tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54673581926009366822024-03-12T19:23:51.081-04:00Lucid Phoenix GamesGame design and pontification by Douglas Schulz.Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-70103550355945237522023-08-31T08:41:00.001-04:002023-08-31T08:41:14.120-04:00Final 2023 Organized Play Ranking<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuS-rnty8H3mXBr9uVdwPAEFFMobzv-NXa5SxZ99XC6itvQjQRjPdfUUp0wPpHS6mSYX1u_LegIDP0l3ugPedXypQpGS9NPz3pYdGnwj3rWo9yoNw0lVoF1Hc25LXgPvlF567xdY72b3oAKf86guPHCgzsMoee3vxcGYWe_zx3C5rybFSrmwR4zMjqUX-z/s290/2023-final-ranks.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="276" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuS-rnty8H3mXBr9uVdwPAEFFMobzv-NXa5SxZ99XC6itvQjQRjPdfUUp0wPpHS6mSYX1u_LegIDP0l3ugPedXypQpGS9NPz3pYdGnwj3rWo9yoNw0lVoF1Hc25LXgPvlF567xdY72b3oAKf86guPHCgzsMoee3vxcGYWe_zx3C5rybFSrmwR4zMjqUX-z/s1600/2023-final-ranks.png" width="276" /></a></div> The 7th CFR Organized Play season is over and despite a new ranking system I think the champion is pretty obvious. <b>Jason Schultz</b> was the only driver to win more than one event this year. Jason actually won 3 of the 4 events entered.<p></p>Jason's big win was the Ikea Cup event -- a large Table Top Simulator tournament. But four other drivers won comparable events. The kicker was winning Divoll -- a tier 2 event in my PBeM series. This was by far the best 2nd event result by any driver.<div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rank/">Full rankings</a></li></ul><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Rookie of the Year</h2><div><b>C Moratto</b> gets the nod here after placing 4th in Redscape C4 in his first ever Organized Play outing.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Most Improved</h2><div><b>Will McConchie</b> made a big jump in his 2nd season in Organized Play. Capping it off by winning the tier-4 Clark series. This pushed his ranking to 27th, up 87 spots from last year.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Honorable mention to <b>Tim Baker </b>who jumped 42 spots up to 3rd in the rankings. The biggest increase among drivers who finished in the top 20 this season.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Steward of the Year</h2><div>Since I'm only really paying attention to events now, I'm going to hand this to <b>Mr. Polcen</b>. Michael officially is in charge of two different series of events... the 4-race Redscape Ladder PLUS the Table Top Simulator hosted Ikea Cup event. And I know Michael would acknowledge that he is mostly a proxy for the wonderful stewards that run various races in those series. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks to all stewards.</div>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-19787767514732815002023-07-24T09:00:00.001-04:002023-07-24T09:00:00.139-04:00New OP Ranking Method<p>Some of you may know that I've been struggling this season to get caught up with CFR Organized Play rankings. The two culprits I have identified is that I have been busy and past me constructed a pretty elaborate system for calculating OP rankings.</p><p>So I'm simplifying. A lot.</p><p>I used to track every result from every race and calculate a whole series of things to try to judge relative competition. Now I'm just going to track the results of events and I'm going to use a simpler method to judge competition levels between different events -- more or less just counting the number of participants. <a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/cfrop/ranking.asp">More here</a>.</p><p>This makes my work much more manageable. And so an in-progress 2023 season <a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rank/">rankings is here</a>.</p>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-52543186151640132202023-03-27T21:30:00.005-04:002023-03-27T21:46:04.817-04:00WBC 2023 Tracks<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAhsuZn7A6kCYjobKx0nxOJKKU0IALY6SBkRnctDN2i0pUFP6S25BF0nwhM-2dH2gPRAK8FFqxwGRvaAYyLuOKMVEVLP7YhWL_0au_QqepvWbH8Q7SEUyyjwcx9C60YUXNEe7oEi-_f_efvXbZg0bdc0wUvdCQlTTWe7z31H0qi3ev4FC6gKBkk7rPNw/s1720/sunset-clubhouse.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="1720" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAhsuZn7A6kCYjobKx0nxOJKKU0IALY6SBkRnctDN2i0pUFP6S25BF0nwhM-2dH2gPRAK8FFqxwGRvaAYyLuOKMVEVLP7YhWL_0au_QqepvWbH8Q7SEUyyjwcx9C60YUXNEe7oEi-_f_efvXbZg0bdc0wUvdCQlTTWe7z31H0qi3ev4FC6gKBkk7rPNw/w400-h164/sunset-clubhouse.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I expect someone to get angry here in the finals.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>WBC steward Chris Long has picked some tracks for this year's <a href="https://www.boardgamers.org/wbcindex.html">WBC event</a>.</p><p>A nice mix of tracks below. The first group are some real classics -- three of the most raced tracks in F1 history. Group 2 is a collection of fan favorite modern era tracks. Then the last grouping includes 2 tracks never used in WBC qualifying before -- Kent which is a new design and Indy which made it's WBC debut as last year's finals track. </p><p>This year's finals is another brand new to WBC track -- Midrand, also known as Kyalami. </p><p>Good luck all.</p><p><b>Q1 Red</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Monza.pdf" target="_blank">Monza </a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Nurburgring.pdf" target="_blank">Nurburg </a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Francorchamps2007.pdf" target="_blank">Spa 2007 layout </a></li></ul><p></p><p><b>Q2 Purple</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/MexicoCity.pdf" target="_blank">Mexico City</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Baku2016.pdf" target="_blank">Baku</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Sepang.pdf" target="_blank">Sepang 1999 layout</a></li></ul><p></p><p><b>Q3 Green</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Kent1976.pdf" target="_blank">Kent</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/indy2000.pdf" target="_blank">Indianapolis</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/YasMarina.pdf" target="_blank">Abu Dhabi</a></li></ul><p></p><p><b>Finals</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Midrand1967.pdf" target="_blank">Midrand</a></li></ul><p></p>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-70839383752124671232022-10-17T11:00:00.005-04:002022-10-17T11:00:00.159-04:00CFR 2022 Organized Play Concludes (Finally)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-aUTg5MVJyMQtTkoPyunTu9yOZZprWdRXyZdTQxjKeSQJV_4o8Ji4tzAREdTiKUHHVREWFBKCrQyQ5SPZXOoxUMfoWmWfahvU-EPyLsq1KsQetpma8eni_3pVhSWZY4b-S6YHR7izGSUyqOZYVXtwWbbiIr6tLkPeCI3mubeHd1Z_Gyf0HVTxDYKtw/s301/CFROP2022final.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="289" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-aUTg5MVJyMQtTkoPyunTu9yOZZprWdRXyZdTQxjKeSQJV_4o8Ji4tzAREdTiKUHHVREWFBKCrQyQ5SPZXOoxUMfoWmWfahvU-EPyLsq1KsQetpma8eni_3pVhSWZY4b-S6YHR7izGSUyqOZYVXtwWbbiIr6tLkPeCI3mubeHd1Z_Gyf0HVTxDYKtw/s1600/CFROP2022final.png" width="289" /></a></div>In the end, only 4 points separated the top two drivers this season. With last year's champion <b>Stephen Peeples</b> just edging out former two-time champ Don Tatum.<p></p><p>The rest of the top 10 was a mix of regulars and break-throughs. Michael Polcen runs his streak of top 10 finishes to 5 seasons (1 short of Don's 6 seasons). Chris Long and Tim Mossman have had multiple top 10 seasons before but Tim was 40th last year and Chris hasn't been top 10 since he finished 3rd in 2018. James Benham made his first top 10 last year.</p><p>Jason Schultz ended the season 20 points behind our champion but in only his second season of organized play. Will Kennington, Justin Swaine, and Brent Fitz also made their first appearances in the top 10 this year.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rank/">Complete 2022 Rankings</a></li></ul><p></p><p>But lets dig into how Stephen beat out Don this year. Below is a break-out of how each of them got points this year -- their top 5 race results and their top 2 tournament results. And some general data as well.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwoE2AuUTrhx31jNbIw0DSic405Ii5p_MrbQ6GxJX8OJcDyJ0Gpx9JNepEycj_WP_LtMXxB5RzcQdf-1LTgs-wP3xRBenvTVHdSBpk5DN7zaeb0Oxlk9e70kIhyiLD7kDYIY_PGKQTXQ9CfqrBXge_mXnS491rmU0ZsGOuqQ9DuX1pbSoH8vcjybbpA/s910/CFROP2022top2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="910" height="104" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQwoE2AuUTrhx31jNbIw0DSic405Ii5p_MrbQ6GxJX8OJcDyJ0Gpx9JNepEycj_WP_LtMXxB5RzcQdf-1LTgs-wP3xRBenvTVHdSBpk5DN7zaeb0Oxlk9e70kIhyiLD7kDYIY_PGKQTXQ9CfqrBXge_mXnS491rmU0ZsGOuqQ9DuX1pbSoH8vcjybbpA/w640-h104/CFROP2022top2.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>That general data tells an interesting story. Stephen beat Don despite Don winning more races (and even a higher percentage of races) and more tournaments. But you can also see the first clue here of how Stephen overcame that -- tougher competition. By design a field rating of 1 should be average (the median race field rating was 0.97 this year). So we can see that Stephen's average race was considered above average in difficulty of competition while Don's was -- on average -- considered below average.</p><p>This doesn't mean that Don was racing against shlubs. What it really means is that most of Don's wins came against smaller groups of opponents and/or not the very best of competition Below are the top 11 races, ranked by field rating this year. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSFIlr53v46BjAEUSg3fNb8qX-AckwZJZ3pduGnjYgkvfeooJ20OSS8ISP2rCpSNZDjBwSql8sOu_r-eg7hUN8luZ8fEEpYJFO8uwDICBE3oH7oLC2OhmeFkK5wwCnnw6ER0-l_DP-xFN-_ti-V7xx63XTYVOMpaHXUHsunKS9xfqHmPs2v5ZaHsQMlg/s1134/CFROP2022racespt1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="1134" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSFIlr53v46BjAEUSg3fNb8qX-AckwZJZ3pduGnjYgkvfeooJ20OSS8ISP2rCpSNZDjBwSql8sOu_r-eg7hUN8luZ8fEEpYJFO8uwDICBE3oH7oLC2OhmeFkK5wwCnnw6ER0-l_DP-xFN-_ti-V7xx63XTYVOMpaHXUHsunKS9xfqHmPs2v5ZaHsQMlg/w640-h196/CFROP2022racespt1.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>As you can see, Stephen won 4 of those races. Don won 2. Stephen also had a second place in one of these races. In fact, those are the five results that add into Stephen's score for the year. Because the points you get for results in a race are multiplied by the field rating of that race, you can see how Stephen ended up with more points than Don.</div><div><br /></div><div>To find Don's other wins, we scroll down that list a little.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8jhVv34ksOUQt-rCsNvItZYbZ14X2XICDDeVCR2arP2LQb2DduuZaUsttlgfmrHWjwy-n8fwL6vi5kGGD7n8PaTkl6OOPgAWwYHhNQZxyDpR9qbgqoX4n5-jabp0lu-u2JhQ7JNq1dtSBieymhjdZVMvTICRZAXEQ9IA0M8R1NPxAO-S3D4nQJG7BTg/s1134/CFROP2022racespt2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="117" data-original-width="1134" height="66" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8jhVv34ksOUQt-rCsNvItZYbZ14X2XICDDeVCR2arP2LQb2DduuZaUsttlgfmrHWjwy-n8fwL6vi5kGGD7n8PaTkl6OOPgAWwYHhNQZxyDpR9qbgqoX4n5-jabp0lu-u2JhQ7JNq1dtSBieymhjdZVMvTICRZAXEQ9IA0M8R1NPxAO-S3D4nQJG7BTg/w640-h66/CFROP2022racespt2.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Don's 3rd best win was against decent competition but not the very best. A bit further down the table, Don's 4th and 5th (... and 6th) wins were against smaller fields. Anything less than 8 people is considered a smaller field and will tend to have smaller field ratings.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqEOIgphufTKs-YM1Jsxdk7wAhYtpJiw0GJrkZP_O7ZLfg-yKG4ggxp59VHUGvehU961XXF2yItR2XIwLClGA_8KR66yJ91e4Vk_XYso7INdj0l8Rks8DwUX_2AVoaFQ1OCYBUxP3VbusEEH_ltXI0Y_bvc_D7DVRSHWRuE3V3Hkm71k1Av5jkT8ZX1Q/s1134/CFROP2022racespt3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="117" data-original-width="1134" height="66" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqEOIgphufTKs-YM1Jsxdk7wAhYtpJiw0GJrkZP_O7ZLfg-yKG4ggxp59VHUGvehU961XXF2yItR2XIwLClGA_8KR66yJ91e4Vk_XYso7INdj0l8Rks8DwUX_2AVoaFQ1OCYBUxP3VbusEEH_ltXI0Y_bvc_D7DVRSHWRuE3V3Hkm71k1Av5jkT8ZX1Q/w640-h66/CFROP2022racespt3.png" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>That last bit is based on my most recent adjustment to the scoring (see <a href="http://lucidphoenix.blogspot.com/2022/06/2022-organized-play-update-and-ranking.html">this post</a> for some detail on that change). And yes, this change was made mid-season as I saw more than the usual number of smaller fields seem to really skew results. I acknowledge that this might be controversial. But I will have more to say about that in a future post.<div><br /></div><div>For now, lets congratulate Stephen on his #1 ranking and Don for another outstanding season.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Regulars</h2><div><b>Don Tatum</b> participated in what I am going to assume is a record 35 races this season (and season high 6 different tournaments). That comes out to 40% of the number of races Don could possibly have participated in (and almost 40% of the tournaments). Will Kennard participated in 28 races and Kevin Keller in 25.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Rookie of the Year</h2><div>Rookies did not show prominently in the rankings this season. But <b>Chris Manning</b> gets the nod by ranking 68th in his first season, powered by a 2nd place finish in one of the the two races he participated in. Andrew Koerber was close runner up at 70th.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Most Improved</h2><div><b>Doug Galullo</b> had a down year in 2021. Having been ranked as high as 2nd in 2018, he fell to 97th last year. But bounced back this year to 17th. Much more his usual territory. Honorable mention to Jason Schultz Who won 6 races this year and jumped from 73rd ranked last season to 3rd this season.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Steward of the Year</h2><div>This is probably my favorite award. Stewards make CFR happen. Especially organized play. I try to find new people to highlight every year but in a first... (I think) a repeat for <b>Brian DeWitt</b>. Brian not only has people nominate him every year... he ran a very impressive 12 races this year. Often as double-headers.</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Other Numbers</h2><div>This season saw a record number of races in organized play at 87 -- 4 more than 2020. And a larger increase in the number of racing opportunities at 53 -- up from 45 in 2019. Many tournaments are set up such that you can't race in every race because there are effectively or literally multiple races going on at the same time, the number of racing opportunities is always a bit lower than the total number of races. The total number of drivers participating in organized play was up from last year to 122 from 104. But 122 is still down from the 219 high of 151. Field size shrunk this year from 9.4 to 8.3. Field size has generally been shrinking over the last 10 years or so. Although it had held pretty stead around 9.5 drivers per race from 2017 through last year.</div>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-55403526002694689362022-06-20T17:46:00.001-04:002022-06-20T17:46:23.355-04:002022 Organized Play Update and a Ranking Tweak<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8sSziX5ermS6qaBPBgSUxUtIdZPKC0RPy2maP3RtHtQ2oveK-99fgxtT7Q6MjOeTZQVSCyf1fqgrcpUtHbQNxjW_4dbDOKvFR4BMsa2ECLa9tbNCtIHvDlWSVCc0rL-LG3-n7y80pnCpo0iWDPUUd_Kbvcl-IIAexKRgsUvTu-fsm2fpProIhQuPqtQ/s455/20220620rank.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="434" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8sSziX5ermS6qaBPBgSUxUtIdZPKC0RPy2maP3RtHtQ2oveK-99fgxtT7Q6MjOeTZQVSCyf1fqgrcpUtHbQNxjW_4dbDOKvFR4BMsa2ECLa9tbNCtIHvDlWSVCc0rL-LG3-n7y80pnCpo0iWDPUUd_Kbvcl-IIAexKRgsUvTu-fsm2fpProIhQuPqtQ/s320/20220620rank.png" width="305" /></a></div><br /><p><br />We are well into the 2022 CFR Organized Play season and I've updated the rankings. Finally. Thank you for your patience.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rank/">Full CFR OP Rankings</a></li></ul><div>Note that these rankings do not account for the 2nd races from my series. Updates from those races will occur when all results are in.</div><div><br /></div><div>A note on the aforementioned ranking tweak. I noticed as I was entering race results that we had a larger then usual number of low player-count races -- 4, 5, 6. These results seemed to be skewing the rankings so I made a tweak to how I adjust race scores based on the field. I used to simply use the average ELO of the top 10 drivers in the race. This was designed specifically to not penalize people for smaller races.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, I'm taking the top 8 driver ELOs and dividing by 8. So if there are fewer than 8 drivers in the race, it will not be worth as many points. I am happy with this fix but there is another big consequence. This spread out the value of wins a lot more than in previous seasons. Most wins were pretty close in value, maybe with a difference of 2-5 points. Now there is enough spread that there is some overlap in the total points for "bad" wins and "good" 2nd places.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm doing the same thing with tournament points now as well. For tournaments I used to be looking at the average of the top 20 drivers. Now I'm taking the top 8 divided by 8. I haven't yet seen any 4 driver tournaments but this does mean that the top heavy tournaments will be worth more. Which I think makes sense since only the top 3 drivers can get tournament points. So the 18th best driver in that series is not too important.</div><div><br /></div><div>Back to this year's rankings. One result of the bigger point spread for wins is that there is still plenty of opportunity for the top drivers to improve their scores as the season closes out. A high quality win could be worth 10 points or more to any of the top drivers and the top 4 drivers are all currently within 8 points.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I'm going to be keeping a close eye on the top series in my PBeM. Stephen P, Chris L, Don T, Michael P, and James B are all in that series and a race win there is a big win. Stephen and James are also neck and neck for the series win. That should set everything up nicely for the last tournament of the season at WBC 2022.</div><p></p>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-87600026410219562512022-06-14T11:38:00.000-04:002022-06-14T11:38:05.234-04:00WBC 2022... It's On!<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeqSv4FU0PJ85zb2tasRDDmqvIS0NfAMfnu23bdUi-k3Qnv99CoaS0ws0rM06J5zGsNiZjmks0twfgkvHGy_PdBArjbmfDrIV5raVj3jbZW8i936B39H9pje_eNNRdf10LL22K2rJ1aa1uFzllyQjcvsQYSplJKonRbtcaPKUpIHOb7xvKJZtL02PZg/s479/IndyC1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Indianapolis corner 1 at the end of a 4-wide straight." border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="479" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeqSv4FU0PJ85zb2tasRDDmqvIS0NfAMfnu23bdUi-k3Qnv99CoaS0ws0rM06J5zGsNiZjmks0twfgkvHGy_PdBArjbmfDrIV5raVj3jbZW8i936B39H9pje_eNNRdf10LL22K2rJ1aa1uFzllyQjcvsQYSplJKonRbtcaPKUpIHOb7xvKJZtL02PZg/w400-h140/IndyC1.PNG" title="Indianapolis corner 1 at the end of a 4-wide straight." width="400" /></a></div>Two years ago WBC steward Chris picked tracks for the WBC CFR tournament. Now you all will finally get to race those tracks at <a href="https://www.boardgamers.org/wbcindex.html">WBC 2022</a>.<p></p><p>Instead of repeating myself... <a href="http://lucidphoenix.blogspot.com/2020/05/wbc-2020-tracks-assuming-that-is-thing.html">here's the list of tracks</a>.</p><p>Good luck all.</p>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-30587829382999623842021-11-03T17:35:00.110-04:002021-11-03T18:32:16.170-04:00CFR 2021 Organized Play Wraps Up<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zrXhRB0Q9uY/YYMBzIjO_6I/AAAAAAAAhi8/_iG6Lp534eoZObuTz0jmc2Kvl6oWdlBoQCNcBGAsYHQ/s432/2021OP.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="432" height="296" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zrXhRB0Q9uY/YYMBzIjO_6I/AAAAAAAAhi8/_iG6Lp534eoZObuTz0jmc2Kvl6oWdlBoQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2021OP.png" width="320" /></a></div>A couple tourneys (mostly mine) ran longer than anticipated this season. So this is later than usual. By a month or two really. But its wrapped and we can crown a champ.<p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>2021 OP Champ: Stephen Peeples</b></p><p>Huge congrats to Stephen. Stephen won 8 races this season -- the most of anyone and nearly half of the 18 races he participated in. He also won 2 tournaments -- tied for the most tournament wins. This season culminated a sharp rise to the top for Mr. Peepels who raced in his first ranked race in the 2018 season. He was ranked 40th in the 2019 season and 6th last year.</p><p><b>Michael Polcen</b>'s top 5 races were slightly more valuable than Stephen's but Michael did not win a tournament this season -- coming in 2nd twice instead -- spoiling his bid for a 2nd title.</p><p><b>Dave Ling</b> placed 8th officially but did win two of the more prestigious tournaments (Redscape's C1 and my P1). But he won only 2 races all season plus only 2 other podiums to end up with fewer points for his top 5 races than the other drivers around him.</p><p>Defending two-time champ <b>Don Tatum</b> came up short of the three-peat but did continue his streak of ranking top 4 in all 5 of the OP seasons so far.</p><p><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rank/">Complete Results</a></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Most Improved: Thomas Van Hare</b></p><p>Thomas was ranked 98th last season and jumped up to 30th this season after winning a race and the Hamilton series this year.</p><p>Honorable mentions: <b>Robert Rund</b> has been ranked in the 40s for the last 3 season and really put it together this year for 7 wins and a tournament victory to end up 5th on the season. <b>Mike Greason</b> moved up from 74th to 17th. <b>Kevin Harrington</b> from 78th to 25th. <b>Kathryn Harley</b> from 88th to 32nd. <b>Larry Dygert</b> from 101st to 42nd. <b>Leon "Blacketo"</b> from 120th to 64th.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Rookies of the Year: Curtis Milburn & Jeff Caldwell</b></p><p>I couldn't bring myself to single out one of them. Curtis and Jeff finished ranked 44th and 45th, less than a point apart. Curtis participated in 10 races. He didn't win any but did grab 2 podiums. Jeff only participated in 4 races and did no better than 5th... except for the race he won.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Steward of the Year: Brian DeWitt</b></p><p>I got a nomination for this award this season. I don't think I ever have before and honestly should ask for them in the future. As racing started to occur in person again this year, Brian offered up his house for the DMV series -- hosting double race-days with large scale cars and lunch! I'm sorry I never made it. Maybe next year.</p>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-33905346253138167642021-04-09T15:15:00.003-04:002021-04-09T15:15:33.156-04:00Supercharged: light, quick racing<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mglISgXDCfQ/YHCmJzJ7UTI/AAAAAAAAd2Y/nm-cGCRpgU4B9TOlFB8_X5KuVBuvp6F7wCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/PXL_20210408_123143451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="210" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mglISgXDCfQ/YHCmJzJ7UTI/AAAAAAAAd2Y/nm-cGCRpgU4B9TOlFB8_X5KuVBuvp6F7wCPcBGAsYHg/w320-h210/PXL_20210408_123143451.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I got my Kickstarter copy last week and the game has taken
over my workbench since then. I played probably
10 games, all solo. My quick reaction at
this point: This is a light,
quick-playing game with some engaging bits.
I liked it. Quick disclaimer, Jim
Dietz was instrumental in getting CFR published for which I will always be
grateful.<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Light, Quick-Playing<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Racing games have a habit of being long or being racing
games in theme only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I applaud designers
Mike Clifford and Mike Siggins for coming up with a quick play game that feels
like racing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I admit that people looking
for deeper decision making may not enjoy this game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I also think that there is a bigger decision
space here than might be apparent at first.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is tempting to think that your only decision is which of
your cars to 7 spaces and which to move 6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But more often the decision is really IF you want to move all of that
speed or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slipstreams make a huge
difference in this game and shorting yourself a couple spaces this move to set
up a slipstream is probably worth it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or
maybe you should move fewer spaces to create a blocking situation for some cars
right behind you that have yet to move this turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe I want to move a little less because
it means that a car that moves up behind me later in the turn will be in a
curve and not eligible for a slip next turn.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Don’t get me wrong, this is not the thinkiest game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But after a couple plays you can find ways to
be thinkier with your moves.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Engaging Bits<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are some specific design elements I really enjoyed
with this game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The grid position
assignment was very well done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Faster
teams will be randomly assigned to grid spots 1-4 and then mixed in with the
next tier of teams for spots 5-11 and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think this works really well as there is a level of randomization
within constraints.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EVGwqA7yRP0/YHCnlPdKFTI/AAAAAAAAd2k/kCiLq_yvgS4PmEOTWo5F8QkexH4wUcPMACPcBGAsYHg/s4032/PXL_20210406_192347462.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EVGwqA7yRP0/YHCnlPdKFTI/AAAAAAAAd2k/kCiLq_yvgS4PmEOTWo5F8QkexH4wUcPMACPcBGAsYHg/s320/PXL_20210406_192347462.jpg" /></a></div><br />I love that you can reconfigure the track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although I get that this is mostly cosmetic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reality is that the track only matters to
the degree that you can change the order and quantity of straight spaces versus
curve spaces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are going to use
all of the pieces every track, there are really only so many variations you can
create.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, it’s fun to do.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is not an overly produced game but I really like the
design esthetic of the 1930s era cars and the added bit of rationale when cars
get bounced from races is great.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Yes,
drivers got sick ALL the time during races back then.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Rougher Bits<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As with any game there are things I did not like as
much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my first handful of plays I noticed
the track was REALLY clogged up in the back during turns 1 and 2 after the
starting procedure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the random
determination of who went first was mostly backmarkers you ended up with a LOT
of spun cars because there was literally nowhere for them to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recovering from a spin requires a pull from
the Action Deck and can mean that car is done for the race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of spun cars means you churn through the
Action Deck which means more and more Events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Events can be random one time bonuses but can also mean random retirements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I saw this happen more in early turns
before the field naturally spreads out, I would typically cycle through the
Action Deck about 3 times per race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
get that a lot of retirements is very thematic, but when I saw the French team
lose both cars that were 1-2 in the race a turn from the finish line it just
felt bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This would have been a
table-flipper if it were competitive.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, I came up with a couple ideas, one of which I REALLY like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First a little background.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Every game you control two different teams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each turn, 1 card for each team is shuffled together
with cards for all of the other teams and that random draw determines who moves
in which order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This very random turn
order is what I think is the cause of more mayhem than I enjoy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>My Supercharged House Rule<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">At the beginning of the turn, each
player puts one of their team’s cards facedown into the “moves first” pile and the
other facedown into the “moves second” pile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Randomly assign half of the privateer teams to each pile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the two piles are complete, shuffle each,
and then place the “moves first” pile on top of the “moves second” pile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cards are then drawn from this combined
pile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">If one of your teams has had both
cars removed from the race, continue to play both cards because that hides
which pile you put your remaining team in.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This ends up doing several things I enjoy.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First it helps solve track congestion issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I see that one of my cars has a lot of
traffic in front of it that I want to try to avoid, I can put that team’s card
in the “move second” pile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe things
will have cleared out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt like this played
out the way I’d hoped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it also had
another impact I did not anticipate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because fewer cars got stuck in situations where they had no options and
had to spin, I churned through the Action Deck less.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now I’m shuffling only once per game not
three times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means a LOT fewer
random events knocking out drivers for no real reason… especially late in the
game.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This rule also adds a decision to every turn that was not
there before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes it seems
relatively obvious that I should make one of my teams go first and the other go
second.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But often I saw myself
considering both teams for different reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And then you are put in a situation to maybe prioritize one team over
the other or start trying to anticipate the other players’ choices here.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m sure this modification is not for everyone, but if you
are looking for more decisions and less random give it a try.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Solo<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A few words about Supercharged as a solitaire
experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Supercharged solo is not set
up to be competitive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You aren’t racing
against the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are just running
the system to see what happens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
actually enjoy that kind of solo experience but I realize that will not be best
for everyone.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I also decided that I’d rather play this game solo with the
4-player rules than the solo rules in the box.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think the game is easy enough to play multi-handed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is not a TON of player interaction in
your decision making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it’s easy enough
to anticipate what a Team might decide to do based only on their situation and
not trying to anticipate other Teams’ moves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This also means you get to play with the Tactics cards which provide
more decisions to make and keeps more cars from spinning out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Great Maneuver card is often a get out of
jail free card when you would otherwise be stuck spinning.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>To Sum Up<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A light, quick racing game with enough flavor to feel like
racing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lighter level of decision
grit keeps the game light and quick but your satisfaction with that will vary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recommend my turn order modification.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also recommend playing 4-handed solitaire
and not the solo rules in the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It honestly
gives you a better flavor of the game.<o:p></o:p></p>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-58048923051456045442021-03-31T09:54:00.004-04:002021-03-31T09:54:33.630-04:00Annie Bousquet, Race Car Driver<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mWP-zzUWFVo/YGR--gNKWVI/AAAAAAAAdqM/Df7zJw0pd0wmRKS3VDM83wh7VQbkYycpwCNcBGAsYHQ/s550/ABcorner.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="383" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mWP-zzUWFVo/YGR--gNKWVI/AAAAAAAAdqM/Df7zJw0pd0wmRKS3VDM83wh7VQbkYycpwCNcBGAsYHQ/w279-h400/ABcorner.PNG" width="279" /></a></div><br />I was developing a version of the Reims race track for Championship Formula Racing when I noticed that one of the corners was named for someone I did not recognize. Who was Annie Bousquet and why does she have a corner named after her?<p></p><p>It turns out that Annie Bousquet was a race car driver from 1953 until 1956. And her career would make an excellent movie. </p><p>The opening scene could be a hotel lobby bar at a picturesque Italian ski resort (Sestriere in the Italian Alps along the border with France). We would see two Italian race car drivers regaling an audience with their tales of life at over 200 kph. One of those drivers is double F1 world champion Alberto Ascari. In the background Annie listens intently – her recently broken leg propped up on an ottoman.</p><p>Fast forward a few months: Annie’s cast is removed and she almost immediately enters her first rally. </p><p>In addition to being a race car driver, Annie Bousquet was a woman. In the 1950s women were reportedly more tolerated in Rally racing as it was considered a more casual form of auto racing. Annie was herself turned away from the 12 hours of Sebring which frowned on women participants.</p><p>Annie did manage to enter a number of sports car races, many of which were FIA sanctioned championship events. She also broke the female lap speed record in 1955 – posting an average speed of 230.5 kph at Linas-Monthery in a Porsche Spider. The previous record of 215 kph had been set in 1934.</p><p>But a mere 4 years after her first organized race, Annie’s racing career would come to an end. In January of 1956 Annie’s husband died in a car accident. Annie kept racing. In June she was entered the 12 hours of Reims but her Porsche was being repaired and was only ready the night before the race and 500 km away from the track. She drove through the night and insisted on taking the first stint. She suffered a fatal crash an hour into the race.</p><p>The reaction to Annie’s death followed a familiar dichotomy between treating Annie as a driver or as a woman. On one hand the corner where she died was named after her and a racing award was given her name. But the governing body for the 24 hours of LeMans banned women – a ban that lasted until the early 1970s -- and the French Automobile Federation currently has no mention of Annie on their web site or the award they named for her.</p><p>The race winner reportedly suggested that fatigue played a role in her crash but a number of written accounts of Annie’s life suggest that she was “a victim of her own enthusiasm” or focused a lot of attention on how often she crashed.</p><p>I prefer to look at Annie Bousquet as a race car driver of the 1950s. As such Annie was constantly pushing the limits of an immature sport – very much like every other 1950s race car driver I’ve read about. Like many others, it sadly turned fatal. In this case, cutting off a career only 4 years old.</p><div><b>Sources</b></div><div><br /></div><div>First Ladies: Female Racing Drivers, 1888-1970</div><div>by Jean François Bouzanquet, 2009</div><div><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Fast_Ladies/TH41bjMO1esC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=annie+bousquet&pg=PA112&printsec=frontcover">https://www.google.com/books/edition/Fast_Ladies/TH41bjMO1esC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=annie+bousquet&pg=PA112&printsec=frontcover</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Only a broken leg. Yours, Annie</div><div>Article in Porsche customer magazine Christophorus, No. 387, October 8, 2018</div><div><a href="https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/history/porsche-550-spyder-annie-bousquet-race-car-driver-record-time-1955-christophorus-387-15824.html">https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/history/porsche-550-spyder-annie-bousquet-race-car-driver-record-time-1955-christophorus-387-15824.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div>HistoricRacing.com profile</div><div><a href="https://www.historicracing.com/driverDetail.cfm?driverID=2964">https://www.historicracing.com/driverDetail.cfm?driverID=2964</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Speed Queens profile</div><div>by Rachel H-G, January 23rd, 2010</div><div><a href="http://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2010/01/annie-bousquet.html">http://speedqueens.blogspot.com/2010/01/annie-bousquet.html</a></div>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-39275387093843812242020-12-08T10:00:00.001-05:002020-12-08T10:00:04.181-05:00Championship Formula Racing Organized Play Update<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V727rECQMJI/X853qkmxsJI/AAAAAAAAbbs/TEyJhvwhkJsM8cZHpRZDAT6XRSR00j6jACNcBGAsYHQ/s402/2021OPrankA.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="376" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V727rECQMJI/X853qkmxsJI/AAAAAAAAbbs/TEyJhvwhkJsM8cZHpRZDAT6XRSR00j6jACNcBGAsYHQ/w299-h320/2021OPrankA.png" width="299" /></a></div> Seventeen races and one tournament into the 2021 season and I'm putting out the first report using the <a href="http://lucidphoenix.blogspot.com/2020/10/changes-for-2021-organized-play.html">new ranking method</a>. <p></p><p>Its early days but James Benham is in the top spot right now for 2021 after winning the Redscape Fall Squall series this weekend. Your right-this-second top 10 and more detail at the links below:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rank/">Full Driver Rankings</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rank/races.asp">Race Details</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rank/series.asp">Series Details</a></li></ul><p></p><p>This could end up being a completely virtual season... depends a bit on what happens this summer. So I expect that some drivers may not get as much racing in as they usually do. But the opportunities for PBeM or TTS racing have increased since the pandemic hit so I anticipate a good season either way.</p><p>Keep racing everyone and I look forward to more results in the future.</p>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-36064497126097798332020-10-13T09:00:00.001-04:002020-10-13T09:00:03.447-04:00Changes For 2021 Organized Play<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R2yjCYZXb8E/X4CQZGE06oI/AAAAAAAAaTc/4pfQro7ilFkl3Kna4wgJvBTpoyIJrmDnACPcBGAsYHg/s4032/PXL_20201009_155005557.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R2yjCYZXb8E/X4CQZGE06oI/AAAAAAAAaTc/4pfQro7ilFkl3Kna4wgJvBTpoyIJrmDnACPcBGAsYHg/s320/PXL_20201009_155005557.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The CFR OP Trophy</td></tr></tbody></table><p>We have just completed the fourth year of Organized Play for Championship Formula Racing and the ranking system has largely remained the same over that period of time. One of the main things I tried to do with the original system was to give different values to different races based on the competition. In theory, a win against a bunch of strong competitors should be worth more than a win against a group of rookies. The trick is judging the competition.</p><p>What I have done up to now is to count a driver's best race finishes over the last two years. I would then use that value to judge that driver's ability. The ability of the drivers in a race would add or subtract points from the value of that race.</p><p>The main problem with that concept is that it is circular. If I win 5 races against relative newbies I'm going to look like a world beater. But I can't judge the value of those wins until I figure out the value of those wins... </p><p>I also had a siloed community problem. If a group of drivers mostly race only against each other how do I compare them to others?</p><p>Late this season, I decided to try to improve the system.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Goals</b></p><p>My main goal was to try to improve the system's ability to value different races and tournaments. Specifically and in relative order of importance:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Improve the system's ability to value individual drivers</li><li>Do something about silos</li><li>Prevent radically high tournament ratings</li><li>Create a more predictable and consistent ranking system</li><li>Provide points for ladder sub-tournaments</li><li>Rebalance tournaments in relation to races</li></ul><p></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Ratings vs. Rankings</b></p><p>CFR Organized Play is all about figuring out which driver had the best season -- what I would call a ranking. It is not about figuring out who the best driver is -- what I would call a rating. </p><p>This is a distinction that happens (perhaps unintentionally) in sports all the time. The winner of the NBA Finals may not be the team that was arguably the best team in the NBA right now. But it was the team that won the playoffs and thus had the best season as defined by the NBA.</p><p>The NBA and most professional sports leagues are able to easily ignore ratings when crowning a champion because they can fairly structure seasons and playoffs to give everyone a similar chance and similar competition.</p><p>CFR Organized Play does not do that, instead it simply observes everything going on as organized by various people and has to judge a champion. This is where ratings come into play. The system uses ratings to try to figure out how much value to give every race because it can not rely on some overall structure to keep things even.</p><p>I bring this up as a preface to talking and ELO and ratings because at the end of the day, these are just tools for trying to fairly figure out a ranking. But driver ratings have never been goals in and of themselves for CFR Organized Play. And... I'll talk about that more a little further down this page.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>ELO to the Rescue</b></p><p>I've been using a ELO a lot over the last couple of years in a slightly related project to rank and categorize the best F1 drivers of all time (more on that much later). So I felt comfortable using ELO as the basis of how good individual drivers are. For those not already familiar, ELO can be used to figure out how likely one person is to beat another person based on the difference in ELO scores between the players. After each event, the actual results are compared to what ELO thought would happen and adjustments are made to each player's ELO scores.</p><p>A complication with using ELO is that as described above, ELO works best if it is updated after every game or short event. But I don't always get race results immediately after the race and PBeM races take months to end. How does that work with ELO if in middle of that month long race, some of the drivers participate in 3 live, in-person events? What's their ELO?</p><p>So, I decided that I would only recalculate ELO at the end of every season. Every race that season would assume each driver had the ELO they started the season with. I would then add up all of the ELO adjustments from their races that season and calculate a new ELO for next season. I'm sure this means that my ELO scores are not as accurate as they could be, but I do not think calculating on the fly would be feasible.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Playing around with K</b></p><p>ELO calculations have a variable called K that tends to get tweaked by people who use ELO in different situations. What I ended up doing with K is using it as a way to express my confidence in a particular driver's ELO rating which is how I ended up addressing silos.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SMuZ2o5o1Mo/X4Hu7d0hsZI/AAAAAAAAaVE/XYT3Id71E9E74SpV31SylhjJTZc6PYCZgCNcBGAsYHQ/s628/2020silos.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="187" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SMuZ2o5o1Mo/X4Hu7d0hsZI/AAAAAAAAaVE/XYT3Id71E9E74SpV31SylhjJTZc6PYCZgCNcBGAsYHQ/s16000/2020silos.png" /></a></div>First I wanted to measure my silo problem and make sure it exists. So I crunched some numbers. <p></p><div>So, yes. Most drivers in a Detroit or San Marino race only ever race in those series.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the charts on the right, you can see every community I identified and the percentage of "silo" drivers in an average race. Red cars represent drivers who never leave that series and blue cars represent drivers who have participated in at least one race in another community.</div><div><br /></div><div>Why is this important? As good as ELO is, if two groups of game players never mix their ELO really only tells you how good they are within their community. The less cross over, the less confident I should really be about the accuracy of an ELO score. Lets think of it this way.</div><div><br /></div><div>We have a chess tournament with 4 players. The top 2 players end up playing each other while the bottom two end up playing each other. If the opponents in this tournament never change ELO will tell you that the best and 2nd worst player at this tournament are equally good because they both won their games. It will also tell you that the 2nd best and worst player are the same. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course once you mix the opponents up it will not take ELO long to figure out what is really going on.</div><div><br /></div><div>So what I wanted to do was change my K value depending on how confident I felt about ELOs. What this does is reduce the amount a driver's ELO changes when racing against drivers who don't get out much.</div><div><br /></div><div>I starting thinking about his from a community perspective. But I figured out that it is really a bit more complicated than the chart on the right. For instance, large ladder series like Redscape and P1 look very different if you look at the races at the top end instead of the bottom end -- where new drivers usually come in.</div><div><br /></div><div>So what I ended up doing was calculating a K value for every driver in the rankings. That K value is based on how many races the driver has raced outside of their main community. A driver's K ends up being 5, 10, 15, or 20.</div><div><br /></div><div>Remember that K values have no direct impact on rankings. No one will get more points or fewer points from a race against drivers with higher or lower K values. Also note that I'm not throwing any shade on Detroit and San Marino or any future outpost of CFR.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Smoothing out the Scores</b></div><div><br /></div><div>So what am doing with all these ELO scores? The average of the top 10 ELO scores in any given race define that race's score multiplier. The average of the top 20 ELO scores in any given tournament or season define that tournament's score multiplier. This is similar to how the system works now but with a couple important changes. </div><div><br /></div><div>First off, I'm not using raw ELO. I assign the highest ELO in the land a value of 1.75 and the lowest a value of 0.5. And then I scale everyone else's values in between. ELOs above 1000 get to be above 1 while ELOs below 1000 are below 1. These numbers are tweaked to provide hat I consider to be enough value difference without ending up with a race or tournament that has a really high or low value compared to everything else.</div><div><br /></div><div>A corollary to the above scaling is that I'm no longer adjusting scores if the event is live as opposed to asynchronous and I'm not rewarding an event or race for having more or less drivers. This should remove the possibility for people to game the system and makes things more straightforward and less complicated.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, because ELOs do not change mid-season, race and event scores will not change after the event is scored. Because the current system was constantly adjusting the weight of races and events scores would change seemingly randomly over the course of a season. This will make everything much more predictable and consistent.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>What Value Tournaments?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>The next question I wanted to deal with is how much a tournament should be worth in relation to races. At the same time I also thought about how many races and tournaments should count towards the Organized Play championship.</div><div><br /></div><div>There wasn't any magic or complicated math here. I picked a bunch of different values until I ended up in a spot I liked.</div><div><br /></div><div>Going forward only the top 3 finishers in an event score points and they score 1/2 the value of a race. So, while the winner of a race will get 23 points times that races multiplier the winner of a tournament will gain 11.5 points time that tournament's multiplier.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the end I decided that points from the top 2 tournaments and top 5 races seemed right still, so that stays as it was.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>What Exactly is a Tournament Anyways?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>At this point, I've dealt with all of the really important things I wanted to deal with. But several people had brought up an interesting point. In the 2 large ladder series, we have groups of people who participate in a series of races but do not get counted as a tournament of their own. </div><div><br /></div><div>So when I was tinkering with tournament points I kept this in mind and broke out a couple seasons of ladder series to see how this would go. Going forward, I will be counting ladder sub-series as their own series and not part of the greater event.</div><div><br /></div><div>It doesn't devalue the higher series and gives some tournament points to more people.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Math?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>If you want some more formulas and math... check out <a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/cfrop/ranking.asp">this page</a>.</div>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-47934075235835307442020-10-02T12:38:00.002-04:002020-10-02T12:44:38.411-04:002020 CFR Organized Play EndsThe 2020 season is complete... and what a season it was.<div><br /></div><div>COVID cut short some in-person opportunities including the end of the San Marino season. This is why no San Marino races are counted towards this season. It also emphasized the value in PBeM's and prompted Redscape to experiment with Table Top Simulator which spawned a new tournament.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mRYdVVTveuU/X3dUnT3s58I/AAAAAAAAaRM/wRyWJuZW3tE9RGEaTmhTmSXx29bGf1fNACNcBGAsYHQ/s464/2020top10.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="432" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mRYdVVTveuU/X3dUnT3s58I/AAAAAAAAaRM/wRyWJuZW3tE9RGEaTmhTmSXx29bGf1fNACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2020top10.png" /></a></div><br />But you all are here to find out who won the title... </div><div><blockquote>Don Tatum</blockquote></div><div>For his second consecutive title. But this one was much closer than last year's romp. Going into the final race of the year, Don was behind Bill Worrell who had dominated this season in Detroit. And Don spent the majority of that last race in the back of the field with Tim Mossman threatening to win the P1 series as well. Late in the race Tim's dice failed him and he DNFed. That guaranteed Don the P1 title and those 62 pts put him 17 clear of Bill. Interesting Rando ended up 2nd on the season after gaining 8 pts for his finish in P1. Bill a close 3rd.</div><div><br /></div><div>Great season everyone. A few other awards:</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Rookie of the Year</b>:</div><blockquote><div>Mickey Akins</div></blockquote><div>Mickey won 2 races in his first season in Organized Play and finished ranked 16th. Honorable mention to Tim "Kay" Klepaczyk who also won a race in his first season of Organized Play and finished with a rank of 30th.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Most Improved</b>:</div><blockquote><div>James Benham</div></blockquote><p>James was ranked 103rd last year as a rookie. He won 6 races this year and finished ranked 13th. Honorable mentions to Brent Fitz who won 2 races in his 2nd season and moved up from 98th to 31st (67 spots); Mark Moellering who moved up from 97th to 33rd (64 spots) in his second season; and Kathryn Harley who moved up 52 spots in her 3rd season from 140 to 88.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rank/">Full Rankings Here</a></li></ul><p></p><div><b>Steward of the Year</b>:</div><div><blockquote>Michael Polcen</blockquote></div><div>Redscape really pivoted nicely to Table Top Simulator this summer and have kept it up with a new TTS season this fall. This is the second time Michael has been named steward of the year.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The 2021 season</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Quick preview that scoring is going to change a for 2021. Don't panic, it is not earth shattering but I hope to address concerns I've had about my old system. I'll have more to say about that soon.</div>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-40841795596643362262020-09-08T09:23:00.001-04:002020-09-08T09:23:01.270-04:00Swamp Table Project: The Trees!So far, what I've built for this project were serviceable pieces of terrain. They were fine and functional but nothing too interesting or involved. My last two reveals were a lot more involved.<div><br /></div><div>First up, and probably most important for bringing together a swamp table -- TREES! And with a better set of pictures showing more than just the finished product.</div><div><br /></div><div>Steps 1-3 created the basic structure for the trees -- trunks and branches. The lower trunk were carved out of 1" thick pieces of insulation. Before I did the carving, I glued rough cut blocks together so that I had 2" of insulation to carve. This is the functional part of the terrain -- the part that miniatures will hide behind so I wanted the possibility for some good height. Next I cut a whole half way into the 2" chunks to fit the cardboard tubes that will become the upper trunks.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VAogfzjiKmY/XxiqDIa8AQI/AAAAAAAAZM4/8QMZz_KRIGsGwAFvVIDVnpZMLdTizAJ9ACPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200326_085359.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VAogfzjiKmY/XxiqDIa8AQI/AAAAAAAAZM4/8QMZz_KRIGsGwAFvVIDVnpZMLdTizAJ9ACPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200326_085359.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>After gluing the cardboard tubes into the trunk bases I added branches. The branches are bits of metal clothes hangers stuck all the way through the tube to make two branches... one on each side of the tree. Some glue was applied to the holes to try and keep these in place.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next I took a knife and some wire brushes to the cardboard tube. My goal was to create a rougher surface more like bark would be.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-88q11-XBJfk/Xxir9a4MkeI/AAAAAAAAZNE/jjaVjksb7EgQy0cRUJuMdrllKXj5wzJpACPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200326_085413.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-88q11-XBJfk/Xxir9a4MkeI/AAAAAAAAZNE/jjaVjksb7EgQy0cRUJuMdrllKXj5wzJpACPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200326_085413.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>You can see that some of the trees I grouped into clusters of two trees each. Sometimes with room between them. Sometimes not.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U0Kemdhi9u0/XxmuWcvOp6I/AAAAAAAAZO8/6ywY-G391FAXT3VpfwoQm6ZzM1vabYaEQCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200326_085416.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U0Kemdhi9u0/XxmuWcvOp6I/AAAAAAAAZO8/6ywY-G391FAXT3VpfwoQm6ZzM1vabYaEQCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200326_085416.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>One problem with trees being a main part of the table terrain is that it does not create elevation differences that the models can take advantage of. So, for a couple of those 2-tree clusters I want to add platforms models can climb up to. Above, I've carved notches into opposite trees and then glued in balsa wood pieces. I'm going to use these to anchor the platforms.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-npJZpHvOzyU/Xxm1OuNCxNI/AAAAAAAAZPI/ycJkS_DMpfQ4NNz6tgQvmfmq9mU2nVOkwCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200330_224237.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-npJZpHvOzyU/Xxm1OuNCxNI/AAAAAAAAZPI/ycJkS_DMpfQ4NNz6tgQvmfmq9mU2nVOkwCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200330_224237.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The platforms are mostly craft sticks glued to balsa wood supports. The ladders are balsa wood with toothpicks for steps.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q86bNjpWV1w/Xxry0ndcVNI/AAAAAAAAZQU/B-RmNLMC2w8GRyRomFZMa4zZ1buVquHpQCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200405_165011.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q86bNjpWV1w/Xxry0ndcVNI/AAAAAAAAZQU/B-RmNLMC2w8GRyRomFZMa4zZ1buVquHpQCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200405_165011.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Next step is to use spackling/filler to smooth over gaps and wholes. For instance, you can see in the prior pictures where the two blocks of insulation were glued together. There were also spots where the carving in the insulation went badly creating holes I didn't want. There were also a good many gaps where the cardboard tubes were slotted into the insulation bases.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hz3nPZUUkhI/Xxr0KzaH9KI/AAAAAAAAZQg/_Vm_ViTTK2ox30MwrfzPtkGOTCAKdBdXACPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200405_165009.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hz3nPZUUkhI/Xxr0KzaH9KI/AAAAAAAAZQg/_Vm_ViTTK2ox30MwrfzPtkGOTCAKdBdXACPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200405_165009.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>In this picture you can also see another bit I was working on at the same time. Front and center is a root looking construct. I modeled these after rogue root structures I saw in my research pictures. This one is straight. Another is a corner looking piece.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4qkbr_NDtbI/Xxr1Dq7OnJI/AAAAAAAAZQs/_btvBQwe0e0t99spo00Ol0JeBp8rpISdgCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200408_090554.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4qkbr_NDtbI/Xxr1Dq7OnJI/AAAAAAAAZQs/_btvBQwe0e0t99spo00Ol0JeBp8rpISdgCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200408_090554.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Roughly an entire can of Leather Brown Primer from the Army Painter and I'm ready to paint. Seriously, I was really worried that I was going to run out of primer as I was doing this. Also... it started raining as I'm finishing up... most stressful priming ever. But it all got done and moved into the garage before the rain really started falling.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-La961bTWjfg/Xxr2znv8Z2I/AAAAAAAAZQ4/3ewKZYgJmWgWdhB7Uv9rr9ImeJJVm8n1ACPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200408_090624.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-La961bTWjfg/Xxr2znv8Z2I/AAAAAAAAZQ4/3ewKZYgJmWgWdhB7Uv9rr9ImeJJVm8n1ACPcBGAsYHg/w300-h400/IMG_20200408_090624.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>With the primer also acting as a base coat, painting was mostly about shadows and highlights. Pictures below are the finished products.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kc25Cj102tA/Xxr6OlvRrDI/AAAAAAAAZRE/Hmex8zenGf8lk3BaE-QLW2ty46Fsh3KIACPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200526_134650.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kc25Cj102tA/Xxr6OlvRrDI/AAAAAAAAZRE/Hmex8zenGf8lk3BaE-QLW2ty46Fsh3KIACPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200526_134650.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>A wash into the crevices first, then some red in gaps and flat areas. I think the red I saw in my source images were either fallen leaves or needles or bark or something like that. So I tried to get that color on places where that detritus would gather.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sLqnpUDhI4U/Xxr6z0sm8pI/AAAAAAAAZRM/EUXX8Fg2gi8f7GlTwRYf_WCOQwxt5zezgCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200526_134539.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sLqnpUDhI4U/Xxr6z0sm8pI/AAAAAAAAZRM/EUXX8Fg2gi8f7GlTwRYf_WCOQwxt5zezgCPcBGAsYHg/w300-h400/IMG_20200526_134539.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Next some blue highlights. I like that the blue added a little color to the trees. I think the blue bits on my reference images were moss of some kind?</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPXQbfchl58/Xxr8D0ynzbI/AAAAAAAAZRg/98RObqLeM-4n8QpofJTg-yQNfLrFmiOSwCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200526_134851.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aPXQbfchl58/Xxr8D0ynzbI/AAAAAAAAZRg/98RObqLeM-4n8QpofJTg-yQNfLrFmiOSwCPcBGAsYHg/w300-h400/IMG_20200526_134851.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The last highlight was a lighter brown that I used on the trunk to break up the base coat and on the roots to accent the ridges and tops of the roots.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EVLmV-p65N8/Xxr7P__WTfI/AAAAAAAAZRU/sb4pQR7HIqkieqD38JJWbwT5TRXc-PL7QCPcBGAsYHg/s3456/IMG_20200526_134731.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="3004" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EVLmV-p65N8/Xxr7P__WTfI/AAAAAAAAZRU/sb4pQR7HIqkieqD38JJWbwT5TRXc-PL7QCPcBGAsYHg/w348-h400/IMG_20200526_134731.jpg" width="348" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Above you can see probably the last bit of unfinished work... I might go back and flock the two groupings that effectively have some flat ground between them.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uENMHlVnDSU/Xxr8fkcMD8I/AAAAAAAAZRo/qfzabbUYSjQpIYAKYu5wzDTQ6Evg7VtfwCPcBGAsYHg/s3993/IMG_20200526_134922.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3993" data-original-width="2937" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uENMHlVnDSU/Xxr8fkcMD8I/AAAAAAAAZRo/qfzabbUYSjQpIYAKYu5wzDTQ6Evg7VtfwCPcBGAsYHg/w294-h400/IMG_20200526_134922.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Last step for most of the trees was to add some green. I played around with different arrangements and decided on mostly a couple dangling bits from the lower branches plus some smaller clumps on the larger root structures as seen above.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TwXvLQ0vWts/Xxr-EEqRwFI/AAAAAAAAZR0/sBE5f08QmcU7dKT9MSrf3j0BnR-hvI3hACPcBGAsYHg/s3953/IMG_20200526_135008.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3953" data-original-width="2801" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TwXvLQ0vWts/Xxr-EEqRwFI/AAAAAAAAZR0/sBE5f08QmcU7dKT9MSrf3j0BnR-hvI3hACPcBGAsYHg/w284-h400/IMG_20200526_135008.jpg" width="284" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Back when I had added the branches to the trees my plan was to add a true foliage top to every tree. You can maybe see in the image above that I had arranged the upper branches in such a way that I was hoping it would support whatever I was going to end up using for the upper leaf canopy. You can see I haven't done that yet.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qn7AYAwCUFg/XxsKHk_-e7I/AAAAAAAAZSA/_npeLm6tX-UjEStb_cgs4ZTokgP0kNH7gCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200526_135126.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qn7AYAwCUFg/XxsKHk_-e7I/AAAAAAAAZSA/_npeLm6tX-UjEStb_cgs4ZTokgP0kNH7gCPcBGAsYHg/w300-h400/IMG_20200526_135126.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>When I played a couple of games using the trees before I painted them, I had a concern. Would all of that foliage obscure my ability to see the table well? I think so. So for now at least, no tops for my trees.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u53XEx5xVwU/XxsL-u1ZroI/AAAAAAAAZSY/Vy0eUFm_a1EXMLn8ACu-O0gnpUNd3BsDgCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200526_135329.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u53XEx5xVwU/XxsL-u1ZroI/AAAAAAAAZSY/Vy0eUFm_a1EXMLn8ACu-O0gnpUNd3BsDgCPcBGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200526_135329.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><div>At this point I am more or less done except for the platforms. First I went over the platforms and ladders with a specific wood grain wash I have as I wanted this cut wood to stand out from the living trees next to them. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2TmfmCxwacQ/XxsKw1uYkrI/AAAAAAAAZSI/ZE55UnoNMS0veoV5SNUwzm3YfvhxUNbhACPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200526_141446.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2TmfmCxwacQ/XxsKw1uYkrI/AAAAAAAAZSI/ZE55UnoNMS0veoV5SNUwzm3YfvhxUNbhACPcBGAsYHg/w300-h400/IMG_20200526_141446.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Next I used the same lighter brown color I used on the trees to do some pretty aggressive edging along individual boards and the ladder steps.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8oPG-Kogmds/XxsLfmfn3VI/AAAAAAAAZSQ/u9h7gssPe8UbnRsHGZEOvN6mZGMbAwVUwCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200526_135341.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8oPG-Kogmds/XxsLfmfn3VI/AAAAAAAAZSQ/u9h7gssPe8UbnRsHGZEOvN6mZGMbAwVUwCPcBGAsYHg/w300-h400/IMG_20200526_135341.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Finally some dry brushing to really pick out the top edges.</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IlC1QK1pceM/XxsM5dC-TvI/AAAAAAAAZSk/hE91YxvGQm0UCLjWGQxWoK07MyQE1CqggCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200526_141349.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IlC1QK1pceM/XxsM5dC-TvI/AAAAAAAAZSk/hE91YxvGQm0UCLjWGQxWoK07MyQE1CqggCPcBGAsYHg/w300-h400/IMG_20200526_141349.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>My final step was to add a water line to the bottom bit of everything. It is supposed to be a swamp so I envision that the water really marks these trees with the tides. Below... all of the trees. This covers about a third of a 4' x 4' table.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gFeKcAL1UYE/X0eqrUGG9wI/AAAAAAAAZ7U/EG5cDzI6VFQpSuErf3vJSyiDPDM-WGz4QCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_20200826_175201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gFeKcAL1UYE/X0eqrUGG9wI/AAAAAAAAZ7U/EG5cDzI6VFQpSuErf3vJSyiDPDM-WGz4QCPcBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20200826_175201.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Higher resolution images here.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was really happy with the end result of these trees (even if I may end up going back and adding more foliage or some flocking). This was also my most ambitious element to date. I ended up with 10 different pieces and can really cover a good part of the table with them. </div><div><br /></div><div>The swamp table is really coming together at this point. But I had one more thing I wanted to add, that morphed into a much bigger project than I had envisioned. Next on the agenda is the Mining Platform / Landing Platform / Objective Room.</div>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-7568428236720174982020-08-27T12:00:00.001-04:002020-08-27T12:00:06.948-04:00 Need Another Racing Game?<p>Take a look at <a href="https://dietzfoundation.org/supercharged-video-clips-introduction/" target="_blank">SuperCharged</a> -- on Kickstarter now.</p><p>For many of my readers, the title of this post is a rhetorical question... but why this one?</p><p>I'll be honest. I've never played SuperCharged. But I know Jim Dietz. In fact, without Jim Championship Formula Racing would never have happened. Jim loved Speed Circuit and wanted an updated version and signed me on to do that for Jolly Roger Games back before Ultra Pro bought the whole kit and kaboodle.</p><p>Now Jim is back to publishing games, but with a twist. Game sales now help fund the Jim Dietz Foundation for supporting current and future teachers. Read more on the <a href="https://dietzfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Foundation's Web Site</a>.</p><p>We all have gotten used to treating Kickstarter as a pre-order system -- and I certainly do that myself. But the original idea of Kickstarter was to allow regular folk to support projects they believe in. And F1 history is something I find really interesting, so I'm in.</p><p>Check it out.</p><p>Thanks.</p>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-43127403861281336462020-07-09T10:31:00.000-04:002020-07-09T10:31:05.540-04:00Swamp Table Project: Objective MarkersThe miniature game I play most by far is <a href="https://infinitythegame.com/game/whatis">Infinity</a>. In most Infinity missions, there are objectives scattered around the table that you have to interact with to score points. The objective could be a computer console or satellite dish or supply crate or small-arms-vending machine (seriously). You can just use cardboard tokens to represent these things, but that was going to look out of place given the work I'm putting into the rest of the terrain, so I decided to make some objectives.<br />
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I went with a concept that I thought could viably represent any type of Infinity objective.<br />
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Here we have the constructed and freshly primed pieces. <br />
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I used clay poker chips as the bases to provide some weight and a solid round base. The sides of the body is a cardboard tube that I cut up to suit. This cut was not as clean as I wanted so I used masking take to smooth off the edges. This wasn't the best plan as the tape was still visible after priming and painting.<br />
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I then cut a piece of foamcore to cap the tube. Both the flat top part and the angled flat part are 1 piece of foamcore that I cut half through and then folded. I placed pieces of metal hangers in those gaps. <br />
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On top are plastic tubes from dog-poop bag rolls that I cut on an angle and then glued lego satellite dishes to.<br />
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Here are a couple pieces after painting with a model for scale. I left most of each piece the metalic color I primed with although I tried to add a hint of blue to the main bodies. <br />
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Each of the 6 objectives got a different computer readout on the angled flat part. These were modified from some images that Infinity publishes as the official computer screens for the main factions in the game. I then highlighted each piece with a different color so I can tell them apart more easily.<br />
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Next I wanted a nice way to keep these and (someday) travel with them. <br />
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So I cannibalized a box from a recent purchase of Infinity miniatures. I cut off the box lid and cut circles in the foam insert that kept the minis sage during shipping. Next I glued the foam into the box. <br />
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The wholes are slightly smaller than the bases of my new objectives so they fit snugly.<br />
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Finally, I wanted a way to track information about objectives during the game. Some missions care who touched an objective last or who touched it any time during a missions and some missions use more than one kind of objective.<br />
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The bottom piece of chipboard has a space for each objective identified both by color and with the same computer screen image. I also have some arrow markers that can show possession or something else like that. Finally I have a handful of markers that represent the various types of objectives that I can place near the bottom part to show what it what on the table.<br />
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The rest of the set.<br />
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Higher resolution images <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/YkTVk5ddKzpDZWe26">here</a>.<br />
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After this side project I built trees.Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-27175307311964952512020-06-26T10:00:00.000-04:002020-06-26T10:00:11.363-04:00Swamp Table Project: ShedTo go along with the <a href="http://lucidphoenix.blogspot.com/2020/06/swamp-table-project-ruined-farm-house.html">farm house</a>, I wanted a smaller building. This time a shed. My reference material were google searches for sheds in swamps / bayou. <br />
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I used mostly craft sticks for this build. With some balsa for the corners and door frames. The base is foamcore and more foamcore for the walls under the eaves in the front and back. <br />
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The roof is decorative paper that is corrugated on one side.<br />
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The roof just fits on top and can be removed for easier inside access.<br />
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More pictures.<br />
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Higher resolution images <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/zdhahargAMFyAvXx5">here</a>.<br />
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Trees are the next big thing I tackled. And I'm super proud of them but before I finished them I had a side quest to build some objectives. So I did that next.Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-68530931344556966272020-06-11T11:00:00.000-04:002020-06-11T23:10:09.200-04:00Swamp Table Project: Ruined Farm HouseA couple weeks ago I introduced the work I've been doing on a Swamp Table for my miniature gaming (mostly Infinity). That was about some <a href="http://lucidphoenix.blogspot.com/2020/05/swamp-table-project-lantern-bushes.html">alien looking bushes</a>. This time I want to show off what is one of the main pieces for the table: a ruined farm house.<br />
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Sure, farm houses are not very futuristic but I wanted my table to be versatile and maybe this alien world was colonized by people who liked farm houses. I wanted something reminiscent of a early 1800s southern farm house. Not a large plantation home, more of a smaller structure. I ended up finding some good source material online for inspiration and this is what I ended up with.<br />
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It is mostly a foam core construction on a foam core base. This corner is the most intact part of the building.<br />
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The small balcony is actually pinned through the front wall and into the second story floor with a couple of toothpicks. The railing uses balsa for the main support and thin wire for the smaller details. The floor of the balcony is edged in craft/popsicle sticks.<br />
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The front porch uses larger craft sticks supported by more of the smaller sticks. Additional craft sticks became shudders and window sills.<br />
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A good look at the second floor from the back side. The stairs and some other bits of that middle section are what I could have done better. The whole area could have been planned better but I think it came out well enough -- especially for my first serious building construction.<br />
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More views of the interior via the backside of the building. Lets focus more on the chimneys... which are my favorite part of this piece.<br />
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I used the technique of striping on side of the foam core off and then carving into the foam innards for the brick work and was really happy with how it came out. Some of it was a little uneven, but I like it. The actual flues at the top are my favorite plastic tubes from inside a roll a dog poop bags.<br />
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Higher resolution images <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/eL2vddqamHRcmwGW6">here</a>.<br />
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The next piece I finished for this table was a small swamp shack. Pictures of that in a couple of weeks.Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-3152474132313747692020-05-27T10:00:00.030-04:002020-05-27T10:00:15.495-04:00Swamp Table Project: Lantern BushesSince Michael and I got into Infinity I've been tinkering around creating <a href="http://lucidphoenix.blogspot.com/2017/10/diy-infinity-terrain-city-edition.html">paper-craft terrain</a>. Mostly this was printing out patterns I found on the internet and gluing them to boxes. It was a fun way to get my feet wet, but the quality was hit or miss and the durability was not great. So I went down the serious terrain making rabbit hole (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTerrainTutor/">the Terrain Tutor</a> to be specific). <div><br /></div><div>When I came up for air I decided that I was going to put together a scratch-built swamp table suitable for Infinity and maybe other things as well. I've now made a lot of progress and wanted to share some pictures.</div><div><br /></div><div>First up are what I like to call Lantern Bushes. These were the first really interesting piece of terrain I scratch built and were very much inspired by a piece of what would normally have been trash. I didn't have the swamp table idea yet but these pieces ended up fitting the theme.</div><div><br /></div><div>Michael had a couple strings of lights under his old loft bed with these really nice paper coverings. I decided that they would make great alien trees or bushes. No need for paint.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--7_a_AXlX6w/Xs2Cnq6VpKI/AAAAAAAAXzw/VcQOi94bpcQEXnuD2X3j9QKcrkpq-AauACK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200526_133734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3984" height="304" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--7_a_AXlX6w/Xs2Cnq6VpKI/AAAAAAAAXzw/VcQOi94bpcQEXnuD2X3j9QKcrkpq-AauACK4BGAsYHg/w400-h304/IMG_20200526_133734.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I used chipboard as a basing material. Painted it a bluish green and used some blue aquarium stones to give it an alien feel.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4RZpOZXFaOw/Xs2DgitK8wI/AAAAAAAAXz8/6_o0MNGE2okV5v5FbTcz2DPzbmaGe_2WgCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200526_133635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3992" height="303" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4RZpOZXFaOw/Xs2DgitK8wI/AAAAAAAAXz8/6_o0MNGE2okV5v5FbTcz2DPzbmaGe_2WgCK4BGAsYHg/w400-h303/IMG_20200526_133635.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> </div><div>Roughly every other lantern was elevated on a plastic tube from the inside of a roll of doggie-poop bags. I used modeling clay to form the root structures. Some painting later and I had 4 pieces of larger scatter: Two pieces have two bushes and the other two pieces have 3 bushes.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-elxWjae3C7M/Xs2E_uX6DsI/AAAAAAAAX0c/qPp9oRCz3PAPHdg8OZvqmxTijIDKZ2H1gCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200526_133800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-elxWjae3C7M/Xs2E_uX6DsI/AAAAAAAAX0c/qPp9oRCz3PAPHdg8OZvqmxTijIDKZ2H1gCK4BGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200526_133800.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The chipboard was not my best call. As you can see in a couple of these pictures, the corners warped up a bit. I did go back and try to warp it back the other way but couldn't correct it fully.</div><div><br /></div><div>Below are pictures of the pieces with 3 bushes. Higher resolution images <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/XJBkWqXdyd5kJpHJ9">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLBk6mI1_R8/Xs2FfcBODuI/AAAAAAAAX0k/0BUV0QrqQfwWB671OtKVXHReMQkiQzGxgCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200526_133612.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLBk6mI1_R8/Xs2FfcBODuI/AAAAAAAAX0k/0BUV0QrqQfwWB671OtKVXHReMQkiQzGxgCK4BGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200526_133612.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5jXLQsOxxH8/Xs2FfuForHI/AAAAAAAAX0o/nIcMuwqpbXwqT1FOD-b80wUANRpxgrU2wCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200526_133851.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5jXLQsOxxH8/Xs2FfuForHI/AAAAAAAAX0o/nIcMuwqpbXwqT1FOD-b80wUANRpxgrU2wCK4BGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200526_133851.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WnvyxzT20p0/Xs2Fftn2kbI/AAAAAAAAX0s/-u0FRF_G_fkEJQow8TZQQqlNtSq0CfAZQCK4BGAsYHg/IMG_20200526_133913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WnvyxzT20p0/Xs2Fftn2kbI/AAAAAAAAX0s/-u0FRF_G_fkEJQow8TZQQqlNtSq0CfAZQCK4BGAsYHg/w400-h300/IMG_20200526_133913.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next thing I tackled was one of the larger pieces destined for this table -- a ruined farm house.</div>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-59523328809138347602020-05-06T08:00:00.003-04:002020-05-26T16:39:52.541-04:00WBC 2020 Tracks... assuming that is a thing this year<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TCSW8VI-FVM/XrHUaIDlgFI/AAAAAAAAXQU/IZUtzb5phQMyOSHeLUqIZj6kxjz2Il1pQCK4BGAsYHg/IndyC1.PNG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="479" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TCSW8VI-FVM/XrHUaIDlgFI/AAAAAAAAXQU/IZUtzb5phQMyOSHeLUqIZj6kxjz2Il1pQCK4BGAsYHg/d/IndyC1.PNG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Indianapolis corner 1 at the end of a 4-wide straight.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><blockquote><div><i>Editorial Note: since this posting, WBC 2020 was cancelled.</i></div></blockquote><div><br /></div>When I checked <a href="http://www.boardgamers.org/" target="_blank">BPA's web site</a> last night, they had not yet made a decision about WBC 2020. Just in case, intrepid steward Chris Long has picked some tracks.<div><br /></div><div>In no particular order, the qualifying tracks will be:</div><div><br /></div><div>Group 1:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Buddh.pdf" target="_blank">Greater Noida</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/COTA.pdf" target="_blank">Austin</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Hockenheim.pdf" target="_blank">Hockenheim</a></li></ul><div>Group 2:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Silverstone.pdf" target="_blank">Silverstone (1997)</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Valencia.pdf" target="_blank">Valencia</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Catalunya.pdf" target="_blank">Barcelona</a></li></ul><div>Group 3:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Bahrain.pdf" target="_blank">Sakhir</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/MarinaBay.pdf" target="_blank">Singapore</a></li><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Hungaroring.pdf" target="_blank">Mogyorod</a></li></ul><div>Finals:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/indy2000.pdf" target="_blank">Indianapolis</a></li></ul><div>This would be the first time that Indy has appeared at WBC. Also, 4-wide straight.</div></div>Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-64469102850095727732019-09-25T09:00:00.000-04:002019-09-25T09:00:05.224-04:00Judging Track StylesFor a while now, I've been <a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/">organizing tracks</a> on my web site by the play style those tracks tend to favor. In this case I'm judging tracks along the race-from-the-front and race-from-the-back axis of broad strategic choices. All other things being equal, some tracks are just easier to hold a lead on than others.<br />
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Besides being interesting information, I like to use this data when picking tracks to use in a series. Picking different kinds of tracks keeps the racing interesting from race to race. I've also noticed that some drivers are just better at different strategic styles so a variety of tracks helps to keep the competition fair for everyone.<br />
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I've updated the table and some of the calculations that go into some of the scores.<br />
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<b>How to Read the New Table</b><br />
There is a lot of information below and in the key at the bottom of the track listing, but the top line are Raw Score and Adjusted Score.<br />
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Raw Score is my best guess based on results and Track Score of how a track favors play from the front (negative numbers) and play from the back (positive numbers). A score over 1 or under -1 are suggestive of a strong lean. Scores closer to zero are pretty balanced (or could favor middle strategies).<br />
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Adjusted Score is basically the same thing but relative to all the other tracks, So where raw score tries to objectively describe a track, Adjusted Score is comparing that track to all the others. Interestingly, there is less variation in those two things after using my new Layout Score than there used to be.<br />
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<b>Measuring Tracks Based on Results</b><br />
Ideally I score tracks based on actual race results from organized play. In a perfect world I would ask each driver before the race how they were approaching the race strategically... instead I find proxies. The two proxies I work with are qualifying position and start speed.<br />
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Qualifying position is an obvious stand-in for strategy. Race from the front strategies like to start out front. However, its not perfect. There are times you make a pole bid hoping to end up one place only to end up somewhere completely different.<br />
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Start speed is another decent proxy in my view. Race from the front people tend to like a 100 start speed. Again, not always a perfect approach. I've seen people take the 100 start speed not because they wanted to start with the lead but because they wanted to bid nothing and work up to the mid-field in a couple turns. Some tracks are also laid out in such a way that 100 start speed may be of minimal value or hugely valuable regardless of overall strategy.<br />
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Certainly these two measures can produce mixed signals. I've seen cars on the front row of a starting grid with a 20 start speed and cars near the back with 100 start speeds. That said, I think these are decent tools to work with.<br />
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Math:<br />
Basically I find the average number of points scored by people who started the race in the front 2 rows ("the front"), middle 2 rows ("middle"), and back 2 rows ("back"). [See the bottom of <a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rules/pbe/">this page</a> for how I score results.] I do the same for start speeds with "fast" being 100 or 120, "medium" being 60, and "slow" being 20 start speed.<br />
<br />
I then figure out how much better front did than middle and how much better back did than middle. Then I add those two numbers together. A result of 0 means that middle was best or that neither front nor back seemed to hold an advantage, a negative result means that results favored cars starting in the front 2 rows, a positive result shows that results favored the back 2 rows. Then I do the same for start speeds... negative results showing the high start speeds did better and positive results showing that the 20 start speeds did better.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
( (Qbd-Qfd)*Q + (Ssd-Sfd)*S ) / (Q+S)</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Q = the number races where I have data for qualifying<br />
Qbd = Qb - Qm<br />
Qfd = Qf - Qm<br />
Qb = the average points scored by someone starting in the first two rows on this track<br />
Qm = the average points scored by someone starting in the middle two rows on this track<br />
Qb = the average points scored by someone starting in the last two rows on this track</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
S = the number races where I have data for start speed<br />
Ssd = Ss - Sm<br />
Sfd = Sf - Sm<br />
Sf = the average points scored by someone with a 100 or 120 start speed on this track<br />
Sm = the average points scored by someone with a 60 start speed on this track<br />
Ss = the average points scored by someone with a 20 start speed on this track</blockquote>
In the end this is a track's score if I have enough data to feel good about that. I'm not sure how many results makes me feel really good about this method, but for now I pretend to feel good at 10 races.<br />
<br />
Before I get to 10 races, I also look at some elements of the track layout. I weight the results score more and more as I get more and more result data.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<b>Measuring Tracks Based on Layout</b><br />
Finding objective attributes of a track that predict how it will play has proven difficult. I started with 5 attributes based mostly on gut. But recently I've reassessed how well those attributes predict actual results and that led me to find new attributes.<br />
<br />
Originally I used 1) Long Straights, 2) Corner Density, 3) Width, 4) Longest Straight, and 5) Track Length to concoct a layout score.<br />
<br />
Long straights was a weighted count of straights longer than 7 spaces. Corner Density was the length of the track in spaces divided by the number of corners on the track. Those two measures were meant to explore how tight and twisty a track is. Are there a lot of short straights between tightly packed corners? If so, this could contribute to a race from the front strategy.<br />
<br />
For width I measured the percentage of 3-wide track against the total length of the track. This is all about passing. Two wide track gets bottled up and blocked a lot easier than 3-wide track. So a higher percentage of 3-wide should be better for running from behind.<br />
<br />
Longest straight and track length are exactly what they say they are. Race from the front cars tend to buy wear and start speed at the expense of acceleration, deceleration, and top speed. So long straights can hurt those kinds of cars -- and by extension, racing from the front. Finally, the shorter the track the easier it should be to hold on to that lead.<br />
<br />
However, after updating my data recently I ran some regressions to see how good I my layout scores were at predicting results. Turns out... not so well.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q-KdJaL9avk/XYl1mePlkLI/AAAAAAAATUQ/i0iu0lzgTRwgCCfpi5mCJhfMUudP3FIdwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/longStraights.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="481" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q-KdJaL9avk/XYl1mePlkLI/AAAAAAAATUQ/i0iu0lzgTRwgCCfpi5mCJhfMUudP3FIdwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/longStraights.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Y-axis is number of long straights. X-axis is results score (lower favors play from the front).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yEvlo7YrKGg/XYl3UEDALTI/AAAAAAAATUc/I3igBetUAgcthk3i2m61zKUvp1FQ5QhxQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/cornerDen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="481" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yEvlo7YrKGg/XYl3UEDALTI/AAAAAAAATUc/I3igBetUAgcthk3i2m61zKUvp1FQ5QhxQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/cornerDen.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Y-axis is corner density. X-axis is results score (lower favors play from the front).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r2dNU-Fc4qY/XYl43SIgtKI/AAAAAAAATUo/Beoqytmat4QW8abxNcEnVBsscfv2KeDpgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/longestStraight.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="481" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r2dNU-Fc4qY/XYl43SIgtKI/AAAAAAAATUo/Beoqytmat4QW8abxNcEnVBsscfv2KeDpgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/longestStraight.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Y-axis is the length of the longest straight. X-axis is results score (lower favors play from the front).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UsqL_mTpFX8/XYl5vlg4T5I/AAAAAAAATU0/PExlGu5uDN4SrfxnB6x_mKQzHGrrph9UQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/length.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="436" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UsqL_mTpFX8/XYl5vlg4T5I/AAAAAAAATU0/PExlGu5uDN4SrfxnB6x_mKQzHGrrph9UQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/length.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Y-axis is the track length in spaces. X-axis is results score (lower favors play from the front).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Turns out track length, longest straight, corner density and number of long straights really aren't very predictive of how these tracks seem to be playing out.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dKEqvv9TDko/XYl6zJe567I/AAAAAAAATVA/ZN0OsJYGyVQDKKXjhaKs7eeCu9idj6ZowCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/width.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="481" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dKEqvv9TDko/XYl6zJe567I/AAAAAAAATVA/ZN0OsJYGyVQDKKXjhaKs7eeCu9idj6ZowCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/width.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Y-axis is the % of the track that is 3-wide. X-axis is results score (lower favors play from the front).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
3-wide is better... although the internet tells me that 0.3 is considered a weak correlation so this still isn't terribly predictive.<br />
<br />
So I took a bunch of other measures and made up some new ones to try and find more predictive track attributes. Literally the only thing I could find that hit the 0.3 mark is the number of corners that are 3-wide (for corners that change width I count it as 3-wide if it ends 3-wide).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qL-zuA_11QA/XYl8bE4UCCI/AAAAAAAATVM/bgbrpWUk6N8BbSPN1OVQ0-WxH6ELRgudwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/3wcorners.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="481" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qL-zuA_11QA/XYl8bE4UCCI/AAAAAAAATVM/bgbrpWUk6N8BbSPN1OVQ0-WxH6ELRgudwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/3wcorners.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Y-axis is the number of 3-wide corners. X-axis is results score (lower favors play from the front).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This makes sense. Corners are bottlenecks and good opportunities to pass so having more room in the corner, especially the all important exit row, makes sense as something that would assist running from behind. Interestingly, the raw number of 3-wide corners was more predictive than the percentage of corners that are 3-wide. This also makes sense... more raw opportunities per lap is better.<br />
<br />
I tried creating a new layout score just based on this metric as it had the best fit, but the result included obvious blind spots. I added back in the percentage of the overall track that was 3-wide and that helped a little but it felt like I needed more attributes to round out this track-based score. So I went searching for modestly predictive things.<br />
<br />
Turns out the number of "medium" straights is more predictive than a lot of other things I can measure. In this case medium straights means straights that are longer than 3 spaces and shorter than 10 spaces long. Why? Because that data ended up being the most predictive. Why? No idea.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L1rLMAnm97E/XYl9pxb1yEI/AAAAAAAATVY/zxyDFqoFlvQloKy1Mtq-JQzsR8KAOfjtQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/medStraights.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="481" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L1rLMAnm97E/XYl9pxb1yEI/AAAAAAAATVY/zxyDFqoFlvQloKy1Mtq-JQzsR8KAOfjtQCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/medStraights.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Y-axis is the number of medium straights. X-axis is results score (lower favors play from the front).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Finally, I tweaked corner density to make it more predictive by only counting the number of corners that have a speed under 120. (When I assign a single speed to a corner this way, I use the fastest speed through the corner that is not obviously less efficient than other options.)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AODgjTyz8zU/XYl_4zZf_yI/AAAAAAAATVk/r31MjBayDNIWtiSOvatyO1niQBrmexydACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/slowDen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="481" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AODgjTyz8zU/XYl_4zZf_yI/AAAAAAAATVk/r31MjBayDNIWtiSOvatyO1niQBrmexydACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/slowDen.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Y-axis is track length divided by slow corners. X-axis is results score (lower favors play from the front).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So I created a new Layout Score based on these 4 things, but I weighed the score so that the first two things counted more than the last 2.Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-42105203324945545972019-08-01T09:00:00.000-04:002019-08-01T09:00:07.025-04:00CFR Organized Play 2019 Final Rankings<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nfiZ1VPnI2A/WWOzadrIUMI/AAAAAAAAEjs/JgM9vZA7_bQtzIJMUFWYXgfNH14BjNBAQCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_20170630_130108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nfiZ1VPnI2A/WWOzadrIUMI/AAAAAAAAEjs/JgM9vZA7_bQtzIJMUFWYXgfNH14BjNBAQCPcBGAYYCw/s320/IMG_20170630_130108.jpg" width="240" /></a><b>Don Tatum</b> is the only driver to have finished Organized Play in the top 5 all three seasons. He finished 2nd in 2017 and 4th in 2018. This year he breaks through to become the 3rd CFR Organized Play Champion.<br />
<br />
This was a season Don really ran away with. Early in the season, it seemed that Tim Baker might give him a run (Tim ended the season 3rd) but by the time we got to WBC, really no one was in striking distance.<br />
<br />
Don won 8 races this season (last season's champion Michael Polcen was 2nd with 5). Don was also the only driver to win 2 events this season. In the end he finished 50 points clear of runner-up Bruce Rae. The 2018 season was decided by 6 points. 2017 was decided by 21 points.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.blogspot.com/2018/08/cfr-organized-play-2018-wrap-up.html">2018 OP Report</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lucidphoenix.blogspot.com/2017/08/2017-cfr-organized-play-champion-and.html">2017 OP Report</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
Huge congratulations to Don.</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Complete 2019 <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VbuWsmAuMG45Rr_Vk0rhJqqapuMf-kc8kY-KTWqmGIo/edit?usp=sharing">Rankings</a>, <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13EwdF5f_mVb_-5OmSOGcpSEEpuPMopT2OmVN6t-r4xY/edit#gid=0">Race</a> and <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eSJA_gQZDuIwNV4lyJ4B2hY6i7_7XXydKqAYxKg13n4/edit#gid=0">Series</a> Results</li>
</ul>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ztkZQwnT5UE/XUH6CqJGbTI/AAAAAAAASZc/bnRhAxx29KAof1mDxV5DT7Aw0GlfeDwhgCLcBGAs/s1600/2019CFROP.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="394" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ztkZQwnT5UE/XUH6CqJGbTI/AAAAAAAASZc/bnRhAxx29KAof1mDxV5DT7Aw0GlfeDwhgCLcBGAs/s400/2019CFROP.PNG" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2019 OP Top 20</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<b>Rookie of the Year</b></div>
</div>
<div>
<b>Bill Worrell</b> raced for the first time in CFR Organized Play this season and won the Detroit Season including 1 race win and several more podiums. He finished the season 5th. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There were 42 rookies to Organized Play this season out of the 151 total drivers ranked. Only two others finished in the top 50: <b>Scott Cornett</b> who ranked 22nd this season and <b>Phillip White</b> who ranked 41st.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Most Improved Driver of the Year</b></div>
<div>
<b>Stephen Peeples</b> participated in a single Organized Play race last season and ranked 125th. He participated in 6 this season, including 2 wins to rank 40th -- a jump of 85 spots.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Steward of the Year</b></div>
<div>
For the last two yeas, <b>Chris Brandt</b> has run two different events -- the in-person PresCon tournament as well as the local DC-Maryland-Virginia season. He is the only person to run two events a year and both grew this year. Thanks Chris!</div>
Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-53441064540324752602019-07-17T09:00:00.000-04:002019-07-17T09:00:03.947-04:00Organized Play 2019 Home StretchPeople have noticed that I asked if any one could overcome Don's huge lead at WBC and failed to answer. So, lets do that.<br />
<br />
Note that this is a bit of a guess. The numbers of points people could get winning races and the WBC event itself will depend on how many people attend. However, assuming a slightly larger attendance then last year three people seem like they have a chance.<br />
<br />
Tim Baker, Brian DeWitt, and Bill Worrell appear to have a shot. Each would likely have to win a well stocked* qualifying race AND the Finals.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Don has pretty much maxed out his points potential. Pretty much all he can do to defend himself is win the finals so no one else does. Unless lots of people do show up and the races end up being worth more than I have guessed.<br />
<br />
* Depending on the heat, WBC qualifying races can have 6 or 7 participants. More will typically mean more value for the race.<br />
<br />Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-73207239804325189822019-07-15T11:54:00.000-04:002019-07-15T11:54:01.176-04:00Organized Play Update and ClarificationsThe 3rd CFR Organized Play season comes to close in a couple weeks after WBC ends. Don is 70 points above every one else in the rankings. Can anyone catch up? First a <strike>quick</strike> reminder of how scoring works. Later this week, I'll get to some thoughts on how this season can end.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcyCaQFwikE/XSyX2yQMb5I/AAAAAAAASHo/HgLON89eGa4DBCkGCCMyYSbJPH-idWvKQCLcBGAs/s1600/2019Don.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="165" data-original-width="890" height="116" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kcyCaQFwikE/XSyX2yQMb5I/AAAAAAAASHo/HgLON89eGa4DBCkGCCMyYSbJPH-idWvKQCLcBGAs/s640/2019Don.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Each player's score in organized play is 5 parts race scores and 2 parts tournament scores. When a player has more than 5 races or 2 tournaments under their belt on the season, the best 5 or 2 are picked for this purpose.<br />
<br />
<b>Race Scoring</b><br />
Every place from 1 through 10 in each race is awarded points: 23 for 1st, 18 for 2nd, 15 for 3rd... Those points are then multiplied by a field modifier and a live event modifier.<br />
<br />
For example, Don's best race shown above got him 38.13 pts. That race was a win in the 1st race of the top series of this year's Redscape PBeM. In this case the race win value of 23 was multiplied by a field value of 1.658 = 38.134. The event was not live and so did not get a live event multiplier. If it HAD been a live, in person event it would have gotten an additional 1.19 live event multiplier<br />
<br />
For example, the highest values race so far this season was my win in the 1st DMV race this season. It had a field rating multiplier of 1.522 but was also an in person event and so it also had a live event multiplier of 1.19 -- total multiplier of 1.806 (1.522 * 1.19). That means my win that race was worth 41.54 pts (23 * 1.806).<br />
<br />
<b>What is the Field Multiplier?</b> Lets go back to Don's best race. The field multiplier there was 1.658. That means that the field of drivers was 65% better than the median field of any race this season or last season.<br />
<br />
<b>How is that Calculated?</b> Every driver has a field rating that is the sum of their top 5 race results (without multipliers) from this season and last season. For instance, Don's field rating is 115 because his top 5 race results are all wins worth 23 points (remember, no multipliers here). After adding up all of the field ratings of all drivers participating, that total is compared to the median total to generate a percentage.<br />
<br />
<b>What is the Live/In Person Multiplier?</b> Its a bonus meant to compensate for it being a lot easier to get a lot of drivers involved in a PBeM rather than having them show up in the same place and time for a live event. It is calculated by figuring out what the multiplier would have had to have been in the past to make live and PBeM's roughly worth the same. Note that there is a different live multiplier for races and for Tournaments.<br />
<br />
<b>Tournament Scoring</b><br />
The last two bits of a driver's score in organized play is the score from their top 2 events of the season. If I participate in an event, be it a PBeM series or a local season of races or a weekend tournament at a convention, I will get points for the races I participated in AND also for my final ranking at that tournament.<br />
<br />
Scoring for events works exactly the same as for individual races. Well, except for two things.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>The live event multiplier is slightly different... because individual races have been impacted less lately by the live vs. virtual divide than entire events have been. So for this season the live event multiplier is 2.2. </li>
<li>Also, the field rating is calculated a little differently in that the field rating is multiplied by the number of heats in an event. So an 8 race season will get more love than a 3 race tournament.</li>
</ol>
<br />
For example, Don's best result in an event so far was his win of the DMV (DC-Maryland-Virginia) season. The win being worth 23 points * .838 as the event had a field rating below the median (largely due to being fewer races than many events) * 2.2 since the event was a series of in person races = 42.4.<br />
<br />
<br />Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-74956191920106635142019-04-29T08:00:00.000-04:002019-04-29T08:00:04.701-04:00WBC Tracks Announced<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R8htFCkpq5w/XMZShdO3IhI/AAAAAAAAQxg/g79-4g7m1SIrMwt-0cTAz9RaQ9HNE6cyACLcBGAs/s1600/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="198" data-original-width="621" height="127" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R8htFCkpq5w/XMZShdO3IhI/AAAAAAAAQxg/g79-4g7m1SIrMwt-0cTAz9RaQ9HNE6cyACLcBGAs/s400/Capture.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 20 space-long straight at Hockenheim</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
It is that time again, time to announce the tracks for WBC -- the last event of the 2019 Organized Play Season. This is a great event and one I always recommend. It is the largest single weekend event in CFR.<br />
<br />
Chris Long continues his fine stewardship of this event and has selected the following tracks:<br />
<br />
Q1 (yellow tracks -- favor running from the front)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Suzuka (<a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Suzuka.pdf" target="_blank">PDF map</a>) was the finals at WBC last year</li>
<li>Francorchamps 2007 (<a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Francorchamps2007.pdf" target="_blank">PDF map</a>) last seen at WBC back in 2014</li>
<li>Sakhir (<a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Bahrain.pdf" target="_blank">PDF map</a>) last seen at WBC back in 2013</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Q2 (green tracks -- balanced)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Speilberg (<a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Spielberg.pdf" target="_blank">PDF map</a>) never before seen at WBC</li>
<li>Yeongam (<a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Yeongam.pdf" target="_blank">PDF map</a>) last seen at WBC back in 2016</li>
<li>Silverstone 2010 (<a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/SilverStone2010b.pdf" target="_blank">PDF map</a>) never before seen at WBC</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Q3 (purple tracks -- really favor running from the back)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Sochi (<a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Sochi.pdf" target="_blank">PDF map</a>) was the finals at WBC in 2017</li>
<li>Shanghai (<a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Shanghai.pdf" target="_blank">PDF map</a>) last seen at WBC back in 2016</li>
<li>Sepang 1999 (<a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Sepang.pdf" target="_blank">PDF map</a>) last seen at WBC back in 2016</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Finals (blue tracks -- favor running from the back)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Hockenheim (<a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/tracks/Hockenheim.pdf" target="_blank">PDF map</a>) last seen at WBC back in 2017</li>
</ul>
<div>
More Information</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.boardgamers.org/">about WBC</a></li>
<li><a href="http://lucidphoenix.com/sc/rules/tourney/">event rules</a> for WBC </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5467358192600936682.post-14258228724941026982019-04-22T09:00:00.000-04:002019-04-22T09:00:05.515-04:002018 P1 PBeM Season RecapThe latest season of my CFR PBeM P1 is over. Lets review what happened.<br />
<br />
A quick reminder that P1 is structured as a pyramid league (the bottom drivers from the top tier are demoted to the next tier down which is composed of more races and drivers than the tier above it... shaped like a pyramid). P1 is the top tier. Divoll and Reilly are the two 2nd tier races. Ascari, Clark, Fangio, and Moss are the four 3rd tier races. The winner of P1 in any given season is the league champion, so lets start there.<br />
<br />
<b>P1 Race 1 at Montreal </b>[<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/ubfwOcCO8Jauu3G82" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
Don, Bruce R, and Tim B qualify 1-2-3 in a bit of a preview of the rest of the series. Dennis qualified 4th and ran in 3rd for most of the first lap but he started the race with less wear then rest of the first 2 rows and started to feel it when Tim B passed him through the last corner of lap 1. Tim B did a great job staying out of the traffic and ahead of the mid-pack.<br />
<br />
Bruce spent 10 of his 22 starting wear in lap 1 to hold the race lead but Don crossed the line to start lap 2 only 2 spaces behind Bruce. Bruce spent another 10 wear in lap 2 which built him a full turn lead on Don and Tim B but also left him with only 2 wear to nurse through his last lap. Meanwhile, Tim B caught up to Don through lap 2. Don and Bruce were both running cars with 20 accel and 20 decel (a set-up that does seem to work well at Montreal). Tim ran a 40-40 car and that was where he was able to claw 3-4 spaces back from Don on lap 2.<br />
<br />
<b>A Championship Deciding 2 Corners</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--pwM7z8PlH4/XK33TNxRU5I/AAAAAAAAQpY/91nADuTCMM0jtbbfDwW5x8-I-WDVxEXYwCLcBGAs/s1600/turn20.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="175" data-original-width="275" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--pwM7z8PlH4/XK33TNxRU5I/AAAAAAAAQpY/91nADuTCMM0jtbbfDwW5x8-I-WDVxEXYwCLcBGAs/s1600/turn20.PNG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turn 20, Don is Dark Blue, Tim B is Teal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One of the key decisions in this race came on turns 21 and 22. Don and Tim B were side-by-side 4 spaces from the last corner of lap 2 on turn 20.<br />
<br />
Don decided to go 120 and spend 2 wear in the corner. Tim went 100 and spent 1 wear -- falling a space behind Don but saving a wear.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-icqoq_48I50/XK33TKgp_XI/AAAAAAAAQps/p9WenofTxjAaSFe7bkZ2uHvEnJllf-r7gCEwYBhgL/s1600/turn21.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="328" height="186" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-icqoq_48I50/XK33TKgp_XI/AAAAAAAAQps/p9WenofTxjAaSFe7bkZ2uHvEnJllf-r7gCEwYBhgL/s320/turn21.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turn 21</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The next turn, Tim pushed his acceleration to go 160 into the first 120 space of the first corner of the last lap -- spending 2 wear. Don went his top speed of 140 to spend 1 wear.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jneZODflQiU/XK33TJiG0NI/AAAAAAAAQps/zksQ_hwEh9oH1ypvm0HGVJY9bPeK1Qx8ACEwYBhgL/s1600/turn22.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="196" data-original-width="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jneZODflQiU/XK33TJiG0NI/AAAAAAAAQps/zksQ_hwEh9oH1ypvm0HGVJY9bPeK1Qx8ACEwYBhgL/s1600/turn22.PNG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turn 22</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The two drivers would back off to maintain that wear expenditure on the next turn, but since Tim spent more wear to start the corner, he maintained a higher speed the next turn and passed Don.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f2B8UvhwJFE/XK33TkWVsZI/AAAAAAAAQpo/Ep8tT_HRfRIQVN1u6acsaPjTAwwuECFiwCEwYBhgL/s1600/turn23.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="164" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f2B8UvhwJFE/XK33TkWVsZI/AAAAAAAAQpo/Ep8tT_HRfRIQVN1u6acsaPjTAwwuECFiwCEwYBhgL/s1600/turn23.PNG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turn 23 -- Tim B into 2nd</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now with the same wear and a slower car, Don was never able to repass and Bruce looked like a sitting duck with his 2 remaining wear. Although Bruce was able to stay in front until Tim eventually passed him through the hairpin (2nd to last corner of the race). Don was never able to get past Bruce and finished 3rd.<br />
<br />
<b>P1 Race 2 at Melbourne</b><b> </b>[<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/3ARh3ya42LK45EfJ6" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
The second race of the season took us to Melbourne -- another rather tight track that played to in front runners' favor. Tim B, Don, and defending 2-time P1 champ Doug G all built the same 40-40-160-8w car and all bid 7 or 7.5 for pole. Doug took pole with Don rolling better dice than Tim to end up 2nd on the grid. Bruce started the race 10th with a different strategy and ended the race 10th to seriously damage his title chances. Doug maintained the lead after lap 1, but had 4 less wear than Don who sat only 2 spaces back. Tim was a turn back and in 5th at this time. Tim B got a big break mid lap 2 when Chris L spins from 3rd. With Tim M running low on wear, Tim B moves up 2 spots on track in the first half of the lap. Don also spends his extra wear to over take Doug for the race lead at roughly the same time. Tim B's wear advantage pushes him past Doug G in the beginning of lap 3. But with the same 4 wear at Don and the same car set-ups, Don is never really challenged for the race win.<br />
<br />
Second is enough though for Tim B to enter the final race of the season 5 points ahead of Don. Bruce R was the only other driver with any chance to claim the title and only if Tim B finished 10th or worse.<br />
<br />
<b>P1 Race 3 at Sepang</b><b> </b>[<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/sazhTCxFdMWLpfyZ9" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
Sepang is a very different track than the first two this season but Tim B still bid and took pole. Don started 5th and Bruce started 8th. However, Tim got swallowed up at the start when Dennis and Chris A both went 120 to his 80. By the time they left corner 1, Tim B was 4th and Don was up in 2nd. Mid-way through lap 1 Bruce ended up in the race lead, Don was 4th, and Tim B 5th -- all within spitting distance of a title.<br />
<br />
Don was the first to see his race go south as he damaged his brakes heading into the Hairpin for the first time. Tim B would then damage his brakes into the first corner of lap 2. Mid way through lap 2 Bruce still led but he had been burning wear doing it and Chris A was right behind with 7 wear more. Don was starting to fall back as he was low on wear in addition to his now 20 brakes. Tim B still had some wear but also was hampered by 20 deceleration.<br />
<br />
As the final lap began, Bruce was still leading but Chris A had 5 more wear and was close behind AND Tim B was showing no signs of finishing 10th, especially with Don now bringing up the rear in a seriously damaged car. The end of the race would end up being very dramatic as Bruce crashed half-way through the lap which eventually set-up a drag race between Chris A, Rando, and Tim M -- which Tim M won.<br />
<br />
The lead Tim B had built up in the first two races held up despite his 8th in the final race. Congrats to Tim B for winning the 2018 P1 Season. Don would end up 2nd on the season despite his 9th in the last race. Tim M's dramatic race win at Sepang would catapult him to 3rd on the season only 2 points behind Don.<br />
<br />
<i>P1 Overall Champ</i>: Tim B (1st, 2nd, 8th)<br />
<i>Rest of P1 Podium</i>: Don T (3rd, 1st, 9th), Tim M (6th, 5th, 1st)<br />
<i>Demoted</i>: Mario A, Chris L, Dennis N (Chris A retired after this so only 3 needed to be demoted)<br />
<br />
Now lets give some love to the lower tiers.<br />
<br />
<b>Divoll, Tier 2</b><br />
Jeff H won the first race at Montreal by managing his wear before overtaking Chris on lap 3. John would also pass Chris to take 2nd and force Chris into 3rd. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/CGo4bbwrDd161GY63" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
At Melbourne Jeff H and Kevin H led most of the way with Kevin taking the checkered flag and Jeff finishing 2nd to enter the final race of the season 11 points ahead of Kevin. Franklin moved up from the back of the pack at Melbourne to finish 3rd. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/6YuMRtPw2RvYfpDBA" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
Jeff's dominance over the first two races meant that he only had to finish 5th to guarantee being one of the top two in the series and get promoted to P1. The second spot would be contested by other podium finishers Kevin, John, Chris and Franklin as well as Mike (who had a 4th and 5th) and Fabio (who had only a slim chance to get promoted after two 7th places).<br />
<br />
A lap in, Jeff was doing just enough to make sure he got promoted sitting 5th. Meanwhile John was leading the race and looking like the contender who would also get promoted. But in a couple turns, Franklin emerged from the pack in 3rd with 11 wear to John's 4. Franklin would pass Fabio and John down the back straight on lap 2 and then drive off into the distance never to be challenged for the race win. That put Franklin in the driver's seat to be promoted next to Jeff (who had now worked his way up to 2nd for a strangle-hold on the season title). Kevin was the only driver who could over take Frankin on points without winning the race but he was mired down in 6th, eventually being overtaken by everyone on track before blowing up his engine within sight of the finish line. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/GWqFhjoZnUmRafLQ7" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
<i>Season Champ</i>: Jeff H (1st, 2nd, 2nd)<br />
<i>Also Promoted</i>: Franklin H (5th, 3rd, 1st)<br />
<i>Demoted</i>: Scott H, Tony L, Mike H (only 3 demotions because only 9 drivers were in Divoll and a P1 driver retired).<br />
<br />
<b>Reilly, Tier 2</b><br />
Consistency was hard to come by over the first two races in this series. Michael P followed up his race win in Montreal with a 5th in Melbourne. Bruno blew up his engine at Montreal only to win Melbourne. Luca finished 2nd at Montreal only to end up 10th at Melbourne. Doug S followed up an 8th place at Montreal with a 2nd at Melbourne. Scott M was the only car with two podiums in the first two races with consecutive 3rd places. Consequently those 5 drivers all had decent chance to get promoted -- in fact a race win for any would guarantee promotion. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/KcMQ6qma4DBYJWNL2" target="_blank">Montreal Race Report</a>] [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Ja5a6TwS2LYB9JB6" target="_blank">Melbourne Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
At the important entry into Sunway Lagoon, 5 cars were hoping to clear the corner before the back straight. Interestingly that pack included only 1 driver who entered the race in the top 5 -- Doug S. Kalvin, Doug S, and Jim O were the only three to clear Lagoon. Then Doug S used the outside lane to take the Hairpin faster to overtake Kalvin for the race lead to start lap 2. Doug S kept the lead the rest of the race despite some challenges -- mostly due to having a wear advantage over those challengers.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile Michael P kept slowly moving through the pack having qualified in 10th. He was 6th half-way through the race and ahead of the other top contenders for promotion. Near the end of the race Michael over took several more cars to end up finishing 3rd and comfortably in promotion bu 2 points behind Doug for the series championship. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/1D4uFo1t2BYxUDHx8" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
<i>Season Champ</i>: Doug S (8th, 2nd, 1st)<br />
<i>Also Promoted</i>: Michael P (1st, 5th, 3rd)<br />
<i>Demoted</i>: Pepe S, Kalvin M, Jim O (only 3 demotions because only 9 drivers were in Divoll and a P1 driver retired).<br />
<br />
<b>Ascarii, Tier 3</b><br />
After the first three races, three drivers sat atop the season standings -- Ciccio I, Palmiro M, and Turyko) separated by only 4 points. So it looked like they would fight over the two available promotion slots although Stephen P had a shot -- especially if he won at Sepang. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/d3IEm2cts5qlWVXm1" target="_blank">Montreal Race Report</a>] [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/tFZqrBqQccjUHreN7" target="_blank">Melbourne Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
Stephen started out on row 1 and quickly grabbed the lead. Meanwhile Turyko, Ciccio, and Palmiro were all down in the bottom half of the grid. If the race stayed like this Stephen would get promoted. By the end of lap 1, Turyko had moved up and taken the race lead but Stephen was still lurking in 2nd with a lot of wear. As the season's final lap began, Stephen was back out front with a lot of wear, Turyko was sitting in second with a bigger car, Palmiro was back in 7th and Ciccio was languishing in 10th. Palmiro and Ciccio would have to get up to 3rd to dislodge Stephen from the 2nd promotion slot. By half-way through the last lap Ciccio had thrown in the towl but Palmiro had worked his way up to 4th and looked to have the wear to get past Christina and/or Turyko. A couple corners later Palmiro was 3rd and Stephen was left to hope either Palmiro or Turyko lost a place. They did not and Stephen missed promotion by a single point. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/yxxoiQGY7ywgQHCN9" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
This ended up being a very competative group as two race winners (Stephen and Ciccio failed to advance).<br />
<br />
<i>Season Champ</i>: Turyko S (1st, 4th, 2nd)<br />
<i>Also Promoted</i>: Palmiro M (2nd, 2nd, 3rd)<br />
<br />
<b>Clark, Tier 3</b><br />
The first two races of the season had the exact same podiums: Justin S, Dave L, Dave B. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/kBhOKbT6LrOs9mqP2" target="_blank">Montreal Race Report</a>] [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/3C7wQQEZusBDkFPQ8" target="_blank">Melbourne Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
This meant that Justin was guaranteed a promotion regardless of what happened at Sepang and Dave L had a leg up on Dave B for that 2nd promotion. Dave B had to finish top 2 and hope Dave L finished 6th or worse. At the end of lap 2, Dave L was languishing down in 6th but Dave B was running low on wear and took a chance through the hairpin resulting in a crash and Dave L's promotion to tier 2. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/d3F2BNXHtu8v7KnT8" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
<i>Season Champ</i>: ?S (1st, 1st, 6th)<br />
<i>Also Promoted</i>: ?L (2nd, 2nd, 3rd)<br />
<br />
<b>Fangio, Tier 3</b><br />
Stephen E won the first two races of the season to clinch a promotion with a race yet to go. Bruce L had a leg up on everyone else for the 2nd promotion slot after finishing 3rd in Montreal and 2nd in Melbourne. But if he faltered at Sepang literally everyone had at least some chance for promotion. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/FDvgFFluURSTf0wr1" target="_blank">Montreal Race Report</a>] [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/thhu1bXnLUKjnK3J6" target="_blank">Melbourne Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
John G was the first to take the reins in this race and spent some wear to take the race lead and 2nd place in the season standings up through the last corner of lap 1. Will K out accelerated John across the start/finish line to being lap 2 in the race lead and now Will was 2nd in season points. All this time, Tom F had been lurking behind John and then Will and conserving his wear before over-taking both of them through Berjaya at the half-way point of the race. That put Tom just barely in 2nd on the season.<br />
<br />
As the cars exited corner 1 for the last time, Tom was a turn ahead of everyone and would not be caught. But his promotion would depend on where others' finished. Stephen and worked his way up to 2nd and had enough wear to hold off John and Will (who could have gotten promoted with a 2nd). Bruce was in 5th and needed to get to 3rd place to beat Tom on season points. Bruce managed to work his way up through the field during the 1st half of the last lap before finally passing John for 3rd through Berjaya. Bruce was then able to set himself up to clear Sunway Lagoon a turn ahead of the pack and would coast to 3rd and promotion -- only 3 points clear of Tom. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/gKP6sizo4PFWsHTm9" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
Not to be lost in his early clinching of 1st on the season, Stephen also had the most successful run this year in any series with two 1sts and a 2nd.<br />
<br />
<i>Season Champ</i>: Stephen E (1st, 1st, 2nd)<br />
<i>Also Promoted</i>: Bruce L (3rd, 2nd, 3rd)<br />
<br />
<b>Moss, Tier 3</b><br />
Keith R, Dave I, and Mikael M entered the final race of the season within 4 points of each other with two other drivers behind them also having a chance for promotion (Federico S and Robert R). [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/ghAKkNS8VdVgMQZJ3" target="_blank">Montreal Race Report</a>] [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/XeDFpE1XSGPEBnxo9" target="_blank">Melbourne Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
Most of the smaller field would stay in a pretty tight pack until the start of of the final lap with previous race winners Keith R and Dave I 1-2 in this race and the season and in line for promotion. By the time they reached the back straight both were a full turn ahead of the field and seemingly locked into promotions -- until Keith broke his damaged engine. That knocked him from what looked like a guaranteed 2nd and guaranteed promotion (Dave was going to pass him down the back straight but I'm pretty sure no one else could).<br />
<br />
That added some drama to the end of the race. Mikael inherited 2nd on the season when Keith DNFed but Mikael got passed by two cars down the back straight and Robert had worked his way up to 2nd -- putting Robert tenuously in 2nd on the season... until Mikael out accelerated Federico across the line to regain a position, a point, 2nd on the season, and a promotion. [<a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/uzMhnXEMsEMG16dx9" target="_blank">Full Race Report</a>]<br />
<br />
<i>Season Champ</i>: Dave I (4th, 1st, 1st)<br />
<i>Also Promoted</i>: Mikael M (3rd, 2nd, 5th)Doug Schulzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03777717583854876582noreply@blogger.com0