Formula Golden Ratio (Belgium race)

[mrfakeboullier]

I don't mind a generic British one, but with Intel and Airbus as sponsors

[RedEyes504]

If you can, I'd like the Fat Burner Racing GP2 livery

[Ice1Racing]

Generic Finland is good

[FMecha]

An generic livery made out of Indian flag colors will do for time being.

[UncreativeUsername37]

OTHER STUFF MAGAZINE Your source for IndyCar, Super Formula, Formula E, and other high-level open-wheel racing that's not F1

Formula Golden Ratio season preview and performance speculation
The previous season of Formula Golden Ratio technically went down to the final race, but one of the contenders spun early in, and the two that were left were teammates with too many points between them. Will this season have the thrilling shootout we narrowly missed last season? Will it be decided with two races of eight remaining? Probably neither.

Gauthier-Renault
#1: Simon Pagenaud (1st)
#2: Charlie Kimball (2nd)
Gauthier's drivers finished first and second in the championship last year, so why shouldn't it work again? There's no reason to believe the champion team with the champion driver and perfect #2 won't do it together again. There honestly isn't anything complex about it. Right?

Commonwealth-Honda
#3: Kevin Magnussen (11th, F1)
#4: Frédéric Makowiecki (3rd)
Commonwealth could stop them. They've been worthy runners-up the past two years, and with Makowiecki, who might have been champion but for a lapse in Australia, and original series champion Kevin Magnussen, the title is possible. K. Magnussen—Jan's here too—at Commonwealth will surely be a tired and annoying subject halfway through the season, but seriously, the only reason he wasn't here last season was F1. And if Makowiecki doesn't have any bizarrely slow weekends like last year, they could do it.

San-"San" (Mecachrome)
#9: Narain Karthikeyan (7th)
#10: Aditya Patel (20th)
San might take third this year by virtue of the teams ahead disappearing. Someone's going to. Narain Karthikeyan seems skilled at this particular formula and Aditya Patel continues to bring money, but will one scoring car be enough at the level of points they're dealing with? Make no mistake, they may have a second car, but it's still Karthikeyan on his own.

Henri-Ford
#11: Loïc Duval (8th)
#12: Jean-Éric Vergne (13th, F1)
Duval beat di Grassi 4-2. In all but one of the races where they both finished, di Grassi finished in an adjacent position. But Duval scored 17 points to di Grassi's 3, and that's why only one of them is still here. Not that it was a bad decision; who wouldn't take Vergne over di Grassi? Vergne is still an F1-level driver, so at this level he should perform quite well, and he's even already showed his retirement series credentials in FE. But Rockenfeller was a star and Frijns was utterly ineffectual, so who knows?

Benelux-Honda
#13: Bertrand Baguette (9th)
#14: Stoffel Vandoorne (2nd, GP2)
This is a national team. Beating Frijns into jam and coming 2nd overall in your rookie year of GP2 are not trivial things. Their typo-ridden entry forms may be easy to laugh at, but they know how to build a car, and their drivers are the spirit of Formula Golden Ratio: the best outside of F1, in a certain region.

Fantomette-Honda
#15: Hélio Castroneves (11th)
#16: Davide Valsecchi (something?)
Hélio Castroneves is Fantomette's Karthikeyan or Baguette figure. He should pick up some minor points. Davide Valsecchi, meanwhile, is a complete die roll. Since 2008, he's competed in GP2, then been a third driver in F1, except not really because when they needed a substitute they picked someone else, and that's it. The point being that no one has any way to tell how good he actually is. Cracking into San, Henri, and Benelux will always be tough, so maybe a risky choice is their best hope.

VRT-Chevrolet
#17: Memo Rojas (6th, USCC)
#18: Jan Magnussen (4th, ELMS GTC)
We know what you're thinking: who the hell is Memo Rojas. He's a sports car driver, obviously. He could be all right. So could Jan Magnussen. Really, there's no way to know how good or bad these guys will be.

Riccetti-Chevrolet
#21: Marco Andretti (19th)
#22: Tanner Foust (some rallycross, I think)
Marco Andretti did decently last season, so he's back. Riccetti's second choice, the interesting one, is Tanner Foust. This guy can race, maybe a little. He does stunts, mostly. Rallycross too, but what relevance does that have to open-wheel racing? I mean, a drag racer didn't hurt himself, so it couldn't be that bad. In summary, they can't do worse than last year.

Achilles-Honda
#23: Nick Heidfeld (10th, WEC)
#24: Tom Coronel (7th, WTCC)
Nick Heidfeld fell out of F1 due to money, not skill. And like Vergne, he showed just what he can do in FE. The team seem professional, so he could get a few points. Tom Coronel, on the other hand, is a touring car driver. Not to say he'll be incompetent; he's also a Formula Nippon champion, but that was way back in 1999. Can he summon those skills here? If so, he could pick up a few points too. It's unlikely these guys will be a Henri, but they could challenge Fantomette.

Supertec-"Supertec" (Mecachrome)
#25: José María López (1st, WTCC)
#26: Raffaele Marciello (8th, GP2)
López was great in FGR last season, so he should serve this team well. A few points isn't unreasonable. Marciello is a risky choice from GP2, but not in the same way as Valsecchi; instead of being an unknown quantity, he's known to be erratic. On average, though, he should be a decent driver.

Ice-Renault
#27: Heikki Kovalainen (not anything important)
#28: Markus Niemelä (mmm, chili)
Kovalainen is an F1-level driver there isn't any room for. Markus Niemelä won the Atlantic Championship in 2008 and his career has slowly declined to midget cars since then. Kovalainen will definitely be good, maybe a point or two in a race with above-average attrition, and Niemelä could be anything, but probably not as good. Still, he can drive an open-wheeler as of a few years ago, so he shouldn't be embarrassing.

Kiwi-Toyota
#29: Scott Dixon (3rd, IndyCar)
#30: Mitch Evans (4th, GP2)
Well, that's about as almost F1 as it gets. Like Benelux, they've assembled a good national team. They're a new team, yes, but drivers like those could drag them into midfield. At least a couple of the new teams have to be.

Vorsprurk-Renault
#31: Robin Frijns (17th)
#32: António Félix da Costa (10th)
Two drivers who haven't done so well in FGR, but have shone in other open-wheel categories. They... might be good this time around? Clearly someone thinks so. Maybe the experience will get them a good car. At least it's a different approach from the others, so if it's right, it'll pay off well.

Teesside-Subaru
#33: Timo Glock (16th, DTM)
#34: Kevin Korjus (8th, Blancpain)
Glock=Kovalainen, as we all know. Korjus is of course chosen for his midfield FR3.5 and GP3 exploits. Seems acceptable. You know, meh.

Actual predictions
(These are in no way based on the actual stats put into GP2)
Top 10 constructors: Gauthier will narrowly beat Commonwealth yet again. Henri's two drivers will beat San's one to third, with Benelux close behind. Fantomette will take 6th and Achilles 7th. López will drag Supertec into 8th. Andretti will take a point or two for Riccetti. VRT will be the first pointless team.
Top 10 drivers: Pagenaud for the repeat. Magnussen will edge out Makowiecki, with Kimball right behind. Karthikeyan will be 5th, then the Henris, then the Beneluxes, then Castroneves.

Those who have left us
Renntechnologie have left for other categories. Loyer have disappeared more mysteriously, not to Coloni levels but still very weird. Could one position below what was expected really bring down the whole team? They were more competitive this year, with Rockenfeller a title contender for some time, so maybe they Brawned themselves. Boxtel are not mysterious at all; they showed up, got no points, and subsequently had no money. That's why they'll be missed the most.

[UncreativeUsername37]

SPANISH PHI PRIX — QUALIFYING
1. Simon Pagenaud (1:21.418)
2. Narain Karthikeyan (+0.452)
3. Frédéric Makowiecki (+0.495)
4. Kevin Magnussen (+0.556)
5. Stoffel Vandoorne (+0.617)
6. Timo Glock (+0.732)
7. Bertrand Baguette (+0.790)
8. Hélio Castroneves (+0.898)
9. Jean-Éric Vergne (+0.903)
10. Nick Heidfeld (+0.961)
11. José María López (+0.965)
12. Charlie Kimball (+1.003)
13. Loïc Duval (+1.018)
14. Heikki Kovalainen (+1.058)
15. Mitch Evans (+1.564)
16. Scott Dixon (+1.578)
17. Marco Andretti (+1.662)
18. Memo Rojas (+1.669)
19. Markus Niemelä (+1.731)
20. Aditya Patel (+1.847)
21. Davide Valsecchi (+2.047)
22. Raffaele Marciello (+2.127)
23. Kevin Korjus (+2.177)
24. António Félix da Costa (+2.185)
25. Tom Coronel (+2.402)
26. Robin Frijns (+2.412)

27. Jan Magnussen (+3.418)
28. Tanner Foust (+9.002)

Pagenaud on pole by over four tenths. Narain Karthikeyan has somehow put himself ahead of the Commonwealths, who take up the second row. Vandoorne has a good début qualifying with fifth, and alongside him is something even more improbable than Karthikeyan, Timo Glock in sixth place for Teesside. Kimball was bizarrely slow, ending up 12th.

Riccetti must replace Tanner Foust for the next race.

[Wallio]

Riccetti must replace Tanner Foust for the next race.

Umm no we don't. Look I get it he's slow, but he's not 9 seconds off the pace slow. He's beaten Marcus Gronhlem, Petter Solberg, Ken Block, and Scott Speed (amongst others) in heads up rallycross before. So there's no way he's that far off the pace. Try to be realistic here.

[UncreativeUsername37]

Riccetti must replace Tanner Foust for the next race.

Umm no we don't. Look I get it he's slow, but he's not 9 seconds off the pace slow. He's beaten Marcus Gronhlem, Petter Solberg, Ken Block, and Scott Speed (amongst others) in heads up rallycross before. So there's no way he's that far off the pace. Try to be realistic here.

It's rallycross, so it's not very relevant to me. But maybe you're right, 9 seconds was stupid. I just made his and Magnussen's stats better. They're still the worst, don't worry.

If he did some pure tarmac circuit racing sometime recently, I would base his performance on that instead. Maybe I just missed something I should know about.

Sorry it's taking so damn long to run the race.

[Salamander]

Riccetti must replace Tanner Foust for the next race.

Umm no we don't. Look I get it he's slow, but he's not 9 seconds off the pace slow. He's beaten Marcus Gronhlem, Petter Solberg, Ken Block, and Scott Speed (amongst others) in heads up rallycross before. So there's no way he's that far off the pace. Try to be realistic here.

None of those drivers hold any relevance in a single-seater environment except Speed, and last time he drove one in a competitive environment, he DNQ'd for the Indy 500. They're talented, sure (well, Gronholm and Solberg are at least), but I don't see how you could expect Foust to transfer any better than what he already did considering you took him from probably the furthest professional racing series from FGR.

[Wallio]

And Larry Dixon did? He would have made sense as being 9+ seconds off the pace last year, but no he out-qualified Marco on occasion. But someone who has circuit racing experience...... Simply ridiculous. Plus what does single seater racing have to do with anything? (Again see Dixon), I consider the Type II (and the Type I before it) to be much more along the lines of a WEC LMP myself. Single seaters can't hold 8-liter engines.

[UncreativeUsername37]

And Larry Dixon did? He would have made sense as being 9+ seconds off the pace last year, but no he out-qualified Marco on occasion. But someone who has circuit racing experience...... Simply ridiculous.

True, but rating drag racing so highly was a massive mistake in the first place.

Plus what does single seater racing have to do with anything? (Again see Dixon), I consider the Type II (and the Type I before it) to be much more along the lines of a WEC LMP myself. Single seaters can't hold 8-liter engines.

Because it's an open-wheel series. If you consider your car to be like an LMP, you're wrong. And about the engines, I ignore whatever people say about the size because 1) they're all really supposed to be phi litres and 2) they're completely cosmetic anyway.

I'm kind of not confident in my series-rating ability which is why I changed the numbers, but if enough people complain, I'll change the performances back again. Not that it'll really matter with how far off they are either way, but being 9 vs. 6 or whatever seconds off has IC/realism implications.

[tBone]

Top 10 qualifying for quick Nick! Achilles is satisfied to have both cars qualified and one so high up there.

[SeedStriker]

We Are Professionals After All

After the qualify session in Spain, VRT's Director, Sergio Vidal, spoke for the first time since the series started. "We went into this series because we believed we can have not only a good team, but a winning one. We are professionals after all."
With Guillermo "Memo" Rojas Jr. qualified comfortably in 18th, Vidal also questioned some of the comments of the CEO of the series. "No one in this series expect to be called 'backmarker' way before the show started. It's a shame that Jan (Magnussen) didn't make the grid, but the team has grown since the dissaster of last season, and it shows in the quality of the car with Memo's run".

And after getting that out of my system, some (real) upgrades for the Chevy.

Acceleration: 13
Handling: 14
Reliability: 10

[UncreativeUsername37]

Good news, mostly. I got everyone to run a one-stop strategy by making the race 200 km, so that's the race distance we're doing now. The reliability will be raised accordingly so that the actual finishing chance doesn't change. Changing the race distance also affects the RNG, so the qualifying for this weekend will be different, but I'm keeping the initial results as official and IC it's just good/bad starts and being better/worse in race trim.

After the real-life F1 weekend, Formula Golden Ratio is back on.

[UncreativeUsername37]

SPANISH PHI PRIX — RACE
42 laps of Catalunya MotoGP

Pagenaud got off to a good start, well ahead for the first corner. By turn 4, Makowiecki clearly had second with Magnussen third. Vandoorne fourth, Karthikeyan fifth, Kimball sixth. At the end of the first lap, Pagenaud was 1.9 seconds ahead. Vandoorne passed Magnussen at turn 1, then Karthikeyan was on his tail throughout the rest of lap 2.

Karth had a look at turn 1, but went back in line. Vandoorne lost a bit of pace and was within range as they came out of Campsa, and Magnussen took third back. However, he stayed with him, and at turn 1 went for a pass. It failed, and he lost a lot of time. Kimball had now nearly caught up to the group. Karthikeyan passed Vandoorne at the turn after Campsa, but he took it back at turn 1. As he started lap 6, Vandoorne's transmission cut out, and that was it for his race.

Coming into lap 7, Vergne, Castroneves, Glock, and Baguette were in a battle for 6th. Castroneves came alongside and made an easy pass, then Glock went by as well at turn 4. Castroneves got away over the lap as the others continued to battle. In the background as this protracted battle was happening, Kovalainen spun near the exit of turn 3, somehow. He nearly hit the wall, but the time taken to get back through the gravel ruined his race anyway.

With nine laps completed, the top five was still solidified, Pagenaud leading by four seconds over Makowiecki. In general as well, the race had settled down. On lap 19, things started to happen again: Marciello and Dixon had car failures and Castroneves passed Kimball.

Everyone pitted, and so some meaningless position-shuffling ensued. Shortly afterwards, Castroneves dropped out with a transmission failure. The major change at the end of it all was Glock dropping to 9th, putting López into the points. Even then, Glock overtook López quickly. On lap 26, Baguette passed Vergne.

With two thirds of the race gone, Pagenaud led by 17 seconds from Makowiecki who had Magnussen in his mirrors. Magnussen went for a move at turn 1, and it worked. A few laps later, Glock passed Vergne to regain his pre-pitting position. Baguette began to reel in Kimball, and on lap 34 he passed.

Then in sector 1 on lap 36, chaos ensued as Frijns' engine failed, panicking and holding up the lapping Commonwealths to the point where Karthikeyan caught and passed them. Magnussen's engine failed in the middle of this as well. With five laps left, Makowiecki was .9 seconds behind, and worse overtaking of backmarkers lost him a second over the next lap. Glock went unnoticed passing Kimball during this. Then with no backmarkers to deal with, Makowiecki was still losing time over Karthikeyan, atomising any remaining hopes of second on merit.

1. Simon Pagenaud (1:00:57.502)
2. Narain Karthikeyan (+26.765)
3. Frédéric Makowiecki (+30.388)
4. Bertrand Baguette (+40.953)
5. Timo Glock (+43.888)
6. Charlie Kimball (+46.077)
7. Jean-Éric Vergne (+48.538)
8. Nick Heidfeld (+51.746)
9. Loïc Duval (+55.539)
10. José María López (+70.303)
11. Markus Niemelä (+77.301)
12. Heikki Kovalainen (+1 lap)
13. Aditya Patel (+1 lap)
14. Memo Rojas (+1 lap)
15. Davide Valsecchi (+1 lap)
16. Marco Andretti (+1 lap)
17. António Félix da Costa (+1 lap)
18. Tom Coronel (+1 lap)
19. Kevin Korjus (+1 lap)
Ret. Mitch Evans (Oil leak)
Ret. Kevin Magnussen (Engine)
Ret. Robin Frijns (Engine)
Ret. Hélio Castroneves (Transmission)
Ret. Scott Dixon (Engine)
Ret. Raffaele Marciello (Suspension)
Ret. Stoffel Vandoorne (Transmission)

IIDOTR: Timo Glock; fifth for a new team
ROTR: Heikki Kovalainen; speared off perpendicular to the track at turn 3

[RedEyes504]

Oh Yeah, Great drive Timo

[UncreativeUsername37]

ITALIAN PHI PRIX — QUALIFYING
1. Simon Pagenaud (1:25.091)
2. Frédéric Makowiecki (+0.108)
3. Kevin Magnussen (+0.275)
4. Narain Karthikeyan (+0.450)
5. Stoffel Vandoorne (+0.742)
6. Bertrand Baguette (+0.799)
7. Charlie Kimball (+0.854)
8. José María López (+1.025)
9. Jean-Éric Vergne (+1.029)
10. Hélio Castroneves (+1.031)
11. Timo Glock (+1.101)
12. Loïc Duval (+1.135)
13. Heikki Kovalainen (+1.222)
14. Nick Heidfeld (+1.259)
15. Aditya Patel (+1.328)
16. Memo Rojas (+1.342)
17. Mitch Evans (+1.420)
18. Markus Niemelä (+1.423)
19. Scott Dixon (+1.423)
20. Marco Andretti (+1.439)
21. Davide Valsecchi (+1.725)
22. Raffaele Marciello (+1.783)
23. Kevin Korjus (+1.946)
24. António Félix da Costa (+2.013)
25. Robin Frijns (+2.130)
26. Tom Coronel (+2.321)

27. Jan Magnussen (+2.421)
28. Tanner Foust (+4.223)

[UncreativeUsername37]

ITALIAN PHI PRIX — RACE
Monza, 35 laps

Pagenaud got off to a terrible start and Magnussen a great one, meaning the top three completely reversed their positions. At the back, da Costa was indecisive on how hard to brake, and it ended in him hitting another car, breaking his suspension, then coming across the track to hit a poorly-starting Dixon. da Costa was obviously out, and Dixon was undamaged but delayed. Pagenaud got 2nd back at Della Roggia, but Makowiecki followed him closely and took it back at Ascari. Karthikeyan then passed him at Parabolica, but Pagenaud repassed him on the home straight.

Glock's engine failed. Valsecchi was right behind him and lost his front wing. With two laps completed, Magnussen led with Makowiecki 2.7s behind and Pagenaud 4.3s. Karthikeyan, Vandoorne, López, Baguette, and Kimball were the rest of the top eight. Lap 3 was quiet, then lap 4 featured Kimball getting 7th and Makowiecki setting fastest lap for the third time in a row. He was now just 2.2s down.

Baguette hadn't let Kimball go, and on lap 5 retook his place at Ascari. He lost out to Vergne as well on the next corner, but passed him right back. A train of Vergne, Castroneves, and Kovalainen followed him throughout the next half a lap, but he shook them off.

At the end of lap 7, Makowiecki was 1.9 behind. López looked increasingly under threat from Baguette and Kimball. They continued to inch closer every corner, and by the next lap he was within range. López found a little extra that lap to keep them behind, but no more, and as they crossed the line Baguette came alongside. He cleared López and went back onto the racing line, then López flicked to the inside and passed him. This let Kimball get up to him, and they came to Della Roggia alongside, Kimball on the right to make a successful move around the outside. Then Vergne wanted a piece of him, but he thought better of an attempt at Lesmo 1 and waited for Ascari to make his job quite easy. Castroneves also took him at the following corner. Kovalainen wasn't in the pack due to retirement. Baguette quickly repassed Castroneves and set off after Vergne.

With 11 laps done, Makowiecki was 1.6 seconds behind and Pagenaud 3.5. On lap 16, Makowiecki came into the pits about 1.1s behind. He had mostly clean air with only one car he would probably have to pass, but his engine blew two laps later so it didn't matter. Pagenaud pitted on lap 18, one lap before Magnussen, needing to make up three seconds for the undercut. Magnussen ultimately gained a second from the pit cycle.

With everyone having done their stops, Magnussen led from Pagenaud, then Karthikeyan, Vandoorne, López, Kimball, Castroneves, and Baguette. Then Castroneves' engine failed, putting Vergne into the points. Then Vergne's car gave out, and the next one in line was Nick Heidfeld. But other than those two failures, the second half of the race was very boring, with everyone well spread out. Seriously, there's nothing to talk about.

1. Kevin Magnussen (51:41.305)
2. Simon Pagenaud (+8.446)
3. Narain Karthikeyan (+18.862)
4. Stoffel Vandoorne (+30.803)
5. José María López (+45.369)
6. Charlie Kimball (+47.181)
7. Bertrand Baguette (+48.212)
8. Nick Heidfeld (+59.981)
9. Loïc Duval (+1:03.647)
10. Marco Andretti (+1:10.459)
11. Markus Niemelä (+1:13.328)
12. Memo Rojas (+1:13.489)
13. Aditya Patel (+1:15.956)
14. Mitch Evans (+1:18.285)
15. Kevin Korjus (+1 lap)
16. Raffaele Marciello (+1 lap)
17. Robin Frijns (+1 lap)
18. Scott Dixon (+1 lap)
19. Tom Coronel (+1 lap)
Ret. Jean-Éric Vergne (Engine)
Ret. Hélio Castroneves (Engine)
Ret. Frédéric Makowiecki (Engine)
Ret. Heikki Kovalainen (Oil leak)
Ret. Davide Valsecchi (Engine)
Ret. Timo Glock (Engine)
Ret. António Félix da Costa (Collision)

IIDOTR: José María López
ROTR: Honda

[UncreativeUsername37]

FORMULA GOLDEN RATIO TO HAVE MULTIPLE TYRE SUPPLIERS FOR 2016?
Rumour was that the series was in talks with Cooper, Hankook, Goodyear, Kumho, Michelin, Pirelli, and LEGO, so we badgered FGR's MD Erik Andersson until he said something.

We're a one-tyre series because only one company was interested, not on principle, and it's true that we've had discussions with several suppliers recently. However, these discussions are all in the very earliest stages, and we certainly aren't having seven different tyre manufacturers next year.

So far, only Bridgestone have made tyres for the fourteen-team international open-wheel motorsport formula series, but it seems unlikely that none of the manufacturers he explicitly confirmed in that quote are serious about FGR.

This article will be updated for members Silver tier and higher.

[UncreativeUsername37]

1. Simon Pagenaud (1:26.125)
2. Frédéric Makowiecki (+0.466)
3. Narain Karthikeyan (+0.553)
4. Kevin Magnussen (+0.623)
5. Stoffel Vandoorne (+0.662)
6. Jean-Éric Vergne (+0.758)
7. Bertrand Baguette (+0.807)
8. Loïc Duval (+0.834)
9. Heikki Kovalainen (+0.961)
10. Timo Glock (+0.966)
11. Hélio Castroneves (+1.008)
12. Charlie Kimball (+1.022)
13. José María López (+1.082)
14. Nick Heidfeld (+1.196)
15. Mitch Evans (+1.344)
16. Scott Dixon (+1.407)
17. Markus Niemelä (+1.467)
18. Memo Rojas (+1.679)
19. Marco Andretti (+1.799)
20. Aditya Patel (+2.087)
21. António Félix da Costa (+2.097)
22. Davide Valsecchi (+2.100)
23. Raffaele Marciello (+2.100)
24. Kevin Korjus (+2.252)
25. Robin Frijns (+2.360)
26. Tom Coronel (+2.425)

27. Jan Magnussen (+3.301)
28. Tanner Foust (+6.002)

[Ciaran]

Sorry if my post is off-topic, but I noticed you're using Xkoranate. I'm trying to do my own private fantasy racing series (I've no plans as of yet to make it public) with Xkoranate v0.3.3, but when I try to load either the qualifying or race files from the \autoracing folder, I get these error:

This file is not an xkoranate version 0.3 file. Error occurred at line 2, column 21. (qualifying)
This file is not an xkoranate version 0.3 file. Error occurred at line 2, column 21. (race)

This is the second line in both files:
<sport version="0.3">

Is there something I need to fix here?

[UncreativeUsername37]

Sorry if my post is off-topic, but I noticed you're using Xkoranate. I'm trying to do my own private fantasy racing series (I've no plans as of yet to make it public) with Xkoranate v0.3.3, but when I try to load either the qualifying or race files from the \autoracing folder, I get these error:

This file is not an xkoranate version 0.3 file. Error occurred at line 2, column 21. (qualifying)
This file is not an xkoranate version 0.3 file. Error occurred at line 2, column 21. (race)

This is the second line in both files:
<sport version="0.3">

Is there something I need to fix here?

If you mean you're trying to load the actual sport files that define the sports and not something you saved, that's not what you're meant to do.

I'm not using xkoranate for this season and beyond, but here's what I (and I assume everyone) did (sorry if this is condescending at parts):
*Start xkoranate—I'm using 0.3.3 as well—and pick auto racing.
*Pick qualifying, fill in the stats, make the perf data if it's the first race.
*Make a group and put everyone in it.
*Run the qualifying.
*Pick race, change the number of laps. Make sure "use starting grid" is checked.
*Reorder everyone in the set up groups screen by grid position.
*Run the race.
*Save the file.
*For the next race, load the file you saved instead of putting everyone in again. Put in the new track's stats then go from step 4.

Off-topic: I planned to do this race today, so now I'll look like a "I'll do more if I get comments" type. Oh well.

[UncreativeUsername37]

46 laps of the Hungaroring, which has one layout

Magnussen got off to a good start, up to second exiting the first corner. He was still slower than Makowiecki and held him up until he passed at turn 12. Karthikeyan passed him at turn 1. After two laps, it was Pagenaud 2.2s ahead of Makowiecki and pulling away, then Karthikeyan, Magnussen, Vandoorne, Vergne who was then passed by Glock, and Baguette.

Glock couldn't shake those two off, but was equally as quick as them for a couple laps and so couldn't be overtaken. But on lap 5, Vergne found something extra and stayed glued to his gearbox throughout the lap until turn 12, when Glock appeared to crack under the pressure and went off. It was actually a puncture. Duval was promoted into the points. He promptly went off less than a lap later at turn 4, breaking his wing and ruining his race. Kimball was eighth with Kovalainen ready to pounce at any small error.

During all of this, Karthikeyan apparently passed Makowiecki. Shortly after that, Baguette passed Vergne, Glock's retirement having done nothing to separate them. Kovalainen overtook Kimball at turn 1, then he tried to repass at turn 2. Kovalainen held the outside, but let him have the apex for 3.

After 8 laps, Pagenaud had a 6.9-second lead. Vandoorne looked like he might challenge Magnussen for a couple laps, but nothing came of it, and everyone was now sorted out. Marciello retired on lap 13 with a fiery oil leak. Niemelä passed Dixon then suddenly became slower than him, allowing Evans to close up. He passed Dixon on lap 17. He then resumed being slightly faster. But Evans slowly closed to him until on lap 20, he was really within range. He waited for turn 1 to make a move, and it worked.

Pagenaud, Karthikeyan, Baguette, and Vergne all pitted on lap 21. Pagenaud came out 5th, behind Kimball, and Karthikeyan was 10th. A lot of people came in two laps later, with Magnussen being the last contender to pit. At the end of it all, the major change was Vandoorne falling to seventh. With eight seconds to make up on his teammate in twenty laps, it wouldn't be trivial to get back ahead of him.

On lap 27, Baguette's transmission failed, Makowiecki had a high-speed spin at turn 4 dropping him down to fifth, and Vandoorne spun off at turn 3, breaking his wing. The new 4th–8th were Vergne, Makowiecki, Kimball, Kovalainen, and Heidfeld. Heidfeld was quickly passed by Castroneves.

Makow easily passed Vergne, then a lap or two later Valsecchi's suspension failed. But Valsecchi was only the beginning of Retirementfest: Evans' car had a terminal transmission issue, Duval had a transmission failure less than a lap later, and Patel had a smoky engine blow-up the very next corner.

Vergne lost a position to Kimball, then Kovalainen took Vergne on with five laps to go. He spent the lap closing up and made an easy pass at the hairpin. But Vergne wasn't ready to give this up, with Castroneves also suddenly joining in. After having Vergne right behind at the chicane, Kovalainen picked it up and began to pull a gap. Castroneves overtook Vergne at turn 1.

With that over, it was time for a two-lap shootout between Karthikeyan and Magnussen. Magnussen closed up and made a final lap pass at turn 1. Karthikeyan didn't let him go, but he wasn't close enough at turn 12. No four position changes a lap, but it still came down to the last overtaking point.

1. Simon Pagenaud (1:10:05.701)
2. Kevin Magnussen (+25.960)
3. Narain Karthikeyan (+26.315)
4. Frédéric Makowiecki (+36.205)
5. Charlie Kimball (+47.308)
6. Hélio Castroneves (+50.354)
7. Heikki Kovalainen (+51.194)
8. Jean-Éric Vergne (+52.984)
9. José María López (+59.669)
10. Nick Heidfeld (+1:01.159)
11. Scott Dixon (+1:14.039)
12. Markus Niemelä (+1:16.484)
13. Memo Rojas (+1:22.626)
14. Marco Andretti (+1 lap)
15. António Félix da Costa (+1 lap)
16. Kevin Korjus (+1 lap)
17. Robin Frijns (+1 lap)
18. Tom Coronel (+1 lap)
19. Stoffel Vandoorne (+2 laps)
Ret. Aditya Patel (Engine)
Ret. Loïc Duval (Transmission)
Ret. Mitch Evans (Transmission)
Ret. Davide Valsecchi (Suspension)
Ret. Bertrand Baguette (Transmission)
Ret. Raffaele Marciello (Oil leak)
Ret. Timo Glock (Puncture) (even though punctures were off)

IIDOTR: Heikki Kovalainen
ROTR: People who nominate people who nominate people who nominate forum users for ROTRs

[Normal32]

Supertec would like to aproach to Andre Lotterer to replace Marciello starting from the next GP.

[UncreativeUsername37]

Supertec would like to aproach to Andre Lotterer to replace Marciello starting from the next GP.

Well, you signed him for the default contract (full season, no clauses), so too bad.

[UncreativeUsername37]

BELGIAN PHI PRIX — QUALIFYING
1. Simon Pagenaud (1:52.064)
2. Kevin Magnussen (+0.154)
3. Frédéric Makowiecki (+0.166)
4. Narain Karthikeyan (+0.680)
5. Stoffel Vandoorne (+0.736)
6. Bertrand Baguette (+0.788)
7. Hélio Castroneves (+0.908)
8. Charlie Kimball (+1.195)
9. Loïc Duval (+1.348)
10. Jean-Éric Vergne (+1.368)
11. Nick Heidfeld (+1.537)
12. Timo Glock (+1.608)
13. Heikki Kovalainen (+1.721)
14. José María López (+1.822)
15. Mitch Evans (+1.826)
16. Scott Dixon (+2.046)
17. Markus Niemelä (+2.095)
18. Marco Andretti (+2.235)
19. Aditya Patel (+2.295)
20. Memo Rojas (+2.341)
21. Davide Valsecchi (+2.345)
22. Raffaele Marciello (+2.508)
23. Kevin Korjus (+2.928)
24. António Félix da Costa (+2.981)
25. Tom Coronel (+3.248)
26. Robin Frijns (+3.369)

27. Jan Magnussen (+4.091)
28. Tanner Foust (+7.185)

I'm definitely ramping up the RGR next season.

[UncreativeUsername37]

BELGIAN PHI PRIX — RACE
29 laps of Spa-Francorchamps

Magnussen got a good start and went side-by-side with Pagenaud through La Source, then got a better exit and took the lead. At the end of the first lap, he was ahead, but Pagenaud was right under his wing. Pagenaud's exit out of La Source wasn't as good and he couldn't challenge at Les Combes, but he caught up through the second sector. Besides that, the top eight was unchanged after two laps, with racing that was close but without many overtakes. Once again, Pagenaud was good through the second sector, and this time he was able to pass at the chicane. Magnussen wasn't expecting this, and an extremely poor exit gave a position away to Makowiecki.

After 5 laps, Makowiecki was 3.7 seconds behind, with Magnussen about a second behind him. Two laps later, Makowiecki had gained by almost half a second. Then a few people pitted, not because of a massive pileup, but just pit strategy. Earlyish pit stops were the norm in this race for whatever reason. After being told about the gap, Pagenaud picked it up and gained the time back in the next two laps, just in case the race would get exciting.

Makowiecki pitted lap 10. He came out 7th, but more importantly into four seconds of clear air. A couple laps were spent waiting for Pagenaud to pit and obsessing over how terrible the GP2Lap lowercase X looks (the y isn't a looker either), then he came out ahead of Makowiecki. At the end of the first sector, he was 2.4 seconds ahead. With 14 laps down, he had increased this to 3.7.

Baguette, under pressure from Castroneves and Kimball, locked up at Les Combes and spun the car round and round diagonally through the runoff area, coming back on the track directly in the path of Kimball, who lost his front wing. That one point will be sorely missed by the world champions.

Shortly afterward, Duval began to pressure Baguette, bravely following him through Les Combes. They were a single vehicle throughout the second sector, but the overtake attempt failed. Duval naturally lost a bit of time, but easily caught back up, and a move at Fagnes was ineffective. He didn't try at the chicane that time, or La Source, despite the opportunity. Clearly his plan was Les Combes, and they both thought they had succeeded in claiming the corner and banged wheels. Ultimately Duval got the position and not much time was lost. But he couldn't pull away from Baguette, and he was repassed at the chicane, only for Baguette to lock up at La Source and let him through. An unwise attempt for Eau Rouge left him unable to challenge at Les Combes.

After 19 laps, Pagenaud was seven seconds ahead. More interestingly, Baguette now had a closing Vergne to worry about. They were .7s apart by the end of lap 20, and Vergne took another tenth out the next lap. In the last points position, Baguette had to pick it up, but Vergne had the same motivation, and put in a bewilderingly fast sector to have him lined up coming out of Paul Frere. He couldn't pass, but he got it done the very next lap. He pulled away, and with four laps to go, Baguette locked up at La Source again. He's lucky we have forgiving not F1-type tyres, the left front would've combusted by the end.

Duval made a mistake or something (I was watching Baguette as he had the likely entertainment value), and the other two were right on him as they started their penultimate lap. He did just enough to not be overtaken, but suddenly Vergne v. Baguette was back on! And Baguette made the pass at the chicane! And Vergne had a terrible exit so he had no chance of repassing! Okay, that part wasn't very exciting. But Baguette got his point back.

1. Simon Pagenaud (58:07.983)
2. Kevin Magnussen (+15.172)
3. Frédéric Makowiecki (+19.466)
4. Narain Karthikeyan (+20.411)
5. Stoffel Vandoorne (+38.792)
6. Hélio Castroneves (+49.668)
7. Loïc Duval (+1:02.443)
8. Bertrand Baguette (+1:03.724)
9. Jean-Éric Vergne (+1.05.685)
10. Timo Glock (+1:11.685)
11. Heikki Kovalainen (+1:17.103)
12. Nick Heidfeld (+1:23.162)
13. Charlie Kimball (+1:24.500)
14. Scott Dixon (+1:27.101)
15. Markus Niemelä (+1:38.158)
16. José María López (+1:39.341)
17. Marco Andretti (+1:43.519)
18. Raffaele Marciello (+1:53.927)
19. Tom Coronel (Suspension)
20. Kevin Korjus (+1 lap)
Ret. António Félix da Costa (Water leak)
Ret. Aditya Patel (Crashed)
Ret. Davide Valsecchi (Transmission)
Ret. Mitch Evans (Loose wheel)
Ret. Memo Rojas (Transmission)
Ret. Robin Frijns (Transmission)

IIDOTR: Bertrand Baguette; turned the worst race of the season into the best
ROTR: Bertrand Baguette; crashed into someone then locked up twice more, lucky to finish