ZRT Autosport: A Motorsport Manager adventure

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ZRT Autosport is one of the weakest teams in the European Racing Series (the lowest level in the game) of the newly released Motorsport Manager. I don’t follow F1, have never played the mobile version, and other than watching a few youtube videos last night and reading some the steam forum threads, don’t really know what I’m doing. So, naturally I’m starting at the bottom of the barrel.

Each team has three drivers (two that race and one reserve), a couple of mechanics, a lead designer (engineer), and a team chairperson. There is also a headquarters to be built up over time. So, here goes.

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Overall, ZRT has about 1.25 stars out of 5, the chairperson is R. Hanlon. Our lead engineer is Peter O’Sullivan. Hes 41, a native of the US, and has a contract for 57 months. He doesn’t look to be all that good, but I’ll keep him for the moment. His “skills” are:
• Engine 10
• Brakes 3
• Gearbox 6
• Front Wing 1
• Suspension 0
• Rear Wing 6.
I have no idea what any of that means, will figure it out eventually.

Our two mechanics are Billy Evans and Rachel McAndrew. Evans is the mechanic for our #1 driver (Sergio Valdes) and McAndrew works with #2 driver (Aurelie Dembele).

Evans – 33 years old, from the US. He has 21 months left on his contract. His skills are:
• Concentration 8
• Part Fixes 2
• Pit Stops 11
• Reliability 7
• Chemistry 14
• Peformance 10
He’s worked with Valdes for 18 weeks. I think I read they build chemistry over time. Or something.

McAndrew-
• Concentration 1
• Part Fixes 11
• Pit Stops 12
• Reliability 3
• Chemistry 6
• Peformance 6
She’s worked with Dembele for 24 weeks.

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Drivers:
#1 Driver: Sergio Valdes – 20 years old (Spain). 33 months left on his contract. Skills:
• Braking 9
• Cornering 15
• Smoothness 11
• Overtaking 13
• Consistency 11
• Adaptability 12
• Fitness 4
• Feedback 11
• Focus 12
Personality traits: Selfish, Spoilt, Hates Team orders, Born Leader. He is ranked almost 3 out of 5 stars. From what I gather, he’s a talented jerk.

#2 Driver: Aurelie Dembele – 32 years old (France). 9 months left on her contract. Skills:
• Braking 6
• Cornering 12
• Smoothness 9
• Overtaking 8
• Consistency 12
• Adaptability 9
• Fitness 13
• Feedback 11
• Focus 7
Personality trait: Content

Reserve Driver: Caerys Young – 30 years old (USA). 9 months left on her contract. “Skills”:
• Braking 3
• Cornering 1
• Smoothness 4
• Overtaking 2
• Consistency 5
• Adaptability 3
• Fitness 3
• Feedback 8
• Focus 7
Personality trait: Fearless.

So, it seems that Valdes is the future of the team. It says he hates team orders, so I'm not sure if that just means he won't let a teammate pass when ordered, or will he ignore the strategy tactics during a race. Dembele looks to be the solid veteran, probably won't win but should be respectable. According to a message from Valdes, he and Dembele get along well, so that is in her favor I suppose as we look to build some team chemistry. Young offers nothing.

I have begun scouting for replacements for Young. She has no value, I'd like the reserve driver to be someone with potential, or at least able to provide good feedback during practice. No plans to renew her contract, and if I find someone better before that, will show her the door this season.

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Looking at the team summary, the game says our strength is in our drivers. Our cars, HQ, staff, and sponsors are amongst the worst in the series. So to get started, I send our scout out to look at potential replacement drivers. He’s tasked to look at Felipe Nunes, a 20 year old Brasilian, Miia Lahtenen, a 26 year old from Finland, and Lisandro Cruz, a 23 year old from a country whose flag I don’t recognize.

On the technology front, I instruct O’Sullivan to start working on building a new engine. Meanwhile Evans and McAndrew start working to improve our gear boxes, brakes and front and rear spoilers. Evans focuses on improving performance of the gear boxes and brakes, while McAndrew is tasked to improve the reliability of both spoilers. I try and upgrade our HQ building, but at $8million, Chairwoman Hanlon is having none of that. She won’t allow that expense with our current finances.

The first race is at the Black Sea on March 17th.

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Race#1: Black Sea
We arrive at the Black Sea track ready to go for the season opener. Not wasting time using Young to test setups, so Valdes and Dembele make several practice runs to test the car setup. After three runs in the practice session we get to a setup for each that they both seem pleased with.

Race Day sees Valdes start from the #3 spot, and Dembele well back in the field (don’t remember exactly where). Valdes jumps out to a quick lead midway through lap #1 but eventually settles into 5th place. He hangs around between 4th-7th through the first run. Dembele doesn’t push anything and ranges from 14th-17th place.

After the first round of pit stops, Valdes is in 7th, but manages to work his way back up to 5th prior to the second round of pitting. Meanwhile, Dembele consistently turns faster and faster laps. She works her way up to 12th for the second round of pit stops.

After the 2nd pit stop, Valdes drops to 8th but is able to work his way up to a 4th place finish. He’s nowhere close to the top three, running roughly ¾ of a lap behind them for the last eight laps. Dembele continues her slow methodical climb, and ends up in 9th place. Not too bad, both finish in the top 10 and I think Dembele actually had a more impressive run. She is the #2 driver, so the best equipment has been given to Valdes, to keep his complaining to a minimum.

After the race, we are approached to open our factory to a tv crew. The mechanics don’t want the imposition, so we turn down the $100k filming fee in order to keep the peace internally. O’Sullivan starts working on a new gearbox, it should be completed before race #2.

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April 14th – scouting report on Felipe Nunes is received. He’s basically worthless and no longer under consideration to replace Young, at this point. Our scout adds 17 year old Angela Casciani to his list of drivers. We should have info on Lisandro Cruz in two days, and Miia Lahtenen in three.

Race #2: Munich
We head to Munich for the second race. Rain is in the forecast for raceday, this should be fun. Valdes is “content” with the default setup, but Dembele is “unhappy” as the cars are offloaded from the hauler.

They both make three practice runs. Was not able to dial in the setups that will make them happy. With a wet track, and questionable setups, this doesn’t look promising.

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Before the race begins the game keeps telling me I have the wrong tires for the weather conditions. I continued to change them until it – the game - was happy. Dembele starts in 12th and Valdes in 17th.

Two laps into the race both drivers are complaining that these are the wrong tires. So, since both had dropped back to last and next to last, I have them pit and switch to the wet weather tires. They proceed to run the rest of the race in last and next to last place. Neither is even remotely close to competitive, and I believe both ended up getting lapped. The Munich track is much more “technical” than the Black Sea track. The Black Sea track features longer straightaways and few tight turns. So, unsure if it was the setup of the cars or the drivers, but all in all a very disappointing result.

After the race, we get the scouting report on Lisandro Cruz. He’s exactly what we are looking for in a reserve driver. Youthful and talented. Having no idea what is fair or reasonable, he’s approached to sign a contract with us. He rejects the initial offer. I present a revised offer which is roughly $300k per race, with a couple hundred grand signing bonus. He rejects it. We aren’t in a financial position to pay him that much money as a reserve. Will be interesting to see if he shows up on another team at some point in the future, or if over time he will consider other offers for us.

In other news, Beijing is voted in as a new track for next season. We voted for their inclusion as it was projected to be helpful for lesser teams like ours.

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Race #3: Milan
Milan has long straightaways with some high speed turns. Hoping for positive result for Valdes. In practice Valdes turns in the 15th fastest time, while Dembele is 17th. Setups are ok, but not great after practice. Optimism fades after seeing these results.

Dembele starts from the 6th spot, and Valdes from 12th. Dembele quickly drops back to 18th, but as the pit stop cycle begins, Valdes finds himself in 1st with Dembele right behind in 2nd. We decide to try and run a fuel conservation strategy to see if we can economize the way to a solid finish. The strategy is doomed 2/3 of the way through the race when mechanical issues require both to pit within a lap of each other. Without the extra stop, a top 10 finish for Valdes was within reason and possibly top 15 for Dembele.

The extra stops for both doom the race efforts. To rub salt in the wound, Valdes ends up running out of fuel on the last lap and just misses a sponsor bonus if he had finished in 16th place. He coasted to a 17th place finish, in sight of 16th place car, while Dembele limps home in 19th.

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Race #4: Tondela / Portugal
Another track with some tight turns, practice finds Valdes posting the 17th best time, and Dembele the 19th. Both are almost five seconds slower than Tanvier Jha who had the fastest time.

Dembele starts in 3rd, and Valdes in 5th. Within five laps they are back in the familiar 20th and 18th positions. Dembele pits on lap five, and again on lap six after a collision with Jean-Pierre Gerarrd knocks off her rear wing. Valdes slowly works his way through the field over the next 27 laps to finish in 13th. Dembele manages to finish the race, but the back to back pit stops are far too much to overcome and she ends up last in 20th spot.

After the race, Dembele asks for her mechanic to be fired. Dembele isn't that good, neither is her mechanic. So, for the heck of it, I give the mechanic the boot.