Ultimate Air Racing

Founding

The brain child of two farming brothers: Hyrild and Demos. The sport UAR had spread all through southern Friendly Aliens until its eventual state establishment in late 2006. It began with the conversion of flying farming vehicles into the first UAR racers, Hyrild and Demos raced eachother in courses with obstacles like grain silos, water towers and weather balloons.

The sport spread with teenage farmers from all over the southlands coming to race eachother in their own converted vehicles, this however lead to the races first fatality; Demos, one of the founders of the sport had an accident which cost him his life. The press attention this brought to the sport was ironically what gave it life beyond the southern farmlands.

Catching the attention of wealthy young aliens, more and more sophisicated racers came into the circuit, racing in specialised arenas grabbing more and more public focus. Eventually this attracted attention from both corperations and the government simutaniously. The government wanted regulation (with racers becoming so fast that the risk of accidents has grown to rediculous heights) and corperations wanted to expand the sport to a much wider audience (for profits of course).

National Expansion

The government demanded if this sport was to a be made safe for its live specators (which had started reaching its thousands) it must be performed in safe arenas, this lead to the creation of the first purpose built UAR arena: "Vector".

At the same time some of the largest corperations in Friendly Aliens including Friendly Alienways began to create teams using the already experienced riders like Hyrild to pilot their racers.

With the completion of the Vector the National UAR League began with races each week held in the Vector Arena but with the course changed and made more complicated. Viewing rates multiplied at a rediculous rate. More and more corperations joined creating their own teams until even foriegn companies began to join.

Future for UAR

More arenas are planned to be built in more and more exotic locations. Springing up in foreign nations like Super Rome and Jihad Allah. Roudland has expressed particular interest in constructing an arena and holding an event, possibly near the northern city of Ballaham.

Super Roman Involvement

With the key principles of UAR being speed and agility Super Roman corporations, contracted by the government have taken a particular interest, as has the military. UAR allows corporations relative freedom to pursue their own forms of propulsion and drive and the competition present as a result can only lead to further development of Roman air technologies. It is hoped that through funding this public enterprise, large corporate participation will not only generate huge wealth, but also prove invaluable with regard to future ships design and/or military application. As such four companies have already joined the UAR Professional and three the Junior League.

UAR however is not simply an endeavour by Super Rome to further military/civilian motoring. The cost of implementing “flying” vehicles is exceptionally high and as such will not become a mainstream method of travelling around the country, although the creation of trains and public transport using the technology has already been proposed to replace the existing Bullet Train Metro System.

Huge investment has also been procured for three UAR arenas in the North, South and West of Super Rome. Though all still under construction their completion remains a matter of months not years. The Northern Arena, Pulse, follows a similar design to the current Friendly Aliens layouts with the track remaining largely horizontal with long high banked corners complemented by long straights. The track is designed to test the ultimate speed of a craft and as such features few chicanes or hairpin corners. The Southern UAR arena is located deep in the Super Roman desert and is a trial of endurance. The Sidewinder course essentially fulfils a role opposite to “Pulse”, focussing instead upon each individual pilot’s ability to negotiate complex turns and chicanes. High raised banked corners and sweeping peaks and troughs have been included as has a jump (though safety inspectors are ascertaining whether this should be removed). This course is designed to test the endurance of the driver and craft, not only to operate in the extreme desert heat but also to complete what is the longest UAR track proposed, estimate time per lap – 8 minutes. The third and final track, produced in conjunction with Jihad Allah is a compromise of the two. “Reach” is a highly paced complex course of an estimate four minute length. Based in woodland the course snakes its way through trees and at several points dives underground into massive caverns (dug out by Jihad workers).

A number of large corporations are waiting to see the initial results and judge whether their involvement really would be a profitable move. With interest expressed primarily by Roudland alongside the existing Friendly Alien system, it is likely that the four teams will remain the only Super Roman teams for the time being.

Roudland Involvement

With Motor racing leagues being the premiere sports in Roudland, interest in UAR from corporations and public alike is high. The government’s Sports and Gaming Commission gave the green light for privately-owned UAR arenas in late 2006, with the first arena, the WorldCom Ballaham Arena, set to open in July of 2007. At the present there are three other arenas being constructed, the Hakkendorf Peter Michaelson Memorial Arena, the Mantel Global Industries Courant Arena and the Lockheed Arena, based in or near Hakkendorf, Whitefall and Retroit respectively.

The WorldCom Ballaham Arena is a large, open arena, marked for the long, wide straights and flowing s-bends though three dimensions. A feature that marks the course out is the famed ‘Overpass’ corner, a 75 degree right hander that takes place downhill after a 35 degree drop. Set amongst a clearing of woodland, the WorldCom Arena is spacious and can accommodate tens of thousands of spectators behind protective shielding. Conditions in the Ballaham area are traditionally quite wet, even in the summer months, which for motorsports means lack of visibility and careful overtaking.

Current Leagues

Independants League

Junior League

Professional League

The Independants League teams are not sponsored by large corperations. They are teams with little funding thus slower racers, never the less the races are fun and full of character, as racers are not playing for money. It only has a riders prize which is given to the leading riders at the end of the season.

The Junior League is mainly for the younger racers. They compete for a riders prize and hopefully a position in the Professional League. There is no limits on the corperation sponsorship therefore there is almost always teams from corperations who already have a professional team. This is so they have a stake at the second prize of the Amateur League, the Manufacturers prize.

Finally the Professional League, this is where you see the largest teams. All competing for the Rider and Manufacturer Prize. The races in this league are fast, competative and dangerous attracting billions of fans.