KRF Truck Racing League

[GROOV3ST3R]

Hello everyone! And welcome to the KRF Truck Racing League! (name change prompted by franchise - Kerbal Racing Federation)

For those not yet familiar with the Formula-K, Myself and Kyrian decided to branch out into other racing categories. The original Formula will go on in it's current form and will be accompanied by support racing leagues such as this one.

You will download the Entry Pack from the link below and, using the mods and plugins provided. You will then make a Truck and race with. It has to comply with the rules posted below. You will then drive your vehicle around a series of tracks.

Tracks will open in a sequence - when one race closes, another one will be opened in it's place. You can only submit your entries to open races. Each race will be open for up to 2 weeks (to keep up some pace and finish the championship within reasonable limits).

Tracks will be included in the Entry Pack, as will all the miscellaneous items you will need for this challenge.

Each plugin is being redistributed with permission from it's respective author and will be kept up to date with it's current version so be sure to check on them from time to time! Do not redistribute this pack any further though!

The Entry Pack: DOWNLOAD

The Entry Pack will include the following plugins:

- Kerbal Engineer Redux

- FAR

- Aviation Lights

- Rover wheel sounds

- Persistent Trails plugin with all track layouts

- Toolbar plugin (by default)

- Tweakable rover wheels

- VDS Hull Cameras

The Winner of the Championship will be crowned, err...... a champion and will be given a Trophy to display at his Space Center. We will also (hopefully) have a badge that you can put in your Signature to display your racing prowess to others on the forum.

SO.. The rules. The rules are posted below, please read them carefully and build your vehicles accordingly.

Truck Racing Construction Rules:

1. A Truck (heavy haulage vehicle) MUST be capable of attaching a trailer and/or be able to carry a pre-specified load (the contents of which will be made public in the entry package for everyone to either base a trailer or truck bed around)

1.1a If Semi-Rig structure, the connection must NOT be rigid

1,1b A matching trailer must also be designed and submitted along with the truck - it must be able to carry the Large Cargo Item (an item made by me that must fully fit on or in the trailer)

1.1c A trailer hitch must be part of your truck - design is up to you.

1.1d The hinge must allow for connecting AND disconnecting a trailer - most likely through use of docking ports. Method is unrestricted. You ARE allowed to use the KLAW as it makes things infinitely easier.

1.1e Truck is NOT required to pull a trailer during the race (and is in fact banned from carrying a trailer in a race, due to additional wheels, power etc)

1.1f The Trailer alone must carry the entire Large-Cargo item.

1.2a If Bed/container design is preferred, the truck must be capable of securely delivering it's cargo

1.2b The container/bed does not need to be enclosed, however it must have side walls of height at least EQUAL to the height of the cargo

1.2c Truck is NOT required to carry cargo during race, however the structure for carrying cargo must remain intact, including sidewalls

1.2d Must have an attachable trailer to carry the remainder of the cargo

1.2e The vehicle must carry 1xSmall-Cargo and the trailer must also carry 1xSmall-Cargo.

1.3 Specialist Vehicle Class (otherwise known as the Whacky Races category)

1.3a Specialist Vehicles are defined as vehicles able to perform a specialist function that is practical

1.3b The ''function'' of your vehicle can be anything - it can be a Tow truck, crane, tug, missile launcher.... yes that or anything else you can imagine AND put into practice

1.3c The vehicle MUST be able to actually perform it's function and it must be a practical vehicle

1.3d Specialist vehicles are limited to 10 (ten) T2-RL wheels. However, all other rules still apply to them

1.3e Specialist Vehicles MUST weigh a minimum of 12000kg dry weight - and still be able to pull the Large-Cargo or it's equivalent weight. HOWEVER, the method of transporting this cargo is NOT restricted.

- so you CAN suspend it from a crane or tow it on a low-loader platform behind the vehicle. Hell, if you make a truck able to jettison the entire thing I will allow it.

You must simply demonstrate that your truck is ABLE to carry 44.444t of cargo in ANY way.

1.3f You are allowed to carry anything you want to carry - be that another truck, tank, plane, car etc. - during a race. If your computer can take it of course. The ONLY limitation of this category is that the object carried must be DEAD WEIGHT - it cannot be used to help your vehicle move or ACTIVELY stay stable (wrecking ball/crane with cargo for mass distribution is permitted, but NO SAS/wings on the cargo)

1.3g Specialist vehicles are allowed to have ALL wheel steering at an unrestricted angle. Go mad. The only restriction is that your wheels must not cause excess strain on the chassis while turning - meaning you will have to adjust your angles the closer you are to the middle of the truck. (reference image found at Google Patents:

1.4 Cargo items can be found in the Entry Pack zip file under ''Subassemblies''

1.4a Small-Cargo item weighs 22222kg (22.222t)

1.4b Large-Cargo item weighs 44444kg (44.444t)

(These rules are there to make things interesting. If you choose to make a trailer, you will need to be clever with use of landing gears and little wheels for your connection, forcing you be much more creative but ultimately ending up with a truck with a much lower CoG. Flatbeds/container trucks will be much simpler, however you are forced to leave all the superstructure on the truck, leaving you with a much higher CoG.)

2. Truck specifications:

2.1 Cab:

2.1a A Truck must have an enclosed Cab for the driver, with two (2) side windows either side of the truck and at least 1 (one) large windscreen (windows can simply be left as empty holes since we are yet to have a custom built pane of glass available, I will get onto that soon)

2.1b The Cab must be placed ABOVE the wheel level - it may be placed behind or over the front wheels (and front wheels only), however it must NOT be built below the top edge of the wheel in it's compressed state (so basically, your Cab must sit ABOVE the edge of your wheel even when the springs compress)

2.1c The Cab must have enough space for at least 2 (two) Kerbals, spaced out so that they are not clipping through any part of the vehicle or themselves (so you must make it fairly large, with all other limitations this means your CoG placement will be fairly high unless you can do something about it)

2.1d The Cab MUST protect all Kerbals present inside from the following scenarios:

- Rolling the truck on it's side/roof at or beyond 20m/s

- Crashing into a wall at 20m/s

- Vehicle breaking apart due to over straining the chassis (or Kraken)

- Hard landing in case of a jump (or falling off the runway/launch pad for example)

2.1e The Cab MUST remain intact in at all times, even during a crash (or otherwise a ''sub optimal vehicle/ground interface event'')

2.2 The Chassis

2.2a The chassis must have a MINIMUM length of 2 (two) Long I Beam Bars stacked end-to-end.

2.2b The chassis must have a MINIMUM width equal to the length of 1 (one) Long I Beam

2.2c The chassis must have a cargo area/trailer mount at the back

2.2d The overall vehicle height must be at least equal to or greater than the length of 1 (one) Long I Beam

2.3 Overall Truck rules

2.3a Trucks will qualify to race by weight - split into Class-6 and Class-12, for vehicles with a minimum dry weight of 6000kg and 12000kg respectively.

2.3b The truck must look like a truck. No cheating! We will notice!

2.3c The truck must have an enclosed engine compartment, you may have a visual ''engine'' - it does not have to serve any purpose, but the compartment has to be there and it has to have something inside.

2.3d You are not required to have any opening doors, hoods or other similar components

2.3e The style and design of the truck and all vanity components is unrestricted. You may have a European, American or a Hybrid design - or anything you can think of really, as long as it looks like a truck.

2.3f There are no restrictions on Vanity Parts - visual parts which serve no function other than to add weight and coolness.

2.4 Wheels

2.4a You may have 4 or 6 wheels - 6 wheels are better for spreading 12 tonnes around on and give you some extra power, but 4 wheels will be much easier to handle in the corners so it sort of naturally balances out.

2.4b You may use motors in all wheels

2.4c You must only use front wheels for turning. To help reduce wheel friction and chassis stress load, you are allowed to have a limited turn angle on the back axle - UP to 0.35 on the back axle/s (you can have less to smooth it out more). Front wheels/axles are NOT limited, you may have the full x2 angle

2.4d You are not restricted to the layout of your wheels - just to spice things up. Any layout is permitted. Wheels must be arranged into Axles.

2.4e You MUST use TR-L2 wheels only.

2.4f Your truck must be fully powered by wheels ONLY.

3. MISC:

3.1 You are allowed (but not mandated) to use 2 small control surfaces for downforce at the front of the vehicle and 1 large control surface for downforce at the back of the vehicle. The rear wing MUST be attached to a non-structural part of the vehicle - i.e. on it's own pylon

3.2 NO use of SAS, NO reaction wheels/SAS extra pods

3.3 Kerbal/s must be present in the truck when racing

3.4 You can have up to 6 RCS ports, placed at the back

3.5 RCS:

3.5 You will be limited to the amount of RCS fuel you can carry, however your minimum weight does not include weight of the fuel.

3.5a RCS fuel for Class-6 trucks is limited to 300 units per race.

3.5b RCS fuel for Class-12 trucks is limited to 600 units per race.

3.5c Placing RCS tanks on your vehicle is NOT restricted - you can cover the truck with them for all I care, amount of RCS fuel is limited according to the class of your truck.

3.6 Your truck MUST have lights:

3.6a Headlights, Illuminator Mk2, placed at the front of the vehicle, above the ''bumper'' area

3.6b Acceptable are additional racing Illuminator MK1 lights, free placement, must face forwards

3.6c Full working Indicators/Hazard lights, 2x At the front and 2x at the back of the truck, AMBER lights from the Aviation Lights pack (included, set to toggle Interval)

3.6d Rear position lights, minimum of 2 (set to Toggle Light)

3.6e Reverse Lights, minimum of 1 at the back (toggle Light)

3.6f Amber position lights on the side, minimum of 4 - 2 each side. (Toggle Light)

3.6g Acceptable are additional warning beacons on top of the cab - Flash/doubleFlash/interval, amber lights allowed

3.6h You MUST have working Brake Lights at the back of the truck -to do this, you will be required to assign red lights to the Brakes action group to Toggle Light when you activate brakes. This will put the lights on when braking and switch them off immediately after

3.7 You are NOT permitted to use ANY external modifications and plugins that were not specifically included in the entry Pack!

3.8 You MUST have a Driver!

4 Submission rules

4.1 Prior to joining the championship, you will submit a post with images of your vehicle, outlining all of it's specifications - it must adhere to the rules!

Crash test photos are a good way of demonstrating safety and structural rigidity of your vehicle. Your vehicle will then be classed.

4.2 After being granted entry to the championship, you will be able to take part in active races.

4.3 To enter a race, you will need to post at least 3 screenshots:

- 1x Screenshot at the start, with your starting time

- 1x Screenshot at the finish, with your finishing time

- 1x Screenshot of your recorded racing line - you MUST record your line using the Persistent Trails plugin and present it CLEARLY in your submission so that I know that you have taken the correct racing line and did not cut corners. Width of your recording must be 2m in the submission + must be entirely visible.

4.4 When you submit your entry, make sure to outline your Time as well. MET Timer MUST be clearly visible in your screenshots.

4.5 Successful entries will be added to the Race Leaderboards. Leaderboards for all races will be posted in the 2nd post on the first page along with overall championship standings.

5. Scoring

The scoring system will award points inversely proportional to the place of the driver, for a maximum amount of points equal to the amount of drivers that took part in the race - which may or may not change per race. This way everyone gets points, regardless of position.

Example:

- There are 7 drivers in a race.

- Your time placed 3rd

- The 1st place gets the full 7 points.

- Each driver below will get 1 point less in sequence until the 7th place, which is only worth 1 point.

- Therefore you will get 5 Points - because:

1st = 7

2nd = 6

3rd = 5

4th = 4 and so on...

The total amount of points PER RACE is equal to the amount of drivers which took part in that race. So with 9 drivers, 1st place gets 9 points. With 5 drivers ,1st place gets 5 points. etc.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Summary of key rules:

- Minimum of 6 or 12 tonne dry weight

- Minimum dimensions: L = 2x Long I Beam, W = 1x Long I Beam, H = 1 Long I beam

- 4 or 6 wheels, must use front wheels for main turning only, must be symmetrical, no layout restriction - TR-2L ONLY

- SPOILERS/DOWNFORCE - 2 small control surfaces at the front, 1 large one at the back on a pylon

- 6 RCS ports (tba)

- must have FULL lighting

- must be a USEABLE cargo carrying vehicle - Semi-rig OR Van/flatbed

- use ONLY the plugins/mods provided in the Entry Pack!

- you MUST have a driver for your vehicle!

- Submit your entries with screenshots of your time (start and end) and the record of the track you took

6. The Free-for-all amendment

This is a particularly interesting rule as it covers all trucks of all classes and allows interaction between classes.

Basically, The Free-for-all Leaderboard will put the championship standings for every driver from their class and compare them to all other drivers from all other classes.

This means that all separate leaderboards will be combined in this one, allowing anyone to win the Free-for-all Champion title

Right, it is now time for you to go off and start building!

Good luck everyone!

On the side:

I will post my own truck later today as proof of concept.

My truck - it's a work in progress.

Tempesta MK1

The engine:

The lights:

New version:

Edited April 22, 2014 by GROOV3ST3R
FORMATTED THE POST FOR CLARITY

[Javster]

Nice truck. May I suggest adding spoilers for your description/rules?

[DisarmingBaton5]

Awesome! I will be entering this

[GROOV3ST3R]

Misunderstood post

Edited April 25, 2014 by GROOV3ST3R

[Lord Banjo]

I tested last night and the Klaw has a pivot built in. It pivots up to about 30 degrees. It is toggle-able after grabbing the object.

How "well" does the truck have to drive and maneuver with the payload? "Must be a Useable cargo carrying vehicle" is mentioned in the summery.

Are the crash tests with or without the payload?

[GROOV3ST3R]

Well the crash tests are only valid for the truck during a race.

You do not need to crash test with the trailer.

I will reveal the payload soon.

[NQMT]

I'll enter tomorrow. I have no time to develop today.

[Koolkei]

pack link please....

i meant. make it fast.....

i want to design mine already

btw another question,

which "TRUCK" did you mean here??

THIS?!?!

OR THIS?!?!

since they are both technically 'TRUCKS'

Edited April 6, 2014 by Koolkei

[GROOV3ST3R]

If you read the rules correctly, you will know I meant ''both''.

EDIT:

Added the entry pack - get to building!

EDIT2:

Amending the rules for trucks - van-style trucks must now come with their own trailers as well.

Adding the Cargo items to the pack

Edited April 6, 2014 by GROOV3ST3R

[Lord Banjo]

Can i reserve this company name of Mumbo's Motors?

KRF Truck Racing here i come!

It is not anywhere near complete and is not in any way legal but...

http://i.imgur.com/dKXnxY1.png"]

Original resolution 1360x768 http://i.imgur.com/dKXnxY1.png

The website's max width is 1,1?? so the image appears 1109x626 here.

Edited April 11, 2014 by Lord Banjo
[spoiler=solved]hi i figured out spoilers[/spoiler]

[123nick]

wait, fake engines? cant you just use TT multiwheels ? the most recent version has a unique engine system, where you can have engines that make torque that power wheels. reallly cool, but ithink it may be slightly outdated.

[GROOV3ST3R]

LordBanjo, get this:

http://www.software-watcher.com/listing/122596/WinRAR?did=10940&pid=1&ppd=search,38695675715,winrar,e,,c,0,,,&gclid=CNi1iNLfzL0CFWbLtAodLCoAXA

It says it's a trial but you can use it as long as you want. When it eventually stats asking you about a license, just close the pop-up and continue browsing.

TTMultiwheels, I don't think it's going to work out. I approached Touhou about a different thing and he isn't too keen on having his parts redistributed in packs like my entry pack.

To be honest, I'm not really interested in that since we have wheels already and forcing everyone to use a potentially overpowered mod which makes everything a lot more complicated isn't really in the spirit of this challenge. The entry package includes useful modifications like HullCameras, Tweakables for rover wheels and Engineer Redux. These are useful tools but they do not add any structural or otherwise ''main'' components that make-or-break the game. The only plugin that we have which changes gameplay is FAR - it allows us to eliminate the infiniglide glitch, level the playing field and better illustrate aerodynamics of vehicles.

So in short, no, we won't be getting Multiwheels anytime soon.

You CAN have a fake engine, but you aren't required to. You need to have a an engine COMPARTMENT, but no engine is needed. You can however have one if you want because it will look cool. You can make one out of RTG's and then it will actually be useful, as it will generate electricity.

[NQMT]

GROOV3ST3R, I think Javster meant putting the rules in spoiler tags.

[GROOV3ST3R]

In that case, my bad ^^ I was thinking of a different kind of spoilers. I'll do that now.

It's done

Edited April 7, 2014 by GROOV3ST3R

[Koolkei]

not so popular huh???

btw...

i got a few question.

1. RCS port at the BACK..... i put mine on the BACK of THE CAB, is that allowed, or did you meant the BACK of THE TRUCK. because actually, putting it behind the truck slightly increases manueverability if the RCS is used on the corners....

2. the trailer are allowed to have extra powered wheels right? mine goes like a snail without them

[NQMT]

1. Back of the truck.

2. No powered trailer wheels. Steering is okay, I believe. However note that you will not be racing with said trailer.

[Lord Banjo]

My truck has a higher top speed with the trailer. Even with no powered wheels.

Are lander cans i jettison before driving to transfer the kerbals from ok?

Do I need sidewalls on my trailer?

Can I use struts to hold the load in?

-How do I use spoilers in my posts?

still solved

Edited April 9, 2014 by Lord Banjo

[42undead2]

Why only 2 wheels for turning? Can't we have 6x2 trucks?

[NQMT]

Lord Banjo:

1. Allowed. That's how I load my Formula K cars, however I use the 1 Kerbal module.

2 and 3, you'll have to ask GROOV3ST3R.

42undead2, so will you. I'm not sure.

GROOV3ST3R should be on in a day's time maximum.

[Lord Banjo]

I use the lander cans because of the lower impact resistance. Sepatrons shoot them up in the air and they self destruct on impact. Nothing to clean up in tracking station.

My current problem is that my truck does a wheelie when I unlock the Klaw for turning and I don't want to mess up the trucks COM without the trailer for racing.

[Koolkei]

be posting mine tommorow for check up....

hopefully

[GROOV3ST3R]

Right, lets start from the top:

(I'm writing my responses now, bear with me)

@LordBanjo

1. Your truck is in clear violation of height restrictions.

- your cab floor (and therefore your cab) is below the wheel line.

- Your truck overall is too low - it must reach a height of minimum 1 Long I-Beam

- please note that you are using an odd resolution which makes the screenshot seem squashed so I cannot tell the actual height of your vehicle. However, it looks smaller than the cargo on top of the trailer is, which is an indication that something isn't tall enough.

2. Trailers are NOT part of the race - they are only required to demonstrate that your vehicle IS in fact a useable cargo transporter.

- Your trailer may be a flatbed trailer if you prefer, however you DO need fixed railings on it to secure the load - use I-BEAMS or panels, that's up to you.

- No Powered wheels on the trailer for obvious reasons. We are measuring performance of the truck not the trailer after all

3. Rear spoiler is to be mounted on a structure extending from the tail section of your truck. The thing you attach your back wing to must NOT be part of the ''load-bearing'' Chassis or overall structure.

You said that your truck wheelies when you unlock the Klaw. It does sound like you need a 4 wheeled trailer, with a set of wheels at the front.

Alternatively, you need to change the structure of your truck so that the trailer and it's weight is spread OVER the back wheels, as opposed to BEHIND them. I will have to put that to the test myself to be honest but at least in theory it should work.

It looks like you are were going for a Class-6 truck - in which case a full 44.444 ton load will be a little bit much for your vehicle. Trucks overall have the CoG offset towards the front of the vehicle. This is perfectly natural - my truck during braking stands on the front wheels only due to KSP physics.

@Koolkei

All 6 of your truck wheels can (and I suspect due to competition between races, SHOULD) be powered. However, your trailer wheels should not be powered at all. Some might argue this is irrelevant since you are not racing with the trailer anyway - but in principle, you are not allowed powered wheels outside of your truck.

As for the RCS placement, I meant the back of the truck itself, as in the overall structure or what is recognized as the ''tail'' section. I might allow RCS placement on the cab or on TOP of the cab - if you want to have RCS coming out of your exhaust pipes, that's fine. Do it if you want to, it will look cool.

@42undead

I didn't say that you CAN'T have a 6x2 layout. In fact, it is clearly indicated that this is a necessary feature of all vehicles with more than 4 wheels. You are allowed to have limited steering on the back wheels - you are limited to 0.35 on the Tweakable range. Your front wheels (you MAY have more than 2 front wheels, as I said, layout is unrestricted as long as they are arranged symmetrical) can use full 2.0 turn range, which is twice the regular amount of turn. Tweakables included in the pack allow this kind of a modification.

Apologies for not answering quicker, but I have just found a job and was rather busy at work today.

Edited April 8, 2014 by GROOV3ST3R

[Lord Banjo]

Congratulations on the recently found job!

Thanks for all the tips. I will makes changes.

Can i hold the payload in with struts? i tried without and it glitched/ fell through my trailer.

Can i use non RCS fuel tanks (filled) for extra weight? (no jets or rockets)

I have a 6 wheel trailer with wheels in the rear. I wanted the semi look. Is that ok?

I am not running on the fastest computer, so i am trying to keep part count low. (2007 HP desktop 3 Gb RAM.)

I don't run KSP full screen (1360x768) so that would explain the weird resolution.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Lord Banjo

[GROOV3ST3R]

Right, thats okay.

Yes you can use your struts to keep the load secure. KSP is far too wonky at the moment for everything to just sit there nice without having to strap it down.

I suppose for ballast you can use fuel tanks, but you might be better off using the allocated weight limits for your design instead. It's up to you

Semi look is fine. With that, make sure that your trailer is on top of the truck and not behind it. it has to sit over the back wheels. Offset the truck weight a little more forwards, that should help you a bit.

And thanks It's fairly simple but it's something and it's full time so I will finally have money to enjoy myself ^^

[Lord Banjo]

Here is my latest and greatest.

I needed 2 more tons to get to the 6 ton minimum.... and fuel tanks were the highest mass/ part count

Still not done by any means.

The trailer works much better now.

Me goofing off

Long Range Mechanic Skills lvl 100

How do i insert an album?

Edited April 9, 2014 by Lord Banjo