojo (M) (JAP)
#16: Yui Megumi (F) (JAP) / Frank Tenpenny (M) (USA) / Collin Pratchett (M) (USA)
TD: Tetsuya Takagi (M) (JAP)
Current credits: 11
Livery
Engine: Honda (Judd)
Added Mass: 47kg
Tyres: Bridgestone

Hydook Racing (Pointrox)
#17: Benoît Voeckler (M) (FRA) / Jules Vergne (M) (FRA)
#18: Alexandre Dorval (M) (BEL)
TD: Branko Ristic (M) (MKD), Carsten Jancker (M) (GER)
Current credits: 41
Livery
Engine: Zytek
Added Mass: 47kg
Tyres: Avon

Jones Racing (AndreaModa)
#19: Danny van Rijkens (M) (ZAF) / Gilles Massinion (M) (FRA)
#20: Connor O'Heagan (M) (IRL) / Matt Brinson (M) (USA)
TD: Matt Brinson (M) (USA)
Current credits: 16
Livery
Engine: Judd
Added Mass: 46kg
Tyres: Bridgestone

Melrose Racing Team (Wizzie)
#21: Jason Hamilton (M) (AUS)
#22: Martin McGovern (M) (SCO) / Nobushige Fukuda (M) (JAP) / Diego Mauricio Batistuta (M) (ARG) / Salvatore Miccoli (M) (ITA)
TD: Nathan McKane (M) (SCO), Joel Melrose (M) (AUS)
Current credits: 7
Livery
Engine: BMW (Zytek)
Added Mass: 47kg
Tyres: Michelin

Fusion Motorsports (BaconLettuceNinja)
#23: Diego Álvarez Torrente (M) (ESP)
TD: Jari Lappalainen (M) (FIN), Jules Vergne (M) (FRA)
Current credits: 7
Livery
Engine: Honda (Zytek)
Added Mass: 46 kg
Tyres: Goodyear

Foster's Good Call Racing/Scuderia Vittore (pasta_maldonado)
#24: Andrea Bianchi (M) (ITA) / Marcos Marcia (M) (ESP)
#25: Martyn Rietacher (M) (GER)
TD: Helio Hernandez (M) (MEX), Marcos Marcia (M) (ESP)
Current credits: 2
Livery
Engine: Mercedes (Zytek)
Added Mass: 47 kg
Tyres: Goodyear

Tarantino Autosport (tristan1117)
#26: Tristan Jung (M) (USA) / Richard Hershall (M) (UK)
TD: None
Current credits: 16
Livery
Engine: Judd
Added Mass: 47 kg
Tyres: Dunlop

Winton Racing (DalekSam)
#27: Nathan McKane (M) (SCO)
TD: Ragnar Larsen (M) (SWE)
Current credits: 2
Livery
Engine: Ilmor (Zytek)
Added Mass: 45 kg
Tyres: Pirelli

De Friis Motorsport (Vepe)
#28: Karl van der Zwaart (M) (NED)
#29: Helio Hernandez (M) (MEX) / Jan de Friis (M) (NED)
TD: Jan de Friis (M) (NED)
Current credits: 13
Livery
Engine: Citroën (Zytek)
Added Mass: 47 kg
Tyres: Dunlop

Kingfisher Racing (AdrianSutil)
#30: Matthias Valsattis (M) (LAT) / Ashley Lilly (F) (UK)
TD: None
Current credits: 49
Livery
Engine: Toyota (Judd)
Added Mass: 47 kg
Tyres: Pirelli

Team Rojo (adriojim)
#31: Pablo Galaz (M) (MEX) / Toru Fukui (M) (JAP)
TD: Toru Fukui (M) (JAP)
Current credits: 5
Livery (Galaz) / Livery (Fukui)
Engine: Zytek
Added Mass: 47 kg
Tyres: Dunlop

Racing Team Solvalou (RealRacingRoots)
#32: Alexandre Dorval (M) (BEL)
TD: Antonio Fazio (M) (ITA)
Current credits: 5
Livery
Engine: Assoluto (Zytek)
Added Mass: 47 kg
Tyres: Avon

Calendar (not the actual dates I'll run the races on, but instead the 2015 ones):
April 9-12: Blackwood GP
May 7-10: Westhill GP
June 11-14: Fern Bay GP
July 16-19: South City GP
August 13-16: Aston GP
September 10-13: Kyoto Ring GP
September 19-20: Nippon Super 300 (Kyoto Ring Oval)

[Stramala]

So Parma Corse are stuck on 9 credits and no means to earn any more? F**k this s**t.

[AndreaModa]

So Parma Corse are stuck on 9 credits and no means to earn any more? F**k this s**t.

Tell me about it!

If this remains the case, I'll just enter a new one car team, take the 100 credits, spend them all on engine upgrades which will give me 6 upgrades at half price with 10 credits leftover, and piss over all the opposition like Parma Corse, Jones Racing, etc who can do sod all about it!

I must ask, why should two car already-established teams be penalised so much in this way?

[Nuppiz]

I've fixed the fault with one-car teams having more start money, they receive half of the start money by having half the prices as well, and with only one car they should score only half the points the two-car teams do.

I've also added the performance statistics to each team, I'll test the balance soon and see if changes have to be made.

[AndreaModa]

But look, that still doesn't stack up, I may have the lightest car on the grid but as we all saw, that counted for jack compared to engine upgrades, of which I only have one, yet I have 13 credits, and MRT will have 100 and are effectively only one upgrade behind. I don't have an axe to grind over the previous season and the decisions I made during it, but this is surely woefully unfair to existing teams? I can't buy any engine upgrades, and it's highly unlikely I'll score any points to allow me to even do it at a later date. Thus I'm stuck in this catch-22 situation. I suppose I could buy a couple more chassis upgrades but they'll probably be wasted when Ultimate Racing will do the obvious thing and buy two engine upgrades and get even further ahead, along with the rest of the field who can afford them.

The point is, the rules are a good idea, but are fundamentally flawed. Look at the F1RWRS where a credit system is in operation too. If your team turns out to be crap there, you can sell your chassis and engine back and try something different. That plus the 'TV money' payouts and the pre-qualifying cup for the back of the grid teams balances things out, and it's something we've worked quite hard to achieve because no-one wants to be at the bottom end of the timesheets with no hope of improvement. But that's exactly where I find myself now with no prospect of getting better. I can't even hire a pay-driver like in the F1RWRS and earn some credits that way.

[Stramala]

Mr Jones, I have a proposal. Let's close both our teams, and set-up a brand new outfit under the old Scuderia Jones Italia banner. Although, I suppose something more appropriate would do, perhaps Lampre Parma Racing. I would use Marco Bizzarri and farm Agyemang-Badu out on loan, and I'm sure another new team wouldn't mind using van Rijkens or Jung...

At least this way we both might avoid finishing second last and last at every event this season! After which, we can just close that team and open brand new teams again!

Although, above that, I'd rather just have a rule change that makes the sport fair...but if that doesn't happen, it's either this or Parma Corse quits the sport altogether, which wouldn't be fair to Marco.

[AndreaModa]

An interesting proposal, if we have no rule changes, I'd be happy to pair up and form a team, though I have Dinella contracted to my F3RWRS team for 2015 now. I'm sure van Rijkens could find some sponsorship from somewhere, although I hear that Connor O'Heagan has found some support from an Irish company calling itself the Shannon Group.

I agree though that I'd rather see rule changes than have to take action such as this, but we'll see how it all goes.

[This]

Grands Travaux Inutiles confirms that star driver Simon Garfünkel will return to fight for the championship!
while Fukuda is kept on a race-to-race-basis.

On the sponsorship front: Cillit Bang! returns with a... eh... bang! (you know how that car needs to look, i suppose)

[Nuppiz]

I agree that the whole credit-upgrade system is now extremely flawed; it worked somewhat nicely for the first season when everyone started on the same line, but now that other teams are way ahead in terms of both money and development, it's really difficult to find a proper balance to ensure that teams that didn't perform so well last season have a hope of getting better this season, while also ensuring that new teams have a good chance. Not forgetting that well-performed teams of the last season should still have a slight advantage, so that all of the credits they used for last year's improvements wouldn't have gone to waste. This requires some serious rethinking...

I might axe the whole engine development process though, which would mean that all teams would get the 450bhp default engine with no intake restriction. It's not only because of the credit system fiasco, but also because I've ran into some serious problems with the current-spec engine. Basically, the gearbox doesn't like the power being restricted, and with no manual intervention, the car simply doesn't change to the 5th or 6th gears; when the AI tries to change into these gears, the gear doesn't change and the car will slow down as if the power had been cut completely off for a while. When I'm driving the car myself, I can eventually get into these gears with precise timing, but the AI always fails. I managed to (mostly) get around the problem last season by fiddling with the gear ratios (although later in the season it started to limit the top speeds), but this time not even that helps.

Obviously removing the engine development would make chassis development the key to success, with probably a full reset to credits and current upgrades along the way. This could be good as chassis upgrades have a lot smaller effect on the performance than engine, and with a correct upgrade price it would make it a lot harder for teams to become dominant.

I'm glad that I started this topic early enough, because this gives us much time to change the rules to something that is fair and balanced. Ideas and suggestions are welcome!

[Stramala]

Memorandum

To: Daniel Melrose
From: Alasdair Lindsay
Subject: MRT RoLFS 2nd Driver

Just heard word GTI have retained Fukuda. Therefore, we'll have to withdraw our offer of him to you, but instead we've got youngster Martin McGovern from Parkhead, Glasgow, available from our youth academy. He hates Phil McCracken with a passion, which can only be a good sign.

Parma Corse endorses the scrapping of engine modifications. It doesn't sound too healthy for the cars either

Is there any way to implement driver skill into LFS? It was a bit boring having the teams lining up one behind the other and there being no variation from drivers in the same team. The AI was too similar and engine power was the only thing differentiating performance.

[Nuppiz]

Is there any way to implement driver skill into LFS? It was a bit boring having the teams lining up one behind the other and there being no variation from drivers in the same team. The AI was too similar and engine power was the only thing differentiating performance.

Unfortunately there isn't; all AI drivers use the same skill setting, which is whatever I happen to choose at the startup (usually the highest "Pro" setting, as the others tend to make the AI look like Sunday drivers). If everyone is given similar cars, the lap times will also become very similar, with a random variaton of only 0.5 seconds (depending on the legth of the track), at most. This is why I originally introduced the upgrade system, but with it becoming so flawed now I have to look for alternative ways to run the series. I can't use other games for this, because LFS is currently the only proper racing game on my computer that A) I currently own and B) works properly.

[Stramala]

Is there any way to implement driver skill into LFS? It was a bit boring having the teams lining up one behind the other and there being no variation from drivers in the same team. The AI was too similar and engine power was the only thing differentiating performance.

Unfortunately there isn't; all AI drivers use the same skill setting, which is whatever I happen to choose at the startup (usually the highest "Pro" setting, as the others tend to make the AI look like Sunday drivers). If everyone is given similar cars, the lap times will also become very similar, with a random variaton of only 0.5 seconds (depending on the legth of the track), at most. This is why I originally introduced the upgrade system, but with it becoming so flawed now I have to look for alternative ways to run the series. I can't use other games for this, because LFS is currently the only proper racing game on my computer that A) I currently own and B) works properly.

Can chassis performance be modified for every car or just for every team? Becasue for every car, perhaps a formula can be developed that takes into account driver skill incorporated into the game's chassis rating.

[Nuppiz]

Can chassis performance be modified for every car or just for every team? Becasue for every car, perhaps a formula can be developed that takes into account driver skill incorporated into the game's chassis rating.

The game treats all 20 drivers as individuals, and everyone can have their own setup - teams are not a feature of this game, and quite a few times I've seen "team mates" blocking or even crashing with each other. It's simply easier for me to manage 11 setups instead of 22, but if the fairnesss of the series depends on it, I can start using individual setups for each driver. So there's still a possibility to create variation by giving every driver different setups and chassis weights.

I also just ran tests with all cars using the same setup (engine, chassis, everything). The field spread varied between 0.9s to 1.8s, and the positions were varied wildly as the fastest driver in one session was the slowest in the second one. So there's still some variation between the drivers, but it's completely random.

E: in a longer session, the field spread eventually became nonexistent.

[Stramala]

Can chassis performance be modified for every car or just for every team? Becasue for every car, perhaps a formula can be developed that takes into account driver skill incorporated into the game's chassis rating.

The game treats all 20 drivers as individuals, and everyone can have their own setup - teams are not a feature of this game, and quite a few times I've seen "team mates" blocking or even crashing with each other. It's simply easier for me to manage 11 setups instead of 22, but if the fairnesss of the series depends on it, I can start using individual setups for each driver. So there's still a possibility to create variation by giving every driver different setups and chassis weights.

I also just ran tests with all cars using the same setup (engine, chassis, everything). The field spread varied between 0.9s to 1.8s, and the positions were varied wildly as the fastest driver in one session was the slowest in the second one. So there's still some variation between the drivers, but it's completely random.

So that just suggests you were weighting the performance upgrades too much. Perhaps time to tone down the level at which upgrades are applied to stop teams rampaging away at the front.

[Nuppiz]

Alright, so here's what I suggest now: engine upgrades to be ditched completely due to the gearbox problems, everyone gets the default engine from the game. Credits and car upgrades are resetted, i.e. everyone starts with the same amount of credits and level of the car. With only chassis upgrades available, they will be made expensive enough that it will become practically impossible to run away from the others too much. This should also randomize the results quite a bit.

[Wizzie]

To show there is a new level of harmony on the grid, MRT will sign Martin McGovern for their second seat and agree with the other teams on whatever the hell it is they're arguing about

Seriously though, why not set the default level of the new teams to say, 38% or 39% instead of 35%? That way, we can still keep the upgrade system as is and MRT won't wipe the floor with everyone.

[eurobrun]

Coke and Magnum have been brought out by Red Bull and will be renamed to Red Bull World Race Team. They will compete in the 2015 RoLFS season.

Also, the livery will be changed to a Red Bull livery.

[Stramala]

Seeing as there are no 'teams' in LFS, does this mean we can have seperate liveries for cars like in F2RWRS? I think I may change from dark blue to an Azzurri and a Black Stars livery for each of my drivers

Speaking of which, where is the template, and what are the resizing instructions to make sure the logos don't look strectched in-game...

[Nuppiz]

Seeing as there are no 'teams' in LFS, does this mean we can have seperate liveries for cars like in F2RWRS? I think I may change from dark blue to an Azzurri and a Black Stars livery for each of my drivers

Speaking of which, where is the template, and what are the resizing instructions to make sure the logos don't look strectched in-game...

Well, given that I'm already pondering to use different setups, I don't suppose using different liveries for each driver wouldn't be a problem (technically they're all already using different liveries to give them correct race numbers).

The F08 Pro-Kit is the template I used for the cars, and it's much better than the default one. As for the instructions to prevent stretching they're very simple: resize the 2048x2048 template to 2560x2048, then apply any decals and sponsor logos you want. Then just save it as JPG and it should work with no distortions.