Kevin Posted June 3, 2008 Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 UK OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP - THURSDAY 5TH JUNE 2008 (9PM START) The UK Open will be the first UKDirt F1 Championship run for the rFactor league and everything you need to know will be found below: Championship History The Championship was first run in 2002 and has been a permanent feature on the F1 fixture list ever since. Five different tracks have been used to stage this Championship; Bradford (twice), Kings Lynn, Swaffham (twice), Belle Vue (New) and most recently Stoke. The first winner of the UK Open was Skeet (31), with AndyH(148) winning the following year. 2004 saw the first Dutch winner, Dragon (428), followed by cabs (226) winning the championship when it was held on tarmac for the first time. Another Dutch winner, noppes (45) followed in 2006. Last year saw yet another different winner, travel (365). There has also been a winner of this title in 2008 already when the championship was run in the Heat league a few weeks ago. The winner was Pink (6). This means seven winners in seven seasons. Of course all of those winners were from the Heat league; this championship will be run using the rFactor mod - a completely different kettle of fish. The Venue The championship this time around will be run on a brand new track - Skegness. The track has just been released and can be downloaded from here for those who haven't yet got it. Although the track is brand new to rFactor it is not brand new to UKDirt F1's. For those of you with long memories it was used in the DTRSC days way back in 2001 where it hosted two meetings, including the first UKDirt F1 European Championship. The other difference between then and now is that back in 2001 the track was a shale track whereas this years event will be on tarmac. Sponsorship Grasser (233) has kindly offered sponsorship for this event. The winner of the UK Open will receive a DVD of the real life event which took place at Skegness over the weekend of 10th / 11th May. Many thanks to Grasser for this kind offer. The Format (subject to change) Each driver will have the chance to race in three heats during this meeting, one extra from a normal meeting. In the event of there being more than 22 drivers racing the meeting, the top fourteen points scorers from these three heats will automatically qualify for the Grand Final. There will then be a consolation race for every non-qualifier with six drivers qualifying for a twenty car Grand Final. The UK Open Champion will be the winner of the Grand Final. If there are 22 or less drivers racing the meeting then the Grand Final wil be an all-in race. The grid for the Grand Final will be a closed grid, 'grades within grades', highest points scorer at the front of their grade. Drivers qualifying via the consolation race (if required) will start at the back of their grade. The Grand Final will be followed by enough Grand Nationals for everyone. Who Will Win There will be twenty drivers on the grid for the UK Open final, obviously any one of them could win, which is especially true given it's a brand new track. Listed below are a selection of drivers who could stand a chance of winning the title race. Hutch (331) - He's the current National Points leader and has a comfortable 86 points gap back to second in the table. He's also the only driver to have raced every meeting from superstar, scoring on average 35 points per meeting. This surely has to make him one of the favourites especially when you consider his tarmac performances are slightly better than his shale performances. Kruiz (136) - Has recently been upgraded to superstar after racing a few meetings from red. He has raced two meetings from superstar before, scoring an average of 28 points per meeting with both of those meetings being on shale. Although not conclusive it does show he's easily capable of winning the UK Open. Dazza (290) - He's raced all of his previous ten meetings from red but will have to start the UK Open meeting from superstar following his recent upgrade. Yet another driver with a high average score, this time 29.5 points per meeting, with his Grand Final win at Kings Lynn contributing to this. MoR (137) - He's one of two drivers to have won multiple Grand Finals this season having won two of them including the most recent at Bradford (shale). He seemed to struggle from superstar until that final win and he has since been downgraded to red which should give him a boost and a possible chance of a second championship win. LeeK (39) - He's the other driver to have won multiple Grand Finals this season, but goes one better than MoR by winning three finals. All of those final wins (two on shale and one on tarmac) have come from blue grade but he'll be red come the Grand Final this Thursday. Ironmac (288) - He has raced every meeting so far this season from blue, scoring 120 points and winning 3 heats. He will need lots of luck starting from the middle of a packed grid in order to win the title but it's not beyond him. He has tasted success in the past, winning the Dutch Open in 2005, and would love to taste it again on Thursday. DanSkin (236) - He's a former UKDirt F1 World & European Champion but since racing this new rFactor league he has seen his form dip, so much so that he'll be racing from yellow this Thursday. Maybe luck will be on his side and enable him to claim his third UKDirt F1 Championship. His performances from yellow haven't been great; he's only scored points in his heats but his luck may change come the big race. Vegas (202) - A driver that's completely new to UKDirt F1's. He raced four meetings from white before being upgraded to yellow, the grade he'll be racing from at Skegness. He sits in 15th place in the points chart, 4 points from gaining a blue roof. Unfortunately he has yet to win a race. Big Al (515) - He's the only current rFactor driver (as far as I know) that can probably remember racing at Skegness back in 2001. That experience however, will mean absolutely nothing given this is the first meeting at this track for rFactor. Al will be racing from white as he has for his previous five meetings, scoring 3 points in total. Practice makes perfect so they say which could make him a dark horse racing from the front. rev matty (475) - He's yet another driver completely new to UKDirt F1's this season and has only raced one meeting so far. Starting from white he finished second in his first ever Grand Final. He may be a long shot considering the grid will be a closed grid. Well, good luck to all the drivers taking part in the meeting; let's hope for some good, hard but fair racing and may the best driver win. 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big al 515 Posted June 3, 2008 Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 Nice preview Kev, and well spotted that I am a dark horse as I will be the only previous Skegness Final winner on the track on Thursday! Yes that's right, I won a final at Skeggy in 2001, so I do remember the track well. It was a little bumpy in fact by DTRSC standards. Come to think of it, any chance of racing it on DTRSC on Thursday? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splinter Posted June 3, 2008 Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 Nice preview Kev, and well spotted that I am a dark horse as I will be the only previous Skegness Final winner on the track on Thursday! Yes that's right, I won a final at Skeggy in 2001, so I do remember the track well. It was a little bumpy in fact by DTRSC standards. Come to think of it, any chance of racing it on DTRSC on Thursday? lmao, that would nearly be as bad as racing it with heat. Good luck all. Get lots of practise in Al, would be great to see you win it from the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johno3 Posted June 4, 2008 Report Share Posted June 4, 2008 Superb preview as always Kev. And fancy Al being a previous winner on this track I must say, I have been in the server a fair bit of time (still slow) but I really enjoy racing at Skegness and it should produce some classic racing. We really have had some good races using this track. Personally, Dan may be hard to catch if he can get away. Otherwise, I have a sneaky feeling that MoR will win. Anyway, get yourselves booked in for what is set to be an absolute classic. Who is going to win the first championship in the full rfactor season? Cheers Johno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazza290 Posted June 4, 2008 Report Share Posted June 4, 2008 Good stuff Kev, it made for a nice read. I too think DanSkin may run away with it, far too good a driver to be at yellow but luck will always play a part in proceedings and I am expecting a winner from either white yellow or blue. Good luck to all though. Dazza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleLeech774 Posted June 4, 2008 Report Share Posted June 4, 2008 think hutch will be missing this one from superstar he got ban Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hutch#331 Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 think hutch will be missing this one from superstar he got ban Ah junior scrotum couldn't wait too post I know your not really bright, but people can read posts Cheers to you muppet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mav Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 Been trying out the new track which is superb, (excellent work Wrighty & co), but who put the bends at the end of the straight!!!! I am fine going down straight, but having to turn it around and come back down the other straight is a laugh I even had to restart my testing once because I couldn't even get the car out of the pits and onto the track Anyway reason for my post is can someone let me know how slow I am please - I don't want to be a roadblock as the bends seem rather tight, so any idea on "Ordinary" lap times, and then some lap times that allow for one full 360 spin Should be a good night and really looking forward to the carnage Spike, Big Al and me can cause from white Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew413 Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 I can just squeak below 13 seconds, the fast guys are doing 12.7/8s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tosh924 Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 I can just squeak below 13 seconds, the fast guys are doing 12.7/8s. 12.9 here mav.. s/s are in .8s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kruiz 136 Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 S/S are in .7s actually! Well I got a few anyway. But if Hutch is banned and I've just been told I'm working until midnight tonight so thats me out too. In fact theres a good chance it will stay this way until August/Spetember so I'm not going to be able to race for a good while on ukdirt now. I'll have to go with Dan for the win, or Reds manage to get through the pack, then MoR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mav Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 Thanks for the replies guys. I shan't tell you what lap times I can do - It will scare you Needless to say, I am sure I will be seeing plenty of you from various different angles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 In all fairness for what ive been told about/reason for his ban seems a bit petty???? if it is 'exactly' how it was given to me with the words being delt person to person rather than including anyone else im sure thats allowed?? if i remember correctly when i got banned from bangers for 2 or 3 weeks because of swearing andyH put at the bottom of the admins decision Pm that if words are to be delt that may seem offensive then keep them to pm ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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