Formula marmaduke racing

Formula Marmaduke Racing™ (FMR) is the future of motor sport in NationStates. It used to be that 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. Those days are gone. FMR is now much more sophisticated...

Rules

THE TRACK

The track is where the entire race takes place. The term 'track' is somewhat deceptive, as the race could conceivably cover an entire nation. The race is divided into four legs, each designed to be about an hour long. The first is a motorbike leg (2-wheeler) where Marmadukes will ride an engine-powered two wheel vehicle around the streets of a host city. The 2-wheelers can reach top speeds of around 200 km/h but have an average speed of 125 km/h, hence 125 km needing to be completed by 2-wheeler Marmadukes before they can peel off to the next leg. At the end of the specified number of street laps, drivers floor it on a special transitional road where they will meet with their teams and swap vehicles. Drivers will have to get off their 2-wheeler and into the 4-wheeler as fast as possible. The 4-wheelers are much more like the traditional FMR vehicles of old. They cover 200 km on a proper race track, a little bit shorter than the 250 km/h than was used in the below example. 4-wheelers have a top speed of about 300km/h but given corners and such, will hover around 200 km/h as an average speed. Similar to the 2-wheeler to 4-wheeler transition, drivers of the 4-wheeler vehicles drive off on a different transitional road to meet their teams once more. This time its to change into the AG vehicle, better known as the 0-wheeler. The 0-wheeler can hit a top speed of around 700 km/h but will more likely race at around 500 km/h over its 500 km course. Given the length of the course, the 0-wheeler is used as a method of transport, albeit over a winding, long course, to get drivers out to the landmark (eg: forest, mountain, swamp) where the rally event will be held. The rally event, the R-wheeler leg, is, as stated before, held in some sort of difficult terrain. Here the cars are much sturdier than their other leg counterparts and are built more for strength than speed. They are closed-wheel rally cars with four specially-designed mud tyres to cover the 75 km of rallying required. The whole grand prix covers about 900 km and usually provides some spectacular vistas across the varied nations that it is held in.

THE RACE

The simple aim of a FMR GP is to cover the 900 race kilometres as quickly as possible. This usually involves avoiding accidents with other drivers and man-made barriers. Unfairly infringing on another racer may result in disqualification. Tampering of any kind with anyone's vehicle will also be severely punished. On a race weekend, there are two races. On Sunday, the race is run. All safety standards, as set out by the MSA, must be met by teams, otherwise they will be unable to race. Teams must be ready to submit to an MSA inspection at any time. All equipment, except for T/AG generators, chassis material or engine, must be provided by teams. The other equipment must come from official sponsors of FMR. No team may run more than the three drivers. No animals, except Marmadukes, may drive in a grand prix. The grid order will be decided on the previous race's results, with the winner taking pole, second taking the other front row position, etc. There are no pit stops, other than those used to make a vehicle transition.

SEASON SETUP

Depending on finishing position, points will be awarded to drivers. Usually the top quarter to top third of finishers will gain points in a fixed system, with the most going to first place, then second place, etc. Two trophies will be given out over a tour (the normal part of the season is divided into regional tours): Champion Driver and Champion Team. The points a driver accumulates are added to their partners point to get the team results. The highest points at the end of a tour walks away with the trophy. The season's tours are open to all teams and are a stepping stone to the next level: the MarmaCup, which always after the regular season's conclusion at the Atletion. This is the grand prix where most drivers are excluded and only the best may race. Drivers represent their regions, rather than their teams. There are three methods for qualification. Some grands prix within a tour will give the winner automatic qualification. Occupying top positions of a championship at the conclusion of a tour will also give qualification. Finally, a threshold of points will be set and if a driver exceeds this threshold over the season, they will be eligible. The details of which grands prix wins, what positions in tours and what number of overall season points required to gain qualification changes from season to season and will be set at the time when the points distribution for a grand prix is announced.

Calculations

The basis of Formula Marmaduke Racing is random numbers. The choices you make when you sign up a team affects the random numbers. Each leg of a FMR Grand Prix is designed to be around an hour long. For example, the motorbike leg (2-wheel) is 100 km long because the average speed of the bike is around 100 km/h. The scenery also changes with the legs. This is how the race breaks down:

Leg 1: Motorbike (2-wheel), 125 km - Street course Leg 2: Race car (4-wheel), 200 km - Raceway Leg 3: AG racer (0-wheel), 500 km - Open country Leg 4: Rally (R-wheel), 75 km - Natural landmark

Since all the legs take around an hour, we use only one formula to simulate the times for each leg. In Excel, the formula is =RANDBETWEEN(59,63)+RAND()-RAND(). This generates a pure time of 58 to 64 minutes in decimals to three places for each leg of the grand prix. This also incorporates the transition time between vehicles at the end of each leg. In addition to this we have the bonuses, that depend on your engine, tyre and AG generator, chassis make and your sponsor, who offer bonus deals depending on your performance.

Firstly, there is the engine bonus. There are ten engine manufacturers (LandVac, Modeni, Merkandes, CNX, Donha, Yotaya, Varied Motor Enterprises, Forwarde, Ranger and Wreno) and each have particular strengths. The LandVac engine benefits all legs. Having a LandVac engine will knock one-half (-0.5) of a minute off each leg. A Modeni engine will knock two minutes (-2) off of the 2-wheeler time. A Merkandes engine will knock two minutes (-2) off of the 4-wheeler time. A CNX engine will knock two minutes off of the 0-wheeler time and a Donha engine will knock two minutes off of the rally time. A Yotaya engine will knock one minute (-1) off of both the 2-wheel and 4-wheel times. A Varied Motor Enterprises engine will knock one minute off of both the 0-wheeler and the R-wheeler times. Forwarde engines will take one minute off of the 2-wheel and 0-wheel times. Ranger engines will take one minute off of the 4-wheel and R-wheel times. Finally, the Wreno engine is a bit of a gamble. There is a 20% chance that the engine will blow up, resulting in a DNF, a 60% chance of no bonus being applied but there is also a 20% chance that the Wreno engine will knock a one minute (-1) off of each leg.

Before the race weekend, the weather is forecast. The wind is rated from 1 to 9, where 1 is no wind and 9 is practically a typhoon. Depending on the material of your chassis, depends on how well your vehicle does in the race, as a result of the wind. There are five possible materials to make the vehicle from: Nanofibre, Carbon, Aluminum, Steel and Iron. Obviously some are heavier than others, Nanofibre being the lightest, but most likely to struggle in high wind whereas Iron is the heaviest which will provide stability in high winds but slow it down quite a lot in low winds. The bonuses are listed below in terms of minutes:

Wind Rating - Beneficial Material - Losing Material

1 - Nanofibre (-2) - Iron (+2), Aluminium (+1)

2 - Carbon (-1), Nanofibre (-1) - Iron (+1), Steel (+1)

3 - Carbon (-1.5), Nanofibre (-0.5) - Iron (+0.5), Steel (+1.5)

4 - Carbon (-1), Aluminium (-1) - Steel (+1)

5 - None

6 - Aluminium (-1), Steel (-1) - Carbon (+1)

7 - Iron (-0.5), Steel (-1.5) - Carbon (+1.5), Nanofibre (+0.5)

8 - Iron (-1), Steel (-1) - Carbon (+1), Nanofibre (+1)

9 - Iron (-2) - Nanofibre (+2), Aluminium (+1)

The wind bonus system is pretty fair and based upon the imagined physics of the situation with a little bit of poetic licence. If you add all the bonuses together for each of the materials, they equal 0. Each of the bonuses are applied on each leg. So for example, if a team is running with a Nanofibre chassis on a day with a wind rating of 2, then on the first leg, the team has one minute knocked off its time. On the second leg, the team has another minute knocked off its time and so on. Each of the ratings are equally likely, under the formula =RANDBETWEEN(1,9) and therefore, each rating has a 11.1% chance of coming up.

Next we look at the bonuses given for the tyres and AG generator. There are five tyre and AG generator (T/AG) manufacturers: Menzies (15 - 18 Cs), Farrer (19 - 22 Cs), Dickson (23 - 26 Cs), Corangamite (27 - 30 Cs) and Calare (31 - 35 Cs). Their bonuses are dependent on the temperature forecast before the grand prix. The temperature range is given by =RANDBETWEEN(15,35) and therefore there is a twenty degree Celsius range. Each T/AG functions well enough for a bonus over a 4 degree range. The right-on T/AG bonus is negative one minute. The glancing T/AG bonus (i.e. if your manufacturer's range is on either side- of the right-on T/AG manufacturer) is a negative half minute. For example, the temperature is 25 Cs, teams carrying Dickson T/AG gear will have one minute knocked off their times in each leg. Teams carrying Farrer and Corangamite will have a half minute knocked off their times in each leg.

Finally, there are sponsorship deals. There are Liam & Co Racing, a general company that dabbles in most things, McBurgers, a chain of fast food restaurants, Koola Kola, a soda megacorporation, Blue Steer, an energy drink company, Bullseye, a chain department store, Howler-Packington, a computer hardware manufacturer, and Spirits.com, an online alcohol retailer. There is no advantage of having any particular sponsorship deal, the companies are different merely for customisation purposes. What they will do is pay your team enough money to lower your time one-thousandth of a minute per point scored (-0.001). The number of points scored works across all seasons participated in, so the older the team is, the faster you are likely to be. The bonus gained by any members of the team will be given to the whole team.

That concludes the bonuses for teams. The remaining bonus is given according to driver personality. There is always a 10% chance of rain. Aggressive drivers in the wet will always lose two minutes per leg but in the dry, they will gain one-fifth of a minute. Defensive drivers are the opposite: in the wet they will gain two minutes but in the dry, lose two-tenths of a minute. Neutral drivers gain nor lose any bonus, regardless of the weather.

There is one final, random thing. Its called the DNF Generator and it selects a random number from 1 to 15 (=RANDBETWEEN(1,15)) and if your driver gets a one when the numbers are allocated (before the race), they will crash or have something happen to them that will mean that they are unable to continue to the finish. On which leg this will happen is also decided randomly.

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 1960s. 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 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 F1 GP was in Germany 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 F1 officials were shocked and disallowed anything other than a man to drive a F1 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 F1'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 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? Only time will tell.

Current Situation

At the beginning of the Fall 2005 season, the second season of FMR:

• 24 teams are participating from 24 NationStates from four regions (Ile de France, The Tableland, The Exodus and The West Pacific).
• 18 grands prix, 14 being held in non-Liamist States, from three regions (Ile de France, The Tableland and The Exodus), divided into three Tours, the Athletion and the MarmaCup.

External Links

Formula Marmaduke Racing official site [1]

Marmaduke Sports Association [2]