In 1979, 182 vehicles set off on a 10,000 kilometer race from Paris to Dakar. Only 74 vehicles survived the journey. The race grew in popularity and became an annual event knows as the Dakar Rally.
Fast forward to the year 3311.
On Sunday the 10th August 3311 the Buckyball Racing Club will be hosting the first ever "Drakhyr Rally". The race will take place on Hyades Sector ZU-Y d68 4 B, starting from inside the perimeter wall of the Camp Bucky construction yard and finishing at the entrance tunnel to Drakhyr Point, a spectacular planetary port some 250 kilometers away.
The course is essentially a straight line between the two ports but there's a cool mountain range just before the halfway point on the official route that drivers are also encouraged to cross.
The event is currently scheduled to start at 15:00 UTC and is open to all commanders willing to give it a try!
To sign-up for the event click on the Drakhyr Point entrance tunnel below ..
.. but also feel free to post in this forum thread, saying hello and introducing yourself.
Note that while individuals are welcome to enter, teams are actively encouraged. If you plan on putting a team together then mention that in your post and maybe tell us about your team.
RULES (subject to change but such as they are at the moment)
- Teams can be any size but between 2 and 5 is recommended.
- At least half the drivers in a team must finish for the team as a whole to avoid a DNF (for a team of 2 both drivers must finish).
- The final time for a team will be the average time of all its finishers + 20% of that time per team member who fails to finish (this is to encourage faster members of a team to cheer their slower team mates on rather than tactically hoping they will explode).
- At least one member of each team is STRONGLY encouraged to tackle the mountain range.
- In general, use of SRV repair synthesis is discouraged and drivers are asked to enter into the spirit of the race and make "Pit Stop" repairs. This means stopping, recalling and briefly re-boarding your ship, and then re-deploying the SRV and continuing onwards. Of course, if this becomes too onerous for drivers who are having to make dozens of repairs then judicious use of repair synthesis will be overlooked by the judges as long as you attempt at least a couple of pit stops.
- In recognition of the vast range of driver abilities out there (and the huge difference this will make in how long it takes to complete the course - somewhere between 30 minutes and 3-4 hours) I'm asking anyone capable of comfortably maintaining SRV speeds in excess of 100m/s to identify themselves as an "expert".
- While there may be some attempt to handicap experts with a delayed start I think it's pretty much impossible to level the playing field so it will be a token gesture only.
- Where possible there should only be one "expert" driver per team.
- Experts should always use "Pit Stop" repairs.
OTHER BITS AND PIECES
While you're in the Hyades Sector ZU-Y d68 system you may notice a number of construction sites (including the Camp Bucky start line). While the thought is appreciated please do NOT deliver any commodities to these sites as they have been deliberately left as construction yards to facilitate other racing activities.
If you're a streamer then I would be more than happy for you to cover the event, either as a driver or spectator/commentator (perhaps sponsoring your own team). One thing to note is that, outside of in-game wing mates, SRVs can't be targeted and will be extremely difficult to find in the wild after the first few minutes. For this reason (and also so we can try and keep track of who's in the lead) we're planning on recommending that people use Crank Larson's SRV Tracker. This is a fairly lightweight utility which was developed in conjunction with the Elite Racers for exactly this purpose. It keeps a centralised record of everyone's position and allows individual drivers to be targeted and tracked using a small HUD overlay. More information about this will be made available closer to the time.
Feel free to use this forum thread as an ongoing conversation about the rally but by all means also come and join the Buckyball Racing Club Discord server where you'll find a #drakhyr-rally-general channel dedicated to the event.
Last but not least I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank our race sponsors "The Buurian Protectorate" without whom the construction of the Drakhyr Point finish line would not have been possible. You folks rock! (I'm contractually obliged to add not Buur who's a massive GIT).
FAQ
Q) In the race can we have two people in a Scorpion?
A) Yes, people can absolutely race together in a Scorpion. I would point out that a) the Scorpion is quite slow and b) if it explodes both team members will DNF, but I think that is far outweighed by the joyous Dakar like nature of this roleplay arrangement, perhaps with the co-pilot doing things like navigating (you could get yourself a bunch of high-res screenshots as maps for the co-pilot to use) and filming your journey from an exterior camera. I'm also fairly sure that it would be possible for the drivers to swap position occasionally to give each other a rest.
Q) Are we allowed to open fire on other racers?
A) While the idea of this being a Death Race 2000 kinda deal is quite appealing several people have pointed out that this is going to be hard enough without being shot at so for this first one at least I'm going to say no.
Q) How far is the Drakhyr Rally system from Sol?
A) It's 212 light years South/West of Sol so probably less than 10 minutes away from most places in the bubble.
Q) The rules say that for a team of two both commanders must finish, but what if I'm planning a team with one driver and a support ship?
A) The team rules only apply to the SRV drivers. Support ships are supplemental and not included which means that your support ship doesn't have to finish, but also that your final time will NOT be the average of your time + the support ship's time (just in case anyone thought they'd spotted a loophole
).Q) Will we have enough fuel to be able to make the journey on one tank?
A) Since a pitstop won't replenish the SRV's fuel (unless you swap SRVs, which is permitted) I'm going to say that drivers can use synthesis to refuel as required.
Q) How are things like the start and timing going to be coordinated?
A) We're asking everyone who's driving to join the Buckyball Racing Club Discord server where we'll have text and voice channels devoted to the race. Instructions will be given verbally in the voice channel and a nominated in-game start time will be announced about 10 minutes in advance of the actual start. We will also ask drivers to check in occasionally and declare their current position (in terms of distance to the finish) as well as posting their individual finish times (or DNFs) in a nominated text channel once they've crossed the finish line.
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