Difference between revisions of "ZakStunts"

From Stunts Wiki
(Try again to limit the TOC to level 3 headings)
(→‎2002: My join was in May, not April)
 
(15 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown)
Line 2: Line 2:
 
It was also the first competition which required racers to drive different cars each month, and also the first one to implement a fully automatic php based replay sending form and scoreboard system. Although there were competitions with higher number of participants, ZakStunts is generally considered the most influential competition of the online Stunts community.
 
It was also the first competition which required racers to drive different cars each month, and also the first one to implement a fully automatic php based replay sending form and scoreboard system. Although there were competitions with higher number of participants, ZakStunts is generally considered the most influential competition of the online Stunts community.
  
{{toc|limit=3}}
+
{{TOC limit|limit=3}}
  
 
== History of ZakStunts ==
 
== History of ZakStunts ==
Line 21: Line 21:
 
During the summer months, three so called "Special" tracks were presented, with their averaged result counting as one competition track. These tracks required [[Cheated cars]] or [[Special rules]] to finish, and have shown the potential of some newcomers. From October a new feature, [[LTB|Leading Time Bonus]], was introduced as opposite to a negative effect of [[Time hiding]].
 
During the summer months, three so called "Special" tracks were presented, with their averaged result counting as one competition track. These tracks required [[Cheated cars]] or [[Special rules]] to finish, and have shown the potential of some newcomers. From October a new feature, [[LTB|Leading Time Bonus]], was introduced as opposite to a negative effect of [[Time hiding]].
  
The winner of the season was expert driver [[Bonzai Joe]] while [[Alan Rotoi]], aka. 'The Dog' came second even though he joined the competition only in April. The former champion, [[Roy Wiegerinck]], finished third.
+
The winner of the season was expert driver [[Bonzai Joe]] while [[Alan Rotoi]], aka. 'The Dog' came second even though he joined the competition only in May. The former champion, [[Roy Wiegerinck]], finished third.
  
 
====2003====
 
====2003====
Line 129: Line 129:
 
On a sour note, the season was also marred by scandals. In March 2015, the championship title of [[CTG]] was revoked by the competition management, on the grounds of [[Agro MotoSport|further ghost spawining]] and general system abuse. After the disqualification of the racer who had this behavior from the moment he joined with admitted ghosts in ZCT13 (151 races/opportunities to change his attitude), [[Akoss Poo]] became champion.
 
On a sour note, the season was also marred by scandals. In March 2015, the championship title of [[CTG]] was revoked by the competition management, on the grounds of [[Agro MotoSport|further ghost spawining]] and general system abuse. After the disqualification of the racer who had this behavior from the moment he joined with admitted ghosts in ZCT13 (151 races/opportunities to change his attitude), [[Akoss Poo]] became champion.
  
===2015 to now===
+
===2015 to 2021===
  
 
====2015====
 
====2015====
Line 159: Line 159:
 
A highlight of 2018 season was ZCT200. Pipsqueaks celebrated the milestone of two hundred monthly ZakStunts races in a track generously penned for the occasion by [[Kevin Pickell]] himself. The outcome itself felt classic: CTG emerged victorious with the [[Melange]], narrowly ahead of Duplode and FinRok.  
 
A highlight of 2018 season was ZCT200. Pipsqueaks celebrated the milestone of two hundred monthly ZakStunts races in a track generously penned for the occasion by [[Kevin Pickell]] himself. The outcome itself felt classic: CTG emerged victorious with the [[Melange]], narrowly ahead of Duplode and FinRok.  
  
====2019-2023====
+
====2019====
 +
 
 +
For 2019, the McLaren, Melange and Skyline were rotated away from the car list. They were replaced by three [[Overdrijf]] creations, namely the Superkart plus two cars from his brand new DTM pack: [[Audi V8 Quattro DTM]] and [[BMW M3 E30 DTM]]. In addition, there was an important rule change on cars: the bonus increment for unused cars was lowered from 3% to 1%. The change brought bonuses closer to each other, quickly making multi-car races much more common than in previous seasons.
 +
 
 +
The 2019 season saw steadier activity overall than in the preceding few years, and a remarkable total of seven different race winners. Returning from a break in 2018, [[Marco]] claimed the championship on the back of a run of eight consecutive podiums from the beginning of the season, securing the title in September. Having returned to the competitions late in 2018, Overdrijf achieved his first ZakStunts victory at ZCT215 and rose to second place overall, just ahead of his teammate [[Duplode]] — their combined efforts being enough to bring [[Cork's Crew]] the team title. Right behind them in fourth place was [[Seeker1982]], who got agonisingly close to his first race win in several occasions. Also notable were [[FinRok]]'s four showings over the year: a spring sojourn, winning ZCT214, ZCT215 and Z216, then coming back at the end of the season for ZCT221 and, in Ayrtonesque fashion, winning it as well, thus ending up with more victories than anyone else.
 +
 
 +
====2020====
 +
 
 +
In terms of rules, 2020 saw an overhaul of the LTB system, with the goal of making LTB battles more dynamic and accessible. Rather than granting LTB points to the two racers with the most leading hours in a race, one LTB would now be granted for every 240 hours of accumulated leading time, with carryover of hours across races for racers that didn't earn LTB. As for the car list, the Ranger gave way to the [[Toyota Sprinter Trueno]], and within the DTM pack the BMW DTM was exchanged for the [[Mercedes-Benz 190 E DTM]].
 +
 
 +
The season featured a three-way battle for the title: [[Duplode]] had the most race wins but was rarely in contention for LTB, [[Seeker1982]] brought himself into contention with a solid first half of the season, which included his long-awaited first win at ZCT225, and [[CTG]] sneaked among them over the final races. The championship would only be decided in the final race, with Duplode prevailing over CTG and Seeker1982, the trio within a mere three points. In the team competition, for a second year [[Cork's Crew]] won the title ahead of [[Rolling Stunts]].
 +
 
 +
====2021====
 +
 
 +
2021 had no major rule changes. The biggest rule tweak was making the car bonus adjustments by track designers not stick for later races: with closer bonuses, tuning them becomes more important, and so the extra flexibility is helpful. The car list saw the remaining permutation of the DTM pack, with the Audi DTM giving way to the returning [[BMW M3 E30 DTM]], and Lotus and Melange replacing F40 and Superkart.
 +
 
 +
In a season which began with a very open field, and that at one point looked poised to become a [[Cork's Crew]] versus [[Looping Warriors]] battle, [[Alan Rotoi]] hit his stride around May and never looked back, securing the first ZakStunts title in his storied career with two races to spare. [[Duplode]] had several strong races across the year and led for the entire first half of the season, but ultimately had to do with second place. The third place overall was claimed by rising Australian star [[KyLiE]], who readily got to spearhead [[Rolling Stunts]]' charge. In the team championship, Cork's Crew once again won ahead of Rolling Stunts. 2021 was a lively season with high activity — there were more than a thousand submitted replays for the first time since 2009 — and several competition debuts.
 +
 
 +
===2022 to now===
 +
 
 +
====2022====
 +
 
 +
The 2022 season saw the introduction of the Amateur League — a name borrowed from the early days of ZakStunts, now standing for a new concept. It replaced the Newbie League, whose format had grown stale over the years, the main difference being criteria based on performance instead of experience. The change aimed, and indeed succeeded, at providing more meaningful competition to its participants. In order to not spread attention too thinly, given the introduction of the brand new Amateur race and season scoreboards, the GAR scoreboard was deactivated. As for custom cars, the preceding year saw a major surge in new projects, which eventually led to a list having three brand new cars: [[Zapper]]'s [[Caterham Super Seven JPE]], [[KyLiE]]'s [[Chevrolet Corvette CERV III]] and [[Ryoma]]'s [[Lancia Stratos]]. They were joined by the Melange, now restyled by [[Alan Rotoi]], and the Skyline.
 +
 
 +
On track, the season was dominated by [[Alan Rotoi]], achieving a second consecutive title that never was seriously threatened by [[Duplode]] in second place. Having raced without a team for the past several seasons, in 2022 Rotoi joined forces with [[dreadnaut]] to create [[Doubleplusspeed]], which won the team championship over [[Cork's Crew]] with similar ease. [[Frieshansen]], a strong newcomer who was recruited by Doubleplusspeed, completed the season podium after battling KyLiE all season long. Frieshansen also had a long run of Amateur League wins, only stopped by an early graduation from the league at ZCT253. The inaugural Amateur League champion was [[Heretic]], followed by Frieshansen and [[Cas]].
 +
   
 +
====2023====
 +
 
 +
The 2023 rules featured a point system adjustment, the first in a very long time, which raised the fractional points for positions below 12th, making them commensurate with the rest of the scoreboard. A much-liked innovation for that season were the car podiums, mini-scoreboards for individual cars meant to give visibility to, and allow for informal competition with, alternative car laps. Working out the car list in 2023 was perhaps harder than ever before, given the plethora of options. Eventually, [[Alan Rotoi]]'s [[De Tomaso Pantera]] and the [[Dodge Challenger]] by [[CTG]] and [[Ryoma]] were brought in as new cars, the CERV III was retained from the previous season, and the Mercedes DTM was brought back along the McLaren MP4/4.
 +
 
 +
2023 was a year of extraordinary activity on the race tracks: a new record of 1595 submitted replays was set, and there was solid racing all across the board — and none more so than by [[Argammon]]. A famed racer from 00's ZakStunts, Argammon staged a comeback after many years away in ZCT257, the final race of 2022. In 2023, he joined [[Rolling Stunts]] and took no time in getting up to speed, winning ZCT260 with a memorable lap and then going on a run of five wins. [[Duplode]], who had started the season very brightly, saw the gap widening far too much around the midpoint of the season, and launched a desperate charge to try and keep his title chances alive. That resulted in two titanic battles for both LTB and final results in ZCT266 and ZCT267, at the end of which Argammon secured his first ZakStunts title. Alan Rotoi completed the season podium. In the team competition, [[Rolling Stunts]] won ahead of [[Doubleplusspeed]]. The latter team, though, did bring one trophy home, as the newest racer to join their ranks, the rapidly improving [[Erik Barros]], won the Amateur League in dominant fashion. [[Mark Nailwood]], the legendary racer from the early days of Stunts, and [[Ryoma]] completed the amateur podium.
 +
 
 +
====2024====
  
 
''to be continued''
 
''to be continued''
Line 1,499: Line 1,531:
 
| 1
 
| 1
 
| [[Duplode]]
 
| [[Duplode]]
| 56
+
| 58
| 49
+
| 52
| 32
+
| 33
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 2
 
| 2
Line 1,530: Line 1,562:
 
| [[Alan Rotoi]]
 
| [[Alan Rotoi]]
 
| 21
 
| 21
 +
| 19
 
| 17
 
| 17
 +
|-
 +
| 7
 +
| [[Argammon]]
 
| 15
 
| 15
 +
| 10
 +
| 4
 
|-
 
|-
| 7
+
| 8
 
| [[Bonzai Joe]]
 
| [[Bonzai Joe]]
 
| 13
 
| 13
Line 1,539: Line 1,577:
 
| 15
 
| 15
 
|-
 
|-
| 8
+
| 9
 
| [[FinRok]]
 
| [[FinRok]]
 
| 13
 
| 13
Line 1,545: Line 1,583:
 
| 3
 
| 3
 
|-
 
|-
| 9
+
| 10
 
| [[Roy Wiegerinck]]
 
| [[Roy Wiegerinck]]
 
| 11
 
| 11
 
| 2
 
| 2
 
| 0
 
| 0
|-
 
| 10
 
| [[Argammon]]
 
| 10
 
| 8
 
| 4
 
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 11
 
| 11
Line 1,663: Line 1,695:
 
| 0
 
| 0
 
| 1
 
| 1
| 4
+
| 7
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 29
 
| 29
Line 1,669: Line 1,701:
 
| 0
 
| 0
 
| 1
 
| 1
| 2
+
| 3
 
|-
 
|-
 
| 30
 
| 30

Latest revision as of 08:39, 26 October 2024

Long name: Zak McKracken's Stunts Competition, or Zak's Stunts Competition. An online competition running continuously since March 2001, it holds the title of the longest running competition. It was also the first competition which required racers to drive different cars each month, and also the first one to implement a fully automatic php based replay sending form and scoreboard system. Although there were competitions with higher number of participants, ZakStunts is generally considered the most influential competition of the online Stunts community.

History of ZakStunts

2001 to 2007

2001

ZakStunts site circa 2001...

The first season only started in March, and only had 9 tracks, as one track, during the summer lasted for two months. The original concept included the Opponents commenting the sent replays. Competitors mainly arrived from the biggest and best of the time - the Kalpen Competition, and achieved 10 racers/month at most.

The winner of the season was Roy Wiegerinck, with Ben Snel and manager Zak McKracken finishing close.

2002

2002...

The second season was the first full-length season of ZakStunts. As the Kalpen Competition closed and others not so popular, ZakStunts took the reputation of the biggest and most prestigious competition on the web. This season Teams were introduced, and racers started to cooperate with each other, or in some strange cases with themselves, using Ghosts. Racer number reached an incredible 20/month, and the number of replays sent started to get unbearable for the manager. Also ZakStunts didn't only host a competition, but served as an abandonware site too, offering various racing games for download - so raising the number of the site visitors and the racers.

During the summer months, three so called "Special" tracks were presented, with their averaged result counting as one competition track. These tracks required Cheated cars or Special rules to finish, and have shown the potential of some newcomers. From October a new feature, Leading Time Bonus, was introduced as opposite to a negative effect of Time hiding.

The winner of the season was expert driver Bonzai Joe while Alan Rotoi, aka. 'The Dog' came second even though he joined the competition only in May. The former champion, Roy Wiegerinck, finished third.

2003

2003...

The third season gave a BIG twist to ZakStunts. Introduced a completely insane point system, and the Dual League, where the top 10 drivers formed the Pro league, and the others the Amateur league, Relegations/place changes on the last/first three places took place each month, Pro/Amateur drivers raced the same tracks.

Of course in order to handle this excessive amount of activity and replays, a semi-automatized PHP system was created and installed by Zak McKracken, where racers could send the replays online, with the help of a web form, and so their times immediately appeared on the Scoreboard. ZakStunts also stopped to work as an abandonware site, as the required number of racers seemed to be reached (around 20/month)

In this season, the competition got really fierce and hard, and a previously unknown amount of teamwork was shown by the teams. The community life was also flourishing, with the forum running and night-long chats taking place in the IRC chatroom.

Apart from all this chaos, a secondary competition (called ACT) was also hosted, with tracks designed each month by the winner of The 2002 Track Design Contest (TDC), Akoss Poo. We can conclude, that 2003 was perhaps the busiest season of ZakStunts.

Winner of the season was frenchman Alain from the dominating team Orion, former champion Bonzai Joe came second, and the third place on the podium was reached by Akoss Poo.

2004

... and 2004.

In its fourth season ZakStunts tried to return to a simpler form. Dual League and secondary competition were dropped, and the point system was also simplified. In order to restrict heavy teamwork, the maximum number of team members was reduced to 4. Another improvement was the TDB rule, which similar to the 107% rule in Formula One, gave one bonus point to the drivers close to the leader.

Racer number dropped to an average of 15/month, and the site visitor number to its half. Still, community life was going on, and in August the first World Stunts Meeting took place in Budapest.

With team Orion falling apart, new top drivers appeared. Thanks to Alan Rotoi a very strong South-American Stunts scene evolved, and the better racers started to appear on ZakStunts too. One of them became champion: Gutix. In a hard battle, Akoss Poo came second, and former champion Bonzai Joe third.

2005

In 2005, the rules were more simplified, and the original, simple linear point system was reintroduced with the aid of the successful LTB The goal of ZakStunts was no more gathering new racers, but to present a demanding competition for the top dogs. Still, the number of participants was a huge surprise, surpassing 30 racers on some tracks. Racers who would have got zero points received fraction points, so a ranking still could be made.

The community became more compact, but also more active, altough many former regulars have left, there were still 15 racers, who raced on all, or almost all the tracks. We also had the unforgettable second WSM in Denmark.

Team race was dominated by the Argentinian team created by Alan Rotoi: Meganium Aces High. Alan only stayed in the background, managing his students, like former champion Gutix, and the new champion, who raced like thunder, but never talked: Ayrton. Former champion Alain made a successful comeback, and finished second, while the third was the highly evolving Hungarian: CTG

2006

This year not much has changed. The system stayed the same - as it was considered successful, only the first 15 racers received points, not the top twelve. The overall racer number decreased a lot, but there was still a hard core, with 15 racers there, almost each month. Another meeting took place, again in Budapest, perhaps a bit more quiet than the previous ones, but we greeted each other as good old friends, and parted as even better ones :)

This season was the battle of the teams. Meganium Aces High, Cork's Crew and Orion all battled for the Team Champion title, but finally the reborn Orion won beating "Oldies" Cork's and "Dog team" Meganium.

Nobody managed to win the ZakStunts twice until 2008 - and suprisingly this year again a newbie won the battle: Renato Biker from Brazil, under the guidance of former champion Alain. CTG made another step of improvement, and arrived second, while the best live racer Bonzai Joe came third.

At the end of the season, manager Zak McKracken started to prepare for his state exam and so started lose his motivation, racer number and community activity dropped significantly. Something had to change.

2007

This year was a major turnaround again. As there were many successful and actively managed competitions running beside ZakStunts, something exceptional had to be offered. The idea was to have special rules each month, similar to the ones used on the summer bonus tracks of 2002.

Altough some of the rules turned out to be quite intresting and funny, racer number and activity dropped and dropped , barely reaching 10/month, and the manager's motivation sunk with it. Still, the decreased number of racers didn't mean the drop of the competition value, races were still hard as a rock.

Earlier ZakStunts hosted some guest track designers, but during the summertime, track design was completely handed over to the always fresh, active (and horny :)) Krys TOFF. A competition without a manager is not a competition - even if it runs by itself. During the summer a season shortening to 9 tracks was announced, and after the 8th track of the season (and the 78th of ZakStunts), when CTG being the new champion was assured - the competition paused for an indefinite period.

The break did good to the manager :) He was thinking a lot, and eventually found out, that he can't live without his competition. After several new ideas born and buried, the concept of the 2008 season was announced, and the last track of the current season presented: no Special rules, and a well-known track: Default.

2008 to 2014

2008

2008 was the rebirth of ZakStunts. The manager admitted that the concept of the special rules was a failure, but as many of the other current successful competitions announced planned closure, there was a need for ZakStunts to go on, and let Stunts live forward.

The new concept of 2008 can be best defined as "the freedom of choice". Everyone was allowed drive with his chosen car and the achieved times are multiplied with pre-set bonus percentages based on car tests. This way everyone can bring out the best of his talent, using the most favorite or most suitable car for the track.

After a few minor problems the concept seemed to work fine. Some driver criticized the new concept as it demands more time from the racers and makes the creation of race statistics really hard, but the positive results were clear to see: more racers and more replays sent.

The main problem of the new car bonus percentage system was the problem of the ever-growing bonuses, which was temporarily solved with bonus adjustments throughout the season. However with the new rule set of the 2009 season this problem was resolved.

The level of the 2008 competition was clearly above the 2007 level, approaching previously seen lower-activity seasons, such as 2006 and 2004.

The season was special in the aspect of winner. One racer could do what others could not done before: Ayrton won the ZakStunts title for the second time, by winning all the tracks throughout the month. Racers of the newer generations, Duplode and Mark L. Rivers came second and third.

2009

The 2009 season brought only minor changes and corrections to the 2008 rules, mostly to minimize the advantage PG cars used to have with the bonus system. Additionally, custom cars were added to the car pool. As the community got stronger, the team championship was also restarted after its one-year break, with both old and new teams taking part. The first races had very high racer activity - comparable to 2005 levels, with several newbies appearing. A parallel competition, the Newbie League, was set up in order to further motivate the new racers.

2009 will be remembered as the season of comebacks due to the many competition legends who returned to the scoreboards. The climax of the season was ZCT100, the historical 100th race of the competition, of which all ZakStunts champions took part. As for the season results, Duplode took the title, with CTG second and Bonzai Joe third. Several other racers challenged for race wins as well, but none of them raced consistently through the whole season. Similar facts happened in team contest, with the title returning to Cork's Crew for the first time since 2002.

2010

The 10th ZakStunts season continued with a slightly adjusted 2009 ruleset. A major improvement to note was the revamped archive system including all results from 2004 in an easy to access interface.

This season was characterized by a low, but steady number of racers, and the almost complete lack of newbies. Former racers from all around the past years of ZakStunts raced, but there were no newcomers staying with the community for a longer term, and the newbie scoreboards were almost empty throughout the season. Community life in the forum was quite passive too.

Even though the racer number was low compared to previous seasons, the level of competition was quite high, and a place on the podium was never given easily.

We crowned our second double champion, Gutix, who dominated the season. Former champions Renato Biker and Duplode came second and third. The team trophy was taken back by MeganiuM Aces High.

2011

The 11th ZakStunts season started after a short delay, on the first of February, due to the personal changes in Zak McKracken's life. The set of available custom cars was revised, and there were minor adjustments to the bonus system; other than that rules were left pretty much unchanged.

The season had a rocky start, with racer activity reaching dangerously close to 2007 levels. There was marked improvement through the second half of the year, however; and newbie activity was slightly higher than in 2010.

The title race in 2011 was dominated by the champions of the previous two years, Duplode and Gutix, who had eight victories between them. Largely on the basis of regularity, Duplode sealed the title and became a double champion, with Gutix and AbuRaf70 completing the season podium. Meanwhile, MeganiuM ensured the team trophy would remain in Argentina in a season in which all of its four active racers managed at least one race medal.

2012

ZakStunts 2012 opened with a few rule changes, the most important of them being that overall scores would be calculated dropping the four worst results of each racer (as opposed to the two worst ones, as it had been previously), and endurance bonus points would be given to reward participation in more than eight races. Unlike in previous seasons, car bonuses were not reset at the beginning of the season, taking advantage of the improved stability of the multi-car system to provide more even car-switching dynamics.

The 2012 season was full of positives, including significantly increased activity both on and off the scoreboards, highly-rated tracks and some truly memorable battles. Duplode managed to retain the ZakStunts crown, thus becoming the first triple champion of the competition. Unusually for ZakStunts, his title defence was largely sustained by a very strong start to the season, with three victories in the first three races. Overall, there was no clear domination of the scoreboards neither by the champion nor by anyone else. At one point, Gutix appeared to be mounting a serious challenge, but it faded away towards the end of the season. Renato Biker was in astonishing form throughout the European summer; having missed the first five rounds, however, he was not in contention for the title. Neither of these South American challengers made it to the final podium, however. Instead, returning Friker established himself as a top racer with a second place, a mere two points ahead of CTG, who completed the podium. As for the team competition, Cork's Crew recovered the title after two consecutive MeganiuM Aces High victories. Another remarkable fact about the season is that, after more than three years, there were two new race winners in the closing rounds of 2012: SuperBrian in Z136 and Friker in Z137.

2013

Evergreen ZakStunts began 2013 with minor rule adjustments, aimed at correcting some distortions introduced by the changes in the previous year. The three, rather than four, worst results of each racer were now discounted, and the maximum endurance bonus points was cut by half. Most noticeably, the list of allowed custom cars was modified. The beloved Melange returned to ZakStunts; additionally, the McLaren Honda MP4/4 and the ZR1 GT3 were included. Skyline, Speedgate and Superkart had to make way for the introduced cars.

From a team competition perspective, the key shift seen in 2013 was the Cork-MeganiuM duopoly being broken by the newly formed Yellow Fleas and a resurgent Looping Warriors. The spearheaders for each of those two teams, Renato Biker and CTG respectively, fought hard for victories through the whole season (final score: 6-5). In the end, Renato achieved his second ZakStunts title largely on the back of a massive advantage in leading time bonus. As for the team competition, Looping Warriors defeated the Yellow Fleas by just nine points.

2014

ZakStunts 2014 was held under rules nearly equal to those of the previous season; the only change being that results below 6th place would no longer affect car bonuses for the next race. The list of available cars was also left unchanged. Encouragingly, racer activity was slightly higher on average than in 2013, even considering the circumstantial drop observed in the final races.

The pursuit of the 2014 title had quite a few twists along the way. CTG took his second season title with five victories and solid racing throughout the year. Early on, Renato Biker looked set to be his main opponent; it was not to be, though, as the 2013 winner stepped away from the competition after May. After inconsistent showings in the first half of the season, Duplode seemed to find some form during the European summer; however, he withdrew his tentative challenge in early October. Other noteworthy events included new records for winning gaps in the team competition (Looping Warriors defeated Cork's Crew by 103 points) and in a single race (Renato Biker won Z153 by 15 seconds), and also the two victories of Akoss Poo, his first ones since 2005, which firmly reestablished him among the current top racers.

On a sour note, the season was also marred by scandals. In March 2015, the championship title of CTG was revoked by the competition management, on the grounds of further ghost spawining and general system abuse. After the disqualification of the racer who had this behavior from the moment he joined with admitted ghosts in ZCT13 (151 races/opportunities to change his attitude), Akoss Poo became champion.

2015 to 2021

2015

The fifteenth ZakStunts season started with some big changes. The most radical of them was the adoption of public replay submissions, mandatory during the first half of the race and optional in the remainder of it, in a bid to make the competition more accessible to newcomers. Other rule changes included eliminating the unpopular endurance bonus, dropping support of game versions other than BB 1.1 and a switch from month long to four-week long rounds. As for the cars, the Lotus Esprit, ZR1 GT3 and McLaren Honda MP4/4 were replaced by the Porsche 911 Turbo, Xylocaine XF and the returning Speedgate XSD.

2015 was an eventful year at ZakStunts. Early in the season, escalating disruptive behaviour by CTG, the 2014 champion, led to his banishment from ZakStunts for an indeterminate amount of time, as well as to the revocation of his title from the previous year, both being unprecedented events. Beyond the initial turmoil, there was plenty of on-track action. Returning after a long absence Shoegazing Leo founded a new team, Slowdrive. Its challenge was spearheaded by Marco, a very talented newcomer who would eventually achieve six podiums and a third place overall in his first ZakStunts season. The title race in 2015, contested primarily by Akoss Poo and Duplode, was the tightest in many years. As the end of the European summer approached, it seemed the momentum had shifted towards Akoss Poo; however, Duplode managed to turn the tables with a late surge, winning the final four races and claiming the title by a mere two points. As for the team competition, Looping Warriors, in spite of the loss of CTG, managed a fourth consecutive victory.

2016

The main change in ZakStunts for the 2016 season was the addition of unofficial scoreboards with alternative rule sets for each race, much to the delight of racers who enjoyed racing codes other than free rules RH. Both free-rules NoRH, for a few races, and GAR, for most of the season, were available as modalities with parallel scoreboards. Two cars were rotated: Xylocaine XF and Speedgate XSD, which became rather unpopular during 2016 due to their quite unrealistic behaviour, were replaced by the returning Lotus Esprit and Nissan Skyline.

Unlike in the previous year, the title race in 2016 was a straightforward affair. After returning to the fold and reforming the Yellow Fleas, Renato Biker won six of the eight first races and took the championship with relative ease. The other big story of the season was the continued ascendancy of Marco, which led to his first ZakStunts victory at ZCT182, the first of four consecutive victories in the final four races of the season. In the team competition, there was complete domination by Renato's Yellow Fleas.

2017

2017 saw neither rule changes nor car rotations with respect to the previous year. The beginning of the season was a tough time: the racing scene, in a state of some dispersion, was rocked by the loss of AbuRaf70, a Stunts hero. ZCT187 and ZCT188 were held as tributes to AbuRaf. Above all, his legacy of grace, perseverance and open-heartedness lives on through those who had the honour of sharing a racetrack with him.

The community eventually managed to find its feet. While racing activity fluctuated wildly through the year, there were good races and close duels, as well as a healthy influx of newcomers. Towards the end of the season, an important development was Zak McKracken moving to a more advisory and supportive role, with dreadnaut taking a more prominent role in the day-to-day management of the competition. The change was not sudden, but rather part of a steady, managed transition that had been going on for some time; that being so, the competition proceeded without a hitch.

On the race track, Marco, the rising star of the 2016 season, announced in January that, satisfied with his achievements, he would go into semi-retirement. As tradition dictates, he would go on to win the second race of the season. In any case, the season was dominated by FinRok, Marco's friend and rival, who had his debut victory right at the first race of the season and went on to win six of the twelve races and comfortably warded off any hints of challenges by other racers. Duplode took the second place; dreadnaut, who also attained a first victory in ZCT194, completed the season podium. As for the team competition, Slowdrive, the team who best managed to maintain a consistent level of activity throughout the season, took the title with a gap of four points to Cork's Crew. Notably, FinRok succeeded in winning the drivers championship without being affiliated to a team.

2018

There were no rule changes for 2018. As for car choices, the 911 Turbo and the Lotus gave way to the McLaren MP4/4 and the Ranger.

Though not always the fastest racer around, Duplode emerged as champion of ZakStunts 2018 on the basis of regularity, and in particular by nicking crucial points with very late laps. In a tight contest for the second place, Seeker1982 came out ahead of dreadnaut and CTG (whose ZakStunts ban was lifted after three years) also thanks to consistent year-long performances (no race wins, but four second places and five LTB points). Besides Duplode, CTG and FinRok, Alan Rotoi pulled off a surprising victory in ZCT202, reaching the top spot of the podium after seven years. Rolling Stunts won the team competition ahead of Cork's Crew.

A highlight of 2018 season was ZCT200. Pipsqueaks celebrated the milestone of two hundred monthly ZakStunts races in a track generously penned for the occasion by Kevin Pickell himself. The outcome itself felt classic: CTG emerged victorious with the Melange, narrowly ahead of Duplode and FinRok.

2019

For 2019, the McLaren, Melange and Skyline were rotated away from the car list. They were replaced by three Overdrijf creations, namely the Superkart plus two cars from his brand new DTM pack: Audi V8 Quattro DTM and BMW M3 E30 DTM. In addition, there was an important rule change on cars: the bonus increment for unused cars was lowered from 3% to 1%. The change brought bonuses closer to each other, quickly making multi-car races much more common than in previous seasons.

The 2019 season saw steadier activity overall than in the preceding few years, and a remarkable total of seven different race winners. Returning from a break in 2018, Marco claimed the championship on the back of a run of eight consecutive podiums from the beginning of the season, securing the title in September. Having returned to the competitions late in 2018, Overdrijf achieved his first ZakStunts victory at ZCT215 and rose to second place overall, just ahead of his teammate Duplode — their combined efforts being enough to bring Cork's Crew the team title. Right behind them in fourth place was Seeker1982, who got agonisingly close to his first race win in several occasions. Also notable were FinRok's four showings over the year: a spring sojourn, winning ZCT214, ZCT215 and Z216, then coming back at the end of the season for ZCT221 and, in Ayrtonesque fashion, winning it as well, thus ending up with more victories than anyone else.

2020

In terms of rules, 2020 saw an overhaul of the LTB system, with the goal of making LTB battles more dynamic and accessible. Rather than granting LTB points to the two racers with the most leading hours in a race, one LTB would now be granted for every 240 hours of accumulated leading time, with carryover of hours across races for racers that didn't earn LTB. As for the car list, the Ranger gave way to the Toyota Sprinter Trueno, and within the DTM pack the BMW DTM was exchanged for the Mercedes-Benz 190 E DTM.

The season featured a three-way battle for the title: Duplode had the most race wins but was rarely in contention for LTB, Seeker1982 brought himself into contention with a solid first half of the season, which included his long-awaited first win at ZCT225, and CTG sneaked among them over the final races. The championship would only be decided in the final race, with Duplode prevailing over CTG and Seeker1982, the trio within a mere three points. In the team competition, for a second year Cork's Crew won the title ahead of Rolling Stunts.

2021

2021 had no major rule changes. The biggest rule tweak was making the car bonus adjustments by track designers not stick for later races: with closer bonuses, tuning them becomes more important, and so the extra flexibility is helpful. The car list saw the remaining permutation of the DTM pack, with the Audi DTM giving way to the returning BMW M3 E30 DTM, and Lotus and Melange replacing F40 and Superkart.

In a season which began with a very open field, and that at one point looked poised to become a Cork's Crew versus Looping Warriors battle, Alan Rotoi hit his stride around May and never looked back, securing the first ZakStunts title in his storied career with two races to spare. Duplode had several strong races across the year and led for the entire first half of the season, but ultimately had to do with second place. The third place overall was claimed by rising Australian star KyLiE, who readily got to spearhead Rolling Stunts' charge. In the team championship, Cork's Crew once again won ahead of Rolling Stunts. 2021 was a lively season with high activity — there were more than a thousand submitted replays for the first time since 2009 — and several competition debuts.

2022 to now

2022

The 2022 season saw the introduction of the Amateur League — a name borrowed from the early days of ZakStunts, now standing for a new concept. It replaced the Newbie League, whose format had grown stale over the years, the main difference being criteria based on performance instead of experience. The change aimed, and indeed succeeded, at providing more meaningful competition to its participants. In order to not spread attention too thinly, given the introduction of the brand new Amateur race and season scoreboards, the GAR scoreboard was deactivated. As for custom cars, the preceding year saw a major surge in new projects, which eventually led to a list having three brand new cars: Zapper's Caterham Super Seven JPE, KyLiE's Chevrolet Corvette CERV III and Ryoma's Lancia Stratos. They were joined by the Melange, now restyled by Alan Rotoi, and the Skyline.

On track, the season was dominated by Alan Rotoi, achieving a second consecutive title that never was seriously threatened by Duplode in second place. Having raced without a team for the past several seasons, in 2022 Rotoi joined forces with dreadnaut to create Doubleplusspeed, which won the team championship over Cork's Crew with similar ease. Frieshansen, a strong newcomer who was recruited by Doubleplusspeed, completed the season podium after battling KyLiE all season long. Frieshansen also had a long run of Amateur League wins, only stopped by an early graduation from the league at ZCT253. The inaugural Amateur League champion was Heretic, followed by Frieshansen and Cas.

2023

The 2023 rules featured a point system adjustment, the first in a very long time, which raised the fractional points for positions below 12th, making them commensurate with the rest of the scoreboard. A much-liked innovation for that season were the car podiums, mini-scoreboards for individual cars meant to give visibility to, and allow for informal competition with, alternative car laps. Working out the car list in 2023 was perhaps harder than ever before, given the plethora of options. Eventually, Alan Rotoi's De Tomaso Pantera and the Dodge Challenger by CTG and Ryoma were brought in as new cars, the CERV III was retained from the previous season, and the Mercedes DTM was brought back along the McLaren MP4/4.

2023 was a year of extraordinary activity on the race tracks: a new record of 1595 submitted replays was set, and there was solid racing all across the board — and none more so than by Argammon. A famed racer from 00's ZakStunts, Argammon staged a comeback after many years away in ZCT257, the final race of 2022. In 2023, he joined Rolling Stunts and took no time in getting up to speed, winning ZCT260 with a memorable lap and then going on a run of five wins. Duplode, who had started the season very brightly, saw the gap widening far too much around the midpoint of the season, and launched a desperate charge to try and keep his title chances alive. That resulted in two titanic battles for both LTB and final results in ZCT266 and ZCT267, at the end of which Argammon secured his first ZakStunts title. Alan Rotoi completed the season podium. In the team competition, Rolling Stunts won ahead of Doubleplusspeed. The latter team, though, did bring one trophy home, as the newest racer to join their ranks, the rapidly improving Erik Barros, won the Amateur League in dominant fashion. Mark Nailwood, the legendary racer from the early days of Stunts, and Ryoma completed the amateur podium.

2024

to be continued

Season Podiums

Racers

Season 2023
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Argammon Rolling Stunts 118
2 Duplode Cork's Crew 107
3 Alan Rotoi Doubleplusspeed 94
Season 2022
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Alan Rotoi Doubleplusspeed 117
2 Duplode Cork's Crew 102
3 Frieshansen Doubleplusspeed 82
Season 2021
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Alan Rotoi No Team 117
2 Duplode Cork's Crew 106
3 KyLiE Rolling Stunts 80
Season 2020
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Duplode Cork's Crew 107
2 CTG No Team 105
3 Seeker1982 Rolling Stunts 104
Season 2019
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Marco Slowdrive 117
2 Overdrijf Cork's Crew 93
3 Duplode Cork's Crew 92
Season 2018
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Duplode Cork's Crew 110
2 Seeker1982 No Team 92
3 CTG Looping Warriors 91
Season 2017
Rank Racer Team Points
1 FinRok No Team 128
2 Duplode Cork's Crew 102
3 dreadnaut Yellow Fleas 88
Season 2016
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Renato Biker Yellow Fleas 118
2 Duplode Cork's Crew 104
3 Marco Slowdrive 100
Season 2015
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Duplode Cork's Crew 121
2 Akoss Poo Looping Warriors 119
3 Marco Slowdrive 90
Season 2014
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Akoss Poo Looping Warriors 112
2 Duplode Cork's Crew 101
3 dreadnaut Yellow Fleas 82
Season 2013
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Renato Biker Yellow Fleas 135
2 CTG Looping Warriors 114
3 Duplode Cork's Crew 94
Season 2012
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Duplode Cork's Crew 108
2 Friker No Team 96
3 CTG Damage Inc. 94
Season 2011
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Duplode Cork's Crew 113
2 Gutix MeganiuM Aces High 100
3 AbuRaf70 MeganiuM Aces High 82
Season 2010
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Gutix MeganiuM Aces High 129
2 Renato Biker Average Joe 117
3 Duplode Cork's Crew 104
Season 2009
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Duplode Cork's Crew 123
2 CTG Damage Inc. 104
3 Bonzai Joe Cork's Crew 83.1
Season 2008
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Ayrton MeganiuM Aces High 127
2 Duplode No Team 93
3 Mark L. Rivers No Team 88
Season 2007
Rank Racer Team Points
1 CTG No Team 111
2 Mark L. Rivers No Team 102
3 Chulk MeganiuM Aces High 82
Season 2006
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Renato Biker Orion 154.5
2 CTG Looping Warriors 137
3 Bonzai Joe Cork's Crew 122
Season 2005
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Ayrton MeganiuM Aces High 121
2 Alain Orion 102
3 CTG Damage Inc & Cork's Crew 98
Season 2004
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Gutix MeganiuM Aces High 219
2 Akoss Poo Looping Warriors 175
3 Bonzai Joe Cork's Crew 159
Season 2003
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Alain Orion 100
2 Bonzai Joe Cork's Crew 89
3 Akoss Poo Opponent Near 75
Season 2002
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Bonzai Joe Cork's Crew 17.29
2 Alan Rotoi MeganiuM Aces High 16.03
3 Roy Wiegerinck Flying Dutchmen 15.90
Season 2001
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Roy Wiegerinck Flying Dutchmen 15.07
2 Ben Snel Flying Dutchmen 13.94
3 Bonzai Joe Intercontinental Racing 12.25

Teams

Season 2023
Rank Team Points
1 Rolling Stunts 242
2 Doubleplusspeed 214
3 Cork's Crew 185
Season 2022
Rank Team Points
1 Doubleplusspeed 241
2 Cork's Crew 180
3 Rolling Stunts 123
Season 2021
Rank Team Points
1 Cork's Crew 212
2 Rolling Stunts 136
3 Looping Warriors 114
Season 2020
Rank Team Points
1 Cork's Crew 231
2 Rolling Stunts 212
3 Traction Faction 153
Season 2019
Rank Team Points
1 Cork's Crew 225
2 Rolling Stunts 205
3 Slowdrive 163
Season 2018
Rank Team Points
1 Rolling Stunts 194
2 Cork's Crew 179
3 Slowdrive 122
Season 2017
Rank Team Points
1 Slowdrive 168
2 Cork's Crew 164
3 Yellow Fleas 128
Season 2016
Rank Team Points
1 Yellow Fleas 225
2 Cork's Crew 187
3 Slowdrive 177
Season 2015
Rank Team Points
1 Looping Warriors 221
2 Cork's Crew 206
3 MeganiuM Aces High 175
Season 2014
Rank Team Points
1 Looping Warriors 193 (243)
2 Cork's Crew 161 (140)
3 Yellow Fleas 143 (131)
Season 2013
Rank Team Points
1 Looping Warriors 221
2 Yellow Fleas 212
3 MeganiuM Aces High 159
Season 2012
Rank Team Points
1 Cork's Crew 211
2 Meganium Aces High 174
3 Damage Inc. 154
Season 2011
Rank Team Points
1 MeganiuM Aces High 202
2 Cork's Crew 191
3 Average Joe 122
Season 2010
Rank Team Points
1 MeganiuM Aces High 216
2 Average Joe 189
3 Cork's Crew 185
Season 2009
Rank Team Points
1 Cork's Crew 226
2 Damage Inc 163
3 MeganiuM Aces High 120
Season 2008
No team competition was held in 2008
Season 2007
Rank Team Points
1 Meganium Aces High 198
2 Damage Inc 158
3 Cork's Crew 93
Season 2006
Rank Team Points
1 Orion 276
2 Meganium Aces High 266
3 Cork's Crew 263
Season 2005
Rank Team Points
1 Meganium Aces High 242
2 Cork's Crew 174
3 Orion 149
Season 2004
Rank Team Points
1 Meganium Aces High 301
2 Cork's Crew 269
3 Looping Warriors 251
Season 2003
Rank Team Points
1 Orion 4026.39
2 Opponent Near 3990.92
3 Cork's Crew 3986.08
Season 2002
Rank Team Points
1 Cork's Crew 136
2 Flying Dutchmen 122.2
3 Looping Warriors 93.6

Newbies

These rankings are computed by basing upon the standings of the single races, and not upon the league results, which are not correct. Clairwill and gigi are excluded from Season 2014 because they have been recognized as ghosts.


Season 2021
Rank Racer Team Points
1 KyLiE Rolling Stunts 108
2 Zapper No Team 101
3 Ryoma No Team 67
Season 2020
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Stingray86 Traction Faction 108
2 KyLiE No Team 57
3 Stan 286XT No Team 56
Season 2019
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Heretic No Team 104
2 sd4000 No Team 97
3 Stan 286XT No Team 86
Season 2018
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Seeker1982 No Team 108
2 Motig No Team 77
3 GTAMan15 No Team 58
Season 2017
Rank Racer Team Points
1 FinRok No Team 108
2 Imperas No Team 97
3 arturbmallmann No Team 70
Season 2016
Rank Racer Team Points
1 FinRok No Team 105
2 Marco Slowdrive 72
3 dosbox92 Rolling Stunts 21
Season 2015
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Marco Slowdrive 108
2 afullo Damage Inc. 83
3 PJ No Team 44
Season 2014
Rank Racer Team Points
1 afullo Damage Inc. 108
2 dreadnaut Yellow Fleas 36
3 ColonelJ, Alecu323 (tie) No Team 11

Amateurs

Taking the place of Newbies' league from 2022 onwards, with different rules for being an amateur.

Season 2023
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Erik Barros Doubleplusspeed 108
2 Mark Nailwood No Team 97
3 Ryoma No Team 94
Season 2022
Rank Racer Team Points
1 Heretic No Team 104
2 Frieshansen Doubleplusspeed 97
3 Cas Rolling Stunts 89

Medal Table

Rank Racer 1st 2nd 3rd
1 Duplode 58 52 33
2 CTG 32 34 34
3 Renato Biker 28 18 9
4 Ayrton 23 6 3
5 Gutix 22 11 8
6 Alan Rotoi 21 19 17
7 Argammon 15 10 4
8 Bonzai Joe 13 21 15
9 FinRok 13 8 3
10 Roy Wiegerinck 11 2 0
11 Marco 9 7 12
12 Akoss Poo 8 19 23
13 Alain 8 9 9
14 dreadnaut 3 3 14
15 Mingva 2 1 6
16 Fdzierva 2 0 0
17 Seeker1982 1 12 6
18 Friker 1 7 6
19 Chulk 1 6 4
20 Mark L. Rivers 1 4 7
21 Overdrijf 1 4 6
22 Usrin 1 1 2
23 Bismarck 1 1 1
24 SuperBrian 1 0 5
25 Zak McKracken 0 5 7
26 AbuRaf70 0 2 9
27 Ben Snel 0 2 5
28 KyLiE 0 1 7
29 Frieshansen 0 1 3
30 Dottore 0 1 1
31 Sylvain Chabert 0 1 0
Dark Chaser 0 1 0
Imperas 0 1 0
Zapper 0 1 0
35 Pershing II 0 0 2
XDude_NL 0 0 2
Krys Toff 0 0 2
38 Paulo Ribeiro 0 0 1
Vamologocomisso 0 0 1
dstien 0 0 1

See Also

External Links