Motor Sport

This game now includes the Indy Car & Moto GP Modules which are also available as extension sets for this game for those of you who bought Motor Sport before these two sets were available.

'MOTOR SPORT'

PREAMBLE

'Motor Sport' is a replay game design concept that enables the user to replay more or less any motor sport race provided he has access to the real-life result and starting grid positions. Some forms of motor sport, for example hill climbs, rallying, speedway, are not suitable for this treatment for reasons that will become clear as you read more details of the concept. But for those events which are covered races will usually take no longer than 30 minutes to set up and replay, so a full season can be replayed over the course of two or three evenings.

This initial package covers F1 motor racing from 1935 to 2012, split into seven different era, the CanAm series of the 1960/70s, F3000, and the Nascar series. All these share a common game engine (as will all subsequent modules issued under this banner) but all have their own specific Charts and their own rules to cover those features that are not common to all motor sport. But once the basic game system is absorbed it is easy to switch from one formula to another and, we hope, from one form of motor sport to a different one.

This preamble will provide a quick introduction to the game engine, and a run through of how to prepare for and to run a race.

The Race Control Sheet/s provided are already partially completed in that grid positions (depending on the formula involved) will determine the Start Rating and the Initial Movement Count. Sitting on the front of a grid with only open road ahead offers little in the way of distraction, when the lights turn green powering off the line and getting onto the racing line for the first corner is usually your only concern, unless something goes badly wrong. With each row behind the front row there is an increasing cause of distraction, basically the cars in front! The more rows back you are the more cars there are in front of you and more who can be doing something to restrict your own ability to go at full pace. For this reason the Start Rating, which is used just once in a race, reflects the difficulty of not having clear road ahead. But there is also a physical disadvantage of being back down the grid, with the front row drivers effectively having a start on the field, and especially so if you are languishing on Row 13! So the Race Control Sheet is pre-printed with the Initial Movement Count which, obviously, is lower for the drivers further back on the grid than the front row guys.

All you, as the user, have to do is write down the drivers in grid order, and enter their Starting Grade, which is determined by their finishing position in the race and their grid positions. DNFs have their own special column on the Grade Conversion Chart, which they share with finishers from 13th downwards.

A single roll on the Pre-Start Chart determines three things - whether there is a multi-car incident on the start line and if so how many cars are involved, if not, how many cars have Actions triggered at the start,and the race Weather.

A pack of Driver Identity Cards is used to (would you believe?) identify specific drivers for various purposes throughout the race. Races are run over six Turns, each consisting of an Action Phase and a Consolidation Phase, and there are three different Layers of detail to suit your own particular requirements from the simulation. Layer One provides only those details needed to complete a race,retirements from MT problems and accidents, spins and pit stops, not being further explained. Layer Two provides details of causes of retirements,descriptions of crashes and spins and reasons for pit stops, down-grading, etc. Layer Three enables the user to determine the exact lap on which any particular incident occurred. For all layers it is possible to establish which cars have been lapped, and the time gaps between the leading cars. Typical playing times are as follows:-

Layer One - 25 minutes

Layer Two - 30 minutes

Layer Three - 35 minutes

Establishing time gaps, recording a leader board after each Turn, etc.will add a little something to the times quoted above.

That's the summary.