by Simon Coates
The fastest, loudest, most dangerous and downright most outrageous sport in existence is Formula X spaceship racing, which has quickly grown from its early beginnings in 2283 to become a big money enterprise. Over the course of a year, teams compete in their search for glory in the Galactic Championship, racing on various set courses across the solar system which are usually a number of laps around a celestial object, or between two objects, for example Earth to the Moon.
In many respects, racing spaceships as a competitive and organised sport was a normal activity to undertake, once spaceship manufacturers had mastered the basic requirements of making spaceships safe and reliable. The spaceships used in modern Formula X utilise many prototype technologies that can find themselves being used on public spaceships, and indeed certain manufacturers use racing as a way of testing parts in this way.
The first championship in 2283 was the brainchild of a group of enthusiasts who had modified their own spaceships which were production ships, but changed so much that they were basically stripped-out spaceships with highly modified and tuned engines. The championship that year comprised of the ships racing from the Earth to the Moon, stopping for a few days and then making the return leg to Earth, thereby making it a repeat of the Apollo Moon missions back in the second half of the 20th century. The first champion was John Messier, flying a modified Fellucia Scorpion, although Inster Bleckl, piloting a Palatia-Sonnar H3000 was killed in the first race, thereby becoming the first fatality in this most dangerous of sports. Since the beginning, there has been an average of one fatality each year, although with safety improvements, the number of pilots killed has reduced in recent years, with efforts to balance out the risk factor without reducing the appeal of the sport in the first place. Such a dilemma has been a problem faced by racing organisers since the first days of motorsport in the early part of the 20th century.
The second year of the racing series saw Messier retain his championship win, but as his two opponents were both killed, it became clear that safety considerations had to be looked into; not just for the competitors, but also the support crew and the public that came to watch. It had become obvious that the ships were basically highly dangerous machines, racing against each other, with no concessions to safety. The next twelve months were used to audit the sport fully to ensure it could become as safe as possible, so in 2285 there was no racing. To aid this, an official body was incorporated, the Galactic Motorsports Council, which runs the sport to the present day.
2286 saw the return of the sport, and there were many changes. Firstly, there was intense interest shown by a number of companies, as they sought to sponsor the various teams and pilots. Secondly, in answer to the safety problems, the ships were no longer modified public spaceships, but full-on bespoke racing machines. It was regarded as a success by everyone concerned, because the public fell in love with the sleek, beautiful, custom spaceships that had virtually no resemblance to the sort of machine you could buy from a dealer, and the pilots themselves became celebrities. The competition format was changed too, with the championship being decided by the pilot gaining most points over the course of the year over the four races, which were single laps of the Earth, Moon, and for the first time, Mars, starting a huge love affair with the sport on this planet. The final race was five laps of Earth to the Moon. Despite the safety improvements, Miles Formil, racing a Fellucia Star Glider, was killed in the single lap race over Mars. Gilmon J'olum in the Britus A Type claimed the championship, winning all four races, which was to start a dominance by the Mars-based team in the sport, which has seen them develop today into the most successful Formula X team of all. By the end of the 2286 championship, the sport had achieved a huge gain in popularity, with the public seemingly intoxicated with the mix of speed, sound, and sheer intensity of the ships racing over their homeworlds.
Over the following years, the ships became more and more powerful, lighter, with better aerodynamics, and this led to them going faster and faster, as the teams sought to out-develop their rivals. By 2291, a typical Formula X ship was pushing out over 12,000 THz, and weighed just 16 tons, giving a power-to-weight figure of 750 THz per ton; this compared to a typical public ship which had a ratio less than 10 THz per ton. Add the factors of a racing ship having no autopilot and absolutely no creature comforts at all, made the ships offering immense performance and being utterly terrifying for an unqualified pilot to fly. Of course, only pilots with a racing licence are allowed to fly a racing spaceship, rather than a general member of the public, so only a small number of people have ever flown a racing spaceship.
In 2293, a major change came with the introduction of solar powered racing ships. Solar power had been available for a number of years to the public, but it had taken a few years before this engine type was suitable for racers. This change saw the dominance of Britus seemingly come under threat. They still won races, but from 2293 they could only watch as Jason Stanton in the Japan Racing JR2 took the championship, and then from 2294 to 2296 a hat-trick of titles was claimed by Harlen Alcantar with the Sunstar S2. However, with new signing Shas’olum, Britus were once again crowned champions in 2298. During this latest championship, the ships in hard-tuned form produced power in excess of 15,000 THz, and were capable of flying up to speeds approaching 3 million miles per hour in the Earth to Moon race.
In the past ten years, there have been far less fatalities than the early years of racing. The last fatality in racing was Isias Jadin in 2296 while racing a Britus Alexander Fleming and he remains the only pilot to have suffered a fatality as a previous winner of the Galactic Championship.
At the end of the 2298 season, over the entire history of the sport, the most successful team by a long way is Britus, with seven championship victories, having entered every year. They have also won 33 races out of 83, meaning a phenomenal 40% of all individual races have been won by this team. The next best team is Sunstar, a long way behind Britus with 14 race wins, followed by Japan Racing with 12.
Formula X spaceships are developed on a constant basis, each team looking to improve their machines, so older ships are obsolete in terms of racing at the very top level usually after just one or two years. This aspect has made a racing spaceship a prized item amongst (wealthy) fans. Of the ships that have been made available on the open market, value can vary, but a guide is that prices start at around Cr 3 million for a ship with race history, but can easily be double that for a race winner. The only actual overall championship winner sold in this way was the 2298 Britus Henry Ford, which sold for Cr 15 million. Early racers, especially race winners, command virtually any price. For less well-heeled fans, items such as single engine components, pilot clothing and race programmes are sought after.
In less than twenty years, Formula X racing has grown from being a ‘jolly’ performed by a few individuals to being the biggest sport in the world. The budgets of the teams are huge. Britus, the biggest team, are sponsored to the tune of over Cr 100 million per year, with substantial backing from Force Major-Greenbelt, a large insurance company. Teams such as Fellucia are spaceship builders for the public, so the race team is seen as a marketing tool for their products. Even the smallest teams have large budgets which allow them to compete, but against the significant budgets of the bigger teams, race wins are unlikely for these outfits, as they don’t have the resources to develop their spaceships to the standard of their better funded rivals.
The list of the Galactic Champions is shown below. Pilot is shown with the team and ship name in brackets.
2283 John Messier (Fellucia (modified) Scorpion)
2284 John Messier (Fellucia (modified) Scorpion)
2285 no races – sport effectively banned
2286 Gilmon J'olum (Britus A Type)
2287 Beckton Monter (Britus B Type)
2288 Sean Wrightson (Fellucia GT-M1)
2289 Helen Gibson (Britus C Type)
2290 Helen Gibson (Britus C Type)
2291 Isias Jadin (Britus D Type)
&nbs
p; 2292 Isias Jadin (Britus E Type)
2293 Jason Stanton (Japan Racing JR2)
2294 Jason Stanton (Japan Racing JR2)
2295 Harlen Alcantar (Sunstar S2)
2296 Harlen Alcantar (Sunstar S2)
2297 Hunter Dessente (Jupe Racing Team Model 1)
2298 Shas'olum (Britus Henry Ford)