News Folder

Greetings racing fans!  Welcome to the official website of Grid Motorsports, and its paramount league, the Grid Motorsports World Cup.  We're just getting started here, so the changes are going to be fast and furious, just like our racing.  Please explore the site, though as I said the cupboards are a bit empty at the moment.  We're hosting official events nearly every week, though, and all of our activity should start to take root here at the site now that it's live.  We've got a lot of legacy content that will steadily get migrated here as well, and we're very busy working on some exciting features for the site in support of our league activities.

If you're interested in joining the league, please read our charter, and if it seems like a good fit for you, feel free to fill out the new member application.

Green light!

Drivers - a massive survey has been posted that requires your dutiful attention.  You'll need to create a login for the website before you can fill out the survey, so please register a user profile for yourself if you haven't already done so (click 'join' in the box at the upper right).  Once you're able to login, bust out your opinion bat and have at the survey.  We wouldn't ask if we didn't want to know!

We're proud to announce the release of the first publicly available version of the Grid Motorsports software.  To coincide with that, we're officially unveiling our new website and would like to cordially invite all of our drivers to come over and check out the new digs.  Register a login for yourself, you'll soon be putting it to good use, and make yourself at home.  Once you've registered, check out the survey that we've prepared, for the express purpose of soliciting your opinion on nearly everything regarding the league and its operations.  Take your time, though, you don't have to fill it out all at once -- we're more interested in quality feedback than quick feedback (the survey will save your progress and you can submit it whenever you're done).

Perhaps the most utilitarian part of the website right now is the forum, so be sure to visit that and get comfortable with it.  Due to the increased feature set available with a forum, we'd like to have the majority of league discussions occur inside the forum.  That's not to say we're discouraging use of our reliable google list, just that we think everyone will appreciate the effect that the forums will have on our ability to collaborate and have fun.  In particular, it makes a perfect host for team-based discussions that have had the tendency to fall off the google list because of the recognition that not everybody cares to hear the day-to-day chatting of the various team members amongst themselves.  To facilitate this, we've already established dedicated forum sections for each team.  The forum fully supports attachments, so it's the perfect place to stash setups and motec files, etc..  A really neat feature of the forum is that it will notify anyone who's already participated in a thread whenever a new reply is posted to the thread.  Also, new threads will trigger an email notification to the google list, so we'll all easily get exposure to thread activity without having to manually babysit it on a regular basis.  The notification system that we have available is very powerful, and we'll continue to tweak our usage of it over time, based on feedback and as we discover how we all tend to use the website.

Having said this, however, please recognize that there is a tremendous amount of new systems and configuration involved in the website and we're bound to have gotten any number of things setup incorrectly or inadequately.  Please notify us immediately if something doesn't work for you, either at all or in the manner that you expect.  In all likelihood we'll be able to remedy it quickly.

We sincerely hope that this is the beginning of a very enjoyable and productive internet presence for our league, and we look forward to providing more and better services for our members and in establishing a premiere destination for friendly sim-racing enthusiasts like those that are already part of the Grid Motorsports family.

- The GM Admin Team

There are just a few weeks remaining in the schedule for the current season, and since we don't have any appreciable off-season that means that there are just a few weeks before the start of the next season!  All of the preparation for the upcoming season is being conducted now: tweaking league policies; finalizing the 2008A track list; teams testing new vehicle specifications; new teams potentially forming; drivers considering changing team affiliation; attempts to pilfer giant piles of technical documents from competitors and xeroxing them at Kinko's, etc..!

But that doesn't mean the 2007D season is all tied up with a bow just yet.  The DC (Drivers Championship) is technically still up for grabs, though it will take a very strange set of circumstances to keep the trophy out of AJ's hands (again).  But the remaining two podium spots in the championship are within reach of three drivers (Doug, Abe, Matt).  Team Antares has essentially locked up the TC (Team Championship), though I think Team Ridgefield still has a mathematical chance to eek out the victory.  All of that will be decided by the lone score yet to be entered into the DC/TC standings from the European Region (NHS and Zandvoort).

Note that the league survey has been closed.  We want to thank everybody who took the time to provide feedback.  If you didn't respond to this survey (either because you're lazy, forgetful, or brand new) don't worry - we intend to conduct the survey regularly (probably each season).  Expect another news post soon that summarizes our interpretations of the survey results and how they'll influence the 2008A Regulations.

We've had a lot of new users registered on the website, and we'd like to encourage anyone who's lurking quietly, perhaps curious about joining the league, to go ahead and jump right in.  This is the perfect time.  We've got a couple of weeks to get custom cars defined for new (and existing) drivers, and can get new drivers fully acclimated in time for the start of a brand new season.

The GMWC 2007D season is concluded (a summary of the standings is included below, in the extended portion of this post).

This was the league's 4th official season, and the first under the Grid Motorsports banner.  As expected, the improved funding and marketing afforded by the league's new governing body vaulted the series into unprecedented international prestige.  New drivers have swelled the league's rank and file, as brash up-and-comers and wily veterans alike saw an opportunity to hone their talents and pursue motorsports excellence on a world-wide stage.

Driver Championship

AJ won his third Driver Championship, though it was his narrowest victory in terms of points.  This was due in large part to the new schedule format introduced this season which helped insulate drivers from event absences and also forced drivers to succeed consistently across the full variety of venues on the schedule if they wished to contend for the cup.  AJ was the very portrait of that consistency, winning the last 6 (of 10) races and missing the podium only twice all season.  He put his signature on the season by taking pole position in 8 of the 10 races.  AJ showed once again that he is undaunted by the influx of brash new talent to the league's roster.

In a remarkable rebound from a disappointing 2007C, Doug put together an impressive string of performances to take the silver spot on the DC podium.  This is the second straight season to see the #2 DC driver winless for the season (Tom, 2007C).  But despite not winning a single feature race, Doug clung to his chances for the cup longer than any other driver, only being eliminated from contention for the DC win in the season's final region.  This being his career best DC finish, we're left to wonder which Doug will show up in 2008A, the podium contender, or the human pinball, or both!

The bronze DC finish went to last season's rookie phenom, Abe, who picked up where he left off last season and significantly upped the ante!  Abe parlayed his 2007C success into a position as founder and engineering lead on Team Antares, giving him both the means and the opportunity to challenge the league's elite performers with a vehicle custom tailored to his style.  And indeed he looked poised to not only challenge, but to execute a coup d’état, as he notched 3 wins in the first 4 events of the season.  But a mix of absences and difficulty taming his new 4-wheeled thoroughbred would see Abe on the podium only once in the last 6 events of the season.

Just outside the DC podium, in 4th place, was Celso, whose finish is even more impressive considering that he didn't even get to participate in the North American region.  But his early season success coupled with a strong return to the grid in Europe put him right in the thick of things at the end.  In fact, his assault on the field after his return in January catapulted him all the way to the #2 spot in the rolling rankings.

Matt found himself in 5th place, which doubtlessly is disappointing given his pre-season aspirations and the promise of a schedule format that would better accommodate the travel restrictions associated with the terms of his parole from a 2006 misdemeanor conviction for public nudity.  To his credit, he did manage to stay out of the negative limelight this season, but the problem was that he didn't find himself in the positive limelight much either.  He showcased his usual mastery of the streets of Monaco, but his hopes for DC glory were scuttled by chronic absences.  We'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was merely prioritizing his responsibilities as president of Team Ridgefield over personal season accolades as a driver.

Tom and Bill were neck and neck in DC points, with Tom edging out for a 6th place finish based on gross points earnings.   Tom  was unable to recapture his 2007C form (#2 DC) but represented himself and his team well all season long.  Bill seems to be either a marked man or have some kind of voodoo curse on his head, as he again seemed to suffer from an inordinate amount of accidental clobberings at the hands of his fellow gridmates.

The remainder of the DC points ladder was populated by a mix of rookies, both young and old, and league stalwarts seeking their niche in an increasingly impressive field.  Particularly noteworthy was Todd, who was the only driver out of the top two who scored points in every region of the season, and Mike, who earned points in 3 of the 4 events in which he participated.

Team Championship

2007D was the inaugural season for the revamped Team Championship, which now showcases teams formed according to their own philosophies, each competing not only on the track but for the hearts and minds of the drivers as well, since the rosters are built solely through driver-initiated affiliation.  Three strong league personalities staked out their territories in the pre-season, forming teams Antares, Ridgefield, and Rusyn.  Their methods differed, and the factory vehicles seemed to capture the nature of each team founder's personal style.  But it didn't take long to prove that they were all three the competitive equal of each other.

Team Antares rode a strong roster and consistent attendance to a decisive victory in the TC, in addition to putting two drivers on the DC podium (Doug, Abe).  Team Ridgefield benefited from a very accommodating vehicle design and the league's largest roster to earn a clear 2nd place finish.  Team Rusyn scored very well in 3rd, but it lost the recruiting game early in the season and suffered the consequences.

Team Ridgefield sowed the seeds of future success with the acquisition of multiple rookies during the course of the season, setting the stage for a strong 2008A.  But Antares now has a reputation to trumpet, and Rusyn can't help but benefit from the continued proven success of its founder and lead engineer (AJ).  And there'll be at least one new flag waving as well, as the newly-formed Team CPS assumes a customer relationship with Team Ridgefield, with former Ridgefield standout Tom at the helm.

Summary

The 2007D season was another chapter in the GMWC success story.  As we move swiftly into the next season, we want to thank all the drivers for participating, contributing, sharing, and joining in our dream of establishing the best sim-racing environment we can imagine.  We also want to welcome all of the new drivers that have arrived over the course of the season and encourage all of the drivers, both old and new, to continue to nurture the kind of community that lets us not only pursue sim-racing excellence but to thoroughly enjoy the pursuit itself.

- Grid Motorsports Administration

The GMWC is unveiling a new way to enjoy casually-competitive simulation motorsports: The Hot Lap Ranking (HLR) Competition.

The HLR is a 'perpetual' competition, much like the Rolling Rankings, but it has several distinct differences.   First, as the name implies, it's focus is hot lapping, rather than racing or racecraft.  Second, it is completely independent from the league's events and the results of those events.  That latter point is perhaps the most critical, and is in fact the motivation for the HLR's existence.

As a league, we strive to provide opportunities for league members to indulge their affection for motorsports on both a competitive and social level, and for league members to be able to participate as fully as possible despite the demands of their normal lives.  While the forum and the practice server are always available to fill that social role, the league's existing set of competitive opportunities were such that they left some of our league members 'out in the cold', so to speak, merely because those members aren't able to regularly participate in the events.

So we created the HLR as a complement to our current competitions, and crafted it such that it fills a niche that has heretofore been neglected.

Specifically, the HLR is an individual driver competition where each driver has at all times a single score.  That score is simply the cumulative time for the fastest laps achieved by that driver on each of a fixed list of tracks.  The list is short, currently 4 tracks, and so the HLR score for a driver would consist of the sum of just 4 lap times - the fastest lap achieved by the driver on each of the 4 tracks.  The faster you are, the lower your cumulative time will be, and the higher your HLR score will be.

Keep reading for the full details of the HLR...