Formula marmaduke racing
Formula Marmaduke Racing™ (FMR) was the premier non-human motor sport in NationStates. We took a small furry-feathery animal, strapped it into a superpowered, small race car-like vehicle and let it loose to conquer the FMR world.
Two styles of racing emerged. The first was seen in 2004 and was essentially normal open-wheel racing. The racers were fairly similar to your average F1 racer, modified for the Marmaduke, and raced around city streets or a racing circuit. The second style was used in 2005 and broke a grand prix down into four legs. The first leg was a motorbike race around the streets of a host city. The second was much like 2004 racing and was held on a special built raceway. The third was an anti-gravity racing leg, taking drivers across nations (eg: racing down the Rio Liamo or along the Greater Marmaduke Highway). The final leg was a rally leg set against a national landmark of some variety (eg: a forest, large monument, etc). The four legs were run consecutively. The winner in both styles was the first to cover the required race distance. Points were awarded to the top finishers and the teams and drivers with the most points at season's end were crowned Champions. The best drivers were also eligible to compete in the MarmaCup, a race so prestigious, the winners had trouble breathing through all the glory.
History
The relative length of the history of Formula Marmaduke Racing is short. However, in the last handful of decades there has been much turbulence, controversy and drama through the sport.
It all began in the 2200s. Human quotas in Superpolo had just been removed and the Liamists were discovering the raw and untapped talent of the Marmaduke. Of course, Marmadukes don't naturally drive small race car-like vehicles but in that time they were used as dummy drivers in car testing. They were second stage of testing new vehicles after the crash test dummies. Human F1 (or Formula Human Racing or FHR) was only around a decade old and the Liamist team Carle was struggling for form. With a lack of form came a vacuum of money as many became unwilling to invest in the racing organisation. Costs had to be cut somewhere so that the team could survive. In amongst the series of firings, was the team's test driver. However, testing still needed to be done and the team couldn't afford to pay their regular drivers for it. William Carle, team principal of Carle, knew he had a particularly intelligent Marmaduke and thought that if Marmadukes could play Superpolo and be used to test road vehicles, why couldn't they test race vehicles? A Marmaduke whisperer was brought in to explain the car's set up to Carlo, the Royal Marmaduke owned by Carle. Carlo understood instantly and took his car out on the track. After only three laps, Carlo had broken the track record by an amazing two seconds. Carle was by no means an idiot and saw quite a lot of potential in this. Marmadukes could drive for food and would otherwise need no payment. This was a brilliant way to cut costs. The next FHR GP was in Trenport and Carle showed up with an all Marmaduke line-up. They had poured all their money into the car and if it failed today, Carle would go under. The FHR officials were shocked and disallowed anything other than a man to drive a FHR car and promptly disqualified Carle until they got back their human drivers. Carle couldn't afford this and went bankrupt. But William Carle saw a way of making back his money.
The sport was called Formula Marmaduke and was intended to rival FHR's motor sport dominance in the Liamist States. All Liamists love Marmadukes and it was no surprise that the sport was an instant success. Marmadukes became national heroes, up along with their Superpolo and Athletion counterparts. Within four grands prix, the Formula Marmaduke series had thoroughly kicked the crap out of F1 in the TV ratings and its little wonder why. Who wouldn't want to see a small feather-furry animal strapped into a small race car-like vehicle powered by a LandVac engine race against other small feather-furry animals strapped into a small race car-like vehicles powered by LandVac engines? William Carle was again a millionaire within fourteen weeks of losing all his cash in F1. At this point though, only 4-wheeler race car-like vehicles were used, the 0-wheeler, 2-wheeler and R-wheeler legs were much much later.
Years passed. Champions rose and fell. Teams dominated and lost their grip. Costs spiralled out of control and were reined in. It was amazing that through the decades that FM's popularity never faded. The engines became more powerful. The cars more streamlined. The tyres more grippy. The deaths of drivers were of no consequence. The race would always go on. After women secured equal rights in the Liamist States, people turned their attention to animal rights, particularly those of the Marmaduke. Some called for Marmadukes to be given the vote. This was considered extreme by most people but many felt concern for the plight of the FM driver. As such, a series of safety measures were installed so that driver deaths could be reduced. The following season saw the lowest number of deaths ever: 12. As the safety measures became more strict, more and more Marmadukes survived. Eventually, a season passed with no deaths and the animal rights activists seemed content. The downside of these survivors was that new drivers were finding it difficult to get a look in to the sport. At the time, only state teams were allowed to compete, representing small regions of the Liamist States. So to increase the money flowing through and the number of drivers, the Marmaduke Sports Association (MSA) allowed corporate teams to compete in FM. Many saw this as selling out but in actual fact, the quality of racing improved dramatically on both sides of the FM fence. Corporate and state teams were competing side-by-side, trying to get one up on the other. It is at this point that Liam & Co Racing entered the FM fray and became one of the most dominant teams in the sport's history.
Finally the new century rolled around and it couldn't have come quickly enough for the sport. Viewers were starting to lose interest in favour of home improvement/reality/singing competition/people-stranded-on-an-island hybrid television. The MSA decided to up the ante. FM became the modern version as we think of it today, with four legs. The super-motor sport regained the ratings and, more importantly, the cash flow. But the sport still seemed to be a bit stagnant. The MSA decided to trial international competition, taking in nations who were in no way affiliated with the Liamist States. The sport was scaled back to traditional 4-wheel racing and was renamed Formula Marmaduke Racing (FMR) so as not to confuse people with the Foreign Minister position and to let unsure people know that it was indeed a sporting competition. It was originally only released to The Tableland and Ile de France. The season was fierce with a number of different winners. It wasn't important who won but that other nations could get involved and have fun with it. It was this trial that saw the MSA take on its internationalist policy. FMR was upgraded to the modern form and spread to a handful of regions for further trials. Will it retain its popularity?
Well, yes and no. It was just as popular as it had been in the previous season, however a huge crash on The Tableland's and Liamist States' Stock Exchanges saw billions wiped from the MSA's values. They were close to bankruptcy and had no choice but to close down international competition. It was a sad day as many Marmadukes hit the unemployment pool, although some were kept as national heroes and lived comfortable lives out in various zoos, only occassioally pulling themselves together for a Tableland Athletion, the only international Marmaduke event. Today, most ex-FMR drivers are much happier now that they've retired.
Scorination
Calculations were made using random numbers combined with weather and setup choice bonuses that would reduce or increase the time. Scorination was done in Excel.
Winners
See article Winners of FMR
