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Edit: I moved my post to the more appropriate "Formula" topic. The tournament remains great, of course 

Answering to CTG's suggestion: let's save natural resources by site design! 



Or, if you're not that environment-conscious, you might prefer something more lively...



(mock-ups powered by Platypus, the magic client-side HTML tuner for Firefox)

I expected Duplode to be below 1 min too, maybe he was too busy with ISM...

I expected that as well... In the end, I could have only two racing sessions. The first one lasted about 15 minutes, during which I made that 1:00.25. Then I only got to race again on Saturday, spending about one hour trying to make a really fast run through the first half of the track, but had no luck, regardless of whether my aborted lap looked like a potential 57.xx, 55.xx or even 52.xx (once). I though I might be able to get a third run, but was unable to - and even that wouldn't suffice, since I had no connection during most of Saturday night and Sunday...

Anyway, congratulations to Mark (55.xx is a strong enough time for all valid purposes IMO) and Chulk (crashing at the pipe, ouch...) !

If you thought scoreboards couldn't get more messed up than on T405, though, you're mistaken: there was not even a single legal replay submission this time!

1º Daniel DUPLODE - 1:51.15 - +10
(2º Rudah FLASH DRIVER - 1:58.90 - +8)
3º Krys TOFF - 2:06.35 - +6
4º Mark L. Rivers - 2:31.05 - +5

I had forgotten to send my .HIG with the lap (just regularized it); all other times were late submissions (at least it didn't influence the results...). Rudah's time is bracketed because his .HIG somehow vanished just after the lap (he sent a .TRK file out of reflex and didn't notice it originally...) - Igor still has to confirm the decision about his result. And not only my victory was unexpected, Felipe's absence (possibly due to holidays) also means I, quite undeservedly IMO, snatched the overall 2nd place from him... Gap is only three points though, so there may be a nice battle over the two final races...!

Round 7 is, of course, already on - Carrera is the machine for this race. Deadline was set to February 9th, so we can return to bi-weekly scheduling. Igor also posted on Orkut apologizing for the scheduling issues of late - he's having some personal issues that may see him returning from the U.S (he's currently based there) to Brazil over the following weeks. If that happens, results publishing for Round 7 will likely be delayed. He will warn us in case that happens.

Prediction game: who will reach 1000 posts earlier? Mark (859) or Duplode (830)?

So I ended up "losing" this "race" (in spite of monthly trends suggesting otherwise), but at least it's not too late to congratulate him for his landmark "score"!

I removed the old link to the 1.6 Ranger, so that anyone wandering by these threads won't risk downloading the version with bugged scoreboard entries (I suppose we can safely assume the three people that downloaded the older file have already updated to the new .RES via ZakStunts or the "new cars in 2009 thread). For the sake of completeness, here is a replacement .zip, equivalent to the one already available at ZakStunts.

The reorganization just gave me a big scare, as I couldn't find the old ZakStunts season subforums anywhere... but I could locate my own posts there, so it's just the new root subforum ("Competition Archive") that is currently off-limts. No reason to panic, everyone

I'm so, so happy that some other people are working on this now. I had left it for so long!  But now I'll put hands at work. What I researched some time ago may be now mostly useless, but I trust one or two things will serve and I will be able to help with more research.

I guess everyone should be as happy as you are...

I do not have DOSBox. I think I should download it. I have pure DOS and Ubuntu Linux.

Indeed you should: DOSBox + Linux is at the moment our perfect sandbox investigation ambient (and a very good one for racing too!)

- I'd love to be able to add more elements to be used on tracks and create tracks of sizes different from 30x30. Also, elements with heights greater than 3, that is, ramps that could take you very high and bridges above bridges

Hacking the track assembling and edition routines so we can introduce new track elements without removing old ones - it's the possibility I enjoy contemplating the most

- It'd be nice to dismantle the car format and maybe even replace it for something more flexible so that a utility could be created to design your own car (appearance included)

Great strides were made in that direction over the last year, so that is not just a dream any more - I highly recommend you to check this subforum 

- A system could be added so that replays were encrypted, allowing Stunts championships to verify if replays were handled or not without needing to record a video (I've already tried to do this once in a different way)

I am a bit skeptical on the possibility of taming/eliminating RH (and the implications of such a deed for game mechanics and competitions), but there's more opinion than fact in my position... Anyway, what was the "different way" you once tried?

It will sure put less strain on my mouse wheel like this...

And the last Bowie song is there for the lyrics. Perfect for a wedding:

I've nothing much to offer
There's nothing much to take
I'm an absolute beginner
And I'm absolutely sane
As long as we're together
The rest can go to hell
I absolutely love you
But we're absolute beginners
With eyes completely open
But nervous all the same

If our love song
Could fly over mountains
Could laugh at the ocean
Just like the films
There's no reason
To feel all the hard times
To lay down the hard lines
It's absolutely true

Nothing much could happen
Nothing we can't shake
Oh we're absolute beginners
With nothing much at stake
As long as you're still smiling
There's nothing more I need
I absolutely love you
But we're absolute beginners
But if my love is your love
We're certain to succeed

About what I was to comment - brilliant choice!

Hehe, my brief success should be attributed to Duplode for his laziness.

This is not looking like it'll be brief at all I make Chulk words' mine - and also add that, even if I wanted, I would fail to deny an 8-1 loss in section times... so, congratulations!

(I'm late, but still) Welcome, Llm! As of now I lack both knowledge and time to get actively involved in those efforts, but it's great to know the reverse engineering efforts are not a lonely struggle any more  Knowledge is power!

1. At the current state of the system a pipsqueak is kicked out instantly after reaching the 18 months limit.
I may change this later but it requires quite a lot of coding.

There's an intermediate solution that may be easier to code (or not) and that you might find a good idea (or not  ): Make the Newbie League season table so that all drivers are included - but obviously only newbies (within the 18-month limit) receive points according to the newbie race standings, non-newbies being stuck with zero points at the bottom. That way newcomers that spend nine or ten races on the newbie league won't be kicked altogether from the standings by November or so, even if they don't get points on the final races (on this season, that would affect Dstien for instance).

No, that still bothers me sometimes, but this is very different: on Wednesday evening, I spilled corrosive decalcifier on my thumbs, and thursday morning one of them hurt, was swollen and bleeding under the nail. Then the other one followed, and while they are better now, they are still extremely sore.

At least your nails weren't seriously decalcified and were there still so you could still bleed under them... On this topic, I used to find (minor) nitric acid stains interesting: they switch your skin colour to bright yellow and you can't wash them away at all 

Igor replied today at Orkut; round 6 results are expected soon. My lap was not quite a listfiller, but I did only a single run and was unable to push hard on the key section...