Motorsports Manager - Rise of the house of Archer

[BYU 14]

After a horrific crash ended his racing career, British driver Ace Idol could not stand being away from the track and so began his quest to run his own racing team. The opportunity presented itself in 2016, when a team on the third tier European circuit became available. Welcome to the new era of Archer BMR racing.

Meet the team:
Drivers:
Mustafa El Sadat 22 years old – Main Driver
Contract 10 months at $244,000 per race
Skills: Braking 5, Cornering 8, Smoothness 14, Overtaking 9, Consistency 12, Adaptability 6, Fitness 4, Feedback 13, Focus 9
Traits: Racer (+2 to all attributes during race), Hates team orders (Will not take team orders), Vancouver expert (+2 to all attributes on this track)
Races: 10
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
El Sadat is a punk at times, refusing to take team orders, but has potential and is rated at 2.25 or 3.25 stars, so he has potential to grow. I want to keep him, but hopefully he will be our #2 next season if I can sign a better driver in the off season. I expect him to improve on his rookie campaign, finish top 10 and get at least a couple of podiums.

Alex Rodgers 34 years old – Main driver
Contract 10 months at $200,000 per race
Skills: Braking 8, Cornering 5, Smoothness 6, Overtaking 12, Consistency 11, Adaptability 10, Fitness 4, Feedback 8, Focus 12
Traits: Racer (+2 to all attributes during race), Passionate (Wants to win trophies before retirement - $100,000 to desired earnings)
Races: 110
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
The definition of a journeyman, solid, but never a threat to win with zero podiums over an 11 year career. The soft spot in me wants to help him get one trophy this season, so the business man in me doesn’t mind letting him go at the end of his contract.

Peter Young 31 years old – Reserve Driver
Contract 10 months at $57,000 per race
Skills: Braking 3, Cornering 2, Smoothness 5, Overtaking 4, Consistency 2, Adaptability 5, Fitness 1, Feedback 12, Focus 5
Traits: Smart (+1 to adaptability and feedback)
Races: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
That nobody has ever let this guy on the track says it all, he is horrible, but he is adept at feedback which means he will do all the test runs in Rodger’s car and I will keep through the end of his contract just for that reason.

Lead Designer – Gunther Ziegler
Contract 22 months at $71,000 per race
Skills: Engine 12, Brakes 8, Gearbox 8, Front Wing 10, Suspension 12, Rear Wing 6
Races: 210
Wins: 5
Podiums: 19
Gunther is solid, not great in any one area but decent across the board, we will hang on to him until his contract expires and re-evaluate then.

Mechanics
Jonny Jenkinson (Mustafa El Sadat – 1 week)
Contract 34 months at $19,000 per race
Skills: Concentration 8, Part Fixes 3, Pit Stops 2, Reliability 6, Chemistry 12, Performance 4
Races: 60
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Inconsistent and really only good in chemistry, he will suffice short term, but I don’t see him finishing his contract with us as I need better in the garage.

Stephanie Thomas (Alex Rogers – 64 weeks)
Contract 22 months at $13,000 per race
Skills: Concentration 3, Part Fixes 5, Pit Stops 7, Reliability 4, Chemistry 4, Performance 4
Races: 190
Wins: 0
Podiums: 2
She flat out sucks and replacing her will be my first priority, not good in anything and the only reason I can see for her hanging around with Alex for 64 weeks is they are sleeping together.

[BYU 14]

Pre-Race news and notes:
Prior to opening the season we have two sponsorship slots filled in each category. For Race bonus Golden Tiger Bank will pay us $200,000 if we select them as our race day sponsor and finish 13th or better. We have 9 races left with them. For fixed payment sponsors Sheikh Airways has 4 races left on their deal with us and pay us $85,000 per race. I have one offer pending for a 10 race bonus deal with Chiffre, which will pay $800,000 for 5th or better. I accept as we should be able to cash this in a couple times by season’s end.

Social media is mixed in regards to fans approval to my taking over of the team, with many remaining skeptical that my ability as a driver translates.

I grant an interview to World Sports Network and they ask me what my goal is for the team, which is to finish better than 8th. They also try and stir a driver controversy and I defray it letting them know I am blessed to have two good drivers (lying because I know Rodgers is an also ran). Finally they want to know how I feel my skills as a driver will translate to the management side. I answer that I feel my knowledge will serve me well.

Just prior to leaving for the race I get two offers for a second fixed payment sponsor slot, one is a $1,500,000 upfront payment with no per race payment for 11 races from Bango BBQ, the second through Carne Blanca is $200,000 up front and $200,000 per race for 10 races, which is 700K better overall, so we welcome Carne to the family.

Mechanics Corner:
First thing up is I order a new brake design the will give me +10 deceleration and +10 reliability, which is big early on. Next up I assign Stephanie to work on reliability for suspension and engines for both drivers and Jonny to improve performance on just one set of brakes. These tasks will be done 32 and 28 days AFTER our first race respectively.

Brakes are done and they go to El Sadat and I order work to begin next on a gear box. I have two options to go outside of the rules, but play it safe and elect the legal option, +25 acceleration. I am now $600,000 in the hole.

Race #1 : Black Sea GP - Track F
Laps: 30
Forecast: Clear 66 degrees
Track qualities: Tire wear high, fuel burn low
Crucial attributes: Top speed, acceleration, high speed corners
Race Day bonus sponsor: Golden Tiger (13th or better = $200,000)

Testing results (Downforce, Handling, Speed)
El Sadat – Great, Excellent, Excellent
Rodgers – Excellent, Great, Great
*Young will always test Rodgers car for him
Very happy with testing results and for knowledge I add intermediate tires and race trim to El Sadat, both +5 performance and race trim +5 and Lightfooted supersoft tires (slows tire wear on super soft tires) to Rodgers.

Over 30 laps I want to pit twice and a tank of fuel gives me 12 laps at normal speed, so I cut back to 10 laps for the first fueling, knowing I am going to push it and will need close to the full 12 for the 1st and 2nd cycles. El Sadat is starting in 7th spot and Rodgers 20th, WTF!! Things start well enough, then Rodgers collides with Boa Tang on lap 2 and fucks up the front wing, so he needs to pit. That basically ruins my strategy for him, thanks Alex. Meanwhile lap 3 is bad for El Sadat and he falls to 11th. Several cars pit on lap 5 and it allows El Sadat, who had fallen to 13th by now, to climb into 8th. I let off on driving style and engine mode to save on tire wear and gas and will pit him on lap 9 and go to a harder tire for a long mid race run. Coming to the end of lap 7, Marchetta crashes, so I elect to bring both drivers in then to get full fuel and harder tires while the safety car is out. I also have El Sadat’s brakes tweaked. We are in 8th and 17th at this point.

The yellow is off on lap 11 and El Sadat jumps into 7th place, with Rodgers capturing 16th off the restart. Over the next 5 laps nothing of note happens, with El Sadat moving into 6th due to a pit stop, though he sets a personal best lap of 1:26.08 on lap 16, while Rodgers is performing fairly well given his start and has climbed to 15th, where he is battling with Evans, who I gather he hates based on radio messages. Rodgers has to pit on lap 19 due to tire wear and I am able to milk El Sadat’s fuel to get to 20, where he now sits in 3rd place, but I forget to give him the pit order!! Son of a bitch!!! He is on fumes and has dropped to 17th by the time he coasts into the pits and it is all on me! On lap 25 Rodgers, now in 15th starts to lose his gear box, I am just going to try and let him finish, while El Sadat sits in 18th place, despite running a good race, due to my screw up. Aurelie Dembeli retires, which bumps Rodgers to 14th and El Sadat to 16th on lap 28. Rodgers is able to jump to 11th when Claudia Dreyfuss and Amanda Cavalcanti run out of fuel on the last lap, which secures our bonus.

Results:
1st – Tanvir Jha (Garuda Racing) 47:45.91
2nd – Jean-Francois Beauchamp (Garuda Racing) + 5.92
3rd – Sergio Arbeloa (Eastport Motorsport) + 27.61
---------
11th – Alex Rodgers +94.08 (10 points)
15th – Mustafa El Sadat +1 lap (6 points)

Should have had a El Sadat in the top 5 if I hadn’t screwed the pooch on that pit stop, lesson learned. We have 16 points as a team after one race, which puts us in 7th overall. Gruda and Eastport are the class of the league and they will fight for 1st. I just want to meet my goals, finish 7th of higher so I can start the rebuilding process. Twitter is kind to us overall after the race, with one female fan expressing her love for our drivers and another happy we finished ahead of ZRT racing, who he F’ing hates! LOL

[Brian Swartz]

Oh cool, a couple of my favorite drivers. Having just finished my first year with Predator, I spent many duels with Rogers and El Sadat. Losing most of them, of course. Good luck to you.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Oh cool, a couple of my favorite drivers. Having just finished my first year with Predator, I spent many duels with Rogers and El Sadat. Losing most of them, of course. Good luck to you.

Thanks, I am not even a racing fan, but this game is just so well done.

[BYU 14]

Pre-Race news and notes:
I get an offer for the 3rd slot on my race bonus sponsors. Wonderluck offers $100,000 up front and $650,000 for 2nd or better over 4 races. We will never really see a benefit from this offer right now, so I turn them down. Next up, Peach Plum offers a fixed $350,000 per race over 9 races. That is a tidy sum, so I sign with them. Two more race bonus sponsors come up, both also requiring we finish 2nd or better, but Northern Harbor offers $1,250,000 up front and $880,000 if we select them and hit the bonus. The length is for 6 races and it is worth it just for the upfront money. I know have all 6 sponsors (3 fixed payments, 3 race day bonus) in place.

I am negotiating with American Billy Parker for the mechanics slot I want to upgrade, but he will not come cheap. My offer is currently at $109,375 per races and a $150,000 signing bonus. After some consideration, he accepts and I eagerly pay the 64K buyout to fire Stephanie Thomas. I assign Parker to El Sadat and move Jenkinson to Rodgers.

Mechanics Corner:
The gear box is done, but not anywhere near reliable enough, so I will not be putting it in a car yet. Next is a new suspension, +20 medium speed in the corners, then take one of the stock suspensions out of queue so I get the parts remaining in queue done before race #2.

My new suspension is done, but again not reliable enough to race yet, so I start work on a second suspension. This one will increase medium speed corners +20 and reduce red zone (critical wear zone) by 10%. Once the second suspension is done, I throw both in queue, along with the new brake to improve reliability and the new gear box goes into the improve performance queue. I am going to get these in good shape before I fit a car with them. Next up work starts on a second new gearbox acceleration +25 max, +30 reliability at the cost of -10 acceleration, so net of +15 acceleration overall.

Race #2 : Munich - Track B
Laps: 29
Forecast: Sunny 62 degrees (Rain for practice)
Track qualities: Tire wear very low, fuel burn very low
Crucial attributes: Acceleration, low speed corners, medium speed corners
Race Day bonus sponsor: Golden Tiger (13th or better = $200,000)

Testing results (Downforce, Handling, Speed)
El Sadat – Excellent, Excellent, Great
Rodgers – Great, Great, Excellent
*Young will always test Rodgers car for him
Both drivers will go race trim and intermediate tires +5 each for the race (It’s all I have)
Tweet of the day after testing, one fan wonders if I ever wake up and think about retiring. Rodgers car ran the best in testing thanks to Young’s feedback, we will see if it translates.

El Sadat starts in 6th spot and Rodgers 10th, both good spots and I am feeling good after testing. I use the same strategy as last race, cutting a couple of laps worth of fuel to get out quicker. I worry about El Sadat’s brakes, but everything else should be good. Four laps in El Sadat remains in 6th, but his last two laps have been very good, while Rodgers has nicked a spot and jumped to 9th. I go to neutral on driving style a bit sooner than the other cars in an attempt to save tires and get to my goal of 8-9 laps before our first pit stop. The field is still bunched fairly tight, so pit strategy looks to be a difference maker today. El Sadat and Nick Chu wage a spirited battle for 5th over the next 3 laps, while Rodgers drops to 14th, not quite sure why, but his tires are wearing out fast, so I will have to pit him after lap 6 and go to a harder tire. My pit strategy pays off for El Sadat as he holds 1st place when I pit him on lap 8 as the other drivers ran their tires harder and hit the pits on lap 6 or 7. On top of this Claudia Dreyfuss and Amanda Cavalcanti wreck, so the yellow is out for my pit stop! I go to harder tires and full fuel for what will be the most important leg of the race.

I get hosed on the lap 10 restart and El Sadat is caught in 11th place, while Rodgers has fallen to 16th within a lap. By lap 16 Tanvir Jha has established clear dominance and holds 1st by a wide margin with a second group of cars tight for 2nd through 8th and then the rest, which is where we reside, El Sadat in 10th and Rodgers in 13th. We are on goal for payout, but I want more points, so someone will have to screw up their pit strategy. We hold 3rd (El Sadat) and 4th when Rodgers makes his final pit stop on lap 19 and I should have enough gas to get El Sadat to lap 21, but it will be close. This could be huge as I would be able to go light on fuel and go back to soft tires for the final 8 laps. El Sadat leaves the pits in 12th, but many of the drivers ahead of us should need to pit again, so I have my eye on the podium. Rodgers holds tight in 14th, wasting a damn good car setup. Pit stops on lap 25 allow El Sadat to 6th and Rodgers, who has been playing chicken again with Boa Tang (possible feud brewing after race 1) sits 10th. Tanvir Jha will not be caught, but I still have hope for 3rd. Lap 27 and El Sadat’s brakes start to get sketchy, but with 2 laps left I am right on Valdes’ tail and Beauchamp is running on worn tires, so I am riding it out. An exciting final lap as Beauchamp runs out of fuel and El Sadat passes Valdes, but Arbeloa catches him on the last turn and we get 4th and 10th, still a helluva of a showing.

Results:
1st – Tanvir Jha (Garuda) 52:08.09
2nd – Andre Sabado (Firebird MRT) +37.40
3rd – Sergio Arbeloa (Eastwood Motorsports) + 57.62
---------
4th – Mustafa El Sadat +58.29
10th – Alex Rodgers +80.96

In the points race El Sadat sits 10th with 23 points and Rodgers 12th with 21, 5th place as a team with 44 points, Garuda sits 1st with 72 already. We earn $912,000 for the race, leaving our balance at -$594,000

[BYU 14]

Pre-Race news and notes:
Back at it as we prepare for race 3. Unfortunately our upgrade suspensions, gearbox and brakes will not be as reliable as I want by race time.

I am now fully accredited with the GMA, so I will get to vote on upcoming rules changes and issues. I am interviewed regarding the upcoming vote to add Yokohama to the calendar for next season and I let the press know I have not made up my mind yet.

Alex Rodgers is friggin burned out after 2 races, really? I don’t want negative traits, so I spring 250K to send him to a damn spa. He gains the refocused trait that gives him a +1 to all skills for 20 weeks.

The Yokohama votes comes up and I see it will not benefit team Archer, so I vote no, but the big boys got it passed 5-3 with 2 abstentions, bastards!

Mechanics Corner:
My second gearbox is finished and is reliable enough to run, but it’s performance is crap, so I add it to that queue so it reaches full potential. Next I start work on a new engine, top speed +20 and it sets me back 1.5 million, now 2.1 million in the hole. When finished the engine has great performance, but crappy reliability, so we won’t be running it yet.

Race #3 : Milan – Track A
Laps: 21
Forecast: Sunny 64 degrees
Track qualities: Tire wear low, fuel burn medium
Crucial attributes: Speed, deceleration, high speed corners
Race Day bonus sponsor: Chiffre (5th or better = $800,000)

Testing results (Downforce, Handling, Speed)
El Sadat – Excellent, Excellent, Excellent
Rodgers – Excellent, Excellent, Great
*Young will always test Rodgers car for him
Both drivers will go race trim + 10 and intermediate tires +5
One fan tweets our testing was boring, well F you, it yields our best set ups yet! With this being a 21 lap race I will need two pit stops regardless so I go with enough fuel for 5 laps and soft tires to get a good start and will fill start 9th (Rodgers) and 11th on the grid.

Despite the great set up as we start lap 4 El Sadat is languishing in 15th place and Rodgers, after being as high as 5th (bonus land) has slipped to 12th as I play around to make sure our fuel gets us to the end of lap four. Not sure what the issue is with El Sadat but he looks like crap in traffic and is getting bullied all over the place. We hit the pits (the first team to do so) in 15th and 17th place, I got to a harder tire and full fuel. All parts look good and I want to get the most out of the middle phase of the race and hopefully gain some ground. El Sadat lectures me about queuing in the pits, LOL. Shut up and drive! On lap 6 we make up ground as the field pits, with Rodgers vaulting to 6th and Mr. slow pit El Sadat climbing to 14th. Other drivers are setting speed records left and right and as we get to lap 9 we sit in 7th and 16th place. El Sadat is a lost cause for this race, but Rodgers has a shot to hit bonus if I am smart. All parts should hold up for the whole race, so we just need to avoid any crashes.

Lap 11 and we benefit from two pit stops as Rodgers climbs to 3rd! El Sadat continues to chill in 15th, admiring the tress and pretty Italian girls as he goes. Lap 13 and Rodgers sits in 1st place as the field pits, El Sadat gets up to 8th, but he will surely lose that in short order. I pit and decide to go back to soft tires. Fuel will be tight, so I will have to watch that, but we should be okay. We exit the pits in 9th and 17th, still okay and I will have them push for a lap or two. Both drivers are smoking now and lap 16 is Rodgers best of the race. A couple of drivers are having issues with parts and we sit in 7th and 15th at this point. There is hope! Rodgers jumps to 5th on lap 18 due to pit stops, but his brakes are now acting up. We have no choice but to risk it, 30% and three laps, with Marchetta and Antonov on my ass. Lap 20 and it is Beauchamp that comes screaming past Rodgers, which leaves my best hope to hit bonus on catching Gerard, who is starting to slip a bit. El Sadat is in 12th and will not be a factor. Alas I timed up fuel and tires perfectly, but Rodgers is passed by Dreyfuss on the last curve and we finish in 7th and 13th place, not crappy, but no 800K bonus! Eastwood and Garuda carry the day again as their drivers finish 1-2.

Results:
1st – Edda Jonsdottir Eastwood Motorsport 29:41.28
2nd – Tanvir Jha (Garuda) +0.192
3rd – Amanda Cavalcanti (Silva Racing) + 1.38
---------
7th – Alex Rodgers +22.97
13th – Mustafa El Sadat +46.83

In the points race Rodgers goes from 12th to 8th with 35 points and El Sadat remains in 10th with 31. As a team we are camped in 5th with 66, 5 back of Firebird MRT and 5 ahead of Silva. We earn $712,000 for the race, leaving our balance at -$1,682,000